moving on

I started working on some digital images for my book but struggled with composition and colour. I found that trying to work in the style I developed in 504 didn't work with more complex compositions with overlapping layers of scenery, I couldn't find the right combination of colours to get the sense of depth I wanted and the shapes I used seemed over simplified and crude. 

I struggle with brighter colours, especially when working digitally. I think a lot of the colours that look too bold and garish on screen look much better when printed and not back lit but it is hard to constantly print out versions of designs to test out colours especially seeing as you can only get a true sense using a good quality printer. I have made these images by drawing each individual part as a blocked in black shape and then arranged them in illustrator, the problem with that is that you don't get a full sense of how they work together until you assemble them. I think one of the problems I am having with this brief is that I don't have a clear direction to take my illustrations in, I have been looking at the work of a few different illustrators that contrast drastically, I am very invested in the story I am illustrating and want to try and do it justice which is adding extra pressure. I have talked before about getting stuck in a rut and the importance of realising it is happening a break out of it as quickly as possible. It was suggested in the group tutorials last week that I should try out brushes on illustrator and photoshop so I bought some of Kyle Websters brushes. I have really enjoyed suing them today and am just starting to scratch the surface of what is available and what I can do with them. It has been slow going trying to get back into using photoshop after predominantly using illustrator for the past couple of years but I'm getting there. 

I am still not completely sure what style I want to use to illustrate the book but the freedom and control these digitally brushes have given me has started to help me feel more positive about the process. I always struggle to keep the loose quality of my sketches in my final finished pieces and I think this process may be a way to help me do that. I am going to keep working on this piece adding the dog character and some flowers and enjoy learning the new process. 

I need to make sure I concentrate on emotion and movement in this book.