NBC Roughs+ Demo

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Originally, the plan for the illustrations of the instructions was simply to illustrate the current images the company use within their current instructions and use words to re enforce the images. However, I pitched to the team the idea of only using images within the instructions, and simplifying the images to a few simple steps, using the images above as a demonstration at our meeting. This was very well received and the team have decided to give me more freedom with what I produce, and payment has also been renegotiated for the extra work load.

CCS Co. Timetable

NBC Brief Timetable

NBC Brief

Having approached Natural Bed Company about their instructions (which are bad), about potentially working with them about creating some fresh instructions I wasn't expecting a response. However, after emailing back and forth and sharing some of my previous work with them they have decided to commission me to create a new set of instructions for them.

The brief is quite large, and will likely take up a lot of time over the next year and module, however, being able to take part in an actual paid brief is a really exciting prospect.

CocoLoco Final Images

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CocoLoco Development Images

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CocoLoco Brief Summary

This brief was a great way to get me started in this module. It was a fairly simple concept, and was within my comfort zone as I had done some packaging design before. I really enjoyed the research stage of the brief, and enjoyed picking the countries I wanted to illustrate based on my own ideas of ethically sourced cacao. The research I did made it much to illustrate each country and understand the brand a bit more (even though my designs were mainly based off the flags of the countries).

I think the outcomes of the brief are quite strong, I like the clean and bold designs, and I think they work well in helping the product stand out, without being too garish and brash. The final outcomes conceptually are quite weak, being based mainly on the design of the flags- however, I think this came naturally out of my research and investigation into the design, as there was a resolved understanding that the flags were the most instantly recognisable aspects of the countries.

Things to take forward-

- Research fully!!
- Understand the brief fully
- Don't focus on creating images that are conceptually out there! (Simplicity can work effectively)

CocoLoco Roughs

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CocoLoco Brief Timetable

Extended Practice Schedule

I'm trying to be as organised as possible with this module. I have a rough idea of the briefs I want to complete, and it should be enough to see me through the year, I will just have to try and work to the schedule as much as possible. COP deadlines could get in the way of this but hopefully not too much.

Each project has a schedule to stick to as well. Very organised.

Extended Practice- Statement of Intent

Project Proposal

Professional Briefs

Through the module I want to be able to get stuck in with some real world briefs. I aim to start the module with some live competition briefs, but eventually be able to find enough work as an illustrator to see me through the rest of the module. I will aim to work towards briefs that will further develop my understanding of my practice as an illustrator and professional.

Practical Skills

The main thing I want to look to within the module is developing my roughing skills. I know from previous briefs that I need to experiment a lot more during the roughing stage of briefs, which should help me integrate better concepts into my work in general. The way I will do this is to try and focus on working in sketchbooks with simple pencil drawings and try to work at making roughs on location.

Products

I want to look toward making products during this brief, be it tees, finishing brush packs, or pushing my work to be able to be used for other practical applications. I think the best way to achieve this is to approach companies to work with, and try and get work with them.

General Aim

I want this module to be the beginnings of setting me up as a full time illustrator. Hopefully by seeking professional briefs I can gain enough experience and confidence to be able to work consistently post-uni. I don’t want to get bogged down with working on too many competition briefs if I don’t have to- hopefully I can find enough work to be able to work consistently on a paid brief throughout the whole module.

Themes/ Context
During the module, I want to explore the type of images that I am genuinely interested in, I don’t think Ill ever be a children’s book illustrator, for instance- so I want to explore ideas and themes that I am interested in. I have really enjoyed product packaging in previous briefs, so this is definitely something I’ll be looking at working with during the module. I would also like to play with experiential illustration, and create work based off of my own personal experiences and events. I think this will open up the module to a lot of playing with images and allow me to investigate what I want.

Professional Skills

I want to challenge my skills in terms of professionalism. Time keeping is a big one for me, so I want to be able to draw up an in depth timetable and try to stick to it the best I can, be it a general timetable for the whole module or for individual modules themselves.

