OUGD402 -Studio Brief 1 - Researching Type within Illustration

After a quick trip to the library searching for inspiration on typography I wanted to find something that was out of the ordinary. I ended up getting an illustration book out called 'Illustration Play' by viction:ary. Flicking through I found so many interesting ways of combining type and image from different illustrations. Here are just a few of the ones that I found particularly interesting. 

Eleanor Bowley

Eleanor uses a mixture of paper collages and embroidery, creating an interesting finish that combined different patterns and materials to create a quirky finish. One piece that I liked that combined type with the embroidery was 'A Worn out Boat'. It looks like she has stamped the text onto the page or perhaps done it on a typewriter. I really like the way she uses an object, in this case a sleeve of a blouse, and uses the empty space around it to add in her text. 

Stephanie Dotson

Stephanie's work is very graphic, using layers of different papers like tracing paper, card and drawn artwork. In her work "Lone" she uses screenprinting to create different layers of colour, rather than paper. I find it fascinating that she has chosen the word "Lone" and yet she surrounds it with bright colours and very graphic patterns. You would think that this word would be related with solitude, negative space and monochrome colours. 

A.J. Fosik

A.J Fosik works in paper collage to create 3D pieces. Of all his work to me this one stood out the most, "Hard done by Factories" has such a simple layout and feel to it yet it is so powerful. I love the use of musky and earthy tones in the images of the factories, reinforcing that these buildings are gloomy and sad places to be or to work in. Additionally, the presentation in frames just makes it pop, if it were done simply in order it would look rather mundane, but in this layout the viewer has to really look at the piece for a long time to figure out Fosik's message.

Jenny Hart

Hart works mainly in embroidery on fabric producing vibrant portraits of celebrities, mostly singers and song writers such as Dolly Parton, Edith Piaf and much more. I love embroidered type that she uses, especially in the title of this piece "Dirty Face". The type looks hand made but still retains some sophistication. Also the way the type circles round the piece, giving it a frame, is really effective. It leads your eye round the perimetre of the piece forcing you to look at all its intricacies.

Rob Ryan

I have been a huge fan of Rob Ryan's ever since I saw his work at an exhibition called Paper cut in Manchester. His work, in my opinion, is so simple yet so effective and the fact that it is all painstakingly cut out by hand just makes it work even better. I have countless pieces that I love of Rob Ryan's but this piece stood out to me the most as being most related to typography. Ryan's style of text is so simple and quite naive but when cut out of paper it is so effective. This mixed with the bold red against the stark white background makes it jump out at you and holds your gaze. 

As a result of looking at Ryan's work again I may have a go at some cutting out type myself!