Studio Brief 2 - What is image making? FIELD TRIP

RAILWAY MUSEUM

The field trip was a great opportunity to practice all the elements we have learnt about across the year in visual language. The morning session, at the Railway Museum, enabled me to focus on quick studies, documenting my observations of form, shape and visual details. These were a great exercise in documenting key shapes, and considering how visual clues can infer absent elements. I am particularly pleased with the first drawing as I feel that the use of graphite marks to infer shapes worked well underneath line work to gesture the overall form of the train. 

While I don't think representational or accurate drawings are a strength of mine, I feel that I have learnt to apply methods of image making to infer form and details through gestural marks and lines. Working with graphite, pencil and chinagraph, I have been able to consider a hierarchy in line qualities, using heavier chinagraph marks to portray the details that characterise the subject matter. 

YORK PARK

Developing on the drawing skills we practiced in the morning session, I applied these to more sustained observations, considering compositional elements, omissions and drawing approaches. I think simplification was a key consideration across my drawings, considering which elements were necessary to portray the whole. Reducing information to basic forms and marks meant that I was able to gesture more complex forms through simplified imagery. The first park drawing demonstrates use of marks and lines to infer natural rock and tree forms, whilst using more figurative line work to reveal a person in the foreground and building in the background, introducing a sense of narrative. 

I feel that my second drawing, of abbey ruins, captures a real sense of the texture and tone of voice of the architecture, while not documenting it as a whole, rather focussing on the elements that characterise this. I think I had started this drawing with a more representational approach but altered this to take in more visual clues and gestural marks. On reflection, I think working with both detailed drawing and more reduced marks within a single picture area works to create hierarchy and value between components. Here, the darker tones work to draw attention to the opening in the abbey wall, while softer graphite marks document a wider context. 

REFLECTION

The field trip really encouraged me to practice approaches to image making within an observational task, forcing me to use these elements in a more inherent and organic way, rather than planning invented images around compositional features. To further enhance my consideration of image making approaches within my practice, I may look to carry out more observational drawings as starting points for my stylised developments as these have proved to encourage me to consider necessity over reality. 

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Studio Brief 3 - Persons of Note INTERVIEW NOTES

THE ONE SHOW, 2016

KEY QUOTES FROM INTERVIEW:

"She was opposite the bay window where I worked so I saw everything that went on"

-what curious activities could Miss S be getting on with? How might Alan be inspired by Miss S? How does Miss S distract Alan?

"She was very strong willed, she knew she was going to stay and she did stay"

- sense of stubborn character, how might the audience know something about Miss S that Alan doesn't?

"I would write it down, anything funny that happened"

-How could I exaggerate the mischief of Miss S?

"She used to irritate me to a great degree, she was a real pain"

-Sense of resentment and satire around the relationship?

"Observations of the quirks and strangenesses of people"

-How eccentric was Miss S? What quirks can be illustrated to reveal the whole?

NATIONAL THEATRE, 2015

"I was keeping an eye on her. It was interfering with my work"

-Sense of voyeurism, prying, pre-occupation

"I found out I was watching out for the blackbirds in the same was I was watching out for Miss Shepherd"

-Is Miss S part of the furniture? Does Alan become a carer figure? Pleasantly intrigued by her?

The main observations I have drawn from these two interviews is the role of Miss Shepherd as a sort of nuisance and distraction in Alan's life, yet one that it full of interest and intrigue, forcing Alan and Miss S to enter in a relationship of mutual wondering and voyeurism. I may look to explore this sense of observation and wondering within my initial sketches, considering how the relationship is informed by observations about one another's ways of being. 

Studio Brief 3 - Persons of Note ANALYSIS

1. JIM HENSON   

Career
- puppeteer/ cartoonist/ inventor/ film director/ screen writer
- creator of the Muppets
- developed characters for Sesame Street
- created puppets for Labyrinth
- created and played Kermit the Frog

Legacy
- Jim Henson Foundation
                                             - Jim hendon's Creature Shop
                                             - Hollywood Walk of Fame - Kermit
                                             - Disney

                                             Responses
                                             - 3D illustrations
                                             - character work
                                             - re-appropriation of imagery

2. ALFRED JARRY

Career
- writer/ playwright
- french literature
- coined concept of 'pataphysics'
- gained attention for prose and poems
- made woodcuts of his own characters
- literary works revolving around depiction of school teacher 'Pere Ubu'

Legacy
- pioneer in symbolist literature movement
- 'L'Ymagier' magazine

Responses
- interpretation of character and narrative
- stamps relating to journey of 'Pere Ubu'

