Papyrus Colouring Book

I started off with some brief online research into reducing stress and then brainstormed a few ideas by myself too. I liked the idea of a cup of tea and the steam coming off it turing into swirly patterns, but after a few roughs I realised this wasn't really going anywhere. 

I like the idea of drawing food and cooking is genuinely what I do to chill out, I find the whole process relaxing and satisfying. I wanted the page to be full of healthy foods because healthy eating is said to improve your mind as well as your body, and it just generally make you feel better. 

I thought collaging photos might be a good way to create material to draw from but this was way too time consuming when I could just do this with a pencil. I started sketching from reference images and from what I had in the fridge and then scanned in all these separate elements. I then selected the ones I wanted to use and arranged them within the A3 format that the brief required. When I was happy with it and I had left a space for some text (in the bottom right corner) I printed this out to scale and used the lightbox to trace over it in a 0.3mm fineliner. I added extra details at this stage which would make the colouring process more interesting for the user. 

I completed the bulk of this brief in about a day which I suppose is good. However, I would have liked to have spent more time on the idea generation phase because I don't think I explored enough possibilities before going ahead with this one. As a result, I think the imagery and the style of drawing is quite generic. However, the composition is packed full and I think that when coloured in, this page would look happy and bright and would hopefully encourage people to eat better.

Doing this brief it has made me think about food illustration, it is something I have never really tried before but I would really like to give it a go. I am thinking of picking out some recipes and illustrating them as part of my final major project. These could be to appear in a cook book or as a magazine feature. 

New Small Briefs - Brief Analysis

Brief

Penguin Random House Student Design Award 2017 

Adult Fiction Cover Award - To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Product

A book jacket (front cover, back cover and spine).

Tone of Voice

Take a fresh perspective, imaginative, beautiful, timeless, confident. 

Audience 

A whole new generation of readers. 

Context

Publishing, book shops, online book stores, ebooks, promotional material, supermarkets. 

Additional Information/Considerations

Text to go on the book jacket is supplied and there is a design template which the design must adhere to. 

Brief Submission Requirements 

Designs must be submitted via the specified submissions site and must follow the format requirements on the brief. 

Deadline: 12 noon, 7th March 2017. 

Module Deliverables 

Book jacket design, mockup of design onto a book. 

Development work, blogging and presentation boards. 

Brief 

Penguin Random House Student Design Award 2017 

Children’s Cover Award - The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4 by Sue Townsend

Product

A book jacket (front cover, back cover and spine).

Tone of Voice

Imaginative, an original interpretation, 

Audience 

A new generation of readers. 

Children. 

Context

Publishing, book shops, online book stores, ebooks, promotional material, supermarkets. 

Additional Information/Considerations

Text to go on the book jacket is supplied and there is a design template which the design must adhere to. 

Brief Submission Requirements 

Designs must be submitted via the specified submissions site and must follow the format requirements on the brief. 

Deadline: 12 noon, 7th March 2017.

Module Deliverables 

Book jacket design, mockup of design onto a book. 

Development work, blogging and presentation boards. 

Brief 

YCN UK Greetings

Product

A range of greetings cards and related giftware dressings. Cards, notecards, notepads, gift bags, wrapping paper. 

4 x Single greeting cards: size 105 x 159mm, 121 x 184mm or 140 x 140mm — consider the designs of the envelope and the inside of the card too
1x Boxed notecard set: size 110 x 132mm
1x Gift bag: size 267x330mm
1x Repeating pattern for wrapping paper: show one or two swatch samples
1x Notepad Cover: A5 or A4
Design sheet demonstrating how your ideas work as a collection. 

Tone of Voice

It is very open and they are open to a range of styles.

Tone of voice is dependent on audience and occasion.  

Audience 

This is to be decided by me. Is there a certain occasion or age group I want to target?

Context

Gift shops, card shops, supermarket, high street, local shops, online. 

Additional Information/Considerations

Choose a flexible but cohesive colour palette. 

Brief Submission Requirements 

The presentation of the final work needs to adhere to the YCN submissions specifications. 

Deadline: 12 noon, 23rd March 2017.

Module Deliverables 

Final presentation boards of products. 

Potentially use these designs to make physical products. 

Development work and blogging.

Presentation Boards For Recent Briefs

We Are Boutique Mural

Initial Ideas
The brief was very specific about what they wanted so I felt quite restricted with what I could do with this. I started my roughs drawing things related to wood ('The Fell' and 'The Old Saw Mill') but I knew the concept needed to go beyond this for it to be different to every other submission. I thought about making it more abstract and shape based but still use the tree rings to keep this connection. 

Line Testing
I used ink for this because I thought the line quality will be easily recreated with paint. The brief asks for a 'sketchy' outline which, to me, suggests dry media. I tried to keep my linework organic and imperfect to try and convey this through wet media. I liked the textured lines created by dry brushing but thought this might not be so easy to create in real life. 

Developed Idea
After reading through the We Are Boutique website I gained a better understanding about what they did as a company. There was a strong focus on thinking, strategies and creativity so I wanted to use shape to show how things can be re-formed and presented in a new way. I chopped up a circle to make different shapes and arranged them on a grid to form the composition I would use. 

Process
I drew each component in ink, including a background which was based on the same principle of wood grain. I scanned these into Photoshop, arranged them how I wanted them and inverted the image so the line work was white, as required by the brief. I made the background grey instead of black to show a more accurate representation of what the wall would look like. 

