Sam's musings

I was really excited to start on this project after hearing about the brief 😀

Here were some of my initial ideas:

1. The dreamers party:

A party for one to share your dreams and what one sees in their dreams.

The idea I am going for more  is a child-like style that is at the same time catered for adults.

Illustrations would include more of magical animals/creatures that you will meet in your dream (Eg. unicorns with 5 horns dancing, dinosaurs with multiple heads, whales with a few eyes but all with a magical elemental touch like stars or clouds).

Collaterals:

1. dreamer’s notebook/journal
2. eye mask (sleeping do not disturb zzz)
3. pyjamas (patterned illustration)
4. wine bottle
5. invitation card/drawstring bag
6. character cards

2. Songwriter’s costume party:

Human musicians dressed in weird animal costumes whilst holding their instruments like in Taylor Swift’s we are never ever getting back together music video:

Collaterals:

1. backstage pass card
2. ticket to entry (mimics concert ticket)
3. vinyl album cover
4. guitar
5. band tee shirt
6. beer bottle
7. food wrapper

This is basically a music event but combined together with food.

This was one of my main ideas that I was thinking of developing so here’s my Initial sketch:

However, this idea did not really work out in the end. Lisa also suggested that maybe there was too many things going on in one illustration so I decided to not go with this idea in the end.

3. The stay up til sunrise party:

-People who stay up late and are night owls, but also because they like to watch the sunrise

-Neon colour illustrations, whacky faces of the people due to being too drunk and wide-eyed

Owls that are people /half owls, half people

1. Beer bottles
2. Toothpicks packaging (to prick your eyes open)
3. Paper bag for throwing up in
4. Invitation card/ party access entry pass
5. Poster

4. Underwater music festival:

I got this idea from randomly watching this video on youtube and thought it was funny HAHAHA.

-Draw weird instruments that look like a fish (etc) or corals and people wearing snorkelling outfits playing them (eg. mermaid tail; combining sea creatures into instruments)

-Combining the idea of a party with underwater theme + music

1. Souvenir bottled water
2. Snorkling mask
3. Instruments with corals
4. Coral headgear

5. Jumping off a plane whilst there are fireworks in the sky- event

-for people that are crazy dare devils

1. Parachute
2. Light stick
3. Plane ticket
4. Mini aeroplane

In the end, I decided to go with my very first idea! I started researching on some inspirations/ on artists who have a unique drawing style:

• Mapa Barragan 

This is one example of her work and I like how she uses different and uniquely vibrant colours to craft her animal designs. They are also very stylised.

• Liv Wan

She is a freelance illustrator who too has a very distinct illustration style. She uses colour very well! Her style is a little cartoon-y yet it is not childish, and its something I really wish to incorporate for my own illustrations!

• Jessica Bell

She is a graphic designer and she designed this card during one of the christmases for skull candy.  I really liked how the moose is so whacky in this illustration and really conveys a message of humour and fun! This is something I also wish to achieve in my illustrations.

• More animal character examples:

These animals are drawn rather realistically and yet they have the mythical traits being incorporated as well. These are references I would like to take into account whilst designing my own characters.

Okay I guess its now time to begin designing! 😀

What is Varoom?

After doing some research, I found Varoom to be a magazine that greatly supports illustrators and their illustrations. Content wise, Varoom conducts interviews with various illustrators, designers and image-makers as well as having various articles on various contemporary issues.  However, what I find most unique about Varoom is how it allows illustrators to express their unique style and voice without restriction. What I find inspiring is how they allow illustrators the creative freedom to explore what are they passionate in, and do not follow the status quo of the usual magazine content.

As seen from the inner content of VAROOM, the designs vary from black and white to the use of bright expressive colours. It really made me realise that the sky is the limit for designs in this magazine. It is the kind of magazine that is open to expressing a variety of options, making it fun and interesting. The most important factor about designing for VAROOM is therefore simply having a good concept/idea and developing my illustrations from there.

Henceforth, I realised that their cover goes beyond the surface of simply just being an illustration but adds meaning and depth to the topic they are currently discussing. That is what makes a good editorial design as well.

