First draft of essay

Illustration is a form of unique art that is not defined by it's medium, but by it's context. Illustration can vary from a masterful work of art to a practical business application, children's books to advertising campaigns, clothing to packaging and store displays, video games to movies and animations to comic books. I chose to focus on illustration because I feel it is such an expressive area to focus on, as it has no limitations or right or wrong answers. Some may say it's an easy route, however it's more than just painting a pretty picture, it's about creating something that may not be obviously beautiful, but being able to bring that individual beauty out for people to see. One major hobby of mine is reading, and I feel this has given me an advantage to have a broader imagination, allowing me to think outside the box. Artists such as Georgina Luck express the style of illustration that I feel is my favourite, as it's not the most delicate or precise, but it has it's own quirky and down to earth feel from it. Also, Georgina Luck takes everyday objects and puts her own twist on them, allowing them to become something more than just the obvious. Something I would like to mainly focus on would be to produce something everyday but put my own twist on it, also to show something that's like from a dream. I love looking at an illustration that shows a story, as I do believe a picture says a thousand words.

Georgina Luck

Based in the bright sunny seaside of Brighton, Georgina Luck's elegant, yet spontaneous style of work, highlights her occupation as a freelance illustrator and designer. Producing outcomes for packaging, advertising, publishing and editorial and health and beauty allow her to express her love with watercolour and ink by producing unique and personal illustrations. 

Furthermore, she confessed to using Schmincke watercolours, Schmincke Aerocolour inks and Daler Rowney acrylic inks, as she felt they are both good quality with all of them having different opacities, which allows her to have a broad range to choose from. As a commercial illustrator she is required to supply work digitally, and therefore scanning paintings through is an important part of the process, therefore she finds that Fabriano Artistico 'Extra White' paper is the only watercolour paper which doesn't dull the colours when they dry so this is best for her to use. 

The subject matter of her work depends on what she is advertising. The content doesn't go much further, as there is no work, which seems to be just a doodle, or just a drawing she has made up on the spot. What you see it what you get with her work. 

There is a natural aspect of her work, because they are highly recognizable e.g. everyone knows Heinz tomato ketchup and fruit and veg. Her illustrations are exaggerated slightly because they are not drawn to scale, the painting isn't precisely and accurately presented. 

When the images are on their own, in my opinion they look just like a normal drawing, just a sketch in someone's sketch book, however putting her images on packaging and putting text and information next to them completely allows the content to change from a drawing to the final product. 

Her images tend to be close up views, cropped with a white box around them so there is very high contrast allowing the image to stand out. Her use of lines and patterns are very minimal, as they're naturalistic drawings, so they're less dependent on looking abstract. In contrast to this, her use of tone and contrast is what makes the image become a final piece. The tones create this 3D look to certain work, and there is a sense of rhythm created through the same style of splattered paint. 

The overall arrangement is pleasing to me, as the images seem very down to earth and out there. The use of her food images looking chaotic and messy express exactly how cooking can be. I could see these images on a cutting board for the kitchen, or magnet stamps on the fridge. You can feel the sense of love and passion coming through her work.

Marumiyan

Marumiyans work appears in many ways such as magazines, CD covers, posters and product packaging. People, plants, animals and buildings are some of the many materials he expresses throughout his work, and he also mentioned that illustrating natural objects such as flowers and animals is what he believes makes the artwork vivid and brilliant. People who have viewed his work have described it as being filled with floral elements, intense energy and bright colour. This highlights his great care for detail, and thinks deeply about his use of colour. His work draws on aspects of traditional Japanese culture and the end of the 1800's art Nouveau posters, modernized by a more sophisticated understanding of light shadow invoked by the subsequent revolution in photography.

The subject matter sometimes isn't very clear, as he has a million aspects going on within one photo, which all stand out in their own way, so I tend to go by size proportion. His images tend to be based around a person, but the images have a whole look like a dream. 

The images of people tend to be side views, which I think allows other shapes and objects to stand out and be highlighted. The photo has been framed with quite a close up view, with parts of the image coming off the edges, and the whole image taking up the majority of the page. There is a definite theme throughout his work, and each piece is highly recogniseable e.g. the use of his layering and the particular images he uses such as nature and people allow his work to have its own style. 

His use of colour really allows his artwork to become their own, with constraining colours, but also harmonious and complimentary colours, which furthers his experiments with advertising. I think the way he uses size to create his focal points are really effective, as he knows what he wants the viewer to see, and he is successful in doing so.

The viewer’s attention is straight away pulled to the person in the picture, however the use of the other images gives the person more depth and meaning. I feel his images are also very much a fantasy, something like a dream or his imagination from a book he has read.

 In terms of an audience for his work, again those who are interested in fantasy and mystical interests would love his work; I believe they would work well in young children's book as they can be adapted to suit a story. I would like to try his style of work as I feel it would fit well with both handmade and digital, even both together. 

