For my Mystery of Cleopatra Conspiracy Plan, I had 9 different illustration elements – torn newspaper effect, map of egypt, Taposiris Magna, lined paper, Isis, Caesar, Anthony, poison plants and Cleopatra herself. I wanted to focus on the illustrations first as images alone and later on add the text elements outlined within my planned sketch – allows me to follow the plan of creating each illustration individually and to bring them onto the background as a complete illustration, and also experiment with drop shadows etc. My final 4 illustrations can be seen below:
I was torn on how to create this illustration, because the original sketch has these two elements as seperate pieces which sit within a broken heart. But, I decided to create this two illustrations on the same section because it would create an easier way of potentially putting them within a heart shape. The illustrations themselves are very simple and are meant to relate to the statue busts of each suitor of Cleopatra. Again, the faces are left blank with no features seen to keep in line with the illustration style I have previously shown in the other infographics anf illustrations. This illustration was created by using Adobe Fresco, but when I have to turn this illustration into a heart, I will most likely be using Adobe Photoshop. The busts of each lover have a very clear difference to highlight the difference between the men, Caesar is seen in a roman uniform – gold chestplate and brown sleeves – while Anthony is seen in a more traditional garb – linen cloth to surround his shoulders, clasped together by a gold broach of some sort and a crown of leaves to embrace to his head – one is seen as a person of war and the other is seen as a politician. Like every other illustration, I stuck to my colour scheme religiously, and made sure that my illustrative style was consistent throughout the process of this piece.
This illustration changed from the original idea, I was originally planning on having these three plants drawn directly on to the papyrus background in Adobe Illustrator, but the sizing, style of the brush and strong black colour didn’t fit with the overall style that I had created when using Adobe Fresco, so I made the decision to swap software, which I think was the right design choice. Instead, I decided to create a small illustration that would fit within the space outlined in the original sketch and have the three posion plants as a seperate illustration which can be attached to the infographic with the cellotape design element. The illustration for this piece is very simple, and I decided because it is such a small scale, it would work better to have a linear drawing of the plants so they can be seen easily within the infographic illustration. Overall, I think this piece works really well, and I’m happy with the change I made at the beginning of the illustration process.
I left Cleopatra for my final illustration for the infographic, and much like Isis, I used the same style and positioning – the only difference is Cleopatra will be on the left side of the double page spread looking towards the centre of the double page spread. Every illustration or drawing of Cleopatra is seen to have a massive amount of detail, but with my previous illustrations, I have already generated a very simple style that lacks a massive amount of detail, my style is very minimal, and while this isn’t exactly Cleopatra’s style, it worked best for my design. I used Adobe Fresco for the creation of Cleopatra, and followed the same technique that I used for both Osiris and Isis illustrations – strong black outlines and a simple block flat vector fill. I tried at the beginning of the illustration to line up my Isis illustration with the paper size so my Cleopatra illustration matches her in the mirror reflection. I think this worked quite well, and I also made sure to have the background colour the same as Isis for consistency and have Cleopatra hold an Ankh symbol in her hand – which is seen as a symbol for life in Egyptian hieroglyphics. I was planning on following the same illustration style with Cleopatra that I did for all human figures, lack of features on the face, and I especially wanted this for Cleopatra because the audience than has the option to imagine Cleopatra in their own view, as the image of Cleopatra is unknown to us. But when I was illustrating Cleopatra, my partner made the point that her strong, dark and powerful eye makeup is one of the greatest symbols for Cleopatra, which is why I made the design choice to inlcude her black eyeliner where her eye would sit in my illustration to convey a stronger image of Cleopatra to the audience. In addition to this, my partner also pointed out that I would have to break my colour scheme rule for her hair because she is always depicted as having black hair. I was originally planning on having her hair as the dark brown seen on my colour scheme, but it didn’t look right, Cleopatra is famous for her style that we have no idea if it is true or not, but for my illustration, I made sure that all elements of Cleopatra were easily visible, which is why her hair breaks the colour scheme! The last addition I made to this illustration was at the very end of the process. On the infographic, there is a space on the lined paper that mentions a snake bite and I wanted to connect Cleopatra’s arm to this snakebite possible death, so at the end of the illustration, I added two small dots on her arm to highlight where the snake could of bitten her. Overall, I think this illustration of Cleopatra is a very strong piece, and holds different symbols that help the audience understand that this illustration is of the last Queen of Egypt.
Sources
- Pinterest. 2020. Julius Caesar. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/316026098838707157/. [Accessed 02 December 2020].
- Mark Antony Images, Stock Photos & Vectors | Shutterstock. 2020. Mark Antony Images, Stock Photos & Vectors | Shutterstock. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.shutterstock.com/search/mark+antony. [Accessed 02 December 2020].
- Adobe Stock. 2020. Poison hemlock vintage illustration. – Buy this stock vector and explore similar vectors at Adobe Stock | Adobe Stock. [ONLINE] Available at: https://stock.adobe.com/uk/images/poison-hemlock-vintage-illustration/224484625. [Accessed 02 December 2020].
- FEZ INKWRIGHT. 2020. FEZ INKWRIGHT | WOLFSBANE: Aconitum Wolfsbane, just as commonly…. [ONLINE] Available at: https://rosdottir.tumblr.com/post/173721082365/wolfsbane-aconitum-wolfsbane-just-as-commonly. [Accessed 02 December 2020].
- Dreamstime. 2020. Opium illustration. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.dreamstime.com/illustration/opium.html. [Accessed 02 December 2020.]
- Pinterest. 2020. Sunrise Holidays (@HolidaysAgency) | Ancient egypt art, Egypt art, Egyptian beauty. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/156500155789572202/. [Accessed 02 December 2020].
HND2 Baxter's Designs 