'Tell an untold Story' - The Visual Journalist PT3

Coming back after the xmas break, and i still wasn't sure what i was actually going to pursue for my untold story subject matter - so not a lot of work has been done in this time since my last crit. I was pretty despondent about it and was mildy panicing, that was until our 2nd group crit, this time with Kristyna (Baczynski).

I was a bit embarrassed and coy about explaining my current sketchbook and ideas to the group - but found my class mates and Kristyna were far more positive about the possible outcomes of my colour-coded trainers and birds theme than i was. Which gave me a bit of confidence to really commit to it, even if i felt i might be a bit too 'random' for people to relate to. I just needed to make sure there was some sort vague narrative, or order to it all. Working some text in there too would be important as i didn't want to desensitise the reader with just image, after image, after image.

Before i could draw anything the majority of the next couple of days were spend painstakingly trawling the 4 corners of the internet extensively, and i do mean extensively collecting info and researching in to A: classic/iconic trainers B: a collection of various birds that matched the colours of the trainers/vice versa C: facts or stats to accompany both trainers & birds. I realise (if i'd had confidence i my concept) that this would've been perfect xmas holiday work to do, so i would've been ready to go once i got back to uni again.

List of trainers/year - Matching birds - Facts. This process was long.very long, but i felt it was important to get accurate depictions of existing shoes, rather than just make them up in order to match them to the bird's plumage. I learnt a whole load about retro sneakers & the birds of the world thought, which is always useful.

Whittled down item list. I'm aiming to have 16 images for the final book, not including the cover pages.

These images sum up what i found quite hard to explain to others. 

People, going about their lives, with a bird of their choice to enhance their outfit. Simple.

It's also maybe a swipe (it definitely is) at some of the ridiculous trends and bandwagon fads that people/hipsters jump on. Someone famous, or their mates start wearing a weird item of clothing in an orthodox way and suddenly everyone in the world is doing the same, not because they like it, but because they believe it fits in with this ideal of being 'cool'. In short, Tv series Nathan Barley satirises exactly what  I'm waffling on about. (see clip below)

Rise of the idiots - Dan Ashcroft

BIRD

 + SHOE

= THIS. A whole new fashion statement

I worked through the final list of 16 shoes & birds and sourced a bank of suitable images of both, in varying poses. I was aware the final images could get boring if i referenced shoes in the all the same positions, so mixed up perspective,sizes and composition as much as possible.

Experimenting with different styles. I was keen to keep a hand-crafted aesthetic as much as possible,but i also didn't simply want to do a 'portrait' of a shoe as such. At the same time i was looking to simplify the elements,make it shape driven so i would be able to render it by hand and hold back on the  'perfect' looking digital production. Time restraints may force me to change my plans though.

More initial sketch work. Too detailed and potrait-like for what i had in mind.

I chose to lose some of the rounded edges, as i had sharp corners and simple shapes of colour in my head.This was an effort to speed up my production process rather than working in a way that I'm used to,which i know to be quite time consuming. 

I will continue to create mocks and play about with my wonky, angled linework in time for the next peer review.