Visual Narratives - 2 Weeks in Evaluation

What have you discovered about your research over the last two weeks?

I have discovered that through images alone you can easily discover a lot from a place. Just from being in the market and taking photos, I was able to get a really good sense of the atmosphere and how it is almost a vital place for people in Leeds.

Which approaches did you struggle with? And Why?

I struggled with the idea of getting research through speaking to people, I really want to improve on my confidence in this sense as I feel that it will benefit my illustrative work a lot. If I had been confident enough to ask the market sellers questions about themselves I feel that I would have had a better collection of research.

Which approaches to research did you find beneficial and why?

I found the idea of photography and drawing my experiences from the market really helpful as I was able to get a sense of my true feelings whilst I was physically there. Sometimes when re looking at photographs it's hard to put yourself back in the place and photos can replace memories but with the drawings that I did on sight I was able to remember my feelings by the marks, colours and notes that I made.

What could you have done differently with your research period?

I think if I had had longer I would have visited other markets and seen how their compare and contrast. Particularly ones in london such as flower markets where streets are filled with colour. However, I feel that my photos and drawings from Leeds are enough to give me everything that I need for my book.

What kind of media, skills, tools and processes are you going to explore?

Over christmas I am going to explore a multitude of medias including paints and colour combinations in order to get a brief outline of ideas before I begin the final planning stages of my storyboard and actual narrative of my book.

Visual Journalist - Project Outline

What is your book about?

The Leeds City Market and the hustle and bustle of it. I'm interested in the quieter moments for example, picking up fruit from a stall or the silent moments between the market sellers shouting about their deals.

What are you trying to achieve?

A subtle book about quiet moments in the loud market, I want to create an almost melancholy feeling in the book.

How might this book function in terms of format, layout and sequence?

I will probably create a saddle stitch book, I think this will work well in terms of the story telling element. I will probably create an A5 sized book as I feel that smaller or bigger wouldn't get across my intended message.

These ideas were based on my research into:

Kirkgate Market

In order develop these ideas, my research over christmas will be:

Researching historical elements of the market and looking at how I can physically draw typical market items such as fruit and market stalls.

An Untold Story - Roughs

I have created a series of three roughs in order to begin to plan what my story and exploration of Leeds City Market will convey in the book.
Before even starting the roughs I know that I want my book to look a the colours, shapes and patterns that i saw in the market, I want to get across the busy and bustling atmosphere and my feelings of watching people go by.

My first rough explored the sale and deals that were in the market, I looked at the cheap prices and considered how the market traders shout to customers about their deals and try to sell their products over competition. Although this idea explores the hustle and bustle of the market I feel that it is slightly too obvious and I want to look at a more subtle idea.

My second rough explored a simpler idea of the market and just exploring colours and shapes around it, I focused on my photographs that I took for this rough. Again, I wasn't happy with this idea at all as I felt that there was no concept or narrative to it at all and the images alone weren't enough to stand for themselves.

My third rough explored a subtle moment in the market and although it isn't necessarily a full narrative, I explored the moment of a purchase in the market and how this moment it what creates the market itself. I want to expand on this idea in particular.

I have found this process of making hotdog book roughs really helpful, although it wasn't necessarily the same size or length that our story will be, just the quick process of getting ideas and initial images and drawings down was really helpful for me.

Shape and Texture Portrait

I started the task without having an image of what the final portrait will look like, I think this really assisted me in creating a variety of textures that I would use to create the final portrait image.
I used acrylic paints, ink, felt tips and colouring pencils in order to create a variety of textures. I really enjoy the spontaneity of this task and used not just brushes and the pen tools but ended up using finger prints and found that this gave other interesting textures and effects.
I really liked the texture of thicker paint being pushed into a thinner layer, I think this gives a really interesting texture and almost looks furry.
The mixing of colours and patterns in the process of making texture was a really interesting one to me, I found that the more tones of one particular colour, it made a better and more effective texture to work and create with, this is particular relevant within the hair as it defiantly reflects the tones and highlights that run through hair in different lights.
When it came to making the face itself and putting the elements together, I really enjoyed seeing how the shapes and colours could work together. I found that the contrasting patterns and colours worked really well together and this is something that I tried to focus on when creating my portrait.  

The element of shape was a very important aspect to consider when creating my portrait. Shape is something that I often struggle to work with however in this case I feel that I have considered it well. I found that the textures enabled me to make more sense of the shape as a feature or an element of the face rather than just another shape without much meaning to it. For example, the strands of hair all work together to create the overall piece and the textures and combination of colours on this help it work together. 

Shape and Texture Presentation

Notes From Presentation

Texture can:

• complement shape
• describe the hand of its maker
• create tone and light
• improve the way limited colours are seen
• soften hard forms
• make sense of composition
• appear distressed or antiqued by different techniques.
  
  
  

  

  Laura Carlin

  I am really inspired by the gentle tones and textures of the colour pencil in Laura Carlins work, I feel like the textures add a soft edge and make the image easy to view and fall into as the composition pulls you in. i think the texture of the pencils works well in terms of adding a distressed look to the walls of the plane, possibly adding to the idea of movement and speed as it flies through the sky. 
  
