The category containing all posts for part 1.
The task for this exercise is to read a newspaper article (I chose one from an online magazine) and underline keywords that convey the meaning of the article. Then, I will read the article again, focusing on the selected keywords, and condensing the ones that I find more meaningful.
These chosen keywords will be the starting point for creating a related illustration.
A few mornings ago I was reading the online news, and focused on a few articles about the disastrous political situation of my home country. While reading the comments, I began following a debate about young Italians leaving the country due to the current unstable conditions, and decided to google the topic. I stumbled upon an article, and after reading it, I was inspired and chose it for my illustration task.
The article is in Italian, but I have translated the overall meaning of the piece.
The analysis can be found here:
I have condensed the keywords together and arranged four sentences. I will rewrite them here.
– chi parte oggi non tornerà in assenza di nuove opportunità. Esiste un mondo giovanile in movimento che il paese non riesce più a intercettare. l’Italia non è più attrattiva per gli italiani. Esportiamo giovani e laureati. –
Translated:
People leaving will not return unless better opportunities arise. There is a youth migration that the country is not able to intercept. Italy is not appealing for Italians anymore. We export young and highly educated people.
I was so inspired by the article that I began sketching my idea right away. I had everything in mind. However, I also wanted to add my personal feelings to this piece and added a key sentence .
With the keywords in place, it was time to move to the drawing board.
I had the scene framed in my mind so I did a quick sketch. I always start all my drawings like this, trying to roughly place all the characters, objects and important details in a scene so that I avoid the risk of forgetting something. Once this is done, I relax a moment and think where to move next.
I wanted the two main characters in the foreground and at the center of the scene. I chose a manual worker and a highly educated character of different sex because both have the same importance in society. I decided that the background should have as little details as possible to avoid distractions from the two characters. The central part of the scene depicts a road in perspective with the Italian border sign in the middle. The text will go on the upper middle part of the scene, above the post sign. I will not continue penciling and move directly to inking, because the characters will not be particularly detailed.
I blocked in the main details. At this point, I realized that his arm and hand are wrong and will provide to correct them later. My male character has a more menacing pose, showing more anger. I wanted to depict him as a hard worker from the way he keeps his heavy wrench on the shoulder. The State lost a valuable working resource. My female character is highly educated. I tried to depict her angry and proud of her accomplishments, by drawing her in an erect posture and chin up. I think this picture represents well a part of the Italian youth.
There might be political elections by the beginning of 2018, so I thought that this drawing could also serve as a flyer, spreading a message to the people that a part of the electorate is currently unhappy with youth policies and that, as a consequence, is taking a drastic measure by leaving the country. So for my color choice I wanted bright colors that would catch the viewers eye, and decided I would not use more than 3 colors ( in the end I chose five). I knew for sure that I wanted a color such as a yellow or red for the character’s skin and most of the background. The road would be a light gray and the frame at the top of the post sign black.
In the end I chose yellow because I think it looks much better as a skin tone. Both the characters will have a white tag with the word “expat” written on it. I have mentioned earlier that I wanted to leave the background free of the details as much as possible, but then I thought to add something that would move the viewer’s eye away from the image, giving a sense of departure. Planes seemed just ideal to me. I then continued to refine my characters and the signpost.
I used a texture effect for the background. For the text, I chose the words “you gave us nothing and from you we need to nothing else”. I had them in mind since the beginning.
The final layout
What went well
What went wrong
In this first exercise of the course I have been asked to do so some research about the work of past and contemporary artists, and to reflect on how the field of illustration has changed over the past 50 years.
I will choose one from a list of illustrators and analyze some of the work that I like more and then make a comparison in style and historical context with a contemporary illustrator that I like.
I will reflect on the following questions:
I will then create an illustration in the style of each artist.
I knew none of the six illustrators,So I went on reading their biography and checking their work.For each illustrator I made a diagram on a piece of paper with related keywords. I use this method when brainstorming and I read that in this course there is a similar method called spiderweb.
This is the outcome
An artist I began following recently is Marcelo Frusin, from Argentina. He cooperated with writer Brian Azzarello in the creation of the western comic book series “Loveless”. Unfortunately there is not much material about Frusin, but I really like his style. He relies intensively on black tones and silhouette figures, creating a very good atmosphere without excessive details. When I discovered him, I had a western plot that I was scriptwriting and wanted to try a more simple style with a major focus on mood. One of my weak spots is confidence in lights and shadows, and I think that following his style is helping me.
“Loveless” issue n.1, cover by Marcelo Frusin,2005. “Time was away”, cover by John Minton, 1948.
There are many differences between these two book covers. In Frusins illustration emphasis is on drama and action. These can be especially noted in the foreshortening of the gun,the facial expression of the main character and in the movement of the three gunmen. The sentence “Behind every bad man is a badder woman” adds a sense of mistery to the red silhouette of the woman in the background. This illustration has been created in digital. On the other hand, Minton’s cover gives a sense of a peaceful atmosphere.The colors are warm and the values are only rendered in black. A series of lines in the sky, together with the highlights on the sea, give the impression of a sunny day. I do not find Minton’s cover particularly old-fashioned, except maybe from the text font, and I think that this illustration could be suited for a modern travel book. I think he used watercolors and ink, but I’m not sure since I still don’t have a good background of traditional medium.
I will draw two illustrations, one in black and white and one in color.
I will take inspiration from John Minton’s Jamaican Scene to draw a tropical island. It will be a night scene. I will use hatching for the clouds, in order to give a more greyish color, and for the sea. This will be something new for me, as I never use ink hatching for the sky, so i look forward for the result. My visual goal is to create an approaching storm and windy weather.
So the first thing I will do is to sketch down the scene. Like many pencillers, I use an “X” to mark areas that need to be filled in black. I will also write down some notes as reminders. I will not go in details with pencils as much of the scene will be filled in black.
I framed the image a little higher to have more space for the sky. I then started inking the contours of the palm trees and the clouds, leaving the sky for last.
I started working on the details for the trees and the vegetation on the beach. I use white strokes to define the tree trunks and the highlights.
This has been a lengthy but very enjoyable process. I then inked the sky and used small white dots to create the stars.
The final layout.
Key Steps in Illustration 