I expect this proposal will change quite heavily as the module continues, especially if I am wanting to find paid briefs to work on.

Initial Intended Briefs:

- CocoLoco Chocolate Bars
- Penguin Book Covers (  A Brief History of Time- Stephen Hawking)

OUIL505- Summative Evaluation

OUIL505- Project Report

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OUIL505- SB2 Design Boards

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OUIL505- Final Images

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OUIL505- Applications

On completion of teh images, I decided to experiment with the applications of the images and use them in the context in which they were designed- and others. I wanted to start with using them on billboards as would be typical for an advertising campaign. I think the images work really well as eye catching adverts and I think the bold bright colours really stand out and attract attention.

I then went on to think of other applications of the images, and where else they could be used to enhance the campaign as a whole. I though about using the images as prints, as mentioned in my proposal. I think the images make great prints and definitely work effectively at targeting my intended audience in terms of a souvenir type gift.

I also looked at the other applications in terms of merchendising the campaign, turning the images into tote bags would be a really interesting way of getting the intended message out to the audience as well as targeting the intended audience- similar to the prints.

I went on to look at how one of the prints would transfer onto a web page, specifically the Yorkshire.com homepage, where the campaign would likely be pushed. I think the image sits really well, and the colour scheme allows the image to stand out whilst not being too obnoxious and being an eye sore.

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OUIL505- Application- Short Animations

I wanted to experiment with a bit of animation with the images. I thought about applying them to digital billboards that are typically found in shopping centres and other high footfall areas as I think this would be a really interesting and effective way of reaching a lot of people.

I wanted the animations to be incredibly subtle, so much so that they are hardly noticable, as I feel sometimes subtle movements can be as effective, if not more so, that really fast and bold animations and can often create more intrigue.

I am really happy with the overall effect of the looping animations, and I think they would work really well in communicating a message of peace and interest with the audience in a marketing and advertising context.

OUIL505- Yorkshire - Sketch 5MERGED from Matthew Mercer on Vimeo.

VIADUCT from Matthew Mercer on Vimeo.

Comp 2_1 from Matthew Mercer on Vimeo.

OUIL505- Viaducts- Final Image

Below is my final image for the viaducts illustration. Overall I am quite happy with how the image has turned out, I think the image looks really dramatic and should work well as a poster for when I do the mock ups.

I addition of the small bird really adds to the image. Image was reall lacking some detail and interesting focus point and I think that adds just what it needed. It also gave me an excuse to add in another dramatic shadow which I really like.

OUIL505- Reviewing the Proposal

So today I went back and reviewed my initial proposal. I wanted to stick to it as fully and comprehensively as I could and I feel I have done a pretty good job at it. I think I have achieved everything I needed to and wanted to within the brief so I dont necessarily think it needs altering in any way.

However, I did state in my proposal that I wanted to screenprint some of the images- or at least implied that they could be sold as screen prints. However, due to time constraints I wont be able to actually screen print them, although I don't necessarily think the module dictates that I should, I will probably just make mock-ups of the screen printed images. 

OUIL505- Explore Yorkshire

I have been thinking a lot recently about what the content of the posters will be, maybe this is something I should have thought about during the first steps of my process, as it could potentially have influenced how the image came out, however it's a bit late for that now.

Since I'm wanting to produce the images for Yorkshire.com, I concluded that I should probably include their logo in the image somewhere, so that part was easy. However I was a bit stuck when it came to what other content I wanted to have in the posters.

I knew I wanted the word 'Yorkshire' in there, obviously, but I wanted something else on it to let people know that it was an advertisement. A few of my ideas were:

- Experience Yorkshire
- Explore Yorkshire
- Discover Yorkshire (I think this ones been used somewhere else)
- Visit Yorkshire (same slogan as their last campaign)

I decided that the best one to use would be Explore Yorkshire. I think this encompasses everything that I wanted to say with the series of posters. It also links to my experience of making the posters, as a lot of what I've been doing over the past few weeks is exploring Yorkshire and the things you can do/see here. So this is the one I will go with.

