GARP Draft 1000 words...

Currently writing my 1000 word draft for GARP has really helped me make a definite decision of who I am going to focus on talking about. Chris gave me a great book which has helped a lot, 'Illustrators 33 Black and White' from 1980. In this it has got a useful article about wood engraving by John Lawrence, an article written by Shirley Hughes called 'The Telling Line' and a piece on Robin Jacques. Through reading this and beginning to write my GARP draft I have come to the decision that I am going to continue to focus on Masters of black and white illustration - Bewick, Beardsley and Bawden but also look at other male British illustrators that have all played a part in influencing the development of black and white artwork, finishing with my interview with Peter Bailey: 'Masters of black and white illustration - from Thomas Bewick to Peter Bailey.'

I have decided to create a timeline, it would be in this order:

Thomas Bewick (1753-1828)

John Tenniel (1820-1914)

Aubrey Beardsley (1872-1898)

Ernest Howard Shepard (1879-1976)

Edward Ardizzone (1900-1979)

Eric Fraser (1902-1983)

Edward Bawden (1903-1989)

Robin Jacques (1920-1995)

John Vernon Lord (1939-present)

Peter Bailey (?-present)

Update...

Today, I had a meeting with Chris again about how my GARP is going. Next time I see him I have to have a rough draft of a 1000 words done, focusing on the introduction. We discussed about creating a timeline as a representation of the research and I could include drawings, which may look interesting. The timeline would have all the illustrators I'm looking at in order. We decided I would do a brief section of information about Beardsley, Bewick and Bawden in my introduction and explain what I intend to get out of looking at this topic, for example it is already improving my knowledge on the subject and helping me develop my black and white style. Also suggested saying how the 'three B's' have influenced and affected black and white illustration today. Final discussion was about who I am definitely going to focus on in this project - I have such a long list of illustrators, it has to stop somewhere! 'From Bewick to Bailey' perhaps? Could possibly link the artists I look at so they are all of some relevance to one another? Or just focus on British illustrators, or my interview with Peter Bailey? Next time I update my blog I will have made a definite decision...

The Whitworth Art Gallery

Yesterday, I went to Manchester to the Whitworth Art Gallery, I also managed to visit the MAGMA store while I was there. While I was researching online I found an exhibition called 'Intuition,' which has a variety of artists whose works are included in The Musgrave Outsider Art Collection. I discovered that this would be very relevant to the style that I'm looking at developing and would also help me increase my research for my GARP. In this exhibition, I came across Chris Hipkiss, born in 1964, whose work immediately attracted me with its immense detail and black and white scheme.

I also found Scottie Wilson, (1888- 1972) whose work used dark colours instead of black and white. However, it was not this that I noticed, my first impression was of the individual lines used to create each pattern.

The third artist I was intrigued with was Carlo Zinelli.

Very different to the first two I looked at but at the same time the black and white contrast and use of pattern made it look really effective.

Magazine Articles

I have been looking at two articles that Peter Bailey gave me, one called HATCHING PLOTS, a guardian review done in September 2005 by Joanna Carey. It is a great article talking about Peter Bailey's technique and is very relevant to my GARP as it discusses how things have developed since the 1950's to today. I managed to find the link online:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2005/sep/10/featuresreviews.guardianreview30

Another is called LIGHTS FANTASTIC, which is by Ruth Prickett. In this she asks Peter Bailey about his illustrations done for Philip Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy.

Interview continued...

I had my meeting with Peter Bailey this evening and I felt it was really useful. He answered all the questions I asked him and he even gave me some articles that I could keep that had been written about him. He also gave me a couple of books that were relevant to my research project and spend lots of time showing me his work, which was really beautiful. I especially loved seeing A Boy Called MOUSE before it is even in the shops! He even spent time looking at some of my work and said he really liked it...it was a real confidence boost for me and it was a delight meeting him and his lovely wife Sian.

INTERVIEW

I emailed my tutor Chris to see if he could recommend anyone that I could interview and he gave me Peter Bailey. I've talked with him and we're going to meet on the 14th September! I've been finding out lots of information and looking at his work, which is amazing. Here's the blog I've been looking at...

http://peterbaileyillustrations.blogspot.com/

Pedro Lucena

These two links below have to be a couple out of many of my favourites of Lucena's work. I love the interesting and creative patterns.

http://www.pedrolucena.com/ilustracoes/

http://www.pedrolucena.com/ilustracoes/

Northfield Posters

My first plan was to decide how I wanted the poster to look; I wanted a symbol to represent ‘Fun’ so I went for an obvious idea of balloons as I felt children will quickly relate to this. I knew I had to place ‘Northfield Church Fun Day’ on the poster somewhere along with time, day and short address. I decided to have the title across the balloons and designed my own font, which deliberately I created very detailed, and in black and white, as I wanted to incorporate my style in some way on the poster. I also decided to write some of the events that would take place, such as bouncy castle, face painting, games and crafts. The colour scheme was definitely the hardest decision as I imagined lots of it to make it look exciting and appealing to the children, but at the same time I wanted it to be bold, clear and not clash the colours. I had an idea to add details to the balloons, I felt this was a way of including my patterns but at the same time will make the poster more interesting.

Searching...

Still searching for someone I could interview and possible meet but no one nearby! Found Pedro Lucena, who's work is exactly like the style I am interested in...however he lives in Brazil! Considering emailing him though to see if he could answer some questions for me...

