Final Evaluation - typography project

1. Write an explanation of your brief: What did you have to do? How did you come up with the ideas for this project?

 

To start off the project I looked at lots of different ways of creating typography, I also found ways of linking the technique to the phrases that I used. I created typography by using calligrams, watercolours and skin painting to chose but a few so that I could get an idea of what techniques I liked best, this would also help me on the theme that I wanted to choose. I also experimented with ways that I could apply the phrase of my final piece. To make my ideas come together I went through certain stages like the mood board and the t-shirt initial ideas, this also was to help me develop my ideas.   

2. Write about the creative 'journey' of the project: How did you project and ideas evolve from start to finish through experimentation and research?

On my `creative journey' I first looked at ways to apply my phrase and in the end decided on using the heat press. I then created a mind map to get all of my ideas down on paper. Once I had created my initial idea t-shirt design blog I immediately knew the idea I wanted to continue to develop from there my idea of using a rainbow and the weather on my t-shirt as a theme was made clear. 

3. Who inspired your final outcomes? You MUST talk about who has inspired your work, and include images and links of/to them! 

The main inspiration for my final piece was Natsuki Otani. Her watercolour piece just reminded me of the weather because of the watery look it gives. It also allowed me to think about to possible techniques of creating my final piece so could experiment and expand on this. Her pieces were detailed and she experimented with different types of fonts like I decided to do as well.

  

4. What saying or expression did you use? What technique did you use? Was there a link between your materials and the words used? What was it?

The saying that I used on my final piece was "because you can't have a rainbow without any rain" to colour this piece I used the watercolour technique in Photoshop and for the extra illustration I coloured it with watercolours. The technique that I used did link in with the phrase that I used, I felt that the way the watercolour looked linked in with rain because it would look watery still when dry.  

5. What do you think you have done well? What has worked? Are you happy with your final outcome?

I am very happy with the way the final piece turned out, especially the way I was able to refine the phrase so it was clearer I was worried that changing might be difficult to do but it turned out that I could easily edit it. The phrase still isn't as clear as I would have wanted it to be but I feel the fact that the phrase still isn't clear matches the way a rainbow works as you can never fully see it and not many rainbows are seen they are quite rare. 

6. What do you think you could have improved in your final outcome? There will be something - nobody is perfect!

Definitely to improve the piece would have been to spend more time on the colouring of the phrase in photoshop as I could have made the word clearer than it is now. I would have experimented with the opacity and it probably would have come out clearer. If I was able to use more transfer paper I would have done more illustrations of rainbows. 

7. Conclusion: Overall how did you find the project? Would you like to complete more typographic work in the future?

I really liked this as my starting project as I had never done graphics before or even used illustrator or Photoshop. I think typography is something I could use in my final piece for my exam work. 

Going back over the project
As I had the chance to go over the typography project I realised that there wasn't enough experiementation. From the experimentation that I started with I used certain techniques that I felt I could add into the theme of weather and rainbows. I started using calligrams, different ways to apply colour, painting on skin, foiling and stencils. This experimentation looks much better than what i had previously created and looked so much more professional. I even looked at the texture even more when it came to adding the colour and styles. If I had the chance I would like to go back again and make even more development to then try my final outcome again. Most of the experimentation still related to the artists that I previously looked at like Oscar Wilson, Tien-Min Liao and Natsuki Otani. I decided to not carry on with Si Scott as I felt that his work didnt relate to the theme of weather. There was one particular calligram that worked really well, especially with the colours that I got in photoshop also the foiling I used on this calligram had a really good effect and these are the ideas that I would take forward.       

evaluation of exam preparation

Interpreting the theme
To start off exam preparation and experimentation I was given four briefs, illustration, advertising, typography and packaging so made four mind maps focusing on both the briefs and the exam theme of covert and obscure. I find that with using mindmaps I am able to jot down all the ideas, make illustrations, write about techniques and materials and look at the artists that I like which could inspire me on my final piece. Using the mindmap shows what inspires me the most as I want to be able to create plenty of experimentation in this case it was illustration. On this brief I was told to use portraits, illustration and collage in my final piece and experimentation so naturally I started with illustration and went into collage to then use them both together. I think using collage and illustration allows the person control over what they draw, what they see and what they actually reveal to the audience relating to the theme of covert and obscure, revealing the unknown.

Recording observations
For my primary research I first drew objects on post it notes, using continuous line drawing with materials like charcoal, felt pen, watercolour and biro. Continuous line draeings only reveal lines in the object that the drawer see's as I am not focusing on detail when I use one minute continuous line drawings. I then continued with this but drawing more objects and portraits on collages and photographs. I collected photographs of children, females, males, certain features of the face and household appliances. For my secondary source material I went to two exhibitions these were the photographers gallery and the pick me up exhibition. The Photographers gallery proved most useful as it introduced me to the exquisite corpse idea which is the main theme running through my final piece.