OUIL505- Broadcasting Tower- Final Image

Below is the final image for the Broadcasting tower poster. Overall I think this may be my least favourite of the 6 images. I think the area where this one suffered is through lack of development. I think I was so happy with the original drafts of the image that I neglected to see if i could push the image any further through refinement and experimentation. However, as an advertising image I think it works quite well, its bold and stands out so on that front I'm not too displeased with it, just aesthetically.

OUIL505- Sheffield Winter Gardens- Final Image

Here is my final image for the Sheffield Winter Gardens illustration. The image hasn't really changed much from the development stage of the image, the biggest change being the change in character and the change in the foliage that I've used.




I am pretty happy with the final outcome of the image, and I think it advertises the location really well I think it is quite an eye catching image for a poster, worth the bold lines of the arches really standing out against the pale background.

OUIL505- Saltburn Pier- Final Image

Producing the final image for this poster was probably the most frustrating one of all, for some reason the composition of the image hasn't transferred well to the layout of the poster as some of the other posters, which is really annoying as it's the one I probably have spent the most one on so far. I think if I were to go back and produce the image again I would definitely produce a few more roughs and experiment with the composition a bit more.

If I'm perfectly honest I don't even know why the image doesn't work. I jus think it doesn't look as polished as the rest of them. I think it could be something to do with the colours in the just don't seem to sit well. 

OUIL505- Yorkshire Moors- Final Image

I am really pleased with the final image for my Yorkshire Moors poster. I think the compostitiom of the image is really good, and I especially like how this one has turned out.

The main differences I have made with this one between the development and now are the removal of the clouds and the biker. The reason I removed the clouds is because I thiouht it would make the image look a bit gloomy, and obviously I am trying to advertise the location so I want it to look as attractive as possible. And the reason I removed the biker was because I thought not everyone would be interested in cycling, so I thought about adding in a more universal activity, so just adding in the silhouette of the mans walking the dog I think made the image look a lot better.

I think out of all of the images I've produced so far, the colour scheme works the best in this one. I think the colours balance really well and the colour gradient in the sky is really subtle in this one.

OUIL505- Runswick Bay- Final Image

Below is my final image for the Runswick Bay poster. I am pretty pleased with the clinal outcome of the poster for this one, I like the compostitiom and I like the solid blue colour used for both the sea and the sky.

The main thing that I think adds a lot to the image is the addition of the smaller character in the foreground, I think it adds a little but more detail that the image was probably lack and helps it fit in with the rest of the images. I also decided to add in the silhouette of the seagull, mainly just for compostitiom a sale as I feel the sky was lacking a bit. As well as that it enforces the idea of the image being at the coast.

I decided to leave out a face of the houses in the final image as I felt the cliffs in the background were a little bit too noisy, so I wanted to clear them up a bit and simplify them so give the impression of houses but not to overcrowd it. Which I think whorls really well.

OUIL505- Poster Layout

Because I'm coming towards the end of finishing off the images, I have started to think about how the images will work with text on the page. I sketched out some examples and ideas of how the words could be laid out and eventually I decided that the way to make it look the best would be to have the text quite small at the bottom of the page with the Y logo in the top left corner- with the potential to move it around to other corners should the illustrations dictate it.

I was slightly worried that the text might be too small for the image, especially if the images were only A3, it might be a bit too small if it's far away. However, I've made it so that the shapes in the image are all vectors so they can all be easily adjusted and resized to fit other sizes, which is good should I need to resize them, however I have specified in my proposal that I wanted to make A3 images. Oh well, this can be changed easily.

OUIL503- Summative Evaluation

OUIL503- Project Report

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OUIL505- Subtlety in Gradients

One thing that I am finding myself using more and more in my work is this almost grainy gradient when transitioning colour, especially in shadow. I really like the look of it and I'm really enjoying using it. This is starting to really influence my practice, and I hope to continue to keep using it in future.

