Illustration and Communication

 Task: explore map making and create a risograph I saw an example of space and immediately wanted to try that!  I created this map of our solar system but I am not sure if this is too many colours for a riso as I have not done one before, luckily though all of these are on separate layers so i can easily reduce the amount of colours if needed.  It was explained to me that it was too many colours so I have reduced this right down to 2 when printed on white paper I have never done a risograph print before this and wow. I loved this process. Learning all about how the printing works as well as putting the work together to print was all a very valuable experience for me. I'd definitely like to use riso printing again during my time at the university and make the most of those facilities. 

 Additional task outside of weekly tasks.  I pushed myself with these life drawings trying to improve my ability to draw quickly and capture movement too. This is so much fun its one of my favourite exercises to do and I love the outcomes. It really helps me to improve my observational drawing skills and I get faster and faster in a short space of time. 

 I went around campus and documented people that I saw.  I really love this type of reportage and I always aim to get out there and do more in my own time as well and this is a good reminder to do that because it really does help. One thing I struggle with a lot is human anatomy so this is a great method of improving that in a fast way. I wish I had done more for this task and would like to make an effort to take a sketchbook around with me to get more work like this down. 

 Still life task We spent this afternoon doing still life.  This first image was done in 45mins and I aimed to capture exactly what I saw before me. I didn't do a warm up which I should have done as my drawing speed is not that good. I should get a lot more down in 45mins. I think the mannequin is fairly true to real life but everything else is not very accurate. Speed was the key here to successfully completing this task but it was good to see for a comparison.   This second task was my style, which I wasn't sure what my style was. As I began to draw this is what came out and it really got me thinking that actually I do have a style, my style is sort of hard to explain though. I love using quick mediums like charcoal, I love using two tones and focusing on light and shadow and most importantly I love contrast. This task actually really built my confidence in my own style as before I didn't think I had any kind of personal touch.  This is part of the same task, ...

 I could not be present for this session where we drew our peers but I didn't want to miss this opportunity for practice so I drew my fiancé instead. A 2m drawing with no other restrictions. 2m continuous line drawing- interestingly I think this is more visually appealing than the one where I had less restrictions on my process. Blind contour, blind mess? Either way I kind of love this. This is a way that I would never normally draw and yet the outcome is sort of charming and character full. Big surprise for me to enjoy this technique. Another very interesting one using blind contour AND continuous line this time. 2m again but this time I gave myself only the chunkiest paintbrush I had at hand to do it with. Pretty nice outcome I like how it has a mood to it that some of the others don't have. Silhouette drawing has always been a least favourite technique of mine and this task did not change that however its always good to get out of your comfort zone. Continuous line + pen + c...

 TASK 1:  I completed this self portrait through observing my reflection in a mirror. I am pleased with the outcome, since human portraits aren't really my strongest point as an illustrator. I think it has my likeness some what, however its far from an obvious resemblance. The main flaws I can see with it is that my eyes are way too large for the size of my head, and my face shape is probably not quite right. More practice is needed in this area so ill be putting some more focus here.  Created with 4h and 8b pencils.  I created this second self portrait from a reference photo. I tried using chalk-pastel pencils which was challenging because I am not experienced in blending these . I am somewhat happy with the outcome, its not photorealistic of course but the effect is interesting to me and I like the way the face is shaded. Its a very flawed image, largely just due to my lack of understanding of the medium, but I want this year of university to be full of experimenta...