Corrections
My first attempt at this was not as good as I would have liked. As circled in the presentation, some of the shape outlines merged with the background lines which made the design look clumsy and the shapes were not easily definable. I made some changes by shifting these pieces and I now think it looks much more considered and clear. 

Strengths 

• I liked doing something a little more abstract than how I usually work. The restrictions of the brief made me think differently about the outcome. 
• I feel like I have learnt from my experience painting the Virgin Media communication box not to propose something really complicated if you might have to paint it for real in person. I kept this design simple so that I am confident that if I do need to paint it, I can match the proposal. 

Weaknesses

• I don't think my design quite meets the 'sketchy' requirement of the brief.
• I think the lines in the image look a bit blurry when you stare at them for too long as they are so close together. I hope the people judging it can see that on a much bigger scale the effect would not be the same. 

Hallmark/Tigerprint Instagram Competition

This was a very quick brief that doesn't need much explanation. I wanted to make an image that channelled the kind of things I like to draw while also having potential to fit in with the gift and greetings product market. 

Statement of Intent and Major Brief

Whittard of Chelsea Halloween Tea Caddy Brief

Initial Ideas
The park in autumn: trees, falling leaves, people walking dogs, kids playing conkers, people with takeaway hot drinks, warm clothes, nice coats, knitted jumpers, park benches, a pond or lake, wildlife, squirrels, ducks, bandstand, wellies...

Autumn in general: orange, leaves, conkers, acorns, pinecones, hot drink, dog walks, soup, mist, knitted things, fireworks, campfires, burning wood smell, blankets, cosiness, candles.

I intended to go with a kind of fantasy world idea combining the natural elements of autumn as platforms for characters to be doing autumnal activities. I sketched this idea onto paper so I had something to work to. I did some sketchbook work in gouache to develop the idea, looking at natural autumnal things but also how I could draw these small characters. I also wanted to use the blue and orange from the provided colour scheme in my final image.

Composition
I was going to use these gouache elements to test the composition digitally but then realised this was a waste of time. I used found images instead to get the basic composition sorted then I knew exactly what I needed to draw to make the plan a reality.

Colour
I added colour digitally and this is when I realised that the blue and orange wasn't working. I wanted to keep the inky line quality but when colour was added to this it appeared washed out and there wasn't as much clarity as I would have liked. I decided to keep the original black outlines and use the pink and orange instead to create a warm and vibrant image. I thought this linked to the kind of bright colours related to sugar/candy skulls and it also felt quite warm which I think is important for an autumn theme. I also played around with light, I tried adding highlights and detailing but I realised the colour application was best kept simple across the board.

I created six potential solutions using this scheme and asked for the opinions of my peers. The most popular were the three options on the left. I chose the bottom one because I thought having white in the design was important so the ghosts didn't contrast too much and I thought the top design was too light for the halloween theme.

Reflection 
Blogging this a few days after completing the brief, I can now see so many downfalls in my final image. I suppose it's a good thing to see all these faults in your work so you can figure out how to keep improving. I don't think I will ever be totally satisfied with any of my work for long.

Weaknesses
- The quality of my lines, although scanned at 300dpi seemed pretty low when imported into Photoshop. I hadn't enlarged the images above their real size so i'm not really sure why this is. In future I will scan at a higher resolution to retain more detail and a crisp edge.
- I was a bit disappointed that the blue and orange colour scheme didn't work out. Looking back I am thinking that my chosen colours might be a little harsh for the brand tone of voice.
- I only thought about this afterwards but maybe I should have matched the ends of the design up as this is going to be wrapped around a cylindrical tin. It would have been nice to have a seamless image.
- The brief didn't provide any information about where the logo and information would go. I looked at old caddies and it was usually centralised but the formats varied. It would have been good to have a bit more information on this so I could plan my design accordingly.

Strengths
- I feel like I have done something a bit different with this brief. I tried to move away from just generic natural autumnal things and add another element to it which I think has worked well and it has made the design process a little more fun.
- Having the pattern in the background and the separate images in the foreground has given the image more depth. I often feel my work is quite flat but this has worked well to make more of a 'scene'.
- Working to an initial rough rather than just designing on screen has kept me on track. Obviously there has been changes and alterations but the basic idea was clear from the start.

Statement of Intent Peer Review

Comments 

• Maybe think about simple animation for online blogs or magazine pages. 
• Look into a wider range of lifestyle topics - herbal remedies? meditation?
• Try screen printing onto fabric and actually make some products. 
• Magazine suggestions: Lunch Lady, Oh Comely, Monocle Magazine, Marie Claire, Elle Living, Country Living. 
• Think about american lifestyle magazines - who is this project going to be aimed at? Is it going to merge cultures or introduce one culture to another?
• Scandinavian style. 

Self Evaluation

Tutorial with Patrick

Notes from Tutorial

• Research publishers for factual books rather than stories. Find examples of the kind of books I would want to illustrate for. 
• Look at food illustrations - cookery books and recipes in magazines. 
• Stationery and homeware ranges. 
• Expand beyond product ranges and consider editorial uses.
• Look at prediction sites for colours and trends. 
• Don't limit my ambitions!
• Re-write brief to make it broader, allow different things to feed into it and don't limit myself too early on. 

I filled in the statement of intent and fmp brief form overnight so I felt it was quite rushed. I got an idea down because I had already been thinking about this but it was good to get some feedback before solidifying these plans. I think I did rush in to being too specific and hadn't given myself enough time to realise the potential breadth of this project. This needs evaluating and editing by next Friday.