Analysis
This is one of Barnes' pieces of work, I chose to look at this piece because it's got strong visual composition. Barnes' work is very patterned and textural, this is put together with solid black shapes and creates a striking contrast in visuals. Her work is colourful and friendly. Despite the heavy focus of the colour black in her pieces they remain still quite colourful, if not enhanced because of this.
The top half third has the dragons face/flame in it, the middle third has our protagonist and the event (the fire breathing) and the bottom third has the background characters.
The use of colour is also important in this piece as the main character and fire are the only elements actually in colour. The other elements (the horses, knights) are in black and white and coloured by their interaction with the flames. Colour in children's books is important as children respond to the visuals and colour theory. The fire in this piece is red, a colour used for anger, passion, warmth whilst the protagonist is dressed in blue, the polar opposite on the colour wheel usually used for calm, peacefulness.
Barnes' illustrations are a combination of flat colour and highly patterned collages, the strong contrast in both creates very interesting illustrations. The pieces have a simplicity to them but the details and patterns create a level of detail and decoration to them.
The patterned pieces are placed against the flat colour and textuers are used, for example in the fox's fur, to create a feeling of the character. The tartan print trousers and blouse and the furry texture on the fox instead of just flat orange all creates visual links in our mind from what we know these materials to feel like and imagine what that character would feel like.
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| Golden Ratio |
Despite the majority of Barnes' works not having physical backgrounds the positioning of and angular characters in her illustrations create a dynamic and your imagination fills in the blank spaces. There is a journey and path to her artwork made up of subtle sizing and placement of characters.
In the above artwork the placement of the characters is positioned along the golden ratio's of the image. The girl in the foreground is visibly bigger than the girl riding the fox, giving the impression of closeness and being in the foreground.
Experiments
For these experiments using what I've learned from looking at Barnes' pieces I've decided to do an illustration of my Serbian friend Вељко. He studies Geography at university and as so goes on excursions and trips visiting places like forests and caves for investigations and studies.
He once told me a story and sent photos of a bat cave he visited and it sounded like the perfect basis for a children's book story. I thought Barnes' style also reflected his personality as the simplicity of her characters shows his funny, childlike side and the patterns and decorative design gives the feeling of exotic, foreign illustrations, which he is.
This is the study I did of Вељко, I used water colour, pencil and pens. I wanted to retain a softness to the piece and have incorporated subtle patterns and decorative designs by hand. This image works as a individual piece or single page, but in these experiments I wanted to explore both the style of her work but also the design of her children's books.
Originally the stalactites were the heavily patterned element of the illustration but on reflection after finishing the image there wasn't a strong enough element of contrast in the piece like in Barnes' work. I added a completely black stalactite in the foreground which I was nervous about doing but suprisingly brought the image together and made it more reflective of her work.
To create a double-page spread image I elongated the image by repeating the pattern, something Barnes does a lot in her work. She will have mirrored an image or used the same things, objects to create almost a pattern for the background (as she uses negative space not full-colour illustrations). In this example I took the cave (our setting) and repeated the pattern, alternating sizes and colours.
The image now can be used as a double page spread in a children's book, or single page spread in a wider paged book. I kept things on the levels, the bat and characters eyes intersect with the middle of the page and draw your eye to this point.
I played around with the positioning of type and the colours of and placement of the artwork.
Small changes that make a notable difference to the image and how the book would be read. This example wouldn't work as a double-page spread as the text goes over the gutter of the book.
Moving the character further up the page to create a sense of depth and interaction between the character and the bat with a visual path of eye contact rather than just been at eye level with it.
Similar experiment with the character enlarged to condense the negative space left in the image.
As well as inside pages I did a few experiments with a book cover.
This cover design I particularly liked but the loss of the characters face at the expense of the highly graphic cut out coloured shapes I felt was too much of a loss to the original illustration.
I was quite interested in the method and pattern making, decorative nature of Barnes' illustrations. Having experimented with her visual style by hand using water colour paints I took my experiments to entirely digital. For these experiments on character and method I used my chosen text for Final Major Project 'The Secret Garden' as a text and source of inspiration.
Mary: describe to us as yellow, sour faced, lank yellow hair, small, black crete bonet, black coat. (Later, healthier looking, golden locks, smile, nice clothing).
Mrs Medlock: described to us as stern, stoud, black lace cape with beaded trim, purple clothing, flowery hat, velvet, hair tied up.
The garden: brick wall completely covered in ivy leaves.
These character design experiments were really fun to do. I hadn't explored digital art before all too much and really enjoyed trying something new. These character designs were created entirely on MS Paint (as I hadn't photoshop on my laptop) and I am quite pleased with how they turned out. Barnes' characters have a harmonising between flat colour and highly patterned or textural collage and that is something I wanted to explore.
The flat colour experiments.
The patterned and textured experiments.
As these experiments were more about trying out he method she uses in her work there isn't an experimental outcome in the sense (a book cover, page spread) however I did make up a final image. It depicts the scene my other experiments using my Final Major Project text has, the first meeting of Mary and the Robin at the gardens ivy wall.
Evaluation: From looking into the methods and design of Lesley Barnes' work I've got an understanding for her visual communication and the way in which she does this. Her pieces, books, prints, are colourful and child friendly - they're both simple and detailed, there is a mixture of the two and together they work beautifully to create the illustrations that make her work so popular. Looking at her work I find highly stimulating, there is a sense of foreign and exoticness to her pieces and this I find intriguing. This is achieved through her illustrative decorative pattern making and contrasting graphic design elements to her work.
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Bibliography
Artwork/images
- Barnes, L. http://www.lesleybarnes.co.uk/. The Official Website.
- Barnes, L. (2014). A Foxy Adventure. http://www.lesleybarnes.co.uk/A-Foxy-Adventure.
- Barnes, L. (2014). Jill and Dragon. Picture Hooks. http://www.lesleybarnes.co.uk/Jill-and-Dragon.
- Hodgson Burnett, F. (1910). The Secret Garden.
- Тодоровић, B. (2014). Photography.