OUIL505 Project Report

OUIL505 Design Boards

Promotional Materials - Mockups

I've mocked up my illustrations onto product and I'm really pleased with the result! I think it's cleare to see now how these images could work in the book and across promotional product. The use of a promotional package alongside the book is something I'm glad I've done as I was previously stuck with wether or not choose adult publishing or product and retail. This method of approaching the module and the brief has allowed me to cross over between the do and in turn has helped me understand how and where my practice may lie within illustration as a discipline.

Putting Things Into Context

I've been thinking about what products I could include in the promotional package and have decide that I will be including:
- a tote bag
- a poster
- a pin badge

I feel that these products will accompany the book well and avoids me jsut palstering work onto whatever mockup I can find that might fit within my context. I chose to mock the images up onto a tote bag because this is something that the book will come in, but will also be available for the customer to use after purchase. The poster and pin badges are more mementos, freebies that the customer can put up or wear. Everyone enjoys free stuff and I feel that my iamgery is suited to these kinds of applications. I'm going to trawl through mockup websites and try find what I need in order to get everything together.

Cover Mockup

I'm really pleased with how this looks mocked up onto an actual book. I feel that I've achieved the dark, atmospheric tone of voice I wanted too whilst also managing to alude to the mystery of what's inside the book. I feel that the cover illustration is more simple that the ones inside the book but feel that this balances them out and they both compliment each other to an equal amount. From here I need to decide on my final application of imagery, and consider exactly what products I want to include in the promotional package that will accompany the book. 

Final Cover

I'm really happy with how my final book cover has turned out. I feel that it compliments the illustrations that accompany it for the start of the chapters whilst also alluding to the mystery that is inside. I wanted to keep the outer cover simple as I feel that other illustrations are quite strong on their own and these are the illustrations that I will be applying to product. I managed to keep the colours consistent with the ones that I've already used and feel that the text stands out in the bold orange colour. The image of the eye is a focul point and I wanted it to be like this because of its repetition through the other illustrations and also as I thought it was a symbol that was a suitable representation of divination. My next step is too mock this up onto a book and then begin to apply my illustrations to products that will be a part of the promotional package. 

Cover Roughs

 I was a little unsure of what to do for my book cover at first. I was really happy with the final illustrations for the chapters inside the book and feel like they're really strong as a set. I started to think about possibly having a pattern that would completley wrap around the outside of the book and felt this this could either include constellations of the zodiac or alternativley runes and other alchemic symbols. As much as I feel this could have been effective, I felt like it focused too heavily on one specific aspect of fortune telling/divination. I started drawing a few things up that related back to the sacred geomtry I'd previously looked at and began to feel like this would be a stronger approach. The outside of the book needed to provide a general overview/insight as to what was inside and I feel a symbol constructed with elements of sacred geometry would best do this. I also decided I wanted to incorporate the image of they eye that i've been adding to the rest of my illustrations. I drew up half of the final design as I wanted it to be symmetrical and new I would be able to sort this out in Photoshop later on.

Final Project Proposal

I've made some slight amendments to my Project Proposal so that it includes the five chapter illustrations, the idea of a promotional package and a publisher (Folio Society) that would in context publish the book and aid in promoting the re-realease and the limited edition package that comes along with this.

Chapter Illustration Mockups

I'm really pleased with how my illustrations look mocked up in context. I feel that the overall aesthetic of the images I've created so far fit well with the content of the book and its overall theme. I also think that the images sit well within my target audience and feel that they would be effective in drawing the reader further into the book. My next step is to start planning the outer cover of the book and get that sorted out before moving onto other applications of my imagery and applying them in context.

Final Chapter Illustrations

This is my final set of five illustrations for the start of specific chapters in the book. I feel that they have a consistent aesthetic, with both the content, colour scheme and combination of shape and linework tying the imagery together well, even though they are all based around different subject matter. My next step will to be mock these up onto the inside of book pages in order to show them in context. Once I have finished the outer book cover I will begin to explore what other contexts these images could exist in, in order to promote the re-release of the book. 

Experimenting with Texture

Following up from the feedback I got in the crit, I've begun to experiment with texture and feel that this is something I definitely want to incorporate into my illustrations. I didn't realise that some of the imagery was so flat until I started adding texture and explore how it can be used to enhance my images. I also feel that the added texture further promotes the dark, moody tone of voice I was trying to achieve.

After playing around with adding textures from the monoprints I made in 504, I think I've finally settled on an overall aesthetic for my illustrations. I've applied texture to both the hand and the playing card, with the texture on the hand completley replacing the flat colour that it was previously made from. The texture on the playing card was inverted and then placed over the top of the solid peach it is made from to create a speckled, dirtier look. I'm really happy with how this is coming along and feel that now I've decided on an overall look for the illustrations, it will be easy to replicate this across the other four and keep the style consistent.

Feedback From Crit

The crit today was really overwhelming. Everyones produced so much good work! I feel like I only have myself to blame for the lack of work I've produced so far, I really shouldn't have messed around with deciding on a theme/context for so long. I feel like this has put me at a huge disadvantage but I'm eager to get working on my illustrations some more! The feedback I got proved useful, I got positive feedback on my colour scheme, consistent style and strong shape based approach. I also got feedback that has helped me think more about my context. People suggested I apply my imagery to bags/pins/patches which I really like the idea of. I was thinking this could be something I consider as part of a promotional package for the re-release of the book. 

Some other feedback I got was to make the blade of the knife shape based as a pose to just a line drawing as this would further the consistency of the images. It was also suggested that I add some texture into the illustrations to give them some more depth and character. It was also nice to hear that even though I'm focusing more on shape based imagery, my tone of voice and personality is still conveyed through the illustrations. I've avoided shaped based imagery before and digital software for the fear that it would take away some of the character that my practice contains so its a relief to here that it stills exists even when I'm working more with shape. 

New Ways of Working

Recently I've started working in more of a digital format. I bought some of the Kyle Webster photoshop brushes and have been borrowing the Wacom tablets from uni to experiment more with a digital media. At the start of this year I had very little experience working with digital media, it wasn't something that I was confident working in at all and a lot of the time it was something I'd purposely afford working with as I feel that sometimes through digital media you can use some of the hand-rendered quality and personality that you get when creating illustrations using analogue media.
The Photoshop brushes I bought have helped me get over that though, the amounts of different textures and lines you can get to create different aesthetics is great, it's showing me that I can use digital media to create work without loosing personality through the digitisation of my images. I feel like this is something that I can start to combine with my practice more and more, I'm really enjoying the process and feel that it is adding another level of professionalism to my work.

Chapter Illustrations - Development

I've begun to develop one of my iamges on Photoshop. I'm using the Kyle Webster Goache brushes as the basis of my image, I like the texture that it gives feel that they make the colours really pop. I experimented with creating a ring around the crystal ball to make it stand out more but felt that this was too harsh and didnt fit with the overall aesthetic of my work so far. I also tried inverting the iamge and I thought that maybe a dark background and lighter hands could work but I then felt like the image was a bit too over powering. I tried changing the colour of the stars aswell but felt it wasn't as consistent as my original colour choice.

I've managed to create three images that will be okay to show in the crit, I'm quite happy with how they're turning out but hope to get some constructive criticism that can help me push my project and my illustrations to the next level.