Observational Drawing - Visual Language

Royal Armouries

We went on a trip to the Royal Armouries to do observational drawings.

Im pleased with this drawing, I focused on getting the stance and proportions right. I found it interesting looking at the fabrics and how they work when twisted around the body shape. I like the repeated line gestures used too create the hanging fabrics on his arm. It was bifocal to my skill set being able to draw somebody in motion.

I enjoyed looking at the armour. I didn't realise the amount of detail involved until trying to draw from it. Im pleased with how I made the armour appear rounded and three dimensional. The mask at the bottom was rotating whilst I was drawing it which made it difficult to capture.

Discovery Centre

We then went to the discovery centre to look at a range of things to draw from.

 I did a number of quick drawings of monkeys, I am fascinated by there faces. They have so much character and I wanted capture this with bold gestural marks. Doing this helped me understand how there faces are formed and the expression. I enjoy looking at monkeys because it gives me new ideas for characters and face shapes in my personal work.

I took my time drawing this crocodile, so i was able to focus in on small shapes and textures. The creases and bumps where difficult to create, I had to use different line weights represent them. I prefer quick gestured drawing with bold hand movements rather than precise detailed representational drawings.

Observational Drawing - Look, Think, Draw (Visual Language)

Look, Think, Draw

We where asked to walk around leeds and draw a range of things from observation.

When reflecting back on these two drawings, I can tell I wasn't looking at my subject enough and was creating to much of it from my imagination.

I'm quite happy with how i captured this glass building. I looked more at the object than at my page when drawing this. I tried to represent the ground with quick gestural movements. I found working with quick movements helped me understand it.

When trying to achieve well constructed 3D drawings of buildings I found it easier to focus in on individual sections. I found it difficult to include every detail, so I only drew the obvious lines and shapes.

Im please with this roof top drawing and how I tackled the perspective and the hand movements I used to represent the leaves on the tree. Although I think this drawing could have been worked into with more texture.

I like this idea to draw from my own perspective looking down at my legs whilst drawing. Im pleased with the proportions and the lines used for the creases in my trousers.

I enjoyed drawing people from observation. It helped me realise proportions of the human body and how clothes hang over people. I tried to used quick gestural and bold lines. Observing them thoroughly helped me to get the shapes right.

I found it difficult to get the perspective of the benches right and make them look as if as they are getting further away.

These are observational drawings of my bed room. I spent more time on these and tried to include as much detail as possible. I used more delicate and soft lines in this drawing and worked in a more controlled way, which achieved more accurate and detailed drawings, but i felt they had less character.

Typology brief - Visual Skills (Final Design)

Final Design

This was my final poster design. I like how the images are simple with minimal lines and no tone, and the use of slightly different line size. The graphite shading effect around the images makes them look as if they are lifted up slightly which I like. Im pleased with how they are arranged and that i decided to put a skull and hand on the ground, it gives good composition to the poster also creating a zombie like atmosphere. I found it difficult to make them fit together on the page because they are all different shapes and sizes. I found coming up with a good theme was difficult because I wanted a theme that had a scenario to it. Looking at lots of reference imagery was vital for my poster because I wanted to make accurate representational illustrations. To improve the poster I could have added more solid black shadow to the images, I think this could have made them bolder. Another approach to this theme could have been putting the items into a scene that explained how they are used or simply draw them in action.

Typology brief - visual skills (development)

Idea development

Tools for surviving a zombie apocalypse 

This idea was my most successful, it could have been approached in a range of ways. I started by thinking of the most important things needed in a zombie apocalypse. I already had good knowledge about zombie survival after reading the walking dead comics, watching the tv series, and other zombie related films and games.

In alphabetical order I listed all the things that where vital in a zombie apocalypse. Some letters had way more items than others so it was important to make each letter have a different tool that served a unique purpose.

Zombie survival guide

I was pleased with my first mock up design. I like the different shapes and sizes of imagery on it. The arrangement/layout needs improvement so that there is even space surrounding the images. Im pleased with this concept because it has context. You have too read the images to figure out what they are for and how they are related to one another.

This helped me decide on my final list of items:
Axe, Binoculars, Crossbow, Defence, Energy drink, Flashlight, Guns, Head torch, Insect repellent, Jacket, Knife, Lighter, Medical kit, Night vision, Oil, Painkillers, Quad bike, Rope, Samurai sword, Tool kit, Utility belt, Van, Water, X-shaped throwing knife, Yorkie bar, Zombie juice (disguise from zombies).

I explored different ways of drawing the objects and if they could be drawn in someones hand.

I found this image which gave me the idea to try and simplify the objects into icons and reduce the details in the images.

I felt that simplifying the images looked restricted and formal. Not all the objects worked as icons and where hard to simplify. I realised this wasn't the appearance I wanted to achieve.

Detailed images in a looser arrangement was the way I wanted the poster to look so I progressed by exploring how to draw the items and finding appropriate reference imagery.

Drawing from reference imagery helped me to capture the items accurately and get the proportions correct.

I looked at how to display the title and had an idea to have it on a post in the ground. This then gave me the idea to have a zombie hand coming out of the ground. I wanted the letters to look like they are nailed together like a hand-made warning sign to suite the theme.

I experimented with what media my final design would be. I found that using fine liner in a few sizes looked clean and precise. I then added graphite afterwards to give a mucky, weathered appearance that contributed to the theme.

I found this image of a hand and drew from it to help me understand how it will come out of the ground, and the way the fingers clench. 

I got this image from the walking dead comic, i liked how the ground was illustrated and wanted to put a textured floor similar to this across the bottom of my poster.

I sketched out some rough layout designs for my final poster, I found it hard to arrange the objects with equal space in-between at first but after sketching a few times i figured out how they would fit together. I also decided that the title looked better at the top of the page, and i could possibly put a spade in the ground as well as the hand.