Fiction

This book is Through the Woods by Emily Carroll.


Who was this book intended for?  This book has some honestly quite creepy and horror-esque content so its probably not advisable for younger audiences, however beyond this it is perfect for those who enjoy the horror genre, as well as keen readers of short stories or graphic novel style books.
What drew you to the book? When I bought it in Waterstones, the reason it appealed to me was the cover with the limited colour palette of black white and red. This to me suggested the horror genre straight away, and as this is something I'm interested in I decided to pick it up. Once I had it in my hand, the textured cover really did it for me, its slightly grainy and feels a little unsettling but also quite tactile. The paper quality also had similarities to the papers often used in graphic novels, slick and glossy. I think the fact this was such an unusual item to come across in Waterstones made it seem all the more special to me.
What makes it a success? Not only are the stories in this seriously gripping, but the fact that they're all short stories makes them seem less intimidating and allows you to appreciate the illustrations at the same time as reading the content. The illustrations are structured in a comic book or graphic novel style in that they are in blocks or double page spreads with the corresponding text following along side them. Theres also not a massive amount of text, just key words like you would find in a poem, and I think you can really tell that this is a product made by an illustrator as I would say although words and images both play a part, the words are just there to help give the images a bit of context.
What failings does it have? Although I am biased as this book is one of my current favourite pieces of illustration, one criticism I would give is that although the textured cover gives the book a lovely finish, the fact its made of paper of a medium thickness means that the more you read the book, the more fanned out the pages go as they're not being held down by the cover. I appreciate this is just being very picky though for people like me who like to keep their best books as neat as possible. The actual illustrations are very fluid and free in some places and whilst I think this looks amazing and gives a dream like, spiritual quality to the book, it can also make some pages very hard to understand.

Non Fiction

This book is The Great War by Joe Sacco. 

Who was this book intended for?  This is a book illustrated to depict the first day of the Battle of the Somme and stands at 24 feet long, folding up into a concertina. This book could be aimed at someone particularly interested in the first World War and the Battle of the Somme, or it could just be for someone who would appreciate the craftsmanship going into making a product like this.
What drew you to the book? The sheer size of it was what first drew me in, the fact that you could fold it out to see even more when you thought surely it must stop here? At first I started reading it like you would a normal book, just by turning the pages one by one, but then when I realised what it was, we folded it out the whole way to look at it as a whole. This was when I really fell in love with it, each section had almost its own separate mood over it, like the soldiers marching into war or the no mans land section in the middle. I especially liked the sections which had grey tones layered over the normal line drawing as it helped it to look more moody and atmospheric as well as breaking the continuous image up a bit. 
What makes it a success? The idea is such a unique and fascinating one, which is what I think makes it so desirable, it has great societal value as something that depicts a part of history we often only see or hear about in history books, and making it both more visually and chronologically understandable without the use of heavy language, as well as making it look visually stunning. Its visually really easy to read but you could still get lost in the image, where theres about 1000 different things to look at in each segment. It could be argued that to use colour could have looked more effective, however I think it really echoes the bleak mood of this image.
What failings does it have? It could seem a little too confusing and chaotic to some people as there is a lot going on, and the line quality means you have to look quite closely to distinguish certain people and objects, however, I'd argue that this is no different from having to read a long history book very closely to make sense of it.

Picture book

This book is a First Book of Nature by Nicola Davies, illustrated by Mark Hearld.



Who was this book intended for?  As its called a first book of nature, I'm going to assume its mainly intended for young children, or failing that, nerdy people like me that think its just a really beautiful thing to have in your house. 
What drew you to the book? The cover was what initially caught me, I really liked the unusual style as it looks realistic but not hyper realistic. Any kind of hand-drawn font automatically appeals to me as well, and this one in particular on the white background looks so eye-catching. Whilst flipping through it I was also so drawn in by the mixture of hand-drawn and collage processes, the mixture of real and unreal.
What makes it a success? As well as the amazing processes used, the connection between the beautiful images and the words inside, the collections of poems and tales, work really well together. The whole book just has a whimsical feeling to it, whether that is suggested through the colour palette or the images themselves. Even the simple pages with less colour are beautifully designed and formatted. I also think that although older viewers can appreciate the collage elements too, younger readers would delight in looking at each page in depth, picking out whats a picture and which bits are real (e.g. the straw and leaves). 
What failings does it have? The only small issue I would take with this book would be that the concept of it is a little confusing, considering that its supposed to be a 'first book of nature', its quite text heavy. Some of the text is a little bit long and could be quite hard to get through for children of a young age. Having said that they can still look at and feel the pages and explore the book without necessarily reading it cover to cover.

