Week 8-Illustration

On our first day in illustration we did some drawing techniques to help us get warmed up for the week. We did these in our sketchbooks and also on sugar paper and cartridge. We used media like felt pens and charcoal as well as ordinary graphite. We drew natural objects such as shells and pine cones but we also added some shoes into it after a while.
We used lots of techniques, such as only looking at the object, drawing with our eyes closed and feeling the object and also only using one line.

On the second day we started some work that would start of the project for the week. We started by drawing stuffed birds in our sketchbooks, again using lots of different techniques, like we had the day before. We moved around and drew three different birds all together, but we then chose one bird that we would work from for the rest of the day. We then had to draw that bird by working on the floor and using long sticks to control our media. I found this quite difficult and struggled to get anything good out of it, but my last couple of drawings were kind of okay. We did 4 drawings all in all.

We then made a model of the bird we had drawn, using newspaper and 2 of the drawings we didnt want to keep, so we used collage to make the bird look as much like the stuffed bird as possible. I found it difficult to get this started but once i got the shape done it got a lot easier, i just wish we had more time to do this so i could have got it finished before we moved onto the next step.

On the third and final day we created drawings from the model we had made the day before. We created images using lots of mixed media, such as collage, masking tape, ink, emulsion, chalk and graphite. We created 4 images on this day and i am proud of them all, but i think one could be improved a lot.

I really liked this week and it has definitely been my favourite week after fashion. I really liked it because even though it was similar to textiles, with all the drawing, i felt like i created better work and for some reason i enjoyed it more. It has also taught me how to use mixed media together a lot more and i think i will definitely use this again in the future.

Illustrators

Julie Morstad

I liked the work  by Julie Morstad because it is quite simple but still very eyecatching and interesting. I liked the top image because the object the girl is carrying looks like it should be a carrot or something like that but the artist has changed it up and made the shape look more like a diamond and also made it more girly by making them pink, so the picture all together is more girly and is changed completely.
I liked the second image because the children are on stilts and they are normally small next to everyone else, but this creates something different. It is also interesting because it is not very often, especially now, that you see groups of children wandering around on wooden stilts.
I really liked Julie Morstads style because it reminds me of illustrations from childrens books and i think this is what appealed to me.

Tom Schamp

As soon as i saw this work by Tom Schamp i was attracted to it straight away. This is because it is so busy and has a lot in it and i think you could look at it a number of times and still find something different in it that you havent seen before. I like how he must have spent so much time on this to make it look the way it does and evern though there are so many little bits in it, it all works together to create a really good piece of work. I also like how the bulidings and things arent exactly normal, for example in the bottom image their are giant cats and then a building with a womans face on, which you wouldnt see in real life and to me, this just makes it even more interesting.

Stina Wirsen

I liked this artists work because it is varied in what she does and i have proven that just in two images. The top image isvery fashion based and that is the area i love, so i would obviously be attracted to that. I then chose the second image because i think it is kind of cute, while still being interesting to look at. I like how the little monster creatures she has drawn all seem to link together but a lot of them have different expressions, some are angry and some are smiling and happy. I think by looking through her work you wouldnt think that it was all done by the same artist and this is what i like.

Anne-Lise Boutin

I liked this artists work because she uses a limited colour pallette but still has very effective outcomes. The top image really appealed to me because she has used complementary colours on a white background and even though a lot of the shapes are connected you can still see where they stop and start when you look properly and i think this works really well. I then liked the second image because it coud tell a story for some people and i like it when art work does this.

Cristian Turdera

This work appealed to me because it looks really worked into and looks 3D, where as a lot of the previous work i have seen and chosen for this post have been 2D and flat. I liked this because it is not what i normally think illustration to be so it is a change from the norm. The top picture is flatter than the bottom but it still looks a little more 3D than usual. I also liked them because they are very child like and although i am 18 i still like images like this.

Annie Wilkinson

This artists work appealed to me because i think they look like fairy tale images, but are a different take from the normal, traditional fairy tale images, which look very classical. The one word i can think to describe the images is 'floaty' even though there is nothing floating...
I also liked the images because they are simple compared to other work and there are exaggerated things on there. For example on the top image it is the flowers and on the second it is the girls hair. I think this adds to the image and makes it look more fun and appealing.

Sara Fanelli

I liked this piece of work by Sara Fanelli because the different kinds of typography make it very appealing and some of the colours, especially the red and the pink, are eye catching against the neutral background. I also like how the image is framed by a series of blue lines, because to me this is different from what you would see in a frame shop but i can still see the image hanging on a wall just the way it is now.
The other thing that appealed to me is that all the colours could be linked together quite well, e.g. the red, blue and white could be linked together by things like the union jack or american flag, but then the pink is just there on the end and sticks out and doesnt really link to the other colours, which makes you wonder why it stands out more than the rest. 

I also like this image because it is different from any other Orange advert i have seen. To me, orange adverts normally just consist of lots of black and orange but this one is really colourful while not being complicated, which i also think adds to the effect. I also think this could be quite inspirational to some people, by saying that a phone call doesn't have to be something boring, it can be something good that could change a persons life. 

