Photographers

Robert Mapplethorpe

Robert Mapplethorpe was an american photographer known for his large black and white portraits. he also looked at flowers as well as portraits of people.

when i look at his work you immediately go to the subject as the white stands out dramatically from the black. with the background being so plain and so dark the subject seems to stand out even more.

when i look at the portraits he does of the people i am thinking if he has a hidden meaning behind the photographs. is the audience supposed to decide what kind of person these people are like, their personality? their history? is that suggesting we see people and judge them through their appearance?

the people aren't smiling or posing for the camera necessarily ,they are just standing their showing no emotion. is this important? yes i think so, we are judging them from their appearance not the emotion they show in their faces.

if we look at the flowers he photographs i think he wants us to look at the shape of the flowers as in real life we don't look at them often enough. i think he wants to admire their beauty. even with the dark background and them standing out in the white, they still look quiet and subtle. 

Steven Klein

Steven klien is an american based photographer based in new York  he is known for work in the fashion industry including high profile advertising for Calvin Klein, Alexander McQueen and D&G.

his work therefore includes models and is primarily focused on the composition of his photographs. 

his work can be quite shocking (topleft photo) butthis some how interests me as i would love to know where he got the right ideas from. his work includes alot of women and men collaborations aswell as just focusing on women and their femininity advertising clothes.

i think his work is very sharp. and the colours he uses contrasts alot against each other, using shadows and light to create a dramatic photo. he uses things in the foreground (models) and models in the background to create a more interesting composition and sometimes photographs scenarios to display an act. 

  some of his work can be quite disturbing but i respect him for going all out and photographing this, as if nobody did this , life would be boring and full of no conflict or opinionism.

Cindy Sherman



Cindy Sherman is an american photographer who is best known for her conceptual portraits.
when i see Cindy Shermans work as i have researched her before in A level, i notice this idea of Stereotypes and how women are percieved. here in the top left photo she dresses up herself and coveys the idea that women like to dress up, wear makeup and get fake tans. in the top right photo you see her dressed as a maid doing the washing up, men think women belong in the kitchen.
this makes the audience think is this right? is this what the world really thinks and should they do something to change it.

she uses a variety of compositions to emphaise the point she is trying to make in her photos. she also chooses different colour schemes to do this, sometimes bold and bright colours and sometimes black and white.

i love Cindy Shermans work as I am very passionate on the subject of feminism and how women are treated. and I think she gets the meanings across very well with her interesting ways of showing it.

Illustration Evaluation

Are you aware of how illustration is used in your everyday environment and will you observe this differently? 

i definitely have noticed illustration alot more in my life especially, including the films i watch, TV programmes i watch and books i read. i now respect them alot more as i know how much work goes into something as amazing and impressive as those books and films.

ive come across illustrators that i never knew about but i knew of their work, such as Studio Ghilbli and Pixar. this surprised me a little as how could i not know about this? people just watch the films and don't realise what actually goes into them but now i do.

I now notice the illustrations in the newspapers and magazines more, as they usually have a meaning or are trying to portray something. I now spend time trying to work these out, including the ones that take the mick out of articles in the paper eg. the daily mail illustrations.

Have you been inspired by any of the work you have been introduced to?

if we are talking about artists, i definitely took a soft spot to Liza Corbett s work, i thought this was fabulous and has definitely inspired me to do my own sketches to show my feelings or emotions. her work impacted on me and maybe my work could impact other people or make them go 'wow'

in lesson, i definitely learned that illustration and drawing does not have to be perfect , there are many different ways of working instead of photographic images. i learnt working with my left hand instead of right hand created just as good an image as my right hand. using inks and letting them run on the paper creating a much more interesting effect then just pencil. i will definitely think of experimenting with materials and different backgrounds and not be such a perfectionist in my work.

Is there any particular Specialism within illustration that you find most interesting and why?

i think book covers interests me the most as it is a review of what is to come in the book. you have to portray whats to come in the book and be able to attract the audience to your book so that they will buy it. the book and its story is your brief but you can do whatever you like on that cover to portray the story. this freedom would excite me, using bold colours, typography, montage of images or different techniques of drawing. you could do literally anything!

except for book covers, illustrations in newspapers do interest me too, as they show a hidden meaning or are emphasising a point in an article or opinion which might help the audience understand or even take the mick out of it. these really entertain me too, even if they are just in black and white.

Observational Drawings - Birds

 this bird was created by wetting the paper by with a sponge and then using ink with stick to create the marks.

the ink spread in the wet paper which gave a very nice effect as you couldnt control where the ink went. this could make the bird look quite abstract.

i think this effect looks quite soft and subtly but creates a very dramatic line in places. it stands out well on the paper. some lines are small and fine but then some are very thick and bold.

this makes it very interesting to look at, this is one of my favourite pieces.

 This bird was created with ink and sticks, i focused on the lines and expressive marks inside the bird which help it look 3D .
i really liked the colours i used as it created an earthy look, this relates to the habitat the bird comes from

i wasn't very happy about the face as it doesn't look very realistic and it looks a bit tacky, but it was quite hard to draw the face with a stick so i can blow it over my head.

i used a bleach spray at the end to help the ink run, this decoloured some of the marks which left quite a nice effect, in fact it made the marks look quite like feathers which was perfect.

these birds were done at the beginning of the week where we were focusing on a one line drawing hardly looking at the paper and more at the actual bird.

i think the one line drawings look alot better than sketchy drawings, it emphaises the lines in the birds but still shows the right structure of the bird so its half abstract half real.

i put birds on top of each other in different colours which i think creates a very nice composition, one of my favorite compositions. even though they are on top of each other you can still pick out the bird and see the detail on each one.

