3D & Lens Task

Initial Ideas

For the Visual Language task over this week I decided to focus on the mutation/super power of having wings/flight, which is the power I would most like to have, as well as being able to be invisible but that would be a bit difficult to include a human form. I thought about just placing clothes in a room with invisible thread to look like the body form had disappeared, but that would not be sticking to the rules of the brief.

Making the wings

This was the most time consuming thing. I probably could have just used real feathers but I liked the authorship I had over the wing and the crispness of the paper cut outs. Because I had more time this week to dedicate to other things I spent way more time on Visual Language than I usually have a chance to do. I enjoyed the process of making something with my hands, painting and then placing the feathers.

Taking the Photograph

I took sooo many photos throughout the day. I had set aside one day in particular just to take the picture, making the wings took up most of the week! This was mostly due to the fact that I have already done most of my CoP essay. At the start of the day it didn't look promising as the weather was awful. I took some pictures inside the house in front of the window but it didn't have the same effect as actually sitting in the tree.

The weather brightened up around midday so I had a stroll down to the park near my Dad's house in Lowdham. At first I felt like a bit of a wally sat on my own wearing paper wings taking photographs with the odd passer-by and their dog. I eventually found a good spot on an old tree we used to climb as children, so I knew it was possible to get up there!

End of Module Evaluation

1. Which practical skills and methodologies have you developed within this module and how effectively do you think you are employing them within your own practice?

• Combining collage with drawing is something I am very new to, I definitely want to introduce this more into my practice. Continuing to play around with media gives me a choice of where I can go in future projects.
• I have really embraced blogging in this module. Getting my ideas out of my head into more frequent, concise posts helped me to organise, project my ideas and develop further without confusion. This helped me to keep a clear head amongst such busy projects.

2. Which approaches to research have you found most valuable during this module. How have you interrogated your research to identify appropriate ideas?

• Drawing through thinking is something I have become accustom to, I found that actually drawing every little initial idea that came into my head led on to further finalised designs.
• Secondary research such as drawing from film, reading books and searching the Internet is something I started on Art Foundation. I got into the habit of drawing whilst watching films that inspire me, or make me feel a certain way. Looking at the different frames and angles found in particular film genres has helped me to visualise perspectives in my work.
• Talking to people, going to places and experiencing things for myself is what I enjoy most when it comes to research. I was introduced to some great people with incredible stories. I like being able to understand someone's personal experiences of a certain event/time period and then reflecting the tone of this in my image making.

3. What strengths can you identify within your submission and how have you capitalised on these? What aspects of your submission are you satisfied with?

• I feel that I have got better at researching in general. I genuinely enjoy the exploration and crucial development that relevant research can give to a project.
• Experimentation with media and compositions has been really beneficial for my own personal practice. This module has been a turning point for me in the way I approach a brief and the relevance of the media I use.
• I am slowly getting better at thinking more about ideas behind an image, rather than just focusing solely on the artwork with little thought for why I am making the image.

4. What areas for further development can you identify within your submission and how will you address these in the future?

• Continuing to develop ideas and treating a project like a journey, not just focusing solely on the finished product. I always find this the most difficult part of a project and want to learn how to make my ideas more concise and clear to an audience.
• Knowing when to move forward with an idea is something I also have struggled with in this module. I found that even though I had material I could have easily moved forward with, I continued to discover new things about my subject matter - most of which I did not use.
• Developing practical skills is an ongoing process and something I am constantly trying to achieve, with each drawing/image I learn something new.

5. How effectively are you making decisions about the development of your work? What strategies inform this decision making?

• Storyboarding quite early on was very helpful for me. Drawing out different ideas for narratives ultimately helped me to whittle it down to the final plan of what I wanted to include in the final picture book. This also helped me not to get attached to an initial idea.
• In a similar way, roughing ideas and making mini mock-ups of ideas helped. Although I did not see the true relevance at the time, it was very useful later on and I found that I was incorporating ideas from this stage into my final design.
• Peer and Tutorial feedback also helped me to recognise what direction would be the best to go in.

6. How effectively have you managed this project and organised yourself during this module?

• I did use the timetable we drew up towards the beginning, but I did start to get side tracked as the time went on and I started getting a bit carried away with researching and testing. Luckily, I had plenty of material to work with from this exploration. More time spent on research and experimentation was good opportunity to play.
• Having a lot to do nearer the end was quite stressful. This came with the decision to cut out the shapes manually rather than relying on Photoshop. Overall, I was happy with this decision and it has led me to think about making imagery in a different way. I found that shape has helped me to visualise something personally rather than just relying on a representational approach.

Printed Book - Left Behind

I am pretty happy with the overall aesthetic of my finished book. Although I experienced a couple of problems when cutting it down, as the page were all different sizes when folded together it chopped a very small amount off the edge of some of my imagery. However, I don't think this is very noticeable and I expected it to be worse. 

Above are my favourite pages from the book, I especially enjoyed the ones I did nearer to the end of the project, they have more of an abstract look to them and are quite different to the way I usually work.

Stitching the book with red thread instead of stapling was a decision I made due to having experience doing this before hand, I think it gives it more of a authentic finish.

I had a bit of time before the module hand in so because I am a bit of a perfectionist I thought I may as well change a couple of pages to fit the frame a bit better. This time round I managed to fit all imagery into the page even when it was cut down.

