Along with testing out monoprinting textures and creating marks, a big aspect I want to make sense of is what aesthetic do I want to achieve in my work? Do I want it to be loose and slightly abstract? Have a tighter cut-paper process with added details of the buttons? A more playful, Ben Javens inspired approach? Is character design something I want to focus on? Is it integral to the story I want to tell?
I need to figure out how to successfully combine elements of both the cut paper process and the more playful character as I like both approaches. I want to create a nostalgic, charming and vintage book effect to give the viewer a sense of a time gone by and traditions from the past.
Artist Research
A downfall of my Visual Skills work was that I looked at too many illustrators for my contextual research and needed to refine my findings a little bit. I got excited by the new work I was uncovering and wanted to create a smorgasbord of it all - which is entirely impossible!
This time around, I want to focus on the illustrators that I know and love and identify the things that make their illustrations successful. What is it that I like about their work? What things can I take to make my own work better?
• Ben Javens: Limited colour palette, adorable, friendly and charming characters. Textured, grainy overlay to create a vintage, printed effect even though his work wasn't created using a printing process.
• Louise Lockhart: Hand-made work, a labour of love. Paper cut process, elements of crafting. Investment of time and skills. Precision but not too caught up on perfection. Modern, digital angle to create something that looks mid-century and sentimental. Evocative.
• Miroslav Sasek: Works he created give a window to the past. Interesting shapes - angular characters. Pattern and colour. Old brush and paint aesthetic. Whimsical and full of movement.
Sasek is a new find for me who I discovered through Amazon over Christmas while searching for vintage children's books to purchase out of my Christmas money. Although I discovered Javens and Lockhart at the beginning of the Visual Skills module and focused on them a little bit during my last submission, I wanted to hone in on them a bit more this time around as their work is truly spectacular and special to me - which is something I want to capture!
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