Self Published Picture Book

This book is January by Eleni Kalorkoti, which is apparently one of a series of 12 zines she made, one for each month of the year. 


Who was this book intended for?  Its hard to tell much about this book as its by a smaller illustrator and was self published so there isn't much information that exists around it. However, I can only assume she intended it for people of all age as there is no sensitive material in it, and there also isn't any text, so it could be understood by people from anywhere in the world. As it was self published and only a small amount were made as well it was probably really aimed at those who already consume and enjoy her work.
What drew you to the book? Its just such a beautiful thing, I literally swooned when I saw it. The printing quality is so high for such a small, handmade thing, and the materials and processes used in it look so perfect and so unique that I assumed they'd been done digitally but when Jamie pointed out that they were made using very precise watercolour painting techniques I was amazed. The inky qualities of the images paired with the very distinct grey and orange colour scheme the artist has used, communicated the perfect kind of winter melancholy to me which instantly made me think of the month of January. Really there were no other direct hints about the theme of the book given anywhere as it uses no text, but I don't think it needed any. The imagery alone explained the title.
What makes it a success? Certainly its uniqueness, both in the idea behind the book and the imagery and process used to create it, it's visually stunning and compels you to pick it up. But I also think in a small way, the fact that such lovely glossy paper was used for the cover made the book even feel tactile to hold, which is certainly a selling point for me.
What failings does it have? If any, I'd have to say just because it was printed on a small scale, some of the page edges had been cut a little bit roughly but other than that I really couldn't fault it. I heard some people say that it was too small to properly enjoy the images inside, and where I can see what they're saying, I think the theme and feel of the book lend themselves to the 'pocket size'.

The Printed Peanuts Pass The Parcel

This is made my an illustrator called Louise Lockhart who we had do a talk at uni a few weeks ago. I've followed her on Instagram for a while so it was ace to see what she was like in person. As part of her range of products she makes these old fashioned party games and among them is this pass the parcel. 

What does this product look like? This really depends on when you buy your pass the parcel as the wrapping papers are all printed by hand so theres a few different designs. There are two types of parcels you can buy, one has 10 different forfeits (one for each layer) and a drawing game for everyone in the middle. The other has 10 forfeits and a writing game in the middle. Each layer is wrapped with beautifully made wrapping paper in various bright colours, some of which are then used to make forfeits out of. 

What role does it serve? This is recommended for use at parties and can be suitable for all ages from 6+. It is in my opinion a really good way of getting everyone involved in something that doesn't require any planning or effort on the hosts part, plus it looks so beautiful and impressive. This would also be a great thing to play on holiday occasions as one review on the website said "It made Christmas Day". 

How successful is it? This product suits its purpose very well, as its tactile and really makes you want to interact with it. The bright colours would attract everyone of all ages as would the very simple but engaging forfeits e.g. use a layer of this paper to make a hat. The game is designed so that unlike the classic game of pass the parcel where theres a prize in the middle which only one person gets, everyone is a winner, and everyone gets involved. Its a good price at £12.00 for one parcel, which will give you one game, but I'm sure would keep everyone entertained for a while. This is some of my favourite kind of applied illustration as it really encourages everyone to get involved in something and starts a conversation.



  

Sad Ghost Club Colouring Book

This is one of my personal favourite products and something I've purchased for myself and others (this might be largely to do with the fact I'm a big SGC fan). Its a colouring book designed to help with mental health and everyday stresses, designed by two people who suffer with anxiety and other mental health issues. 

