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Before creating my emotion chart, I first had to create a foundation that allowed me to easily recreate Luna's face accurately and quickly.

For this work, I divided my page into 5x5cm squares, choosing 5cm as it is easily divisible and because it is an odd number that can be halved, creating a good guideline for symmetry.

Luna's face was slightly simplified for the sake of creating measurements, however I do not feel that I changed her in any noticeable way--something I am glad about, as it was in no way my intention to change her composition. Her fringe and chin both start 0.5cm into the frame, with the edges of her fringe ending another 0.5cm away from the sides of said frame. As mentioned previously in my character design analysis, a square/circle shaped head is common in the design of young characters, as babies have much rounder heads than, say, and adult.

Her eyes start 0.35 away from the 2.5cm middle guideline, and her eyes end 0.2cm before her temples. Vertically, her eyes start 2cm below the top frame, and end 3cm (a further 1cm) below.

All of these numbers may seem irrelevant and convoluted, however they will aid greatly in all further creations of Luna. By creating a template, I have ensured I will always be able to keep Luna on-model, and will be able to check that she is via maths rather than "eyeing it". I am very glad I created this guide, as I will utilise it all throughout my project.

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My Development piece of Luna in bed ('Illustrating Context') helped to inspire the creation of this chart. When analysing that piece, I concluded that the subtle tilt of her eyelashes and eyebrows made her look sleepy, an expression that aided the whole piece. Hence, I was informed that emotive expressions can change the success of a whole work.

From left to right, the first column centres on sad emotions, the second angry, the fourth happy, and the fifth shocked. The third column features only one face, of which is purposely neutral. I needed a neutral, default Luna in order to check that I was not contrasting the original design; for example, if I was creating an angry face, and her eyelashes and eyebrows were no lower than her default expression, I would not be successful in forming an emotive.

The specific emotions were chosen as I feel they well encompass those that I would use in my final comic. They are also good primary emotions, which lay the basis for secondary and tertiary--if I wanted to illustrate Luna as confused, I would not have to create a whole new column. I would simply have to decide whether she was happily confused or upsettingly confused, and slightly alter a face on the second row of the suited column. I could not possibly illustrate all of the detailed emotions I may need to portray, but this chart is a fantastic basis.

As far as referencing goes, I could not have possibly guessed all the ways that these emotions manifest facially. Instead, I referenced a page from Scott McCloud's "Understanding Comics". Below I will create a PDF showing a side-by-side of each emotion.

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I wanted to complete at least one of the faces in my emotions chart with ink and colour, to truly see how well the chart works in keeping Luna’s face visually appealing, as well as to test how my designs would look in hand-drawn colour  (as opposed to my previous digital renditions completed in Illustrator and Photoshop).

I did not own a marker that mirrored the colour of Luna’s skin in my “t-shirt comic”, and coloured her darker rather than lighter. I actually think that this skin tone works far better for both my character design and the themes of my comic.

Firstly, I think this skin colour is more representative than the whiter skin tone. Sunny is very clearly caucasian—as she is blonde, with blue eyes—so my aforementioned comic has little to no diversity. Having Luna and Sunny be separated, in visuals, purely by their fashion choices was limiting, and in honesty, a little bit lazy. Diversity between the two is also important when I acknowledge my comic does not feature any men—I should have already pushed myself to represent more than just the white, female archetype that I am knowledgable about and experience in day-to-day life. With this change in skin tone, Luna can represent and appeal to a wider audience of people who do not often see representation, especially when the goth community has a history of gentrification and colourism (where the ultimate goal for a lot of goths is to be as pale as possible). I think the optics of Luna are now a lot less generic, are a lot more unique, and are actually making a statement; and none of these changes have impacted her character in any way, like maybe a change of hair colour would have.

The second reason this skin colour is preferable is shown in the results of my survey. As I fretted over in my "Audience Understanding" found in "Creating Merchandise", only 15 out of 49 people understood that Sunny and Luna were girlfriends. When audiences perceive my characters as sisters, it could completely change any readings of subtleties. For example, if I had Luna look at Sunny in a way that shows she is in love, somebody who thought they were related could ignore that interaction, or be deeply confused by it. This new skin colour hopefully erases that reading, as they are no longer visually comparable through skin colour. Any readings that they are sisters would now be far-fetched and odd, rather than understandable.

Overall, I am very happy that using a different marker made such positive changes to my comic and my designs. I will not revert back to Luna’s old colouring at any point, as this is now her character design. This was an easy fix to some issues my survey highlighted, it helped to make my comic less generic, and I actually feel a lot better about myself now that I know I am giving representation to communities who get little-to-none (a bisexual, non-white goth is a very rare design).

My only worries are that this change may be seen as performative, and that my comic may now be perceived as having “forced diversity”. However, I think such criticisms are what keep comics white-centric and heteronormative, as people are scared to give representation to underrepresented minorities due to backlash. I would much rather have somebody think I was “forcing diversity” than I would take away a representation, especially when it actually works well for my comic.

In closing, I am extremely happy with this change and cannot believe it came about just by not having a specific marker. To touch on the actual technique, I have always liked my fine liner works (see, my research of cartoon characters) but the use of alcohol markers greatly increased the visual appeal of such pieces. I may use markers in my final comic—I think the affect they give is smooth and illustrative, yet more authentic and organic than that of my digital works.