Idea development
I have made a lot of development for my experiements and the only idea that I didn't take forward was the original design for the layout of my zine. I didn't take the first idea for the exquisite corpses forward because I wanted something that the reader could interact with more and was different to other zines. The zine I originally cretaed did allow the reader to mix the corpses around but not as much as the idea I have now changed it to.

Materials, Techniques and Processes
The main techniques that I have used are illustration and collage made digitally and by hand.  From my brief I knew that this was going to take up the majority of the development process and would have to combine these two techniques together. The main process that I used for illustration was continuous line and for Collage it was the distortion of the faces that I took with me all through my exam preparation. These techniques and the visit to the Photographers Gallery helped me realise that my final idea was going to continue with the theme of distortion. Problems came with this idea when I was thinking about the layout of my final piece because I wanted something that the readers could interact with like a childrens book, ideas were adapted by finding a better material to attach the pages with making it easier for the reader to interact with.

Influences
If I was to chose four main influences to link all my exam preparation and final piece it would have to be Julie Cockburn, Linder Sterling, Hattie Stewart and Ashkan Honavar. My main influences would have to be Julie Cockburn and Linder Sterling they both used collage, feminism and the distortion of the body and face in very different ways. Linder Sterling was the artist who helped me with a theme that went with covert and obscure, this was feminism. My own work relates to this as I have added feminist items onto women's faces and taken photos of little girls play with toy kitchens and saucepans, putting them in their place before they are even adults. The drawing on top of photographs to add explicit images is also relates to the them of feminism.

Final Piece
For my final piece I intend to make three zines consisting of the head, torso, legs and feet. These zines will then be placed in another book which has pockets to them in to keep them altogether. I created plenty of experimentation based on illustration and collage to get a grasp on the exam theme and was able to explain how they related to eachother, I always had a meaning for doing something to my experimentation and this is why my ideas have been resolved. Just like my experimentation, in my exam I intend to use lots of materials so each corpse looks slightly different in some way. For example the use of the sauce pan collage will be linked with Julie Cockburn and the drawing of explicit images on top of the photograph will be inspired by Hattie Stewart.

Conclusion
At first I thought this exam theme was going to be difficult as I liked the idea of collage when I saw the brief but it was the zine that I didn't think I was going to like but overally I really liked this exam theme and found it quite interesting as I had so many ideas that I could go on to develop more of. I think this final piece is going to be one of the best that I have made as I have done so much preparation for it, it is probably one of the best units for all my art work.

Observational drawings continued

I decided to make some more observational drawings using the continuous line method. These are quick one minute sketches looking at household appliances that women use around the house. I have chosen different coloured paper to draw on top of, the kettle has a yellow background with purple felt tip on top, the iron is drawn with blue biro on top of orange paper, the saucepan is drawn using red water colour on top of green paper. I chose these colours because they contrast and draw your attention to the drawing. I cut the sheets of coloured paper into three, I purposely made the bottom segment bigger so I could fit in all of the saucepan. When I put it into the corpses it will relate more to covert and obscure as I will be disguising the body shape.  

Pick Me Up exhibition review

1. Recxently I went to the Pick Me Up exhibition at somerset house in London. Lots of different artists were featured there like Malarky, Katie Scott, Tom Edwards and Daniel Scott They all created different types of work like illustration, magazines, typography and 3D. There were also upcoming artists that created mainly posters. Workshops were also available to take part in but I went late in the day so couldn't take part in any of these workshops.
2.

Tom Edwards

Jean Jullian

Hattie Stewart

Malarky

Malika Favre

Featherless Print Posse

    
4. My first favourite artist was Malarky, to me it looked like their work is based on made up creatures or aliens and put into their own environments. What attracted me to this piece was when they collaged it into a place that wasn't the creatures' natural environment. This artist relates to my piece as they have collages the illustrated creature into an unnatural environment for them. This could be a way of adding backgrounds onto my piece as I could put my corpses into an environment that you wouldn't normally see them in.
 
My second favourite artist was Hattie Stewart, on the front of vogue magazines she defaced the original photographs by adding her own quirky designs over the top. This relates to the work I am doing because she defaces images like I do but she works on top, this piece has to be the most inspiring.

One of my least favourite pieces was by Katie Scott, her pieces mainly focus on the anatomy of the human body. Compared to all the other pieces it didn't really stand out to me as it wasn't as quirky or bold as the other pieces in the exhibition.