The other thing I'm really starting to use a lot more in my practice is really harsh shadows. I think it really adds to the drama of my work and I think it helps to cut away from the simplicity.

OUIL505- Sheffield Winter Gardens- Development

After moving forward with my finalised initial idea for the Sheffield Winter Gardens illustration, I worked on my iPad and tried to get the developed rough looking as close to the finished product as possible.

I wanted to focus on the values of the image a lot more during this stage, especially because I was not really wanting to think about colours at this point.

I am really pleased with how this image is progressing. I think the composition is really interesting and I love the calm and relaxed mood of it. The one thing I am worried about is using the plants in the image. I think the way I have drawn the plants looks quite cartoony, and I wanted the final images to have a more realistic feel to them to better reflect that the winter gardens are a real place. This is something I will look to address in the final development of the image.

OUIL505- I'm smarter than I think I am

From the developed images, I have noticed that all of the images seem to have a similar composition in that they all seem to move upwards and to the right (see image below), this was not intentional, but I think it helps to tie in the image to one another and helps them seem more cohesive as a set. I could probably try and argue that the up and right direction of the images symbolises progress and positivity but I don't think I'm that intelligent (or pretentious?). However it's a good thing to talk about, maybe I could squeeze a few extra marks out of the module if I mention that it was intentional and I meant to do it from the start. Or maybe not.

OUIL505- Colour Scheming

So as the images are beginning to develop, I have started to consider what colours I want to use for the final images. I tihgout about using really bright and bold colours, as the images are supposed to be for advertisements, so to stand out more, however I just didn't feel like this scheme really reflected what Yorkshire is all about.

I wanted to stick to the root images people have of Yorkshire. So I decided that I wanted to use lots of greens and browns, to reflect the countryside aspect, as well as a lot of blues to add a bit of brightness to the posters. I also thought about the application of the images, and who they were going to be made for. I looked on Yorkshire.com and their main choice of colour is pink, so I decided that I wanted to include a bit of pink in some of the images.

I am actually really glad that ima considering colour this late on, it gave me a much better opportunity to focus on the values and balance of the images rather that being hung up on which colour should go where and it has made limiting my colours down to just 5 colours really easy.

I wanted to keep all of the 'human' elements in the images pure black, I think this adds to the ambiguity of the images and will hopefully help- them to engage with the viewers a lot more.

OUIL505- Change in Character

I am really pleased with how my use of character has turned around during this brief. At first I was convinced I wanted to use a more ambiguous shape, to engage the viewer a little bier more, however upon reflection I don't think the characters I was using during the early stages of the brief would have fit in with the final outcomes of the images at the point they are at now, so I'm really glad I decided to change them up.

OUIL505- Viaducts- Development

Moving on from my roughs of the viaducts. I was expecting them to change quite a lot during the development stage, however they really haven't changed much at all. I'm. Not too worried about this, as I'm quite happy with how the image has turned out and I looking forward to getting it finished.

I did however simplify the background of the image a lot more, as I think that enforces the impressiveness and height of the structure itself, and with the addition of the character as discussed in the feedback session, I think the image is looking as detailed as it should.

I love they use of plain white on the side wall of the viaduct, as I think it really makes the image look a lot more dramatic and adds a l to of interest to the image. However I do think it could be in danger of looking a bit too plain in the final image, but well cross that bridge when we get to it. 

OUIL505- Yorkshire Moors- Developement

The development stage for this image was quite easy, as I think a lot of the development for the idea actually went on in the roughing stage after I messed up my first roughs. The main thing thing I wanted to do with the development of this idea was looking at the values of the image and see how I could get the image looking as dramatic as possible.

I added in some clouds, just to add a bit more interest to the sky as well as some hot air balloons, which I've totally made up and weren't actually there when I visited but who's going to know that? I thought it would add to the idea of exploration and adventure, which I think it does.

