Artists Analysis

Matthew 
Midgley 

My interpretation of Mathew Midgleys work

Context

Is a freelance illustrator working in West Yorkshire. He graduated from college, in 1992, with a degree in English and has developed his style by working in a series of sketchbooks. His influences come from modern illustrative artists, focusing on urban life.  His primary source of inspiration is from observation, he works directly onto paper using ink; fine line, waterproof pens and sometimes biro or marker pen for effect, he completes his piece by adding watercolor.  This piece is called IKEA-Swedish Meatballs which he posted on Sept 23^rd 2012; I don’t think that Midgley made this drawing for a main purpose other than his illustration collection he creates by doing quick sketches of what he sees and write little captions. I chose to analyze this piece which I was most interested by because even though its hand drawn the fine liner out line and the watercolors make the image look animated, like most of his work. I want to use his technique where he outlines the sketch with light black liner and fills the images with light watercolors. 

Meaning

To understand his work and see the meaning towards his pieces I looked at his website which is more of a blog where he posts his work and captions explaining the drawing. The caption which he linked to Swedish Meatballs said” IKEA’s meatballs are just SO tasty. But you have to have the gravy and the lingen berries with them. Otherwise it’s just not the same. When in … Rome.”  I would associate as illustration art because of the animated look to his pieces, I think that’s his theme he creates simple observational sketches which he outlines with black biro or fine liner and changes the sketch to looking animated. This piece in particular I think that its not really about a main subject or has a deep meaning to it, I think that the way Midgley presents and displays his work can be taken as advertisement. He makes drawings which he links to his thoughts, which are what I find most inspirational about his work and could relate to.

Aesthetic

Midgley creates his work by doing simple sketches in his books and outlines the drawings with black biro or fine liner; he stated that black ink gives a crisp, defined edge to his drawing work. Once initial outlines and detailing is complete he adds watercolor wash. With this certain piece the colours are quite dull; there are different shades of brown but the use of those colors makes the food in the image look more realistic. The formal elements which I think are key with this work are the lines used; in certain areas the lines create darker shades within the drawings of the food for example the meatballs. Also the colors are simple but bold and adds realistic elements to the drawing, the dark outline make the drawing look animated and cartoon like.

Personal Response

 I chose to look at this piece of work because IKEA is a well known and popular brand/company, my first reaction when I saw this was that I found it really intriguing how a simple sketch could be developed and made to look like an illustration. I like the detail of the chips the most but however I think that the colors could have been more bold and bright. Midgleys work reminds me of Georgina Lucks work, she also makes her work stand out by adding the dark outlines and adding color to make the work stand out. Matthew Midgleys work has inspired me to experiment with simple sketches by adding dark black outlines and using water color or ink to fill in the images and make it look animated. 

Georgina Luck

Context  

She is a freelance illustrator working in Brighton, color and an interest in line quality through mark making form the basis of her work. She studied at the Bristol School of Art, graduating in 2006. She currently illustrate across a wide range of platforms including packaging, book jackets and outdoor media. She has produces work for companies such as Marks & Spencer, Tesco, The New York Times Magazine and many more.This piece is one of the work she did advertising and celebrating the UK 2012 Olympics.

Meaning

This work in particular symbolizes the London 2012 Olympics, which Luck is trying to represent clearly. Although this piece individually does not have a title, it is a part of numerous piece Georgina Luck did for the Olympics this one represents the Sprints I think. 

Aesthetic

The color used and the way its used is what makes this piece unique, the way the ink is splattered on and the direction it goes works well with the actual image of the woman running makes it look realistic. I think the way the ink is placed is deliberate because it looks animated with the dark outlines of the drawing but the way the ink is makes it look realistic like the wind that runs through when running. I think the actual image of the woman and the track was sketched out with pencil then black ink liner used on the outlines, the ink was placed on certain areas to create movement.

Personal Response 

I personally like this image and the meaning behind it, the way the ink is placed creates movement in the image and makes it look more realistic in a sense. I find the way there's color on half of the image and colored on the other side, makes half of the image look realistic and the black and white side animated.

Natsko

Seki

My own interpretation of  Seki's work

Context  
Natsko Seki grew up in Tokyo, she studied illustration in Brighton but gradually made her way to London where she works on pieces for world wide companies. She finds inspiration from architecture and fashion, she also collects photos of family and friends which she creates collages of. She believes that this is a crucial part of her work, that her illustrations become personal and have a meaning. These images I chose was for Matsuya Ginza a Japanese department store, the posters tell the story of the store's history in the form of a pop-up book.

Aesthetic
There's a use of a range of colours which help make the images that pop up stand out individually instead of being one whole piece together. I think this was made by creating some images by hand and some on illustrator/photoshop, when there was a range of images she created the cut outs. I think the composition is designed to be laid out in a particular way to create a story or relation to all of the images together. Theres a lot of colour and shape used in these pieces which create movement and help tell a story. 

Meaning

The work has a narrative for example the pop up image of a park combined with a concert, I think that its a big park with a wide range of activities available such as a concert stage, tennis court and garden area this is a normal set up of the use a big park could have in reality which I think is portrayed well in this image. This is more of a Landscape type of art the way it set up has more of a landscape scale to evaluate and view.

Personal Response 

I personally like the way a story is created with illustration and the way the story is laid out, I think its very effective and interesting. My first reaction when I saw this piece is that I liked the range of colour and movement going on, the realistic approach also with the park lay out with the people walking around and the trees etc.

Comparing the artists

All three of these artists have unique approaches with their work but also their outcomes have the animated and cartoon like effect in common. They all develop observational drawings by adding dark black outlines and fill in the images with ink or water colors.

Midgley work compared to Lucks is more neatly displayed whereas Lucks messy color fill with ink is what makes the statement in her work, because its an unusual approach. Natsko compared to the other two artists develops her work in different stages using cut out images and laying them out on to a flat landscape. Seki's work I find least interesting or attractive because I think there's too much going on in the image, whereas Luck for example has one main subject that she develops with the dark outline and the ink drops.

Midgley and Lucks work can be preserved as advertisement pieces, even though Midgleys intention isn't to advertise more to display his thought about what he sees. Lucks work changes common packaging like Heinz Beans by adding her splats of paint/ink. Seki unlike Midgley and Luck uses black and white images in her work, I think this adds more detail and intentions to her work.

Georgina Lucks method of drawing is what interest me the most and the way she adds splats of color without the worry of the image begin messed up or damaged, the inaccurate adds of color is what changes the whole look of the image.