Week Six : Pause & Reflect


With no classes this week, I took the opportunity to do some research and development for my personal projects, thinking about my visual language, style and the skills I want to refine.

. . .


Illustrated storybook

I brought together sketches and some stock images with the text to map out a first draft storyboard. This has helped me to see where the text needs tightening up and refining, and to start develop my thinking around how words and pictures will work together to enhance the emotion and arc of the story. 

. . .

Creating moodboards with a focus on colour palettes brought inspiration for the next three stories I want to write in a quartet about the seasons. I like the idea of each book having a restricted colour palette of natural hues and creating a progression through a colour gradient from the beginning of the book to the end.

. . .

I hope to develop my InDesign and Illustrator skills to be able to design and illustrate my own text.



Research and discovery : My Neighbor Totoro | Shaker Gift drawings

: 

I aspire to the Studio Ghibli philosophy of storytelling that resists archetypal tropes of conflict and instead roots narrative in an emotional journey responding to the world. I love the way the animators create a world that is very close to our reality and allows room for fantasy. The colour palettes are both vibrant and natural.

. . .

My research into simple fundamentals of living took me from the Autonomic Nervous System and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to the UN Declaration of Human Rights to The Shakers ― and a discovery of Shaker Gift drawings which chimed with my long-held interest in botanical illustration and Medieval illuminated manuscripts. I can see a sense emerging of the visual language I want to learn, building on these four influences.

. . .

I used Shooglebox to bring together found images to inform where I want to focus development of my design &  illustration skills

. . .

> Strength and clarity of line

> Bright yet gentle hues of colours found in nature

> Naturalistic yet graphic style

> Framing and illumination of text with illustrated elements



Inspiration : Coralie Bickford-Smith

: 

I revisited some videos and interviews with Coralie Bickford-Smith to focus my thoughts around illustration. I am inspired by her journey from in-house designer to author/illustrator and I love the careful thought she brings to every aspect of her work, informed by understanding of print processes and inspired by William Morris and William Blake. It is also helpful to hear how long the work takes to develop, and how many iterations and corrections are made before the final result.


I’m inspired to map out my own influences, experience and the skills I want to build in a vision of my own journey towards becoming a writer/designer/illustrator.

. . .

I will include these things in my future practice: 

. storyboarding 

. colour palettes and mood boards

. inspiration from illuminated manuscripts, botanical illustrations


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