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Audience has been important to my project throughout, but never more so than during this.

If I was to make a product, I had to know if anybody would actually want to own it. Therefore, I felt that I should include my audience in the creation of my t-shirt. This would allow me to gather opinions on the comic itself, as well as to gage reactions to my character designs--a much more important factor that will aid the planning of my Final Piece.

Now, I'm not actually going to sell t-shirts, but my research on Rhodes has inspired me to consider the potential of such a venture.

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Out of 49 responses, 32 preferred the clean, digital stylings of the first option. I took this to mean that my audience preferred clean linework and block colouring, and because of this I thought I should abandon the grainy, pencil-texture Zai had inspired.

However, the second question presented a surprise. 22 people stated that the hand-drawn piece would be more successful in making them interested in my work, and 27 voted the opposite. This result is nearly a half and half, and I took it as a sign to continue to experiment with my work.

I now know that audiences prefer clean linework, but the second question presents a lenience with this idea. Perhaps I could combine the two mediums in a mixed-media piece, to satisfy both outcomes. I am not sure at this time, but I will keep all of this in mind.

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As my final goal for my project is to create a comic, I think before then I have to ensure that I can indeed make one.

In my opinion and for my specific goals, this preliminary comic will have to feature both of my characters, a solid punchline, a good font choice, and completed artwork. All of these things will be needed in my final piece, and therefore I need to guarantee their success now.

The most challenging part of this may actually be the punchline. I don't want to steal one from Bushmiller or Zai, but I also want to recreate their rare brands of meta humour. In order to achieve such a thing, I think I may go with a fourth-wall break, or something similar. Much like Bushmiller's 'Nancy', I may have Luna and Sunny interact with the comic itself. Zai's humour works in the form of the artist inserting knowledge the characters don't have (i.e. "It wasn't love" following her characters decree of love) whereas Bushmiller's humour moreso came from the characters themselves having knowledge of their creation (i.e. 'Nancy' referring to "the guy who draws this"). I think that I want to keep my own narrative voice out of my comics, and let Luna and Sunny be the focus, and therefore I will more closely follow Bushmiller's style of humour.

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For the beginning of my development, I have decided to explore character design with the end goal of creating my own original character, for use within my own comics and perhaps other forms of media.

I know that I need to create a character unique to me in order to truly create media, as using a pre-existing intellectual property is lazy, uninspired, and legally not a very good idea. However, Bushmiller and Zai's work has already helped to form basic principals I will try to follow:
1. A character design that will be easily repeatable across multiple drawings. If I find it difficult to stay on-model with my design, I will have failed to create something simple enough.
2. A character design that is easily recognisable and identifiable. I am not yet sure whether this will be achieved through use of colour, silhouette, composition, or all three.

To help me to understand how successful character designs are usually constructed, in the next post I analyse famous character designs to see what about them inspires me and can inform me, as well as to get a better understanding of my own personal taste.

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This section is no longer accurate, as I am no longer working nor am I progressing!

I am simply keeping this section of my Padlet as a little archive.

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This research served as an analysis of art styles, how they are constructed, what purposes they serve and how they convey information to audiences.

I selected a range of characters for this analysis, all with unique aspects. Each character featured is   under the age of 17, and all are from animated television.

I chose animation rather than comics, for multiple different reasons. Firstly, comic books are generally adult-male-centric, and therefore the designs found within them would be irrelevant to my research. Secondly, most of the cartoons I have chosen received their own comic-book spin-offs ('Teen Titans' had its comic book series 'Teen Titans GO!', the 'Scooby Doo' franchise has had multiple comic series from DC Comics, 'Kim Possible' had 'Kim Possible Adventures', and so on and so forth). The transition from television to comic proved that all of the character designs featured have the potential to be utilised in comic form.

However, I chose specific characters for another reason. I first created a rough Illustrator file with height guidelines--ranging from one-and-a-half heads tall, all the way to seven--and then searched both the internet and my memory for characters that fit within those proportions. I wanted to see how the height of a character would change its most basic presentations and composition, and this idea was fuelled by my analysis of Bushmiller's 'Nancy'. I understood that 'Nancy' was only three heads tall, in order to inform audiences that she is a child. I wondered if a childlike design could be created with much taller proportions, and if 'Nancy's design was only aided by her height, or if her height was instead a fundamental part of her construction.

I had the ultimate goal of deciding on a height for my own characters, but I also specifically chose each character based on their unique art styles. Going through the time and effort to research so many different characters with such drastically different heights, only for them all to have the same personality and/or aesthetics, would be a mistake. Hence, I set a rule of only allowing one character from each show, and another rule that each character must (to my knowledge) have a different personality or purpose from the last.

Here were my final selections:

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From my character design research, I went into my preliminary sketches with a lot of useful information. Per my essay, I decided on a character between 3-4 heads tall, as I felt it was the best at portraying the age of a teen character, whilst also subconsciously reminding audiences of babies, keeping the designs cute (which, as I deduced in my Ernie Bushmiller essay, is necessary for keeping sarcastic characters likeable).

I also decided that two character designs would work the best for me, as both Alison Zai and Ernie Bushmiller's comics often feature two characters to play off of each other.

