Applied Illustration - Peer review

Coming into the peer review i hadn't made any progress as far as practical work goes- it has just been loads & loads & loads of research into existing products. I've been so preoccupied with trying to come up with something that doesn't resemble anything anyone else has done that I've become too scared to actually start drawing anything, because i can't think of anything new that no-one has already similarly done already. This is becoming a problem across all the modules - iv got new Pro-Markers, Microns, new brush pens, bristol board that have been sitting in my drawers & collecting dust since Christmas because i can't think of anything worthy to use them on. 

The peer session was a help though. Fellow group members also agreed that i shouldn't be getting bogged down in trying to make something totally, absolutely original without any inspiration from other artists' efforts, and that i just need to let go of all the research into others' work & start drawing my own! 

I explained how i thought my proposal wasn't 'adventurous' enough compared to some of the ideas i'd heard from other students (murals, paper cutting, full-on book cover & illustration design). Again i was assured that it's not always all about being adventurous and making some sort of crazy concept - if cult film poster artwork is the sort of work i want to be doing with my practice, then that's what i should be doing! My research had now gone from cult film posters (that had a link to my time growing up) to cult film short stories/cartoon strips, drawn in a 'children's book illustration' style but depicting adult themes as seen in the chosen films (see examples below, including  Mike Mitchell and Luke Mcgarry). 

Admittedly, my thinking had gone off on a bit of tangent, and the group feedback was that this new direction was unnecessary and that my initial concept was good enough to go with. As i was struggling to decide on 2 more films to accompany RoboCop, that i have fond memories of watching when i was little, it was suggested that as RoboCop was made in 1987,(which will make it 30years old next year) that i pick two other films from the same year and produce 30th Anniversary prints for them…a master stroke. Really don't know why i didn't think of that - too bogged down trying to think how the artwork shouldn't look?! 

So now with a focused idea of what to look into next i can hopefully start making rough sketchbook ideas and i really need to, as time has flown on this one already.