Back to Basics: W1 Review

I've had a lot of fun playing with the experiments in this week's course. It certainly meant I spent a lot more time drawing/illustrating than I have in a while - and in very different styles. Off to a great start for all the goals!

I think this is my favourite - although a couple of today's bees are cool

The class I used for Week 1 was Alanna Cartier's Find Your Illustration Style in 6 Simple Experiments. We focused on a different component of visual language for each of the experiments - and used a different insect as our subject.

The structure of the course was good and I enjoyed Alanna's way of explaining ideas. We were encouraged to do six different illustrations for each experiment - Alanna would do four as she explained all the concepts and then complete two off camera. I found it interesting to watch her process and choices.

After the experimenting we were encouraged to reflect on what we liked and didn't like - among other aspects of the illustrations. Again, Alanna reflected with us as a guide, which I think would be much more useful for beginners.

So let's have a look at them

Below are the illustrations from each experiment. They change in complexity and completeness based on the concept we were exploring. You'll notice I stopped capturing the medium pretty quickly.

What did I learn about my preferences?

Nothing overly startling. The main reflection points would be:

• I like to have well-defined lines in my illustrations

• I like a simple colour palette

• I need to play more with watercolours in all their forms (pencils, brush pens, paints) - but I need to be patient when I do

• I need to play more with subjects that I think I won't like - after the butterflies I contemplated not doing dragonflies, but I enjoyed them

• I'm not big on trying to get a lot of realism - I prefer things a bit more stylised.

So which one do you prefer? I'm happy for you to give me feedback - positive and/or constructive. Next week is more illustrating.