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There were many varied responses to these questions, and I think they just serve to highlight that all people will have different readings no matter how clear intentions are.
Because of the disparity between answers, I chose to focus on the top voted traits for each character, in order the check that the desired readings were coming across to most.

Only nine people did not perceive Sunny as friendly, and I think that with 40 people disagreeing with this stance, a success rate of 4/5 is very good. The second, third and fourth most common readings of Sunny were 'happy', 'nice', and 'kind', and I think that means I have succeeded in creating a positive audience perception of Sunny.

Luna's readings were equally successful. Her four most common traits were 'quiet', 'sad', 'shy' and 'quiet'. These readings are the exact ones I aimed to create, as they rely on the common tropes and readings of goth characters. I utilised these tropes in order to subvert them, but the key step was allowing audiences to create perceptions that could be challenged in the first place. This chart shows that that was successful, so I am very happy with the outcomes of this part of the survey.

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After configuring my list of characters to research, I didn't feel that I had achieved much. Simply looking at them digitally in an Illustrator file did not give me a great understanding of their construction, their key differences or their purpose. I felt, at this point, the best way to understand how different these designs truly were, I had to illustrate them myself.

This took an incredibly long time. Hand-drawn illustrations are my strong suit, and yet the variations in art style, line density, detail, or lack thereof, made this research very challenging.

However, I feel that it was all very necessary. Through traditionally sketching each character, I got a feel for how unique each design was. I found myself often surprised by how each illustration turned out, as I would become so involved in their detail and intricacies I would be surprised by their overall composition. I was shocked by how slim some characters were, and realised that I had always incorrectly assumed their height due to their small width. I will go further into all of these revelations in my essay.

When inking these works, I made a few mistakes in line density, but I was kind of shocked to find it never changed the overall presentation of the character; I had always assumed linework was the most important part of an illustration, but now I know it is far less important than composition.

I actually had a lot of fun hand-drawing all of these works, but it was a necessity rather than a choice. If I simply illustrated each character in Illustrator, I would have only needed to trace them, and such a thing would have limited any of the learning that I have had in this research. I still do not know if I will construct my final piece digitally or traditionally, as both methods have had their time and place in my project thus far.

Below are the inked drawings, and below that will be my analysis of what each drawing taught me.

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These sketches were the first I laid down on paper, and I think that is something anybody would guess by looking at them.

As previously mentioned, I stuck with the idea of keeping my design 4 heads tall, but the difficulty here lay in actual proportionality.

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The results of the fifth question were very positive, with only six people out of 49 not voting that the joke was either funny or okay. Some may be disparaged by those six, but the 43 other people are an incredibly large majority and such I am very happy with the success of my joke.

The pie chart represents a surprise to me. I have always envisioned Sunny and Luna to be girlfriends, so though 15 people understood my intentions, I did not expect for 12 people to perceive them as either sisters or non-friendly. I am not sure right now what the best way to present their lack of relation is, but I will certainly consider this factor as my character design progresses.

The comic featured in this poll has always been preliminary, and was created as a test. I am definitely not opposed to changing anything, so I will have to change something in order to portray the non-familial bond of Sunny and Luna. However, overall, this poll has been very positive and my audience has majorly understood my intentions.

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the thesis of my project centres around text and image and how those two elements can combine to create media. i’m not interested in exploring image without exploring its potential collaboration with text, and how the two can emphasise or juxtapose each other to create visual interest.

Obviously, one of my main inspirations is comics, due to the necessary use of speech bubbles, thought bubbles, etc. to create meaning, context and literacy. Comics bring me to my title page:

My title page is from a Batman graphic novel entitled “the Killing Joke”, which uses suspense and tension to juxtapose its quick, shocking panels. The three panels I chose are a good example of this, and therefore a good example of how text is necessary to portray events in an all-visual format. Without the first two images, the final panel is out-of-context and overall visually useless. Without the text in the final panel, the completed image has no punchline nor pay off. The necessary use of both text and image is what my project is all about.

My four artists all use text and image in different ways, Butcher Billy uses text to explain his images and provide context (example, the Bowie pieces), Steven Rhodes too but they add a layer of comedy, Alison Zai’s works are useless without her text and Bushmiller uses the format in order to break the forth wall and be unique, mad for the 30s.

Show the Bushmiller Google doc, explain the forth wall: the forth wall is the fake wall that cameras replace. Breaking the fourth wall is meta-comedy, a form of comedy that is self-aware of its own format.

Show the Gumball video. Explain how I love it: I think it’s creative and unique. I love how it breaks down to the post-it notes.

The Gumball video is obviously audio-visual, but when I convert it to solely visual all audio will be converted to text. Therefore, right now, I’m planning on making a comic inspired by it, of a character ripping pages and gradually being erased. I’m also planning on screen-printing a t-shirt, maybe have the character be aware of being on a t-shirt.

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I will be adding to the character sheet with more characters and an analysis of why some characters work and some do not.

So far, I have analysed that Mabel (the girl in the middle on the far left) would be the best to feature in a comic, due to her cute proportions (analysed in my Bushmiller essay) and her simple appearance.

I've also analysed that the Simpsons character may actually be the worst, as his build and characteristic facial design does not lend itself well towards dynamic posing or motion, nor the ability to recreate the character often with hand-drawings.

