Research

Emily Carroll

As my first example, I cant say that I am entirely in to what Carroll makes, but I see great potential in her work and find it to be a good starting point to my project. The stories can be very hit or miss, when they are good, they are really good. But there are a large number of her works that fall flat, building a interesting tone or plot theme, and sadly not knowing quite how to finish them. Having this outside perspective to her work can really play in my favour, I can critically evaluate what it is that doesn't work and how to avoid/ work from the issue, or I can understand why say the pacing or layout works so well for the particular story.

On a visual/ aesthetic level, I again am quite torn, the work seems quite rushed, feeling like the panels could use a little more care or detail. For every lack lustre image though, there is a very interesting layout decision, a specific example that comes to mind being the web comic Neco Cases Wild creatures:

I love how the panels being small offers this erratic pacing and tone, with vibrant contrasting tones of colour and wonky placements adding to this, conveying a scene of madness and confusion in quick succession, it really is great stuff.

Id say she has quite a broad scope for her work in terms of audience, from early teen to adult. The stories tend to be softer thematically, with this being represented in the art style, utilising a more cartoony aesthetic, meaning it wouldnt be too scary for younger ages, but also engaging enough for the older crowd. Application is surprisingly non existent for the artist, there isn't an online store of products, with the book being her only release. This seems to be a missed opportunity to me as I feel she could absolutely sell products relating to her comics. The comics themselves are distributed in an interesting manner. Being digital, they are long thin strips, that can be scrolled through on any mobile device, something to keep in mind for my project.

Stacey Rozich

When I talk about Carrolls work feeling unfinished, Rozich's work always stand out to me as taking full advantage of watercolour. Im really dancing with the idea of using watercolour for my comic, and Rozich is a perfect example of the quality of imagery I hope to achieve. Thematically, there are quite a few images that coincide with the themes I will be working with, being the subject of death. Lots of characterisations of the afterlife that mess with the characterisation of death itself and the souls of the dead. Really makes me want to mess around with the visual look of death in the comic.

Another artist I feel has a broad demographic, the work again deals with some more mature themes, but is also quite colourful, with a distinctive, unique style alongside it. Id say mid teen to adult are the demographic. Rozich is on the ball when it comes to applications of her work, having a few prints in her store, but a great deal of editorial and package design briefs under her belt. 

Junji Ito

Ito is a Japanese comic (manga) artist, and is well renowned for creating some of the most disturbed comic panels to grace the earth. I know this is a complete departure to the previous , but this is somewhat of an indication as to how open I feel about the style of this comic right now. It could take either route thematically and stylistically. Ito's style is quite detailed, and because of this, really gross, meaning that his works don't really reach you with a message like Carroll's comics would. It's all about visual appeal leading me to believe that I should probably steer clear of this style and method of illustration, as I am trying to tell a somewhat personal story through mine.

The audience for Ito is without a doubt adult, I feel you have to have reached full maturity to view this work without it affecting the psyche. In saying that, I know adults that cant handle it, so possibly for the truly disturbed souls out there. In terms of application, I'ts quite a hard one to market outside the book itself, theres the Odd T-shirt, but they're most likely home made. All the popular imagery is really quite gruesome, and there aren't any marketable monsters ( i.e. the alien is just a straight up cool design outside of the film). This leads me to think absolute horror might be a poor choice taking the importance of application for this brief in to account. 

Kyle T webster

Webster is a digital magician, creating brushes that are quite convincing replications of real mediums (paints, screen print etc..) This goes hand in hand with the way he works, he makes work that switches the style almost every time, with the medium (or the appearance of it) also changing. The brushes could only really come from a person like him thinking about it. I feel it would be worth the purchase for the brushes, having more confidence with digital as a medium, I feel like it would result in a higher standard of work.

Webster's demographic is really hard to specify considering just how diverse his portfolio of work is. His application is just as hard to pinpoint, with his main store being the sale of the photoshop brushes.

Paul Du Coudray

Courdray is one of the many illustrators utilising Websters digital brushes professionally, and it really is quite surprising how believable the medium is. I would have sworn these were scans of actual watercolour paintings.

Id say his audience is adult, primarily working on editorial and creating comics. He has quite a lot of published works as his application, but also doesn't have a store of merch.

Grave of the fireflies

Director : Isao Takahata Writer : Akiyuki Nosaka (Short story)

Art Direction: Nizou Yamamoto

This may not be an Illustrator, but I see this film as being a huge influence to my project, the tone and themes covered in the story being the main link. The film is about Japan during the second world war, under constant bombings. Despite the horrible setting, and clear link to the macabre, the film manages to maintain a heartfielt message and tone, the focus is on the two characters, and the struggles they went through.