Rents Prep to Kick Heroin Illustration (Narrative Illustration)

This is a double page illustration concept for my narrative illustration unit on which I have chosen to do Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting.

This illustrates one of the first few chapters in the book in which 'Rentz' has decided to try to kick his heroin habit, he has a carefully put together plan listing all the things he will need to do so.
He mentions at one point after proudly ticking off the items in his list, that he will just need 'one more hit' to help him get over the first night... unfortunately for him this proves ridiculously troublesome and things take a humorous and disappointing twist.

So this illustration is basically showing 'Rentz' picturing himself carrying out his ideal plan with all of his drug kicking necessities .. I just felt that putting emphasis on his plan to get one last hit, would set up the reader for a bigger fall when he does not manage to get his last 'hit'.

At the moment I am still playing about with colours, hues, saturation etc until I am happy with the image, here are some that I have completed so far. ..

Character Development 'Francis Begbie' Narrative Illustration

Here a few drawings from my character development for ' Francis Begbie '
When creating my initial character Mark Renton, I came up with a style and template for my characters that can be tweaked and adapted to suit the individuals.. but makes it much easier to come up with ideas and also guarantees the style of the characters flows well.

Now I have the initial base for my character 'Begbie' I can start to work into his features and characteristics.. also experimenting with colour and media types.

Trainspotting Cover idea (Narrative Illustration)

Still in progress.....


I have had an idea for the cover of the book pretty much since we started this unit.
I want to show a semi-accurate display of the vascular system in the forearm, expressing the damage done to the veins from heroin abuse.
I made a point of my piece NOT looking like an anatomical drawing as this would not fit with the style I will show throughout the rest of my work.
I also don't want the piece to have any kind of "shock horror erughh look at those scabs" quality.

I want my viewers to notice the wounded veins but not be distressed by them, representative of the outlook of the characters taking heroin...They are aware of the damage they are doing to their bodies, but are having too much of a 'good time' to really care.

So Ill try to keep a composition thats fun, and nice to look at.. whilst also going into slightly crude detail on the more sensitive parts of the piece (the veins).

Below are the processes and steps I have taken so far in tackling this obstacle...

First Image Crit

My first Image for the Narrative Illustration brief.

This image, or a very similar image will be used for the front cover ( wrap around).

Im going to keep experimenting with this image until im totally happy with it.

Some Character Development For Sickboy (Narrative illustration)

These are some of my character development sheets for the character Sickboy

Mark Renton Character Development ( Narrative Illustration )

These are a few sheets from my character development for Rentz!

Alex Pardee ( Narrative Illustration )

Alex Pardee struggled to get any work as an artist by sending portfolios and attending interviews, so he went down a different route to get work. He posted his artwork on every blog and social networking site there is until someone noticed his work and things started to pick up for him.
I was shown this artist by a friend and instantly loved his work.

His use of vibrant shocking colours and messy line work blended with powerful sometimes sickly and crude images make for a great collection of work.
Alex uses loud colours and mixed texture lines and achieves a great feeling about his pieces. An attitude I want my work for the Narrative Illustration unit to express.