Category: Studio

This post contains a methodology….

This set of instructions came with 3 lenses that  I forgot to take a picture of, but I can guarantee, one was triangular. I made the paper look older by dipping it in tea.

Here is the digital version : Methodology

Everybody brought their experimentation box to class.

Here is a selection of some of the boxes that I found cool. But this is far from being exhaustive, because everybody’s work was interesting and inspiring.

Using the list of words we came up with, we were given the task to find 5 objects in the Victoria and Albert Museum that would represent 5 of the words we had written.

FIGHT

This bracelet represent a fighting fish, and with the lighting used in the museum, the shadow looked like two fish fighting.

GHOST

During the 19th century, this was used to keep the dresse’s shape. But when I saw the red little shoes they put under, it really looked like a ghost could be standing there.

SOLITUDE

This poor mural ornament was mounted all the way up in an alley of the museum where no one noticed him !

MERCIFUL

For some reason, I always associate sword or blade with the notion of mercy. If you have a blade, you can attack or protect, kill or spare.

DEMISE

This is part of a painting on the wall. This kind of boat reminds me of Charon, the Greek deity who was carrying the soul of the departed to the world of the dead. Somehow, an empty boat with white textile like a shroud could be a metaphor for demise.

A selection of what I found interesting.

And for the second part of the class:

Using our previous illustration, we had to work in pairs: we had to look at each others works and write a short story (one or two paragraphs) inspired by the illustration. After we had to illustrate this short story with 6 to 9 comic case. Once this was done, we would pin up the comics on the wall and try to find someone with a similar style to ours and create a poster mixing our drawings and theirs. 

 Same as the deconstruction lesson, we had to restructure an image following multiple steps. The goal was to literally illustrate someone else story with someone’s style. Though, being imposed a style was the most difficult part of the task, and it was tricky to create something of our own that would respect the other person’s style. It teaches you to try to think like the person who’s style it is and to understand their process of creation.

It was a radically different approach then the past lessons. It felt similar to a situation you could encounter during your professional life. It is often, if not mandatory to be able to understand how your client is thinking to be able to complete the gig they are hiring you for and satisfy their demand.

I had to (again) Let go of my previous structure and work habit. It was this time more about the narrative. With a limited amount of cases, each one of them had to be a strong image or have a strong impact.

I built my poster like the back cover of a comic book. With text in the centre of the page and a scene surrounding it. We could imagine that the monsters around the text are the threat surrounding the city and now a whole story can be created around this idea. The black and whist aspect of the comic strip inspired me too to choose a comic book type of poster. I’m actually satisfied about how it look like.

In conclusion, it was a very good practice, and interesting way to approach illustration.

Workshop based on the 4 illustrations we did. Learning to make a new image from 4 existing images.

The first brief consisted in creating four illustrations inspired by brief encounters. In class, we had to analyse the four illustration from the first brief and deconstruct it.

We had to create new material based on our existing material, we had to reinvent/reinterpret our previous material. Each piece had to be rethink and analyse in its structure, content, composition, shapes or element. We had to take what was working in the previous illustration and mix it with elements from the others. It required to create distance with past work and find another perspective.

It was a positive experience to rethink and recreate the work. It helped to be open to new ways of approaching my work and help me be critical of it: I recognised what was working in the illustration, what wasn’t and what could I reuse. Though, if my work had a more sentimental value to me, I would have been afraid of showing it or thought I would destroy it.

Deconstructing requires to take apart you work, and so it allows you to understand more your work and to go deeper into its development. Though, it is tough to find a balance between the first draft, that might have a certain energy to it, and the new perspective you are bringing in the work.

As I approach an image now, I realise a smaller version of it and try to find different point of view or composition from the original idea. I also try to find what would be the best way to convey the emotion or the message I want to say. The first shape the illustration takes is not necessarily the best one and deconstructing the idea, then reconstructing it helps to develop the idea in a better way.

I stole the spider leg, the squirrel paws, even though you can barely see it, the colours from Miro’s library, and the composition of Inktober to create the image for this workshop.

After comleting our forst brief, we were divides in group to expose our work in our ”first exhibition”.

This is how my group exhibited our work.

And here is a personal selection of work I liked.

The brief consisted making 4 illustrations on the theme: brief encounters. We were supposed to find inspiration around us and to explore the area of Elephant and Castle and the school. It required to observe the environment, to be open to new ideas and to work fast. It was overall an interesting start.

On the first day of class, we were given a task: do four illustrations on the theme ‘Brief Encounters’. We had to find the encounters in different places: a free newspaper or magazine, the university library, real life around Elephant and Castle and from an online source. We may use any technique we wanted.

It seemed that the goal of this task was to teach each to be aware of our surroundings and to find inspiration with what was around us. Most of the encounters were random things happening or seen for a brief moment. For example, I surprised a conversation between two students around elephant and castle, or when in the subway, I was looking over someone shoulder while she were reading a newspaper that served as a base for my illustrations.
It was quite unusual to do, because I’m often in my own world, deep in my thought with headphones on. It forced me to leave my bubble and be attentive to what was happening around me. We can find inspiration from everything around us and it’s the ability to be observant that helps cultivate your thoughts and allows the creative process to start.

Though, I was very hesitant (and so lost a lot of time) to pick a subject because I always thought I could find something better. I was perpetually waiting for something more interesting to use, and felt my ideas were boring, but the time restraint forced me to just pick an idea and do it. It was one of the advantages of having a deadline. It forces me to stick to one idea and I stopped hesitating. Though I wish I did it earlier than the last day!

The short deadline was another challenge on top of coming with four finished illustration. It was a very short deadline to produce four finished pieces. There was no room for hesitation and we had to be efficient to deliver the final product.

It was good way to challenge myself (and even if it is not my best work at all) and to introduce us to the program.