What does this product look like? It is a 20 page book filled with blank line drawings for you to colour in. The line drawings are in the style of the SGC's normal comic strip and poster art, and feature natural settings filled with flowers, trees, mountains and of course the sad ghost itself. The book is designed in such a way that you could easily tear pages out to pin them up on the walls if you're pleased with them, and the front and back covers are the only pages with any colour on, leaving the rest blank for colouring.

What role does it serve? The purpose of this product is to distract people from everyday stresses and help them relax. It is also geared towards people suffering with mental health issues and has inspirational sayings scattered throughout. The whole book is so well composed and really stands out from other 'mindfulness colouring books' as the images are a lot less complex and intricate. In my opinion this has helped me many times to relax, and because the line drawings are simple but well composed, the images when they've been coloured in always look so satisfying.

How successful is it? I think this product works really well, its affordable at £9.50 for 20 full pages in a nicely presented book and is a great way of owning a piece of Sad Ghost merchandise if you don't want to just hang one of their prints or something. Its a good way of getting their following to interact with something they've produced and making something new out of it. The pages themselves are very nice quality and are satisfying to colour on, and the designs aren't so big that you get lost in them like most other adult colouring books. I think most people, even those who have no idea what that book is for of who its made by, can appreciate the care and thought thats gone into making this book and the pages inside it. 

Gemma Correll Greetings Cards

These are an assortment of cards by Illustrator Gemma Correll, these are sold not only on her website but now in a massive variety of online and high-street shops such as Paperchase and Ohh Deer. 

What does this product look like? Although the designs range from card to card, the paper they are printed on is always high quality, matte white paper. The envelopes have red and white striped borders on them, these colours are a common running theme in Correll's illustrations, which is great because I think it makes them look far more eye-catching. The images for the most part tend to be charming cartoon images showing animals or cute characters, they also have puns and jokes relating to the image on them.

What role does it serve? The cards serve a number of roles from birthday wishes to new baby cards and just general greetings cards. These are so good for so many people as the images on them are not only well designed, they are relatable and appealing to a wide variety of ages and genders. 

How successful is it? Very successful, these seem to be one of the most popular items on Gemma Corrells website. This could be because they're so well designed but also so cheap, they retail for around £2.50 each which is quite reasonable as the cards are on the larger side. They function well as greetings cards and I think this is mainly due to the fact that they're so charming. Cards are also a very effective way of Correll advertising and promoting herself as you buy them to give them to someone else who will then have seen and appreciated them, and so this person will maybe purchase more in the future. However as with all cases of illustration that uses humour, there is always a chance that these cards wouldn't suit someones sense of humour.

Rob Ryan Mugs

This is a mug from Rob Ryan's online shop. The name of this particular design is 'I walked and I thought' ceramic mug. 

What does this product look like? The product is hand printed onto the mug and even has a small design stamped onto the bottom, it also comes in a screen printed box. The design is one of his full designs wrapped around the mug. 

What role does it serve? I'm assuming this mug is just meant to be used to drink out of, but as Rob Ryan has said before the intention of his smaller pieces of merchandise is so that fans of his work can own something of his which isn't massively expensive. This serves its purpose for the most part as its more affordable than one of his prints, however, it still retails at £21.00 which in my opinion is pricey for a mug.

How successful is it? In terms of looking like something that people would want to buy, its very successful as its beautifully designed and scaled really well to fit the item. However, the fact that the image is wrapped around the mug, does make it look lovely but it makes it very hard to read the text on the mug as well as understanding the image. It works well as a promotional piece as well as it looks like something that if you owned, you'd want to photograph it and show it off.

Moomin Advent Calendar

This Moomin advent calendar is, in my opinion an extremely skilled way of applying illustration to a product.

Why is it successful? 
I think what makes this a success is that it keeps the playful and whimsical feeling of the Moomin franchise alive. From the bright and busy front cover of the calendar with all the different characters mingling, to the actual characters you receive inside the product and how beautifully they're designed. The figurine element keeps the product interactive which not only appeals to younger children but would also appeal to fans of the Moomins (like myself) who find its not enough just to look at the images, you need to be able to hold a piece of them too.

