Final Images

Evaluation

Throughout my sketch book, I experimented with techniques that helped me develop styles that were used in my final piece. Through researching into different artists and materials I chose to develop my most successful and the methods I most enjoyed to create my final design. For my final design I created a recipe book that was filled with my illustrations. The recipe book had a variety of different recipes and imagery throughout and a bold front cover. The illustrations were created with watercolour and fineliner, then edited on photoshop. The digital element was used to give a more professional finish. The logo I designed earlier on in the project was interpreted so my final design was more purposeful and could be used as a piece of merchandise. My final design was based on the theme of illustration, nearing the end of my project I created many mini outcomes which inspired some more hand rendered work. Matthew Midgley and Charlotte Farmer were the artists which inspired me to look into recipes, and look at the idea of recipe books. In my Charlotte Farmer research I made recipe calendars which then influenced me to make my recipe book illustrations in a similar style. My materials were used to show a range of shades and colours. I chose to use these specific materials as they worked most effectively with consideration to the effect I wanted my final design to have.   used bold text and illustrated imagery to make the recipes clear. Having the text surround the imagery made it stand out. I sent off to a company to have my designs printed into a book. I had issues when using the photobook software, as all of my text rendered as pixelated. I had to use the text tool in the software and rewrite all of the recipes, as it wasn't as professional as I'd wanted. My final design is how I imagined it to be, the recipes were developed into an exciting strong piece. If I had more time to improve the designs I would consider making promotional material for the book. I used similar layouts and colours that were used in my mini outcomes and I feel that I could’ve experimented with different approaches if I was given more time. If I could go back and start the project again I would vary the styles I used throughout the book to make it more interesting.

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Final word count: 2,125

The Making of my Final Outcome

As I decided to mix some of my favourite artists styles, I needed to choose a medium that I was strong at and would give the finish that I wanted. I decided to use watercolour and fineliner to produce my unique illustrative pieces. I made sure I had my artists work open on the relevant pages to inform the work I was producing.

To begin with I drew out all of the recipe photos in pencil, before I applied watercolour. After all my pieces had been painted I used fineliner over each piece to give it an illustrative style. I then cut out each of the images, and applied them to 21x21cm pieces of card, before cursively writing the recipe out around the image how I wanted it to look. After this, I scanned all of the pieces, and on photoshop, edited the levels of the image, removed any marks with the mend tool, and made sure all of the images were exactly 21x21cm so they'd fit in the photobook.

After editing the images, and I was happy with all of the final pieces, I downloaded a software that I could create my photobook with. I added in all of my jpeg images, and used the text tool to write the full recipe on the opposing side of the page. Once I was happy with the look, I sent the document off to be printed.

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Beginning of my own Development

After reviewing and refining some of my mini outcomes, such as my greetings cards and magnets, I thought my work in Becka Griffin and Beverly Cottrell styles weren't strong enough to involve in development into my final piece.

After looking at my market research I thought that it'd be best if I created a recipe book, which was hand rendered to create the nicest finish. I'd then use a digital software to put my final imagery in and send it off to be professionally printed to give the strongest final outcome.

I decided to develop my work into wall art pieces and recipes. I thought I could apply the recipes in some form to create a physical copy of a recipe book. For outcome development I will be looking at the design and style of recipes. Before I could design any recipe book I had to create a distinctive logo which would be the recognisable logo for the brand, and create an illustrative style to form the recipes. Through experiments I developed my final logo as the publisher brand, and started a mix of Matthew Midgley, Charlotte Farmer and Brad Young's style to make my own illustrations. Through the refining and reviewing of the logo and illustrations I created a cohesive title page, although simplicity is very effective in the creative industry I feel that my title page needed to be bold and striking.

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Developing into Outcomes

From the illustrations designed through the research of Beverly Cottrell I created a layered collage piece. The colour scheme was inspired by her shop front work. Although I already had some of the illustration material I felt it was necessary to simplify some areas and build up others. All of the final illustrations have a complimentary colour scheme and the composition of the final layout is proven successful and visually appealing. Everything was considered when layering up each piece with the foam pads.

