Layouts and Composition

Took a while to get started on this due to the volume of images required in the preceding brief. I figured out if we took 10 minutes over each of the 260 images, then it would take 2600 minutes or over 40 hours to complete - that's equivalent to five solid working days.

Immediate starting points appeared in the shape of the 'Voice', 'Air' and 'Underground' research. I was particulalrly pleased with the way that the fluid brush strokes had worked in 'Voice' and 'Air'. They appeared direct, confident and economic. To think I nearly discarded that brush pen as a total waste of time. I also liked the idea of being able to pick out creatures on the underground map in the same way that the night sky constellations are generated.

However, 'Fish' gradually became a rich source of ideas. I experimented with different surface techniques and was particulalry taken by the way that ink 'floated' onto wet PVA reacted to give interesting effects.

Roughs explored different fishy connotations, e.g. fish and chips, flying fish, fishing etc. At this point I decided that the ideas really lent themselves to a stylised graphic form appropriate to children's books: the necessary perameters for the brief were then set.

I liked the idea of being able to see both above and below the surface of water at the same time - with the possibility it also offered for being able to float some of the text. As I imagined fish being tempted by the anglers hook it dawned on me that the hook itself could form the body of the 'f' in fish. The notion of the worm as cross bar was then just a step away.

It was then a question of playing with the aesthetics of layout and construction. I tried different techniques to generate the fish and text, all of them offering new learning opportunities. These included; PVA & ink, cut card and drawing directly into 'Illustrator'.

I wanted to utilise a slightly subdued colour palette and was keen to include some pattern and texture. Being quite interested in the decorative arts I looked towards lace and wallpaper for some ideas here.

The final results include scanned pieces of fabric, card and wallpaper.

I obviously learnt a lot about the creative way in which 'Photoshop' and 'Illustrator' can be used, and, as with all media, tools and techniques, the more your knowldege grows, the clearer creative possibilities appear . However, teaching myself these applications, it crosses my mind that I am probably neither using the correct nor the most efficient means to achieve the desired effects.