final sign

i noticed there were a couple of unfinished details, one being the loop which holds down the unicorn, trying to stay current on this blog i thought it might be appropriate to show the most finished final.

variations

it is my intention to colour this sketch, however with the time frame i was slightly limited to what alterations i could do to a good standard. another option was to invert the sketch, i wasn't quite sure how it would look it is something i have seen illustrators put to good use, primarily james jean.

with a bit of further refinement perhaps this could look like something good, in its current state not quite.

development on the pub sign

the inked sketch was not quite finished as some details were lost in translation to digital, i used sketchbook pro 6 to re establish these as it allowed for the most flexibility and accuracy in manipulation.

this is the final of the pub brief with text, the text was probably the biggest headache of the entire piece, formatting it to curve like that was nigh on impossible. i took the font i had prepared with the intention of manipulating it to the shape i required, however after some advice from Jim the best solution appeared to be right it out again in a curve instead of a straight line.   

i produced this page of fonts with the intention of picking the best bits and piecing them together to make the final font- below

 the final font which i produced couldn't be manipulated to the shape i wanted without distortion to the quality and kerning of the final font, the advice to print out text in the vague shape i wanted and then sketch over it seemed to be the only way to get it right. this means the final font is a little different to the one i had intended to use i still used the same style of brush work to render the piece so some of the qualities are present.

finished sketch

the scanner not recognising any of the detail wasn't the end of the world as the image would've progressed that way eventually, and after I showed my tutors they agreed the piece should be inked in the same style as my initial sketches. I have produced a couple of pieces in this style, the final for the smoke project, and summer  show poster, for example. both of those seem to carry the tones better in my opinion. Appearing more interpretative and less heavily rendered, the contrast in the tones added something to the image, in this current piece the contrast almost bleaches out the details, left as just lines I think the image would be flat and static so the tone in it’s own way is a good compromise, with the addition of filled colours I think the resolve of the image could be even better. 

this was the sketch just after the scan, the bleaching of details is quite obvious here. with a bit of cleaning up areas of detail do come into to focus but some of the subtle nuances are lost. 

these two images are good examples of how my work can look when things are rendered in black and white, and the contrast is pushed. a good initial scan meant both held up when manipulated especially compared with the pub sign sketches. 

sketches for the sign

I began this image by trying to fill as much of an a3 page with rough sketches from reference, I used two brush pens for this, a pentel gfkp for the lines, and a worn out Faber castell Pitt artist pen for the tone. The latter gives a nice mid tone which with pressure can become shadows. From this I had a clear idea of the elements needed for the composition and which reference would be useful, I pencilled the sketch to a clear resolve however the scanner failed to recognise any detail, which was quite frustrating. 

pub sign

My employers on the barbican, The Queens Arms pub had recently noticed the signs for the pub were out of date (advertising a product we no longer served.) kindly they offered me the opportunity to redesign the signs with my own interpretation. The nature of pub signs, and pub sign illustration means there should be some reference to the name of pub, taking the Queens Arms literally leaves quite limited subject matter, either the coat of arms or her majesty's arms taking a more literal approach. This led me to attempt the former, updating the graphic which is well known as the Queens Arms, featuring a lion and a unicorn it provided a good opportunity for some tight and very restrained drawing. The symmetrical nature of a coat of arms proved to be somewhat problematic, the other subject matter I was quite comfortable with, a horse rearing and several photos of lions gave me enough reference to reproduce the iconic poses with a more natural style, sketching the lion and unicorn as a lion and a unicorn- a horse with a horn. 

 the pub on the barbican, and below the current sign with the queens coat of arms.

 this was perhaps the most artistic interpretation of the pubs name, in northumberland. however it has caused outrage with the  "Acomb Parish Council chairman Major Charles Enderby described the sign as "most distasteful and inappropriate".- bbc news 

the final narrative

having produced all of the component parts for my narrative page i began by trying to place them further continuing the exploration of space, with my tutors mock up as a reference i shuffled things about until it looked fairly resolved. there might not look like there has been that much added, other than the extra character, however there was a little time spent procrastinating with the finer details of placement, centring some bits and moving others to suggest space.

 while experimenting with the arrangement of characters i found that slight twitches left or right resulted in quite a crisp border, the black and white aesthetic i felt was complemented by this, to those who disagree i produced one without as well.

 balance was the most difficult force to suggest in this piece, with every altercation something looked out of line or awkward, this was the best compromise i could come up with in terms of shape.

trying to suggest space

i tried adding two characters to the ronin composition, however things got a little busy. it might also sound like an excuse to say that these were done on a different day, i think it makes a different, there is not the same continuity in these sketches- compared with those produced before.

 the top page shows the development that went into the bottom sketches, of which i only used the one pose. experimenting with trying to place them led to a too busy composition defeating the point in the exercise.

ronin narrative ish

having produced a small series of sketches illustrating a bit of the characters background, it became apparent some context was needed. i began by placing the characters in a temple, digitally collaging them with sketchbook pro 6. i was fairly happy with the final resolve, i think in pictorial form it tells the story i was interpreting and served well along side my final illustration.

my tutors disagreed to some extent, instead suggesting that i place them on a page surrounded by space. this was the mock up they produced to demonstrate the idea.

it made sense to try and display the drawings as just the drawings, with no distracting background detail. trying to suggest extra forms with space was the new challenge.

final mantis

my final painting took a little faffing as the canvas i had chosen was a little too small, a bit of improvisation on the computer and no one will know. the colour was also a little dull without editing, the first thing i did was duplicate the layer and then multiply it, just to make the colours stand out a little more.

