sepia skecthes

i produced these as part of the summer project they were sketched in some sepia fine liners i felt they gave a good representation of the times as well as the town, the individuals were part of a much bigger image in market square i just focused on the most ominous and characterful and the little old building is a pub which has been mostly unchanged since the event, its called the Olde Leathern bottle and was used by the local constabulary to assemble the remains brought in in an apron as if it needs justification. i think the storyboard could have looked quite good in this style im just gutted i forgot i had them, theres always next time i suppose.

who was Fanny Adams

Fanny Adams was a young girl of eight, she had four siblings and was described as a “Tall comely and intelligent girl” she appeared older than her age and was widely known for her “lively and cheerful disposition.”  other than that there is very little information on her, she was yet to live her life. 

Being that Fanny was described as comely and intelligent i imagined her to be quite a cheeky child, curious. i took the same approach as before with the same level of failure leaving me with a single profile and portrait sketch of the child. the most difficult thing about it was the proportions it was something i worked over tirelessly, leaving me with some good insight into the anatomical structure of a child and its differences to an adult.  if i was to change anything in these sketches it would be the variety of perspectives i tried to draw their faces from, and the feet and grounding of Fanny Adams, there is something which looks wrong with her legs.  

 this was my initial sketch of the young girl, i wanted her to be grinning so much so that with just a glance you knew she was a cheeky little child.

 i took the same process of character sketching as i did for Frederick baker, my biggest regret with this image is the various perspectives i tried to show her face at, although they supported the larger drawing they look weak especially when the intent is expressed.

this sketch of Fanny in her element was supposed to be the opposite of Baker's, i wanted he viewer looking down on him as though he was up to something, and with this sketch of Fanny i hoped to elevate her stature into a position of power, although her top half does look a little skewiff  

who was frederick baker?

Frederick Baker was a solicitors clerk in the town, originally from guildford he was a respected member of the tight knit community coming from a background of wealth. his father a tailor was quite abusive to the children and for much of his childhood a young Frederick Baker suffered with illnesses including tuberculosis. he was a quiet unassuming man described as tall at 5ft 4 inches weighing 8st 10lbs it was remarked he had a thin and spare frame with a continence approaching the cadaverous. the young man was set to be engaged until his fiancee broke it off, this sent Mr Baker on a downward spiral, when he reached 26 he started to frequent free houses consuming vast amours of liquor and food. his attention seeking and care free attitude eventually led to him to involvement with the infamous guildford guys, a gang at the time. it was in Guildford he was accused of luring a young girl into an old chalk pit colloquially known as the echo pit for “felonious purposes” to spare his family shame he was sent to Alton, he moved to the town seeking reform. 

this was my initial sketch of mister baker i wanted him to look as he was described, young and gaunt, quite well dressed as well, he often wore a top hat. this was my starting point for everything to follow as there were no photos of the accused. 

when i came to refine these sketches i initially tried to sketch their faces from a variety of perspectives, this was quite unsuccessful it did however give me a series of sketches from which i could base the characters on. For Mr Baker i wanted to create an unassuming gentlemen, he was respected, well dressed, and described as a steady young fellow. i hope this is conveyed i my sketch as it was the over riding theme of the design.

 this sketch was intended to be him in a candid manner, i wanted to show the relaxed manner with which he was described, it was only supposed to be a quick sketch and the left arm is awful, which does make me question why im uploading it, but i think it helps to build the character profile i hoped to establish.

autopsy sketch

this is the original autopsy carried out by a Dr Leslie at the Winchester assize, it is quite graphic but shows the extent of the crime. “ The remains are that of a female child, head, arms and legs were separated from the trunk. There right ear was severed from the head, both eyes were cut out, and there was a cut extending from above the ear to the lower part of the jaw. there were three incisions on the left side of the chest, and a deep cut on the left arm, dividing the muscles, the forearm was cut off at the elbow joint, the left leg was nearly cut off at the hip joint and the left foot cut off at the ankle joint. A deep incision divided the chest between the ribs. the right leg was torn from the trunk, and the whole contents of the pelvis and chest completely removed. Five incisions were made on the liver, the heart cut out and missing, a dislocation of the spine, and the vagina was cut out.” 

this really puts into perspective the barbaric nature of this crime something which occurred 20 years before the ripper murders, it was a crime which gripped the nation. The Standard Newspaper of Thursday the 29th of August 1867 said this. 

