Typology brief - Visual skills (ideas)

We have been asked to produce an illustrated A-Z typology poster. It has to be monochrome and presented on A2 portrait. It will consist of 26 floating illustrations (vignettes). The heading will also be illustrated.

Idea generation

I started by quickly brain storming subjects that would have enough content to cover a full A-Z. 

Insects

Deep sea creatures

Weird animals

I looked at nature and how i could construct an A-Z based on interesting animal species. Finding an insect for each letter could be done, although some would have had a similar appearance. Finding a deep sea creature for every letter would be a challenge, and some would have ended up being normal sea creatures.

 

Hip hop artists

I looked at hip hop artist and ways I could exaggerate the portraits trying to achieve caricatures. I sketched the same face a number of times to help capture the features. I was easily able to make a list of someone for each letter.

Interesting fictional faces

This idea could have been either interesting faces or fictional characters because as i looked into the theme the faces were all from films, graphic novels or games. 

Facial expressions

Here I tried to communicate different expressions of the face. I wanted them to differentiate so i exaggerated the faces.

Masks

I like masks so wanted to see if this could work as a theme. I found masks was too broad and the images wouldn't link together well.

Comic characters

I liked comic characters as an idea, but it would consist of me drawing work like the artist, without developing my own technique around the images.

Sea people

I created these characters because i wanted a theme that was unique and imaginative, rather than copying existing imagery. I wanted the names to be catchy and fun! The idea came after exploring deep sea creatures.

Alien guy

I thought it would be funny to have a character that had an outfit or item for each letter. The character needed to be simple and repeatable so I came up with 'Alien guy'.

Clothing

I thought clothing might be interesting, I wanted a cluttered arrangement and if this theme was used for final design i would make the proportions of the clothing correct.

Shoes

I then looked at shoes and tried to find types of shoe for each letter. I felt this idea was too plain with similar looking images.

Tools

I liked this idea, the way tools are odd shapes and sizes - when putting them on a page together it looks interesting, fitting them into place. Almost like they are hanging there ready to be used.

This idea was visually pleasing but as an idea and concept was not. Work tools are boring. I wanted to make the A-Z of tools for doing something specific. Like 'The A-Z of art tools' or 'Tools for surviving life'. This then lead me to the idea 'Tools for surviving a zombie apocalypse'.