As part of our first week of the degree, we were split into groups and asked to discuss each other's chosen illustrations. I was nervous about this task because I hadn't yet spoken to some of the people in my group. I had no indication of what type of illustration they were interested in, or what they were like as people. I worried that maybe they wouldn't contribute to the discussion or that they would be negative in their attitude towards the work.
Briar had chosen an illustration by the artist Hellen Joe.
Her chosen illustration was very different to mine. The intended audience of Jansson's illustration was children, whilst Joe's work seems to be aimed at an adult/young adult audience.
The above illustration was featured in an arts and comic magazine (Frontier), whereas Jansson's illustrations are made to complement her classic children's books.
The viewers of Joe's work are likely to be individuals who are interested in comic art and design, thus would be existing readers of Frontier magazine.
Our group had a deep discussion about the concept of this image. We all commented that it seemed to be a reflection of alter egos and false identities, but we also got onto the topic of fetishes and darker subjects such as murder and gang violence, reading from the visual cues in the image (colour code of red connoting blood and danger).
I found this image increasingly disturbing the more I looked into it.
The image itself seems to have been created using brush pens. It has a conventional comic/graphic art aesthetic, featuring block colours and a Japanese manga style. This, again, juxtaposes the naive approach of Tove Jansson.
I think that Joe's style might have been chosen in order to match the house style of the magazine she was featured in, or possibly to suit the existing interests of their readers.
The above illustration was featured in an arts and comic magazine (Frontier), whereas Jansson's illustrations are made to complement her classic children's books.
The viewers of Joe's work are likely to be individuals who are interested in comic art and design, thus would be existing readers of Frontier magazine.
Our group had a deep discussion about the concept of this image. We all commented that it seemed to be a reflection of alter egos and false identities, but we also got onto the topic of fetishes and darker subjects such as murder and gang violence, reading from the visual cues in the image (colour code of red connoting blood and danger).
I found this image increasingly disturbing the more I looked into it.
The image itself seems to have been created using brush pens. It has a conventional comic/graphic art aesthetic, featuring block colours and a Japanese manga style. This, again, juxtaposes the naive approach of Tove Jansson.
I think that Joe's style might have been chosen in order to match the house style of the magazine she was featured in, or possibly to suit the existing interests of their readers.
Bronte brought in an illustration made by Dadu Shin.
This image is a piece of editorial illustration which was used in a book review inside the San Francisco Chronicle (newspaper). The book is titled 'Death of the Black-Haired Girl'.
Editorial illustration requires the illustrator to work closely with text, similarly to how Tove Jansson combined words and pictures. However, Jansson happened to be the author of the books she illustrated, so had more control over her choice of image and how she composed them.
The audience of the text in which Shin's work is featured is likely to be residents of San Francisco who are interested in books and literary subjects.
The purpose of Shin's work is to summarise the book's content, without giving too much away (hence the enigmatic and mysterious concept and content - faceless bystanders, fly on the wall perspective.)
Restrictions in printing colours in newspapers (in order to maintain low cost of production) is probably the reason why this image is in monochrome. We also thought about the atmosphere that this colour choice depicts: a vacant, cold, serious and static environment.
This illustration is not my normal area of interest due to its dark subject matter and intended audience not being young children, but I have enjoyed investigating it and have become quite fond of this image and would like to see more work from Dan Shin.
Megan looked at the work of Rocio Montoya
This illustration exists in an online art magazine called www.trendland.com
From this series of images, I imagined that the intended audience would be fashion conscious young women, but the actual audience might be artists or technologically savvy art/design enthusiasts.
The internet allows anyone to freely post to the internet and automatically publish anything they want, and also access anything they want too. This means that Montoya's audience is likely to be an extensive amount of online viewers.
Our group talked a lot about the concept behind these images; we explored the connection between femininity and botanical elements, we brought up words such as fragility, delicacy and structure.
I really love the combination of photography and biology in these illustrations. To me, they seem almost like a scientific study. I would like to see what the rest of Montoya's work is like and whether all of her illustrations use this same technique or if she has developed this at all.
Megan seemed especially excited by the process that Montoya uses to construct her work. I was inspired by Megan's knowledge of the artist and how she works. It was great to see my peers talking about the things they love.
This illustration exists in an online art magazine called www.trendland.com
From this series of images, I imagined that the intended audience would be fashion conscious young women, but the actual audience might be artists or technologically savvy art/design enthusiasts.
The internet allows anyone to freely post to the internet and automatically publish anything they want, and also access anything they want too. This means that Montoya's audience is likely to be an extensive amount of online viewers.
Our group talked a lot about the concept behind these images; we explored the connection between femininity and botanical elements, we brought up words such as fragility, delicacy and structure.
I really love the combination of photography and biology in these illustrations. To me, they seem almost like a scientific study. I would like to see what the rest of Montoya's work is like and whether all of her illustrations use this same technique or if she has developed this at all.
Megan seemed especially excited by the process that Montoya uses to construct her work. I was inspired by Megan's knowledge of the artist and how she works. It was great to see my peers talking about the things they love.
I was pleasantly surprised by just how well this discussion went. Everyone made a fantastic attempt to put forward their opinions and ideas. We took it in turns to contribute and all treated each others interests with respect.
It was brilliant to see such a diverse range of illustration, exposing me to different art that I haven't seen before.
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