The britishness poster! what bournemouth means to me....... 

I have decided for my final book design I'm gonna simplify things a bit, the original idea was to create a gothic, Tim Burton style graphic novel, however with time constraints and not enough hours in the day I think a more simple functional idea would be much more appropriate. I am gonna go with a colour coded layout with each section headed with with a word which represent that part of the project, i.e reflection etc. Hopefully this style of book will be easy to navigate and let the work I have done do the talking.....

Editorial number 3, again just experimenting really, combining an icon of the new Poole quay and adding some relevant text, its all gonna go in the final book but I have the feeling that I will look back at everything i've done so far and cringe, but thats what's its all about, cringing and learning.

 

Went down to St Ives, sooo much artwork, its everywhere, all very conventional landscape stuff but there was a few interesting shops with some more contemporary stuff, also got to check out the St Ives Tate, it was an exhibition of Heimo Zobernigs work, really modernist and not really my cup of tea, too bland and devoid of any skill.

Totally changed the drift illustration, adding more iconograpy and trying to convey the sense of London as a living organism, I'm very aware though that I have not get developed a distinct style of illustration which think is important, but saying that its all about experimentation at this stage.

I dropped some words into the background, words I associate with Poole Quay, I also added a bit of a colour overlay to make the mood consistent with my views on the area.

Drift Critique With Neil

Some group feedback for our work so far. I want to convey my trepidation of London, and to communicate that it doesn't mean a hugh amount to me. The general feedback was ok in terms of technique but I think most people agreed that it needed more iconography from London and from the actual journey in order to stay truer to the brief. The use of the leaves doesn't create an atmosphere of intimidation at all, instead lightening the mood of the image, also its a bit of an obvious photoshop technique, gotta stop any of that business!.

more London icons

more originality

more intimidation

more images

street signs??

tube map??

graffiti??

darker iconography - violence, crime, agro

more crowded, cluttered

DRIFT Brief:

pick a location

observe, record your response, record

sounds, sights, feelings, idea's

communicate 

LONDON

dirty, dark, intimidating, overbearing, claustrophobic, DECAYING, disrepair, ageing, lonely, necessary, exciting, no one is anyone, ZERO, stagnant, dangerous, brutal, unforgiving, manic, diverse, desperate, alluring, complex.  

EDITORIAL ILLUSTRATION three

Trying to summarise the way old Poole Quay, with all its traditions, reputation, architecture, industry and habitants co exists with the new vision of a more tourist friendly Poole Quay was tricky, everyone will have their own opinion but after looking through the photo's I had taken I found quite a poignant image. The picture was of a local fisherman sat on a bench, quietly drinking his can of Tenants Super in the rain, surrounded by the new franchises, outlets, restaurants and buildings of the the modern Poole quay, he reminded me of everything Poole used to be about but now looked totally lost and at odds with the environment he was in. With the new "surf rest and play" motto that the council have adopted flying on flags above his head the fisherman symbolised the meeting of two very different worlds and visions which is why I used him for my third illustration! 

I adopted a similar technique to Tim Dinters with the use of simple lines and neutral colours to realise the depth and perspective i wanted to create, also to convey the melancollie and sombre atmosphere that the weather had created. I decided to include the new Poole motto to drive home the message behind the illustration. I wanted the fisherman to be the main focal point but only use colour an the buildings around him, heightening his sense of isolation and detachment from the world around him.

EDITORIAL ILLUSTRATION one 

Working from a photo I took on the sketch day I tried to find create an image which conveyed the sense of intimidation I used to feel about the area when i was young. To me the area used to feel very urban and oppressive, the buildings and structures were poorly kept and without much to do to engage a young lad it was quite a bleak, boring and depressing place.

The use of more hurried inaccurate lines in Dylan Gibsons illustration really conveyed the landscape and perspective of the older urban architecture in a city so I drew on that to try and give that same claustrophobic menacing feel.

I didnt want to use much or any colour as i didnt want to lighten the image, but using a little in the street lamps again heightens the atmosphere of the picture.

EDITORIAL ILLUSTRATION RESEARCH

Two illustrations that caught my eye

At the top is an illustration by Tim Dinter called A A Alex, this illustration was created with the use of an pen and photoshop. The thing that jumped out at me was the great sense of perspective created by the softening of colours and the choice of landscape. The colours used are very neutral and the lines simple and clear, not only does this create a good sense of depth it also captures the atmosphere of the place and even the weather. I could see this illustration being used by some kind of industrial company, it has the feel of an aeroplane safety manual, quite bland but aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Tim Dinters illustrative ethos is "reduction to one plain line".

Below is City 2005, created by Dylan Gibson who draws influence from the environment he is in, as well as old and new comics! Again there is a nice use of perspective but this time the lines are more cluttered and hurried creating an almost claustraphobic atmosphere. The vibrant colours on black and the balance of the image do convey the feels of a city at nigh time quite well and the selective use of colour guides your eye around the page. 

EDITORIAL ILLUSTRATIONS

Following on from our day in Poole Quay our brief was to produce three editorial illustrations to visually communicate our experiences of the day, be it the journey to get there, the atmosphere of the place or anything else which struck us about the trip. 

