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ILLU5020 - Colour As Communication

15/12/2020

This project will explore the use of colour within an image to create a mood, and to convey a message independent of the explicit content of an image.
To do this, we are given a text and some art direction notes which will determine the mood & atmosphere the final illustration should contain.

The text & art direction I am to work from is as follows:
Thomas Traherne Centuries of Meditations
The corn was orient and immortal wheat, which never should be reaped, nor was ever sown. I thought it had stood from everlasting to everlasting. The dust and stones of the street were as precious as gold: the gates were at first the end of the world. The green trees when I saw them first through one of the gates transported and ravished me, their sweetness and unusual beauty made my heart to leap, and almost mad with ecstasy, they were such strange and wonderful things: The Men! O what venerable and reverend creatures did the aged seem! Immortal Cherubims! And young men glittering and sparkling Angels, and maids strange seraphic pieces of life and beauty! Boys and girls tumbling in the street, and playing, were moving jewels. I knew not that they were born or should die; But all things abided eternally as they were in their proper places. Eternity was manifest in the Light of the Day, and something infinite behind everything appeared which talked with my expectation and moved my desire. The city seemed to stand in Eden, or to be built in Heaven. The streets were mine, the temple was mine, the people were mine, their clothes and gold and silver were mine, as much as their sparkling eyes, fair skins and ruddy faces. The skies were mine, and so were the sun and moon and stars, and all the World was mine; and I the only spectator and enjoyer of it. I knew no churlish proprieties, nor bounds, nor divisions: but all proprieties and divisions were mine: all treasures and the possessors of them. So that with much ado I was corrupted, and made to learn the dirty devices of this world. Which now I unlearn, and become, as it were, a little child again that I may enter into the Kingdom of God.

Art Direction: rapturous, warm, magical, visionary unreal, comforting, celebratory, spiritual

Research & Inspiration

I've aimed to collate several images which convey elements which I believe fit within the art direction notes I am tasked to work from.

Concept Art Of The Planet Sorgan For The Mandalorian

God-rays spilling through the trees create a sense of warmth & comfort, and a somewhat unreal element within this image. The connection with nature has a spiritual atmosphere about it as well.

Woman In A Wheat Field - Tim Gilliland

The blazing sunlight reflecting off the wheat, and the colours filling up the sky add a magical, comforting warmth to this piece. The centralised figure balances the work through the middle, which is a comfortable composition. Light surrounding the figure's edge creates an almost holy aura. The framing is very square, the horizon is level, it's a very calm setting.

A Walk In The Park - Tim Gilliland

The glowing light from the lamp posts and the reflected light on the trees and pavement add a sense of warmth to this image despite the prominent use of cooler colours. The juxtaposition between the setting, a rainy evening/ night, and the warmth bursting from the lamps sells the feeling of warm comfort in what could be an otherwise cold, lonely place.

Exodus - Mark Bryan

The content of this piece clearly fulfils the unreal element, but the pose of the figure upon the rock is celebratory, and somewhat spiritual given the miraculous events unfolding, arms open to the world before it.

God Rays Painting - Nithyanand Shankar

Calm and meditative content, god-rays adding warmth from the outside world into this room. The light and warmth seeping into the room may be a metaphor for the meditation practice of the monk, enlightenment being found from the greater world despite our immediate surroundings perhaps.

Scorpio - Tamajoshi

The colour pallet is very magical in this piece, purples and pinks bleeding into reds and yellows. The constellation in the background cutting through the light of the sun is a spiritual feature. The scale of the buildings in the piece add to the sense of wonder.

The Princess Bride - Gustavo Viselner

The contrast between the cold colours upon the rocks, and the warm light in the sky cast across the scene creates a grand feeling of scale outside of what's visible to the viewer. The motif of a sky without a visible horizon adds to the scale and with that scale creates a sense of unreal wonder.

Thumbnails

Centralised figure, and a roughly symmetrical composition to create a sense of balance. Light highlighting scenery and silhouetting the figure.

Light highlighting the figure which, in isolation may look like an alien abduction. Set in nature, island in a body of water

Relaxed figure in a mountainous nature setting, the height & precarious nature of the setting contrast with how at ease the figure is.

Mystical colour pallet, misty transitional time of day. God-rays shining towards an ambiguous glowing source of light upon a mountain top.

Spiritual elevation manifest as a physical climb of steps. Line details hint at what a developed illustration may look like. Mystical colours in the sky. Celebratory open body language.

Skyscapes within the eyes to suggest a spiritual aspect of more within. Composition balanced through the center.

Unreal atmosphere with the isolated path and lone figure. More unsettling than comforting, which may be down to the figure's body language.

Dawn/ dusk colours in the clouds, lush pastoral fields. Centralised figure & composition.

More dynamic composition, less centralised and symmetrical. Figure pushing through golden field to overlook a walled city.

Developed Illustration

Linework Prior To Colouring

Compositional Points Of Focus Highlighted

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ILLU5020 - Body Language

7/12/2020

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The whole figure can be used to communicate, through gestures and body language, in this exercise, body language will be the primary method for conveying a message.

Body Language Silhouettes

To explore body language and communication through gestures, six scenes are the subject of a thumbnailing exercise.

Angry Boss: Two figures - an office setting.
Good News: A single figure holding a phone - 1950s.
Mum Can We Go Now?: Two old friends meet on the street, the teenage daughter of one of them doesn't want them to talk for long.
The Anniversary: A couple celebrating an anniversary in a restaurant. They hate each other...
The Big Jump: A figure in an aircraft just before having their first parachute jump.
Genius At Work: Serious concentration in an academic or scientific setting.