Drawing in Excel Research

One of the tasks in order to create the book covers designs is to create a series of 9 images (3 for each book) using a spreadsheet program (e.g. Excel)

I have begun to research into Excel Drawing to gain some ideas on what i'd like my drawings to look like, as I have never experimented with this technique in the past. Excel includes the basic spreadsheet program options; text, colour, add a cell, delete a cell, format a cell etc. In order to research this, as well as reading and looking at the work of other artists, I have also watched some basic excel drawing videos/tutorials.

Furthermore, I will think carefully about colour schemes when designing my excel drawings; a specific colour that relates to the movie/book e.g. for Aladdin; the colour of Aladdins lamp (PANTONE 16-0836 TCX Rich Gold), the colour of the Genie (PANTONE 2190 CP) and/or the colour of Princess Jasmines outfit (PANTONE 2398 XGC)

                   

                  

I have been inspired by the work of Danielle Aubert; the series of 58 drawings that she designed, she created one drawing everyday for 2 months. Each drawing is in a new 'worksheet,' which is automatically set up as a grid. These are some of my favourite drawings out of the 58. I loved the abstract aesthetic of her drawings. I also liked how some drawings were more illustrative, where as some were just made from repeated shape and pattern, I love the simplicity in those particular drawings (example is the second image) I also want to create my drawings in an abstract way using the idea of shape and pattern.

Another artist that works similar to Danielle Aubert, in terms of the pixelated aesthetic is Paulova. I discovered Paulova through an article on Itsnicethat; Miscellaneous: UFOs invade Paulova’s apocalyptic, pixelated image. This project is a continuation from her 2011 Damas de Primavera. I loved the idea of placing a UFO into the casual setting (animal farm, lakes, fields), it adds quirkiness and humour to the designs. I also enjoy all the intricate detailing that she adds into all the characters and the scenery in the designs. However, I think creating drawings similar to this would be extremely challenging and time consuming, but the illustrative aesthetic is something that I will introduce into my drawings.