Responsive - As long as we're together- the lemon twigs.

For my first response to the illustration 12 brief, I wanted my album cover to be full of meaning and have a strong narrative. I wanted to step outside of my comfort zone and produce something that was completely different to my usual style of producing and creating work. 

I decided to go for a collage style way of working as this is something that I have wanted to experiment with for a while and this was great chance to see how my work could be transferred into this way. 

I found the book 'craphound' in the library which insists of a number of copyright free imagery that can be used for collage and illustrations such as my one! 

Due to the title of the song, I felt that I needed to produce a piece that gave the suggestion of a couple of a difficulty in love. Through this thought process I began to think about the idea of being idolised and in a way worshiped within a relationship. 

I found images of male and female eyes and used the scissor imagery to portray this idea.

 

Overall I was really pleased with the design and from the start I knew I wanted to screenprint as I felt that the digital version would look to flat and I'm a great fan of the natrual hand made astehtic of screenprinting!

Overall I'm really really pleased with how my final design turned out, I think the 'mistakes' from the screenprint actually work really well alongside the half ton collage pieces and after this response to the album cover, collage and gradient screen print is defiantly something that I'd like to consider working with in the future of my practice.

Children's Books

• I have chosen to focus on children's publishing within 505, I feel like my work often has narrative undertones so it will be interesting to be able to explore this for a specific age group. 
•  I'd like to be able to explore texture, pattern and colour in a fun and experimental way and I feel that childrens books and work aimed at children is the perfect level to work towards that on. 
• My work for 504, in some ways felt a bit serious, it had a lot of meaning and thought behind it and I feel that I want to push myself into creating a more free and fun style of work, it will be a challenge to create meaningful work that still has meaning and a message behind it.

EXISTING CHILDREN'S BOOKS

SHACKLETON'S JOURNEY, ACTIVITY BOOK - WILLIAM GRILL

• I love the delicate nature of William Grill's work. It's often a misconception that children's books should be LOUD, graphic and bright with bold illustrations but this activity book shows that simple and hand drawn work can work and entice children all the same. I would really like to have the chance to explore this similar way of working, especially in the way of having a narrative but still engaging and interacting with children in the activity book.

SHACKLETON'S JOURNEY - WILLIAM GRILL 

 Similar to the activity book, the narrative of William Grill's story book is delicate and simple yet educational and effective. This is such an interesting idea for a children's book, one of why I enjoye Grill's work so much. I find it different to other children's books in the same genre.

ADA - ATAK AND GERTRUDE STEIN

 

• I really love the colours and print making methods used on this poetry book. This book may be for a slightly older child but nevertheless, the colours and bold imagery is an effective and quirky way of presenting a child's book.

• I really love the idea of creating a poetry book, I feel that poetry is a beautiful way of communicative literature and i feel that it needs to be a more accessible genre of creative writing. It would be interesting to explore this and consider making something for children to promote this way of thinking.

• I really really like the poster created alongside the book. A poster is used as a method of expression and the way that the child would display the artwork with educational literature is something that is both practical and decorative!! 

 A FIRST BOOK OF NATURE - MARK HEARLD

•  I have been inspired by Mark Hearld's collage, experimental way of working for a long time. I really love his use of colour and texture in order to create his visually exciting illustrations. In terms of a children's book, this work is enaging and interactive, there are so many smaller details for the child to explore. This particular book would probably be read to by the parent, but the detail in the work makes the book exciting for both generations. 

• I feel that I would be able to be experimental in a similar way with my new found love of print making. I'm exciting to get going with this project following on from 504.

THE CAT FROM HUNGER MOUTAIN - ED YOUNG

•  I'm not personally a big fan of this method of collage but I can appreciate that these are an interesting and effective approach to creating children's books. I would question if children could understand and appreciate this way of creating artwork but this book was featured in New York Time's best children books of 2016.
• I would be interesting to be experimental in the way that I go about making the publication for children. After this research I know that I don't want to create simple bold imagery, I feel that I can be a little more experimental with methods and techniques.

