Deciding upon a solid direction

I played with a few ideas all at early stages with most of my focus being on inanimate objects and engine art. During my research i decided to experiment instead with a combination of the two, which in turn lead me to the decision to create a final based on highly mechanical household objects. I decided to use household objects as they were easy subjects to draw, engines however were not so easy and Google images instead provided me with some inspirations.

I looked into mechanical drawings and exploded drawings to get an idea on components and style.

Also i looked into blue prints as a source of inspiration, in the blue print below its the batcar from the early Batman movies, however its the sketchy style with the information surrounding it that i think i could employ in my illustration.

However i found that my primary source of inspiration was cutaway diagrams of various machinery

I found these to be most useful as the thoughts i had concerning my illustration often end up looking like something similar to these diagrams, although on a smaller scale the idea is similar.

The Illustration Cupboard

Upon visiting a small art gallery in the east end of London, i discovered that there are a lot of interesting illustrations to be found even amongst popular children's books. Specifically illustrations of childhood classics i recall such as Wallace and Gromit, Tintin and Elmer all with interesting art styles in the books/shows but also when viewed still on paper.

Tintin by Georges Remi uses a bold outline to create a striking cartoon style, images jump from the page and washed out colours are used with give the whole series a vintage feel. This style in particular i find interesting, not only because i read some of the books as a child but also because I've always used dark outlines in my work and Remi uses this technique to its potential in his work.

Nick Park and Wallace and Gromit i also find uses a very influential styling. I find the expressions particularly good and the characters appear very alive, a prospect that i think is important in any illustration trying to give off character.

The style used in Elmer books is one which is rarely seen outside of the genre of children's books, i think it work so very well when it comes to appealing to young children. The colours are bold and exciting without being overbearing, the illustrations simplistic but charming, although i would not illustrate in this style myself i think its an effective option nonetheless. 

Polar Opposites

The idea of polar opposites struck me when i was drawing in spare time creating some destruction scenes as ive always found the transformation interesting.

A quick sketch below sums up the idea behind this theme.

As there are so many opposites i have many varying options to explore should i decide to pursue this idea.

The Breakdown

At the end of the day i have chosen to do this brief illustratively, and despite the fact that i have my own illustrative style that varies depending on the subject matter, it is wise to look to others for advice and direction. I have therefore decided to look into the illustrative styles of a few notable illustrators.

Although there is alot of range in illustration styles, i will be limited to the ones that are suitable for my topics, regardless of which one i choose.

The intricate yet cartoonish style of Hokusai, i particularly like the grain on the image, i think that to draw my illustration like this could provide it with the grit that i enjoy employing in my own illustrations. It of course has limitations in that cartoons often lack the ability to achieve hyper realism, thankfully i had never planned to attempt to achieve such a thing.

The comic realistic style employed here in this postcard for Margaret Thatcher is one that i have always found to an effective way of interesting older audiences, its cartoony enough to remain comical but realistic and gritty enough  that a serious message isn't lost within its colours and lines.

Illustration such as this, where there has been no physical drawing, but instead photgraphs have been digitally altered, are effective at creating adstract pieces. Often images with colour splash are mostly black and white with the colour added on top making this type of illustration one of the most likely to catch someones eye. Its this particular feature that i find most interesting with this type of illustration, as the ability to catch an eye is paramount in graphic design

Objects of today-Tomorrow

Perhaps the most difficult strain of thought to take because of the sheer scale of possibility. However with the large scope of the entire future to explore, i think some truly exciting ideas could emerge. I new from this ideas conception that i wanted to transform objects or places that were easily recognizable to a large amount of people. To do this i would have to pick objects or places that lots of people see every day, some that i came accross that i felt could work.

Postbox
phonebox
bus stop
traffic light

landmarks: Big ben, Eiffel Tower, Statue of Liberty, Sydney Opera House
Trafalgar square
Time Square

Making the in-animate animate

The idea of transforming inanimate daily household objects by changing the metal and circuitry into flesh and bone or plant matter, is vast in its execution, because of a large pool of reference

I imagine something like a television with the screen being a large eye rather than a screen. Or blender being a the inside of a mouth with a large tongue. It has the possibility to be rather grotesque in its presentation but also therefore striking. To be most effective i really need to choose the objects carefully thinking of the what i could change before picking them and ultimately making sure that the objects picked are particularly interesting.

Bare in mind that its difficult to visualize my idea outside of my mind before i have drawn some sketches.

As i mentioned above i think making the big screen is just asking to be an eye, would be quite an interesting transformation.

It seems to be quite easy to allocate each appliance to a specific part of the human anatomy, perhaps sticking to human anatomy keeps it simpler. Blender seems to me that it would work well as a mouth as they are similar in application.

The oven i feel could turn into a stomach, i chose an Arger cooker because i think they look more bulking and intimidating

Toaster, would in application be quite difficult to transform without exploring inappropriateness 

The whisk immediately jumped out at me as a skeletal appliances, they have always reminded me of a ribcage.

Engine art

looking at the bare bones engines of our common vehicles i think truly shows them in there mechanically and beautiful "natural" state. The first thoughts that i had on the subject would be to include engines as social intractable 'art' in other words being places in public spaces for the public to interact with, whether that means seating for example or for the larger variants porta loos.

The larger of the engines, such as boats, planes and rockers , i feel make lovely sculptures, and would make for interesting public displays, say in parks for the nature vs mechanical contrast or in busy shopping centers to emphasize the man made essence of an engine.

Below are some of my intial ideas based on quick mental constructions.

In this sketch i had the idea of taking a section out of a plane and transforming it into a cafe or seating area, i imagine it could have something to do with council recycling. Given not strictly speaking engine related but something that sprung to mind.

This is a visualisation of the idea i mentioned earlier regarding aeroplane engines being converted into porta loos, i could see such a thing being erected in parks or busy city centres.

Using smaller engines i imaged that parts of parks, perhaps the edges of a childrens playgrounds could be segregated using the jet engines.

I focused on aviation on these sketches as i find jet engines to be most fascinating and also the most versitile.