Shape

Image 1 - Digital

Bow tie & Top hat

I decided to produce each of the three final images using completely different methods. This was so that I could try out and experiment with a variety of media. This image I chose to do digitally using nothing but vector shapes. I actually really enjoyed this way of working, there were limited ways I could place the shapes to form a character. Characterisation was actually easier when using shape as I was forced to eliminate realistic features and replace them with a generalisation however I am not sure I like the final finish too much as I prefer hand made imagery.

Image 2 - Paper-cut

Fancy hat & Shoulder pads

I have always found paper-cutting very therapeutic and knew that I would want to incorporate this into the shape brief. Putting black paper behind the white card was very effective in creating a contrast between the different shapes and how they relate to each other and the negative space surrounding.

Image 3 - Collage

Checked shirt

The colours I used in this piece were a complete accident as pink was the only colour I could find! However, I think this looks striking against the black and white and creates an interesting focus of the image, especially on the shirt pocket. I had a lot of fun placing the different elements as I cut them all out first and then played around with composition.

http://www.brwnpaperbag.com/

I looked at Esthera Preda's worked when researching shape based illustrators. I love the weirdness of her images and the way shapes are repeated and manipulated to create completely out of the ordinary illustrations. This one in particular really made me want to try and make sense of the intention behind the image. A curiosity is something I want an audience to experience when looking at my work.

One Week Book Screen-Printing

Screen-Printing 

I really enjoyed the process of screen printing. We ended up choosing a neon pink and midnight blue paint, this was a great decision as the colours pop and make the overall design really eye-catching.

I actually found screen-printing much easier than I anticipated in the workshop. The hardest bit was probably the preparation of the mesh screens, I was sure something was going to go wrong at this stage but thankfully everything went swimmingly. The effect it gave when the blue and pink layers weren't quite aligned with each other actually works quite well and makes for an interesting print. 

The only thing about screen-printing is that you cant guarantee a perfect result every time, but there is a handmade quality to the final outcome which I thoroughly enjoy visually.

Problems we came across

• Cutting the final books on the guillotine was fairly difficult as some of the images were not quite aligned so I couldn't see clearly where the edge of the print should be.
• Continuity of the print. All the prints are slightly different to each other, however this may also be a positive as it makes each one unique.
• I would have liked to have done more lead up work but as our schedule was pretty tight we all decided it would be easier to work on separate sheets and then swiftly move on to the final coda trace paper.

I definitely want to experiment with screen-printing more after this experience. I am excited to see how different colours and textures will effect the quality and final outcomes of an image.

One Week Book Development

Preparation for Screen Printing 

Me and Megan had a lot of fun drawing out the final sheet for us to screen print. I am a bit nervous and excited to see if it is going to work as it is a new process for me to try out. 

We all had to work pretty quickly as our screen printing slot is tomorrow, so that only really gave us a day to get it all sorted. I am very proud of our group for the work we have done in the little time we had. Go team!

The Story/Narrative

• Our story ended up being an amalgamation of things that happened during our research day.
• Meeting Luna the puppy and betting on a race in the Bookies became one story about a wishful dog who dreams about becoming a racing greyhound!

Things I enjoyed

• Textures of the china marker pencil on the surface of the coda trace paper.
• Collaborating everyone's ideas into one thing we could be proud of together.
• Thinking about possible a storyline for our book, our imagination ran wild.

Challenges so far

• Being used to working independently in my own practice, it was a challenge at first to take everyone else's ideas on board and distinguish which would work. This was difficult as aesthetically we all have our own subjective viewpoints. We separated the pages into tasks for each of us individually. This way we could all give an input but stick to the particular story we came up with as a group.
• Working with imagery made up of shapes seemed to be the most effective in separating the two colours onto the paper. To start with, we drew our images with two different colours of pen on one piece of paper.
• It was difficult at first to simplify our initial imagery in a way that would work for a screen print.

Jon McNaught

https://www.tumblr.com/blog_auth/drawnblog

Whilst designing our character of 'Luna' the dog, our group decided it would be a good idea to get some inspiration on simple characterisation relevant to screen-print from the library. We ended up looking at Jon McNaught's work to see how simple shapes can be effective in creating expression and sequence in a frame which was very helpful to our overall process.

One Week Book Research Day

Group 4 - Me, Ella, Megan, Kate and Jenny

Psychogeography 

Task - Buying someone a cup of tea

This turned into buying Christmas Gingerbread Latte's, we were very cold after the walk to town so this gave us a great excuse to buy each other a hot drink.

Tasks - Try on a fabulous pair of shoes and buy something from a Charity shop

The first place we headed was a local Charity shop, our intention was to find some wigs! We instead found some long black sequinned boots, the definition of fabulousness.

Whilst here we bought ourselves rather dishevelled looking Barbie and Ken dolls. 

Task - Place a bet at the Bookies

I was quite excited for this task as I have never placed a bet before, and neither had anyone else in the group. We had a chat with a man who told us the general gist of how to place a bet, he obviously has a lot of experience in this area! On his way out of the Bookies he then told the the younger members of our group (who weren't allowed in) that we had won £100! We did however, only place a bet of £1 which lost.