THE RAINBOW FISH - MARCUS PFISTER

 

• I remember this book from my own childhood! Looking back, im reallllly not a fan of the artwork, it looks so dated now, but I remember the textures and the shiny aspects, i LOVED this. It would be AMAZING to be able to incorporate something like this within my creations. I have a heatpress induction tomorrow so I'll be able to start to experiment with things such as foiling, which would enhance the levels of my work as the texture would give it another aspect.

Moving on to OUIL505

WHAT WILL I TAKE FORWARD FROM 504?
I will be taking my new found confidence with print making forward from 504. I really enjoyed being experimental with screenprint and the other methods of hand print making. I'd like to expand my knowledge even further and learn more about colour and overlay within screenprint in particular.
My use of roughing also developed a great deal and I found this to be such an important factor when it came to creating my final work.

ONE WAY THAT I WILL PUSH MYSELF OUT OF MY COMFORT ZONE?
I'd like to be even more experimental and broaden my use of materials. It would be exciting to start exploring cermics and other print methods, to broaden my approach onto a three dimentional level would be challenging but very rewarding. I'd like to learn to use other print methods such as using heat press with methods such as foiling, I feel like approaches such as this will really enhance my practice.

ONE THING I WANT TO ACCOMPLISH BEFORE MAY?
Before May I would like to think that I would have completed a set of work or a selection of prints that I'm really proud of and would feel comfortable with exhibiting them and using them to represent myself and my practice so far.

Illustration 12 - Let's Eat Grandma

Similarily to before I began to research Let's eat grandma - deep six textbook in a similar method to before, I felt that looking at the music video allowed me to see a different side of the song, and although I'm not wanting to use similar visuals, I think it's helpful to understand the tone of voice of the artists and learn about the way that their music creates a visceral feeling for the listener. 
i'd like to use an abstract approach to the particular album cover and attempt a style of working that I have never attempted before using purely screen print and shape driven work.

Again, I will study the lyrics and pick out words and lines that I feel could potentially drive the way that my work forms.

Let's Eat Grandma, in full colour
I was so inspired by the grass, and the street, and the barbed wire
And the stars in the night, and the cat's eyes

We live our lives in the textbook, and letter by letter
I feel like standing on the desk, and screaming "I don't care"
Oh, and I was such a quiet child, oh I, was I?

I bet the starfish wonder
Why we're so obsessed
Why we feel so stressed (boring)
I wish you all the best
You're making me upset (enduring things)

We're heading straight to the east coast
It's just gone bitter
The ocean doesn't care, the waves will curl our hair
In summertime, when days collide
Say, "Why didn't we? Why didn't we?"
Go

Why why why?

The lyrics to the song are very visual, they seem to create a movement in the way that they are placed together. This could be really interesting in terms of a shape driven piece. I need to look at artists and illustrators that use this method of creating in order to create their work.

ATELIER BINGO

Alelier Bingo offer constant inspiration to me and I really want to create work in a similar way. I feel that by exploring shape and the rhythms of the music I will be able to explore the visuals in a similar way.

I really like the use of colour for the, bright, contrasting with bold shapes that overlay and create a composition within themselves. 

Illustration 12 - As Long as we're together - Research

I watched the music video for the song and began to look at how the use of colour and composition has been used in a cinematic way. 

I find it interesting how theres often a clear link through the use of design and fashion used in the video to the nature of the illustration used within the design of the album cover. i need to keep this in mind when coming to design my own cover.

I'm a big fan of the use of:

• Simplicity 
• Pastel Colours
• Use of human features 
• Block Colours

I thought that studying the lyrics of the song may give an indication of the tone of voice of the song and potential inspiration for the use of design and tone of voice within my album cover. 

Highlighted in green is the words and lines that stand out to me, elements that I may take to create the inspiration for my album cover. 

