about the author: sketchbook progress, thinking about print

I carried on with the shape driven compositions but I feel like I've started to drain the ideas from this, at least for the minute. They haven't got the same quality as the first paintings and I think I need to start looking in a different direction to refresh my mind.

The man with the train is quite an absent doodle but I think with the right colour, and some adjustment of composition (maybe a greater contrast of size between man and train) could create something  quietly atmospheric, particularly with the addition of the surreal eggs. I used this for the storyboarding workshop, I think the movement of a train would be simple enough for me to animate but maybe not at such a complex angle.

I mostly drew this wanting to practice drawing buildings or create something with a bit more depth. I'm trying to create a quiet and dark atmosphere but I think there's just not enough going on here to entertain a viewer. At this point I'm drawing hoping for the ideas to come to me as I go (not too successful so far, but better than not drawing and expecting the same).

I'm starting to think about different tonal values in screen printing after being taught about them in the digital print workshop, and I think these greens would work. I'm a bit concerned that the pencil detail is too fine, it may be ok printed with half tone. I'm particularly interested in using texture, and I should look into alternatives of this, i.e. with china markers. Still, the print itself may naturally give some texture, and will at least look more organic than if it was just a solid digital colour on screen.

This image is just a collection of the different motifs I've been thinking about to create an amalgamation of Murakami. I'm worried about it being too obvious, or being a bit brash in trying to communicate Murakami. Still, I think it's an interesting way of communicating ideas through the panels. It doesn't read as a traditional comic and the disjointedness of the images creates that strange dreamy Murakami feel.

Again I'm concerned about the use of texture but here I also began to think about printing on coloured stock. This is simulated digitally but I think it could create something nice, the peach feeling softer than white, and visually just a bit more interesting without being distracting.

 

Colouring these images in the same way and putting them together creates a nice collection I think. Visually they're very similar and there are repeated motifs too, including eggs, the six legged cat and shadows. Even though the image on the right is not made up of panels and is just one image when placed next to the other I think they read like a comic. It's still disjointed, but creates a change of pace between the two. However that might also mean that the viewer is distracted too much by one rather than the other.