To make this outcome I enlarged my original illustration, and using a scalpel cut out all the areas that I needed on card. This process was lengthy because of how precise, accurate and organised I had to be in making sure I had all the pieces I needed when I were to assemble them later on. I then used gouache paint to colour all of the pieces I'd cut, and used fineliner to add in all the details over the top. When assembling my work, I had to take into consideration which layer everything would be on, as I had to work from the back layer and build up. I really think this outcome is striking and bold and I think it's very successful as a piece.

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The Initial Ideas

Thinking of the brief, my initial ideas were centred around food and shop fronts, I furthered my research looking into artists such as Beverly Cottrell, Matthew Midgley, and Brad Young, which all had styles that would work well in tandem with my project and how I work. 

I was especially intrigued by the line work Beverly Cottrell (http://beverlycottrell.blogspot.co.uk) used, and immediately started recreating some of her illustrations and creating my own designs. The work included fineliner and watercolour. I felt that I could develop this work digitally, so I scanned in my fineliner illustrations, and colour dropped the pieces on photoshop, which created some really strong samples for my book. Beverly Cottrell has a unique illustrative approach to her work which is why I continued this hand drawn illustrative style into the digital version I made. My digital and hand made samples are shown below.

Matthew Midgley (http://matthewmidgley.com) focused on watercolour and fineliner food illustrations. The contrast between Beverly Cottrell and Matthew Midgley is shown through the difference of detail.  Matthew Midgley’s work is delicate and shows a strong drawing ability. I wanted to push my illustrations into a piece of work which showed the technical ability and understanding of watercolour. I feel I achieved this after recreating the illustrations below.

Brad Young (http://bradyoungart.wordpress.com) creates menu and drink illustrations, which is a sub-theme that I feel has a lot of potential for development within the coast and food glorious food topic. Whilst continuing my hand made illustrations, I also liked the prospects of typography within these pieces, and the hand drawn element. Looking at Brad Young's illustrations I decided to make my own through the use of watercolour, inks and fineliner. These muted colour pallets were the key to achieving such a nice quality piece. My wall art menu piece was created heavily inspired by his work, I used my own illustrations and typography to create this piece. I was pleased with how it turned out and I will be sure to extend this further on in the project. 

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The Initial Research

In relation to the brief, my initial ideas were centred around food, I began my research looking into artists such as Charlotte Farmer, Martha Mitchell, and Becka Griffin, which all had styles that would work well to begin my project and show how I work.

I was especially interested in the line work Charlotte Farmer (http://www.charlotte-farmer.co.uk) used, and started recreating some of her illustrations and creating my own pieces inspired by her work. The work included fineliner and watercolour. I felt that I could develop this work with stitch, so I created some linear samples on calico, which created some smaller strong samples for my book. Charlotte Farmer has a different illustrative approach to her work which is why I continued with hand drawn illustrations and adding watercolour. My work from this artist is shown below.

Martha Mitchell (http://www.marthamdesign.com) focused on simplistic fineliner food illustrations. The contrast between Charlotte Farmer and Martha Mitchell is shown through the difference of detail. Martha Mitchell’s work is delicate and shows a more basic style of drawing. I wanted to focus on this artist to show the basics of drawing and still make effectivles. I mainly used fineliner and mono print throughout, and created a digital tessellation which I felt was successful and developed it into a mug design. I wanted to focus on this artist to show the basics of drawing and still make effective samples. I feel I achieved this after recreating the illustrations below.

Becka Griffin (http://www.beckagriffinillustration.co.uk) creates food illustrations and introduces the typography element in the form of word play, typography is an important factor within this project that I wanted to start looking into. Whilst continuing my hand made illustrations, I also liked the prospects of typography within these pieces, and the hand drawn element. Looking at Becka Griffin's illustrations I decided to make my own through the use of watercolour and fineliner. These bright colour pallets were the key to achieving such a nice quality piece. I also created a digital tessellation created heavily inspired by her work, I used my own illustrations and typography to create this piece. I was pleased with how it turned out and showed how the pattern would work on different products.

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