Character research

After deciding to try and loosen up my project and explore personality within my work, the best way of which I thought would be through character design.

Therefore I looked at the work of Laura Callaghan, as I really liked her simple block colour and line work. I also really like how she uses contrasting colours to separate the main focus of this image, and centre the character on the page.

Laura Callaghan

Another artist whose work I liked was Mészely Ilka, as her expressive simplistic work captures the personality of the characters, as well as having a high level of authorship to it. The things which I find particularly charming about the characters are the eyes, and how they seem to tell their own story by not simply looking straight forward.

Mészely Ilka

Thinking about what media I should use for my Sheffield brief, I looked at the work of Rocia Montoya. I really like how she uses crisp clean cuts in her own photography to create bold compositions with contrasting colours schemes.

Rocia Montoya

My main inspiration for my character design is Emma Block's work, as I find it incredibly inspirational and full of individuality. I love how she bends the rules of reality to create anatomically incorrect figures which still seem very realistic.

Emma Block

What stood out:

- Importance of colour differences and bold compositions

- How much of an impact authorship has on designs, and how even wild imagery can be recognised by the viewer as what they are intended to be

- The effect of simple but precise media applied in a considered manner

- How the illustrators style drastically alters the feel of the work

What I will translate into my practise:

- Try to explore different image making techniques to create a diverse and creative outcome

- Consider compositions within my work and how I can use the page boundaries to the maximum potential

- Ensure I don't over complicate my images or my story by choosing simple cohesive designs

- Experiment with different media and ideas which I would not normally do

- Push myself out of my comfort zone in order to achieve fresh new imagery