3. ALAN BENNETT

Career
- playwright/ screen writer/ actor/ author
- Oxford Revue
- adaptation for stage
- collaboration with Dudley Moore, Jonathan Miller, Peter Cook for 'Beyond the Fringe'
- Lady lived in a van on his driveway for more that 15 years of his career

Legacy
-The Habit of Art
-The History Boys
-The Lady in the Van
-Beyond the Fringe

Responses
                                                       - interpretation of his relationship with van lady
                                                       -stamps relating to various characters of his work

REFLECTION AND CHOICE
From researching my given creatives, I've found out that all three are concerned with narrative and character. In light of their similarities, I've looked into their work more specifically and the visual work that already exists surrounding them. For Jim Henson's work, there is a plethora of visual material, with his work being mainly puppetry and character design. For Alfred Jarry, while his work is literature based, he has produced some wood-cuts of his characters. However, Alan Bennett's practice operates within a performance and audio context, with less visual ties. I have therefore chosen to work on the subject of Alan Bennett in order to push the development of my visual language. I intend to take inspiration from some of his texts and interviews and interpret these to form some initial sketches that consider his character and the characters he has created. 

PLAN
-Work through sketchbook to document initial ideas through roughs and sketches
-Read at least one text as a starting point
-Research Bennett as a person--- interviews?

Studio Brief 3 - Persons of Note SYNECDOCHE TASK

SYNECDOCHE
-a figure of speech in which a term for a part of something refers to the whole of something

PRODUCE AN A2 POSTER THAT COMMUNICATES A SUBJECT BASED ON AN ILLUSTRATION OF A RELEVANT SYNECDOCHE

This was a great exercise in encouraging us to think about visual clues and substitution of information. What can I say through alternative clues? I found it really useful to think about nick-naming, considering what it is about a person that gives them their name and how single elements can define the whole. Reducing these to single words or short phrases seemed to aid the immediacy of visual elements. 

Working through various synecdoches, I produced multiple roughs for each, considering compositional and stylistic devices. Choosing to work with the subject of Lizzie the lady with the hoop earrings, I focused my ideas on the word 'Hoops' and how this can be used to describe the object as well as the subject. Working to the given time frame, the outcome was not very refined, but ink enabled me to achieve a range of line qualities and marks that contributed towards a visually interesting outcome, perhaps allowing the fluidity of the brush strokes to compliment the form of the hoops.

If this was a more extended task, I think I would look at developing the composition of my poster but within the constraints of the brief, I feel the outcome effectively communicates a synecdoche, demonstrating the strength of visual clues in immediacy and message. 

Studio Brief 2 - Act of Kindness ILLUSTRATOR OUTCOMES

Developing on the tests I carried out earlier in the week, I have produced 3 final responses to the brief. Working to the adjustments I suggested in my previous reflections, I have made relevant alterations and also applied this practice to another of my designs. 

GIVE FLOWERS
I am really pleased with the refinements I have made to the tests, particularly within the flowers sticker. By making a minor adjustment to the scale of the central image, the design just makes much better use of the picture area and has so much more impact. Simultaneously, the adjustments to the text have also worked to further enhance the composition of the sticker by framing the central image. Re-phrasing the text to 'Give flowers, spread smiles' seems to suit the brief much more, encouraging an act of kindness by revealing the impact of that act. While 'give flowers' was direct and relevant to the imagery, I feel the new phrasing has helped the imagery to gain more meaning and becomes less generic in that way. 

WEAR JAZZY SOCKS
Considering the reflections made on my test version of this sticker, I have enhanced the sense of action created by the marks around the feet, simply by using the stroke adjustment on illustrator to achieve a bolder sense of movement and direction. I also adjusted the tone of orange as I felt the previous choice was too red and a little clashing with the blue tone. The new, warmer orange, seems to better compliment the overall design and in it's warmth and brighter tone, seems to echo the tone of voice of the design more appropriately. 

SHINE BRIGHT
I am particularly pleased with this sticker as I feel I have been able to translate my existing drawing aesthetic into vectors with a good level of consistency. This seems to demonstrate that vectors can be used to create soft and playful imagery as well as the angular and rigid forms commonly seen in vector based work.  I feel the consideration of the rule of thirds has worked effectively within this design to allow the face to attain focus but also direct some importance towards the text. This is also supported by the line of sight created by the gestural lines. 

 

Within both the 'shine bright' and 'give flowers' designs, I feel that the use of blending modes has benefited the designs by achieving a third tone. Not only does this work to add visual interest, it also achieves an aesthetic parallel with a screen-print outcome, maintaining tropes of an analogue approach. 

PEER FEEDBACK
From a group crit on our final outcomes, I received some good comments. Many of my peers complimented the use of overlays, suggesting that this enhanced the effect of the simple shapes. The colour palettes were also praised for being enhanced by opacity and blending modes. I received positive feedback on the level of reduction I had achieved with my shapes, however, it was suggested that the tapered lines could have been enhanced more to compliment the formality of the imagery. 

