'a day in the life of' texture experiments

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 - watercolour texture I created for this piece - 

It was suggested that I begin to look at adding textures to highlight the ghost/ hand. I created a watercolour wash, something loose to create a sense of the ethereal.

I tried applying this to the ghosts, and also the darker shadowed areas of the image. I am still trying to debate which final result to use. I'm afraid of the textures becoming overpowering, but also that without them the image looks too bland alone.

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-- last minute decision to add extra arms to balance out the composition --

visual language: line

Admittedly, this has been one of my less favourite tasks. For some reason I found it hard to get into the swing of it. It is probably because of my lack of skill in drawing figures, which made it harder. I also struggled to find clear reference photos of underwater divers. But this is no excuse and I appreciate that I need the practice! 

I also found it hard to think of different methods to work with, but looking at other peoples' sketchbooks in today's session has inspired some new ones!

Character and narrative are important to me and are what I enjoy most and often prioritise as an illustrator. Incorporating this into my drawings for visual language would add an extra element to the work whilst also, perhaps, making it more enjoyable for me too (though this is definitely not the priority!)

photoshop workshop week three: the results

Despite being the most potential eyesore if viewed from afar or at a small dimension this is my favourite of the images. The use of half tone and two different hues creates an effect that is reminiscent of traditional print methods. The result feels lo-fi.

As I did in last week's session I like to prioritise simplicity when it comes to Photoshop, for fear that it is all too easy to become carried away and create an overpowering image. Also, I must keep in mind that Photoshop is a tool to empower an image, not to hide skill.

... This said, the image on the right above has been distorted beyond recognition. However, there is a simplicity in the colour palette and shapes that is pleasing to the eye.

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other images from today's photoshop session: 

I was surprised at how well the inverted image looks. It isn't the best, but looked less garish than I expected and instead more gloomy. However, the other image, on the right, did turn out garish and gaudy, due to poor colour choice. 

'a day in the life of' process

With the knowledge that if I work digitally I will have to send my files to print on Friday I have begun my work on the pieces straight away to save time. However, working digitally allows the ability to experiment with various elements of the image as I go along. Here I have begun by sketching straight into Photoshop, and then refined the image more. The lighting of these images is quite an important aspect so I have blocked the shadows in for an idea of what the final image may look like.

'a day in the life of' roughs

I wanted to challenge myself and work with more detailed backgrounds as it's something I don't practice very much and should, specifically with interiors! But I also wanted to keep an element of the symbolic and surreal, in the hope that it would make the illustration less obvious.

My biggest struggle was presenting the multiple themes of loneliness, competition and working into one image. One point that the article interestingly makes is that loneliness is not necessarily caused by technology, as many current articles like to point out, and I found it hard to represent the idea of 'working' without it looking like someone was attached to the technology itself rather than the work behind it. I also struggled to present the idea of competitiveness- an activity involving multiple people whilst also portraying the isolation of loneliness. Shamefully, I ignored this theme in favour for others instead, for lack of time.

I would sometimes use the same theme or idea in different dimensions, to see which they suited better. Also, on occasion I would create two or more ideas I liked in one dimension, but unable to use more than one idea in one composition I would see if one could fit to another composition. I found working to specific dimensions useful. The restraint acted as a starting point to fit my ideas around. Without them more time would have been spent working out my own dimensions when with this the choice had already been made.

I made almost all of my roughs in pencil, with little regard to media or colour scheme. Using pencil meant I was able to quickly capture ideas but now I will have to experiment with media and colour as a separate task.

OUIL404 initial sketchbook pages

I chose the theme of deep sea diving. It was a tricky choice between the themes, but I remembered an article I had read about deep sea saturation divers and the surreal (and scary) world they live in and I seized the opportunity to look into it more. As far as I understand this project isn't particularly concept/ idea lead so it's not something to get too hung up on, but it's fun to look into nonetheless. The cold and dark atmospheres are definitely something that will be fun to draw too.

The initial, 'freestyle' pages were mainly character lead, as usual. Surprisingly, what I enjoyed drawing most were the interiors of the submarines. I'm not accustomed to drawing interiors, let alone ones quite so complex but it was a fun challenge nonetheless! I used a couple of different media, pencil and watercolour but there was much more room for medium experimentation.

photoshop induction part two

multiply and overlay

The multiply and overlay processes work in similar ways. I found that overlay provides a much more efficient way of colouring if the image has grey areas as it does not colour the white at all, but otherwise a manual selection with multiply will also work.

Above I used the screen process, which works similarly to overlay but creates brighter tones.

gradient multiply + gradient overlay

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ADDING TEXTURES

Really, I think the quality of the scanned ink alone is, usually, enough of an interesting texture in its own right. Adding textures can quickly overcomplicate an image or make it look cheap and gaudy.

paper textures

The paper textures were the most successful, namely because of their subtlety. When adjusting the levels of an image post-scan the texture of the paper is often lost so it is nice to reincorporate this back. It is also interesting to see how the textures can change the hue as well as the value of a colour, though this is likely to become an obstacle.

splatter textures

It is important to note that one texture may need to be worked in a different way to suit different images (or it may not suit them at all). The left image uses overlay whilst the second uses soft light.

In the future I would like to experiment with textures more to see if they could suit my work. The idea I have in mind is to record some dry brushstrokes and apply them to solid areas of colour, much like a digital collage.