Evaluation

Overall I feel very happy with the way this project has been put together although I have had a few issues. In particular I feel that perhaps my predictions of how long each blog post would take in terms of time have been far wrong and almost tripled from my original estimation. Another quite judgmental factor was how I sort of immediately wanted to dismiss the people on my list of research who were not predominantly in my chosen field of illustration as I straight away felt that they would not lend themselves in being a positive influence on my work or way of thinking. However now I know this was a wrong thing to do as it turned out that quite a few of these once dismiss-able people/groups turned out to be some of the more interesting research projects on the whole blog, giving me insight into new ways of working such as techniques including photography and film (areas of which I had practically no knowledge of beforehand).

As a whole I have come out of this project with a positive outlook in terms of reference and information in order to progress my work for future projects as well as my own personal ideas. I now know that I have a catalogue of rich, clear and useful information to delve back into if ever I need to get some inspiration for a difficult brief or perhaps work on a subject area which is not within my specialist field of illustration and use it as a starting block. Also, my knowledge of different ways of working has grown significantly and I now can have a better idea of processes available in order to improve and develop work and transform it into something completely different to what I first imagined it to end up like.

In conclusion I am proud of the blog that I have put together from scratch with the layout design and customization to the chosen imagery and writing that I have produced for each designer(s) on the "Heroes & Heroines" research brief. Although I admit that not every person on the list filled me with inspiration or much interest it was still highly useful for me to delve into areas of design and gain information from these as if not forced to do so, I very much doubt that I would have done in any other circumstance.

Elaboration 4: eBoy

The fourth and final artist(s) I have decided to delve deeper and look further into is the world-famous digital collection eBoy. A group that have interested me for a long, long time and who, after further research, have made me gain a greater interest in precision, accuracy and extensive detail which are all main factors and elements of their unmistakable cityscape compositions.

One of eBoy's intricate compositions - so much to see!

In each of their compositions it can easily take at least fifteen minutes or more to really investigate the image and pick out everything that is included in it, including characters, signs, logos, building detail and accessories. Each piece is bulging with colour, interest and precision and are truly, in my opinion, masterpieces. I have trouble with patience at times and could never imaging myself setting myself such a mammoth task as eBoy set themselves.

Their surreal and 'fun' pieces really strike me as being literally something like I've never, ever seen before. I just think their work is fantastic even though it's something that I myself could never, ever do.

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Elaboration 3: Jonny Hannah

Scottish illustrator Jonny Hannah is the third designer I ave decided to highlight for further discussion.

A Louis Armstrong tribute piece by Hannah.

As a fan of bright, colourful and exciting artwork, Jonny Hannah's work attracted me straight away. His bold use of colour and mixed, exaggerated typography and mark making really inspired me and immediately captured my interest. I find his sporadic use of text really interesting (as seen above, there's no set 'design' or layout for where he positions his type faces). I feel almost that he considers his text as extra imagery rather than just 'writing'. Whereas I would consider the image and the type as two seperate elements I think that Jonny Hannah considers both as one entity.

Another aspect of his work which I find quite interesting are his mixed use of backgrounds in his work. As you can see from the image in this post of the late, great blues musician Louis Armstrong there are three areas which compose the background: blue striped, translucent pink and then deep black (which also incorporates the blue 'halo'-like effect around Armstrong's head). I find this technique very daring which would not necessarily work in all artwork but I think for Hannah's work it works extremely well and sets off the whole image.

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Elaboration 2: Pete Fowler

The second designer/illustrator who I have chosen to elaborate on is Pete Fowler, another artist whose imagery really appealed to me and my style of working.

Fowler's almost halucenogenic and severely abstract designs featuring highly stylized animals and people, dreamy, surreal landscapes and bold colour stand out to me as being very daring and utterly brilliant. Some aspects of his work could easily be something straight out of the 1960's, almost reminiscent of The Beatles classic animated fantasy film "Yellow Submarine" (1968).

One of Fowler's "crazy" symmetrical pieces.

Another feature of his work is that he almost constantly uses is symmetry (as can be seen in the example to the left), every eyeball, feather, twirl etc can be reflected exactly. As it is clear his work is predominantly done digitally it would seem that although extremely 'busy', his work can be produced quicker than using mainly traditional media and techniques.

Overall, as a huge fan of bright, colourful and simple illustration I would consider myself a big fan of Pete Fowler. I just love the simple 'line and fill' quality to his work which works really, really well in his pieces. However I do feel that without the heavy use of digital media this type of work would not appear as complete and well done as it does.

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Elaboration 1: Chris Ware

To round off my research into all of the artist and designer shown in this blog, I am now going to choose the four that stood out to me the most in terms of technique, subject matter and design and elaborate on these further in order to delve deeper into their work and gain a greater understanding in their ideas and processes.

Firstly I have chosen Chris Ware whose work depicting bold city landscapes graced many of the covers of well known publications (including the world famous "New Yorker") really stood out to me. His simply-detailed architecture with bold line, differing use of hue which ranges from monotone to full-on colour and sometimes even colourless (just line work) and charming illustrations caught my eye as being something that could correspond with the work that I can produce.

Looking further into Ware's work I have discovered that as well as urban landscapes and architecture Chris also describes characters and also interiors in his work. Almost floor-plan-esque, his interiors show quirky situations of everyday life with precisely drawn typography and sequences which still manage broadcast a sense of simplicity. 

One of Chris Ware's "busy" yet simplistic and charming scenarios.

I just adore Chris Ware's work, the way he can use such basic design and incorporate it with a precisely detailed and charming way of working really appeals to me. I really hope that I can work to such a standard in the future and create such crisp and eye-catching pieces of art.

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