On the ideas side of things, my peers pointed out the playful sentiment in my imagery as being successful and supported well by the text, in particular within the sock sticker as they said the sense of action tied together the text and image with a dancing narrative. 

REFLECTION ON BRIEF
With the brief asking us to work with reduced forms in illustrator, I have identified some advantages and disadvantages of the programme and the brief. 

Illustrator is good for encouraging you to work with reduced information, considering the most basic forms to achieve sleek, simplistic illustrations. The brief therefore encouraged us to consider how we can communicate narratives through simplified visual clues. Illustrator is also beneficial in it's use of vectors as images are easily transferable across varying sized outlets. 

Alternatively, I did find it difficult to communicate more complex shapes as it is difficult to follow multiple paths and shapes as Illustrator seems to work with lots of separate components. I found that shapes and paths were wrestling with each other meaning that new anchors always wanted to default to existing paths. This made it difficult to work with overlapping shapes as I was not entirely in control of the path of these shapes. 

I would say that the complexity of illustrator made me feel like I wasn't competent enough with all stages of the process and so I relied heavily on trail and error for some elements. 

Studio Brief 2 - Act of Kindness ILLUSTRATOR TESTS

EXPERIMENTATION ON ILLUSTRATOR

I've tested out some of my initial designs using vector imagery on illustrator. As the brief asks for a vector-based outcome, I carried out my initial drawings and roughs taking into consideration reduced and simplified shapes. I have then been practicing the production of these shapes using vectors. The 'give flowers' sticker has worked effectively with uniform vector shapes as these have enabled me to achieve a consistency across forms, contributing towards a sleek and refined image. 

I also experimented with overlays to see how I could maximise the 2-colour palette. This has worked well to echo screen-print qualities, also I am unsure about how this works within this particular image as I feel the effect is too subtle. Perhaps this is an issue with scale though? I certainly think I would need to alter the scale of this image in order to maximise the composition through picture area. 

I also think my text may need altering, perhaps different phrasing would be more considered and reflective of the brief to 'encourage and act of kindness'. Why give flowers? Why is it kind? Spreading smiles? Sharing life and growth?

I have also explored the production of my 'jazzy socks' design. I found this design a little more difficult to produce, but now I have practiced using the pen tool, I should be able to create similar images more easily. I used the reflection copy tool in order to create two legs that were identical and symmetrical to one another. Within the given circular picture area, I feel that symmetry has here worked well to achieve a neat and refined aesthetic. The round form seems to suit a measured and structure composition which I feel is achieved well through a central and balanced composition. 

I have used the pen tool to add gestural marks to infer a dancing narrative. The pen tool was effective here as I was able to alter the stroke to create a gestural mark that offered a sense of action. To refine this image however, I would look to exaggerate these lines in order to portray a greater sense of movement.

I think a success of my roughs was the consideration of simplification and reduced forms as this has meant that I have been able to translate these images within he digital media while maintaining a consistent aesthetic.

PLAN

Explore vector developments of potential alternatives and explore refinements to these designs in order to make effective use of picture area and message. 

Studio Brief 2 - Acts of Kindness MONOPRINTING

STENCILS BASED ON OWN DESIGNS - PROBLEMS AND SUCCESSES

As a means of exploring simplification of my sticker designs, I created some basic templates from these to experiment with through mono-printing.  As we had been set the task of exploring our own designs through mono-print, I went to the session having already prepared my stencils, however, many of my peers created abstract stencils in session and just explored possible outcomes. While answering the brief by exploring my own designs, I did find that abstract shapes seemed to work more effectively as the images were not impacted by flipping or over printing in the same way that more specific shapes were. 

As I had created stencils that were slightly more illustrative than just abstract shapes, I did struggle at times to fully explore the possibilities of mono-print. The feet stencils seemed to work effectively as these could be rotated, flipped and overlayed, and still communicate. However, I did have more difficulties with the flowers stencil as this lost its form in certain prints. 

AESTHETIC VALUES

I found that first prints had a lovely clarity and crispness to them, but second prints and over-prints offered more textural outcomes. Mixing inks and over printing with different colours enabled me to explore interplays with colour and these achieved a lovely contrast against the crisp white areas blocked out my the stencils. The unique qualities provided by the analogue process meant that each outcome offered a unique aesthetic. This was effective in producing a range of very varied outcomes from one process. 

From this workshop, I was particularly inspired by the potential outcomes that could be achieved from just 2 or 3 colours, all determined by how they were overlayed and placed on the plate. I am interested to explore how similar interplays can be achieved in Illustrator in line with the constraints of the brief. 

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