If somehow I was standing
In your room without my boots
With your spider in my hand
And I look at you
And my skin is red

Yeah arm to arm and thigh to thigh
Even though there's plenty of room
And I look just like an owl
And you think that's just fine
But it doesn't matter, anyway

[Chorus]
As long as we're together
I don't see what's wrong with that
That
As long as we're together
I don't see what's wrong with that
That

[Verse 2]
Well I don't think I'll be bitter
"Hey you must not know yourself very well"
You will be silent
For a few months
But all that shit he said
I don't know what I read

Yeah keep that sweatshirt wait outside
We've only ever talked
For what?
Seemed like an hour
But I was so happy
There must be common things

[Chorus x2]
As long as we're together
I don't see what's wrong with that
That
As long as we're together
I don't see what's wrong with that
That

But only in my mind would I begin to think it true

THINGS TO TAKE AWAY FROM THIS
The clear themes that run through the songs including:

• Love and Loss
• The desire and longing for someone but not being able to have them.
• The use of colour and gradients within the music video along with shape and block colour, this is definetely something that I'd like to consider the use of within my album cover. 

REPONSIVE "Secret 12"

After the new of secret 7 being cancelled for this year i was really disappointed as I'd been really excited to create album artwork, HOWEVER...luckily the illustration secret 12 has been created! I've been exploring the different tracks and getting a feel for the plethora of sounds and feelings that they create. The notes I took will help me to further into the tracks and create effective artwork for the songs. They might not make too much sense, but I jotted down and colours, lyrics and shapes or feelings that I had when listening to the song.

• ANOHNI - 4 DEGREES - Drum (heavy beat, wavy with strings) Blue, Grey with splashes of brighter colours. Rhinos and big mammals
• FAITH NO MORE - ABSOLUTE ZERO - Rock! Heavy sounds - black/red. Corners and strong lines. Wilderness - wolf howl
• LETS EAT GRANDMA - DEEP SIX TEXTBOOK - Slow/Wavy - blue/yellow (mustard), pale, mint green. Starfish, waves, clouds, underwater. "I bet the starfish wander"
• CARTER USM - SHERIFF FATMAN - 80's, talking, london? red/yellow/blue. rebellious/crowds
• THE LEMON TWIGS - AS LONG AS WE'RE TOGETHER - Reflections and projections. pink/green/yellow/lilac - pastel colours. shiny. yellow lemons. metallic (music video) black marks.
• FRANK OCEAN SOLO - Computer tech/digital. blue green mustard

I particularly liked the slower sounds of Lets Eat Grandma and The Lemon Twigs, I feel like i could create effective work using colour and shape, and screenprint which is something ive really been looking forward to working with ever since my use of screenprint in OUIL504.

NEXT STEPS 

• Start looking at potential imagery and colour that i could use that relates to the chosen songs. I already have a few ideas that I would like to work with so it will be interesting to see how I can relate them to the specific songs that I have chosen!

RESPONSIVE - COLLABORATION SLIDES

IMAGES OF MY WORK
I have selected a range of images that I feel show a variety of my skills and capabilities. I've shown different medias and techniques thats I've worked with in the past and ones which that I would like to experiment and create with in the future.
My work is often quite colourful with alot of mark making and textures so I have tried to show this aspect with in my chosen images.

IMAGES THAT INSPIRE ME
I have chosen a selection of graphic designers and illustrator who's work I look up to and would like to try and create similar work of my own. Again, the selected work pressent a number of different techniques and media that has been worked with. I want to show to my peers that I'm interested in creating exciting and experimental work.

CHOSEN BRIEFS
The briefs that I have selected can be created with a number of different techniques and ways of working that suit my practice and hopefully the style of my future collab partner! I'm really excited to share ideas and designs and creating strong and creative work.

END OF MODULE STUDENT EVALUATION OUIL504

 

