Week 3’s lecture was a continuation of the content covered in week 2. At the end of this session, we were tasked with creating part or all of one of two images to further test our illustration skills. I chose to recreate part of the below image:
I wanted to focus on the windmill and bridge, and knew I wanted to stick to the cartoony colour scheme, but wanted to branch out from the original image. I wanted to keep the ‘flat’ feel of the original image whilst still adding my own twist and this was the result:
I created this in Illustrator and decided to maintain the flat, 2d feel of the original illustration for the main subject of the image. The windmill was kept monochromatic and relatively dimensionless, but I knew I wanted some odd textures and angles that weren’t included in the original image.
Being relatively new to using Illustrator, I sort of played around with different brushes and tools not really knowing what their purposes exactly were. I then discovered that I enjoyed using the pen tool to create sharp, odd shapes and then found the abstract stroke brush and used this to add the suggestion of a sky, sun and bushes behind and around the windmill.
The style of the windmill and the surrounding elements clashes in a way I personally find aesthetically pleasing. I understand that this isn’t to everyone’s taste, but I liked the chaotic take on the seemingly tranquil source material. The contrasting colours almost don’t suit each other, but this was part of the appeal for me. As someone who has grown to really appreciate abstract art over the last few years, I like challenging what is ‘artistically acceptable’ to create these weird images that I enjoy.