Mono Print Induction

Textures 

I had a lot of fun playing around in the print room this morning, I used most of the time just experimenting with textures and very simple stencil shapes. Using mono print textures is something I may well end up using! Maybe along with paper cut techniques or maybe even cutting shapes out digitally.

Software Workshop 3

First Image Positives

I used a spot colour channel to add a layer behind the original tonal image so that if I was to screen print, colours would overlap to potentially create a third colour. I guessed a little bit when making the positives but I think I have cracked it! I didn't end up putting them into illustrator but fingers crossed it works with Photoshop. When I printed them out the dots on the first layer seem very small, I need to find out if this will actually work when I expose it on the screen.

Second Image Positives

I eventually decided on setting the main layer pixels at 50 and the tone layer pixels at 30. hopefully this will work when it comes to screen printing! I made the elements within the frame a bit bigger so it fit well in an A4 document which has seemed to work better.

Thinking about Concertina

Play Genres

COMEDY	TRAGEDY	HISTORY
All’s Well That Ends Well	Antony and Cleopatra	Henry IV, Part One
As You Like It	Coriolanus	Henry IV, Part Two
The Comedy of Errors	Cymbeline	Henry V
Love’s Labour’s Lost	Hamlet	Henry VI, Part One
Measure for Measure	Julius Caesar	Henry VI, Part Two
The Merchant of Venice	King Lear	Henry VI, Part Three
The Merry Wives of Windsor	Macbeth	Henry VIII
A Midsummer Night’s Dream	Othello	King John
Much Ado about Nothing	Romeo and Juliet	Richard II
Pericles, Prince of Tyre	Timon of Athens	Richard III
The Taming of the Shrew	Titus Andronicus
The Tempest	Troilus and Cressida
Twelfth Night
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
The Winter’s Tale

Mono-print Testing

Today I had a quick trip to the print room just to have a bit of a play around with mono-printing. I had forgotten how to do it so I thought I would ask my friend Meg (who prints for nearly every brief) the basics of how to create texture and the techniques available. I know we will have inductions soon but as I had a bit of free time I thought I may as well.

I actually really enjoyed the process of printing and getting my hands dirty! The only annoying thing was having to clean everything afterwards. I think if I could have stayed in the print room longer I wouldn't have minded as much but I had to go back upstairs for my crit.

Group Crit

Today was really encouraging for me. I didn't know if the ideas I had were good enough to take forward but didn't want to spend ages drawing out roughs when they were all quite similar. Talking to Ben, Alicja, Jay and Shelly helped me to distinguish which idea to focus on and develop further. They all seemed to think that focusing on the theme of light to dark was a good way to go.

Software Workshop 3

Learning more about Half Tones - Bitmap 65, Round pixels

In this session I wanted to play around with images I already had, just to see how it would work with images that are predominantly tonal (eg. paper cut and texture). I didn't realise it was so easy to do! Screen printing is something I wasn't sure about, just because I like to work with tone and texture, but now I know bitmapping techniques I am excited to try this out.

Using a bitmap frequency of 65 I am still able to keep the detail and texture which is great!

Adding Spot Colour

The process of adding shapes of colour is really fun, I like how the tones and textures are still visible which could make an interesting screen print.

Positives

Visualising Colour on screen

I found out how to see potential colour schemes on screen - by making a new document on Photoshop and pasting layers in.

Light to Dark

As I want to make a concertina I thought it may be interesting if I highlight the diversity of Shakespeare's plays going from light to dark, from comedy to tragedy. I am very excited by this idea and think I could have a lot of fun playing around with the amounts of the two colours I use, and a gradual change of atmosphere for each of the double page spreads whilst still embracing a theatrical undertone.

Eiko Ojala

https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/161355599128484615/

https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/432416001705124902/

HOW...

I am actually blown away! My buddy Shelly told me about Eiko Ojala's work which I have actually come across before. HOWEVER, at the time I did not realise that they were created digitally. As a huge fan of the cut paper aesthetic this literally blew my mind, is there a way of learning how to do things like this?! Crazy digital skills! I want to develop my own this year alongside my analog work, I like work that is created using both.

Software Workshop 2

Spot Channels

Using the colour picker in grayscale to select tones of the same colour - turn solidarity up to 100%, then select different tones of grey on the colour layer to change the tone.