One may believe Starfire (the largest of the characters) to be the worst, due to the sheer height and intricacy of her, but her humanoid face and body lends itself well towards finding pose references and portraying human emotions.

Gumball (the small cat in the top) is another good character design, but I have decided not to go with animals like Zai has, as I find they are perhaps too cute to properly convey human emotions.

Bubbles (the girl beside Gumball) is also FAR too stylised, and her giant eyes are terrible for portraying emotion, as there are only so many angles you can draw an eyelid.

Luz (the bottom left) has a character design I actually really enjoy, and is deceptively short compared to her proportions of only being 3 1/2 heads tall, but she may be a task to redraw constantly.

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Sunny's redesign in the previous comic was brought on by the troubles I had trying to replicate her original design consistently. My sketches of Luna are always representative of her proportions and features, even when poorly done. My sketches of Sunny never achieved the same consistency or familiarity.

I realised that my ability to redraw Luna often and accurately must have partially been formed by the emotions chart of her. I mentioned that I had her face down to mathematical equation, and that proved substantially helpful in the creation of my test comic. If I wanted to be able to recreate Sunny just as well as I could Luna, I had to give her an emotion chart too. (And, unfortunately for me, also give Sunny her own mathematical measurements.)

Sunny's measurements fit into a 5cm grid, in order to better resemble Luna. Her redesign shown in my test comic featured a longer and thinner face, that did help differentiate between the two, but mainly served to insinuate an age gap between the two that does not exist. In this new design, which is more reminiscent of my original sketches and designs, Sunny still has a thinner face than Luna, but only because her cheeks are not as pronounced: her skull structure is still very similar, with their respective temple measurements being identical. This difference helps to show that I have put time and effort into illustrating differences between the two characters, but the similarity helps to solidify a consistent art-style that doesn't vary between the two girls.

This design also gave Sunny her best improvement of all--eyelids! Eyelids are so important for emotivity, but I never felt comfortable drawing them for Sunny. My original sketches featured Luna with a heavy eyelid and a flat upper lashband, giving her a down-facing semi-circle for her eyes--Sunny's eyes were meant to be an exact parallel, only with upwards-facing semi-circles. This was meant to represent that whilst they were opposites, they were connected. This is a lovely idea and message, but the eye design of Luna is a tried and true way of drawing cartoon eyes, all the way back to the creation of animation. But when flipped, those common eyes were uncanny, and the lack of an ever-present eyelid made them both odd and hard to illustrate emotively.

Ultimately, I am incredibly happy with this redesign. I think it was inevitable, as Luna's design was always stronger and more appealing than Sunny's. The emotions chart has helped me to familiarise myself with Sunny's new face, but also will help with the success of my final piece. You can see that whilst Luna's face was highly emotive in my test comic, I turned Sunny aware from the camera so that her face was never as much of an issue. This redesign ensures that she will be just as important as Luna in my final piece.

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My research completed, and the responses overwhelmingly positive, I utilised my college's heat press to complete my t-shirt.

I used the wrong transfer paper, and hence the design's colours are washed out and pale. I intended to follow to guidance of the poll, and print a clean, smooth design that portrayed my neat linework. However, I cannot be too sad--my poll still has informed my project greatly, and all that I have learnt will be carried forward.

As for this t-shirt, I think it is highly successful besides the printing issue. I think the joke stands well, and the comic is well rendered. Even just the drawing of a small grey t-shirt on a grey t-shirt is meta, so I think that the joke lands very well.

Overall, I am very glad that Rhodes inspired me to take this slight detour. I will not be printing onto a t-shirt again, and my final goal is still to complete a physical comic that is not printed onto cloth. However, I am very proud of this piece and the comic featured in it, and think it really well represents my project. However, I am scared to wear it, as I don't want to ruin the print--having a physical comic will certainly be better, as I won't have to worry about washing it incorrectly.

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250 Text n image ideas in 2021 | art, art inspiration, illustration art

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Apr 19, 2021 - imagine ever getting this done. See more ideas about art, art inspiration, illustration art.

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Billy Butcher is a graphic artist most famous for his fan-art, depicting characters and episodes from the show ‘Black Mirror’. His art  became so prevalent in the fan community that Black Mirror

commissioned him to create background art for a few episodes: art that portrayed his style as 50s/70s comic book graphics, which parody the works

he is referencing.

I have chosen Butcher because I enjoy the pop culture he references within his work (especially the Bowie series), as it is both easily understandable for anyone looking at the work, and makes his style easier to emulate. I also enjoy how he makes his type and image connect and compliment each other. His choices in font could be recognised without his images as belonging to a certain genre or franchise, and I adore that specification in text.

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Rhodes is a graphic artist well-known for parodying children’s books and media with satanic or horror iconography. His artwork serves as prints for t-shirts, which he sells on his Teespring, and are currently being sold in stores live HMV. When studying Rhodes further, I would like to screenprint my emulation onto a shirt, as I feel this would both expand my project and its possible end-goal.

I have chosen Rhodes as one of my artists for both his style and his theory. I adore the gross parodies of childrens media, as I find them both unique and memorable. I also enjoy his art-style reminiscent of the 40s, as it is a departure from Butcher’s mid-to-late-20th Century style. I also take inspiration from Rhodes’ typography, and how it always encapsulates the theme of his images, as well as perfectly parodying the origin of the parody (i.e. Children’s bedtime stories).

