Paper Crafting

Taking the ideas from one of my drawings I have tried to demonstrate an 'unravelling' and binding of a feminine figure - incorporating the fig tree element and how Sylvia Plath felt about that analogy. I think my main poster design will probably consist of things I find in her novel, 'The Bell Jar' as it depicts certain autobiographical aspects within it which may help me to summarise her as a person through its imagery.

Sylvia (2003) - Film

Whilst watching Sylvia (2003) I did my best to draw all relevant scenes and any useful imagery that would have been present in Sylvia Plath's life, according to the film. As expected, the film had a very sad undertone and although I knew what was coming at the end I still felt a sense of shock when it was over. Something I didn't know about was the turbulence of her relationship with Ted Hughes and the way he treated her throughout their marriage. I think if the same situation had happened today, Sylvia would have felt she had many more options - the film captured her feeling of entrapment and lack of choice which she speaks about so often in her poems and writings.

Poems

I read a lot of Sylvia Plath's poems and I know that a big part of where I pull my imagery from will be from the parts of these which I find most poignant.

When watching the film, Plath's most well-known poems where mentioned and I liked being able to hear them read out loud with a certain passion and frustration behind them. Particularly, I noticed this when 'Daddy' was read out as a monologue.

Lady Lazarus

This probably explains the tragedy of Sylvia Plath's life the most out of the collection I have looked at so far. I was intrigued by the analogy of using 'Lazarus' as a metaphor for her own life and her explanation of the events that ultimately would lead to her death.

Ariel

Winter Trees

Words

Shorter poems are often clearer in the message and more concentrated in what they are talking about - usually a simple moment. May be easier for me to translate, use these moments for postcard designs?

Love Letter

Mirror

My favourite poems in regards to finding imagery that I  would be excited to explore and somehow illustrate were 'Love Letter' and 'Mirror'. Both of them are fairly short compared to Plath's more famous poems, but packed with lots of imagery.

Fig Tree Imagery

I have started to take imagery from the texts - especially relevant analogies, which highlight certain feelings and ideas held by Sylvia Plath. So far, I have focused on the fig tree analogy I found in 'The Bell jar' novel, I think this shows certain ideas of the time especially with attitudes towards women and the choices they were able to make. After looking at general shapes of the branches of a fig tree I have started to incorporate figure and pattern to illustrate certain ideas.

Andy Singleton Lecture

 http://andysingleton.co.uk

After the lecture today I felt really inspired about my own work and what materials I might consider. I had already bought a huge batch of different coloured paper from the library shop in preparation for the Easter break, as I enjoyed including paper cuts in my gif work and book project I knew this project would be a great opportunity to explore this area a bit more.

Andy spoke about his transition from 2D work and paper cutting into 3D, bigger scale pieces. I really enjoyed looking at the detail which he captures in his work. He gave some advice to all of us which was to make things happen ourselves, if we want to do something then we should do it - just like he did with his exhibition in New York through kickstarter. I also thought a lot about taking my time with things after the lecture, he has great success now but it was a fairly long process and he gave himself time to learn about where his strengths were and what he could excel in. I especially liked the shop window designs and the ideas behind each one.

The Fig Tree - Sylvia Plath

I had a look in the library for any books written by Sylvia Plath, I found her only novel - 'The Bell Jar', and 'Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams'. I am completely fascinated by this woman and the way she saw the world. I aim to read 'The Bell Jar' all the way through as it's not too long and I love to read in general. I had a skim through already and found some really interesting quotes already. In particular, the analogy of the fig tree really jumped out at me - it resonates with me and my own life, although probably not in the same way.

Even in this day and age I feel like we are pushed to choose just one path, people forget that it is possible to be more than one thing. Also, the idea of waiting around for a decision and realising it's too late is something I think rings a bell with all of us - sometimes it is better to just do things.. whether you are ready or not. That is what life is about and what makes it so exciting!

Persons of Note - Choosing a Person

Elizabeth David, Nikola Tesla and Sylvia Plath

When I was given my three 'Persons of note' I was not very familiar with any of the names - Apart from Tesla but only because he was on the presentation of examples from previous students' work. I was already very intrigued when Matt asked what I thought of him giving me Sylvia Plath. After having a brief look at all three of them, who they were, moments that defined their lives and how they saw the world, I am already pretty sure who I would like to focus my work on.

Bjorn Rune Lie

https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/468726273698906584/

https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/468726273698915989/

From Matt's presentation I was interested in the images that showed many different elements of a place and a narrative that could be worked out within them. I am very excited at the prospect of being able to work with any media for this brief, so I want to consider shape and colour as much as I can. Bjorn Rune Lie's work appealed to me as I enjoyed the way he doesn't necessarily need to use character to put an idea across, my favourite image (top of the page) demonstrates a collection of architecture and atmosphere of a place without the use of a full character design for a figure. The little stick men in the distance add to the hustle and bustle, whereas the focus of the image as a whole is on the smoke coming out of the chimneys in the buildings - this may be highlighting certain aspects of that place.

Workshop Task - Gary Oldman

As I have a deep and profound love for Gary Oldman, when Matt set the task to illustrate a famous person without using their face, there was only one man I could have chosen. However, as lovely as he is I could not for the life of me think of a particular action that I could illustrate in context to the task. The only thing I kept coming back to was his glasses and moustache, that he seems to have in never enough every photograph as him just being himself - not a character.

