In this exercise, I was asked to choose an editorial from a newspaper or magazine, and create an illustration for the text. To do so, I would need to read the article and highlight the keywords that dominating in the text. I need to highlight or underline keywords which in my opinion are important to convey the meaning of the piece overall. I was recommended to read the text a few times at least, as may find that my understanding of the text changes as I re-read it. I should aim for different variations of illustration, that would best describe the article I read.
To start this task, I went to WHSmith to look for some magazines that I would be interested to work with. As my research was around the period of the Platinum Jubilee, all shelves were packed with different Royal magazines and newspapers. I saw it as a sign that would I need to create an illustration of one of the articles about Quen’s Reighn. I found it quite symbolic and inspiring, as that was such a rare occasion to celebrate the Monarchy Jubilee through the art.
On February 6, 2022, Queen Elizabeth II celebrated a record-breaking reign by becoming the first British monarch to reach a Platinum Jubilee. The whole nation has a plethora of reasons to rejoice in this historic milestone and express gratitude for her 70 years of service. The Queen has forged a commanding position in modern history through her royal duties, her position as head of the Windsor family and the way she touches so many lives through her speeches, public meetings and global renown. Her Majesty has also lived through tremendous changes around the world, seen highs and lows with personal elation and tragedy punctuated throughout.
This magazine was filled with wonderful photos and stories from decades gone by, and I was inspired by some beautiful photographs and the history they preserved. In particular, I enjoyed the article called “Head of State” about the Queen’s travels around the world and meeting the most influential leaders.
I scanned this article on my printer, that to highlight the keywords. As was predicted, after reading this article a few times I could open a new range of keywords. That article gave me the impression of the importance on the global level of the Queen’s visits abroad, and the role of the Royal Yacht Britannia, as a symbol of national pride in Britain and around the world. I felt that it was a fundamental part of establishing relationships with other countries, keeping ties with different nations around the world, and the gesture by the Queen of being recognised. As this magazine oriented around portraits, the original image showed Queen Elizabeth, the Duke of Edinburgh, and American President John Kennedy with his wife Jacqueline.
When I read this article, I imagined a prominent and prestigious Royal Yacht Britannia, surrounded by crowds of people, that are happy to meet their Queen. I thought that would be a great illustration to match the theme of the magazine article.
Pinterest Mood Board
Here I created a quick Pinterest Mood Board with some illustrations relating to the Queen and London. That helped me to create a vision of illustration I was going to sketch. I thought to use couple of medias in my final illustrations, such as watercolour and black pen on the top. I wanted to follow example of the traditional British illustrator we went through in the first exercises, such as
Here I created a quick Pinterest Mood Board with some illustrations relating to the Queen and London. That helped me to create a vision of illustration I was going to sketch. I thought to use couple of medias in my final illustrations, such as watercolour and black pen on the top. I wanted to follow example of the traditional British illustrators we went through in the first exercises, such as Edward Ardizzone and Edward Bawden, I liked their approach in illustration, of classical sketch with some sharp pencil strokes on the top of it.
Mind Map
The article was oriented around two important messages, the Queen meeting people around the world travelling by Yacht, and greating 13 out of the last American Presidents. I created this mind map to specify key elements to concentrate my sketches around. I was thinking of creating two concepts, a realistic image of the Yacht accompanied by Queen, and creating the collage with the Britannia combined with traditional British symbols. I wanted to try different positions of the collage, to create a flat view from the top, kind of locating illustration on the map, and go for the image from the angle, the Queen walking alongside the Yacht. Also, I thought about showing traditional features from around the world and a Yacht going through it.
Mind map with the brief is below.
Specifying keywords and themes for the article, helped me to establish the vision of the future illustration. As I mentioned before, I wanted to try the different positions of the images, to see which one will work best for the format of the article. I started drawing the ship Britannia, solemnly moored by the coast. In this illustration, I had the boat itself in the background, and the Queen accompanied by the commander in the foreground. I wanted to depict the importance of the ship, and show it as a crucial part of the history and nation’s pride, that angle of the boat and flags around it helped me to reflect its greatness and significance. I was thinking to add Paddington Bear into the illustration, but then I thought that I wanted to keep a serious mood for the illustration.
Also, I tried to create a collage with some maps, roads and different nations around the boat, as a symbol of meeting and greeting new cultures. That could be quite a good composition as well, but probably more suitable for the travel magazine, where mine was a history of the Queen’s Reign.
Another idea I had, was to portray three important components, that would possibly match the context of the article:
- Royal Yacht Britannia
- A crowd meeting the Queen
- A portrait of the young Queen with the banner next to it
I wanted to show the excitement of the crowd near the boat, like a big celebrations with Royal Yacht Britannia as a main point. For this illustration I was inspired by Edward Bawden’s works from “The Showboat at Baghdad” painted in 1944. I thought, as a sketch it the illustration had some great ideas, and it would look great with some watercolour painting, and some pen sketch on the top of it.
I compared all illustrations I’ve designed, I was hesitating between a few, but I have chosen an illustration I was going to perfect. I decided to go for the boat Britannia on an angle, with the Queen accompanied by her retinue. I added some more people around her, compared to the first sketch, which gave the composition a more complete look. For the illustration, I used traditional realistic colours, dominating blue, red and white. The painting itself looked very natural and light had a nice festive spirit and those colourful bunting and big British flags around the boat gave the ceremonial and traditional feeling of the whole event.
In addition, I made an option with a black outline around the painting, to highlight some details. Opinions between those two were equal, I liked the natural illustration with simple watercolour in it and a slightly sharper look with a black pen as well. But when I did a quick mockup for the article, I decided to keep the design without an outline. Also, I liked the format of the painting, which was vertical, matching the exciting photograph, so I placed the illustration on the left side of the spread with some white borders on the bottom and the top.
In conclusion, I would like to say, that I enjoyed this exercise and particularly the freedom to choose the topic for it. I think, that I met the brief, I sketched a few ideas for the article, knowing what kind of illustration I wanted to go for. I can see that my illustrations are quite realistic and artistic, maybe would be great to develop some additional skills and techniques for this course. I’m looking forward to the first assignment and introducing myself to the tutor.
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