Any failures?
In my very biased opinion, no there isn't, but most realistically I'd say that maybe the parts are a bit small for something that would appeal to children. However in terms of the application of the illustration, it serves a function, it looks amazing and it seems well made.

What role does it serve?
It could entertain a small child in the run up to Christmas, or it could be a fun collectors item (for weirdos like me) which could be enjoyed up to Christmas and then kept after, either to display or for fun.

Any more information?

I think seeing as this was put out by the official Moomin website which create all the merchandise, it fits Tove Janssons classic styles while bringing a new interactive twist to the books. The Moomins, although not intended to be, are really lovable creatures and I think a lot of people would enjoy to have figurines of them.

Rob Ryan Artist Research

Rob Ryan Research page

Quote from Rob Ryan- “One day I decided to pick up a scalpel and cut paper instead of drawing on it, so equally I might decide to pick up a paint brush and say “i don't what to do this paper-cut thing anymore’” 

“My favourite project is always the one I’m currently working on. You have to live in the present and try and do the best job you can do at the time”

From his interview in Papercut by Owen Gildersleeve

Quote about him- 

“This is work of immense appeal that celebrates life and the complex emotions that colour our daily experience. “

From spitalfieldslife.com article about him

Why I like his work- I’ve always been drawn to Rob Ryans work, not just because they look so complex and impressively detailed (although they do) but because of the way he incorporates words and phrases into his work in such a seamless and beautiful way. His work is already strong on narrative but adding the words gives it all a fairytale feeling that I think is hard to find anywhere else. The ease with which he does this is amazing too, when asked where he gets the inspiration for his words and poems in his art he simply said “Just from my life”. I think this shows firstly what an imaginative person he is that he doesn’t use any pre-existing fairytales or stories to draw from, he just comes up with it himself. And secondly how emotionally driven his pieces are that all the experiences in his work are so personal and special to him, I think this really comes through in the work and makes it a more organic and natural feeling experience. 

How do they make their work- In the afore mentioned Papercut interview he said he starts his process off by taking lots of notes and doodling from the offset as the ideas come to him. He then gathers all these loose threads of ideas and begins to assemble them into the beginnings of a final image, then drawing and sketching and allowing himself to change his mind you can see that he has quite a free thinking process to his work. Then the final thing is cut out and sprayed, which I found out through this research, he only ever works onto white paper, which after its been cut is then sprayed to be the final colour. I found this really interesting as I’ve tried to replicate small papercuts similar to his on coloured paper and its never worked out that well as the paper looks frayed or some white bits show, but this is such a simple idea I don’t know why it didn’t seem more obvious.

Overarching themes I feel inform their practice- This is a difficult one to answer but in an interview with Katie at confessionsofadesigngeek.com he said that his inspiration comes from his imagination, as well as anything and everything. He has also said what originally drew him to paper cutting was seeing Tyrolean works of pastoral scenes that were folded and opened up into a symmetrical picture. So as previously mentioned, he dreams up a lot of what goes into his work, but from looking at his work, from his book This Is For You, to his trilogy of children books (all of which I own and cherish), the general feeling I get is one of emotion, family and deep life experiences. I think one of the reasons his work inspires me so much is that I think we think in a very similar way, from what I can tell were both very self reflective, a little bit sensitive and maybe too emotional at times. It sounds so self indulgent but its really nice to see someone that uses the same scattered thought process as me get their ideas down in such a cohesive way. He talks a lot about his childhood (presumably his) in this is for you and his mother and father, his work seems to be almost a record of his life and this is why I feel it works so well, because who better to draw experience and material from than yourself who you know so well. 

He has collaborated with many people and organisations such as Yorkshire Sculpture Park, F- troupe, pure radio and eastpak. He also has had his work featured on the covers of Stylist, Vogue Australia and In Style. He does exhibitions at his shop in London called RyanTown and also sells a massive range of products there too, being quoted in Papercut as saying “I make my products because I want people who like my work to have a decent slice of it, even if they haven’t got a big budget. 