Final Crit - Feedback on Final Designs

All the feedback I got today was near enough expected, although I did get some helpful suggestions - of course it is too late to change anything now! I would have probably liked to have spent more time with colour, using less grey mid tones in replacement for some more interesting combinations, but overall I am very happy with the final images.

I am very excited to not have to use vectors in the next brief - although I did enjoy using them a lot towards the beginning I am getting sick of staring at a computer screen! Hasta la vista vectors, at least for a good while!

OUIL404 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 into your own practice?

• This module as a whole has helped me greatly with experimentation and how I approach projects. In particular, using shape and more recently, composition has greatly informed my practice - especially in the book project, gifs and vectors.
• It has been a bit of a love/hate relationship as I used to think it just got in the way of studio briefs, but I have really started to notice the benefits and a difference in the way I approach tasks in response to these sessions.
• Learning to organise my time between all the different modules and to blog as I go along - like a diary, to record, reflect and evaluate fresh thoughts of what I have learned to myself throughout the day.

2. Which principles/theories of image making have you found most valuable during this module and how effectively do you think you are employing these within your own practice?

• Drawing through ideas and not worrying about what it looks like has been something I learned and am becoming more comfortable with during this module. To start with I was very much concerned with the aesthetic and technical ability shown within my work - now I am trying to focus more on ideas, concepts and feelings I can combine with my existing skills.
• Working within a frame and cropping imagery to fit that frame is something I am getting used and doing more often since the sessions.

3. What strengths can you identity within your Visual Language submission, and how can you capitalise on these?

• Roughing is something I have learned helps me a lot with making sense of ideas and how I can compose an image effectively. This process has been particularly helpful when working fairly quickly, especially in workshops.
• To generally be more explorative with media and open my mind to different ways of working - I am genuinely excited by the things I have learned and understood about how we can portray an idea/feeling and feel prepared for the next phase.

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

• I think I could have spent more time with the tasks set in this module, especially towards the end. Studio briefs always seemed to take priority over work set so sometimes I felt a bit rushed. In future, I will remember to dedicate specific time rather than just trying to get it over and done with - although this way of thinking has helped me with not being so concerned with detail of an image.
• This may sound silly but the hardback A3 sketchbook was fairly difficult for me to work with because it was so big and it didn't fit in my bag, so I didn't take it home much which is where I feel like my initial ideas grow - Following this I have found that I prefer to work with an A4 soft sketchbook, I also feel less precious about working in these.

5. In what way has this module informed how you deconstruct and analyse artwork (whether your own or that of contemporary practitioners)?

• Looking at other practitioners' work has made me reflect on my own work and how I can make it more effective as illustration that speaks to people - not just a pretty picture, but something that can evoke a reaction from an audience.
• Learning things like line of sight, depth and value has made me realise why certain illustration is successful and this is slowly sinking in, hopefully worming its way into my own practice.

Final Designs - Colour

I decided to make a compromise with myself and have a mainly black and white colour scheme with an accent of blue throughout all four designs. I think the grey tones highlight the lack of life found at the places I have chosen. The blue was added to highlight small areas of the image - I think this makes it a bit more dynamic to look at. If I were to do this again I would definitely have looked at colour a bit earlier on, and started working with it from the beginning. To only think about it during the last stages is a bit daunting, especially when I am just trying to work my way around Adobe illustrator as well.

Printing out properly in the reprographics room really paid off. I tried a few print outs using the studio printer and every time it was either slightly green or really blurry. The computers downstairs printed at the exact colours I had on screen. YAY - So ready for Monday and it's only Friday!!

To Colour or not to Colour? That is the Question

I am in two minds whether to colour my images or not! As abandonment is my theme a black and white scheme could highlight the bleakness I want to put across. I feel like I need a bit more practice as how to colour things in Illustrator and how colours can work together to create a tone. I may try making a palette of colours first to work with and then going ahead and trying them, may be less daunting. 

Problems with colouring on Illustrator

Using a palette I made myself on Photoshop, I started trying them out on my existing designs. For some designs, like the one with the crack in the floor, colouring was quite easy and effective straight away - but when I tried this with some others it was a lot more difficult. In particular, the car/tree design gave me soooo many problems when I tried to colour separate elements. The car is made up of quite a few different layers of tone, so I found it difficult to colour these all together and when I did it didn't look as bleak - it looked more like a children's advertisement or something. So eventually I thought i would think of something a bit more subtle that could work for all four postcards.

Colour Palette Task

For this task I chose an outfit with certain colours that I like in general and that would compliment each other. I realised I don't actually own many colourful clothes so I had a route around in mine and my flatmates wardrobe to find a selection I would be happy with. I actually quite enjoying picking out the colours that make up the outfit, I like the mixture of dull and bright colours.

Tints

Tried a few tints but I feel like if I am going to do this then I make as well do them black and white, creates more of a contrast! - Do not like this. It is driving me a bit crazy because I know that colour is something I am terrible at and I should have thought about this more when initially designing my roughs! At least next time we have a similar project i can invest a bit more time into this aspect of it.