Context
I’m working on Assignment 3 – Illustrative people and places as part of Illustration sketchbooks PART 3. The brief is to create a narrative illustration for a newspaper editorial, and the subject I’ve chosen is one of the East End London markets; they are full of character and an interesting challenge.
- How do a capture visual reference when most things in the environment are dynamic and people won’t stay still?
- How do I edit and develop my visual reference – there are so many possible directions to go in?
- What media, techniques should I use to represent the subject?
To help develop a narrative I’ve taken a line from an online travel guide as my direction/inspiration. It describes the markets as “A hive of hipness”.
Visual research
Location 1 – Spitalfields Market
All sketches are in the same A5 sized sketchbook and drawn using ink pen, Sharpie and liquid watercolour brush pens.
Location 2 – Brick Lane
Spitalfield gave me a sense of place but not people. So I went to Brick Lane with the specific intention of drawing people/characters.
Photographic reference
Photos taken on an iPhone alongside the drawings.
For discussion
- What images stand alone as reportage/documentary drawings in their own right – and why?
- What is the relationship between the drawings and the photographs?
- What themes/elements work and what doesn’t work – and why?
Feedback from the group
The feedback was positive. My main takeaway was that many of the images do function in their own right so I need to be careful about how much/what I choose to develop.
- The drawings stand alone and give a good impression of the place
- There is a risk of causing detriment to the images by doing further work ‘I’m not sure the images need developing further’
- Liked the portraits – they can stand alone
- Specifically like Brick Lane sketch 04 because of the bleed through from the other image
- Liked the hanging shirts in Spitalfields sketch 07. Liked the shorts hanging off the top of the page
- Not sure the images are hipster enough
Illustration 