Tote bag print

Today I am on photoshop again trying to create a print to go on the tote bag that will hold the sketchbooks. I've played about with one so far but obviously I want to try and come up with a few to give myself some options. 

After placing my imagery onto the canvas I started to play about with the hue and saturation levels and they look pretty jazzy. 

Today I am...

Today's agenda is to real work digitally with my illustrations as its way overdue. I want to have my front and back covers sorted and done ready to be printed in textiles when I get back after christmas as that is what I want to leave myself to do in the week we have when we get back. I will have everything I need to make the book and will work on this then. but for now I'm just going to play about with layouts and such while I have the use of photoshop and the tablet.

I've been trying out different background tonal colours as well and they look pretty cool :) 

I've also played about with layering up the leaves over the bugs and it's made it all come together really well. 

Photoshop

Today I have finally started the long process of making my book... I have, what I think at the minute is the background imagery for the outside covers which consists of layered up leaves. the effect is actually quite cool and has turned out better than I expected.  After converting to CMYK colour it was easy enough to begin copying the layers and placing them on and under each other. 

I then went onto adjust the levels to brighten it but will probably revise this at a later date asI do not want to overpower the beetles. 

A post to help me figure stuff out in my head

As it stands I have very little time remaining to complete just one book,  let alone the six I had originally planned on. I suppose It's good I started with big ideas as I now have a very good foundation to take this idea through as my minor project. 

I feel I want to create just one REALLY good product for this hand in and then just build it up and up until the actual open call. This new time frame will allow me to create a bulk of products and will allow me to focus on this idea for a longer period of time. I want to sort the branding out a little bit before the hand in to give an idea of what style I am going for. 

So... yeah, One book for hand in but after that I will basically take over the world of children's sketchbooks. 

Lino and progression

Although not completely sure whether or not I will actually be using these lino cuts I thought it would be a interesting route to go down even in terms of textures. Regardless of the fact I might not use the full cut I may still employ this method to add even more of a textural quality to my work. I have also been thinking that I may have set myself  bit too much of  mammoth task in terms of I really do not have the time or money to produce over five sketchbooks before the deadline date. therefore I have been thinking more and more about taking this through to my minor project next year. 

I also went out and collected some leaves, as I have decided I will be having a layered up leaf background ( slightly muted colours) with my insect illustrations layered over the top as I feel it will give the product an interesting look. 

New things

Today I have been trying to capture the iridescent quality that some beetles and insects have. To achieve this I have used a foiling technique that is usually used on fabrics but I've been using it today on paper and the results are pretty cool and iI'm happy with the outcome.

Starting collage

Starting to collage and finger paint onto some different types of paper for the inside covers I think I am going to try graph paper after this as I have seen some proper scientific drawings onto these and it looks really unusual but cool at the same time. If I mix this new style I've found with something very straight like the lines o the paper it just juxtaposes it really nicely. 

Book ideas update.

Following on from the previous post on hand book binding... I believe that I will be using fabric for my cover as I feel that it will make the product look a lot more at home in Liberty. After a discussion with Amy also, I must consider the type of paper I use, as it will most likely have to be non toxic if the product is intended for children. I am also considering making the edges rounded, as a child could seriously bash someones head with a hard corner. Another outcome of the talk with Amy is that instead of creating a box for the sketchbooks to be packaged in, a bag of some sort could work better. By using a bag, it will make the product more special as the owner could carry their products with them everywhere without hassle and fuss. I will obviously decorate the book bag in an exciting and colourful way, whilst still remaining true to the style that liberty promotes.  

something to keep in the memory bank...

On one of the few nights I wasn't doing something for this brief, I just trawled Pinterest and a came across this really cool illustrator. 