OUIL505- Saltburn Pier- Development

I really enjoyed the development of this image, it didn't really change much from the roughs in terms of composition however it lead me to be able to play around with the composition of the image A lot more.

I decide to remove the drink form the image, not only did the curved shape throw off the angular look of the rest of the poster but I thought it could have taken away from people's view of the town. Maybe it made it look messy and uncared for? Or maybe I'm just paranoid.

The other thing I'd f0rgotten about in this image is the idea of character. So it's probably a good thing that I removed the drink as it allowed me to move the Pier up slightly and include the image of the mans leg walking across the beach. I think this is definitely a good thing as it allowed me to tie in the image to the rest a lot more.

OUIL505- Development- Method

For the development of the images, I decided to work a lot more on my iPad. This meant it was much easier to move around the elements and play with values in the shapes a or more. This is not something I have done before, usually sticking to developing the images on paper, however, I am really happy with how the process went. The process was much smoother than usual, and the way that the app I use is set up means it was easy to flick between focussing on one image and closing the image to see how they all work as a set.

This also should save me a lot of time when it comes to finalising the images as I also have them digitally produced and ready to go, with values and composition already set up how I want. I have yet to work out the colour scheme I am going to use, however I know I want to stick to the same colour scheme throughout all of the illustrations so they work more cohesively as a set. 

OUIL505- Broadcasting Tower- Developement

The development for this image has been relatively smooth. I am pretty happy with how the layout of the image is looking, however primitive it may look? I think this one will be relatively easy to push further than this and shouldn't actually take that long to get a final image out of it. I need to look at what sort of character I want in the front of the image- I think I'd like to have a silhouette stood looking up at the building, just to emphasise the scale, and I'll possibly have to work on the actual scale of the character too.

OUIL503- MUBI Brief- Presentation Board

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OUIL503- Brush Design- Presentation Boards

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OUIL503- Illustration Friday- Presentation Boards

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OUIL505- Runswick Bay- Development

The development for this one was weird. It was the first image I did roughs for but the very last one to move on to the development stage so it was a bit of a struggle getting started with it again. Similarly to a few of the others, not much changed with this one between now and the development, just the values really, which definitely makes it a lot easier to move forward with.

One big thing that changed during the development stage of this image was the changing around of the foregrond, (see below). I'll explain why in my next post.

OUIL503- Penguin Cover- In Cold Blood- Presentation Boards

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OUIL505- Yorkshire Moors- Secondary Ideas

After re evaluating my initial roughs for theYorkshire Moors image, I decided to add in some elements of activity with them. I thought about what people were doing there when I visited, as I thought this is would give me a good reflection of the types of thing people would actually want to do there. The main things I saw people doing there were cycling ], walking dogs and just generally walking around the place. I thought that the cycling would be the most interesting element to add into the image so I produced a few more roughs based around this idea.

I am pretty happy with how the roughs have turned out, I like the idea of having a cyclist in there but not actually cycling, just standing and taking in the view. I think this will lead peoples eye a lot more towards the moors, rather than just focussing in the cyclist himself.

OUIL503- In Cold Blood Final Cover

I have chosen to submit my boot print cover for the brief. I think the design effectively communicates the concept of the story and the content of the book. I think this cover is one of the best things I have produced whilst on the course and I'm genuinely quite proud of it, it has also influenced my practice in quite a large way.

I thought about how the design could be implemented into different applications. I thought about fan art, and advertising for the books so I made a couple of mock-ups of what potential prints would look like (1 screen-printed print has already been sold). 

OUIL503- In Cold Blood- Cover 2 Final Design

Below is my second final cover for In Cold Blood. Overall I'm not particularly happy with the cover, I think the concept behind it is quite strong but I don't think my execution of the idea lived up to standards.

OUIL503- Illustration Friday (HOT)

Research

I wanted to keep the research for this one quite minimal, as I thought it would be easy to get hung up on illustrating a particular place rather than focusing on the 'hot' element. I googled colour palettes and then simply went ahead with the sketching of roughs.

