EXERCISE 3.3: ILLUSTRATIVE DRAWINGS

THE PROCESS:

When looking at my sketchbook & photographic journey, I identified the following adjectives: colourful; patterns; vibrant.

MARK- MAKING:

I completed the chosen journey twice, first using my sketchbook as tool to document it, and secondly using the camera on my iPhone. I added some of the photographs to my sketchbook as reference and inspiration.

I felt a bit stuck afterwards and wasn’t sure what to do next. Inspired by the adjectives: ‘colourful, patterns & vibrant’, I decided to do some mark-making activities. I was inspired by the variety of vibrant colours and patterns of some of the sea creatures and plants.

I looked back at some of the mark-making tools I’ve used in the past and chose some of them which I thought would create effective patterns as inspired by my sketchbook/ photographic journey.

I used several different tools to make marks with vibrant coloured acrylic paint, including: forks; bubble wrap; shaping tool; sliding a piece of card; straws; henna tube; etc. I also filled some sheets painting different blocks lots of different colours.

I then thought it would be fun to use these sheets as background colours/ patterns for some of my sea creatures.

REFLECTION:

This mark-making activity was helpful to generate more ideas. While I was painting/ printing away, I got lots of other ideas for possible drawings and how I could possibly combine it together later. This mark-making activity felt like colour therapy. It was fun and relaxing.

PAINTED BLOCKS:

SLIDING PIECE OF CARD:

BUBBLEWRAP:

STRAWS:

SHAPING TOOL & BUBBLEWRAP:

FORKS:

DRAWINGS IN SKETCHBOOK:

Following the mark-making activity, I was excited to try out my new posca markers. I used them to make some drawings using the original sketches and photographs from my journey as inspiration.

I drew straight into the sketchbook and tried to just ‘roll’ with any mistakes, instead of re-doing them. I am happy with these drawings although they look a lot like pages from a children’s colouring book instead of detailed illustrations.

REFLECTION:

The original sketches and photographs were very helpful and effective reference pictures. For the first time since I’ve started this course, it felt like I was really using my sketchbooks as proper working documents.

I kept the drawings in only black marker. I might copy/ print some of them to experiment with adding colour. In that way I can change the colours and experiment using them for collage or layering.

PROCREATE:

After making several drawings inspired by the sketchbook/ photographic journey, I decided to use some of those drawings in Procreate on my iPad. I thought it would be more effective than cutting & sticking a variety of layers using collage as method.

I chose the fishy pattern drawing. I thought it would be fun to incorporate some of the colourful mark-making sheets in the illustrations and experimented with a lot of different combinations.

I am still learning how to use Procreate and it was great to experiment with using my mark-making as part of an illustration. I definitely need a lot more practise using Procreate, but it was interesting to combine the process of using my sketchbook/ photographic journey; notes; drawings; pictures; mark-making and re-created drawings in Procreate.

After experimenting with using a lot of different mark-making colours and patterns sheets, I thought why not try out incorporating some of the photographs that I’ve used in previous exercises. I tried out using photographs of fabric, as well as stars.

I then decided to add background colours/ patterns. I tried using a variety of different mark-making sheets and other photographs previously used. I think the black& white backgrounds were the most effective.

I enjoyed this activity, so then decided to try and use another re-created drawing from my sketchbook in Procreate. I added the drawing in a layer and re-drew some of the fish. I added layers of mark-making sheets and shaped them into sea plants. I also used mark-making sheets to add colour to the fish. I then tried out different backgrounds.

REFLECTION:

I loved the way the colours and patterns from the mark-making sheets added the illusion of texture to the illustrations. Although I thoroughly enjoyed the process, I think the outcome could probably have been better. I might have to look at some of the other drawings to see if anything else inspires me to create more illustrations using Procreate.

SKETCHBOOK DRAWINGS USED IN PROCREATE: