Assignment 2: Historic Poster - sketches and completion

I decided to make this poster like a spread in one of Lynda Barry’s books, with a more collaged approach on the left and a more cartoon-based page on the right. Barry often uses the more collaged sort of page to introduce a theme/chapter and then goes on to add more cartoons in the pages that follow. 

Before making the poster I did some work in my sketchbook, drawing Marlys and Arna from the step by step directions and practicing using the different mediums together, including the dreaded watercolour!

I then went on to choose which quotes I would use in which parts of the poster. I wrote them out on different papers to get a feel for the space they each needed. 

I highlighted in my notes which quotes I would use where. Initially I highlighted them in red and then I selected for the pages. Green was for the collage page and purple for the cartoons  

Here are each side of the poster in more detail. 

I really enjoyed making this poster - even the ‘colouring in’ with watercolour! I discovered that it’s ok so long as I keep it messy. I enjoyed my interaction with Barry’s images and what she has said about her process and her ideas about visual communications  I like the way she is influenced by a number of genres: cartooning, art journaling, storytelling, graphic fiction … and yet she mixes them up and makes her work impossible to define  

In terms of style, the creation of this poster feels like an extension of elements that form the foundation of my own style. More recently, I’ve tended to either draw or collage, but it was a joy to bring the two together again  I would like to continue to explore using these elements together. Similarly, most of what I create is somewhat like art journaling which has (sometimes) escaped from the journal onto a single piece of paper. There are almost always words within my images; generally not as many words as Lynda Barry puts in, but enough to feel that this was an extension of my usual practice rather than a new way of doing things  Using watercolour was definitely out of my comfort zone, but it has the advantage of covering paper much more quickly than can be done by drawing, and is good for unifying different elements of the collage  I feel challenged to set aside my assumption that I can’t paint, and instead explore what paint can do - but only as part of a mix of media; I’m not bending quite so far as to consider doing an actual painting!

The making process was fun, using collage, drawing and writing together on a substrate I never would have considered using until now  I feel that the images work as a composition, and I think that I was successful in emulating Barry’s style. Obviously, some of my own style is also in the mix because I am me, not Barry  I only made small efforts towards copying her handwriting, for example. I loved the mixed media approach, and had fun drawing cartoons, which is something I’ve never done before  I’m much happier with the outcome of this poster than I am with the previous one and that makes me feel more confident and equipped to go on now and start thinking about my Visual Poster.