Brief This exercise is designed to push you through a deliberate process of stylisation. Tackle it with an open mind and be prepared to adapt or adopt some of the approaches you discover. Begin by drawing a cat or dog. Using reference from any source – life, photos or images from internet. Draw the animal […]
Exercise: A Tattoo
Brief A friend has asked you to design a tattoo for them based on the word Mum. He would also like you to make it into a greeting card that he can send to his mother. Research the history and conventions tattoos and body art – as well as the modern ranges, look at the […]
Exercise: A Menu Card
Brief For this exercise you are asked to provide an illustration for use on the menu of a sophisticated fish restaurant – one in a chain sited in major European cities. The menu uses fresh ingredients and the ambience of the restaurant is modern, bright and contemporary in design. Any food depicted needs to be […]
Exercise: A Children’s Book
Brief You are asked to produce a cover illustration for a natural history book for children (age 7-11) entitled Animal from Around the World. the image is to be used as a full colour front jacket to encourage children to choose this book from the library shelf. There is a long history of covers for […]
Exercise: Museum Posters
Brief You have been asked to produce three illustrations to be used as part of a series of A3 posters to publicise the museum to the following audiences: Children aged 5-9 Teenagers aged 13-16 General adult audience The museum wants to encourage diverse sections of the population visit and to perceive it as a place […]
Brief Find a range of illustrators who use a particular medium. You may focus on the traditional such as pencil, watercolour, paint, gouache, coloured pencils, oil or acrylic paint, college, print or on the more obvious digital processes – including digital collage, photography, digital drawing or painting. Catalogue the illustrators according to similarities in the […]
Brief To design an illustration for a poster for a music event. An Early Music concert, a Jazz evening or for a pop group. You can choose. The finished poster will be reproduced at A3 size, but you can work at any size, in proportion, that you feel most comfortable with. You will need to […]
Exercise: Making a Mock-up
Brief For this exercise you are going to mock-up a book cover. Choose a book title that appeals to you. Read the blurb on the back of the book (or the whole book if you have the time). Examine the design of the cover to identify what the brief would be for the illustration and […]
Exercise: Client Visuals
Brief This exercise is to help you to edit an image to its main structural form and to practice creating a clear visual. From the work you have collected pick at least two finished illustrations. These illustrations should contain a range of content. They can be representational, diagrammatic or metaphorical. Measure the image at the […]
Exercise: Viewpoint
Brief Make a small collection of objects around a theme – choose from: Festival The morning after Summertime Workshop Using a digital camera move around your set of objects. Look at them from above and underneath. Zoom in and out. Look for interesting combinations of shapes and textures, and document them using photographs. Be unusual […]