Illustration Friday: Mystery

Initial Ideas

• The mystery machine
• Cluedo
• Detectives
• Inspectors
• Crime
• Pre-misconceptions
• Un-solved mystery
• Surprise
• Finding out something
• Mystery journey
• Keys
• Trap door
• Fantasy
• Ghosts

Thumbnails

I didn't try out as many options as hoped to, but I was quite confident with my loch ness monster concept. I found that mystery was a really broad theme, and it could be difficult for the audience  to interpret what the illustration is trying to say. I decided to add a little bit more character to Nessie by kitting her out with a traditional Scottish hat and bagpipe, which I hope will make my image more humorous.

Reference Imagery

I used reference imagery to sketch out the figure of the loch ness monster; but I wish I would have spent more time experimenting with her shape and form, and eventually creating my own interpretation. Although there wasn't a massive amount of images of Nessie as she is a mythical creature, and there are no real photographs of her.

Process

I used photoshop again this week; but I didn't spend as long as I'd hoped on the process due to having a lot of other deadlines coming up this week, so I feel like I haven't progressed an awful lot since SMART. Again, I used a layering technique starting with the shadowy areas gradually building the lighter areas to create a stronger sense of dimension. 

Evaluation

I think I've responded quite well to the theme of mystery, because the legend of the loch ness monster is something that a lot of people are familiar with and can relate to pretty well. Although I'm pleased with the outcome, I can't really see a massive improvement from the past few weeks, partly because I haven't pushed myself as much as I could have done due to pressures of other modules, leaving limited time to spend on tasks such as these. I do plan eventually to download and try out some of Kyle Webster's brushes, or even make my own brushes to develop my photoshop skills further; however on the plus side, I'm beginning to look at my work now and recognise that its 'mine', and I'm starting to develop a sort of tone of voice (I think/hope)! So from now on I need to capitalise on my strengths and push them forward more.