Alphonse Mucha

Alphonse Mucha

Born 24th of July 1860 and died 14th July 1939, Alphonse Maria Mucha was a Czech Art Nouveau painter and decorator, mostly known for his illustrations of women. He produced work varying from paintings, to illustrations, advertisements and designs. His singing ability allowed him to continue his education through high school in the town of Ivancice, Moravia (today's region of Czech Republic). Whilst furthering his artistic education, Mucha worked at decorative painting jobs in Moravia, mostly involving painting theatric scenery, then in 1879 moved to Vienna to work for a leading Viennese theatrical design company. He designed and published postcards, theatre and advertisement posters, numerous illustrations and decorative panels series, set around central themes inspired by nature, some printed on silk. He produced many drawings, pastel or watercolour studies and designs for interior decorations, cutlery and dinner object, jewelry and fashion.



The subject matter within Alphonse Mucha's work is highly obvious; women. This is highlighted by him making them become the focal point, by positioning them in the center, with designs based around them. His work does represent culture, as he is an important contributor to Art Nouveau, which is apparent through him creating these "s" shapes with the women's bodies, and then taking this further by adding in swirls and patterns. This is obvious as the women are placed in front of the background, so she is the top layer. This allows the viewers eye to lead straight to her.

The meaning of his artwork I believe is partly hidden, because to some people they are just images of well presented, elegant women. However I feel his work goes deeper than this, by highlighting this new movement of design of Art Nouveau, but it was also the time women were seen in a different light. His use of a circle placed usually behind the women's head resembles a symbol that he continually tends to use, which allows his work to be recognizable and well structured. The use of the circle also creates this drop background behind the lady, which allows her to stand out more, but the designs within the circle worlds around her.


The view of his work tends to be a full on body view of the women in the image, however some are cropped to just her upper body frame. The full body lengths emphasize this womanly figure and also determine the positioning if the other aspects within the photo as the body create the shape. The shapes he uses are very organic, highlighting the new style from Art Nouveau, which includes swirls and circles, entwining into each other. 

The tones in his images tend to be quite soft and harmonious, allowing the whole image to blend together. Even though some of the colours are quite organic (greens, brown and oranges) there is a sense of feminism from the use of pinks, creams and slight reds. There is a sense of rhythm through out his work as they're all similar, involving women, swirls, plants, organic colours, and a circle in the background. All these aspects do create a pleasing arrangement in his photos as they harmonies eachother, there is no clash between the objects.

I do think his first images were planned, as he had an intention of what he wanted to create, However I feel further down his career, he found the particular style he wanted, and eventually he could create images with ease and grace, as they all contain the same qualities. His work is very much watercolour based, and this creates a sense of tranquility in his photos, as they come across quite soft and not too bright.

Georgina Luck, Marumiyan and Alphonse Mucha may not have exactly the same points in comparison; however there are many similarities between them that make me love their work. When I think of illustration, Georgina Luck's work is exactly what springs to mind, as her work is the style I love. However, when I saw Marumiyan's work, it opened my eyes to look further into illustration as it looked so technical but simple at the same time. Furthermore, what I love about Alphonse Mucha's work is that it is so traditional and old fashioned, yet a very modern piece of advertising. All 3 artists use shape similarly, exaggerating them or using line to highlight them even more. Alphonse Mucha uses the original contents in his work e.g. Hair and smoke to unleash radical new decorative forms, whereas Marumiyan accompanies his main image with more images based around the focal point. Georgina Luck is the opposite as she tends to just stick to one object, but when she does use more than one, they all compliment each other by allowing the whole image to be the focal point. I like all of their use of colour, as Georgina Luck tends to use a certain brand of watercolour and inks to get the best vibrancy, Marumiyan just focuses on using the brightest colours he can use, and Mucha's work consists of neutral, organic colours that can contain a hint of feminine colours such as purple or red. All three artists are known for being used for advertising, which allows them to think more about their composition. One difference they have, which intrigues me is the use of space. Georgina Luck has her main image in the middle of the page, with white space all around it allowing it to stand out more. In contrast to this, Marumiyan doesn't leave hardly any space, which allows his image to take up the whole image making this also the center of attention. Mucha again uses up a lot of space, however some of his images do consist of just a plain background on show, which gives him this good balance between space and no negative space.

From what I have learnt from these three artists varies, as they all have different qualities that I love. Georgina Luck inspired me to become free, and willing to experiment and push myself further when it came to using different materials. Watercolour is my favourite material, which results in me using it a to more than what I do with others, however I took some risks which resulted in me using Gouashe paint which ended up becoming another favourite of mine to use. Contrasting with Luck's work, Marumiyan inspired me to think more about my work, not just towards the final outcome, but all the presentation in my book. His work has a sense of formality, however it still expresses his creative side which is how I want my work to come across. I love that Alphonse Mucha influenced the old fashioned style within my work, allowing me to look into Art Nouveau.