Rhode's works feature educated and successful combinations of text and image, wherein his typography is used to enhance his images and create his unique presentations. I am inspired by this, and I think his works feature the thesis of my project.

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Alison Zai is a contemporary illustrator who publishes her works on Instagram, Twitter and her own self-titled portfolio site. Her artwork is usually completed with traditional mediums and techniques; when Zai works digitally, she maintains a hand drawn aesthetic through the use of textured brushes and imperfect linework.

I have chosen to study the works of Zai, as I find her art style to be unique and very successful. Her comics utilise text and image perfectly, with both aspects being necessary to understand the preferred reading of her works. I also find Zai's style of comedy to be intriguing, as her comics are created in order to deliver meaning, narrative and/or humour to her audience, which is a departure from my research on Rhodes and Billy, whose pieces were rather created for aesthetics, merchandise and reference.

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Ernie Bushmiller was a historical comicstrip artist, famed for his creation of 'Nancy', a newspaper comic he started in 1938, and would continue to illustrate for until his death in 1982. 'Nancy' was a highly influential comic, which helped to bring meta-comedy to the mainstream after the First World War. More importantly, the modernist attitudes of 'Nancy' quickly evolved into post-modernism, with cynicism and self-awareness filmed entrenched in post World War II arts. I have chosen to study Bushmiller for his powerful reach and massive influence in the genre, both at his time and contemporarily.

I have also chosen to study Bushmiller for his art style, which I find to be charming and well-suited for his intentions. Throughout my Bushmiller research, I will aim to explore exactly why I find 'Nancy' to be a fitting and educated choice in character design. I will also be greatly informed by Bushmiller's postmodern comedy, specifically his ways of breaking fourth walls and addressing the metanarrative.

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This emulation was created with marker pens and a black fineliner, with a white paint pen to create the weathered crackles that mimic real comic book covers. I decided to create this emulation traditionally, as I feel doing it digitally could seem to compromise my integrity, as I would simply need to trace Billy's work in Illustrator, rather than recreating his work in a way that helps me understand his process. I will continue to do traditional work throughout my project, as I am more accustomed to it and more comfortable. However, I recognise that traditional work is far less forgiving of mistakes, and is--for me--more difficult and time-consuming than digital work, so I will be informed by this as my project continues and will likely prefer digital in interest of time.

I chose this specific piece for a few reasons. Firstly, I enjoy the minimalistic colour palette, as I feel it emphasises the white of the text and the black of the illustration. Secondly, I love his combination of text and image: I take great inspiration in how he has parodied the YouTube logo in a multi-levelled way (the episode of 'Black Mirror' this image is based on is about being able to replay memories in ones head, like how one can reply a YouTube video obsessively). I think this work is truly creative and inspired.

As always, I enjoy Billy's retro comic-book art style. Specifically, I took notice of the composition of his image, how the white of the image is in a V shape, which draws attention to the eye. I am not very good with composition, so I will definitely be inspired by this composition within the future of my project. I also enjoy that the image is uncomplicated in design, but is highly detailed--it gives more visual interest to something that could have been much simpler.

As for issues I have with the piece, it took a VERY long time. I attribute this to how closely I copied Billy's linework, which in retrospect was unnecessary as I did not need every single line to be in the same place as his, and how difficult white space is to maintain. If I did this again, I likely would have simplified things.

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This emulation of Zai's work was completed with only coloured pencils, as their final look most closely matches Zai's crayon-esque digital style.

Once again, this piece was completed traditionally for a few reasons:
1. To maintain integrity and prove I have not simply opened Zai's work in Photoshop and trace over it with a crayon brush.

2. To have a reason to use a traditional medium (coloured pencils) I don't often use for Graphic design. I really enjoyed using the pencils, and found the process very nostalgic--which may partially have been brought on by Zai's simplistic, cartoony style: I will definitely have to be influenced by Zai's style again, to see if it remains as fun for me. I also enjoyed the final look of the pencils, as it gives textural interest to the piece: the graphite has a waxy texture that interacts with light, and the actual paper has dents from where my pencil has pressed too hard; I find those manmade features to be very intriguing and believe they give a lot of character to the piece.

However, I did struggle with the pencils as well. The speech bubble above the pink bear is actually a separate piece of paper stuck over the top of the original, as I did not plan my drawing well enough in the sketch stage. If I emulate this style again, I will definitely have to do a full pencil sketch before becoming excited by the bright coloured pencils. I also had to seal this work with hairspray, as the pencils loved to colour my hands too.

I chose this specific Zai work as I love the message it portrays, and I find its composition and creation very inspiring. At a glance, one would assume a piece like this would have a wholesome message, due to the cartoony bears, bright colours and imperfect linework, which I feel makes the actual intended message MUCH more impactful. Imagine if this image was constructed in ink fineliner, with a Gothic, detailed art style and a grungy colour palette, and you can see how a message like this would be cliche and derivative in such a context. Alison Zai's style perfectly compliments her messages, and as such I believe she is a perfect example of my project's thesis; the text and the image of this work directly oppose each other's ideals, which combines into a visually interesting and unique final product.

