So a close up at a low angle, better, more interesting …
Exercise: to take photos and do a series of thumbnails on the theme: WORKSHOP. I arranged a few printmaking tools and photographed them from a few angles. Hmm, this view has little merit.
I proffered my tour guide design to the cemetery volunteer group to see if they wanted to use it for visitors to the site. They really liked it though some of the more elderly volunteers found the colours too garish. There was also a query about some inaccuracies and a concern that it would use the ink up on the printer too quickly! (a justifiable criticism for a voluntary group). A lesson learned when developing designs with customers in mind.
If I were doing this again I wouldn’t have used as many words, would have had fewer items in it and wouldn’t have added the rotunda at the top or the tree in the middle as it looks out of place. I do like the colours and my choice of a nominal green oblong-ish shape to denote green space and also to detract from the rectangular convention of the paper does work I think, and I don’t think it matters that the green shape doesn’t correlate to anything in particular. I found it both quick and easy to create this image because I am so familiar with the site (walk mg dog here every day) and also have all the information about it in my head since I used to run historical tours around the site. This just makes me realise the value of research when doing illustration. The more preparation/research you do, the easier the task becomes.
And here is the final image. The pen and ink drawing was on A3 paper so I couldn’t scan it but took a photo of it and then colored it in Brushes and added the copperplate font in TypeDrawing, both apps on my iPad. I think the colours work quite well, but I had some difficulty squeezing in all the information I wanted to add. I should have de-selected some I think! The font works well because it’s reminiscent of the carved lettering on the gravestones.
So this time I turned the image the other way round. It’s more logical like this and makes it easier to depict each building and monument facing in the direction they really are. I used a mixture of flat map and 3d rendering of the monuments and buildings.
I’ve realized this exercise to create an illustration for giving instructions doesn’t really work in the way I am dealing with this task. Why? Because its not a ‘how to get from a to b’ type image but rather a plan showing the location of interesting things. Also, having re-read the instructions for the exercise I realize that one of the challenges is to use as few words as possible, and preferably none. But in my image, the way I’ve dealt with it, the use of words is essential to the purpose: informing visitors of how to find things of interest and telling them a bit about each item.
So I’ve opted to do a route map around the cemetery 100 yards from where I live. This is my first sketch for it done from the top end of the cemetery to the bottom which results in confusion about which direction to represent the views of the buildings from.
But on the other hand I really like this ideas for mapping a route: making the most decoratively about what is on the path. The only thing is that the route I was going to describe is so boring (that is from Sheffield station to home)! I have cold feet about it ….
This Katherine Baxter image with isometric perspective might be the best way of communicating what I want in the instructions exercise effectively.
At the Dr Sketchy event we were asked to draw Foxy (this young lady) with our ‘other’ hand. This proved an interesting and challenging exercise…
Fanny Divine gave us a great performance at the latest Dr Sketchy event in Sheffield, here she is in her knickerbockers and beard…
This illustration by Alice Tait is an approach to mapping a route that I find fun and attractive. Perhaps it works on South Bank but not Sheffield? Hmm, will see.
Wow Chris Harris illustration is amazing
Exercise on giving instructions. This is my first doodle to consider how to give instructions on how to get from Sheffield station to my house on foot. I though silhouettes of the major landmarks in a sequence would look good but whether it’s clear enough is another matter! Needs a lot more thought.