sam arthur

Co-founder of 'Nobrow' press - Sam Arthur, came in to talk to us about his publishing company, the type of works they have produced, how he got where he is and showed us some of the books they have made. 

Love the concertina style this has been done in - the way the story keeps flowing across the page, with certain bits jumping out at you; making it so there is always something more to look at.

This section was my favourite, cant see very clearly here but the sunlight in the back blends so nicely into the clouds, has a really good traditional printing texture to it. Shows how very simple detail can add so much more depth to a piece. Seeing work like this makes me want to work more with print, creates a completely different effect to it than handrawing does, so would be fun to try out.

prints

SHEPARD FAIREY

Love Fairey's cover for this book, very relevant to text. Looked some more into Fairey's work and found some other pieces I really like:

These are quite different to the famouse prints he has done - the Obama prints and 'OBEY'. These are a lot more detailed and have a really beautiful pallette of colours to create tones, quite a romantic atmosphere.

pattern

LOUISE BOURGEOIS

- loose line work
- use of line to create texture
- subject matter simplified down to basic lines
-  exploring complex ideas through patterns in line work

what is illustration - part 2

Aesthetic

Sarah Maycock - interesting texture, composition (line of sight)

Charley Harper - working mostly with shape

Nigel Peake - highly detailed, intricate work

Andrei Răducanu - architectural, technical drawing

Matt Taylor - good use of colour

Function

Alexandra Khitva - concept art

Yoni Alter - advertising

Luke Best - editorial

George Butler - advertising; commercial

Emma Dibben - packaging

Content

Andy Riley - humour (bunny suicides series)

Ping Zhu - emotive, responding to serious issue, sad/serious tone of voice

Ralph Steadman - political humour, satirical 

Mr Bingo - humour

James Boswell - eerie, intriguing tone of voice/atmosphere, narrative

Process

Davy and Kristin McGuire - paper architects, paper cut

Don Moyer - ceramics

Kate Gibb - collage work

Michael Raedecker - paint and stitching 

Clifford Harper - woodcut

Context

Francis Alys - sketchbook work/testing

Bill Bragg - book cover, narrative 

Bella Pace - sign work, typography

Deanna Staffo - observational drawing, sketchbook work

Pablo S. Herrero - large scale, street art

403 Visual Skills - end of module evaluation

Throughout this module I feel I have developed some valuable key skills, for example, simplifying ideas to a more basic and clearer form, which is important when attempting to clearly convey a message. I found I was best at this in brief 3 where I was given an article which had a wide range of points and I was able to pick out the keys ideas and break them apart to their simplest form to which I then illustrated. I also feel I have improved on my development of my ideas to fuller formed concepts, by filtering in research which helped push ideas further, for example I found that some of Kaye Blegvad’s work greatly manipulated the direction of the style in which I carried out studio brief 4, as I felt her use of ink fitted well with the smoky effect I wanted to create in my work.

What I found very enjoyable about the briefs is that they were all very different in nature, which meant I was able to experiment a lot with different materials and approaches to my work. I feel I was the most experimental in brief 3 where I worked with collage and patterns, as we were only allowed two colours, I wanted to create some layering in the image to draw attention to the main content. I found that in my development I was taking more consideration into what  materials I used, rather than just going with something that aesthetically looked nice, I thought about whether it would help communicate my message any better. For example, in brief 4; I wanted to use ink to convey the idea of smoke but then found that the quality of ‘quink’ create a much more smoky texture in the way it gained a yellow tint when mixed with water. 

I feel that I the way in which I have been quite open minded with my approaches, and haven’t confined myself to my comfort zone, has been a strength in this module. This is supported by what I was told through peer review feedback, where I was told that it is clear that I haven’t just stuck to one ‘style’ for each brief, yet there is a certain approach that links all the briefs together as it is evident from looking at the work that it was me who did them. I was also told that I have a consistent quality to all my final outcomes for each brief.

My initial idea generation, I feel, has been a weakness in this module. I have found it difficult to quickly come up with and sketch multiple ideas as I often spend too long on the sketches but I also I get quite stuck when pressed to quickly brainstorm ideas. Although comparing brief 1 to the later briefs, I feel I have slightly improved in that area and this will continue if I routinely motivate myself to quickly generate ideas, as it is an essential skill. I don’t think my digital work has been very good, and definitely want to improve in that area as I feel it will greatly advantage my work. I don’t want to be doing full pieces digitally, as I much prefer the traditional, analogue style of working, but I do understand that editing bits of my already drawn pieces can really improve them.

In the future I feel I need to manage my time better, maybe make a timetable for myself for when I don’t have timetabled sessions as I have found I am leaving some work till the last minute. I also want to be more committed to staying on after the timetabled sessions have ended as I do work better when in the studio and I don’t feel I have been pushing myself as much as I could be.