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My interpretation of Alison Zai's work took way longer than I had anticipated, which then inspired the message behind it. My piece was created entirely in Photoshop, which was the first learning curve--I am used to Illustrator, but quickly found that there was no way I could emulate the grainy, realistic texture of Zai's linework in that program. I am glad for this realisation, as my Rhodes research inspired me to seek out new ways to create digital art, as the detailed stylisations of my Illustrator Rhodes and Billy pieces had been so difficult and time consuming (and, in the case of Rhodes, unsuccessful).

I learnt a lot about "simplistic" art in general with this piece. I had assumed Zai's works take an hour, maximum, when done digitally--I had also assumed her work didn't have much thought put into it due to the simplistic style. My expectations were very wrong.

Firstly, I learnt that the fewer lines your piece has, the more important they are. Technically, my Billy interpretation is far more complex and complicated, but that means I was afforded more leniency in areas (such as Ted's hair, which could have used more detail, but I decided not to work more into it as it did not affect the overall piece). This work did not have any leniency or areas to hide imperfections, as every line is important to constructing the simplistic characters.

The composition is also more important than I realised. I chose a pastel pink for the background, as when the third panel hides almost all of the colour, it makes that panel seem more intense subconsciously. The placement of the characters in the third panel was also important, as I originally drew them at a mid-shot, before realising that that does not aid the intense, claustrophobic feeling that the comic needs as its punchline. This piece taught me a lot I needed to know about compositing and its importance.

The punchline is something I am quite proud of. I am a massive fan of meta comedy, meaning I enjoy when 4th walls are broken and immersion is in a confused state. Originally, this comic was going to be a simple, overused punchline where the bird said something uneducated. I think by adding the meta commentary of the drawings portraying my, the artists, feelings on the piece added a lot of uniqueness to an otherwise basic comic. The text of this piece was integral to contextualising the image--short comics with few panels fit well into the context of my project.

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My interpretation of Billy's work was informed by his trope of using pop culture characters. I thought Bill and Ted (from the film series of the same name) would be a good fit, as they target the same era of nostalgia that Billy targets in his own work. I matched the text of the image to the colour palette of the characters, and used the original 80s logo of Bill and Ted's band, the Wyld Stallyns, to keep within the nostalgia and to make sure the text and the image work well together.

I enjoyed the juxtaposition between the two characters' colour palettes and hair styles, as I think it lends towards the piece by adding visual interest.

I made the piece into a poster as most of Billy's work is the same, and I was not sure I could pull off a comic front cover very well with the amount of time I had to work on this piece. It was completed in Illustrator.

I used a limited colour palette consistent with 80s comics, (as they could only print a limited array at the time) to target nostalgia and make the piece feel less like it was made in 2020.

If I were to complete this piece again, I would maybe parody something. As it stands, the piece has no comedic value, and only serves the aesthetic purpose of being a "retro" poster, which I don't feel encapsulates Billy's style enough; his pieces could be said to rely on parody and intertextuality.

However, I do feel that I well portrayed Billy's style visually. I am very happy with the appearance of this piece, as I think the linework is intricate and detailed enough to be on par with Billy.

Overall, I think this piece is well done and I am very proud of it, and it well emulates Billy's art style and visual characteristics; it targets nostalgia well and has a consistent visual cohesion. However, it could have better emulated Billy's themes and context behind his work (intertextual references).

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Inspired by my Zai research, I knew that I wanted my pieces to feature meta-comedy, fourth wall breaks, awareness of the comic format, and/or simple comedy. After my newfound appreciation for the comic format, I felt a desire to push the medium in any way.

I am also a Media student, and my specific interest has always been in the tropes and foundation of media. Fourth-wall breaks have always been a favourite feature of mine, and now that I realise I can create them in my Graphics, I feel that I simply have to.

I chose this Bushmiller piece due to the comedy featured in it. This piece is so unique, and I find it hard to believe that it was rendered in the early 20th Century. I am so inspired by this brand of comedy, and I hope that I will be able to create works that come close to its success.

I know now that I simply must create a comic, as my Zai and Bushmiller research has presented my works with a purpose. I will still be inspired by the techniques of Bushmiller and Rhodes, especially in linework and their attention to detail. The comedy of Zai and Bushmiller has simply inspired me further, and pushed my project in the direction of comedic comics.

Once again, the linework in this piece is highly successful. I am very proud of my inking abilities, and think that I have successfully used my lines to portray weight and composition--see the thin lines that render the snow, and the thick lines that render important words.

The font in this comic may seem uninteresting and default, but it is actually perfectly suited for the piece. The simple text allows audiences to not be distracted by it, and it allows them to perceive the story that is being told by the artwork. At the same time, the font is easy to read, and allows for the words to be read and understood without issue. I will be inspired by this, as until now I have only considered the benefits of highly stylised fonts, and how they may benefit the composition of a design that features minimal text. Now, however, I know that simple sans serif fonts are just as important when used correctly.

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Here is an analysis of one of Bushmiller's 'Nancy' comics:

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My goals within this project are to explore text and image in a way that highlights how type can enhance an image, and how text and image can work collaboratively to create visual interest. I do not wish to experiment solely with type, nor wholly with image at any point, as I feel it works against my projects aim.

My title page is a good example of my idea for this project. The three panels create a silent story and hence work well together, but the text in the final panel is the punchline. Without the text, the image would not work--this perfect combination of both text and image, where they cannot fully work without one another, is the basis of my thesis.