For me as i mentioned before, My memories and experiences of the area aren't exactly in keeping with what Poole council are trying to promote. As someone who has lived in this area my whole life the main thing that struck me about the trip was the change that has taken place, the addition of sculptures, contemporary architecture, cafes, luxury apartments, a marina etc etc. The progress and development of the area into a local tourist attraction and exclusive area to live is what Poole council would like the local residents to focus on and obviously its a great thing! but the interesting thing for me is looking at how successful has this transformation has actually been? Can you transform an area with a reputation for rough pubs and fights into a exclusive playground for millionaire boat owners by chucking in a few sculptures and glass fronted buildings? Can you justify charging £800000 for a waterfront apartment when the bloke in the council flat 200 yards behind you probably has a better view than you do?.

I wanted to concentrate on this relationship between old and new that is so strong in this area, be it the architecture, street furniture, atmosphere or just the type of people that go and live there. I wanted to open this up for discussions by illustrating 3 different views of the area -

1 - Poole Quay as i knew and remember it

2 - Poole Quay as Poole council would like you to see it now

3 - How the two co exist.

 

Photo's From Poole Quay

Drawing with Paper

This exercise was all about opening our minds up to the varying mediums available to us as designers and illustrators, be it collage, painting or in this case using paper. The brief was to try and communicate the atmosphere and feelings we picked up from our visit to Poole Quay, by using colours and shapes to create an illustration.

Drawing inspiration from artists like Rob Ryan and Kim Demarco, I was interested by the use of only a limited amount of colour, and instead concentrating more on the use of abstract shapes and perspectives to create a darker more sinister Tim Burton style of landscape. Kim Demarco creates a strong feeling of atmosphere by using darker colours and unusual shapes, so by using black and dark blue i tried to create a more abstract and unusual image of Poole Quay.

It was nice to work with materials other than just a pencil an paper, it pushes you out of your comfort zone and forces you to have a more clear cut idea about what you want to achieve and how you intend going about it. I am keen to explore other mediums of illustration and design and have a go at them myself. I found using paper made me focus much more how colours sit together and how the actual reasoning behind an image is so important.

Type and Tape!

This brief was all about typefaces and fonts, specifically creating our own typeface through the medium of tape! The brief was fairly open, it could be any style of typeface, representing anything we like and presented in any way we fancied. We broke down into smaller groups and had a little brainstorm . Our group decided that we would design our typeface for a specific theme, as if it was going to be used on a poster with a very distinct subject matter. We also had the idea to present the font in a more creative fashion, using an environment which was in keeping with the theme of the font.

We headed down to Slades Farm, a local skate park to look for inspiration. Whilst having a look around we got chatting to a young lad playing truant from school, he was bit rough round the edges to say the least and had a lot to say for himself. He gave us the idea to base the the font on decay, not just of materials and the environment but social decay. We called the font Dekline to signify the decline in the importance of community and family, by fragmenting the and distressing the characters we tried to convey the feeling of separation and erosion felt in modern society.  We used the decaying infrastructure of a council funded community park as a canvas to try and drive home the message. 

Again it was interesting to work with an open brief and to formulate an idea in a group environment rather than on our own. We used research and and the actual environment for inspiration and it was great to see how everyone interpreted the brief in such different ways. Feeding back to the group was fun, its great to answer questions and to actually test how robust the idea behind the visual work is. 

"look again" summer project 2008

More "look again photo's"

15/09/2008

The idea here was to take some photographic images inspired by the statement 'look again'.

I was interested in the way advertisements try and capture our attention, and exactly how much effect this indirect form of advertising has on us in our fast paced society.

Quite basic stuff really but i learnt how to mess with the shutter speed and aperture to create some good effects. Some of the shots convey the message quite well with a little help from photoshop!

TUESDAY 30/09/2008

Sketch Day

Field trip number one, a day in Poole Quay to record some images with our sketchbooks and camera' s that capture the atmosphere of the area. For me, as someone who has grown up in Poole this was an interesting concept, i think most people visiting the area for the first time would feel a strong sense of history, nature, development, industry, maybe even style, contemporary living and wealth. This is a fair perception of what the area has become and the image it is trying to portray, but if anyone was to ask me or my friends for a few words to describe what the area means to us as people who grew up here? I would say, fights, trouble, squaddies, drinking, industry, smell, mess and fish. So comparing the two perceptions there is obviously a stark contrast between what Poole Quay was to a teenager who used to get beaten up by Gypsies in the arcade, and what Poole Quay is now with all its cafes, bars and luxury apartments. This is what I tried to concentrate on, the contrast between old and new, dark and light, the positive outlook for the area and the negative reputation it has tried to shake off over the last 20 years.

More Sketches

We also had the chance to capture some images with a camera, experimenting with angles subject matter and texture. I headed down on 2 separate days, one rainy cloudy day and the other a fantastic day with clear sky's. Not only are the atmosphere's of the photo's very different, I also found myself concentrating on different subject once the sun was out and the mood of the place was more optimistic.