  

  

  Eric Carle

  Eric Carle uses purely texture in order to create the shapes and images that he does. The textures of the food supply a whole new element that addresses the way his work is perceived. To me the texture gives the food a 3D element, with the brush marks adding tone and light in the patterns that it makes. This is definitely something that I would like to experiment with in my own work, and looking at how certain shapes and brush marks can change the way the image is formed and works well together. 

Holly Wales

Holly Wales uses textures to create different shapes and tones. I really like the way that the colours work well together allowing different patterns to show through. In a way, it is the textures alone that make the image, they allow other components of the shapes to be visible and bring the images together. This, to me, is an interesting concept and is something that I would like to look further into within my own study. 

An Untold Story - Experience of the Market

What were my expectations of the Market and what happened?
My expectations of Leeds City Market was a busy and noisy location. During my visit, I walked around the market, took photos, made sketches and listening to conversations and watching the market sellers shout and sell. I listened to the general sounds of the market and smelt the air. I enjoyed watching the quieter moments of the market such as a person looking for the right apple to buy.

Details of Research?

I really enjoyed walking around the market and seeing all of the colours and patterns, this is my favourite thing that I am taking away from my experience there. I personally love colour and particularly the fruit and veg stalls really stood out for me.

People/Interviews/Quotes?

I listened to the market stall holders shouting their deals and selling their goods across the market. I found this experience interesting as I began to think about if this shouting actually helps sells their goods or in some ways, puts people off.
A few of my favourite shouts were:

"THE BEST DEALS IN LEEDS!"
"DON'T BE SHY!"
"YOU WON'T GET THIS CHEAP ANYWHERE ELSE!"
"THE BEST FRUIT AND VEG YOU EVER TASTED LADIES AND GENTS!"
"TWO PINEAPPLES 50P"

How did I feel?

I felt almost vulnerable whilst at the market, everyone seemed to be there for a specific reason, rushing around for the best deals, it's so noisy in there yet almost quiet at the same time, it feels echoey and if you're not there looking for an item its almost as if you're floating around aimlessly. I did enjoy the experience but it was almost surreal in a way. I was focussed on trying to get photos to reflect how I felt at the market and I kept getting the odd person shouting 'TAKE A PHOTO OF ME!' which would concerned me slightly..!

Historical/Factual

The largest indoor market in Europe.
100,000 visitors each week
used as an air raid during war
indoor fire in 1975

An Untold Story - Drawings

I did some drawings whilst at the market and continued some from photographs that I took whilst I was there. I was really enjoying the experience of exploring colour and pattern in my observations. I have particularily enjoyed mixing different pens and paints as I find that this creates an effective use of colour. 

Following on from these experimental drawings and observational studies, I would like to look more into the market itself and see how I could create a story based on my own experience and observations.

An Untold Story - Leeds City Market

As a vegetarian, I tend to stay away from the meat section of supermarkets and markets, however, as I was walking round the general meat and fish section of the leeds city market I was shocked to see REAl PIG heads for SALE! It seemed so unreal and shocking to me that I was almost not disgusted by it as if it wasnt real or something. Again, I took some photos as I was interested by the colours of the pink heads. I felt sorry for them in a way, they almost seemed to be smiling that they were being sold.

 I also liked the random stalls in the market, selling things that make you question who made them and who designed them. I particularly liked the holographic images of Jesus standing in space and also the creepy mannequin heads with wooly hats in boxes labeled 'extra fine noodles'. It's smaller things like this in the market that make it such a great place to go and explore.

An Untold Story - Leeds City Market

Following the previous project, I wanted to explore Leeds again as I found this an exciting experience. I returned to the Leeds City Market where, last time I was inspired by the beautiful mix of colours and patterns. I love the fruit and veg stalls and how all the colours form together to create an exciting mixture of tones and shades. The flower stalls have such details in which really excited me when I visited, I took photos and tried to explore this idea of colour and how I found it so inspiring to look at.

One Week Book - PRINTING!

When it came round to the printing process of the hotdog book, I felt prepared as a group, although I wasn't happy with my final design for the front cover, I was excited to see how the final screen print would turn out.

Learning about the process of screen printing seemed initially very daunting and confusing, however once being taught through the steps and shown what to do by the technician we were ready to print.

The process was long and tiring but our screen print was successful, and didn't look as bad as I originally thought it would.

I admit that my cover and back cover didn't look very good and I should have considered how I used the space and block colours like other people in my group had, however I think that the mixtures of styles and other use of blocks worked well and tied the whole thing together.

One Week Book - Kodatrace

After viewing all of our groups drawings, and being happy with how they had all turned out, we began to draw our final print screening design with chinagraph onto kodatrace.

 I'd never used either of these mediums before so it was really interesting to try something new. I found it difficult to replicate my same style in the china graph though as I found it very thick and chunky to use, I was disappointed with how my final drawing looked when it was finished, as I am used to using thinner lines and small marks and it was annoying that I could create this again. I really liked everyone else's drawings in the group as they had considered the filled in spaces in the book and pages and how this would look when screen printed with the different colours.

After drawing on the kodatrace I regretted my drawing style and wish that I had used block colours and filled in spaces of colour.