Madness of Crowds

This week's editorial illustration was for the article Madness of Crowds: Will Self visits Las Vegas, Its gone family-friendly. The article is based around the idea that advertising of Vegas as a family resort and the consequential increase of families staying in Vegas, will in turn end its days as a partying  and gambling resort. Therefore I developed the idea of combining dice and building blocks together. I played around with different compositions however I am still unhappy with this final layout. If I was to refine this idea I would try an asymmetric, more relaxed composition.

Sun, Sea, Sand...And Sniffles

This editorial illustration for a Guardian article is based upon the idea that people with heavy workloads often get ill on the first day of their holidays due to their stressful day-to-day life. Consequently I looked at imagery which signifies holidays (suitcase) and illness (pills) and combined these two ideas together to create my final illustration.  

Why Small Victories Matter

This editorial illustration is for an article taken from the Guardian on Why Small Victories Matter. The article is based on the idea that you gain greater success and happiness working towards smaller achievable targets rather than one larger target. The comparatively small size of the central target-coloured duck illustrates this idea. The idea of hook-the-duck derived from the key words small victories which in turn led to the idea of fareground games which involve targets.

How to Decorate

This illustration is an editorial piece for an article taken from the Guardian called 'How to...Decorate.' The basis of the article is the idea that humans have an instinct for external decoration, with appearance being viewed as more important than character. Inspired by the reference to peacocks in the article, I based the henna pattern around peacock feathers, the henna itself conveying our innate need for personal decoration. Experimenting with colour for the background, I liked the contrast between the red henna and blue background, however in context I feel the hands look more striking against a white background. 

Oceana

This character was inspired by Ian Macarthur's highly detailed, intricate illustrations. Influenced by his choice of mixed-media, I similarly created this illustration using pencil, pigment pen and watercolour paints. The stern expression, strong stance and vivacious splash of colour convey Oceana's powerful, wilful, spirited personality.

Antlers

This graphite-on-paper drawing was inspired by the amazing Shaun Tan's illustrations. I feel I have successfully conveyed the personality and emotion of this character through his expression and body language. Overall I am pleased with the final illustration of this timid, shy, endearing antler-boy, who is my favourite character out of the seven.

Thumberlina

 

I created this character on a piece of wood using black fine-liner and chalk, inspired by Audrey Kawasaki's beautiful, evocative wood-based paintings. This character is influenced by Hans Christian Anderson's fairytale Thumbelina, as seen through the lily pad and petal dress. I like how Thumbelina's simplified style contrasts with my other more detailed characters.