“the neighbourhood of Alton, that pleasant little market town of Hants, on the skirts of the beautiful landscape and encircling the kingly city of Winchester, will henceforth possess a dreary fame.” 

because of the graphic nature of the crime i wasn’t keen to illustrate it word for word, instead i thought about producing an autopsy image, with an overlay of tracing paper or acetate to demonstrate the severity of the injuries, although this has been described as a hard way to process the information being that there is still a visible victim. for this sketch i looked at the anatomical work of Da Vinci and aimed to produce something in a similar way, using cross hatching i thought it could be a good way to take the viewer further away from the actual crime, had i drawn it in a subtle photo realistic manner i feel it would have been too much, instead i hoped to infuse a bit of artistic license. i am relatively happy with this image, although it could be improved with the eyes shut, as my tutor pointed out. 

i had real difficulty putting together this autopsy sketch, i did a lot of research into the anatomy of children anyway (this is where the sketch above comes from), a large degree of what i found to be essential in depicting a child was the same as an adult just slightly wider with a big head. 

the tale of sweet fanny adams

 the tale of sweet Fanny Adams is a story everyone from Alton knows - with varying degrees of accuracy, i set out over the summer to find out and hopefully retell it. the local Curtis museum had a few pieces about the incident, however it was the library and a book called Sweet F.A The True Story Of Fanny Adams, it was written by a man called Peter Cansfield and illustrated by Charles Richards, it was first published in 2000 by Peter Cansfield associates. it is the definitive resource on this event, without it i wouldn’t have been able to produce any of the work i have consequently.

the Tale of sweet Fanny Adams in my paraphrasing is three young girls Fanny and Lizzie Adams and their neighbour Minnie Warner, on a hot summers day August 24th 1867 in the rural market town of Alton Hampshire set off for Flood Meadows, a stones throw away from their house on tan house Lane. as they got to the meadow they engaged in conversation with a young man called Frederick Baker, he proposed to the girls that he should watch them play on such a fine day, and so off the four went away to a hollow where the girls played. Baker sat watching, smoking his pipe until the girls got bored it was then he requested fanny would walk him home, he had already given the two other girls money this was the last thing Fanny had to do for a half penny, not keen she refused. this drove Mr Baker to take her over his shoulder and away into a hop field nearby, there he savaged the young girl (i will post the original autopsy report ). the two other girls home and safe told Mrs Warner but she thought they were making up stories and sent them to play, it wasn't until another neighbour noticed fanny was missing that a search party was assembled, at around eight o clock that evening Mr Thomas Gates whose job it was to patrol the hop field found her remains. Baker was accused as the last individual to of seen the girls and tried at the Winchester assize, after two weeks in trial he was sentenced to be hung. this was the last hanging in Winchester. 

composing the image

i explored a variety of compositions starting with the man gazing down the table towards the chicken, and then turning tat perspective on it is head having the chicken gazing down the table at the man, initially i thought a shadow or a hand would be strong enough to suggest this composition however it was soon decided a man from the back of his head would be a more visually interesting composition. my reason for depicting the man from behind was simply to put the chicken in a position of power, i noticed the head of the table is often in this position and that if the chicken was placed at the head of the table, then the animal instantly becomes judgemental staring down the diner. 

my initial sketch showing the man quite shocked by the appearance of a chicken at the end of the table

i think the idea of a chicken in a position of power is best shown here, although they look naturally inquisitive it is also very easy to make them look quite and angry and domineering.

these quick sketches were exploring poses and compositional elements and is one of my favourite pages of this brief, partially for the fact it is so stripped back but also because i think the ideas are learly conveyed in very simple media and style. 

fish print scan

this is a scan of the fish print which i have produced, it shows them a little clearer than the original photo, unfortunately it has had some modifications so there will be another further refined one coming soooon.

more development for smoke

because my previous efforts to produce a successful image had failed i decided to go back to my original sketch of Jolyon, of all the images i had produced it was closest to what i had hoped to achieve. however the face did seem quite inaccurate, unfortunately for me jolyon is something of a master at portraiture keen not to offend him or show myself up i spent ages trying to get an accurate likeness.

my first sketches (top left) were quite alike to my original rough drawing, although it sort of looked like him the image was far from accurate, there was something which i just couldn't get right. because of this i thought of a bit of advice from the master of portraits David Downton, that is to just draw the face a lot. there are things you will notice after repeated drawing of the same face, be it proportions, characteristics, tonal patterns, the more you paint it the easier it is. the images on the right is an example of that theory put into practice, they were all done freehand on rice paper with a big brush very quickly, soon enough there were certain consistencies that appeared.

from that big page of drawing i set about creating some more refined images, freehand again except this time i really considered every mark in a hope i could nail that elusive likeness.  

this final page was me pretty much giving up on hoping to get the likeness with spontaneity and good intentions, this time i used a grid method, made famous by chuck close this is a process i use very rarely. that said it is incredibly useful for pinning down those features of the face that make the likeness, it gives a really accurate and in perspective end result, which with a little refinement can result in a face that looks like the model, at long last.

