OUGD503 FEVER TREE - ILLUSTRATION RESEARCH

The kind of illustration that is envisioned for this brief is bold and uses block colour, but has a very hand rendered appearance with black outlines to make each element stand out in it's own right. There is one key illustrative element, e.g. a building or animal or object, and then smaller relatable elements surrounding it to build up the pattern. The illustration is also a repeat pattern, so it has structure and is easy to reproduce for a larger or smaller scale, and there aren't elements that can be lost depending on size or shape either. This kind of illustration that is envisioned proved a lot harder than anticipated, hence the vast amount of examples below trying to find the perfect example, which proved impossible, so there are aspects of each example that are kind of in fitting with what is envisioned.

This pattern is produced by Bethan Janine, a surface designer and illustrator from Sheffield. This pattern has the layout that would be ideal for the illustrations to be produced, with one key object, the bear (only here the larger flowers are quite prominent as well), and several secondary elements bulking up the illustration. Only thing is this patterns colours are very feminine and child like, using pastel colours, which are very delicate looking.

This pattern is interesting as it included the same animal but from several different angles, in three different colours randomly, so the colours overlay and create an unusual texture. This could be quite an interesting idea for this brief, however some items might be quite hard to draw from several different angles, as they may become unrecognisable.

This pattern design by Marina Molares uses the same kind of bright colours on a paler background that the illustrations for this brief requires, however the illustrations themselves are in a bit more detail, is design and colour. They do however have a slight black outline, which makes each illustration stand out a lot more against the background, so it doesn't blend in so much, which is something the pattern that's being created should aim to achieve.

This illustrative pattern was created by Jen Moules. It has a similar style of illustration to what is aiming to be created for this brief, bold colours with black outline. This pattern also has one main feature, the wolf, and then smaller dots in the background to fill in the background space. There is however only one object in this pattern, the wolf, which creates a very even pattern. 

This has more of the colour application and bright colours that is aiming for this brief, however minus the slight shading to add detail. This also has the elements that was aimed for in this brief, with the one main feature, the hare, and the extra elements, the cactus and star, which shows that such a design can work.

Much more orderly pattern featured on cut price wallpaper website, which has a very clear structure to it unlike any of the previous patterns. All of the key illustrations are all of a similar size as well, so there is no hierarchy or key illustration. 

This pattern may not be very aesthetically pleasing, and looks like it should be on a Christmas jumper, however it sparked the idea to create one key illustration, and then draw out the two or three smaller ones around it, to get a sense of how they all work together before placing them in a pattern. This could save time by deciding what works before creating a pattern from it, and also could show how each set of illustrations for each country works together as a collection, as this is important it has to.

This is more so the kind of illustration that this brief is aiming for, only using block colours rather than watercolours, but perhaps changing the opacity so the overlaps are shown, making it a bit more interesting. This illustration is from an artist listed on Children's Book Illustration website, and although it is a children's illustration, there are ways of making it look less childlike, such as changing the medium, and of course the object itself.

This is a slightly more adult looking illustration, or sophisticated at least, with it being a black and white (mainly) pattern. It's interesting how the snowflakes and foot print background pattern also looks like snow as well.

This is a much more colourful pattern, but the addition of bright pink does make it look a bit feminine, which is definitely something to avoid, as the designs need to appear sophisticated and adult like rather than child like. The illustrations have a slight opacity to them, which creates a more varied pattern with more depth to it.

This pattern has a similar layout to what is being aimed for, however this has more of an old fashioned style to it with the faded background, and the design for this brief should definitely appear modern rather than out dated.

Researching into different kinds of patterns and analysing their qualities and which aspects will be taken from them has really helped the progression of the style of the pattern that is in mind. A modern pattern should be produced, but with a hand rendered style, to make it look more higher quality and personal, however still have elements of the traditional repeat patterns, with the hierarchy of different illustrations.
The next stage will be to decide on a few items to illustrate for one of the countries, and to illustrate them in the style that is being thought of at present, to see if it works as well as is imagined.