Inspirations

As part of a recent task we were to look through a range of award short lists to see look for some inspiring work to help broaden our inspirations within the illustration industry. I chose to look at the aoi world of illustration awards, an interesting competition with a range of different categories and styles. 

Above shows the shortlisted piece, Your World by Ruonana Zhang an uncommision piece entered into the product and packaging category. The piece is a board game designed for the player to really feel the roles of the individual characters. I particularly like how the illustrator created textures using punch needle add some overall depth to the game keeping it fresh and interesting for the user. 

I definitely see this as an inspiration, as i love the use of colour, they work well together to create this affective environment that really draws the viewer in. I also love the combination of materials, from ceramics to fabric and standard digital illustration it feels really experimental and something I definitely see as an inspiration. 

The second piece i found from the shortlist was a piece called The Vanishing Lake by Paddy Donnelly a professional commissioned illustrated book entered into the Children’s publishing category. This was a book created and inspired by a lake in Ireland, the illustrations in the book were all worked on digitally using a Wacom tablet and photoshop. 

I reallly like this body of work, and felt it really stuck out to myself when looking through the shortlist. I really loved the way the illustrator uses colour and texture, constantly playing around to add depth and really bring the environment to life. Throughout the book the illustrator really plays with the colour to show light, something done super effectively. This is an inspiration to myself as it is something I would like to work on and experiment with

The final inspiration i found on the aoi shortlist was this piece Daydream by papagxiong an uncommissioned piece created for decorative purposes like a print or a jigsaw. The pieces include a dreamy world full of lots of cats. I particularly loved this piece due to the high detail and fun texture. 

This piece does feel it lacks a particular purpose compared to the other two, never the less I don’t feel it is an ineffective image.