Target audience

Varoom targets designers, as well as those who are interested in thinking deeper about various design issues, problems and taboos. Its quirky and free content attracts different variety of creatives.

Audience Persona:

After coming up with the audience persona, I realised that because VAROOM targets more mature audiences (not children or young kids, for instance) that enjoys design. My illustration style hence has to be more engaging and less child-like (it was the initial style I wanted to go for.

Design inspirations:

• James Fenner designed an illustrative piece for Poland State Magazine on the subject of new possibilities for teen foster kids:

I really liked the use of different textures and line weights that really brought the entire illustration to life. Her style of softer lines really suited the theme of foster care as well and I thought this was a good example of using the right illustration style to suit the right theme.

• Meel Tamphanon designed this illustrative piece of a magazine. She titled her work as “30 year old folks and they behave like adolescents”.

I like how each character is specifically designed to convey a unique personality that brings forth a message to the audience.

Her work also has a distinct style and really leads the audience to think beyond the surface of her illustrations to the real message she is trying to convey.

Ideation stage

Empathy:

1. play with the idea of loneliness; image of a girl feeling dull on the inside ( black soul, lacking life) but outside, she puts on a mask to act cheery (draw flowers, crown) and being surrounded others who look the same.
2. play with the idea of how society focuses so much on the exterior and the superficial. And how these things are actually not as important as one’s true inner beauty. as a result of this wrong focus, society becomes dysfunctional. illustrate this with clowns running around with ruined makeup on their faces and tattered clothes in a whimsical landscape (funfair) that is broken down. Can have the clowns be attached to puppet on strings. Have dim lighting and almost seems bleak. can illustrate things that society cares too much about. in the middle is a girl that shines her truest inner self and shines the brightest in the middle but she looks confused as to what is going on, almost asking as if “why is society like this?” and her world is shattered.

Obsession:

1. Kinda linked to the above idea except this one is playing more on the obsession side. Play with the idea of having too much fun that it ruins you; using clowns as a central idea and having them have overly big faces in a broken funfair kind of setting; making it whimsical yet its an uncomfortable kind of whimsical. Clowns can be so concerned about having fun it kind of breaks them

Style:

1. Fashion on the moon; an alien who lives alone but because he is bored, finds inspiration from the rocks/planets to create a fashion runway for himself. This plays with the idea of how when you get lonely and bored, you get creative and maybe that is when you find your own sense of style
2. How a person styles a room, according to their personality; have the room be interesting and creative

To aid with my inspirations, I came up with more thumbnail sketches in classes (also using more word associations that Lisa had us spin on a website that was really helpful hehe).

Thumbnail sketches:

After consultation, I decided to settle for the idea of empathy as I had some stronger concepts that I could play around with (eg. my clown idea).

Pencil Comp Sketches:

1. Sad clown:

This first idea idea was centered around a sad clown who had just gone through a breakup and was sitting outside his room crying as he looked out the window to reflect what he had done wrong. I also added a guitar to reference Taylor Swift’s song- Teardrops on my Guitar

2. Clowns invade the city

This second idea was centered around the idea of how society only looks at the surface matter of things and the things that truly matter (like inner beauty) are overlooked. I hence wanted to draw a whimsically dysfunctional city mimicking a broken funfair that has many sad clowns roaming around (in a sort of creepy way hahahah). I would then add a girl who would represent purity and innocence to be in the middle of this city. As she looks out into the city, she feels lost and wonders why has the city become so broken.

3. The king lost his kingdom and his people all turned into slaves

The idea for this was just to illustrate a king who lost his kingdom. He was sad as he had lost everything he had + all his beloved people had turned into slaves.

This was another alternative sketch for the same idea:

After in-class critique, feedback was given that the third illustration was better in terms of conveying my idea as the second one on the clowns that I was initially more inclined to could possibly be a little tricky to illustrate. Hence it was no clowns (awww hahhaha) and I chose this idea!

Check out my next post for the actual process of my cover 😀