Brief
The brief was to illustrate a series of words and their opposites by following a simple design process.
The purpose of the exercise was to explore how typography can be used to enhance message and meaning.
Keywords from the brief:
- Take each pair of words and write them I your own handwriting
- Write each pair of opposites in a way that is descriptive
- Select a font that suites the word
- Trace the typeface in pencil using the colour that best communicates it’s meaning
- Use a moodboard to explore other media qualities
- Consider texture, line quality and colour
- Draw your typed words freehand using a pencil and then render them using materials, media and colour appropriate to their meaning
The pairs of opposite words to be illustrated were:
- Big/Small
- Fat/Thin
- Fast/Slow
- Fun/Boring
- Calm/Mad
This was the first exercise I started after receiving tutor feedback from PART 4. One of the main suggestions in the feedback was that I should use the exercises in PART 5 to produce non-digital work and I was determined to use this approach in this exercise.
Sketches
I sketched out each pair of word opposites in an A3 sketchbook.
Font selection
I then selected typefaces that suited each word. This involved resizing of characters and words to best fit the meaning or message that I wanted to communicate.
Mood boards
I used the selected typeface as the basis for creating mood boards for each word.
Final artwork
The final artwork was created using a range of different techniques and media. Any design development and a description of each illustration is outlined below.
Big/Small
In parallel to doing this exercise I also did an introduction to silk screen printing weekend where I experimented with different media and techniques. This inspired me to try using a mono print to create the effect I wanted to achieve for the word BIG.
The word SMALL was painted through a hand cut stencil using liquid watercolour.
The backgrounds were created from old pieces of artwork and sketches that I either photocopied and enlarged or cut up to create a collage.
Fat/Thin
For the word FAT, I liked my original drawing better than the typeface so used that. My initial thought was to use acrylic paint but I ended up using a combination of a photocopy of a sketch coloured using liquid watercolour. The word THIN was handwritten using black ink.
Fast/Slow
The word FAST was skewed forward in Photoshop and then traced onto cartridge paper using coloured ink and black ink using a dip pen. This was smudged to give a motion blur effect.
I wanted to use a similar motion type effect for the word SLOW, but in this case use dripping ink to give a feel of sluggishness. I used collage to provide texture and colour to individual letters.
Fun/Boring
The word FUN was created using letters that were collaged on top of a manic and brightly coloured liquid watercolour background.
I wanted to contrast this against a monotone mono print of the word BORING. I did several versions. My favourite was printed on a re-photocopied and resized image that was processes to the point that it became a grey photocopy texture.
Calm/Mad
The word CALM was created by photocopying the word onto a heavy-duty tracing paper and then using this on top of a blue printed version of the same text which provided a slight shadow. Although this was not hand drawn, I did think that it best conveyed the cool and quiet meaning of the word.
In contrast, the word MAD was made using collaged letters on top of a crazy ink splattered background.
What I learned from the exercise
What went well
- The final artwork stage demonstrates the use of many different media which was one of my objectives.
- Think the use of monoprinting was very effective. I will explore this more in the future.
What I could have done differently/better
- I don’t think the rendering of the word pair Fat/Thin worked very well.
Illustration 