As mentioned earlier, time was not on my side and I found that the deadline had nearly crept up on me, despite my attempts at careful time management. Balancing family time with heavy workloads from multiple University projects is quite difficult and leads to a very intense period of time (featuring many all-nighters and very little time off to relax). That combined with living in Edinburgh meant that attending class in Dundee would have to take a bit of a backseat, due to excessive travel costs and time.
Nevertheless, I quickly re-assessed my situation and came to the conclusion that I would have just enough time to produce a single finished illustration, while still having a little time left to finish updating this blog and type any required essays for the course.
I'm disappointed that I was left with only enough time for one picture, as I had big plans and ideas for all the others. Despite this, I chose a scene that would allow me to put some of my new skills in composition and narrative to the test.
Maggie's death scene in the story is nothing short of brilliant; she's a fairly unlikeable character from the outset, who meets a gruesome end at the jaws of the Megalodon shark. Her demise is witnessed by her lover (who I'm fairly certain she was just using, for her own gain) who subsequently goes a bit crazy for revenge.
This scene appealed to me for various reasons; firstly that I nearly cheered at Maggie's death, it was so satisfying; secondly that there is a great opportunity for a narrative-based composition guiding the viewer around the composition; thirdly, the visuals that sprang to my mind when reading (and re-reading) the scene meant I already had a few ideas from which to base my preliminary sketches.
In these images you can see how my new workflow allowed me to move swiftly through several phases of the illustrative process, before resulting in a completed image.
This entire process took a fraction of the time it used to for me, plus since I had spent adequate amounts of time experimenting with various alternatives at each stage (which you can't see here, I've only shared the successful iterations) I found myself being far more prepared for the final illustration, which in turn ensured everything went relatively smoothly.
This new workflow I use is as a result of continuous drawing, researching and experimenting throughout CAP. Although my work is far from being of a caliber that I'm happy with, I would say that I'm now better prepared to take on projects of a larger scale than before. Also, I can see clearly which areas of my work need the most refinement.
My composition for this image is based on thirds. I placed the narrative elements diagonally upon thirds cross-points before thinking about how applying different values to each element would affect the depth and increase the scale of the action. I also planned a lighting strategy here, using direct-lighting within the art-style to present a trail of action that would lead the viewer through the story. It's worth mentioning that during the early sketch stages I had also been thinking about how using diagonals and curves throughout the composition would benefit the narrative "trail" and keep the viewer within the piece.
To summarise this post, I would say that I'm 75% with the outcome of this single illustration; it put a lot of my skills to the test and I think I took o the challenge confidently, producing a relatively satisfactory result. However, looking at it now, I can see several areas that would benefit from re-working. I also think the art style could be changed up slightly to make it a bit more graphic.
If time hadn't been such an issue for me, I would love to go back and refine this piece before moving onto illustrating some of the others, but it is as it is, and I must move on to wrapping this project up.