We also thought that it would be funny to put Barbie and Ken into the different situations we found ourselves in during the day. Here they are with our betting slip!

Giving money to buskers! feat. Barbie and Ken

Task - Go into a pub and order a half pint of their weakest ale

This was quite an experience! We did not realise that we wandering into probably 'the roughest pub in Leeds' according to a local man! When we initially walked in, someone asked if we were lost! Then the man took a picture of us, it was that rare a sight for him to see a group of young girls in there. We all felt a bit like aliens!

Barbie and Ken also made an appearance here.

Task - Go into a toy shop and play with some toys

Ken betrayed Barbie by eyeing up some younger dolls.

We all had a lot of fun playing with toys in The Entertainer. It was quite nostalgic for me when I found a hobby horse, it  brought back many childhood memories! I also found a plastic sword with a sheath that I thought was very cool.

Finding a massive puppet of an orang-utan was the source of great hilarity between the group, as well as a strange shaped dog that stuck its tongue out.

Task - Try on some wigs

What fun we had in the Wig shop. I kept getting drawn to the afro wigs for some reason, I felt a bit like a member of the Jackson 5! Here we attempted to get some stories out of the man behind the till but he either didn't have any or just thought we were a bit strange! We probably spent a bit too much time in the shop, but it was worth it just for the comic factor.

THE PUPPY!

Great end to a bizarre day - On our way back to uni we stumbled across the cutest puppy wearing a Christmas jumper! Her name was Luna, she was 10 weeks old and her owner was kind enough to let me hold her. It was even nicer to see a puppy after so many weeks (in Uni halls) without a pet in the house!

Today was a great start to a brand new module!

End of Module Evaluation

Visual Skills OUIL403 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 practice?

• I have been getting used to working within a time frame of two weeks that were given for a project. At first I found it challenging to know how much work to do in a day and how developed our ideas should be after a week. Peer groups and feedback sessions helped with this. Setting myself mini tasks for each day has been very helpful in dividing my time.
• Before starting the course, the tools I used most were fine liners and dip pen with ink. I have found that using a brush has a certain gestural quality to it that a pen doesn't have; I can produce different widths of line and tone, which has been a lot of fun for me to experiment with. Using this method has been effective in producing more expressive work.

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?

• Researching and developing ideas through drawing through reflection has been something I wasn't sure about to start with. I have since been surprised by how much you can gain by drawing even the most ridiculous, seemingly irrelevant ideas.
• The introduction of roughing was also very helpful for me. It really helped with learning how to plan a composition within a frame and scale. I have started automatically drawing boxes all over my sketchbook when thinking about ideas.
• Restrictions on colour scheme within the brief were a bit of a challenge for me to start with. Until recently I had worked with a mainly monochrome colour scheme. Using two colours has actually been helpful in knowing how to set tone to a piece, following this I gave myself a limited palette to work with for the latest project.
• Knowing what type of media to use has been a bit of an obstacle for me to tackle, as I am fond of detailed naturalistic imagery. I realised during this module that certain styles of drawing/image making are more appropriate for certain contexts. For the book cover project in particular, I stepped out of my comfort zone to produce more naive characterised illustrations that worked well for the type of cover I wanted to produce.

3. What strengths can you identify within your submission and how have you capitalised on these?

• For me, Craftsmanship has always been a big factor when working on any kind of imagery. I like my work to demonstrate a quality that has been considered and well thought out. I believe my own craftsmanship has been capitalised through drawing constantly, observational and from reference as well as from imagination.
• I have learned pretty quickly when to scrap an idea if it doesn't seem to be working. I think I am getting better at not getting attached to initial ideas and maintaining an open mind of the project's potential. Feedback sessions and using my sketchbook as a visual playground have helped with this.

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

• I found getting into the swing of blogging difficult to start with as I wasn't completely sure what were supposed to be writing. I now understand that it is a reflection of my own practice and something I should be writing personally rather than in statements. To improve my blogging skills I will remember to include more contextual sources that inspire my creativity as an individual.
• Development of skills using different types of media is something I want to pursue in the progression of the course. I aim to try a variety of print techniques such as screen-printing and letterpress (something I am very interested in) and continue to explore the use of digital media.

5. In what way has this module introduced you to the BA Illustration programme?

• Visual Skills has definitely been my favourite module so far. The challenge of making work that fits into the context of a brief has been very insightful and progressive for me. Learning about the communication of an image is the main reason I wanted to come to University.
• Time management was something I was very aware of at the start of the course. The overall structure helped me with separating the different projects and tasks. The introduction of Visual Language also influenced my experimentation in this module.
• Future projects will benefit what I have learned from this module and I am excited to continue developing my skills within the programme.

