Jean and Rolands illustrations

the watercolour badge with the watercolour hat i really dont think work together. i think the badge needs to be more bold and defined against the loose wash of colour on the hat.

for this portrait to stand out against the background and the other coloured illustrations i experimented with introducing white around or on top of the illustration to emphasized the pencil work. i think if i was just looking at this piece on its own, the subtle white line i have added to the image below around the outline of figures works well, adds depth and draws the eye. 

however, i think using a block of white over the image works best amongst the rest of the collage, it makes the collage look more visually interesting with a combination of subtle illustration blending in with the background, watercolour bursts and focal point white background illustrations like this one 

i decided not to include this piece in my collage. though it was a illustration that took me one of the longest times as i used a mixture of pencil and watercolour, i made the mistake of drawing on a antique colour paper to give it a rustic old feel like the photo i was working from. however made it hard for me to layer and add to the rest of the collage without it looking out of place. i also struggled to justify why i wanted to include it. though its a illustration of jean when she was a child with her only sister (who she is still close to and sees alot) i thought i had more vital information about jean i needed to communicate and i didn't want to over crowd the collages with too much.

i think this piece works best on its own, i felt by including it in the collage it would need a quote of more illustration to communicate that it is a picture of jean and her sister. i think it would just look random without. 

reasons for choosing to draw certain things to visualise story:

Firemans hat 
- Roland was a fireman for 20 years

street illustration (st Helens street)-
 where jean was born and where her and roland lived and brought up their children. also the same street her mum and sister lived on and the same street they owned their shop - 'Jeans General store' 

All saints church - 
where jean and roland god married and where most of their family members have been married, and christened etc

Dolly mixure sweets -
representing the vintage/pick and mix sweets they used to sell at the shop and also one of Rolands favourites.

Cols Crain -
what Roland used to drive when he was in the Services during ww2.

Lucini's (illustrated text) -
the Ice cream Company Roland used to work for delivering ice creams on his bike when he was a teenagers.

Polo's - 
Roland always carried Polo's with him in his jacket pocket.

scissors, measuring tape and knitting needles-
illustrating Jeans creative hobbies as a seamstress, creating floats for Cockermouth carnival out of crate paper each year along with the children's fancy dress outfits etc.

Old grey goat sign - where Jean used to sing and where they used to go dancing with friends.

jean on a piano - showing her love of performing. she loved to sing and play Piano and was in a number of pantomimes such as goody two shoes and dick Whittington along side her father who was a Tenor.