Monday, 29 February 2016

PPP3: Chris Ware's Building Stories

I seemingly forget about the most obvious reference point for my project. Building stories is an excellent investigation of the history of a place, and the people that interract with it. It even makes use of isometric perspectives and ligne claire aesthetic.


 
My main concern is that I may inadvertantly emuluate Chris Ware's format, since it's particularily unique and would seemingly resolve my project cleanly.

Building Stories is more focussed on the human aspect of narrative, the building itself is the setting or backdrop to the personal story of the protagonist.

My primary interest is the history of the building, and the depth of detailing within. Perhaps, Building Stories is only lacking in it's portrayal a 'lived-in' space. The Picture House is chracterised by a mess of clashing furnashing, technology and equipment.

This is the strenght of the Picture House as a research topic, it is filled to brim with details, there is mess, and it's glorious.

PPP3: Dorling Kindersley: Eye Witness

This excerpt comes from DK's travel guide for Amsterdam. I was drawn to this particular book because of the exploded diagram of the Willet-Hothuysen Museum which has been decimated by a centrefold.
This imagery perfectly illustrates the general concept that I am going for; a highly involved diagram, with off-shoots describing additional diagrams.
This example is a rather literal interpretation, and a small step above a architectural drawing, it is my intention to expand upon this sort of composition, perhaps by bringing illustration into the third dimension. Off-shoot-details (I'd better figure out a more technical term) could be explored through authorial sketchbooks or additional diagrams.

Thursday, 4 February 2016

Visiting Professional: Glyn Dillon


This Big Heads was an interview with Glyn Dillon. I realised I was familiar with his work as some of it had actually leaked beofre the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It was odd now listening to this artist who had helped to redesign the Storm Troopers for the new film in the franchise and indeed create the chracter Kylo Ren.
As my dissertation centred around the marketting and merchandising of Star Wars, I was incredibly interested to hear Glyn talk about the development process to create characters.
His career was peculiar, and it seemed like a good example of connections leading to employment.
Glyn mentioned that the design of Kylo Ren was a difficult task, as they were pushing for something unique, with a strong silhouette. Inspiration came from old concept art from the unreleased and now infamous Jodorowsky's Dune.

The development for the unrealsed Dune was incredible important to post 70s science fiction as many of the artists and designers who worked on the project ended up working on classics suchs as Alien, Star Wars and Terminator.

Glyn's talk was really interesting, and it made me realise that perhaps it is possible to work in concept art industry without a expert understanding of 3D modellingm, or even drawing extremly realistically. Glyn was slected for the role because of his strong character work, and an ability to work quickly.

Tuesday, 2 February 2016

PPP3: Very brief chat with Remie Geoffroi





I recently found Remie's webstie whilst searching for isometric floor plan artwork, his website has a bunch of imagery which is oddly similar to some of the stuff I have recently been working on, especial the technical line drawing and ligne claire imagery.


I have sent him the following question:



I recently found your website, and was particularly impressed by the isometric floor plan imagery. I was wondering wether image involved 3D modelling based on actual plans of the building, or perhaps they were simply rendered using vectors or some such method?


All rendered as vectors in Adobe Illustrator. Some based on actual buildings (the Met) others just made up. Get to know the Extrude tool.

Good to know. A short reply for a short question.





PPP3: Group Tutorial

During this session we gathered in a small group of five to discuss our progress in the module and our chosen large projects for 603.

To summurise:

Potential Contact List:

RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) - enquire... where does my practice apply within the architectural profession?
National Trust - Promotional/informative materials for listed buidlings
National Heritag - As above
Welcome Trust - Potential funding for research projects / Employment
Lotery Fund (?) 

For consideration:

Maps - Cartography-based employment
Retail Applications - Maps of shopping centres
Floor plans of buildings
Arts Council

The large project involves producing a highly detailed diagram of the Hyde Park Picture House. Immediately one considers obvious applications, such as merchandise for the picture house as well as a book for museums and shops. However the discussion during this session made me more aware of the potential avenues the project could branch out into, such as retail infrographics and imagery for historical institutions.

PPP3: aaab-illustration.com [2]

www.aaab-illustration.com

I have updated the website to include much more recent imagery, as well as adding some minor aesthetic details such as the logo. I wish to refrain from using many more colours than white, black and light blue.