this is the photo shopped version with extended shadow and brighter colours, the details pop a lot more and i am quite happy with the finished result, my only regret is not taken a less restrained approach, i wish the layers of washes were more obvious after staring at it for ages i can only think it looks more like crayon than water colour. 

the obvious layers of washes in the tree below, is more in keeping with how i wanted to progress the image, with hindsight  

colour tests

i decided once again to do some quick photocopies for a few colour tests, after one i was quite confident in the swatches i had produced so there was no need for variation.

the paper is a little crinkled purely for the fact that its cheap, for these tests the quality of surface was of little concern.

mantis drawings

having found the reference i began the drawing, for this i decided to draw a grid allowing for total anatomical accuracy- the purpose of this illustration.

 i refined this drawing to the one below trying to keep the lines tight to make the paining a bit easier, i didn't really do any preliminary drawing for this piece the sketch below is about as far it goes. the brief itself felt like it should have a quick turn around.

Australian entomology

the australian entomology brief stipulated that the insect be native to australia, and the final image no bigger than A4. with this in mind i did a little research, the first bug which caught my eye was the spiny leaf insect, however with there being a lack of good reference for this particular bug, i settled for the giant rainforest mantis.

 described as the t-rex of the insect world this bug is a fierce predator that stalks the rainforest, and it is giant, the variety of colours in this image below (the one which i used to paint from) were quite daunting, but it was also why i wanted to paint the piece. for me it was an opportunity to get a good water colour for the portfolio.

jee sayalero

i spoke about him in the previous post, he is a tattoo artist who goes under the name of human fly, these are a few examples of his work which really inspired me and my use of colour. the subject matter seems quite related as there are many eastern themes and motifs.

 this second image really influenced my palette, the contrast of red and yellow really promotes contrast in tones something i was keen to employ

the final painting

for the final painting i decided to work monochromatically, i had seen a piece by Jee Sayalero which really changed my perception of colour, so i set out with this in mind maintaining what i had observed of Rackhams work. the final is an amalgamation of these influences, i changed the crow to a squirrel at the last minute which in the critique didn't go down to well.

fortunately i produced one with crows as well though, so you can decide for yourself. there was a sepia photo filter on the top image which really antiques the piece.

 these quick photo copies helped me produce colour samples for the final image without wasting any time, it was a suggestion from my tutor one which saved a lot of effort and allowed me to explore various resolves quickly.

47 ronin brief

my initial reasons for choosing the 47 ronin brief revolved around the freedom to interpret, and a explore the stories of a foreign culture. in hindsight being that it was a brief to create a creature i probably should've drawn a fox or a racoon (steeped in folk lore and mythology of japan), however i stand by the piece i created, in that i interpreted an old myth with an unfortunate man at the centre. it is more comparable to something by Jamie Hewlett in Monkey Journey to the West than a piece of concept art by justin Kaufmann per se.

 some images from jamie hewlett's monkey journey to the west, i was really inspired by how he restrained his interpretation, maintaining the iconic style associated with this illustrator while still embodying the oriental subject matter.

some narrative development

the first crit i had when i went back set my final image back a little bit because of slight changes, another suggestion was to use the less refined felt pen style i have developed to create a series of vignettes, telling the story of the protagonist in the final image. this is some development from that, to give it context, a drunk person stumbles into a monastery putting an ancient mask on his face, but it gets stuck. 

the thumbnail in the top right best describes the scene, it is quite rough though. 

 the centre figure and monks will make up the story with the few images below filling in the gaps,

 

a bit on my process

my process for this project has been slightly inefficient, when i came across a section of the image which was poor i began drawing that same section until i had what i imagined, below are some boulders and masks these were just free hand with pens and markers to get the shape and grounding- particularly in the boulder, which was more difficult than i first imagined. got there in the end.

 the mask at the bottom of this page was probably the closest to the final one although it does still differ, the grid was to help the symmetry of the piece. essential in masks as i found out.

final sketch

in the final sketch i decided to change the mask, a visit to the V and A prompted this when i was exposed to the variety of shapes in noh masks, aside from that most of the image is the same. the main change to the mask lies in the shape of the face, it helped the mask to seem more aggressive and devilish as described in the text.

refined sketch

i further refined the image by trying to enhance the robes creases and folds, this is something i observed in arthur rackhams work, where nice drapery makes for a more finished, and aesthetically pleasing resolve.

these fineliner studies of robes were copied from a japanese book i have, it really helped to develop the quality of line- japanese prints by taschen

initial sketch

from the ideas i put together a sketch of a scene i thought would be engaging, and representative of the story. it featured the character perched on a rock in a stand off with a crow, the animal addition was to try and further suggest, the distance from civilisation the protagonist had now entered.

the initial drawing was later refined to this, to simplify and progress the over all finish of the image.  

felt pen sketches

when i start an image now i like to begin with just a felt tip, its in hope of reducing my image down to what i need, it helps working out gesture, composition, and light. my initial ideas revolved around a character called shutendoji, an orphan taken into a monastry where he got a thirst for sake, one day he placed a mask on his face while intoxicated, the mask stuck to his face and he was outcast. sent into the wilderness to live with the alone.

 when i began drawing i pictured him stood up, loutish, with a bottle i started to imagine him sat down and it changed the motivation, he looked bored, alone, isolated as in the story.

my further sketches refined a pose, and imagined what the mask could look like- i wanted him resting against a rock simply as a prop to suggest the rural environment.

mythical creature brief

The 47 ronin mythical creature brief asked entrants to design a creature based on japanese mythology, to be released along side the motion picture recently adapted from a legend of the same title. i was drawn to this because i like aspects of japanese culture, its very different to anything in the western world, i was particularly inspired by the ukiyo-e prints of Hokusai.