“I can say what I like, but I shall never know why people write and how it is people don’t write. In life, there comes a time, and I think it is total, that we cannot escape, where we doubt everything: that doubt is writing.”
Marguerite Duras
READING
Reading is a way of seeing and seeing is a way of reading.
Past the initial attraction of an image, a bit of text or sound lies the questions: why is it immediately attractive, does it have a lasting appeal, and if so, what sustains it? What components, steps and tricks were used to achieve that quality? Were they deliberate or accidental? If it’s the latter, can they be replicated convincingly?
Remember, that reading is a skill, and as such, it should be developed and maintained.
Don’t think of reading as a preliminary process, think of it as part of your work, as important as the drawings that will follow.
ASSIGNMENT 5: SPOT SERIES
In a series of five spot illustrations illustrate one of the given themes:
You may follow the theme directly or try a more interpretative treatment, or come up with a theme of your own. You may focus on a shared visual motif (reflections, shadows, circles, stripes, shapes) or something more conceptual (different ways to do something, different perspectives of the same subject, character studies). Remember that the spots are very small and have to share space with a lot of text—readability and clarity are the key qualities.
The spots can follow each other in a straightforward narrative, or they can explore the subject in a nonlinear fashion.
Black & White is the more common option for spot series. That said, the use of color is not prohibited, as long as it's justified.
Format: 2x1.5" vertical or horizontal