Collage (Part 1)

This is the work of Michelle Thompson. Michelle has been seen as the foundation of illustration since she graduated from the Royal College of Art in 1996. She has had many successful projects in publishing, editorial and design. Her illustration work has appeared internationally, most noted with her collaboration with the British designer Vaughan Oliver. Michelle has also illustrated Cherie Blair's book, 'The Goldfish Bowl'. She also illustrates a regular column for The Globe and Mail in Toronto. As shown below.

Other clients include the Royal Mail, BBC, Reebok, Penguin Books, The Guardian and many others. Her work has been featured in Creative Review, Communication Arts and Graphics International and can be found in design books including Hand & Eye and Picture Book by Angus Hyland (Pentagram).

I have chosen to analyse this piece of work because when I look at how she used collage and what it is supposed to be, I actually got quite confused because i can't seem to see how web and mail link with the images that are included in the collage. That was until I analysed it and realised that it is basically saying regardless whether your on the net or your sending mail by hand or via the net (with the eye at the bottom) someone is always watching you like how a crowd watches a car win a race (the racing car in the corner of the collage).

I looked at http://www.michelle-thompson.com/portfolio.asp, where i found a brief about her and it also include a paragraph of what she had said in an interview:

"Editorial work tends to be digital for speed but I still work by hand when the circumstances allow. More often it's a combination of techniques. I have a huge archive of elements collected over the past 15 years. Everything from postcards, books and magazines, to wood block type, typewriters and printing sets. I use paint and ink, pens and pencils, as well as my own photography.




The theme for this piece I think is supposed to be somewhat modern/realistic  because when I looked at her work, they were all similar in the sense that they both linked to what goes on in the world or to things that link with everyday life like web and mail.

I was inspired by this work because, despite my dislike for collage, Michelle managed to grab my attention with her collage illustrations and how she managed to en-tie reality with art and make it her own style and not like that of  Litchenstine or the other srtists involved with pop art and realism. I am now inspired to find out more about how to do online collages like that and hopefully gain another skill.  


I like everything about the pieces i found because of the use of colours she used and how she only applied colour to certain images and left the rest  of them in grey scale.  Also, the use of photography and how she managed to find or capture the perfect pictures that relate to the title of the collage she is working on. Absolutely phenomenal.