Illustration Magazines.

Creative Review

this is a monthly puplication review of the communication arts.

http://www.creativereview.co.uk/feed/november-2012/08/the-windsmith-elegy-series-book-covers

this website address ^^ takes you to an article?feed that i found in the Creative Arts Review the other week. and it was showcasing the windsmith elegy series of book covers.

these book covers really interested me and grabbed my attention as the images looked like a montage of images. looking at lots of images together is really exciting to me.



on the first picture you have the foreground as a statue of some sort and in the background a series of images merged together including cliffs , storms and lightening. this sort of gives you a preview of what the books going to be about or contain. the second picture has a plane in the foreground and a dragon/dinosaur in the background surrounded by fire  and smoke. this is very action packed and you can realise a theme of chases and violent fights between humans and dragons

all the book covers use colours to set a mood, mostly dark colours such as black brown, blue and dark reds. this sets a mood of danger and drama. it would excite me to read the book, i know you shouldnt judge a book by its cover but this would certainly persuade me to read it to see if the story is as exciting as the book cover.

Illustrators continued...

Studio Ghibli

  Studio Ghibli is best known for (I bet you can guess from the pictures) for cartoon shows and animation, including Pokemon as the best example.
The images they create are very simple but show the exact features they need to. their facial expressions are very expressive so children can easily understand whats going on.

if you look at the childrens Illustrators they have very similar characteristics, bold bright colours, big faces to show emotions and animals and children as the characters, this is because they relate to the audience they are portraying too.

i love the bright colours of these illustrations. it creates a happy mood for me. however i prefer Pixars as they are more realistic and 3D.

Liza Corbett

 compared to the other Illustrators i have looked at Liza Corbett is very very different.
when i first look at her sketches i automatically think pencil drawings or ink drawings. i feel like there is alot of emotion behind her drawings , such as love, heartbreak or something to do with romance as red and pink the colour is used alot in her drawings. i feel like Liza is letting out her emotions in the drawings, which gives the audience a connection to the drawings and the artist that i love.

the backgrounds always seem to have this grungy look, like tea stained paper, does this have a meaning seen as its not white crisp new paper?

the faces on her drawings still show emotion , in my opinion sad looks, or sometimes angry, like revenge is going to happen (top left picture) i could sit for ages and try and work out what her illustrations mean, these drawings would definitely grab my attention as i like hidden meanings in work.

i would definitely like to look up more of her work and see where it is shown.

Chris Riddell


When i first see these pictures of Chris Riddells work i immediately think of the greetings cards in card shops of cartoons with the speech bubble captions. but when i look closer you can see that he relates alot of his work to the government and the job they are doing.

his works main aspect is the comedy factor and taking the mick of the government etc, using cartoon images of David Cameron and Gordon Brown for example. it gives his audience something to laugh at and create their own conversations on their opinions on the matter, rather than illustrations for imaginative reasons.

he uses blue as a background, quite washy and light so it doesn't take away from the main drawing in the foreground that is very bold and clean lined. the pictures draw you in and then you read the speech bubble captions and you then find the relation between the picture and the speech. all very funny.

i really like how the feet of the characters are bigger than they should be or part of the characters is emphasizes, eg David Cameron's very long head (top right picture) this just emphasizes the comedy factor.

i respect his work as it shows what everyone in the public is really thinking.

Illustrators that I found Interesting

Quentin Blake

 Quentin Blake is one of the most famous Illustrators out there as he was the Illustrator for the Roald Dahl books. i grew up reading these books so these pictures bring back happy childhood memories.

 in the pictures he creates great expressions on the faces which shows the emotion thats going through the characters. using colour as well he emphaisies this.




making the characters more cartoony to real life detailed drawings makes it easier for children to relate to as this is how children draw with scribbles for example.

i really like Quentin Blakes work. the use of bright colours and the memories of Roald Dahls brilliant stories.











Pixar

Pixar Illustration is known for its work with Disney and the children's best selling films, cart ton films to be exact.
i love Pixar's illustrations again for the pure fact it brings back memories of the best films I've ever watched. this will be with most children and people may age as these are still their favourite films. It gives happy vibes which is the seen in young children.

Whats most noticeable is the use of colour  They are bright bold block colours that children can understand and will be attracted to. bright orange for finding nemo and bright green and blue for monsters inc.

they all have very big faces as well  especially their eyes as children i think are connected by the eyes. (you always want the teddy with the big sad eyes in the toy shop) (puss in boots on shrek)

Alex Pardee


Alex Pardee is completley different from Quentin Blake and Pixar. and has focused his illustrastions on aliens and comic book style illustrations. he is known for his t shirt desgin collections.

In my opinion i respect his work as his drawing skills are amazing, and the compostions he creates are very complex and to make them look 3d like he does is very well done.
however i do not like aliens at all so I am immediatley put off by them. they are quite violent and remind me of nightmares or cartoon horror stories.

the colours he used are very alien like, using clashing colours such as bright purple and then bright lime green.  it looks like he used watercolours as they are very washed out colours that seem to have been smudged or left to drip. maybe this relates to the horror and slime based world of aliens.

David Hughes - Illustrator

David Hughes is another Illustrator i looked at,

i really like how his drawings and illustrations look hand drawn and you can see the pencil markings that he has drawn. it makes me appreciate the work more as it looks more real. there's proof that he drew it if that makes sense.
i like how the colours have a theme to them, they are all neutral colours such as creams and browns. i prefer colours bold and bright however that attract my attention. his illustrations wouldn't catch my eye and i'd end up flicking the page.