I thought this would be a perfect way to tackle my issues with colour. Being colour blind, I struggle to really experiment with colour schemes and ways of using colour effectively.

I wanted to create a feeling of the place being hot, without using direct signifies. I didnt want to worry too much about the composition of the image, so I used an isometric grid as used in a previous Illustration Friday, this meant I could focus much more on the colours I use in the image.


I actually really like this image, I think the colour scheme is really successful and I think the image works well as an illustration for 'hot'. The work flow for this brief was smooth and I didn't really run into any issues along the way. Quite a successful brief overall.

OUIL505- Borascasting Tower- Initial Ideas

I wanted to really focus on the scale of the building for the broadcasting tower image. Because of this, the use for eh fingered is imperative in this poster. Again, I wanted to use quite and usual composition in this image, rather than just having the tower stick straight up, I wanted it to almost curve with the perspective to really show off the scale of it.

I also wanted to focus on the simple clean lines it has, again to reflect the more modern side of Yorkshire. I wanted the building to be quite ambiguous in its shape, as I thought focussing too much on one specific building would dampen the idea of Yorkshire having so many other buildings to explore, so I tried to keep the design quite simple.

OUIL505- Research

The first few weeks of this brief were spent researching different places around Yorkshire. At first it felt like I wasn't really getting much value out of the process and I felt a bit like I was wasting my time. However, upon reflection I really think this part of the process has been the most influential over my practice for a while. I think research is something I have often overlooked in the past, often diving straight into the design stage and ignoring the thought behind the illustrations.

This first part of the brief has not only helped me to decide which locations I wanted to use, but it also inspired me to get started and producing some ideas. I almost with I would have taken my sketchbook with me on location rather than just taking pictures as I think I could have produced some more ideas on location.

OUIL505- Yorkshire Moors- Initial Ideas

My initial ideas for the moors were mainly focussed on the idea of walking and hiking and just generally exploring the location. So I wanted to use one of the signposts you always see when you're walking in these types of locations with the arrows on. I thought that this would portray the idea of using the moors as a place to walk around and explore. However when I thought about it it didn't really make sense to have a post with a directional arrow on it in the middle of an open field, so I guess I'll have to go back and produce a few more roughs that aren't as dumb this time.

Aside from the post, I really like the layout of the image, I think it's probably a good idea to have the ground as close to the base of the image as possible, as I think this enhances the idea of the expansiveness of the moors, and also allows me to play around a bit more with the sky and potential elements within it.

OUIL505- Saltburn Pier- Initial Ideas

For the Saltburn Pier poster I wanted to really focus on the composition of them image. I wanted to use and unusual viewpoint to keep the image separate from the Runswick Bay image, which will likely focus heavily on the coastal aspect. I chose to produce the image with an almost isometric viewpoint, not only to keep the image interesting but also to reflect the impressive engineering of the structure, almost as if it was from a technical drawing image.

I really like how the roughs were going, however, similarly to the viaduct images, I think I definitely could have explored more ideas and compositions, however I'm really happy with how the image is starting off.

I decided to add in the image of a drink sat on the Pier, as I think this reflects the livelier aspect of the town. Weather this will make it to the final design is yet to be seen.

OUIL505- Runswick Bay- Initial Ideas

For my initial ideas for the Runswick Bay poster, I wanted to try and illustrate the view mentioned in the previous way, but in a much more simplified way. I I thought about illustrating the building as 2 simple shapes, one in heavy shadow and one in medium shadow, this on top of a white background of the cliffs I think should create a really interesting look. I wanted the sky to be left quite open in this image, so that I could reflect the colour of the sea in the sky and make it feel quite vast.

I'm not only really happy with the images that I've made whilst roughing for this poster,  but I'm also really pleased with how I've actually roughrded them.  My roughing is usually really shit, and I think with these ones I have really explored my capabilities with roughing and I'm really happy with how it's turned out. Hopefully I will be able to keep this up wit the rest of my practice.