Reflecting on my own illustrations from both the course so far and my personal work I have discovered there are several key elements that occur often in my work;
- Using my imagination
- Creating a story or narrative
- Mood/Atmosphere
- Colours
- Humor/cartoony style
- Nature - Animals, flowers, trees
- Subtle texture/simple backgrounds
- Looking closer at what's around me and capturing it in my own way
'Paper Rose'
Throughout my personal work over the years I have developed a colour palette that I love to use in most of my work, I have tried to apply this where possible in my coursework as well. Vintage colours, pastels, soft and with more grey undertones really draw me in. These colours are comforting, nostalgic, happy, soothing, and just feel 'me'. The colours I use in my work are very important to me, for example I drew this paper rose for a prompt of the word 'paper' and really love how it turned out. I know if I had used colours that I am not so keen on such as red or purple, I would not love it at all, to the point I probably wouldn't even pick it out as part of my 'voice'.
'Lullaby'
Acrylic mixed media abstract painting on birch plywood panel.
'Under the Sea'
Acrylic mixed media abstract painting on birch plywood panel.
'Call of the Ocean'
Acrylic mixed media abstract painting on birch plywood panel.
'Sweet Dreams'
Acrylic mixed media abstract painting on deep edge canvas.
'Serenity Mountains'
Acrylic mixed media impressionist painting on deep edge canvas.
'Stag in the Snow'
Acrylic mixed media impressionist painting on canvas.
I use colour a lot for my abstract and impressionist work. Using acrylic paints and other mediums, I love expressing myself on the canvas with different brush strokes, splatters and drips. These have become commonly used techniques in my personal practice. The splatters have also appeared in my illustration work where I use them for adding a bit of texture to my simple backgrounds.
'Blue Daisies'
Digital illustration.
'Sunflowers'
Digital illustration.
'Retro Christmas Tree'
Digital illustration.
'Blush Foxgloves'
Digital illustration.
'Prickly
Digital illustration.
Many of my illustrations and some of my paintings I then turn into products such as greeting cards, stickers, art prints, bookmarks etc.
I've noticed that simple backgrounds are calming to me, I don't enjoy busy patterns they feel like clutter in my mind and create an uneasy feeling inside me. So when I illustrate I keep my backgrounds very simple and clean looking. This puts the focus on my main drawing, which I prefer.
My personal illustrations tend to be focused on nature; animals, flowers, trees. I really enjoy drawing these. I love to have beautiful flowers in my garden and in my home, they lift my spirits and bring me happiness. Again I choose pinks, yellows, white, peaches, lilacs for my flowers just like in my artwork. I love to watch the birds in my garden and visit the Zoo to see all different kinds of animals. Scenery is also so inspiring to me, mostly countryside and the mountains. There is something about these scenes that fill me with energy and refresh my soul.
'Detective cover illustration work'
Working on more narrative based projects in Illustration Key Steps 1, I found myself really enjoying creating a moodboard and cover design for the detective exercise. Although the colours are totally not my colour palette, there was something about finding moody, dark, atmospheric photos to put together a 'feeling' and to then translate that in my illustration. I loved using the silloutte for my approach and giving hints of the smoke from his cigarette, it all added to the dark, mystery feeling. My tutor at the time suggested even adding in some light for the end of the cigarette which I thought was a great idea. I think the use of imagination in this exercise is what really excited me and putting it all together in a final illustration seeing it come together was really enjoyable. The siloutte style of illustration reminds me of a favourite illustrator from my own childhood Jan Pienkowski and was something I was keen to try myself.
Jan Pienkowski
Janpienkowski.com. 2021. Jan Pienkowski - Paper Cut Story Books. [online] Available at: <http://www.janpienkowski.com/books/papercut/index.htm> [Accessed 19 July 2021].}
'Letter'
'Narrative Market Sketches'
I felt a similar excitement when I wrote the letter for the imaginary friend and the imaginary narratives for my market characters in the Sketchbooks unit. There was something about making up what they might be thinking or saying that really got me excited and I had a lot of fun with those. Writing the letter was also great as I was able to relay my own thoughts into an imaginary letter.
'The Adventures of Snuggle Bunny'
Niki Jackson
Writing and illustrating children's books isn't something I see myself doing for my career but I know the narrative side of the exercises we've tackled so far has been a lot of fun for me. I have written and illustrated my own children's book before, which was an interesting experience. I'm not sure I want to do it again but I am curious where the narrative side can take me.
'Butt Man'
'Bulb Boy'
In my market sketches and in the paradelia exercise I found humor popping up in my work, this isn't something new as I have touched on this in previous personal work when I used to paint whimsical characters. Again this is something I would like to explore further and see where it could go.
I really enjoy illustrating nature in my personal work both digitally and traditionally. That is my main work right now along with the abstract paintings. I'm at a point where I'd like my coursework to marry up with my personal work and I am hoping this degree will help me to discover more about my personal voice, especially when it comes to meaning and purpose.
When researching contemporary illustrators I talked a lot about those that use their illustrations for causes such as social justice and making a stand on things they strongly believe in. I think this is a really great way to use illustration skills as well as drawing things that bring you joy. I haven't yet found my 'message' yet but I will continue to keep exploring to find it.
Since starting this degree I have developed my digital drawing skills, which is something I had not done before, I really enjoy using my iPad and Procreate to sketch and my illustrations quite often turn into products that I sell on my website, such as greeting cards and other stationery items. I would like to continue to learn more in this area and learn how to illustrate in Photoshop on a large drawing tablet which I recently was given as a gift. I'm keen to learn how to use it effectiviely to enahnce my process and add to my exisiting digital skills.
Using traditional media such as pencils, paints and pens is something I also love and want to continue to do. Mixing media is fun for me and I like the effects you can get. I have quite a range of art supplies and throughout this course would like to continue experimenting with them.
Overall I feel my personal voice is emerging in the ways mentioned above but I would like to dig deeper and discover more of a purpose and meaning that I can articulate to others and understand for myself also. I know I'd like to continue painting and illustrating my own work to sell on my website and at events but I feel there is more to discover in my career and I am looking forward to unearthing it.
Lastly, to add to my unearthing of my personal voice I decided to ask my customers how they feel about my artwork and what it says to them to see how I am currently visually communicating to them and this is the feedback I received:
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