250 words on why I chose illustration

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, but also 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.

Review of my designs

Michaela Spinks-Review of my designs

One design that I have done is a handmade surface pattern. On 10x10cm squared paper, we drew a design of shapes and patterns using a black pen. My shapes were solid and filled up the whole square, however they didn't touch the sides. I tended to keep to the same patterns and shapes to create repetition as I didn't want the page to look random. I then scanned the pattern onto photoshop and tried out different colour variations. I tried sticking to using colours that linked back to the ones I used on my font. I then copied and pasted the pattern multiple times to fill up the whole page and rotated some to create an overall pattern on the page. I was happy with how they looked, however my shaped seemed to be quite geometrical, so this clashed slightly with my font for "kopa", however with the right use of colour and well planned composition I feel the pattern should work well. From this design i've learnt that I need to keep looking back at the work I have previously done, as they should all link together and be recognisable. I've also learnt that I should try more variations when it comes to actually making the design, as I may find combining ideas and even just further development will help me to achieve what i'm looking for.

Another design I have done is creating digital patterns on photoshop. Using the shape tool, I started off creating a basic shape and filling it with colour (again and colour that linked back to my previous work), and then highlighted the shape and dragged onto the swatches column. I then created a basic square shape, and ensuring the fill option was on, I clicked the pattern of the swatch/pattern that I wished to fill it with. I found the smaller the shape the better it looked with multiple patterns due to more fitting in. I also thought putting a clear squared box around the shape allowed space in the pattern, and didn't make the shapes crammed next to each other. Again one thing I should have thought about more was the shapes I were using. My "kopa" font was mainly oval shapes, which contrasted with the squares and hexagons I used on my swatches. I also used this design to experiment further with colours e.g. using harmonious colours such as blue and green, and more complimentary colours such as purple and yellow, red and green ect. I feel this helped further develop ideas of colours and also allowed me to have a bigger range.