OUIL603 - The Lakes 2017

I spotted a poster for The Lakes International Comic Art Festival 'Revealing The Spirit Of The Lake District' on a noticeboard at uni and was interested following my Fumetto Comix entry. On the Fumetto brief I felt the result was something a little to far from what I would like to consider my tone of voice, whilst I was relatively happy with the concept it just didn't feel like my work. Possibly a product of forcing myself to work with certain media. 

Progressing from this I hope to work on the inclusion of stronger narrative in my work for this brief, using any media I feel comfortable with. At the moment I've been mostly working with collage and digital drawing so I'll probably work in this way considering the brief has no constraints on media.

This brief is in celebration of one hundred years since the birth of Will Eisner (American cartoonist and writer). Eisner wrote and drew 'The Spirit' and was "noted for his experimental and cutting edge approach in content and form". The comic was packed with themes emitting action, adventure and mystery. The brief asks that I reflect the comic style of Eisner's 'The Spirit', I don't want to physically attempt to draw as he does - this is not even close to the way I work. However I hope to use similar themes found in his work, with the possibility of sampling colour palettes as a nod to Eisner.

Honestly to me Eisner's drawings are that of a standard comic strip and I don't have much love for them, although I do understand that he was a pioneer of sorts. The cartoon being set in the US doesn't really get me interested either, fortunately the brief is for the Lake District. I hope that the dramatic landscapes and quaint towns / villages that I've seen in the Lake District are something I'm capable of translating into an illustration with a sense of mystery. 

Visiting the Lake District when I was younger (on holiday) a strong memory of the peace and quiet evokes. At night time I remember the eeriness and atmosphere created by the completely still water. This mysterious feeling of a quiet discomfort is something I'd like to get across in my work for this project.