Study Task 4 - Book

Fiction - Fight 2 by Jack Teagle 

 Jack Teagle is one of my favourite illustrators who I discovered last year.

This comic book is similar to his other creations as it involves vibrant colours and has interpretations of action and drama which can be seen throughout this comic.

His characters tend to represent superheroes and villains which is one of the main successes of his work.

Although his work is normally bold, the comic only consists of black and white images which could be considered as a downfall.

•  Narrative book about Diablo the wrestler who has to play a villain in the ring and is constantly mocked for his appearance. He gives up fighting but is brought back for one last fight.
• Published by Nobrow Press
• Aimed at younger people (interested in wrestling).
• Jack Teagle is a well known illustrator making the comic appealing to other artists.
• Limited text throughout the book which shows that Jack Teagle is strong at making narratives visual. 

 I was first drawn to this book as I wanted to have some of Teagle's work for myself.

When I first picked the book up I was drawn into the vibrant front cover of the page. It seems that the book might be quite dark but humorous because of the use of sinister looking characters against the bold colours of the background.

Relating it to my own sense of humour.

•  Strong use of space throughout every page.
• The scale of the boxes change to emphasise more dramatic scenes. 
• There is a limited use of text but when their is it appears to be action filled or humorous such as "EYEBALL KICK!"
• Simple lines and shapes are used to make the scene into an action making the narrative stronger which draws the audience in. (This page is a strong example of this).
• I still need to read the first Fight comic.

Picture Book - Gnarbunga by Matthew Bromley

Another illustrator who I discovered last year.

This is a children's book illustrated and written by Matthew Bromley.

I love the illustrations in this book because of the simplicity of the characters as well as the use of 3 colours throughout the book. The drawings are crisp and simple making it easy for the audience.

The book has been successful as the illustrations go alongside the small amounts of text making the story easy to read and understand.

 The front and back cover pages of this book are so good. The use of repetition of the circular shapes with only slightly altered elements makes each character unique.

The back cover pages are similar but the children are covered in the sludge that Gnarbunga is made from.

•  Narrative story about a sludgy monster (Gnarbunga) who comes out from a hole in the ground. The children love him but the adults are not too sure making them unhappy. To stop Gnarbunga from making them angry, the children come up with the plan of teaching him how to skateboard.

•  The audience of the book is mainly young children (6-10 years old), similar to the children in the book.
• Published by Boxer Books.
• The illustrations relate to the text as it visualises the narrative for the young audience making it more enjoyable.

I was initially drawn to this book as I had recently been researching Matthew Bromley's work. Although he has a selection of books I was drawn to this one the most because of the character design. 

Gnarbunga is just a black, blobby shape that has been created into a human like character by adding simple elements and making him do actions. 

He takes objects and strips them down to the most minimal they can be and considers how they can still be representational which is what makes this book so appealing to children. 

Self-Publishing - She Devils by Pippa Toole 

 Pippa Toole is another one of my favourite illustrators because her work is mostly focused on badass women or dark humour.

The pages of the zine consist of one different fierce looking woman on each page.

Each page also has a different background making the zine successful because of the use of different patterns and monochrome tones to make the woman on each page stand out. This is also emphasised by the effect that is created from a risograph printer.

However, it may be seen as unsuccessful because some of the backgrounds have been considered a lot more than others making them more relatable to the character.

•  Risograph printing creates a textured effect which exaggerates the badass women's style. 
• Thin paper making it seem cheaper than what it probably was to print. 
• Each page is unique with a new pattern on every page. 
• Some of the scenes are more realistic than others as they appear to be in more of a setting than others. 
• Some of the women are stood on a floor and others appear to be just floating. Maybe should have considered a different tone for the floor.

 The audience of the zine is mainly for people interested in illustration as her work is often seen at art fairs. Also feminists could be interested in this zine as she focuses on making women look powerful and intimidating.

The zine was printed by Pippa Toole herself and the work is personal to her.

It also has an interesting front cover (which I don't have an image of) that says 'SHE DEVILS' which relates to the women throughout the book.

The font has clearly been considered as it suits the patterns and textures of the rest of the zine.

Non-Fiction - In Loving Memory of Work by Craig Oldham

 A book about the miner's strike and the protest posters that came along with it.

The book is written by Craig Oldham but the illustrations are not his own.

The strengths of these illustrations show a deep message by using dark images of actual incidents that happened during the protests, or just images that the people of the UK can relate to.

Most of the posters in the book are monochrome using red font which stands out against the image making it clear for the audience to read.

Sans-serif style fonts are mostly used in these posters as the thickness of each stroke is the same making it a lot more readable from a distance.

The relationship between text and imagery in these poster tends to be strong to make the message clear to the audience. Dark imagery makes the posters seem more realistic to the people viewing it and it could have the power to change their views.