Being There

With a new project you get a brief, it is mostly written out in an email or word document with a few reference images in some cases it’s a description over the phone.  Whatever way its delivered the most interesting and exciting part of starting a new illustration is doing a little research.  The art of doing this has radically changed since I started freelancing twelve years ago, where it could start with a visit to a library or going out and doing some sketches.  I’m sure I don’t need to elaborate to much more in how this has evolved, now I and most everyone else go online and Google image the hell out of it.

Then I would brave the rain sit in the quite surround of the library punctuated by the odd cough and the sound of me operating the photocopier , humming,  clicking and churning out the images I would need from books I couldn’t take away with me to  join my rucksack of books I could.  Now I create a wee project folder with another in it for reference images and texts, its cleaner, drier and less time consuming.  More often than not I get what I need from the internet searches, its fantastic for places, especially ones the popular or more tourist visited places of the globe.  Using Google Earth or Street view you can place yourself on a street corner and get a feel for the geography of a place or catching a recognizable building or attraction from a different angle. 

About a year ago I had a book to illustrate for an educational publisher, a storybook called The Girl With Green Eyes. Its narrative set in New York, I got a little flexibility in where I set some of the locations and chose Times Square for the setting of the hotel that featured in the story and location of the café used of key scenes.  I also picked some reference from the East Village area for the residence of the main character to give a balance between the hi-tech Skyscraper part of the city and the older areas.  Around the same time I had another project for an Aids Drug Awareness graphic novel story set in a similar area of architecture to East Village.

The Girl With Green Eyes.

Both these projects required a looking around the net and getting a feel for the areas, the latter project for Aids Drug Awareness the client was based in New York and was very helpful in providing images for the characters which needed to be based on real people and their story.  Having faces to look at really helped in that job as corny as it might sound.   The realities of their lives were etched into their faces, from their stories which detailed some of the darker moments of their lives up until they changed things for the better.  Thankfully I have not experienced such hardship but the connections I made with them through their photos allowed me I think to tell their story better.

Having holidayed recently in New York I would revisit both these projects again and do things differently and it will certainly inform any future work based on my travels there.  Nothing prepares you for that place, years of TV and film set there only heightens the excitement of seeing all that eye candy for real.   Fantasy and the fantastic suddenly become the reality around you, bustling and brimming over with people, traffic and towering over all that buildings so impossibly big and tall.  It’s wonderful, crazy and brilliant like a wondrous Lego city created by an excited bunch of kids driven by egos to build bigger and taller.  Super sized architecture, Like Central Station or The Empire State building with its grand marble reception all the way to the top observation deck with stunning panoramic views of the city, and I’m told six states. 

View from the 86th floor, looking north east towards the Chrysler Building

My wife and I walked from 46^th St to Battery Park taking in the Flatiron building, Soho, Greenwich Village, with a visit to East Houston St, East village for lunch at a proper deli.  Down through China town and Little Italy, Brooklyn Bridge, Wall St, ground zero and arriving at Battery park to jump on the Staten Island ferry  for a sunset cruise and beautiful views of the city and surrounding area.  It takes in a broad range of building styles and New York’s famous melting pot of cultures and is a recommended thing to do given the right footwear.

Its why I would love to tackle a project based there again, I really didn’t cram enough into those frames, they lacked the variety of the actual place and people, I missed the point of it all and didn’t get that down on paper at the time.  There is so much of the world crammed onto that small island of Manhattan something the reference material I’d collected for those projects only hinted at and I’d missed.   From the point of view of my holiday I’m glad as it was an amazing experience one I hope I’ll carry with me and  influence my work until the next time we visit.

If you are going, places to see:

The American Natural History Museum: for the fossil collections

The Metropolitan Museum of Art: For most things there!

The MOMA: if only to see Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night.

The Intrepid Museum: A museum on an aircraft carrier! That also has the Space Shuttle Enterprise as an exhibit.

30 Rockefeller Plaza: with a nighttime view at the top!

Central Station: for cocktails and to gaze at the fresco on the high above vaulted ceiling

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The Empire State Building: A must see and better early in the morning before the crowds with amazing views at the top.

Also, The Flatiron, The Staten Island Ferry (it’s free!) A harbour tour, a city bus tour, Department stores and shops around Soho and Greenwich Village.  A proper American stack of pancakes, a deli sandwich and pizza in Little Italy!

It was also very distressing to see it so damaged and lives destroyed by the recent hurricane Sandy, I hope the city and the people there can rebuild and move forward again.