Module Evaluation

Conclusion

Initially the most daunting of all the modules for me during this degree course to date, due to the fact that I really thought that I would not have the imagination, knowledge or speed to achieve an image to the standard that I would be satisfied with in such a short space of time. It is not possible for me to have been more wrong about this. I am delighted with the works I produced for this module and can say with confidence that I think it is some of the best work I have accomplished so far. It has shown me that with the right experience, tools, research, practice and support it is possible to execute a high standard of artwork in a short space of time. I think that I have demonstrated a proficient use of a diverse range of creative skills which I feel confident about using again in the future.

The workshops were well devised to prepare us for the final illustration for Olio 11. The support from the tutors was excellent and it was especially helpful that one or both of them were available whenever needed. The peer reviews were also interesting, receiving and giving feedback was an invaluable experience it is unlikely we will participate in outside in the real world; not quite on this scale, (around 40 students and several tutors).

This has been my most rewarding and fulfilling module, the culmination of all the skills I have learned on the course, so far, fully realised and executed with confidence and flair. I feel well equipped to embark on my children's book illustrations and am looking forward to learning how to put in all together and promote myself with a professional portfolio in the upcoming modules.

How Viral Cats are Warming Up the Planet Editorial Illustration by Kitty Skye 2015

John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath Penguin Book Cover by Kitty Skye 2015

Baby Angel by Kitty Skye (2015) for Unseen 4 "In the Sky" Pittville Press

Wild Swan by Kitty Skye (2015) for Olio 11 "The Eleventh Hour" Pittville Press

Bibliography

Anderson, H. C. The Wild Swans http://hca.gilead.org.il/wild_swa.html (1838)
Henderson, N. Gothic Art: Werewolfs, Goth, Demons and Dragons Flametree Publishing London (2013)
Calloway, S. Baroc The Culture of Excess Phaidon Press London (1994)
Rees, D. How to be an Illustrator Laurence King Publishing Ltd London (2013)
Scharaf, N. The Art if Gothic Omnibus Press London (2014)

InDesign Workshops

The InDesign workshops were really very useful. I learned how to setup a new document, including the correct sized pages with bleed. I then learned how add text to a page and to import ("place") an Image. One of the important things I need to remember is about the different grab handles for the different frames. I missed one workshop due to a misunderstanding about the timetable, so Dolores showed me what I had missed during a one to one session.

The InDesign software is by Adobe and is a standard setup with tools just like Photoshop and After Effects etc., so navigating it is relatively intuitive and having had a bit of practice over the last couple of years, with a little more use is certain to become second nature.

I still required some technical support when it came to putting Indesign to work for the first time with an actual live project, but was confident to proceed after being reminded of those things I'd forgotten.

I can see how InDesign will become an essential part of my practice as an illustrator and look forward to putting my second children's book together early next year. Particularly as I struggled with the page layout when it came to printing my first one.

Update: I have just attempted and succeeded designing my business cards using InDesign, very pleased with myself.

Olio 11 - The Eleventh Hour

Olio 11

The Eleventh Hour

The Eleventh Hour

Research

The Google search I made was dominated by an episode from Dr Who! However I did find the following:

http://mentalfloss.com/article/49435/whats-origin-phrase-eleventh-hour

A phrase that gained popularity during the 19th century, meaning "At the last minute possible"

 

Group Seminar discussion on the theme

The 11^th hour

Deadlines

·        Missing last orders in a pub

·       Transport – missing the train, buses, flights

·       Exams, applications, appointments

·       Tidying up after a party before parents come home

·       Getting to the church on time – wedding

·       Voting

Time running out

Living in the 11^th hour – the emergency services

Major decisions in history – atomic bomb, course of the titanic, Pearl Harbor, executions, court cases, wars and peace

Cat in a box theory – Schrodinger cat

Stay of execution, living in an extended 11^th hour while waiting for decisions.

