Persons of Note - Swimming Pools?!

I'm going to explore the way that water and swimming pools can work in different ways within illustration. I am particularly interested in the methods that Nakamatsu uses in the inventions of ideas for his work and this involves water and swimming.
The idea of illustrating water has always confused me simply due to the way the colours change and there no such thing as straight line underwater. This will definitely be a challenge for me but I'm so motivated for this project at the moment so i can't wait to challenge myself!
In the documentary that I watched, there were grids on the floor of the pool much like the first illustration, this could be really interesting and I could change the colours of this to create abstract grid effects. I saw these posters by Anymade Studio and this has really got me thinking about the different colours and effects that I could use to re create the swimming pool effect!

I might be getting ahead of myself here but i think it would be really exciting to challenge the colours that are associated with swimming. A lot of the colours on the talk shows that Nakamatsu appears on in japan are very bright and playful and this corresponds very well with this. 

Persons of Note - Exploring Japanese Text

I've been using pinterest a lot lately, particularly looking at graphic design as Im finding more and more that it is often an important element within illustration.
I have always been fascinated by Japanese text and writing, they are almost artworks on their own. This is deinfitely something that I would like to look into further within this project. I think the bold text could work really well. This is just an initial idea but it's something thats been really exciting for me and I've been having a lot of visual ideas for it.
Here are some of the pieces that I've seen on pinterest using japanese text which are really inspiring me at the moment.

I just think the BOLD simple shapes add so much and are really effective. They can add a comic element due to being associated with elements such as manga and japanese cartoons, but i quite like this in a way. My work isn't particularly comic like at all so it could work quite well with it. Again, these are just really basic ideas at the moment but I thought id blog it because i felt so excited about graphic design!

Yoshiro Nakamatsu - DOCUMENTARY

Following watching the documentary, Im finding that its not necessarily his inventions that are inspiring me but the methods and ways that he reaches the idea. Im finding it facinsating and the scene underwater almost seemed magical to me. I had so many visual ideas and imagery that i could create. I definitely want to explore this scene more and experiment with how i could create illustrations and images based on this process.

I really like his thoughts and ideas about his process to. Favourite quotes include:
"TOO MUCH OXYGEN IS BAD FOR THE BRAIN"

"THERE ARE MANY WAYS TO CREATE INVENTIONS"

"AN IDEA APPEARS INSTANTLY AND DISAPPEARS INSTANTLY"

"I GET AS CLOSE TO DEATH AS POSSIBLE"

I think it would be really effective to actually use these quotes within my work, this would work really well in terms of addressing yoshiro as a person and telling his story and his though process through not only image but quotation and text. If i were to do this i would defiently have to be subtle as i think a lot of text could ruin the delicate and subtle aesthetic of a swimming pool and dreamy nature that i find yoshiro has to him and his thought process!!!!

More portraits!

I know this isn't a portrait brief and i really need to step away from it before I get drawn in too much, but I've just been really enjoyed being creative and drawing this character who I've researched so much into. He is fascinating and i feel like i haven't had the chance to draw too many portraits this year. It is something that I really enjoy, maybe i could work it in somehow?

Even if I don't use the portraits I've been having a great time and have really enjoyed exploring different medias and experimenting with layering.

I looked at colours and how they can effect the mood and appeal of the character. i love the way that i have used the goache as a medium and in this case i think its really effective in the way it translates the colours.

Yoshiro Nakamatsu - Initial Drawings

I'm starting off by drawing simple portraits of Nakamatsu in order to get an understanding of him physically before i embarked on exploring his life outside of his appearance, i sketched from videos and footage of him, alongside photographs.
I understand that this isn't a portraiture brief but I'm really enjoying working on the human form and faces and this is something that i enjoy and haven't really had the chance to explore in a lot of depth up until now.

WHY WAS DRAWING YOSHIRO HELPFUL?

• I think that having an understanding of something or someone physically makes it easier to understand the actions of things that they do. It enables me to imagine them in their lives and helps understand why they are doing what they do and how they are doing it, this is something that is really important, particually in this project.