My second least favourite piece was by Stuart patience, his illustrations were only black and white and didn't seem to capture my attention in anyway as the other pieces in the exhibition were bolder.

Overall I really liked this exhibition, it was different from the other exhibitions as it had a much different atmosphere, it was very lively and full of music. It has inspired me to draw on to of the photographs I have taken.

Hattie Stewart interpretation

I have drawn on photographs that show just a portrait of a person, these use the same idea as my continuous line but I am able to follow what is on the photgraph. When Hattie Stewert doodled on top of vogue magazines she hid their modesty and sometimes shows it. This is how I am going to refine my piece in the exam by adding explicit drawings to the male and female form so it matches my theme of feminism whilst also being covert and obscure as I am revealing what isn't seen under clothes. This piece also seems to relate to Jean Julians' work in the exhibition as she creates images that are quirky, explicit and funny at the same time.

clipping masks

This clipping mask was made in Photoshop. The first step was to take a picture in this case of a woman to relate to my theme of feminism I then made it black and white and put it into a number. I put it into a random number as women usually say about men that "we are just a number to them" like the relationship doesn't mean anything. I have used only the head of the person in photograph, as this is where I want the focus to be. This piece relates to M&M Paris's clipping masks but I have changed this technique by using numbers instead of letters.

These clipping masks have been inspired by Julie Cockburn. I used the same type of technique in Photoshop using different geometric shapes to cover the face. I chose areas of the face and bits of their clothing so that it would give an impression of a more mixed up face.                      

I decided to take this idea further by making my own shapes to do with women the first one that I created was a collection of saucepans, I then drew on top of these saucepans so that it was more obvious that this was the object that I was using. I think that this relates to my theme even more than the geometric pieces as I am incorporating feminism into it just like my other collages. 

Julie Cockburn analysis

Context 

This collage is from Julie Cockburn's collection called Filling the Cracks With Ceiling Wax, this piece is called Crystal 1 and is obvious as to why the artist called the work Crystal 1 because of the crystal shape that has been created using different triangle shapes. The piece is a collage made out of one photograph. These collages were exhibited in the Flowers Gallery. 

Meaning 

To help with my understanding of her work I have looked at a range of her pieces and have looked at magazine articles which talk about pieces of her work allowing me to give my own interpretation on her work. The basis of her work started off when when she was very young using the punishments that she received from her parents and using the time that she would normally be watching telly vision to, "make up stories from picture books and magazines like a surreal game of consequences."Since continuing her love for this she has used memorabilia that belonged to her, like american beauty queen annuals and school photographs from the 50's, which gives the piece meaning as she is showing us personal items from her past. 

The viewer of the work has to think about whether they are being revealed the absolute truth as lighting and direction can change the appearance of a person and I feel the distorting of the image emphasizes this. The internet can be a very vulnerable place and having details and photos can affect your vulnerability and these collages address this idea, the manipulating of the photograph creates a barrier between the actual photo that they are trying to make out, it divides the then and the now. Something that relates to my pieces is her great use of women in the photographs which intensifies the beauty of the handmade and makes us question whether history is gendered.

Aesthetic

Each photograph has been carefully chosen because of the quality, how old it is and whether it gives off a certain personality that can be worked with. They have been rescued in a way as they are just old photos that have been folded and put away as memorabilia. Cockburn tries to investigate the photograph, whilst searching in her mind for imaginative and innovative ideas, in a way she is having a conversation with herself, like a dialogue with the characters in the photograph. Before cutting up the images she plans her work carefully and makes copies of the originals before working with the original.

Personal response 

I chose to look at this piece because I have been doing something similar and wish to take it further and this artist has inspired me to try this idea with my work using different shapes. I really liked this work when I first saw it, it looks carefully planned and creative. I think this work is quite original as I have never seen anything like this before. 

More collages

I decided to carry on with the geometric collages that I created for my trip work development. For these I took photographs of a female model covering her face with a kettle or a saucepan and then holding household appliances in the other hand like a hover or a rolling pin. At first I started with small triangles and then decided to go bigger as it hid the original image to much. To make these triangles on the back of the image I measured out lots of equally sized squares and the halved them diagonally to create the triangle shapes and cut them out individually. I think the background to the photograph and the cutting into the photo by making geometric shapes connects together to relate to the theme as it is both distorting and hiding the natural shapes of the image. 

The other collage in the bottom right hand corner takes the geometric shape even further as it uses the square shapes and puts them into a different shape. The photo is of 2 female children playing around with kitchen utensils, as the direction that I am heading in is feminism, the photo that I have used is putting children into their roles before they have even turned into adults. I think the collages relate to Julie Cockburn who uses the same idea but works on top of portrait images distorting the face by cutting it up into geometric shapes.