Assassinations – Guy Fawkes, Abraham Lincoln, John Lennon, Kennedy

Voting

Zombies

Suffragette – Emily Davison jumped in front of a horse and died,  (had a return ticket in her purse so made a last minute decision)

LIMBO – in that moment and parallel moments – decision-making

Mexican day of the dead – Limbo, hanging onto life, in a waiting room.

Things that only last for a short while – metamorphosis, caterpillars, moonflower, may fly, animals that only survive for 11 hours.

11^th hour as a moment – catching someone’s eye in the street or passing by

Butterfly effect, chaos, consequence and fate.

The 11thn hour in environment and space.

Gambling split decisions at the last minute- under pressure

Saving a life- putting yourself in the way of harm to save someone else. Stopping a suicide, jumping in front of a bullet etc

The fragile last moments of life.

Comedy – humour, being late all the time

11pm – the magic hour, witching hour or wishing hour

The last chance to get things done, time for a change, making changes

Running through closing doors, Indiana jones style

Cowboys – stand off, shooting each other- quick on the draw.

In a rush

The night – cats, nightlife, streetlights, space

11am + 11 pm, the difference between what happens at that time of day

11^th hour in different cultures

Chaos, apocalyptic, destruction extinction, forest fires

Moments before impending disaster

11th day of Christmas

Countdowns – Birthdays, New Years Eve, Santa, Demolition, Bombs, Cooking, Christmas Eve, Space, NASA, Take Off, Flight, Finishing a shift at work, Waiting for takeaway to arrive, aeroplane, exams.

Natural disasters – tornados, storm chasers, Wizard of Oz, forest fires

Unpredictable

Batteries running out, car breaking down, puncture on a bike wheel

NHS decisions

Proposals + announcements, Surprise party, jack in the box

The number 11 stands for intuition, Patience, Honesty, Sensitivity, Spirituality, idealistic

Mentioned in the bible

‘One left over ten’

Elevensies, whisky breaks

Last chance

Regeneration

Constellation

Last minute before midnight

Getting ready to go out / getting ready to go to bed

Time- hands, cogs, clocks, sundials, physical representations of time

Saved by the skin of your teeth

Between life and death

Bingo – legs 11

‘The Time-Travellers Wife’ by Audrey Niffenegger

Major historical decisions – Margaret Thatcher

Bucket list – all things to do before you die

Panic

God

After the 11^th hour

Dreams – just before you fall asleep or wake up

11^th hour on television – the watershed, censorship, news, films, comedy

Remembrance day 11.11.11, silence

Mythology

No man’s Land

Films mentioned: Stardust, Crimson Peak, The 11^th hour, Life in a Day, The day after tomorrow, The law of manifestation, Sane New World, John Carter, The Boy in The Striped Pyjamas, Barak Obama and David Attenborough conversation on Climate change, The Life Aquatic, Brave New World, In Time,

Wrong place at the wrong time or right place at the right time

Escape- Auschwitz – handyman who was a women that helped children escape by carrying them in her toolbox to outside of the camps

Great train robbery

Sunsets and dawn

Birth

Tragedies – Berlin Wall, Hillsborough, Riots, Car crash

Black holes – avoiding the eleventh hour

Last tree left

Last white rhino – protected species

The Great Barrier Reef

Bees- plight of bees – Douglas Coupland - Generation A

Margaret Atwood - ‘ A Handmaids Tale’

Danny Wallace – Red Pencil, random acts of kindness

X-Factor, The Voice, Performing, auditions, interviews – anxiety, opening an important email.

Tsunami, Earthquakes, Floods (New Orleans)

Perpetual 11^th hour – Syria, War Zones, Homelessness, Berlin Wall

Rosa Parks – deciding to sit on the bus

Spontaneous or pre-meditated crime

Heroes- saving things at the last hour

Transient – things that don’t last – chalk drawings, something that lives for a day, something that lasts for eleven years.