Maria Herreros is an illustrator and comic book artist based in Valencia, Spain. I've seen more and more stuff in this style recently but this is some of the best in my opinion.
I love everything about it, and how she still captures the person so perfectly without drawing in hyper realism. 

http://www.mariaherreros.es

Today

Today I tried to focus my drawing on colour and shape rather than the pin point detail style I have been creating my images in thus far. As the day went on the illustrations became more and more free and organic. 

With these next illustrations I tried using finger painting a little bit to practise on my shape and overall I was trying to move closer to making my work more stylised for this project. 

Looking into hand book binding

Although I have done this before I cannot remember for the life of me what the process goes like because I have the memory of a goldfish. So... after a quick google:

After reading through the tutorial on how to do this, it has actually come back to me a bit and once I find my feet properly again I can probably produce quite a few in one day. The only difference between how I did this process the first time and the one I have just read up on is the method of holding all the pages together. We used a needle and fishing wire rather than staples and I think I may employ the former method as there is no danger of any staples coming loose and stabbing a child.  Now the dilemma is whether I use fabric or paper as my backing on the sketchbooks... 

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-bind-your-own-Hardback-Book/?ALLSTEPS

Music

Although not a huge revelation, but music really helps me with the drawing process. This album is really working for me on this project because it's fun and makes me think of happy things... Perfect for creating illustrations for kids. So yeah...

Today's outcome

I have been trying more today to use colour and texture to give a nice effect, I'm taking more time on my pieces and I think it shows. I also think that the colours work really well and with a bit more touching up I've sort of achieved the style I wanted to. It's a different way of drawing but I like that you can still tell It's my style somehow. 

The top two bugs on this page were my first experiments with ink and I'm actually pretty pleased with them, more so the yellow bug. I'm also quite happy that I have captured the detail I wanted but theres still a nice simplistic feel to it that I think the children I am aiming this product at will appreciate. 

Finally starting to create imagery!

Over the weekend I thought it was high time I started on my illustrations. I have all of the research I need for now so I don't really know what was stopping me, maybe it's because the illustrations I am creating now may end up being some of the most important work I have done to date... which is extremely intimidating! But here's what I've done and they'll be plenty more coming this week. 

I tried going out of my comfort zone of black fine liner, although its still present in the illustrations there are other medias. I've tried to alter my style but there is still a long way to go. For these drawings I have used a mixture of watercolour, gouache, a little nail varnish and fine liner.

overall I'm happy with my first attempt and there's only better outcomes to follow hopefully. 

Matt Sewell

A lot like Oliver Jeffers matt Sewell's work is really appealing due to its simplicity an use of beautiful natural watercolour tones. 

I especially love his books and posters for the birds as it is a lot of visual information presented in a fun way which will make it easy to absorb the actual information that comes with them as you're not just sat reading a book on birds, it's the illustrations that are bringing it all to life and making it a magical thing. 

This piece is also awesome just for the detail and amount of drawing on the two pages. I really lil the mismatched/ higglety pigglety layout as it creates a really interesting overall effect. 

http://mattsewell.co.uk

Oliver Jeffers

Another two artists who have expanded their style to encapsulate the Kids market also. 

In terms of Oliver Jeffers work, the simple style he employs for most projects is not all that he can do, his work varies from realistic fine art paintings to simple shapes and colour he uses in his work for children. The next images are taken from a selection of children's books he has up on his website.  

His use of colour and shape is just lovely and would really appeal to a child as it is both easy to look at but not boring in any way. 

I'm really into the whole idea of making these books vaguely educational because then I can almost make it into a funny little sketchbook of my own. This painting is really cool in how it connects all of the things together in little thought bubbles, as it creates a kind of organised fun. 

Another idea that really appeals to me is having my illustrations on cool little scraps of paper as it adds texture and such to a piece and I think it may improve the whole feel of my work. 

The main thing I like about Jeffers work is the fact that even though he employs quite a loose style there is still a definite structure and sophistication to his mark making. His style works in  simple way that could appeal, and does, to a younger audience. 

http://www.oliverjeffers.com/picture-books/once-upon-an-alphabet