Because of this, my main inspiration for this project has come from comics and posters, as both conventionally display image and then enhance said image through key words (for comics: dialogue, for posters: titles and

names and such).

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Studying Zai's work helped me understand how to compose a short comic, as well as understand that simple character designs work better for portraying a message.

I do not think I will carry forward Zai's character design traits, as I am not particularly interested in anthropomorphic characters featuring in my work--I prefer just human characters. However, her childlike style will continue to inform how I portray messages, as her juxtapositions are very successful at amplifying her subject matters. I may also use coloured pencils again, as they have a unique texture that I think is intriguing.

I will definitely feature comedy inspired by Zai, however. I found that her meta, aware brand of humour is very unique, and I feel that it enhances her comics greatly. I specifically enjoy the commentary in her pieces, but I do not think my own works will be as nihilistic or depressing--simply because I want my works to be funny without possibly upsetting an audience.

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Similar to my Butcher Billy emulation, this piece was rendered with fineliner and alcohol markers. This piece took a considerably shorter amount of time, and I attribute that to the practise I had during my previous emulation.

I really enjoy this piece, and I think my linework was successful in rendering and shaping the composition of the piece. From this piece, I have learnt that I am adept at linework, as I think I can create very straight, thin lines as well as accurate shapely lines that taper. I will carry this knowledge forward, and I will definitely utilise my skill. I will likely never create a lineless piece.

I specifically chose this piece to recreate as I find it to be highly creative and entertaining. The text combines well with the image to create a reading and presentation, and both aspects are necessary for the other to be understood. The font choice is also interesting, and I think its retro 70's stylisation aids in the overall aesthetics of the piece.

The ben-day dots in the piece create an interesting final product, but they took a very long time. I think the shading the dots present could have been successfully achieved with a darker grey marker. I will not be using ben-day dots in my work again, as I know that I will have to curate my Final Piece to be a work I can complete in time.

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By researching Butcher Billy, I have found that I greatly enjoy intertextuality and pop culture references, but I have a greater understanding of how they can be overdone.

I think I may carry forward Billy's themes, and be informed by his strong linework and bright colour palettes, as I feel they well complement the text within his pieces. However, I am not sure I will be informed by his art style, as it was incredibly time-consuming to replicate.

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To show I’ve done work before I can scan them it at college!

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This piece was, in truth, very difficult to complete. I found it very hard to create an original piece Digitally, and I think that is because I have been creating traditional, hand drawn works for far longer. After this piece, I am not sure that my Final will be completed in Illustrator. I may change my mind, but for now I am seeing the faults of the program and the holes in my abilities.

To talk positively, I think this piece is kind of entertaining. The font choice for the "My First" well parodies to likes of Little Tikes, a well-known brand that creates children's media. However, I just don't think that this piece achieves much. I lost interest in it after a while, and I think that is shown through the lack of detail.

I struggled to find a suitable font for the "Science Experiment". I could not simply use a retro font, as it would not service the piece at all. The colour palette also feels like a thoughtless decision. This is the colour palette that Rhodes often utilises, as it has retro connotations due to its faded shades. However, once again, its inclusion does not feel cohesive.

I do like my linework, however. I think that I once again have achieved in rendering a clear composition through varied line lengths and weights.

I think this piece could have been much more successful if it was completed with ink and marker. I know that I can create detail quickly and easily in regards to linework and colouring, but digitally these features easily took double the time. I chose Illustrator as I wanted to experiment and have time to evaluate my abilities, but I think I may take this piece as a sign to keep it as a secondary medium, but I will experiment to see if there ways in which this medium could work better for me.

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I greatly enjoy the works of Steven Rhodes, but this research may have influenced me to stray from it.

I found it incredibly hard to come up with a unique parody that Rhodes had not already created a t-shirt design for, and I think that is a good indication that I would not be able to be wholly informed by his style without running the risk of copying him. I do not want my project to result in a carbon copy of an Artist's work, and therefore I do not think I will create designs that mimic the intentions of Rhodes.

However, I am informed by Rhodes' linework and ideas. I love that Rhodes' text informs audiences of the jokes present in the image, and I am very inspired by the combinations he utilises. I will carry forward these inspirations, as well as the knowledge that I need to experiment with different digital stylisations and that I may, ultimately, utilise the mediums of fineliner and alcohol marker.

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Make my own character design for my comic; don't want to do fan art.
Make a zine with her, like Animator vs. Animation or more like Bushmiller. Screenprinting I want to do at some point, maybe a short comic about her knowing she's on a t-shirt, definitely want a focus on meta comedy.

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* Presentation - Effective presentation and management of chosen theme(s). / Presentation flow and structure (does it make sense)

* Selection of material for slides that is directly relevant to the chosen theme(s) – appropriate background information

* Research examples

* Proposed outcome(s)

Title: Text and Image

Well structured presentation Ella with a detailed and varied range of contextual sources to use as inspiration for your personal investigation. Your project bias with illustration definately plays to your strengths.

Your visual recording AO3 on your Padlet site is good with strong annoation and reflection with some screen grabs (expand upon this to show development), experimental stages and clear signposting (section headers) providing a natural flow. Remember to add a separate Bibliography site to document all sources used for your investigation - this could be a separate Padlet site which you import into this site.