Tints of Tone

Changing the colours via the spot channel selected - this may be useful when deciding which colours I should use for the book, I want to decide soon which two colours to use so I can visualise the things I want to make more easily as my ideas progress.

Final Image and Positives

Illustrator - Half Tones

Half tones dots - 60 very fine dots (maximum)

Working with just one channel for a two colour print

Smaller number = larger dots

Image - Mode - Bitmap

Play around with frequency on the half tone screen

Study Task 1 - What is the problem? Pt.2

Fur for Animals

What problem(s) are identified by the brief?

Fur trade is still a big problem in the fashion industry, especially in China and Russia - 100 million animals are killed every year to supply high-end high street garments.

What is the brief asking you to do about it/them?

Create content (images/video) for an online anti-fur campaign and get involved in the discussion by raising awareness of it.

What is the brief trying to achieve?

A campaign that can make people care about an issue that is so far removed from their everyday lives, used by a social platform and spread to a wide audience.

Who will benefit?
Hopefully the animals in question, and of course the people who want to put an end to large high end fashion companies using animal fur in there collections.

What is the message?
Use and trade of real animal fur is inhumane and unnecessary when there are so many other alternatives nowadays.

Who is the audience?
The world, the aim is for the campaign to reach a global audience especially to places where the fur trade is still thriving eg. China and Russia.

How will the message be delivered?
Almost entirely through social media - mobile phones, laptops, etc. Hopefully people feeling passionately enough about the campaign to share it on there own social platforms, therefore ensuring a reach to a large audience in a short amount of time.

Can you foresee any problems in responding to the brief?
My own personal practice is not very technical so I may need to either develop my digital skills or get the help of someone who has a bit more knowledge of website formats, etc.

Study Task 1 - What is the problem? Pt.1

Chosen Briefs

1. YCN - Fedrigoni

2. D&AD - Fur for Animals
3. D&AD - Amazon

To what extent the briefs will allow you to meet your criteria for success within the module

I feel like all the briefs will develop my practice in different ways. The Amazon brief may potentially help me with my digital skills when making imagery - I really want to look into how to effectively use vectors (how to add textures etc).

To what extent the briefs will benefit you with regards to the value of entering competition briefs

The briefs I have chosen would all challenge me to move my practice forward in order to work in a commercial setting for real audiences. Also I will be able to work with new techniques to fit the requirements of what is being asked.

Identify any technical or skills challenges that may need addressing
A problem that may arise with at least one of these briefs (in particular Fur for animals) is that they require knowledge of branding, advertising, etc. which may mean that a collaboration with a Graphic Designer may be useful - making sure the imagery works for a digital viewer.

The Book Illustration Competition - House of Illustration/Folio Society

Brief

Book - Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

Deadline 16th January 2017

Illustrate three images, each of a different scene from the book (portrait)

Design a binding

This brief looks like it would suit my interests very well! I got very excited while reading it as it seems feasible that I may actually be able to do it as the date for the deadline etc are all okay, and the competition is open now. I love visual narrative and reading in general so this seems perfect for where I would like to take my practice within the responsive module.

Individual Pages - Imagery

Composition

Dividing up the pages within my initial concertina designs has helped me to differentiate the pages and work on them in more detail. Repetition of the same idea multiple times let me test out composition and where I want to place things around and within the frame. I think as I progress using this process, I will scale the roughs up to work on the scale I actually want them to be, maybe even larger to get more detail in there.

Thoughts on Roughing

Although drawing out the roughs is helpful to decide what imagery I want to print, I can't wait to get started. I generally do enjoy roughing - I feel a bit stuck in my own head if I just sit and draw thumbnails all the time. I really want to get my hands dirty!

Competition Briefs of Interest

D & AD Briefs

Adobe - Three Poster designs or prints

I am interested in this brief as it seems quite open (can select the target audience), images should speak for themselves like in an editorial brief which is something I want to improve on in my own practice. Producing three prints doesn’t seem like too much of a work load and is something I could manage alongside other projects.

Amazon - Create content for AmazonFresh

This brief looked really exciting because it is based around food! I think I would have a lot of fun playing around with media and content. I also like how the brief requires evidence of creative process too, so may encourage my love of working practically rather than completely digitally. I feel like this project would be a lot of fun, and again isn’t too much of a work load.

