MMc405 Visual culture(Research)

Research and development of ideas; for XL recordings brief- "Illustrate a moment in the history of XL records"

I've chosen to take this brief out of personal preference as I would like to potentially work in the music industry one day, creating posters/Album art works and Visuals for music videos/Events.

I've chosen to Illustrate Adele's skyfall winning an oscar and the fact she is the only artist since The beetles to simultaneously have 2 top 5 albums and 2 top 5 singles. I myself find what she has accomplished so far amazing, to have reached the level that the beetles were at in their prime is truly outstanding and i feel it should be celebrated.















As stated, the target audience 'Music lovers' which to me means I have quite a large audience to target. Which leaves me room to explore the majority of the initial ideas I've had and take them further.





The mandatories and deliverables state that I must deliver an A1 poster and an illustration for an online Exhibition (static or moving), I must also document my research and ideas..









I looked at other students work to get an idea of what was expected of me;

To get a further idea of the standard that is expected of me I looked up Xl records on social media platforms;

XL's instagram;

 Adele's release of a new song "sending my love(to your new lover)" is due to hit ITunes soon. The song is very catchy, And would be a good thing to incorperate in my  'Online exhibition piece'..

-XL moving art

 Another Illustration giving a feel of what level of work XL would accept and what i should be aiming for.

XL seem to hold a high opinion of Adele. She is all over their website and Instagram.














I then looked at current Illustration in the music industry/current album covers and poster art;

 'Disclosure' are a DJ duo from England that have recently taken over the dance music scene and sky rocketed to success,
I found the Album cover art work inspirational, I like the Illustration over a photograph, it's sort of Trippy, Simple and effectiv.

 More disclosure art work..

















More..
As i probably have a short amount of time to complete the brief something like this wouldn't take me long but would still be as impressive and hit the industry standard..












I then began research into Adele herself and her success in the music industry so far;

Next I moved forward and tried to find a specific moment in time that I could focus on and Illustrate myself;

I looked at Adeles Acceptence speehes for her awards as i aim to highlight the fact she has won alot of them, and focus on the moment it has been announced that she has won..i looked on youtube and found there are many videos of her winning awards and her
acceptance speeches;

While reasearching which awards adele has won and after watching her acceptance speeches i've decided that i will add sound into the moving illustration, as sound could potentially be a vital part of the piece with the right music track and sound clips.








In this clip from 2009 adele wins best new artist.
I like the way That it is announced, the sound is really clear and the crowd cheer at the right time. it is ideal.








I began looking into colour theory, as I have done before, I studied colour charts,  in an effort to understand better, which colours go together, which colours contrast well and which colours draw attention mostly as i am designing a poster it should be both bold and visually pleasing..




DEVELOPMENT OF IDEAS

Using Adobe Illustrator I began illustrating at first using a photo of adele from the XL recordings website, I traced over the most predominant and recognisable features of her face to start off with.

I then filled in parts of the illustration with different sized strokes to create depth and add detail.

 I moved on to the awards, starting with the Golden globe award and then eventually moving onto the Grammy and brit awards..

I arranged the separate illustrations in a way so that they are vusually pleasing, and used grey and yellow to create contrast and make the imagery stand out

I played arround with the size and font of the title, arranging it in different possitions, to find which one looked best.

final decisions on font and placing...
I also included the XL logo, to make it appear as tho the poster has been branded and is identifiable with Xl recordings.






After the finnishing touches were done on the
poster i began to focus on the moving illlustration that would potentially be part of the online exhibition..

"I came up with the idea that as Xl wanted the piece to be an illustration of an event,  I would incorporate a pencil, and have it drawing, to put emphasis on the idea that the piece is being created as tho history is being created by Adele & XL themselves". 

I used primary colours, to bring emotion and contrast into the illustration..

To animate the illustration and create the effect that the piece is moving and being drawn before the viewers eyes, I used a technique which combines layers in illustrator  and plays through them like a flick book animation and loaded them into after effects.

I put in a feature which shows Adele crying as she does in many of her award acceptances...