FMP Drawing From Lifestyle Magazines

This sketchbook contains drawings I have done in response to flicking through some lifestyle magazines. I realised early on that a lot of lifestyle related articles talk about theoretical things which obviously creates an extra challenge for creating images in response to them. I felt like most of these initial drawings were quite generic but there were a few things I liked such as the tick boxes transitioning into flying birds. 

I moved on to recipes which I found really enjoyable. Sketching ingredients and starting to consider layout really appealed to me. Food illustration is something I definitely want to explore as part of this project.

The ‘gin and slim’ drawings were from an article about gin having health benefits. I quite liked developing the concept with this while still drawing subject matter that I liked. 

The next piece was about enjoying the outdoors and I chose to relate this to springtime with this lady smelling fresh flowers. The image was initially meant to be a lady and a tree/bush with flowers but I like how the final compositions blurs the boundaries of whether the tree actually exists or whether this imagery purely represents the smell of fresh air in spring. This is also a new way for me to draw people, I normally produce something much more representational but I think this style serves its purpose on this occasion. 

The drawings about sewing and embroidery were unsuccessful in my opinion. It is not clear that the way I have drawn these is to represent stitches. 

I reached the beauty section of a magazine and got hooked on drawing all the products that were featured. I felt like the beauty section is very photography based and it doesn’t need to be because the information on the packaging can be shown equally clearly through a drawing. I think adding a hand-drawn element to these pages would make them feel much more artistic and personal - which is what people want when they are thinking about their own appearance. I am really starting to like the more detailed dip pend drawings of these products, I feel they have quite a sophisticated aesthetic which could be very appropriate for certain magazines. 

This sketchbook has allowed me to explore different subject matter and concepts and get me thinking about what I actually want to draw. I want to continue with the beauty products and food illustration but maybe steer away from drawing people. I will need to eventually see how these preferences fit in with the European / Scandinavian themes I am exploring.