 SUMMATIVE EVALUATION

OUIL504 has been a very informative and educational journey. I have discovered a plethora of new techniques and process’s that will inform my practice in all of my work following on from this module. In particular studio brief 2, printed pictures, was of great help to me in terms of helping with my confidence with making handmade and traditional work, which is something I always strive for. I thoroughly enjoyed experimenting with screen-print and having the opportunity to learn and create through being in the print room. I enjoyed working with colour and discovering different textures and mark making techniques that could be created through experimentation with hand printing. Discovering my enjoyment within this way of working was a transformative moment for me, I started to consider the possibilities of layering and experimenting with colour and textures through different print process’. During this brief, I often visited the library and looked up print artists online in order to get a better understanding of their work and practice. I’m excited and curious to experiment with, not only screen-print, but also monoprinting within my future work. As discussed in my blog, monoprinting was a difficult process for me to work with, I often find that my work can be particularly neat and very line based and when I have been forced into working with shape and pattern, a different side of my creative practice is seen. Through my extensive experimentation, I found it very helpful to reflect on my blog to further explore my enjoyment of the process and make note of any new techniques that I found worked particularly well for my work. ­­­In terms of reflecting on my print processes, I’m pleased with the outcome of my prints through the use of screenprinting. I like the use of layering in order to create the design and in contrast to other print techniques such as lino and mono, the ability to create the design before hand in positives is something that I find helpful in terms of being able to sustain the narrative in my work. In some ways, I wish I had explored combining the print techniques further, it might have been interesting to use a more ink based monoprint over the top of the more refined screenprints, however I am still thoroughly pleased with my final prints in the one technique that I used. Studio Brief 3 was also a great learning curve for me. I really enjoyed looking at how I could change my work and animate it, this is something that I’ve always been curious about within my practice but I’ve never actually attempted so exploring movement and sound was an educational experience and something that I have also enjoyed. I found the after effects sessions incredibly helpful, I was able to fully understand the basics before creating anything more complex of my own. Following on from the sessions, I began to research into other movements that were possible with the programme and I quickly began to learn that the possibilities on after effects are endless. Through my research for studio brief 3, I again, quickly learnt what type of animations I enjoyed. The very traditional, almost naïve and hand made animations are something that to me, really show the craft of the illustrator and is something that I set out to make myself within my animations. I feel like I successfully created this in my own work, I worked hard and long hours in order to create the flickering, pencil mark based stings, and in general, I’m very pleased with the outcomes. After effects is definitely something that I would like to work with in the future of my practice. In terms of studio brief 1, I found this the most difficult brief, despite the extensive roughing, I couldn’t make the final editorial pieces how I intended them to look. I think my struggles stemmed from using a digital platform to create my work, on reflection I should have focused more on creating them using a completely handmade approach. I learnt quickly that I struggle to make stand-alone editorial work as oppose to the work that I enjoy exploring more, which is a narrative style of working with sequential images. Overall, OUIL504 has been a very successful module for me in terms of learning and exploring my own practice. Through my commitment to the course and long hours spent in the studio working out ideas and discovering ways of working, I think that I have progressed a large amount in my create abilities.

Project Proposals - Studio Brief 2 and 3

Studio Brief 2 - Printed Pictures

Studio Brief 1 - Idea Pictures

Visual Journal - Key Moments

VISUAL JOURNAL

• I found the visual journal to be a key part of my investigation into Angela Carter as an author and person. i was able to explore visually the way that her writing and personna makes me feel. 
• I really enjoyed having the ability to create roughs for briefs and create imagery and drawings based on the viscerol feelings that Carter's work gives me that I have discussed so much throughout my blog.
• I found it really helpful to work on tracing paper alot and through moving the drawings over the top of others, I was able to work out compositions and layouts before embarking on the roughing process.

Final Crit

 

FINAL CRIT 

The final crit of my work was a peer review with the final opinions and thoughts on the collection of all of my work. I felt so relieved to have everything together, neatly in my presentations folders. It's felt like a long and very educational journey but I'm so happy to be finished and i feel like I can take away so much knowledge, particuarly about print and animation from OUIL504

QUOTES FROM FEEDBACK

• "Overall presentation is impeccable! very proffesional layout"
• "Your experimental nature is inspiring - your work is so fun and exciting!"
• "So considered - a whole set - really beautiful and fragile"
• "I can really see how the sophistication of your core concepts has developed throughout the module in response to Angela Carter"
• "Your sketchbook is incredible, it's so exciting, the definition of a visual journal"
• "Delicate but bold. Work with halftone again!"

The feedback is so positive, it gave me so much confidence and I really feel ready for the hand in. I was slightly worried about my development towards the final prints, but it's comforting to see that people can see the development from my initial ideas towards the final prints!
I received a few comments telling me to work with screenprint again based on the success of my screenprints, this is such a great compliment to relieve.

