Initial Drawings

Over the weekend I spent some time doing some initial drawings in response to the theme of "fairytales". These illustrations are very unlikely to be used later in the project, they are just a starting point to keep me motivated and to get me drawing. They are all done with fine-liners and coloured pens in an A4 sketchbook.

Looking back at these I can see some clear connections to fairytales such as Snow White, Little Red Cap and Rapunzel although this wasn't the intention when drawing them. I am particularly pleased with the way the typography piece turned out, and will possibly use a similar style later in the project, perhaps for a book cover. I am also quite keen on the image of the wolf in the forest and am very likely to use this style in the rest of my work; its the same style that I normally work in however with slightly less pattern detailing, which I think will work well for busier, fuller images.

Later this week I will be beginning to design some of the characters, and I am aiming to try and use a brush and ink for the drawings to try and get a more varied line thickness (whilst still sticking to this style).

Yesterday a parcel containing the book I ordered, The Annotated Brother's Grimm, arrived and it looks like its going to be really useful. There are some great illustrations in it, and each story begins with an explanation, and there are annotations throughout. I'll be using the book throughout the project to make sure I am sticking to the story lines and also to look for extra symbolism and imagery within the text.

Finding Inspiration

These are a few of the things I've found this week that are keeping me inspired.

1. Grimms' fairytales book cover by Tess Redburn.

I love the way that Tess Redburn had her design laser-cut into wood (and then photographed for a book cover), I think it adds a really rustic feel to the image. 

2. Grimms' fairytales book cover by Naomi Wilkinson.

I really like the simplicity of this design and the way that it tells a sort of narrative in one image (something I aim to do in my final outcome). I also love the limited yet bold colour scheme here.

3. Illustration by Budi Satria Kwan.

I love the combination of several elements within one image, adding a fantastical, magical feel to the work. I may use something similar to this in my work, but perhaps in a more subtle way with shapes in shadows and/or reflections.

4. Screenshot of credits from Tangled the movie.

Whilst I was drawing over the weekend I watched a few movies based on various Grimms' fairytales to keep me inspired, including Tangled (based on the story of Rapunzel). I really liked the end credits and the way they were illustrated, with a sort of map showing all the locations within the film. This is the sort of layout I am thinking of using in some of my images in order to fit in lots of different story-lines.

Week 3 (In brief)

- Finding inspiration

- Initial drawings in response to the fairy tale theme.

- Sketches and photos from my trip to the Zoo.
- Continued research: breaking down the plots of the stories.
- Tutorial with Louise.
- Finalised the choices of animals for the characters and began illustrating them.

Guest Speaker: Jamie Keenan

This morning we had Jamie Keenan come in for a guest lecture. I hadn't seen Jamie's work before so wasn't sure what to expect. He designs some lovely book covers using a lot of photography and typography.

Book Covers by Jamie Keenan

Jamie likes to create designs that combine two elements together, and often uses an "unfinished look, to give the viewer something to do". I really like the simplicity of Jamie's work, and the way he incorporates the title text into the images. My favourite of these covers is the one in the bottom right ("All shall be well") because of the use of handwritten type and the negative space.

Jamie made a lot of good points throughout his talk entitled "Things I wish I'd known", and I've picked out some of my favourites:

- "We don't stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing."

Keep everything fun and always keep playing with different ideas.

- Don't become a "designosaur".

Don't be too tentative.

"We're not surgeons, if you mess up completely no-ones going to die."

- Try to turn positives into negative.

Bad news come sometimes be good news in disguise.

Things change.

- Do it yourself.

Just get on with it.

Create your own world.

- Believe in yourself and believe that you are the best illustrator in the World.

But at the same time, question everything you do. 

Be on a roller-coaster of ideas.

Overall this talk was really inspiring, as well as honest and realistic, and a lot of what he told us should be really quite helpful in the future.

Initial Research

Initial research notes.

After my tutorial with Derek on monday I have started to conduct some research into the Grimms' fairytales.

After reading through the list of Grimms' fairytales I have chosen to focus my work on the following six stories:

Cinderella, Hansel & Gretel, The Little Briar-Rose, Little Red Cap, Rapunzel, Little Snow White.

I am using some of the most well known stories as I feel that if I am going to be combining the stories together as part of my outcome, then they characters and story-lines will need to be easily recognisable. I hope to also look a little at some of the other stories and perhaps use a few elements form them in my work.

So far I have looked at the Grimms' version of each of these stories, as well any other popular versions such as Disney. I've made notes on the plots of these versions and will be choosing which elements to use form which versions in my work (most likely somewhere in between the dark, macabre versions by the Grimms, and the romantic magical disney versions).

I have also made notes of all the main characters that I'll need to include in order to conduct some research into which animals would be suitable to use. And with the help of the SurLaLune fairytales website, I've looked at any symbolic imagery that is used within the stories, as well as any significant quotes or descriptions. I've ordered a book entitled The Annotated Brother's Grimm to help me with this project, and that should be arriving on monday so I'll have plenty to read next week in between drawings.

I will be continuing my research over the next few days and then heading to the zoo on Sunday to start drawing the animals.

Tutorial with Derek

Yesterday I had a tutorial with Derek where we discussed my ideas and he gave me advice for writing my proposal and timetable. He approved of the ideas that I mentioned in my last post, and gave me a few helpful suggestions as well. So I will be going ahead with the idea:

Illustrate a small selection of the Grimms' fairytales, adapting the characters to be animals that reflect their personalities, with the goal of producing a book that combines the fairytales into one story.

One of his main suggestions was to try and draw the animals form life wherever possible as this will help me to capture a bit of character and personality in them. One artist that he referred to several times was Beatrix Potter and the way she successfully used anthropomorphism in her illustrations, mainly because she spent so long with the animals themselves and knew their characters well. Obviously I am unable to do exactly that, but I have timetabled to visit a Zoo at least once, as well as any other wildlife parks nearby, in order to draw as many animals from life as possible. the first of these trips will be on sunday to London Zoo where I plan on drawing and taking photos for later reference.

Beatrix Potter: Anthropomorphism

Until then I will be researching the fairytales themselves, looking at characters, symbolism, different versions and any other elements I may find useful. I will be breaking each story down into a few bullet points to help me when it comes to producing the illustrations, and also deciding on which animals to use for each character.

Throughout this project I am also keeping a Pinterest board of any images I find that are inspiring me, particularly relating to fairytales. Every couple of weeks I will share a round-up of whats been inspiring me and looking to see how that has influenced my work.

Fairytale Inspirations

Week 2 (In brief)

- Tutorial with Derek

- Settled on an idea and chosen the 6 stories to work on

- Began my initial research
- A talk by Jamie Keenan