smoke workshop development

after sketching what i felt was a reasonable interpretation of what i hoped to produce i set about refining the image further, one thing struck me and that was again the expression, it still appeared to be lacking in the motivation i had hoped to produce, because of this i turned to my friend olli in hope he could perhaps crack the elusive expression. having gathered what i felt was adequate reference i began sketching another new head for my character.

starting with some loose and quick sketches i tried to establish the key features in expressing this emotion, i found a fair amount of it was in the creases of the face particularly around the brow and nose, from there i began an inked drawing ( which i have to say i am quite ashamed of, but for the sake of process and all that.) this was incredibly loose just to see if i could fit his head in the image, it was painted on rice paper with ink and was the start of my second attempt at this image.

from my first image i began further refinement, this is one advantage of working on rice paper, it is an incredibly light gsm so can be laid over another sketch for refinement. although this was one advantage the paper does have many draw backs, water makes everything a value darker, and once a mark has been made there is no chance of editing or scrubbing that mark as there is with cartridge paper- enough moaning. these two sketches took quite a little longer as i was being a lot more tentative with my mark making, the image at the bottom was completed with a mostly dry brush which is why it appears there is more definition in the features and expression, the top image relied more on washes which is perhaps why it seems less resolved. although initially i was happy with these two, when i showed outside eyes it was soon pointed out how his head does not fit the body. Although this wasn't necessarily what i wanted to hear it was completely true, in my quest to get his head right i had totally sacrificed the rest of the image, back to the drawing board.

a counterblast to tobacco

working from King James the first of England, or sixth of Scotland’s Counterblast to tobacco, we had to incorporate a large part of his essay outlining the dangerous implications to health, and social standing by smoking, it was quite frowned upon during his reign. i wanted to underplay the tone of the text, it is quite irate really blasting tobacco for its evilness. this made me think of someone on their cigarette break caving in to the detrimental description of tobacco, extinguishing their fag with a condescending “alright!!” 

 this was my progression of the composition for the smoke image almost in its entirety, i started with my peer Jake as the model on a coffee break, however after some sketching decided the expression was wrong, and so turned to jolyon for some more appropriate reference. the final and most resolved sketch in this post is very close to the final i produced. i cant express in words how difficult sarcasm is to resolve in a single image.

you can see between these two the difference in mood from jolly chap, to moody teen, it does sum up the motivation i was hoping convey- in the latter that is.  

shelter final

my final for the shelter brief stays very close to the original pencils i produced, the only difference being that i moved the sitter and the small table down the page ever so slightly. this was a conscious decision made because of the lack of depth that appeared in the original sketch, it now looks as though the chair is three rather than two dimensional. i am happy with this final image and glad i invested the time in making it, although the originals are quite faint and the details quite small these are things which can be adjusted digitally. as a book cover i think it keeps consistency over the two covers in style and subject, which in my opinion deems it successful, we shall see.

the pencils for the back cover of shelter, with the bin bag where it should be, i don't know why the upload cut the bottom off the bag but i think the composition is still pretty clear.

shelter 2

once i knew what was going where i began creating some two tone sketches to try and highlight key areas of form, this was done from some photos of myself in a chair with an open brolly, it really helped to try and convey the individual content with his environment.

the pencils on the right are a pretty good example of how i see the finished image looking, i enjoyed bringing this sketch to life as it has been a long time coming, however as soon as i acquired reference things came together very fast. ill ink this in a fashion similar to the image on the left, i quite like the large contrasting blobs of black and white they make the image appear quite final.

shelter 1

my progress on shelter has been relatively slow although i am now at a point where i have produced images which fit my revised theme, after some initial pencil sketches i broke out the big brush and ink and began thinking about compositions. this is an incredibly quick way to start an image preventing procrastination on details, allowing for an image to be composed in its entirety quite fast. 

 i wasn't particularly content with the static nature of the image i had thought of first, this led me to sketch again trying out something new or developing the original concept. i settled for latter, the sketch in the top right was my starting point and seemed to me the strongest of all my ideas.

these sketches on parcel wrap help to outline the staging and also necessary components, it is a good opportunity to experiment with light and shadow. one element which i was keen to incorporate was a family portrait i really wanted to emphasise the nature of the seem, really make it appear this individuals home is in the street- quite literally. i thought this could be easily stretched over two covers by making the front appear very much like the inside of a house with a leak, with the back as a clear portrayal of the street.

fish final

this is a photo of my fishes final, its mostly there i think theres one change to be made, during my tutorial with phil it was suggested that i add some of the more expressive marks to fish, it does help to suggest form. its mostly there, a scan will be uploaded as soon as i make one. 

