Sunday, 15 November 2015

Do judge a book by its cover - Visual skills (development)

Roughs 


This is my favourite design and got the best feedback in the crit session. The layout works well and fills the space nicely. I want to develop and improve this character for my final piece.



I tried this design because I thought the totem would look good running through the centre of the spine. I don't think the face and eagle are as strong as my other designs.




I simplified the dream catcher and eagle into single little symbols with I think are really effective. But I don't feel they work in that arrangement. I don't like having a character on the front it looks to floaty and doest sit well with the title.



I thought a close up of the face with the totem running across the back might be effective, but i feel like there isn't enough on the back and the totem looks out of place. I think if I did increase the size of the head in my final design it would emphasise it.


My eagle armed character got the best feed back in the crit session and is the design I want to develop for my final piece. I still feel the character looks bit too aztec, I need to work on how I can make the shapes around his head look more native (keeping away from the classic native head dress) I want it to be unique but recognisable as a native style design. From looking at my other roughs I think if I included some simplified icons of a dream catchers and an eagle on the inside, it could be really effective. Also making the head slightly bigger could emphasise it a lot. I also think the title looks to squeezed into the corner, I will look at different ways to fit the title.

Development


I decided to draw another image from reference, to take a slightly different approach to the way the head dress looks.


I tried that type of shape in my own way and added the feathers down the side. This was to symmetrical for my liking. I want less square shapes and more light decorative lines.



In the crit session I got some feedback that was to try out some wood textures, I experimented with putting texture in soft pencil behind the ink. Im unsure about how it looks, It looks to dark and smudged. Printing with a real blocks of wood was another alternative, but with my time schedule I don't think I will be able to work enough on the design if my characters as well as wood prints. This was also helpful to figure out my colour pallet, the lighter orange works well the dark red and blue - I will consider this for final design.



I came across these tribal sticks, these really communicate native americans and there mythology. The double sided dream catchers could work well in the characters hand. I like the way the string and feathers are tied onto the stick - this could be used in my image.


I tried out a new head, It looks slightly better than the last. I went back to the horn idea which I think works well. To me this head looks more Japanese than native american. It is too symmetrical, Im unsure about the shapes dangling down, maybe include feathers?.


These designs look are the best so far. The random shapes and crowded lines bellow the circles really add to the native look. I feel some media experiments is now needed to progress my design.



I added ink in really loose way allowing it too bleed with other colours, then added pen on top after the ink. This made me outline and create shapes in a different way. This looks interesting, especially how lines are overlapped. I really like these colours together although I feel the colour orange is over powering the image.


I feel the colour balance in this image is much better. I like this head with horns on either side. This defiantly looks native american, and still has an experimental twist to it. Im pleased with how the feathers on the headers look, the way the outline doesn't surround the colour and has some white showing through.


I collated my most success full ideas into this image. Im pleased with all the shapes and lines used in it. The head dress looks good and has decoration appropriate to my theme. The double sided dream catchers works well. I applied colour using a 'water brush pen' which gave a really nice clean effect. I was able to get a nice shape for the feathers and smaller details. I don't like the yellow colour, I think orange is much more appropriate. I think more black line work would make this image stronger.



I looked at ways the hand could be gripping the stick. Drawing loads quick in thin fine liner helped me find the best way, which is drawing the hand from the front.



I looked at how the age would be drawn and figured out the best face for it.


My final layout for the cover had the icons on the inside folds. I think this will benefit my design. If I get the same line qualities on all my images they will work well together.



I explored some hand drawn type. I liked the type that was sticks joined together with string. It would match my design very well. But I want the focus of my cover to be on the imagery, not the title. I think having hand made type on my design as well as the image would look to over crowded and there would be too much going on. It could take away some of the aesthetic from the drawing. I think light boxing some digital type onto my design could be a better option.



This was a final design that went wrong. I drew the head to far down, not allowing enough space for the dream catchers. I need to more careful with the layout in my final.

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