The first part of the visual narrative project is to go out and have some sort of experience. This can vary from taking a walk in the park to going to a theme park and riding roller coasters. We must collect a range of research during this experience that will help fuel and inspire our own narrative picture book.
For this task I did something more simple and walked through the city and observed. I went to places I have never seen before and I got to see Leeds in a whole new perspective. While I was out in the city I realised that it was very busy and everyone seemed to be in a rush, it was quite strange to just sit back and observe people but it has given me some good ideas for the project.
Observational drawings of people in the city
Observational drawings are in my opinion the best ways that an illustrator can record information and experience. These drawings have been created using pencil and a brush pen. I feel that for quick and gestural drawings, pen and pencil are great for getting quick marks down onto the paper. When drawing people who are walking, I think it is best to not think about it too much and just let the motion of my hand create the shape. I am drawing people specifically at the moment because I know that my narrative project will be based on people in the city, this is why I chose to walk through Leeds as part of my inspiration/experience.
After the observational drawings I then decided to do a few people drawings of my own, but instead of individual people, I have drawn a quick scene that works in perspective. Perspective is a vital part of creating a city scene. If the perspectives are inaccurate, it can make the whole scene look out of shape and proportion. A good tip that I have found is that if you keep each persons head on the same line of horizon, each person looks within the accurate perspective. This tip could become very useful when designing the scenes for my book.
I have realised that as my narrative is going to be based on people in the city, there is going to be many human faces in the book. So I have drawn double spread of faces in my sketchbook all from imagination. I have tried to get a diverse range of peoples faces as no two people look the same so the possibilities are endless. At the start of this Illustration programme I would have struggled to draw all of these without reference so I am already starting to see improvement of my own practice. I have also drawn some of the people as zombie faces because the more I walk through the city, the more I see that people in todays modern society are zombified by technology and social anxieties. I feel that this concept may become more apparent throughout my project.
SUBDUB
For the research and experience phase of this project I also went to an event in Leeds called SubDub.
I had a very good night and was there until the closing hours at 5AM. At this time when the lights came on and I saw all the faces in the crowd, I then suddenly knew which direction my project was about to go. It was a 'eureka' moment. All of my initial thoughts about how modern people have become zombies to the system was just validated in an instant. Every person at SubDub looked like zombies at 5am in the morning. And the scariest part is that I was also one of the zombies in the crowd. I think it would be good to include a club/rave scene within my narrative as it could give it a gritty sort of atmosphere.
Photographs taken of random people in the city
Observational drawings of people in the city
Observational drawings are in my opinion the best ways that an illustrator can record information and experience. These drawings have been created using pencil and a brush pen. I feel that for quick and gestural drawings, pen and pencil are great for getting quick marks down onto the paper. When drawing people who are walking, I think it is best to not think about it too much and just let the motion of my hand create the shape. I am drawing people specifically at the moment because I know that my narrative project will be based on people in the city, this is why I chose to walk through Leeds as part of my inspiration/experience.
After the observational drawings I then decided to do a few people drawings of my own, but instead of individual people, I have drawn a quick scene that works in perspective. Perspective is a vital part of creating a city scene. If the perspectives are inaccurate, it can make the whole scene look out of shape and proportion. A good tip that I have found is that if you keep each persons head on the same line of horizon, each person looks within the accurate perspective. This tip could become very useful when designing the scenes for my book.
SUBDUB
For the research and experience phase of this project I also went to an event in Leeds called SubDub.
I had a very good night and was there until the closing hours at 5AM. At this time when the lights came on and I saw all the faces in the crowd, I then suddenly knew which direction my project was about to go. It was a 'eureka' moment. All of my initial thoughts about how modern people have become zombies to the system was just validated in an instant. Every person at SubDub looked like zombies at 5am in the morning. And the scariest part is that I was also one of the zombies in the crowd. I think it would be good to include a club/rave scene within my narrative as it could give it a gritty sort of atmosphere.
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