She Wanted to Eat A Child

Black fine-liner and fabric, edited on photoshop

A double-page spread illustration for a children's story about an evil women who wanted to eat a child and unfortunately ends up eating her own. I believe the layout for this double-page spread to be a success. The paper-chain children lead the viewer's eye into and along the page, effectively conveying her hunger in a sophisticated manner; the image is not gruesome or a literal illustration of the text. I am pleased with my final character design. The evil woman looks scary but not too terrifying for children, while the detail on her clothes, the hanging teeth and bonnet, adds interest to the illustration. To refine this illustration I would add a subtle flat background colour to emphasise the drawing and add a textured background to the woman's apron and bonnet to add further interest and detail.

There Once was a Woman so Evil

First character design, based upon a hippopotamus

Character design full body portrait

Bonnet detail

Character design profile

Final layout for double-page spread

Character design for an evil woman who wants to eat a child. The anthropomorphic character is based upon a hippopotamus. The pretty lace apron and dainty bonnet adds detail and thus creates an interesting character. Her feminine exquisite, charming style of dress is in direct contrast to her horrid personality; an ironic twist. The hanging, pulled teeth subtly hint at her cruel intentions. Overall, I feel the teeth and expression need to be toned done for the child target audience. Conveying a smiling hippo happily eating the paper chain will make for a more sophisticated, suitable image than an angry ravenous hippo.   

Everything Stops for Giant Pocky

Pencil, black fine-liner and photoshop.

This illustration is for an advertising brief, targeted at a teenage audience. The product being advertised is Giant Pocky. The theme of Frankenstein's Monster and a rough layout including the characters Frankenstein, his male assistant and his monster was given, from which a final illustration was to be developed. Using these characters, I transformed Frankenstein into a bear and changed the gender of the assistant. The brief included the task of designing the text, except for the word Pocky. I am happy with the hand-rendered lettering; developing an ECG wave into text has added interest to the illustration. I employed limited colour within the design, using only red to emphasis the brand and create a bold strong illustration. To refine this advertisement, I would add more tonal shading and line work to the characters, as seen within my Social Gathering illustration, to add interest, detail and depth.

The Social Gathering

Mixed media pencil, black fine-liner and watercolour paint. Final edit on photoshop. 

The illustration above depicts the seven characters I created over the summer: psychedelic butterfly, Ollie the Orangutan, Foo Dog, Tortoise-shell hare, Thumbelina, Horn-boy and Oceana, taking part in a social activity. The activity illustrated is sailing, and the drawing includes a self-portrait. Constructing an effective composition to include all eight characters was challenging, however I am very happy with the end result. The use of tonal shading has brought depth to the drawing, the subtle details of each character brought to life through intricate line-work. The bold blue splash adds movement and drama to the illustration, symbolising the sea spray off the rough waves. I have entered this drawing into the V&A illustration awards 2013. 

How to Write a Book in 30 Days

Mixed media pencil and black fine-liner edited on photoshop.

This is the final editorial piece for my contemporary illustration unit. The brief was given in the form of an email; similar to one that might be received from an agent. The task was to create a cover for the supplement, How to Write a Book in 30 Days, within The Literary Review magazine. 

The supplement describes a structured method for writing a book, aiming to encourage readers to become writers. Inspired by the step-by-step element of the supplement, I began to think about how one idea has the potential to evolve into a story, which can be signified through an acorn growing into a great oak tree. Putting my own spin on this idea, I transformed the trunk of the tree into a pencil. I am very happy with the hand-rendered text, something I have struggled with in the past, which adds interest and a playful element to the illustration. To improve this design I would add a subtle background colour to enhance the detail and remove the unnecessary black outline from the words in 30 days.