Week 7-Graphics

In the morning of the first day of Graphics we did some theory, which is in another blog post. In the afternoon we worked on some typography. We were given products such as Marmite and bottles which had fonts on and were asked to do 3 thumbnails from each product we were given. We had 4 objects, so ended up with 12 thumbnails all in all. We then transferred one thumbnail from each product onto an A4 sheet of paper. We used a different method for each image.
These were:

• Graphite with a continuous line
• Oil Pastel
• Ink and sticks with opposite hand
• Shoe polish and masking tape

I really enjoyed this session and think the work i produced is some of the best from the whole 8 weeks, even though it was done in one afternoon.

On the second day we started the bulk project of the week. We were given six words and we had to try and put the words into a thumbnail in a way that shows what they mean, without drawing any images. The words we had were Collapse, Slither, Flowing, Detached, Consume and Stability.

We then made backgrounds for the words to go on. We used cuttings from magazines to create shapes in our sketch book, which we then enlarged on the photocopier to A4. We could photocopy them into colours aswell if we wanted, but we were limited to 4 colours, 2 of which were black and white. I photocopied the background a lot so i had a number of images for each background so i had variety and then could chose the one i liked the most.
The words i chose to use were Collapse, Detached, Flowing and Stability.

I enjoyed the graphics week more than i thought i would. I have always thought of graphics as more technical drawing  but i now know its nothing like that and is a lot more creative. I especially liked the typography session and as i have said, i think some of the best work i have produced has come from that afternoon.

Graphics Theory

6 of the main disciplines of graphic design are

• Advertising
• Editorial Design
• Typography
• Web Design
• Corporate Identity
• Signs and Symbols

The article i really liked reading was from Eye Magazine, called 'An Alphabetical Catwalk-Tania Prill’s student workshop translates typography into fashion'. I found this article very interesting because it links fashion which i love and graphics together, which you wouldnt neccessarily always link together. It also brings out other areas of graphics, rather than just working on a computer.
http://www.eyemagazine.com/blog/post/an-alphabetical-catwalk

One of the graphic designers that was exhbiting at the design museum this year was Dalton Maag, who was there for his font he designed for Nokia, called Nokia Pure. He designed this font 'to be a font that speaks with simplicity and yet over-flows with character, but is also effortlessly functional in a digital world'.  

Stefan Stagmeister

I really liked this piece of work by Stefan Stagmeister because it isnt what i think of when i think of graphic design. It incorporates nature into the image which you dont see very often in any artists work and to see it in graphics, to me, is very interesting. I also like how the foreground is different on each side, so their is a contrast between everything in the image; the colour of the cactus, the twigs of the tree and then the sillhouette of the cactus on the right.

Wim Crouwell

I liked this image by Wim Crouwell because i have to keep looking at it, just trying to figure out what it says. I think this makes it more interesting because sometimes with this kind of work once you have read it you know what it says and understand it, but with this it isnt possible and it needs to be looked over more than once.

Alan Fletcher

I liked this piece of work by Alan Fletcher because the letters are different from the norm but still look good together. I also liked how some of the letters are turned at an angle or arent shaped properly. For example, the N now looks like a Z and the C isnt all curved like people think it should be, but looks like a pie with a piece taken out of it.

Kris Sowersby

 I picked this image above the rest of his work because when i first looked at it, it just looked like a big block word, which doesnt really link in with the word 'love' as this should be more relaxed and calmer, but then when you look at it closer you see all the intricate design in the middle of each letter and also the swirls that are coming off the edges. I really liked this because it makes it look like it fits in with the word more and also shows how much time he has but into this piece of work, even with such a short word.

Pep Carrio


I liked this piece of work because it is really intricate but simple at the same time. Although it is just a series of lines, you can see that it will have taken him a while to complete it and could have been quite frustrating to do. I also like the image of the person in the bottom corner because i think this sets it off well and makes the lines look like they represent something, such as thoughts, rather than
just being lines.

Noma Bar

 

I liked this image by Noma Bar because it is so simple but he still manages to incorporate two images, so you can tell a lot of thought has gone into it. I also like how he makes work of the negative space and uses it in his work rather than just leaving it empty like some other artists do. I also like how the colours are really simple so that even the smallest red parts stand out well, where as if there was lots of colours in the image you wouldnt be able to see these as well.

 

 

Urso Chappell

 

I really liked this piece of work by Urso Chappell because it has a playful nature to it, without even having any movement and is just 5 characters on a page. The characters remind me of something you would see as a teddy bear for a child or something like that and that is why i like it.

 

Stanley Donwood

 

This piece of work caught my eye, not because i liked it but because i thought it seemed kind of scary and violent, whereas, to me anyway, graphic design always seems to seem friendly and like there is nothing bad about it, but then i came across this. The colours are like fire and the whole picture seems to have a negative feel about it. Although i do think it is a negative style of picture i do think it works well and i like it because it is different from what i have seen in my research for graphic design.

