The project:
This was a last minute competition suggested to the class by our tutor who thought it would be a great opportunity for us to submit a design to. When he had suggested it, I believe there were only a couple of weeks till the deadline, so it would have to be a quick project and turnaround.
The competition is run by the Association of Illustrators and is called the Northern Illustration Awards, so only northern-based emerging/established illustrators could apply. The theme of the competition is monkeys, which is inspired by a local story in Hartlepool, wherein the time of the Napoleonic Wars, the people of Hartlepool had hung a monkey as they believed it to be a French spy. You did not have to illustrate this story, all you had to do was illustrate a monkey.
Following the themes of my Cheltenham Illustration Awards project, in this one, I had also wanted to work with deeper themes, I did not just want to make a pretty picture of a monkey to submit, as I felt countless of illustrators will have done with such an open brief, I did want my design to have more meaning.
When scrolling through illustrations of monkeys on Pinterest, I had discovered one that I had liked and it was of an orangutan and had been created in a loose tactile style which helped in creating an impression of the monkey’s fur. This piece had actually reminded me of the banned Iceland advert which had gone viral around Christmas time, which was about deforestation for palm oil, which in turn means the loss of habitats for orangutans.
This had inspired the direction in which I wanted to take with my monkey illustration. For my piece, I wanted to show a role reversal between the orangutans and us humans, showing what it would be like if they were the ones destroying our homes and livelihoods for their own benefits, whether it be for food, drink or even shower products.
With this illustration, I wanted to shed more light to the issue, maybe in less of a direct way than showing the audience an image of deforestation, but instead, creating more digestible imagery which is prettier but is still able to get the message across. Most of the time people will ignore images of problems going on in the world, such as deforestation and loss of habitats for wildlife, as it is easier for them to go on with their day imagining that its not actually happening, but with my piece, it is more vibrant in terms of palette, so will attract the audiences eyes, and the content is not so violent the the audience want to ignore it, but instead they may take in the message easier, especially if they have a fresh perspective of the issue.
My message with this piece is ‘How would you feel?’. How would you feel if your home was destroyed without a second thought, if your livelihood, memories, comfort or even the feeling of safety had been taken away in the blink of an eye? I imagine it would not feel good, so why can we not show this empathy towards animals and in this case the orangutans. They may be animals, but they need homes, stability and a sense of comfort within their daily habits and needs, as much as we humans do.
If you would like to see how I created this illustration, I had recorded the process and made a speed paint video which I had posted to YouTube as my first video, hopefully being my first of many and my first step towards a successful YouTube channel.
Strengths
I do feel this illustration is unique in comparison to any piece I have made before. I had worked in a more looser style, experimenting with new brushes from Kyle T. Webster packs, and I feel I was able to create the impression of fur by building the tone, stroke and textures up gradually, which I feel helped my monkey look more realistic in a sense, but he does still have a more painterly look to him as well.
I loved my colour palette in this piece and it was actually inspired by a free paint swatch booklet, (the current Crown colour guide) that I had gotten from Homebase in the weekend before creating this piece. I had loved the pale toned blues within one of the room guides and I felt the orange of the orangutan would complement the tones well, so these were my main tones and I tried to work around them to make a cohesive design that would attract the eye and be very pleasing to it.
Weaknesses
My biggest issue with this piece was trying to get the orangutans anatomy and proportions correct. Everything that I knew about the human anatomy had to be thrown out of the window for this character as their limbs are longer, bodies are more round and they barely have a neck. So, every time I tried to draw this orangutan, he would look wrong, but that was because I was comparing him to a human, so I just tried to get him looking as correct as I possibly could, which in the end, I do think I did a pretty good job? Maybe. I won’t really know until I’ve seen a real orangutan sitting in that exact position for myself.
Opportunities
By submitting this illustration to the competition, I may be able to get more recognition from the AOI, who I do plan to work with more in the future when I become a member with them. If I were to win, my work would be showcased within a gallery space in Hartlepool, being seen by other illustrators, both who I assume are also emerging or established, but it can also be seen by potential clients, but either way, it would be good publicity which could help my audience grow.
When I post the piece on social media, once the competition is over and the winners have been announced, as I’m not sure if you’re allowed to have it online beforehand, I will be using hashtags to reach a wider range of audiences, but this may allow me to reach more activist based groups or people who have the same views on the subject, so I may be able to learn more about the issue from them and ways in which I can help the cause, whether it’s swapping to alternative products that do not contain palm oil, or going out of my way to do even more. Since creating this piece, I have become more passionate about the issue at hand and I would like to make a change, so I would like to be more informed about the problem so that I can help more and inform others about the issues with more confidence.
Threats
The main threat I feel I would have from this illustration would be that I am a hypocrite with the message, as I do still use products that contain palm oil, so from the audience’s perspective, if I myself am still using the products, why should the audience stop. In response to this, I would say that with this piece, it’s not really aimed at the common public, as palm oil is in so many products that it would be hard to just stop buying them or find alternatives, so I aim this illustration at the people higher up, such as the companies that make the products, as I feel they need to start finding alternative methods rather than using palm oil as consumers don’t really know what is in the products they are purchasing half of the time, but the companies know what ingredients are going into their products and the devastation it has caused within the rainforests. It may cost time and money to remake the products with an alternative ingredient, but in the long run, it would be worth it, as it would not just be saving the homes of thousands of animals including the orangutans, it would also help in saving our planet.
Future Goals and Targets.
I loved working on this piece, with the style, techniques and stronger message behind it, so in the future, I would like to create more illustrations with stronger messages, ones that I do feel passionate about and can get behind.
With the style and techniques, I feel I had discovered my direction with this illustration just whilst experimenting, so I would like to treat more projects like this in the future, trying out multiple brushes and colour palettes before I even start working on the illustration, so that I have a better idea of the direction I’m taking with my piece and I have more confidence in doing so.
Bibliography
Crown Paints. (2019). Colours. [online] Available at: https://www.crownpaints.co.uk/colours [Accessed 9 Apr. 2019].
Iceland Foods (2018). Iceland’s Banned TV Christmas Advert… Say hello to Rang-tan. #NoPalmOilChristmas. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdpspllWI2o [Accessed 9 Apr. 2019].
Russell, M. (2019). Monkey Illustration. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4Ib2r6xXyU&t=50s [Accessed 9 Apr. 2019].
All other images are my own unless stated otherwise.
Melon.R 