How they relate to me and what I want to do- Rob Ryans main use of media is paper cut which is something I have experimented with mainly through collage and found its something I really enjoy doing, he also uses a lot of words, phrases and poems in his work, which is something that appeals to me as I’ve been writing scraps of writing for most of my life and always enjoy poetry. His strong sense of narrative also really appeals to me and is something that drew me into his work to start with, his images tells story which is easy to relate to.

Analysis Of An Image

Today I came across this image by a duo of illustrators who I've been following for a while called 'The Sad Ghost Club'. They talk a lot about mental health and hold all sorts of events and make images to raise awareness and give support to those who need it. Their images are usually very simple and use clean lines so their images don't take too much emphasis away from the text that accompanies it. 

Context-
Purpose: The purpose of this particular image is to go up on their blog about mental health, possibly to make other people suffering feel like their not alone.
Problem: The problem would be that there is people who suffer from the problems being talked about in the comic strip, and its important to make that more accessible and therefore more understandable to people.
Audience: The audience could be anyone on their facebook page, people who follow them avidly (like me), or people that come across their work once its been shared by a friend.
Reason: This image was made to comfort and to find common ground between people.
Client: This image went up on the clubs blog, facebook and instagram and wasn't made for any particular campaign or project so I guess the client is themselves. 

Image-
Visual: The visual that we see is a single page spread, a comic style layout in simple windows with text to accompany it
Aesthetic: Very simple and clean lines so as not to over-complicate, maybe used in this case so as not to stress the reader further? The light colours also contrast the slightly dim subject matter nicely
Art Work: The art work fits the clubs 'house style' and features their classic sad ghost character. This makes it feel really familiar and relatable if you've ever seen and identified with their work before
Form: Although simple lines make up most of the image, there is also a fair amount of other mark making taking place, such as crosshatching and shading. This gives the image a little more texture and backbone.
Picture: This image choses not to portray no facial imagery which I think is very crucial to the message of this picture, maybe because it helps the viewer to image the situation is directly applying to them. 

Idea-
Concept: The concept behind this image is to help those suffering from this problem identify with it and realise that other people are feeling the same way and that its ok, I feel it does this really well as the image itself is not overcomplicated or dramatised
Meaning: The meaning of the image is that whatever you're doing is enough, and its ok to want to get to a particular place or situation for a really long time and them feel over whelmed when you do get there
Tone of voice: If I had to give this image a character I'd say its quiet and understated, its the equivalent of a friend pulling to side of a room and asking you in private if you're ok. This is so that people seeing this image will not feel hesitant to ask the club/organisation for help
Communication: This image communicates its sympathetic message in a really gentle way which is suitable for the context in which it fits, however I would say that the colours and composition make it feel a little melancholy which, although it fits the theme being discussed, could have an adverse affect when trying to convince people to seek help
Authorship: Being a long time fan of the sad ghost club I can immediately tell this is one of their comics, although I do feel that even if you didn't know as much about them as me, you would still get the feeling that this is something that is aimed towards more vulnerable people, however, as they have made the choice to not show their ghost characters face, I feel this image doesn't have the strongest sense of authorship of some of their other images.

Sketchbook Mega Crit

Today we got a chance to look at the level 4 and 5's summer sketchbooks which was SO exciting, they were all amazing. Although it was really scary seeing such professional and polished work and wondering if I'll ever make anything this good, it was also really inspiring. What I loved most about all the work was that its all so diverse and honestly no two pieces looked the same, which made me realise that everyones different styles of art can look great. 

One of my favourite pieces was some collage pages I found, I'm not sure who they were by as the sketchbook didn't have a name on, but the simplicity and striking colour of them drew me in. For something with such simple shapes and design, it really communicates the idea of an image well to the viewer. I also really like the collage technique, it looks so textured and colourful.



