- A RECIPE WITHOUT WORDS -


The Brief:


The task is simple. To communicate a recipe on one single sheet without words, using one of the following formats – landscape or portrait:


Stage 1: Research:
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The first step is to make the one of the recipe options.
It's really important to record exactly what you do - ingredients, tools, quantities, preparation, mixing, cooking, etc. Use multiple methods to record the process - diagrams, drawing, photography, etc. Even though we're not using words, writing can be helpful too. You want as much primary source material to work with as possible from this stage.
​Week 1

The ​Baking Process

I took pictures throughput the process of baking the flapjacks, I then used these pictures to make a gif that showed the whole baking process.
I really like the picture that I took of the golden syrup in the glass bowl! The colour of the syrup makes the left side of the bowl have an orange glow.

​Stage 2: Test: 
​Consume your creation in the convivial company of like-minded but socially distanced colleagues!
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After tasting the flapjacks I would describe then as very chewy and tasty. They smell amazing and taste best when you come across on on the glazed cherries.

The Recipe and Flapjacks

To create these flapjacks I combined the recipe that was provided on Blackboard with a recipe from Lyles.
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​Notes on the Briefing Lecture
Stage 3: Exploration:
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Explore alternative strategies and visual treatments that show how to follow the recipe. We're looking for a wide range of initial considerations here so be creative in your image-making - drawing, painting, collage, diagrams, digital or analogue, etc. Remember that you're experimenting with techniques at this stage, you should be opening up new lines of visual enquiry, not just sticking to what you already know. Also, explore the different formats. Does the format dictate, influence or change how you arrange the components of your recipe? 
Initial Visual Research

I started by sketching each of the ingredients that went into the flapjacks, I sketched the ingredients in the form that I put the into the recipe whilst also looking into where the ingredients originate from. Because of this research I chose to sketch the sugar cane, oat grains, a whole apricot and the flower of the vanilla plant.
​​How to show the measurements of the ingredients?

After the initial visual research I moved onto trying to work out how to show how much of each ingredient is needed for this recipe.
​Tony's Wednesday Lecture

In Tony's lecture he mentioned the artwork of Noma Bar, Olly Moss and Georgie Hardie. I used these three artists to influence part of my style testing.
​​Material and Style Testing

In this stage of the project I tested different mediums (watercolour, inks, pens, pencils, copic markers, paper, and quality street wrappers.
I also tested different styles, I experimented with most of these materials and styles by drawing a collection of glazed cherries so I could directly compare the outcomes.
​​Colour Schemes

I looked at the colour schemes that the ingredients fit into and I found that they all have a similar colour scheme, consisting of browns and yellow. It made me glad that I have included the cherries because the red provided a nice break from the general beige tones. I think that I will have to wok out a colour that would work well in contrast of the ingredients.
Initial Thumbnails

During this stage while creating the first set of thumbnails I also looked into the different scales that were provided, this was so I could work out which scale worked best for me.
​Whilst also working out what kind of composition fits within these different scales.

I am still not sure which ratio I will pick for my final piece yet. I think the best thing to do would be test my final design in each of the ratios, then I can decide which works best.
Week 2
Monday's Task: 
(​To find examples of visual communication without the written word)

These are the examples that I found, I especially liked the Lego advertisements and the imagery of a watercolour pencil.
I also removed the logos from the Lego and Jeep advertisements so that I could show them without words.
​Development: Artist Research

So far I haven't really found a style that I really like to develop into my final piece, so I have decided to do some more artist research of my own.
Then I can use this research to emulate some of these artists styles into my illustrations of the flapjack recipe, to test how they work.
I have also worked out that I would prefer a singular image that showed off the recipe instead of having multiple images in one (like a comic strip).
I remembered researching "Wayne Thiebaud" while I was at school, so his name was the first one that came to my mind when I went to artists who illustrate food. I love the colours that he uses and the little faces on the ice-cream made me smile. 
This style overall is a lot more traditional, however the way that "Giuseppe Arcimboldo" has constructed a person out of food is intriguing. It has made me wonder what I could construct with my ingredients.
I love the work of Carl Warner, the way he can disguise ordinary food and make a wonderous scene is amazing. When looking at this artwork I almost forget that it is made of food at all. Alongside this his use of colours is astounding. 
I included this artist because of how realistic his food paintings are, I don't think I will be going for a style as realistic as this for my project. This artist has captured food so realistically that I would like to reach into these images and take the food, they are really making me hungry.
These images look a lot more modern that the other artist's work that I have found, however they have a charm about them that the others don't. This artist is using real food to make what appears to be a digital illustration, the duality this creates is very interesting.
Jason Anderson is the only artist that I have included in my research that doesn't paint food, however I think that these blogs of colours would work wonderfully in a food illustration. The lines could demonstrate amounts or directions. I think this will be a fun style to play with.
Development Thumbnails
As advised in the feedback I moved onto developing my initial thumbnails, I used different scales and layouts to experiment with my designs and see what I could do with them.
I think that this was a really interesting process, by timing myself I managed to get more thumbnails done in a quicker time. Whilst also showing my thought process visually. 