  

second surprise fish print

my second surprise print revolved around some tighter initial drawing, i based the line drawings on the more detailed watercolours i had produced of the goldfish, they helped me establish a far better sense of shape and character in the fish. the other change i decided to make was to the litter, i felt if it was submerged with the fish it would be a more fitting print, the composition would flow much better. looking at it now i can see that there needs to be a bit more space between the bottom fish and the cluster that occupies the bulk of the image.

the ink drawing above was to try and establish a suitable line width and expressiveness with the brush, and black details to fins really helps define the shape, however it can also cause the image to become dark and messy, almost to the point of scruffy. 

a surprise fish print

after creating two fish in a style which i felt wouldn't be too imposing if repeated in a pattern, i set about making a surprise print as the brief required. the surprise in my print was hopefully going to be a humorous juxtaposition, it came about when i was thinking of the peaceful ponds at home, how at home the fish, ducks, trees, shopping trolleys and carrier bags all are. There is no abundance of the latter its just that it rarely shocks to see something so unnatural in such a setting, we have become so used to these blights in our landscape that it almost seems they belong as much as anything else. my initial idea came from a simple sketch which later led to some slight refinement. with the simplistic nature of the print i soon became in discontent with the resolve and so set about refining it, so although this isn't the final it is quite close.

my proposed next idea, although it is quite sketchy it shows a shift in the use of space, i felt it necessary when i looked at my initial final for the fish print to rearrange the composition as to create a more engaging image, one perhaps with an implied narrative and mood, well more so than the previous effort.

sumi ryukin

Drawing the fish under pressure from video sources forced me to be reliant on visual memory, this immediately made me consider sumi-e practice as a visual approach for the fish brief. we were asked to produce a print which could also work as a pattern. Patterns in my opinion work better when they are simply rendered, the repetition of busy and complex images can lead to an image which is almost offensive to the eye. Keen to avoid this i took to my pure squirrel brush and a pot of indian ink, working fast to simply visualise the fish as best i could form memory, hoping to outline the character rich features i had become aware of.

the idea of the shopping trolley came about through having to impose a surprise in our prints, i thought the juxtaposition of traditional media, subject, and technique, contrasted with a modern blight to many ponds would be quite funny.

sumi

Sumi-e is a Japanese zen principle evolved from Chinese brush and ink wash painting, true sumi-e is painted on a thin and incredibly absorbent paper, using mentally recalled imagery to represent the subject the painter has viewed. it is done without any underdrawing and requires a decisive approach to the canvas and image making, consequently representations can be created quickly in a stylised manner. due to the lack of reference or preliminary work the brush is used as a library of marks, from which inspiration can be drawn, variations in the application of pressure, loading, or bristle width can all imply subjects.

a rather poor example of this can be seen in my attempt at painting a Sumi-e chicken for one of our hellish briefs, using the paintbrush to form the basis of the beast, i am still refining my skills so please consider this as an experimental foray into sumi-e. 

Goldfish Competition Aquarama 2011 Ryukin Senior Aquarama.

one of the videos i used for reference, the `Goldfish competition'

fish

I do like fish, i think they are interesting subjects to observe, they truly come in all shapes and sizes and can be a great source of inspiration for characters, they taste pretty nice too. We were asked to select one fish out of the plenty that are in the sea, my instant thought was a goldfish. They are something which have been present in my life quite often, after a bit of research i discovered the sub species of Fancy Goldfish. The most elegant and rich in character goldfish are a member of this genus; Oranda, Ranchu, and my choice the Ryukin. They have been the game of the East, bred into all shapes and sizes with enlarged features differing colours and all imaginable colours. 

under watercolour

To begin this exercise i painted the fish in as realistic a manner as possible, i wanted to establish the defining features of the fish to see if there were any consistencies across the variety. one thing i did observe of the fish was how distinct its shape is, almost comically so. the roundness of its body and distinct series of humps make the fish almost instantly recognisable

Of the three observational paintings i produced i believed the image with the fish nibbling on broccoli was most successful, the gradual washes appeared smooth, almost printed. This is one technique with watercolours i am finally beginning to grasp, being able to represent a value in a single wash results in a less worn surface, and a far more polished resolve, easier to read and more pleasing to the eye. 
 

Shelter

The shelter task revolved around creating subject matter from a single word, in this case it was shelter. As a table we brainstormed trying to cover all ideas, from there, individually we explored a more concrete visual. I hoped to base mine around a single individual, a grisly character, someone deeply exposed to the environments, weathered. 

our tables combined ideas, some more obvious than others, that was part of the advantage of pooling ideas, no two people on the table were thinking alike.

my initial sketches from the brainstorm- slightly gutted i didn't develop the turtle image further. 

this little sketch helped me to imagine how the character looks in relation to props and setting. the image below is a stronger visual in my opinion, i can just imagine him surrounded by other furnishings outdoors.