These doodled sketchbook pages also caught my eye, again I really like the simplicity of these, but unlike the last ones these only used one accent colour (grey). This works really well as the actual image is quite busy and the lines quite fine but them we see these blocks of grey colour and it looks really effective. 




These two images were two of the last ones I managed to look at and I think they're personally my favourites. At the beginning of this persons sketchbook, there was a very detailed landscape of some flowers done in really muted hues that they'd done and them on the page next to that they'd written something along the lines of "This is not the type of art I want to be making. This amount of detail does not make me happy.". And in the pages after that you could see they let themselves be so much more free with it and in my opinion the work was much more organic and striking. These are a few of the quick sketches they made while going on holiday and I think they're beautiful. 




Overall I think this exercise has only made me more excited to continue on to levels 4 and 5 and see what work I can make. I really hope that my drawing skills can improve this much by the end of the year and continue to improve as at the moment they are not my strong point.

Study Task 1: Image, Idea and Context

The image I chose to look at was a double page spread from a book by J. Otto Siebold called Lost Sloth. I chose this image because its really engaging and fun to look at, its one of the first ones that catches your eye as you flick through the book and is really vibrant.

Context: 
Purpose- The purpose of the book in general is to entertain the reader, possibly adults but most likely children. But the purpose of the actual double page spread is to be bold and eye-catching, I feel it also intends to be a focal point of the book.
Problem- In this case, the problem would be trying to make the story accessible to young children and helping them to make sense of it.
Audience- The audience seems to be mostly children, but could also appeal to a lot of adults and people like me and others on my course etc that are interested in different pieces of illustration. 
Reason- This books reason for being created is primarily to entertain, as the illustrations are relatively skin deep and easy to enjoy, but some could argue that the book bears the important message that life isn't just about the destination, but the journey.
Client- The book was published by Mcsweenys publishing so I think that would be the client.

Image:
Visual- The visual imagery of this double page spread is very chaotic and there is lots going on, but I think this makes it all the more interesting.
Aesthetic- The colours are really happy, and possibly a little too bright and over the top. Although its a cheerful aesthetic, you could possibly say its made a bit creepy looking by the soullessness of the characters eyes.
Art Work- The artwork in my opinion is beautiful, but some have said its creepy as mentioned before.
Form- Simple lines and block colour make up most of the images in the book which in my opinion makes the book feel quite jarring as children's books are typically illustrated in a more soft, child like style. 
Picture- The whole picture I have chosen to focus on portrays the part of the story where the sloth climbs out of his window, on the clothes line to try and reach the supermarket faster. Although the sloth was probably intended to be the main focus of this image we are drawn in by so much more than just the character of the sloth. We can also see clothes on and falling off the clothes line, a cat looking out of the window and a bird in a tree. That's what I find so appealing about this photo as there is so much to look at.

Idea:
Concept- The concept of the book seems to be to entertain and it does this well, it keeps us focused on the main character thanks to the well placed text and engaging imagery.
Meaning-  The meaning of this piece of illustration could also be to teach people that you don't always have to do things the fastest to do them well.
Tone of Voice- To me the tone of voice of this piece of work feels quite silly and playful, with the dreamy composition of the images and the whimsical text. The tone is also very child friendly and makes sure not to use any difficult or inappropriate language.
Communication- I feel the book and this image in particular communicates its message very well, its clearly laid out so that the reader can read the relevant text before really stopping to look at the picture. The only criticism I would give is that younger children may find it a bit too hectic to really focus on whats happening. 
Authorship- Having looked at some more of J Otto Siebolds work I can see that he definitely has a distinct style which can be identified as his, this really comes through in this book and he lets himself be as playful and fantastical as he wants. 

I was given this book by my Stepmother who found it in a shop in the Laines in Brighton. She bought it for me as she knows I love sloths and children's books so thought it would be right up my street. The reason its the one I chose to analyse is that its so different from a lot of the other children's books you see in book shops, as the text and story seem to be so geared towards children but the images aren't the classic ones we've come to expect of most children's books. I really enjoy this juxtaposition and would hope to achieve it in some of my work.