Communicating a Sense of Place

Intent - to communicate a sense of being somewhere with an illustration informed by reportage 

Content - first hand observational drawings

- information on the chosen place

Communcation Objectives - communicate the atmosphere of being somewhere and the surrounding area

The chosen reference was Edward Ardizzone. He produced drawings in and around Victorian/ Edwardian pubs and drew people in their surrounding environment, be that a pub, streetwalkers, fighting etc. He uses quick, gestural lines giving a sense of character, atmosphere and movement. Compositionally, we see instantly the figures as being the focus of attention as the lines used are strongest with these characters he has observed. He has used the lighting to again reveal more about the characters. We can assume that the half lit figures are perhaps more mischievous, shady and have something to hide, whereas the figures that are fully lit are perhaps more inncent or an onlooker of the scene depicted especially the illustration we see of a crowd in a pub. 

There is a clear lack of facial expressions so the gestures and postures of the figures do the talking and inform us the most about character. 

The lighting is what I found most interesting to work with so I have tried to include high contrasts in my own way to illustrate the sense f being somewhere as I feel this aspect of the communication mechanisms could be of use when it comes to my FMP ideas. I have therefore experimented beforehand with the idea of the strong lighting.

After some experimentation with high contrast, I then went and recorded some more observational drawing to inform my illustration. 

I worked with the high contrast and used some decorative qualities to give a sense of the place I have illustrated. I redrew my first piece trying to use quicker, more lively lines like Ardizzone has. I prefer the decorative parts to the piece to be done with the quicker lines but as a whole piece I feel the first is more successful. The decorative aspects gives more of a sense of the atmosphere of the place I think so correlates to the communication objective. If I had involved figures in the piece I think it would have furthered its success. This is something I will be trying out more when it comes to my FMP research.