• Despite this not being a strict portraiture brief, there is nothing to say that i couldnt include the image of yoshiro within my work, i think that his overall appearance and way that he dresses is something that makes him, him, and this is definitely something that i am interested in exploring in even more depth. 

BRINGING IN COLOUR

 I have started to consider the concept of using bright colours or a plethora of colour within this project. Through research i have understood the bright and bold colours that are used in japanese talk shows, in which i have discovered yoshiro frequently appears on. I really like the idea of representing his culture and general aesthetic alongside the image of him as a person.

I also considered the idea of looking at japanese cartoons and seeing how these can have an effect on my drawings. i attempted to use blocky lines and shapes and look at how these can be transformed into portraits. This is a very different method for me, i do like the general look of that style but i don't think it will show my best potential if i embarked on an entire brief focusing on stylising my drawings. 

Yoshiro Nakamatsu

WHY YOSHIRO?

• Japanese inventor who has become a minor celebrity for his inventions. He regularly appears on Japanese talk shows which, in conjunction with his appearance.

• He is a prolific inventor, and he even claims to hold the world record for number of inventions with over 4,000 patents

• Nakamatsu described his "creativity process", which includes listening to music and concludes with diving underwater, where he says he comes up with his best ideas and records them while underwater.

• Nakamatsu claims to benefit from lack of oxygen to the brain during his dives, making inventions "0.5 seconds before death." He also claims that his "Calm Room," a bathroom constructed without nails and tiled in 24-karat gold, encourages creative thinking by blocking television and radio waves.

All of the information and more really appeal to me, i really want to be creative with this brief and i feel like by exploring, particularly yoshiro's method of inventions, i will be able to create wacky and creative work.

EXCITED

I'm so excited for all of the potentials that can happen with this brief, despite having only a minor bit of research and sketchbook work at the moment, I'm so excited to make a start on creating work and exploring different media, i think thats really something that i want to work out for this brief. 

Persons of Note - Three People

Silvia Plath

Through investigation into the three people i was given, i was able to consider different possibilities and outcomes that i would potentially be able to create when exploring all three people.
I really enjoyed the research element of this project and discovered many ways that i could image make through other methods that wasn't just portraiture.

RESEARCH:

I really enjoyed looking into syliva plaths poetry and found it interesting how her life and poems changed in tone reflecting on different events in her life and how she ended up in deep emotional trauma leading to her suicide. although i found Syliva Plaths life touching in many ways, i found it deeply emotional and i don't think that i will be researching further into her life.

JOAN OF ARC

Although i have found my research into joan of arc interesting and learning about her past intriguing, i feel like because i have only seen recreated images of herself, i will find it difficult to create my own version of her. despite this not being a portraiture brief, i know that for myself, i think ill find it difficult to create an image of her without physically knowing her appearance, this might sound silly, but its something that i can't quite get over when trying to research her. 

YOSHIRO NAKAMATSU

Through my initial research into Nakamatsu, i was INSTANTLY inspired by his work, even through my very early research i found him funny and a person with real character and wit, and this instantly made me want to create work about him. i was flooded with ideas and potential subjects to create just by looking through images and text about him.
This is something that i really look for when creating work. 

Persons of note - simple designs.

To start this project we did a workshop where we explored the idea of simplicity. We were to choose a celebrity and make a poster about them not using their face. 

i chose:

ED SHEERAN

I focused on his album artwork and how it is instantly recognisable to him. 

I found this workshop really helpful as I am trying to improve my vision of shape and colour, i think this experiment was fairly successful but i'm excited to start learning with shape for the new brief.

Greetings FROM - feedback!

Overall i got very positive feedback on my postcards.
Feedback included:

• I LOVE THE COLOURS
• wow, really nice colour palette.
• you could have used more detail within the shapes.
• i love the colours and overlay of the leaves but I'm not sure where they're meant to be
• all work really well as a set
• they look professional, well done!
• are they all places near the sea? work well together but unsure.
• love the pastel tones, they look so pretty!
• my favourite postcards!

im SO happy with the feedback that i received from the class! I agree in terms of loving the colour palette, its for sure my favourite colours that I've worked with and i want to work even more with similar tones in the future.