Live food – lobsters, sashimi, sushi,

Escaping, escape artists, Houdini, Alcatraz, David Blaine

Curfews

Revenge

Dr Faust and his demons

Racehorse- final line, crossing the finish line

Behind the scenes

Elevensies- brunch – afternoon tea and around the world

Big cats- endangered species

Noah’s Ark

Getting into heaven

My Ideas

Prior to the seminar, I was thinking about time and clocks and cogs. I do have an interest in the Steampunk style and was dreaming of something along those lines. The group seminar provoked some interesting discussion, albeit rather dark in mood. At the end of the session, my mind began wandering a little and as it did so I remembered my favourite fairy tale, Hans Christian Anderson's The Wild Swans...eleven princes cursed and changed into wild swans and one princess, their sister who, to save them, must pick nettles with her bare hands and sew jackets for each brother without uttering a single sound to break the spell. It becomes a race against time when she is swept away by a King who wishes to marry the beautiful princess and she is sentenced to be burned to death as a witch after being seen picking nettles in the graveyard by the palace and is unable to speak and explain her crazy behaviour. Read the full story here: The Wild Swans

I was rather pleased with this eureka moment as it was not something that anyone else had thought of. However when I did some research, I discovered that it was a tale that had been illustrated time and time again. Not put off by this in the least, I set myself the challenge of producing a piece unlike anything else I had seen during my research.

The Wild Swans by Harry Clarke

The Wild Swans by Doreen Baxter

For many many more illustrations of The Wild Swans please follow this link to my Pinterest board for The Eleventh Hour:

https://www.pinterest.com/organickat/the-eleventh-hour/

Thumb nail roughs

Thumb nail roughs

Rough for The Wild Swans

Rough for The Wild Swans

Rough for The Wild Swans

Two Rough Ideas

The day before the presentation to the "clients" (cunningly disguised tutors), and the rest of the group, my peers. I was busily drawing out my ideas for "Cogs" and "The Wild Swans" when I had a vision of a coggy swan, an after thought tucked away at the bottom right edge of the thumb nail roughs (above). Following a brief tutorial with Georgina, I was rather obsessed with it and had pretty much made up my mind that this was the one I wanted to pursue. The downside being that we had to produce and present two completely different ideas to the client. Ummm. OK, so I had a third rough drawing to do...it did look a bit like a stumpy goose, but the idea was on paper ready for the presentation the following day.

Idea One - The Wild Swans - Rollerball pen & pencil

Idea Two - The Hands of Time - Variable nib dip pen, diffuser & inks

Idea Three Combined idea - Wild Swan (OK, Stumpy Goose!) with Cogs - pencil

Interim Presentation of Roughs

The thought of the presentation was a little nerve wracking, however, once I got into the seminar room and remembered that every person in it was someone I knew, the nerves soon subsided.

It was really fascinating to see everyone else's work. The array of ideas and interpretations was diverse and exciting. I was one of the last to present my work and hoped that, when put to vote, the group would share my preference for the coggy swan, and they did. Something I also enjoyed was watching peoples reactions to my work when they were wandering around the room looking at all the images, I felt reassured that I had produced something visually stimulating and compelling.

The Real Thing

Back to the studio to get on with the actual drawing. I had realised by now that this was possibly the most important piece of artwork I was about to produce in my life so far, due to its being published and dispatched to people who mattered, art directors, publishers, creative decision makers. Unfazed by this thought I set about planning in my usual meticulous manner ensuring that each step was fulfilled as it ought to be, taking particularly care with the composition this time, having learned a good lesson from the Viral Cat during the first workshop. It was important for there to be drama in this image. And as I embarked on it, it evolved and developed into so much more than I had originally envisaged. 