Personal Assignment

I was hoping to possibly do a personal assignment over Summer, maybe create a poster for an event or even a separate project. I wasn’t really concerned about what it could be for; I was more interested in continuing to work on my techniques and to improve my style. I didn’t want the summer to fly by without making any further progress leading onto my third year. So when I found out on Sunday at my church about doing a fun day for children in September, I had to volunteer to design the posters and flyers! They were happy for me to do so and I think this could be a real challenge for me, as I know my interest in creating detailed black and white drawings can’t really be used for this type of event. So....I have a vision to try and incorporate my detailed patterns into the poster but using colour instead of black and white. I'm a little bit nervous as I’m not sure if this is going to work! I want to make the poster look fun and exciting for children so I want to use a vibrant colour scheme and draw pictures of some of the events that will take place.

Watch this space for rough drafts...

Dave McKean

Bought this book on Dave McKean 'Carte Postale' that I stumbled across. It has lots of different black and white paintings in it. However, it is not particularly detailed and refined more free and unpredictable. But still a good book to look at.

Redbubble.com

I found this site which has quite a few black and white pen and ink artists on it, some of the work I really liked.

http://www.redbubble.com/people/blythart/writing/3850697-black-and-white-pen-and-ink-artists-on-redbubble

Deanne Cheuk

Mike recommended Deanne Cheuk for me to research into as her style involves a lot of pattern and detail, I think her work is amazing. I would like to look at her for my GARP I think as she is a good modern illustrator to look at.

http://www.deannecheuk.com/pattern/

Anita Klein

I found an interesting female artist who I thought used black and white really well, it is not as detailed as the work i prefer but I like the way she creates a positive ambience even though they are in black and white. It is also clear she has a refined style as all of her work links together.

http://www.ponyhide.com/anitaklein/small-prints.html

The Woodcut

I have been reading the Art of Illustration and have found out some information about the woodcut developing into wood engraving, so I have decided to put some of what I have found on my blog.

One of the first techniques used to create illustrations was the woodcut. This was used till the end of the 14th Century as a more delicate method of using copper-plate engraving and etching were established. Then through the use of the woodcut wood engraving was created in the 19th Century. This involved using a burin, or graver which was used to replicate thin and delicate strokes and curves. This style enabled illustrators to create different depths of shading and fine lines.

After researching the woodcut I am going to look at some modern illustrators for my GARP... =)

Best Works of Aubrey Beardsley

Purchased best works of Aubrey Beardsley which has 170 illustrations inside...very interesting to look at his work. It amazes me how I look at one piece he has created and there are large areas of black and white and they tell a story and then I look at another piece and it's completely different, with intricate detail surrounded by patterns and shapes - yet they are both just as effective.

The Telling Line by Douglas Martin

"Every picture tells a story" if it don't - it aint.' Walter Richard Sickert. Found this in 'The Telling Line,' a book about contemporary book illustrators. In this I found John Lawrence who had been influenced by Bewick in his college days: 'sometimes I feel I've been influenced by too many people...' His style is crowded but each line is defined and he shows his english roots through his humourous approach.

Artists of Radio Times

I recently bought Artists of Radio Times, A Golden Age of British Illustration by Martin Baker as my tutor Chris had suggested it would be very useful. It includes lots of black and white artists such as John Minton, Eric Fraser and John Vernon Lord, just to name a few. In this I came across:

'Whatever the structure or the date, however before or after 1955 the illustrations in the Radio Times are as revealing to the historian of society and culture as are the programme announcements and the articles about them.'

Asa Briggs

Edward Bawden (1903-1989)

Edward Bawden was famous for being an illustrator, graphic artist and painter creating book covers, prints and posters. Through his style of cleverly using line perfectly and creating small areas of detail he made his work so interesting to look at. He learned from artist Paul Nash at the Royal College of Art School of Design who said him and Eric Ravilious were 'an outbreak of extraordinary talent.'

Aubrey Beardsley (1872-1898)

Aubrey Beardsley had a significant influence on the aesthetic movement and his drawings created in black ink shocked the public because of its erotic and grotesque style. He had the ability to create pieces in black and white with such detail and pattern but then also create large contrasting areas of black and white without detail. In Illustrators at Work I found a chapter in which it describes Thomas Bewick, Aubrey Beardsley and Arthur Rackham working together:

'These men, who sometimes worked as a group on a single large drawing, each taking a detached section of wood-block, were able by their great skill and experience, to interpret the variety of graphic styles employed by the illustrators.'

Thomas Bewick (1753-1828)

Found a good book called 'Illustrators at work' by Robin Jacques. It supports my idea of focusing on Bewick to start with and mentions how he was one of the most respected illustrators in early English illustration and how this technique of wood-engraving has not changed its style since Bewick's work:

'Thomas Bewick, whose wood-engravings are little miracles of ordered observation, encapsulating a hungry intellectual search for the unsentimental truth about country life.'

Bewick connects man and nature together through his intricate wood-engravings and this developed from an early age when he showed his eager interest in nature. Even though, he became widely popular in London, he did not stay there very long as he preferred the rustic way of living in Tyneside in Newcastle.

Found a good article about Thomas Bewick on Newcastle University Website: http://www.ncl.ac.uk/library/specialcollections/services/exhibitions/life/

The Decision: 'Masters of Black and White Illustration'

Deciding the subject I was going to research wasn't really that difficult for me as I already felt that I had a real passion for black and white illustration. Therefore, when I met up with my tutors, Julia and Chris, our discussions focused on how I was going to narrow down this broad topic. Chris suggested focusing on the three ‘B’ Masters, Aubrey Beardsley, Edward Bawden and Thomas Bewick. I liked this idea as it meant I had more direction for my research and I felt it was a good starting point that could lead into researching more modern artists that use a similar technique. We next talked about looking at the history of different processes of black and white printing, going back to the first style of woodcutting and following this how it has developed over time.

Graphic Arts Research Project...

Finished second year...which means time to focus on GARP!!