Do Judge a Book by its Cover Week 2

Final Book Cover Design

Printing

• I am pleased with my final design. The colours were just as effective printed as they were on screen. The digitally produced image has a crispness to it and I chose to use a matte finish which I feel matches the use of ink.
• I was a bit worried about the sizing of the book cover as when I measured out my roughs they did not quite fit the book properly, it is a bit bulky at the edges. Because of this I added a few millimetres on to the final piece. Thankfully the final cover fits the book perfectly.

Feedback session after Week 1

It was evident from the feedback session that my final design would be a hybrid of a few of my ideas. The cover, spine, back and inside sections were taken from different elements of my roughs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y78FztTd414
The Whitest Boy Alive - Golden Cage

I really enjoyed the simplicity of the line work and characterisation within the video Matt recommended to me. The sequence was really playful and humorous. Looking at the way a variety of practitioners stylise their work was very informative to my own work and the way I look at describing a character.

I did not like the DEADPAN!

Following the feedback session I was excited to start exploring ways of illustrating an unimpressed 'deadpan', 'resting bitch face' expression. After a few attempts I achieved the look on a face that I was going for, to try with my chosen composition and design. When I put this particular face on to a body it looked more angry than deadpan so I merged the mouth of one face with another. I eventually got to a point where I was happy with the design and the face could be read from upside down. 
The final revisions of this happened on screen.

Separate elements

In order to produce the most effective forms of the character I drew each part a variety of times in my sketchbook, with the intention of scanning and repeating each element on Photoshop. This worked well as I could move the different parts around and play with posture of the little guy I had created.

http://www.brwnpaperbag.com/

Linda Yan was another illustrator I came across when researching different ways a face can be described. Yan's work reminds me of drawing as a child, the naive simplicity of the way faces are characterised with very few shapes; dots for eyes, triangles and circles for noses, etc. Her work still projects a beautiful sense of atmosphere and intricacy within this, which confirms for me the power of uncomplicated images.

Problems I encountered

• Keeping a layout playful and interesting whilst still following the requirements of the brief. Size restrictions and having to leave space for titles, authors etc. was particularly problematic when designing the spine.
• Which face? It is sometimes a bit difficult to know what expression suits the context of an image. In regards to this project, the face wasn't a main factor of what I wanted to represent. The best way of tackling this was to experiment with different faces to see which one was appropriate.
• Printing was a bit of a pain this time round as we haven't had our print inductions yet. However, I think that a finished image especially in the context of a publication, looks more professional digitally printed.

Things I learned

• I am proud of myself for accepting the challenge of reducing a face down, although it could have been simplified even further it was a big step to have a final outcome portray stylised features, something I that is completely alien to me.
• Sometimes a minimal approach is better!
• Developing my digital skills further was actually a lot of fun, I think I am getting the hang of Photoshop now and find it a very useful method of editing and resolving images.
• Characterisation is also a very capable method of communication and can grab a viewer's attention sometimes more so than a naturalistic approach. Subjectively, when it comes to image making I believe that technicality and detail is great craftsmanship and most impressive to the beholder. I am, however, learning that this kind of practice has a certain place within Illustration.

Do Judge a Book by its Cover Week 1

I really wanted to start blogging earlier than I usually would this week. So much excitement already with this project! After my tutorial with Matt I was very keen to try out different ways of drawing characters. What a joy! I have always been concerned with drawing figures almost true to life. Now I am starting to realise that to communicate a certain idea this way of interpreting a face/figure etc is not necessarily needed and there are more playful ways to describe the same ideas more effectively. Technical drawing is not always appropriate for every brief.

I am having a lot of fun playing with different ways to describe a face. Drawing from reference and observing people in particular has given me a great foundation to now experiment with features.

Jon Klassen's characters demonstrate a naivety and simplicity that I struggle to produce. I think this stems from wanting my work to look technically proficient, therefore I am wary of using vectors and basic shapes to create images. Certain shapes are universally acknowledged which is why this way of working can produce the greatest forms of communication. Shape can be a very powerful thing.

http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2014/aug/28/jon-klassen-mac-barnett-sam-and-dave-dig-a-hole-trailer

http://jonklassen.tumblr.com/post/79417468681/got-to-do-the-jacket-for-kelly-barnhills-great

Sketchbook roughing and Initial Ideas

I had a quick test on Photoshop of how my initial ideas would pan out if  I were to progress them further. I was intrigued of how I could merge traditional methods with digital and how they would complement each other for the particular idea I wanted to convey.

Challenges

I found roughing a bit of a challenge this time round, I think a week was a bit too long as I gained momentum with this project quite quickly. This was most likely due to my tutorial which helped me gain an understanding on how best to move forward with the project.

By the time I drew out my roughs I had already tested materials and it was evident what I was going to try for a final design. Therefore, my rough designs are all pretty similar featuring the same two characters. This was due to the development that I had already done and what I had discovered.

My roughs all demonstrate my final concept of someone falling through a hole. This was most effective as the book I chose has a generalised theme, not a hole in particular but any notion of a hole. Therefore, it was best that I portray the idea of a generalised hole, not in a sock or an object because that would be too specific in context with the book.