Rough for Wild Swan

Detailed rough for Wild Swan first stage

Detailed rough for Wild Swan final stages

Finished detailed rough for Wild Swan

Experiment with variable nib dip pen Wild Swan

Feather studies 

Final Outcome

Final rough completed, it was time to ink up. I wasn't certain which pen to opt for? Although the variable nib dip pen has beautiful and sometimes unpredictable results, I made the decision to use my rollerballs this time, so that I could be in full control, particularly of the finer detailing on the feathers (my favourite part). The final illustration was then scanned into Photoshop along with the yellow diffused background. I popped into college to find a tutor and discuss the background and was happy to find Fumio (tutor) to assist me. I told him that I was intending to use an orange and yellow spray with spot colour for the beak, and he agreed that orange was a good strong colour to balance with the strong black lines and cogs. He pointed out that in order to balance the composition it would be best to use a solid gradient of orange from the bottom up, but that ultimately it was my choice and that the aesthetic would naturally appear comfortable to my eye when it was right and that I should experiment in Photoshop, which I did, and it turns out he was right about the colour. I then showed a few other friends to gather advice and again was pleased with the results.

Completed line drawing - Wild Swan by Kitty Skye 2015

Diffused yellow background - acrylic ink

Final Outcome - Wild Swan for Olio 11 The Eleventh Hour by Kitty Skye

Workshop Three

Enter a Competition

I decided to choose to do an illustration to submit to the next edition of "Unseen", issue 4. The theme was exciting to me, "In the Sky", and the colour scheme even more so, fluorescent pink and yellow, that when overlaid made a delicious orange.

Thumb nails

Thumb nails

Thumb nails

I began with the thumb nails, discovering that working in a stream of consciousness manner when doing so is far more productive. And it is interesting to note that often the best ideas seem to stem from the most bizarre or even down-right rubbish doodles, which propels me even further.

Rough drawing in pencil

Colour separation trial on tracing paper

Colour separation trial on tracing paper

Tracing paper layers together

After a consultation with Dolores and in receipt of some enlightening feedback I embarked on the rough drawing. The illuminating thing that Dolores pointed out, was that it was important to consider that, although one might have plenty of splendid and valid ideas, it was imperative to remain true to yourself when contemplating the content of your own illustration visions. This was helpful in deciding which idea I would complete.

Variable nib dip pen version

Rollerball pen detailed version

I chose to do a drawing of a cherub, in the belly of its mother, an angel, both with wings. It was the title which first provoked this idea, "In the Sky"; my name being "Skye" and I imagined my daughter in my own belly. Wings have been a powerful symbol in my work over the couple of years, as a metaphor for my recent personal freedom. These were also relevant to the Unseen theme.

Digital colour separation pink layer

Digital colour separation yellow layer

I completed two versions of the drawing, experimenting with dip pens versus my favoured rollerballs and high detail versus simplicity. I also had to consider the colour separations, and Dolores and advised me to work on tracing paper to experiment with this. After careful thought and a mix of opinions from peers and tutors, I decided to opt for the simpler version using the variable nib dip pen. I then scanned it into Photoshop and worked out the colour separations in a greyscale version. 

Final Outcome Baby Angel for "In the Sky" by Kitty Skye 2015

The illustration has been included for this edition of Unseen, I am pleased to say. I adore the printed result of the Risograph printer, it appeals to me on many levels: the natural soya based inks, the hand printed feel and look of the final outcome and that I can print on my current favourite paper; Bristol Board. I will be producing a set of limited edition prints for sale of this illustration.

Workshop Two

Book Cover Brief

Penguin Classics

I chose to illustrate John Steinbeck's, The Grapes of Wrath. Steinbeck is one of my favourite authors and although it is one book I had not actually read, I was drawn to this title to illustrate. The story is about  a mass exodus following an exceptionally long drought. Although I was in Paris when the workshop was taking place, I set about completing the task with the same time frame as was given, as this was another chance to experience working in the real world of illustration.

