Gordon Ramsey - Shark Bait

I watched this documentary with gordon Ramsey, where set off on a personal investigation project to learn more about shark fin soup trade, and exactly just how damaging it is to the sharks.

It was interesting and informative, and gave quite a good run through, from the consumers to the catchers and gave a good impression of what went on in between too.

With a more reportage focus on this now, I started considering how I might choose out a few scenes to illustrate, much in the same way that Oliver Kugler creates a scene - with a mix of view points and bits of writing, a little such as this one below:

I like the way the line work continues into different scenes. The blocks of colour really bring it together as a balanced image, and it is a great sprawling way to get a great quantity of information into one piece and not be limited by viewpoint and creating a scene. I think this way of working will suit my aesthetic.

I had a go at some more reportage way for working with some of the visual research that I gathered in Hull:

I really like this way of working, however the issue is now finding more opportunities to draw on location, as this is how I can make these drawings successful, my attempts at illustrating scenes from Gordon Ramsey's documentary were not an initial success. I want my own real life views so I can make more of my own comment on them with my image making I suppose.

With regards to these images that I have produced already, areas of improvement are:

• More dynamic scene.
• Better impression of subject matter - make it more engaging for the viewer, with a clearer aim at which subject content to include.
• Try working on a larger scale, with bigger drawings so that I can allow more detail to come out.
• Make use of block colour to guide the image, much like Kugler does. To be successful at this I should start with my line work instead. (I bought some waterproof ink - from a tip that I read on Quentin Blake's website - so this should even be possible with dip nib and ink, my fave.)
• Have more information/knowledge behind what I am drawing, the more that I am an authority on the subject the better i can stage such an image.