Illustration in response to the written word

2/4/2021

Project One - weeks 1 & 2

Deadline 12th Feb.

Brief

Create a conceptual illustration and gif for an allocated article.
Illustration x1 - 120 x 120mm (CMYK)
Gif x1 - animated version of print (RGB)
Link to allocated article here

Research

Subject of article: how to move a plant from one area of your garden to another.
Source of article: Alys Fowler, a gardener, who has a gardening column for the Guardian.
Audience: Aspiring gardeners, garden enthusiasts, demographics suggest middle age women living on their own are most likely to read a gardening article.

Initial sketches

Some quick rough sketches produced using gouache and watercolour pencils.

Inspiration

When looking into conceptual illustration I found the artist Mark Conlan. I was very much in awe of his colour palettes and the interesting ways he approaches conceptual illustration. Many examples I found of his conceptual illustration was about moving house, which I found really helpful when coming up with ideas for my own project about moving plants.

Thumbnails

A more conscientious attempt to produce thumbnails, using a limited colour palette and working within a square composition.

Development

By this stage of the development process I knew that I wanted to incorporate both a tree and a flower into my final outcome. I created a few different ideas when it came to the flower, as I was unsure about how I wanted it to look. I decided at this point that the flower with the nap sack, holding on to his pot was the character with the most visual language.

Worked up visuals

I created three worked up visuals looking at the different ways I could communicate 'moving' through the body language and visual language of my characters. After a feedback session I decided that the tree with the wheel barrow was the most effective in terms of story telling and included the right amount of humour and was dynamic. The things I needed to consider to create a successful outcome was working on the composition to add depth, as well as making my background appear more garden-like. I also felt that the colour of the flower was getting a little bit lost within the piece and also didn't resemble any real flowers, so I needed to change that for my final outcome.

Further considerations

Within these pieces I have used a much more limited colour palette and a reduced background in order to align my work more intentionally with that of Mark Conlan’s. It was a very informative exercise and allowed me to consider my use of colours. However, I didn’t feel that these attempts were as successful as my final outcome and so I did not take them further.

Practice GIF

Final Outcome

I have created my final outcome to the dimensions 120x120mm. Within this piece I feel I have made the relevant changes that I specified in my development process. I changed my flower to a pansy as they are flowers which can survive in the winter months, which makes sense for my article. I have made my background feel more like a garden by incorporating a greenhouse as well as a sturdy garden fence.