Within these development thumbnails I drew inspiration from my original thumbnails as well as the artist research. There are some thumbnails that I liked more than others, and this process gave me to chance to separate the good ideas from the ones that I won't take any further. 
Development
(Using artist styles to create developments using my thumbnail designs)

I started my development by using acrylics, think was inspired by my my artist research into Wayne Thiebaud and Joël Penkman although this isn't the medium they use it was the closest material I had to hand. I really hated working with acrylics, where other people can make smooth beautiful art, mine always looks messy no matter how long I spend on it.
​My favourite thing from these developments are the blobby tests that I created, I think the energy in them is interesting.

​I then moved onto development using watercolour, these designs are inspired by Olly Moss, ​Giuseppe Arcimboldo and Yuni Yoshida. I really like the idea of having the ingredients in the shape of spheres, this way I can show the amounts by the size of each sphere in relation to the others. I would need to refine this idea my I think it is promising concept. Additionally I really liked how the lines to the side of the pot looked, it seems to give a sense of action and movement that is integral to the baking process, I think there is more I could do with these lines.

These developments were created using a mix of watercolours and inks, I really like how the jars turned out, additionally I think I could further develop the long rectangle with the porridge oat stem into a nice design if I used the length to show the baking process. I could put the ingredients at the top, then show the baking/mixing in the middle, and the finished product at the bottom.
Development Layouts

After I finished paining my developments I scanned them so I could move the elements around to see how they would look in different layouts, I have completed two sheets of layouts so far.
​However I think this is a quick way to find the best scale to use so I plan on creating more of these before deciding on my final design.
Week 3
Target Audience

In the tutorial with Dwayne and Jim I was asked "what is it you want to say, and who are you saying it to?" and to be honest I didn't have an answer. I had forgotten one of the most important pieces of an illustration the target audience. So I decided that I would take what I have so far and morph it into a children's book illustration, to help me to do this I have researched "Children's Cookbooks".
Children's Cookbook Illustrations

I decide to base my final illustration upon the colour schemes and layout of a children's book illustration, so I researched some children's cookbooks.
I couldn't resist adding one of my favourite books from when I was a child "Herb the Vegetarian Dragon" to the research.

I noticed that most of the illustrations use bright yet subtle colours, so I tried to incorporate this into my final piece.
Final Thumbnails

These are the thumbnails that I thought fitted the theme of a children's cookbook the best. I then tested colour schemes on my favourite designs. so I could work out which one I wanted to take forward into my final design.
Colour Schemes
I tested colour schemes on these two layouts, but I decided I liked the portrait layout better. So I decided to test that design in multiple colour schemes.
Mock Ups and the Final Piece

I tested my final design in three different colour schemes, I think that the mock up on the right fit the theme of a "Children's cookbook" best because of it's more subtle colour scheme.

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Final Piece

I really like how my final piece turned out, I illustrated the ball of ingredients to reflect the visual quantities that I photographed when I was baking this recipe. Although my illustration doesn't show the exact quantifies or timing I do think it shows the baking process. I tried to make this illustration look as fun and interesting as I could, I think this would help children to engage with this illustration.

My favourite part of this illustration is the way that the colours work to create a visual warmth, I also like how the swirls work alongside the balls of ingredients to give this illustration an appearance of a magical cauldron cooking the flapjacks. I had a lot of fun baking these flapjacks, and I think I have captured this within my illustration.

For some reason my website has started compressing images greatly, so I separated my final piece into three different sections in the hope that the details become clearer.
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