 

Tom Eckersley

 

 

I liked this piece of work by Tom Eckersley because it is like a full rainbow has been put into a picture, which i think looks really nice. I also like the fact that their is two sides to the person and one side is brighter, while the other side has cooler more pastel colours. I like this because i think it shows that there can be two sides to a person, even in art and graphic design.

 

Susan Kare

 

This image by Susan Kare appealed to me because it is so random and doesnt seem very serious, but it can also mean something at the same time. For example, i thought that it could show all of america working together because every image can be linked to the country, for example the flad and the presidents. I also like how their is another drawing at the top of the hearts that doesnt really fit in but somehow she has made it work.

 

Storm Thorgerson

 

I love this piece by Storm Thorgerson because it looks like he had a lot of fun making it because to me it looks like he just put some blobs of paint on a background and moved them around a little, which to me is fun, even though he probably spent hours making sure every little section was perfect. I also like it because you cant really tell what it is so you have to look at it more than once.

 

Since doing the graphics design week i have realised how much graphics is used in every day life and how different just a little line can make something. For example, i never realised how many different fonts their are on one product and how just a few flicks on some letters can make a whole different font. I have started noticing graphic design more now i know what it is about, because befor this week i had never had any kind of introduction to it before.

Week 6-Applied Arts

On our first day in applied arts we only had the afternoon to do some work as we had spent the morning in talks with ex-students at the college. We spent the afternoon drawing images to help design objects. We started off by having objects in front of us then making a view finder. We then placed the view finder onto the object and drew a line drawing of what we could see. We then drew in the same box but a different part of the object, to create some interesting shapes. We were then asked to pick an interesting shape and design something using that shape, whether it be some jewellery or another object.
I decided to design some jewellery.

On our second day we were in the workshop all day. Our task was to cover a wooden cube in metal that we had manipulated using the processes that were available to us in the workshop. These processes were:

• Rolling Mill-used to stretch metal, flatten it out more and can also add pattern.
• Fly Press-embosses metal by adding lots of pressure, requires plates of metal and rubber to withstand pressure. Wire is used to add patterns in metal.
• Foot Guillitine-used to cut metal
• Annealing Room-Using heat to make metal a dark cherry red, when it is added to acid and washed this gets rid of the colour but means that metal is more maluable.
• Pillar Drill-drills holes in metal.
• Using a hammer and different shaped chisels to add marks to metal
• Small Gas Torch-changes colour of metal by adding heat. Creates a look of oil in water.

I used all of the proccesses available except the Annealing room, the Drill and the Rolling Mill, just because it preffered the other processes more and liked the effects these created.

I enjoyed this week more than i thought i would. I had never worked in metal before i took part in the applied arts week and i thought working with it was interesting and also thought learning about all the processes was interesting too.

Week 5-Fine Art

In this week we started our first day by learning about metaphors in art work. Charles showed us an image, which i have inserted above and we had to try and figure out the metaphor. The metaphor is all about making sure a vehicle has the right tyres to get it to its correct power and achieve its best. We then had to create our own image using a metaphor onto a postcard size piece of card. The metaphors we used were from a song of our choice. We used collage to create our images and cut the shapes we needed out of magazines. The metaphor i chose was 'my heart is out at sea'.

On the second and third day we had Greg and the first thing he taught us was that 'fine art is useless' and that if you can do something with it, it isnt fine art. For example, a chair on its side is fine art because you can no longer sit on it. He then gave us a set of rules to follow over the 2 days that we had to follow in our work.
Those rules were:

• Explore colour and texture using a variety of materials
• Fill shapes internally and externally
• Try to use colour and texture to differentiate between sections
• Draw and paint around objects
• Do not try to invent anything, just use the shapes that are there.
• Try out as many different techniques as possible
• Overlay images
• Use all the paper
• Keep moving.

We then spent the next 2 days actually creating some fine art. For the first piece i wasnt really sure what to do so i just drew around a few objects and made a mess really, so i dont really like the first one i created.

For my second piece i worked mainly with the projector, so i got lots of big images on my paper rather than just small ones that i could draw around. I drew around the images in a black crayon, the lines stood out well but you couldnt see them from far away, which i liked. When i had finished drawing around the objects i decided to colour in just a few sections to make pieces stand out. I liked this image because you can tell that the coloured object is a toy skeletons ribs but you cant tell what the rest of the objects i drew are, so you have to look at it more than once.

My third piece was definitely my favourite. I took inspiration from a video that Greg showed us, where the artists paints an image then uses a squegee to drag the paint across the canvas. I didnt draw an image first but just squirted some paint on the paper. I then dragged it up and down the page to blend it together. I just used primary colours because i thought this would give it a brighter look. I then projected the animal skull onto it and drew around it in crayon. I then painted over the lines in emulsion and dragged this down the page a little as well, to make it blend in with the background but also stand out at the same time.

Once i got into it i enjoyed the fine art week and the final piece i created is definitely my favourite. I did find it a little difficult to get stuck in at first and as i have already mentioned, my first piece of work suffered a little because of this but once i had figured out how to place the objects on the page my work got a lot better.