Develop 3 visuals for travel guides for Helsinki, Milan and Istanbul providing a final version for at least one. Use handwritten typography - elements must be brought together diagrammatically. Set your own manageable brief.
Travel Guides for:
Helsinki, Istanbul, Milan
My Brief:
- Research each city visually. Collect information for a digital moodboard.
- Produce a collection of thumbnail ideas.
- The guides must work together as a full set and typography must be hand drawn.
- Use technical drawing skill instead of a graphic design package for a diagrammatic style.
- Work small enough for a pocket size travel guide.
RESEARCH
Helsinki skylines and city icons:
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| Helsinki Cathedral [Accessed 23 August, www.beautifulhelsinki.wordpress.com] |
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| Helsinki skyline incorporating the Helsinki catherdral [Accessed 20 August, www. .com] |
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| Tramline with a view of Helsinki Cathedral [Accessed 22 August 2015, www.visithelsinki.fi] |
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| The Uspenski Cathedral seen from the water [Accessed 22 August 2015, www.visithelsinki.co,uk] |
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| Helsinki waterfront at dusk [Accessed 21 August, www.insightguides.com] |
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| The Sibelius Monument [Accessed 20 August, www.sinivalkoinen.com] |
Milan city icons and attractions:
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| Milan, Cathedral [Accessed 20 August, www.architectism.com] |
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| Naviglio Grande at night, Milan [Accessed 21 August, www.magazine.fourseasons.com] |
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| Roof of the Duomo, Milan [Accessed 20 August, www.nytimes.com]   |
Istanbul skyline and attractions:
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| [Accessed 19 August 2015, www.traveldepartment.ie] |
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| Istanbul skyline [Accessed 20 August, www.pixhder.com] |
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| The Blue Mosque [Accessed 24 August 2015, www.dailymail.co,uk] |
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| Istanbul skyline [Accessed 24 August 2015, www.travelskyline.net] |
Other artists work:
Greg Betza illustrations on location in Honfleur, France.
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| All illustrations above by Greg Betza [Accessed on 21 August 2015, www.gregbetza.com] |
Greg Betza's use of line particularly in the yachts above are achieved with the minimal use of line, like the exercise prior to this in Part 4 of the course. Despite this, he's achieved great detail. Again, his use of tone is concentrated in one part of the picture (drawing directly above). I need to ask my tutor about this. I am not sure how he decides this, but it works. I know that for me it is particularly difficult.
Mike van der Merwe's illustrations:
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| All Mike van der Merwe's sketchbook illustrations [Accessed 5 July 2015, www.10and5.com] |
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| Venice |
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| London |
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| Biking in Amsterdam [All three images above accessed 21 August 2015, www.10and5.com] |
Looking at Mieke's illustrations there is novelty in each picture, biking in Amsterdam, boating in Venice and walking in London. It's a great idea to draw on for my travel guides, with both decorative and marketing communication elements.
Thumbnails:
I sketched a few thumbnails from my catalogue of photographs and decided on each one based on the idea I had when I catalogued illustrator Mieke van der Merwe's work. I bought a calligraphy pen, a thick ink drawing pen and a very thin fineliner to work with and decided that modes of travel in each picture were relevant to the Travel Guide topic.
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| My sketch of the Helsinki Cathedral |
I have found that most popular pictures in my research are the most 'touristy' so to stay authentic, decided on lesser known places with an identifiable mood relating to each city.
Below is my illustration of Helsinki, Finland, taken from a photograph with a tram running through the city and the magnificent cathedral in the background.
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Below - my picture of a cathedral in Milan with people walking around as a mode of travel. I chose this as my final piece and after trying different fonts, chose this one to depict structure, architectural strength and solidity.
After my tutor's notes: Further development and experimentation:
I have developed the brief further:
- Research each city visually. Collect information for a digital moodboard.
- Produce a collection of thumbnail ideas.
- The guides must work together as a full set and typography must be hand drawn.
- Use technical drawing skill instead of a graphic design package for a diagrammatic style.
- Work small enough for a pocket size travel guide. A5.
Looking at Steve Simpson's sketchbook (2016). Source: www.stevesimpson.com [Accessed July 2016]
Taking care to note that this exercise must combine various elements in a diagrammatic way. That it's not solely about one main composition, there's more freedom to experiment with different aspects in the various elements. Looking at other students work, many of us have collected the same architectural images and worked from there.
Investigate something different: Steve Simpson's sketchbooks below -
The above by Steve Simpson are factually observed. This has given me a completely different direction on my travel guides. I have noticed a 'trend'? in illustration where hand drawn iconic elements and pretty typography are a winning combination, note Harriet Russell. DECORATIVE.There is something in these observations that is very important for my further development and investigation.
Also Evan Turk.
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| Waterproof felt tip with coloured pencil smudged with a wet fingertip. |
I decided to look at doodling like Steve Simpson above and tried a few sketches in his style. What is particularly helpful is his method of applying colour as above: using colour pencils and smudging them with a wet finger. It's a lovely technique because it doesn't require as much water as watercolours.
My tutor suggested I carry a small box of watercolours with a black pen in my pocket for impromptu sketches. Pencils are as good it seems.
I looked at alternative aspects of travel such as postage: the stamps below offer a very strong graphic image portraying Milan with interesting fonts. I like the stamp border shape and the wavy postal mark for decorative use.
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| Source: www.dreamstime.com [Accessed 10 June 2016] |
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| Source: www.colnect.com [Accessed 10 June 2016] |
At this point I am relying on my thumbnails and reference for ideas and am looking at Harriet Russells work that is somewhat whimsical. Which is fine.
I wonder which direction to take? Looking at Steve Simpson's work also, below, I note I seem to resolve compositional issues in illustration with placing my images in blocks which form a pattern. I resolved Part 3 - A diagrammatic Illustration this way, as per my sketchbooks.
Steve's work in block form is something I am applying to my own final travel guide for MILAN:
I tried to incorporate many elements here but it turned into a practice session and an unsatisfactory end. I found the MILAN font above (Symbol truetype font), that I downloaded and then drew by hand from www.dafont.com.
I decided on this particular font and returned to my architectural drawings but not without a new colour technique from Steve Simpson, wetting and smudging dabs of atmospheric colour.
I reverted back to my architectural drawings, using each as an element on the page adding different colourways and two types of font.
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