For my contour line drawings I decided to choose images from a brand photoshoot I did.  The poses in the images are very dynamic so I thought they'd be interesting to use as I progress through the tasks. I did four line drawings so I would have options to chose from if the one I'm working on wasn't working. 

For my tonal mapping I based my shadow and light off of the image to get an accurate representation. I struggled in the last project to create light and shadow without using a picture for reference. So for this project using the original image was very helpful when it came to tonal mapping. I used procreate for this step as it's something I'm more comfortable with. I chose this image as I thought the image would be dynamic and create interesting shapes with the shopping cart and pose.

The brand colours are white and royal blue so I wanted to create swatches using blues. 

1. The first swatch I used the back of the paintbrush to create the squiggly lines. 

2. The second swatch I mixed blue and white and did small paint brush strokes to create a pattern. 

3. For the third swatch I tried to create a grid with my paintbrush. 

4. For this swatch I added a lot of paint to create a squiggly pattern. I wanted to create some texture in this swatch. 

5. When I was mixing white with blue I was drawn to the colours not fully mixing and created a pattern and texture with it. 

6. I wanted to continue on the colours not fully mixing but creating different lightness and darkness. 

7. This was the final swatch I did for the colours not fully mixing in blue. 

I started to get a bit stuck so I chose to make swatches with different colours to have a large variety of colours to chose and experiment from as I progressed. 

1. I took the paint brush here and kept flowing it back and forth to create texture. 

2. I wanted to create the non fully mixing again with orange. 

3. For this red swatch I kept swirling the paintbrush to create a pattern. 

4. I added white and red to create a dark pink and then stamped the brush to create texture. 

5. I added more white to create a lighter pink in this swatch and used the not fully mixing technique. 

1. The same technique with purple. 

2. I painted one layer down and then created drops of paint to create texture. 

3. I used the salt technique with this paint brush and painted under and over the salt layer. 

1. For the green swatch I took glue and made dots with the glue and let it dry. I then painted over it with green. I wanted to create a different texture from the other swatches and use a different technique. 

2. I did the same thing as the first swatch but made slightly longer ovals. I also added white to green to create a lighter green. 

This task was something I found relaxing to do. It was interesting and fun to experiment with paint to see what textures and patterns I could create. 

I first started to experiment with different swatches in illustrator before using my own. I wanted to get a feel for colour and see what colours worked well together before adding in my own swatches.

I decided to use the brands colours and try to use the blue swatches of different shades of blue that I created. This created a monochromatic piece. Not 100% sure that it's working it's difficult to distinguish the directions of light and shade.  

After meeting with Joshua we both thought that the yellow, blue and pink image was the one that was working the best. However, the one using the illustrator was more powerful as the colours stood out more. There is lots of work to still be done on the piece. Additionally, Joshua pointed out how he liked the glossiness in the swatches. This is something that happened accidentally from taking pictures of the swatches, I didn't even notice it until it was pointed out to me. This shows that having a different perspective and fresh eyes can help improve the work. 

The yellow, pink and blue colours and the image itself (the glossiness + texture) reminded me of comic books especially ones from when I was younger. I looked into some imagery and old comics for inspiration. 

The colours in the comics are very bright and vibrant. The 2D images have texture and a glossiness factor with the use of the colour white. The background is either solid or has lots going on. For my piece I'd like to take inspiration from comics through the glossiness, textures and vibrancies of the colours. 

https://www.talenthouse.com/articles/how-to-comic-book-art-tips - I used this site to see what was important and highlighted in comic book art such as texture, temperature and colour (Upton-Clark, 2021).

I went into photoshop to create clipping mask on the same swatch. I wanted the piece to be more cohesive in terms of texture swatch and create brighter more vibrant swatches. 

I added the swatches into the piece. I started to play with different background, position and size of the piece. 

The black background allows the piece to stand out more versus it almost gets lost in the other colours. I played with the size of the piece, I liked when it was enlarged, however I didn't like how it got cut off. Additionally, when the image is smaller it allows for more negative space. 

I changed the colour of the lines to see what it would look like. I think it is working but it's harder to distinguish the image. I played with position here as well. The image gets lost or cut off in certain positions which isn't something that I thought worked.

More experimenting on the black background.

These sites emphasized my choice of choosing a black background. 

https://www.designhill.com/design-blog/power-of-black-color-in-graphic-design/#:~:text=Colors%20evoke%20passion%2C%20love%2C%20aggression,of%20black%20color%20very%20well.

https://srkheadshotday.com/blog/power-dark-side-using-black-background-headshot/

"It Sets a Dramatic Tone" (Kline, 2014).

"It Stands Out From the Crowd" (Kline, 2014).

"Color Pops" (Kline, 2014).

I wanted to have the glossiness of the swatches appear in every colour as I feel it added a dynamic element to the piece and takes inspiration from the comics. I moved the swatches around in order to achieve this.

I broke up each swatch colour to allow the black background to come through. I was playing around with the final piece to see if I could do something to make it more dynamic and interesting. I think that it works really well as it's almost like the negative space is seeping into the image. I placed the image on portrait and landscape sizes to see which one worked better. On one hand the negative space on the portrait image is very powerful. However, the size/position of the image on the landscape page is also working well. I'm at the point where I need to decide what I would like to highlight and what works best.

I chose the portrait image for my final piece. I think it highlights the negative space and I'm happy with the vibrancy, texture and glossiness of the swatches. The black creates a contrast against the yellow, pink and blue. Additionally the cracks in the piece add a dynamic element and make it seem not so perfect. It really does look like the image belongs in a comic, which is what I was trying to go for!