V&A Illustration Awards

The V&A Student Illustration of the Year awards (Exp. Oct 2023)

or

The V&A Illustrated Journalism Award (Exp. Oct 2023)

Option 1:

Use a piece of text or subject matter with which you have a strong response, memory or emotive connection. This could be a sequence within a favourite piece of written text, song lyrics, a dream. It could be instructional, promotional or awareness raising. It could also be a visualisation of something which would be useful, whether serious or fun, if visualised in a diagrammatical way.

Option 2:

What have you read lately? Find a piece of journalistic text: current or historical; political; social; cultural; environmental or geopolitical, which makes you want to shout from the rooftops in support or in protest. Use your illustrative skills to shine a light on the subject in a visually engaging way which encapsulates the essence, key theme, or topic you wish to explore.

I will choose one to look at. We are able to use any illustration method. I will most likely be using paint and pens as these are my preferred mediums. 

In order to pass outcome 1 I will interpret the brief and include my own personal brief for the project. I will also gather research from a variety of sources that will relate to the brief. I should also include initial ideas for style and typography inspired by my research then I will have to analyse my ideas.

All evidence should be included in my sketchbook, in padlet and uploaded in teams.

The deadline for outcome 1 is Wednesday 1st February at 4pm. 

To pass outcome 2 I will have to create developmental concepts that include typography which shows the creative interpretation of the brief. This will include at least two sets of concept ideas. I will explore media and materials and its potential for my ideas and discipline. I should also analyse and critically evaluate my concepts and their suitability for prints and in reference to the brief. 

All evidence should be in my sketchbook for a review and a 1 to 1 with my lecturer 

The deadline for outcome 2 is Wednesday 15th February at 4pm. 

In order to pass outcome 3 I will show refinement if my chosen illustrations and should consider the style and placement of typography, if any. I should have a consistency  of style between all 3 illustrations. I should also have the illustrations at the actual size with trim and bleed.

All evidence should be included in my sketchbook and my final series should be on padlet for teams upload. 

The deadline for outcome 3 is Wednesday 22nd February at 4pm. 

 

To pass outcome 4 I will present my final in a suitable format which should show understanding of brief requirements. I will justify my choices, including the illustrative style and content of illustrations. I will critically evaluate my final creative decision.

All evidence will be shown in a presentation and group crit. 

The deadline for outcome 4 is Monday 27th February at 10am.

My chosen discipline is paint and pen and so I will continue that in this project. I will be looking at watercolour, gouache, paint pens and fine liners and will consider collage. I will be exploring a children’s book illustration style as well as a bold illustrative style. My inspiration is my favourite artists and my previous projects. My target audience for ‘what the fuck’ will be teenagers and older, since it will include swears it won’t be appropriate for younger children. I hope to raise awareness to the animals we’re putting in danger. My dreams concept is not targeted at anyone in particular but would possibly appeal to a young adult audience. 

The final will be 3 illustrations with a consistency of style. It should be an accurate size of what I’m producing eg. A poster or book cover. 

Dreams would maybe be a zine and ‘what the fuck’ would be posters.

The final should evoke an emotion or opinion in the reader which reflects how they will feel when they read it. It should also be attractive and draw people in, as well as be original. It should appeal to my target audience.

For research I will look online to discover new artists and gather research on my favourites. I will also research typography as I intend to include it in my design. In my dreams concept I will keep a dream diary and then gather necessary images as I go along. We are going on a trip on the 31st and I plan to take pictures of the print exhibition and then look at the rest of the museum for relevant animals for my endangered concept. 

Key dates are 

Outcome 1 deadline  - 1st Feb 4pm

Outcome 2 deadline - 15th Feb 4pm

Outcome 3 deadline - 22nd Feb 4pm 

Outcome 4 deadline - 27th Feb 10am

Etching, varied edition of 5

Neck exercise III, yellow, 2004

Etching, varied edition of 5

In my brief, I mentioned that I would be looking at watercolour, gouache, paint pens, and fine liner pens and would consider collage. I also mentioned that I would be exploring a children’s book style with my inspiration coming from my favourite artists and my previous projects, this influence stuck around as it inspired my final. This project was very short and so the whole thing felt very rushed, I tried my best to manage my time but at the end of it I didn’t realise how little time had left and so I fell behind. With both ideas, I played around with different media. If I had taken dreams forward I would have most likely used gouache and paint pens. I took my endangered species forward and chose to use gouache, paint pens and colours pencils as this combination helped create the children’s book feel. I wanted it to be a poster to raise awareness and so I created it in A4. I think my research influenced my development and finals as it gave me inspiration for colours and ways to shape animals.

My finals are some of my favourite pieces I’ve done for college. My first piece is my tiger who is losing his home to deforestation. In this piece, I used mostly greens to get that forest feel but included the tree stumps so the viewer would know the problem is deforestation. Above him is the text ‘wow’ in what I imagine would be his handwriting. 

Next is my turtle who is sick of finding plastic in his home. In this piece, I used a blue-green colour to tie the other pieces together. I included kelp around the turtle to make it more obvious it’s in the sea and added plastic so the viewer would know it’s about plastic pollution.  He is crossing his fins while holding the bag as he stares disappointedly at the viewer with the text ‘seriously?’ above him. It’s also in what I imagine to be his handwriting. 

We then have my polar bear who is very angry that the ice is melting. I used cold blues in this piece to give it an icy feel and the polar bear has his paws out as though he wants to fight. Above him is the text ‘what the fuck’ again, I imagine it to be his writing.

I think these work well together as they have a consistent style despite the text being in different fonts. I think the colours all work well together, especially in the order that I put them in during the presentation. The only things I would improve on would be adding an exclamation mark or question mark after the ‘what the fuck’ as I had originally planned on doing so but forgot. I’d also like to fix the paint mark on the same piece but was scared that I would mess it up and so I just left it. I feel my final met the brief as it is a series of 3 which is a response to the text “what the fuck”.

While creating my finals I had to redo my polar bear as the paint dried weirdly, I don’t know what caused this but it set me back a bit. I enjoyed producing these final pieces but I hated how short the project was, I don’t think it helped that we had a change in lecturers just before and so the first couple of weeks were very confusing and all over the place.