Thumb nails

Thumb nails

I considered the content of the narrative very carefully, as I wanted to ensure that this was communicated to the viewer. It was also important to me to ensure the design was of the era, 1930s, whilst subsuming a post-modern demeanour that would attract attention, yet be right at home on the shelf in a book shop around the corner.  I think that I succeeded in all of the above by combining the use of an authentic variable nib dip pen and ink with a digital, yet classic, gradient colour scheme and a distinct Art Deco influenced composition.

Rough

Due to my working on this brief simultaneously with brief number three, I had discovered the joy and beauty of the Risograph printer and decided to print this illustration on said printer. I had learned that it was possible to use it to reproduce gradients with a variable controllable speckle, and the end result was a great success. I intend to produce a set of limited edition prints to sell.

Rough colour

Feedback from Georgina was very positive and encouraging, especially as it was all a bit of an experiment, working in ways that were new to me, particularly the digital aspect. Mark also commented, saying it was one of my most successful pieces so far, a great compliment.

Final drawing

I was reassured that it was a successful illustration, with peer feedback which affirmed my intentions.

Digital shading/colour separation layer

Final Outcome

Workshop One

Editorial Brief

I was really looking forward these editorial workshops. Particularly as after reading about editorial work in Daniel Rees' book, "How to be an Illustrator", and thinking that perhaps it wasn't for me. I thought that this would be an ideal opportunity to see if I could work under tight time constraints whilst still producing an image that I considered publishable, especially being a perfectionist; even though this is a trait I have been actively attempting to shake off in favour of acceptance of my imperfections as a signature of the hand crafted nature of my style of drawing.

The first brief was a challenge for me, it was the first time I have had to do anything like this. My only criticism of the brief would be the vast number of choices available. Whilst this was provocative, in that it made sure that there was something everyone was most likely partial to, it was a bit like having to buy cheese for the first time in a well stocked supermarket where there are about ninety varieties and you have no idea how any of them taste. After reading the articles, whose titles had appealed to me the most, I thumb nailed. At first this was difficult, I felt as though my brain just wasn't up to the task at hand and that I was right after all; editorial work wasn't for me. The funny thing is that once I had this thought, I relaxed a bit and just drew some random, abstract ideas, some were silly and some were most definitely far fetched. After filling a page with these, I found that one or two of the ideas were rather appealing even if a little daft and I took them to consult with the art directors, Dolores and Georgina, my tutors. I chose to do "How viral cat videos are warming up the planet", because I found the title amusing and the content of the article fascinating; being an ethical and ecologically minded soul. 

Thumb nails

Following the discussion with Georgina, two ideas were agreed on and I drew up roughs of them both. After a second consultation the final illustration was selected and drawn again as the final outcome. The decision I had to make was about the final production and I decided that I would print and process as I had my previous illustrations to get the desired effect I was looking for. The downside of this being the timeframe as it is a six-stage process. Was there any stage I would be able to skimp on or emulate in a different way? After some thought, I realised there were a couple of things I could try; risky given that it may not actually work and I would then have to do it the usual way, adding more time to the whole thing...fortunately the corners I cut worked out and I was able to finish it to the standard I wanted.

Rough

Rough

That said, the following morning when I looked at the image with fresh eyes, I noticed that; in my hurry to finish on time; I had made a right mess of the composition!! Oh no! What could I do!? Straight into college and find Mark, the print technician, who, I must say, has an excellent eye for this kind of thing. And yes it was salvageable; in fact it wasn't half as bad as I had thought in my mild panic. But it did set me back a couple of hours. It all came right in the end and my final image was submitted on time. I was happy and so were the "clients".

First Gum Arabic Print (in reverse)

Amended drawing

It was also rewarding to see everyone else's work and to have the opportunity to review their work anonymously and to receive feedback too.

How Viral Cats are Warming Up the Planet by Kitty Skye (2015) Final Outcome

What would I do differently next time? Take a time out, have a cup of tea, then go back and check that the final drawing is perfectly balanced before commencing the rest of the process!

I am delighted to say that this workshop built confidence in me, and I think that I am ready to attempt another editorial piece and see if I can succeed again.