Research

Paul Thurlby

Paul Thurlby is an example of an artist who has worked with illustrated lettering.  The image below is an example of his work, which is an illustrated alphabet, each letter representing a word beginning with that particular letter. 

"My alphabet needed to be different from the many versions around, so I decided to pursue the challenge of fusing the object of the word with the shape of the letter."

Paul Thurlby is originally from Nottingham and is now based in London. Thurlby has been a full time illustrator since September 2006. His work has been featured in editorials, advertising, publishing and T-shirt designs. The inspiration for his work comes from mid-century design design and illustration. His style has been described as being retro-modern. Backgrounds of his illustrations  are sometimes made up of old books, postcards and pieces of paper.

Illuminated Manuscript

An illuminated manuscript is a manuscript that has been decorated with illustrations or borders. Illuminated manuscript is also a form of illustrated initials. Usually the term Illuminated manuscript only refers to manuscripts decorated with gold or silver, but in both common usage and modern scholarship, the term is now used to refer to any decorated or illustrated manuscript from the Western traditions. Where as Far Eastern and Mesoamerican works are always described as painted. Islamic manuscripts are usually referred to as illuminated but can also be classified as painted.

The book of Kells is the most famous artifact in Celtic art which produced around 800 AD. It contains colourful lettering, decorations, ornamental borders, illuminations and illustrations. 

Illustrated initials

I have decided to base the Illustrated initials on Mario Testino, A fashion photographer. I have chosen a selection of his photographs and masked them so each letter of his name features a different one of his photographs. I have specifically chosen images that are full colour and that feature women. The reason for this is because the use of colour images is consistent and it illustrates the way he works as much of his work is based on iconic women. I have illustrated his full name rather than just his initials as it allows more of his work to feature.

Below I have illustrated only his initials in a slightly different way, using more than one of Mario Testino's images in each letter. I have created these initials using magazine covers Testino has photographed. To make each letter slightly different from the other I have built up the M using magazine covers that feature only women and the T using magazine covers that feature only men. l think this approach works just as well as the other as it creates a more collaged outcome where as the above initials has a more clean cut and professional appearance. However in the initials below the is a lot going on in each letter and it looks overcrowded unless the image is blown up and viewed in a larger format.

MARIO TESTINO

Mario Testino was born in 1954 and came to London in 1976 when he began his photography career. He is best known for photographing celebrities, his use of bright colours, strong advertising campaigns and styled photographs for the couture scene. He has photographed women such as Madonna, Kate Moss and Princess Diana's famous Vanity Fair cover in 1997. Mario Testino is very popular in the fashion industry as he has a great ability to beautifully photograph and sell fashion.

Introduction

The new module is focusing on; type, symbols/logo’s, colour, digital programs which will be Illustrator and In Design. Below are my initial ideas for the first 2 week project which is focusing on text and the meaning in different ways.

Illustrated initials

• Lichtenstein

A famous pop artist in the 1960's, best known for his comic strip paintings and bold use of colour. My idea would be to use his signature technique of creating images built up of coloured dots or his yellow and black brush stroke technique. 

• Mario Testino 

A Fashion photographer best known for photographing images for the covers of magazines such as Vouge, Vanity fair and V magazine. Also known for creating interesting photographs of famous icons and his strong use of colour. My idea would be to use illustrator to mask his initials over some of his photographs, magazine covers or advertisements. 

• Coco Chanel

A famous French Fashion designer who was a very important figure of the 20th century fashion. Chanel was the founder of one of the most famous fashion brands today, Chanel. To illustrate her initials I would decorate the lettering with a black lace effect and pearl beading as it illustrates her style.

• Katy Perry

A current American pop singer also well known for her marriage to Russel Brand and her quirky fashion which is often humorous, bright in color, and reminiscent of different decades, and she frequently uses fruit-shaped accessories, mainly watermelon, as part of her outfits. My idea would be to illustrate her initial by using fruit shapes or taking different elements of her outfits as the theme of her initials or the surrounding area of her initials.

• Kirt Geiger

My favourite designer shoe brand that has been around since 1963 and specializes in selling beautiful stiletto heels. I could create the initials KG by using a variety of different images of Kirt Geiger shoes. Another idea would be to take the same approach as the idea for Coco Chanel's initials which would be to decorate the initials but with diamantes. 

• Walt Disney

Is my favourite animator, he was also an American film producer, director,screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer and is now an international icon. Walt is well known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century and his Disney feature films that are still being made today. I would illustrate his initials with characters from the Disney films.

Occupational Fonts 


Different fonts are associated with different meanings. For example it would make sense for the word Graffiti would be designed in a graffiti style font rather than a scripted font.
I could illustrate occupational fonts such as 

• Window cleaner
• Army 
• Painter
• Florist
• Zoo keeper
• Ballarina

Onomatopoeia

Is a word that imitates or suggests the source of the sound that it describes. Onomatopoeia refers to the property of words, an example of where onomatopoeia is used is in comic books, to illustrate sounds. For this I will illustrate words such as:

• Crack
• Crunch
• Splat
• Roar
• Bark
• Boom
• Sparkle
• Clatter
• Bang
• Drip
• Hiss