Narrative Illustration.

For this I had to bring together all the skills we have learnt over the months and turn it into my own narrative of my choice.
I wanted to use my new skills of:  Life drawing, colour and short narrative viewpoints (composition and viewpoints)

I chose to look into exploring locations and places with more meanings that people overlook/ don't see. I wanted to look at everyday places that have a different meaning or situation to every person.

For example; bus stops, cafes, book stores, parks, restaurants, hotels, park benches etc.

These places are some of the few public areas in which you always see people, but they can have any reason as to why they are there and i guess you just don't know what it is. It could be where people first meet, a break up in a relationship, or waiting to meet a parent they never knew.

Because of this I wanted to explore everyday places that I visit and look into the people that are there and try to convey the multiple reasons they are there and that everyone is leading a different life we know nothing about.

I started off by going on buses and looking at not only the bus, which hundreds of people go on every day, but the people that came on and off of it. Some on their own, some dressed up and some people preoccupied on their phone or with something else.

I then wanted to look at all the people waiting at the bus stops, going anywhere for any reason. I found it fascinating the crowds of people that come and go, the people that wait ages on their own and the expressions and manner of some people. You could see that some people were looking forward to where they were going and some people weren't interested and just wanted to leave.
I also looked at the smokers outside restaurants (above) and saw what looked like the first interaction between people whilst one asked the other for a lighter. Smoking outside public places is seen so much you over look it, but this interaction with these people could lead to anything, they could fall in love, become friends or just nothing at all. I think when you just slow down and look at it all theres a beauty in the innocence of the everyday act of smoking and the social connection you can create with other smokers.

After seeing my little sister spend hours of her days in book shops I went into one to observe the people in there. She interacts with anyone, about books she's read or wants to read and they just have this raw connection over a mutual interest. She said its something she loves doing as theres no strings attached, just conversations about interesting things with interesting people, and she uses it as an escape from her life of school and friends and day to day life.

I also sat in the cafe in this book store and noticed how peaceful people look just drinking coffee and reading along. Some people were in groups and some on their own and it just made me wonder why they were there, what were they escaping from, were they escaping or were they just looking to relax.

I wondered into the shopping mall and looked at all the people doing different things, people walking out of the cinema that could of been on a first date? could of been an anniversary or could just be good friends meeting for a laugh. Again there were people sitting around talking, interacting enjoying their day.

I also went and watched a flower stall in town, watching queues of people carefully pick and buy flowers. This was something that was quite interesting to watch, as you could sense that some people were giving flowers for a special reason, to a specific person maybe or even to someone they miss, as they would spend their time picking out the most beautiful flowers they could find. They could be going to a hospital bedside, or to a partner, you just didn't quite know the reason behind their gesture of giving flowers.

You could see that some people were enjoying this act, but others weren't bothered and you could tell in their expressions. Buying and giving flowers is such a general act of kindness to people, or even sometimes an apology, that it is something that is overlooked. But it was nice to see that maybe those flowers will be going to someone to make them smile, and brighten up their day.

I tried different ways of drawing these, one with my inks and brush pens and one with just quick sketched line work. I felt the inks and pens were too heavy for the subject i was drawing. I wanted to leave some thought and an unknown feel to my drawings and so by doing quick linework i felt it left enough detail to your own interpretation. 

By only drawing sketches I managed to create a natural look to their positions and draw them naturally within their surroundings rather than really forced and fake poses. I also really like the roughness of the lines and the imperfections to my drawings as i think it portrays the rawness and shows the movement and life in them.