One of the first book i have decided to look at is called, "The Picture Book". I chose this as we were told to pick illustrations from books and critically analyse them. I found this book particularly interesting as every page was filled with a drawing or piece of art then there is small description from the artist about why and what the illustration is about.
The book is edited by Angus Hyland and is titled the mini edition of contemporary illustration. The books dimensions are only about 5 by 6 inches which i found interesting as it is easy to pick up and flick through.
This is one of the first illustration that really caught my eye in the book. It is named, 'Rhino eating ink" and is by artist Jesper Waldersen. As u can see the drawing is mostly a single contact line drawing. I think that that the scribble effect on the rhinos mouth is very clever because it could have been a mistake and then used in the artists favour for the name of the illustration. It says in the description by the artist that he used to be in the advertising business as a art director but his illustrations caught up with him and he started to focus mainly on that. He said that he started drawing things digitally with a mouse which meant he had to simplify his illustrations. You can tell by this drawing that it has been simplified but i think this works effectively and really gives a strong meaning to a simple line drawing.
I would like to try and recreate a drawing like this one because it looks like you can create a very effective piece of art using a simplistic technique. I also think that i could learn skills on how to simplify my illustrations which could make them more effective in some situations. Being able to communicate a idea through simple illustration is a skill that could be very helpful in the future.
Here i have created a illustration on illustrator inspired by the Jesper Waldersen "Rhino eating ink" drawing. I started by tracing a picture i found off the internet of a giraffe. i decided to copy it roughly which was influenced by Jesper's illustration above.
Here i have finished my Jesper Weldersen inspired illustration that i like to call 'Giraffe eating Ink'. It is a simple interpretation of his illustration that i wanted to do to try and improve my line drawing skills. I feel like i have learnt how to communicate a simple illustration through line drawing using a computer and the programme illustrator.
The next illustration i have decided to analyse is from the same book "The Picture Book". It is by an artist called Kam Tang and isn't titled but it really drew my attention because of the vibrant colours and psychedelic aspect to the illustration.
This is most probably a digitally illustrated image because of the perfect lines and colour filling. It reminded me of the famous film about The Beatles called "The Yellow Submarine"which was directed by animation producer George Dunning. This is because of the psychedelic colours and the alternative reality that the illustration communicates. The simplistic shapes and the block vibrant colours really suggest that Kam Tang was inspired by this kind of artwork.
In the description by the artist in the book it says that Kam used to work long hours for his parents company and in his spare time he used to escape through drawing alternative reality illustrations such as this example above. This particular illustration was designed for the inner bag wrap around for the 'Two Culture Clash' LP release. Two Culture Clash were a collaboration of Jamaican reggae, ska and dancehall vocalists from the electronic dance scene that came together to make an album.
Another illustration i have decided to analyse is from another book called 'Illustration Now' by Ed. Julius Wiedemann. This book has a lot more detail about the specific artists within it and is much larger in dimension so you can spend a lot more time looking at the illustrations in detail.
One painting that really caught my eye from flicking through this book was by an american artist called Aaron Jasinski. It explains in the book that he is famous for capturing an abstract yet hugely recognisable human emotion in his paintings. This is an oil painting and i think that he has managed to create a texture more like chalk from this painting. This painting has inspired me and i want to try and capture the same kind of emotion that Aaron does in his paintings. I will have to start using different techniques when illustrating in future if i want results such as this below. I think this will be a useful skill to learn because using oil paints can create a whole different texture which in effect can communicate a different message or emotion in an illustration.
I feel like taking some illustration books out of the library and looking through them properly to analyse them as it has improved my knowledge of different processes and techniques within illustration and has inspired me to start experimenting using these.
