The Initial Research

When I first thought of visual stories I pictured ‘happy families’ and life events. I decided to look into artists which showed these content emotions and visuals through their art work. I began my initial research by looking at the work of Claudine Hellmuth, Katherine Asher and Ully Arndt. These artists all had a very clear connection to typical life events, and I felt this was a good place to start research that was highly topical. 

I particularly liked the personal approach Claudine Hellmuth put into her work, the contrast between handmade elements and digital elements create work which is not only powerful to look at but also has contrasting, strong media. I chose to adapt this style and skill by using my own photos. Editing the images on photoshop gave the newspaper, vintage, black and white effect I needed. These images I created are shown below. 

Ully Arndt is a digital artist. Her work is created solely on the computer using Adobe Illustrator. Because I am a confident user of illustrator this artist enabled me to express my desire into digital illustration. As shown below I created illustrations which relate back to the topic of ‘Visual Stories’ superbly. I created my own illustrations using colour pallettes and characteristics inspired by Ully Arndt. Although I feel my strengths lie within digital creation I feel it is important to explore different medias through the possible combination of digital and stitch.

           

 
   

Katherine Asher contrasted Claudine Hellmuth massively, this is the reason why I was so interested to researching into her next. She uses ink with black strokes to create spectacular illustrations which are too developed into digital outcomes. Using appropriate software brushes on Adobe Illustrator I was able to create a fully digital version whilst keeping the recognizable strengths and skills of Katherine Asher’s work. Using inks proved effective to me; I enjoyed the challenge and achievement of sustaining the correct colour and thickness of the ink. Katherine Asher intrigued me to look into illustration of women as they are so unique and have the potential to be extended into fabulously embellished and detailed outcomes. My work from this artist is shown below.
                   
                         


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