QUESTIONS.

Do I and how do I combine illustration and collage? Illustration and type? Type and collage?

How can I give my illustrations content? Narrative? Illustrate a song? Text? Book covers? A book?

What layout preferences are to be considered?

What is the best media to be used? Printmaking?Layered print?

How limited does the colour palette need to be?

How simplistic / complex do the collages have to be?

How simplistic can the illustrations be?

A view to the future. Possibly. Neville Brody, used pieces of his work, compiled together with the words of he Rimy River printed on top and created a  book. Its an idea of something I could possibly produce with my work.

The problem I am encountering with my work at present is that it seems to lack content and is reliant on development. My work at the moment is not so much about the final outcome but how I end up there. I have started drawing pictures but they mean nothing until they are given a context. One of the main problems I need to address is being able to step away from the sketchbook, to push my illustrations into other areas of which they can be understood. By further experimentation with different media, colour, scale, shape and layout will help give my work some meaning. 

Along side this, I have been experimenting with typography (shown below). Ultimately I see text as a challenge and another way of illustrating, and that is what I've been trying to convey with it. I need to think of a way to combine text and illustration however. it may simply be that the illustrations need to be printed onto different surfaces with the type, or  compiled together in some sort of book, a bit like Neville Brody done with the Rimy River.

This is the song so far. It is a current work in progress but is nearly finished. I need to start illustrating with the words, where the overall shape of the text represents the words of the text.

Taking the tag idea a step further by using song lyrics laid out in various ways, with a different font used for each letter of each word.

Here i began to overlap words drawn by pen and ink. I use different width nibs to experiment with the line quality. However, these need developing. The words are not clear enough, and possibly needs to be done using an actual passage of text.

Along with my illustrations, I have been experimenting with type. These were inspired by graffiti tags, which helps link my work back to the use of different surfaces given that tags are drawn everywhere by idiot chavs. The aim of this idea is to make them more aesthetically pleasing, by experimenting with colour and fluid shapes.

From the tree collages I then started to link it back to my illustrations, This is a tree created from Birds. 

The results of a week project with mick. I was given the image of trees and told to research them and then relate them to my current working practice. For these I took pictures of trees, which were then cut up and placed into a tree shape.

Research - Ian Wright, uses images collaged within an image relating to my illustrations.

I started to collage my illustrations. I chose the financial times a source to obtain materials of duller, fleshier tones to echo the colours from my illustration. I think it works quite well and is definitely something I am going to start and pursue. For the other collage experiment, right, I used a marvel action comic. It takes away far too much from the illustration, and over complicates the details of each part. Perhaps if it was a more delicately drawn comic, such as a Beano, that isn't quite so in your face and vibrant then it would begin to work.

Research - Jacques de la Villegie. Uses lacerated posters to create vibrant pieces. His work is more fragmented than Rauschenberg's but still literate.

Research - Robert Rauschenberg. It interests me how a pile of random images, like these, can be collaged together to make a literate piece. For instance the shape in the lotto bit (top right) echoing the water tower (bottom left).

These are the collages done using my surface photographs. I have over 200 of them now but the problem that I encountered with them is that as individual pieces, they are too illustrative or flat to be used within a collage. Therefore, I decided to cut out 2cm x 2cm squares to make them more interesting to collage with. The cluster I have tried to echo colours and link each together by this; while with the grid collage, I have tried to create a sort of narrative within them, and lay them out in a literate way, like Rauschenberg does with his collages.

along side my illustrations, I started to photograph surfaces that interested me with a view to collage them in some sort of way. 

After creating the illustrations, i started to play around with colour possibilites, using similar or contrasting tones, before attempting to link them to collages.

Sketchbook work inspired by Dubuffet. I had no real idea of what I would draw or what it would look like when I had finished. I just put pen to paper and went with what happened. I started noticing abstract faces within my work and went along with this idea.

Research - Jean Dubuffet.

Statement of Intent.

Book covers were my main focus throughout level 2. I used books in separate genres to help improve my illustration and type skills, but in hindsight, relied too heavily on software within my work. This year I feel I need to step away from this reliability on software, and become more hands on with my approach to work. I want to loosen up with my drawing and lose this precious attitude that I have had with my work in the past. By doing this I aim to become more confident and experimental with my work and produce more evocative and emotional pieces.

Recently, I have been inspired by the ambiguity of Jean Dubuffet's work. The way he uses images within images, helps make his work look natural and non-contrived and is something that I have been trying to achieve within my illustrations. I like to be imaginative and have no real them when I draw. My practice of late has been simply to make a mark on the page and take it from there, not thinking about the outcome, but rather, what I can turn each line into. Shape therefore plays a massive part in the way I work. Furthermore, I love the way Dubuffet and also Picasso, create this continuous line when they illustrate, something that I have tried to echo.

Collage adds to this interest in ambiguity and enables me to question readability. Unifying lines can be created from a mixture of materials, to leave an effect that is not too dissimilar from the style of illustration I have been pursuing. What tends to be lost in line quality, is gained in surface quality; both, taking something away from the composition as well as giving it back. Robert Rauschenberg's work uses combinations of urban photographs collaged with found pieces of graphics, to compose eclectic and vibrant pieces; while the work of Ian Wright collages small images within an overall image, relating back to the ideas inspired by Dubuffet.

In addition, the marginal remains of civilization inspired Jacques de la Villegie's lacerated posters, using destructive lines to make compositions of colour ad fragmentation.

over time I aim to collect a variation of materials and found objects that I can use to collage within my working practice. Photography will also enable me to take pictures of interesting surfaces, which can then be used and manipulated in their own right and used in conjunction with other found materials. i can also obtain influences from deteriorated surfaces, and remnants of construction markings from the world around me, and recreate these, within my illustrations by employing techniques to age my work.

vaughn Oliver seems to touch on similar processes in his work, but manages to create varying styles. Clan of Xymox, seems to embrace illegibility to create atmosphere. It looks bottomless with never ending  blotches and blurs assembled onto a compilation of torn layers that gives the piece it's meaning.

Referring back to age, outside of graphics, I love old, vintage and retro things, with the flat contrasting colours tones. What's more, I feel there is something aesthetically pleasing when you look at an object that has aged. Age gives an object history, and makes them look as though they have a had a life, by taking away its once perfect state. However, depending on the content of my illustration, I could source things such as old newspapers, comics and books, which can then be re-invented in my collages, to help further its meaning. The materials could help add to the works content.