Final Imagery

Front and Back

End Page and Page 1

Pages 2 and 3

Pages 4 and 5

Pages 6 and 7

Pages 8 and 9

Pages 10 and 11

Page 12

Resolved Imagery before Print

I feel like I have put a lot of effort into this project and for me it has been incredibly experimental, more than usual. I really wanted to start pushing myself out the ways in which I usually work and discover different ways I can approach a project. Not just reaching for a fine liner, but trying a range of media. Because I have been staring at the same images for a long while, I am not completely sure whether I like them anymore - I think I will be able to tell more clearly when they are printed. However, the most important part of this project was the moment when I started trying collage and texture and stepping away from completely two-dimensional processes. The lessons I have learnt from these experiments I will develop/carry with me in future projects. I am very excited to progress in the course in the frame of mind of freedom and play!

Collage Process

The process of using collage and drawings was a very time consuming one. At points I got a bit frustrated because it was harder to test imagery before actually making the final pages, due to the amount of time it took to cut out shapes for just one. I would have liked to test depth and shadow a bit more, as well as drawing or painting over the top of the textures in different ways. I kind of just stuck to one way of producing the textures due to being a bit rushed, especially towards printing.

This technique was very enjoyable and although it took a lot of concentration in a small amount of time, I think if I had more time to spend with the media I could really start to make it a frequent part of my practice.

The Invisible Kingdom - Rob Ryan

http://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/rob-ryan-the-invisible-kingdom

I got a few books out the library for some contextual research. The way that Rob Ryan uses shapes and cut paper to create dynamic images and compositions influenced me greatly in my decision-making, especially when it comes to my choice of media. I also really liked the colour schemes used throughout the book and how the illustrations hint at the narrative of the story without giving too much away to the reader. As well as great illustration, I am currently enjoying reading the book as a whole.

Page 12

Problems with the last page

I wasn't very happy with the last page of content when I put all the images together on Photoshop to see how they would work as a set. At first I thought this was down to the shape of her hair, it was a bit too geometric for my liking. I cut out the collage shape for the hair again but with softer, less blocky lines. Although the image in itself looked a lot better I still didn't like it as a last page. I felt that my idea to include an emotive aspect was not fulfilled by it as an ending.

I then decided to condense down the imagery and just include one figure of the little girl walking away, slightly older, still carrying her teddy bear that her father had left behind with her. This creates more of a tone to the piece and I think the simplicity is more effective.

What type of Collage?

Digital vs. Analog

Whilst I was experimenting with media I decided to try digital collage. I really liked the mixture of shape and drawn elements, but when I printed a page to see the quality in a physical format the shapes looked really flat. I think this was probably due to the simplicity of the shapes I have used so far. Really hating the lack of authenticity I tried the same technique but actually cutting out shapes from the textures I created with a scalpel.

I much preferred the aesthetic of this technique in print, it feels more authentic and the hints of a drop shadow in places add to the depth of the imagery. At first I was a bit annoyed because I knew I would probably prefer the outcome and a more hands-on approach. However, this is much more time consuming so it has taken me a lot longer to produce imagery to the standard I want. Intricate images are a lot harder because each little bit has to be cut out, scanned in and placed.

A Monster Calls - Jim Kay

https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/430656783097500737/

https://www.youtube.com/watch/?v=iEX5g6c7ueE

I took this out of the library mainly to read the story, I thought the cover was very intriguing and I tend to like stories that have a bit of a darker edge. I then noticed that the illustrations were done by one of my favourite illustrators, Jim Kay. So actually, learning this, I was probably drawn to the book because I recognised the visual signature of the artwork.

Throughout, there is a tone and atmosphere depicted by the subtlety and sometimes dramatisation of the imagery.

Choosing the Title

After a conversation with Jamie I started thinking about what I could use as a title for my book. As there is no writing included in the actual book I wanted the title to describe the tone of the visual narrative found in the images. Using something that can be picked out of a sentence or conversation worked well for describing the tone of the story, the term 'left behind' hints at what is happening in the story without being too obvious.

Storyboarding

Challenges

So far I have found storyboarding to be the most challenging aspect of the whole process leading up to making the book. Today I was stuck in a bit of a rut, I couldn't figure out how to position my images so they worked as a whole whilst still including detail and an atmosphere. At this stage, I have changed the format of how I want to present the final picture book. Instead of a concertina I think a saddle stitch would be more appropriate for the kind of narrative and difference in pages.

After a chat with Matt, it was obvious that I was taking on too many of the stories I had gathered during the research period. A book of 12 pages doesn't need such an elaborate narrative, I think this was due to my own love of books and stories. I wanted to include some of the great things I found out, but as soon as I realised no one would be able to make sense of what I was trying to say with my images, I was able to let certain elements go and condense down into a more concise plan of action.

My final layout for the storyboard took me a while to design, I went through many different ideas before I arrived at this. Most of them I only changed slightly each time, but I wanted to make sure I had everything in place before I started making final imagery.

Group Crit

Issues discussed at the tutorial

Background - Watercolour gradient to add depth? White seems stark/flat. Try overcast/clouds/rain.

Red splattering may look a bit horror themed - What/how do I want the reader to feel afterwards? Scared, angry, sad? - Maybe use of rain.

Really good that the storyboard has been nailed down - Can now focus on media experimentation.

Student Action

Continue experimenting with texture, background, Photoshop. Try to make a few book mock-ups - not just pages.

What I gained from the session

I found the crit today really useful. Until now I have felt that spent a lot of time alone with my project so far, and it was nice to see what other people's reactions to my ideas were. Using materials I am not too familiar with has made me take more risks and step out of my comfort zone. Through this experimentation, I now have a clear direction of where I want to take this project and how I am able to do that, not just limiting myself to one media but opening myself up to a range of possibilities.

Texture

I got some textures down on A3 paper in a variety of materials to see what I could create in regards to the atmosphere I wanted to convey. I got this technique from the Visual Language session where we did a similar thing to make a self portrait. My own interpretation in regards to this project was to replicate textures found in either warfare or around a city/streets. I found the process of this very freeing - I liked working out of the limitations of my sketchbook.