I also agree that it might not be the easiest to tell where the places are meant to be, this was an issue i was having since the start of the brief and I'm just glad that i resolved it in some way, shape or form but, i do admit that i could have probably done this better. 

Greetings from - gradient tool and final postcards!

FINAL POSTCARDS

Following on from my inspiration from Yoko Honda I added a gradient to the background of my postcards, this worked SO well and i was so pleased with the results! I attempted to keep a similar colour palette to what i already had going on within the postcard in an attempt not to over complicate it, this deifnetly worked in my favour and i'm so happy with the outcomes.

MIAMI

WHAT WENT WELL?

• I'm really pleased with how the miami postcard has resolved itself. I'm really pleased with howI have resolved the colour palette and have kept to the idea of using colours to represent the locations. The pastel colours and tones that i've used for me, really show the miami aesthetic.
• The composition has worked really well, the palm trees in the foreground almost up the viewer up like a door to enter into the postcard.

WHAT I WOULD CHANGE?

• If I were to do this postcard again I would consider how I could use the colours in an even more subtle way. In some parts i find that the colours clash too much and this isn't very good in terms of showing the location to its best ability. 
• I would look at how i could be more dynamic with the way that i drew the buildings and the palm trees, they don't nessasarily look 'flat' but they just don't stand out and look as 3D as I would have wanted them to.

BRIGHTON

WHAT WENT WELL?

• I think that again, my use of colour and consideration for the palette has worked really well. Im so pleased with how i have considered the colours by looking at how i can use a bit of each beach hut in another, this was really useful way of tying the image together.
• the sense of depth within the image works really well, by placing the beachuts at slightly different levels, it really allows the image to draw you into it, I'm really happy with how I've done this.

WHAT I WOULD CHANGE?

• If i were to do this image again i would focus on making it more 'earthy' in a sense, maybe less straight lines and more old wooden planks? I think thats just my limited skills on illustrator, by I would love to revisit a project like this when i have more advanced skills and see if i can create shapes that represent the locations rather than just focusing on the colour.

CAPE TOWN

WHAT WENT WELL?

• The gradients that i have used on the walls is really effective in this postcard. i think it really give the image a sense of depth.
• the composition of all of the elements within the frame. This is the busiest postcard in my opinion and that made it difficult to place each aspect in the correct part on the image, particularly the plant pots and pillars, however, through my roughs i think that i have explored this well and it works coherently.

WHAT WOULD I CHANGE?

• I would probably change the whole layout and image as a whole, this is my least favourite postcard of the set,  i find it to be too busy, and despite saying i think the composition works well, i find that i should have used less components and objects in the first place so that i didn't overcomplicate it, which i think i have !!
• im not too keen on the colours in this postcard, i think i could have worked a lot harder in create a more solid palette for them to work on. although i have used a similar palette for the other postcards, it just doesn't seem to fit very well in this one.

OSLO

WHAT WENT WELL?

• i LOVE the colours on this postcard! i think the pastel colours work so well against the darker green and the way that i have done the wood on the cabins really shows off all of the colours to their full potential.
• I'm really happy with the composition of this postcard, the way that i have given the image a sense of depth by placing some of the cabins further up the hill and added darker tones of green on the hill works really well in terms of giving depth to this image.

WHAT WOULD I CHANGE?

• I would probably add even more cabins to the image to make it truly representational of the cabins in oslo. i would try and spread the cabins out a bit as i find that they seem slightly cramped which may, in some ways, take away from the colours in the piece. 

Greetings from - INSPIRATION! YOKO HONDA

I HAVE FALLEN IN LOVE!

YOKO HONDA

I came across Yoko Honda's work on pinterest and INSTANTLY fell in love with the colours, shapes, patterns and overall dreamlike, psychedelic, 80's aesthetic in her work.

This has given my instant inspiration for the postcard project, i now know how to resolve the background issue..gradients! the perfect way to show colours without being too bold about it by using block shapes which i have been doing. 