Your theme of ‘Text and Image' and extensive studies is really taking purpose now and is constantly developing into a great body of work. Keep up the experimentation and the visual recording. I am excited on how your investigation will develop.

Brilliant start Ella - continue with your project developments, experimentation and recording - please keep this up its excellent!!!

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In these sketches, I outline the general design of my two characters. The first page shows that I was struggling with the anatomy and keeping on model, whereas the second page has much more cohesive illustrations.

The design of the girl on the right page came to me fairly naturally, as I tend to lean towards "goth" girls in my general drawing and doodling. I was so comfortable with the design that I drew a few simple poses, some more successful than others. The third drawing on the top row of the page, and the first on the second row are notably off-model and unappealing, but I really enjoy how the simplistic anatomy lends toward simple poses like the bottom drawing. I do not think the design of the anatomy will change much at all, as I really enjoy it and don't find it too challenging now I am used to it, nor do I think the character design of the second girl will change. The design of her conventionally displays "goth" archetypes, which is what I need to play well off of my other, more perky character, and will also help me to subvert expectations, as the conventional clothing and hairstyle helps to build those expectations in the first place.

I struggled far more with the character on the left page, perhaps because I started with her. I need this character to look bubbly and happy--to juxtapose my other character--but I am struggling with her wardrobe. The other character was informed by my character design research--the jumper was inspired by Mabel, as I was a fan of the silhouette it gave the character. However, there is not much inspiration in the way of "girly" characters, so I will have to further experiment with her appearance. I assume the long blonde hair will stay however, as it is very stereotypical of "happy" types of people, which should help inform the audience as to her character.

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Because I was so comfortable with the design of this character, I immediately jumped into completing her turnaround, creating my own character sheet for me to reference further on in my project.

I removed her hoop earrings, as I felt they made her simplistic character design rather top-heavy, as they drew more attention to her already large ears. I also changed the cloud on her jumper to a broken heart, as I feel it greater targets the stereotypes I need to use in order to subvert expectations.

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Personal Investigation Title: TEXT and IMAGE
MS-Forms completed for MAP 2.
Remember to maximise your creative output with the available time allocated to practical (on-site) sessions.

Your investigation is at a good stage - expand your experimentation and work towards final outcomes, remembering to document all stages of development as your project develops.

Continue to work on Contextual Response as this is an integral element of the PI.

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I have already created a mathematical guidance on how to draw and redraw Sunny and Luna's faces consistently. I had also already felt the negative effects of not completing this step. Because of this, I felt it would be daft not to do the same for the girl's bodies.

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Ella on track with her Personal Investigation theme and Contextual Written Response.
Discussion with individual Padlet looking at potential final outcome(s) to be explored:
> Fantastic project development from inception.
> Your character development is incredible and highly detailed.
> Fantastic written analysis and visual recording of ongoing work.
> Fabric transfer printing with T-shirt design is excellent and a bonus as this was completed in college, expand photo shoot opportunities with the T-shirt and models.

Excellent outstanding work and Padlet documentation and written analysis.

WELL DONE!!!

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This was a small doodle I made whilst drawing other things, but I felt it should be included in my development as it well achieved in creating context.

So far in my project, I have steered away from creating scenery and/or settings, for multiple reasons.

Firstly, I find great joy in drawing Luna and Sunny and rarely find context to be half as entertaining. Secondly, and far more importantly, I have never had much practise with context. Looking at my Rhodes and Billy interpretations, one can see that I am fond of illustrating the bare minimum I have to in order to create a setting.
Zai was the only artist that forced me to recreate a backdrop, and whilst I enjoyed that piece and think said background was successful, I also think it was simplistic and not very challenging.

This small sketch of Luna has helped to inform me on what kind of context I would like to create in my works. There is little to no background, but there is an atmosphere. The light reflecting in Luna's face from her phone portrays the time of night it is, and the pillows and duvet aid in this representation. Her eyes were drawn with more lid than usual, which helped to create a sleepy feeling.

Whilst it is only sketch, I think it may have been very helpful with my thoughts. I now know I can create context in a piece without illustrating a whole backdrop. If I went into this doodle with the intention of drawing her in bed at nighttime, I likely would have felt a need to sketch a whole room. I likely would have included a window, with the moon shining in to convey to the audience that the piece is set at night. However, this piece achieved those representations simply through shadow and character emotion.

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After creating my "T-Shirt" Comic, I noted that I felt I had abandoned typography. I felt that I had focused on illustrating and design for so long that I had put the "Text" of "Text and Image" to the wayside. Because of this guilt, I felt I needed to focus on text briefly.

Creating my own font was a fantastic way to do this. As previously mentioned, I felt sort of lazy for using somebody else's font. I had spent so long creating and rendering my own characters so that I could have my own unique branding, but the use of somebody else's typeface contradicted those goals.

I started by doing a few sketches, to get a feel for how sketchy I wanted my typeface to be. I used the font "Kids Handwriting" for inspiration, as well as the hand drawn script in my collection of comic books.

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This comic took a very long time to render, again because of my inexperience with Adobe Illustrator. I am leaning more and more towards traditional mediums every time I work digitally.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kx7y6Sw8gVo

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One of the greatest 4th wall breaks on The Amazing World of Gumball