Fur for Animals - Campaign for a digital world

I like the ethics involved in this brief. Although it is a bit vague I feel like I would enjoy creating ideas based around a topic I genuinely care about. Again research and development have to be included in the entry which is a plus for me.

YCN Briefs - Past briefs

Royal Opera House - Encourage young people to experience Opera for the first time

I was drawn to this brief because of my interest in all things theatrical. I would enjoy researching this topic and visualising ways in which I can make Opera appeal to a younger audience. The brief is fairly open to interpretation which I like as there is a constant theme that draws you back to what they are asking for.

Fedrigoni - Creatively use paper to promote our new retail space

My love of paper art/textures drew me to this brief. I feel like my way of working would suit this very well, I would really enjoy experimenting and playing around with paper to create interesting and exciting imagery. This brief also helps you out by providing a paper sample pack of what The London Graphic Centre/The Imaginative Papers Shop sell which I think would be very useful when starting to develop imagery from their paper.

Concertina Roughs/Ideas

Initial Ideas

I had some ideas of what I wanted to play around with, especially within the composition, for my concertina book. Roughing really helps me to visualise where I can change and improve elements within the frame. I am looking forward to experimenting around each of the pages and playing around more with layout.

I want my concertina book to have distinct pages but will also design it so they flow into one another as one long image.

Software Workshop 1

Overlapping Colour

The effects we created with overlapping the colours with the multiply tool was very useful, its nice to be able to see what the colours will look like before actually printing. I could experiment with the block colour and white, especially around the legs (block colour). I actually really like the colours I chose for this workshop, I will consider them for my prints - I think they would work for the theme of Shakespeare and the Elizabethan era.

a bit shady

Positives

Finally I now know how to make positives from a scanned image digitally, I have only ever made them before using a china marker. It's very handy to know you can make the blacks pure black on Photoshop, rather than worrying about the contrast of hand made positives.

Overprinting and Knocking out

Three Colour out of Two

I think overprinting looks really effective, especially with the intention of screen printing. As we only have two colours to work with, this method will be useful in producing a colour in the middle of the two- so essentially three colours.

Negative Space

The negative space created by knocking out is probably my favourite thing about it. I like how after separating the elements you can move things around.

Do the Locomotion with me

https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/378020962456304229/

Locomotion
I have started to look at examples of concertina books and how people link the images together across the whole thing when it is pulled out completely. Nobrow Press have done some really aesthetically pleasing designs so that's where I started. The way the images still remain distinct from one another is something I want to explore. 

The design of this book in particular is really nice, I like the way shape is utilised and detail is still present in areas without making it too busy or over worked.

Project Proposal - Printed Pictures

For the Printed Pictures brief I aim to produce a concertina book, I have always wanted to make one and this seems like the perfect opportunity! The theme of my work for this will be based on the mystery and theatrical nature of Shakespeare's plays. I am very excited to get started!

Study Task 3

1. Claire Curtis

https://uk.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=claire%20curtis&rs=typed&term_meta[]=claire%7Ctyped&term_meta[]=curtis%7Ctyped

Linocut - I had never tried this technique before and I am really looking forward to trying this out during this project.

What I like

The composition and detail created with pattern and two colour inks is very effective in these examples. I like the texture created with the block shapes.

2. Sanna Annukka

 https://uk.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=sanna%20annukka%20print&rs=typed&term_meta[]=sanna%7Ctyped&term_meta[]=annukka%7Ctyped&term_meta[]=print%7Ctyped

Fabric Prints for Marimekko
Screen Print? - I think these are screen printed but if not the way they are produced is very similar to the process (shape, colour etc)

What I like
I especially like the designs printed onto fabric, I would love to try screen printing onto materials at some point during my time at Uni. Pattern is a predominant feature of Annukka's work which is something I feel works very well and provides detail.

3. Cornelia O'Donovan

https://uk.pinterest.com/search/pins/?rs=ac&len=2&q=cornelia%20o'donovan&etslf=6733&eq=cornelia%20&term_meta[]=cornelia%7Cautocomplete%7C1&term_meta[]=o'donovan%7Cautocomplete%7C1

Linocut and Relief Print - The textures and details created in these prints are what grabbed my interest.

What I like

Texture is a big factor in my own work at the moment and something I am constantly looking for in other practitioners' work. I really like the distribution of it in the examples shown here, also the balance between block colour/shape and detail.