WHAT IS IT THAT I LOVE SO MUCH?

• The beautiful colour palettes that, even though have so many colours within them, work so well and so coherently, this is something that strive for within my own work!
• the composition of the pieces is so perfect, the gradient takes up a lot of the pieces so there doesn't need to be too much going on alongside that, the colours speak for themselves!

Seeing Yoko Honda's work has excited me so much! I'm going to experiment RIGHT NOW with changing the backgrounds on my postcards, this is exactly what i needed as i feel like i was getting a bit lost with trying to find a colour to tie the postcards together rather than an technique such as a gradient!

Cape Town and Oslo

By this point in the project I was really running out of time. I am fairly disappointed with myself and my time management on the project and I definitely think that I could have handled this better.

I feel like i had to rush through the final two postcards as I had spent so long deciding what to do with the project in the first place, this was definetly a mistake on my part.

I created the roughs for the cape town image based on a selection of photographs. This was the only postcard which i would be making completely from scratch which was for sure a challenge for me, but i was excited as i now felt more confident with using illustrator as a programme.

I began to create the cape town postcard by mapping out where specific objects would go on to the image. As I was making it from scratch this was a real challenge but definitely something that was enjoyable to do, despite the lack of time on my hands!!

I have really got the hang of adding elements of shading and shadow onto the image such as on the plant pots and on the walls of the buildings, I'm really proud of myself for sticking with illustrator even though i have found it close to impossible at times. 

Despite having already planned out the colours before hand, when putting them on to illustrator i just really felt like it wasn't working, i wasn't at all happy with the colour combination and i knew for a fact that i could do a a lot better to create something that i was happy with !!

WHY DOESN'T IT WORK?

• The yellow is clashing with the pink and blues!
• too many colours
• too busy, all the colours are not working together, it also doesn't work with the other two postcards that I've made!

HOW TO CHANGE THIS

• I need to simplify the colours down, look at other colours in the palette and create similar tones. 
• keep it colourful but keep it simple.

I'm a lot happier with this as an image but i still feel like i could work on it a lot more in order to enhance it as a whole. I think for now I'll start the final postcard and come back to it with fresh eyes!

OSLO

• I started my oslo postcard having done some sketches on the location but not having done many roughs. i found this to be a mistake but i was working from photographs from a variety of sources so i found that it didn't hinder me too much, although i know that this was a mistake and i wish i could have done it differently like i would have if i had organised my time better.
• By this point in the project I had a colour palette in mind and wanted to keep it similar to the postcards that i had already made, this was a very important factor in order for them to work coherently.

I found that at this point in the project i was a lot more 'skilled' in illustrator and found it so much easier and faster to create images.

I think that is definitely something that i will take away from this project as a whole, just the skill of using illustrator and the mindset that if i really work hard on something and keep at it without giving up then i can really do it, thats such an important feeling to have.

I'm really happy with the general appearance of the oslo postcard so far. I really feel like i need something to tie them all together in a further way. I will research into other artists that use illustrator in order to enhance my knowledge further and hopefully get inspiration and ideas on how i can make the four postcards more coherent. 

Brighton and Miami FEEDBACK!

In my feedback session I showed my designs for the Miami and Brighton Postcards -

• The opacity of the leaves is really nice, it works well.
• The overlay and the geometric shapes work really well together.
• I think you should focus on the colours more rather than the form of the buidlings and shapes.
• The background makes the sky look slightly foggy which doesn't match the miami and brighton scene.
• The leaves tend to get lost against the darker colours of the buildings which is a shame as thats an exciting element.
• The central and framed compositions add alot in terms of bringing them together as a sequence and it would be effective if this was carried out across all four postcards.
• The background colours need to link but not necessarily by all being the same colours. It doesn't work in this way. 

For me, this feedback session was really helpful, I was able to asses how well I have been using illustrator to its full potential for me and also I have been able to look at how I have change aspects of the postcards so far in order to make the piece more effective and work better, I will definitely look at these suggestions and experiment with the ways I can change the colours and opacity of shapes in order to create a more visually dynamic piece.