Narrative Illustration Project

Key Words

• Narrative

• Illustration

• Illustrator

• Silhouette

• Paper Cuts

• Atmosphere

• Mood

• Light and Shadow

• Contrast

• Character

• Roughs and thumbnails

Geoff Grandfield

NARRATIVE ILLUSTRATION by John Vernon Lord

The main function of the narrative illustrator is to represent, interpret, and heighten the meaning of a selected passage of text (in a complementary way) by means of pictures, with the aim of contributing to the reader's appreciation of the narrative.

Homework

Put a version of your subverted fairy tale in your sketchbook and highlight three scenes that could be illustrated.

The Text

• Which individual passages of text shall be selected to illustrate and how do the pictures relate to each other to attain a satisfactory sequence?

• What pictorial properties should we consider when we are illustrating in series?

Examples of Subverting a found image

Before After

original etching by Francesco Goya from the series ‘The Disasters of War.’

Jake and Dinos Chapman

‘Insult to Injury’ 2003

Examples of Subverting a found imageBefore After

Fairy Tale illustration by Arthur Rackham

Work into the face of the character in the illustration by Arthur Rackham using one of the Disney Characters.

Work into the face of the character in the illustration by Arthur Rackham using one of the Disney Characters.

Homework

Visual Reference Visual reference has to be gathered as an aid to creating illustrations -Complete the following tasks:

1. One drawing from direct observation of an object in your story;

2. One drawing from visual memory and imagination of a place in your story;

3. Collect a range of images that you will need for reference for your illustrations for the characters, costumes and background scenery. Present these as a mood board across two pages in your sketchbook.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Illustrators use crosshatching to build areas of tone by layering parallel lines, like this example by David Hockney on the right.

Task

Complete the tonal strip using hatching in each box except box 7.

Box 1 should be black, 4 should be a middle grey and 7 should remain white.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Illustrators use crosshatching to build areas of tone by layering parallel lines, like this example by David Hockney on the right.

Task

Complete the tonal strip using hatching in each box except box 7.

Box 1 should be black, 4 should be a middle grey and 7 should remain white.

Hockney’s illustrations for

Grimms’ Fairy Tales

Copy one of Hockney’s illustrations on a page in your sketchbook using cross hatching to show tone.

Copy one of Brad Holland’s illustrations on a page in your sketchbook using cross hatching to show tone.

http://www.bradholland.net/

Character Design

Shapes & Silhouettes

When it comes to character design, two essential concepts are:(1) shape variety

(2) Clear silhouettes.

The overall larger structures should make sense and form a strong, clear balanced design, before details are even approached.

Roughs and Thumbnails

http://monkeyandseal.blogspot.com/2009/11/process-seals-90-thumbnails.html

Scene Setting

The scene setting or location where the action takes place, has to be thought about. The background setting may be carried out in such a way as to emphasise mood and expression as well as our experiencing a sense of movement in the picture.

View Point

The choice of viewpoint (angle of vision or eye-level) has to be established for each picture.

Compositional Exercises•Explore different media and

•Create compositional boxes showing your character in different ways.

Illustrations by

Geoff Grandfield http://geoffgrandfield.co.uk/

Composition Here are a few headings to think about:

• Tone and colour contrasts;

• Figure and ground possibilities - dark against light and light against dark;

• Contrasts of scale and proportional changes;

• Different perspectival views;

• Opposites - near and far;

• Simplicity against complexity;

• Passive and active;

• Vertical, horizontal and diagonal stresses;

• Curved and angular shapes;

• Using constants (ie the grid) as a means of orchestrating compositional elements;

Ideas

• Ideas in illustration may be generated in several ways: • ideas are required to solve particular problems;• ideas are required in selecting and composing the elements of a picture; • ideas can come from inventing a new visual language or by an original use of materials. • Ideas may take on the form of the visual clarification of something that cannot be expressed in words or seen in the normal way. • Visual ideas may complement words. • Pictorial ideas may show what the world is like in the present, what it used to be like in the past, and what it could, should or might be like in the future.

The Frozen Moment

• At what precise moment do we choose to stop the action when the events in the narrative take place?

• Catching the fleeting moment when an event has just happened, or is about to happen, and that will, in the next moment change.

Mood and Atmosphere

We need to consider reflecting the tone of a narrative by extracting the appropriate sense of mood and atmosphere from its content. Our intention might be to create a sense of drama or humour, suspense and surprise, or joie de vivre etc.Nature and action of the charactersThe nature and action of the characters who are participating in the narrative have to be considered as well as registering their physical appearance, (features of face) and their momentary gesture and expression - not just what they are doing. Maintaining the likeness of individual characters throughout a story might be something that has to be handled.

Lotte Reigner

Chris Natrop

Kara Walker

Peter Callesen

Henrik Drescher http://www.hdrescher.com/

Sara Fanelli http://www.sarafanelli.com/

Rob Ryan

A detail of a sprawling work by Andrew Scott Ross, Rocks and Rocks and Caves and Dreams:

Andrew Scott Ross