Colour & Composition

Over a two week project I experimented with using colour and composition. Within the first week we focused on colour, creating a colour wheel to come to grips with primary, secondary and tertiary colours and creating a grey scale as well as matching a previously mixed colour at the correct position on the grey scale. We then re-created the classic Bauhaus colour and personality exercise, exploring colours power to communicate, mixing colours that we found visually appealing. Then using a limited palette of three primary colours and black and white I mixed colours, using my knowledge from creating the colour wheel, to create colour palettes that communicated theses things; 'Mumbai', 'Rain forest', 'Blackpool', 'Misty Morning', 'Autumn' and 'Hospital ward'.  

Within the second half of week one we experimented with letter forms, with the aim of creating six digital typographic designs. From this exercise I learnt that combining shape, composition and colour is a powerful method of communication.  The challenge of this task was that the frame we had to work in was A6 and we had to choose which type face (Bodoni, Rockwell, Helvetica, Clarendon, Din and Avante-garde), would match the problem; Scale, Playful, Power,Pattern, Feminine and masculine. I created my pieces using InDesign, although I have since learnt that illustrator would have been the better choice as it allows for a more experimental way of working. However, I found this task very helpful as it allowed me to experiment with colour, composition and shape and by combining  the three I could understand more clearly how each element effects the others. 

Within the second week the illustrators project was to research the techniques and processes of three illustrators; Anne Yvonne Gilbert, Charles Keeping and Brad Holland with the aim of creating three book covers within their style. I experimented with each of the artists choice media and the way they used it, coming to terms with their technique and how they exploit colour and composition within their work.  The title of all three book covers was "The Tree", but they were each for different genres: a children's book, science fiction and a psychological horror, clearly using the style of the artist that I thought best suited the genre. For  the children's book cover I used colour pencil on watercolour paper in the style of Anne Yvonne Gilbert as I felt her work would be the most suitable due to its friendly and soft appearance. For the science fiction cover I used acrylic paint on canvas, in the style of Brad Holland due to his inclusion of interesting skies and the way he combines out of this world elements within his work. For the psychological horror I used ink and watercolour in the style of Chris Keeping, as i found that the intensity of the colour he used could be quite disturbing. However i found that I needed to be braver when it came to recreating his style, as I only used one colour, where as Keeping combines multiple colours. I created all the book covers by hand but then edited some of the colours in photoshop and added text, trying to use a font that I felt matched the cover.