At the very start of the module, I discussed how I was very concerned with screen printing as I haven't had much success with it in the past, but following on from these comments and how pleased I am with my final prints, I am certainly going to use it a lot in my practice in the future!  

PRESENTATION OF WORK 

I decided to use large boards to create folders for my final prints and my development work. I wanted to present my work in a way that could also represent it. I decided to use similar colours to the ones I used in my prints in order to show my work in a professional and creative way.
I'm so happy with how my presentation turned out, I think it's clean and refreshing in a way that also gives the similar feelings that are in my prints, ones that can represent the life and work of Angela Carter.

After..After effects

I really didn't think that I'd enjoy using after effects as much as I did. 

• I loved seeing my somewhat line based work being animated! Before hand i could only really see digital and shape based illustrations being animated but I feel like I've used my style and way of working in an effective way in order to create the stings.
• It was really fun to learn new techniques and a media to work with. Learning a programme such as after effects is exciting! It's a new platform to work on, a new method and element to consider when creating illustrations of my own. I quickly learnt that the possibilities of after effects are endless and this is so exciting to me! I'd really love to work with a longer sequence, I'm sure there are quicker and faster ways to create the hand-made aesthetic that I've been trying to create and I'd love to learn and discover this.
• Unfortunately, after effects is very time consuming, but I really feel that the results are worth it. I studied media studies at school and I've really enjoyed being able to use this enjoyment of film and movement again.
• If I were to use after effects again, I would try and make my work look less flat, I wouldn't have the constraint of two colours so I feel that I could be more experimental and I would probably experiment with layers and line of sight more to add a depth of field within my work!

Third Sting

Gender - Angela Carter from Emma Knowles on Vimeo.

WHAT WENT WELL?

• Similarily to my other two completed stings, I was really REALLY pleased with how the whole handmade aesthetic came through. Again, I spent a long time to create the separate layers in order to achieve this look. I had to be selective of which parts to add this flickering appearance to, as I found that when applying it to every single element within the sting, it became a bit overwhelming and took away from the actual illustrations themselves. 
• I feel like the sound worked particularly well with this sting. I was able to match the sounds of the bird tweeting with the soundtrack and I feel that this really gives a professional looking element.

WHAT COULD HAVE GONE BETTER?

• I really struggled with the composition with this sting, the layout is particularly different to my bird print, so I found it difficult to rearrange the layout, despite my storyboard process.
• I found that when transferring my ideas from my storyboards, it was difficult to recreate it in the exact way. Maybe this is something that I should consider if I were to do an animation project again. More detailed storyboards.
• There's small factors about the animation that Im not happy with, for example some of the words don't flicker properly leading to double words or a blank space, i didn't notice elements such as this until afterwards, but again, due to time restrictions I was unable to go back and change this. But in GENERAL i think the animation looks smooth.

Second Sting!

Women In Art - Angela Carter from Emma Knowles on Vimeo.

WHAT WENT WELL?

• I am particularly pleased with my use of complex animation within this sting, I really feel like my research and investigation into after effects has helped me to create some more complex movements within the sting. 
• I think my use of timing has also worked well, accompanied by the sound, the growing of the different elements really work well making the sting successful! I'm so pleased with how I've really taken this into consideration.
• I used similar elements to the first sting as I wanted them to work as a set. Again, I've used the 'flickering' hand made aesthetic. I'm so happy with how I was able to work this out, through research I was able to see the way that two frames are used in order to create this effect, and I feel that in my own hand drawn illustrations, it has really worked well.
• The sound is also a successful element within this sting, although similar to the first, I feel like it's an interesting concept to explore and my illustrations with movements work well to represent the quote.

WHAT COULD HAVE GONE BETTER?

• i feel like the composition of this sting could have gone better, despite the symmetry of it, I feel that it's slightly empty in some areas and lacking something that the first sting had. I'm not sure how this could have been changed, maybe I needed a more extensive storyboarding process, however, this wasnt possible due to time restrictions!
• If i had more time, i would have gone back and re drawn the illustrations that I used, I'm some parts the line work of the different elements don't match up and this is something i should consider if i wanted a more professional finish, and to keep with the brief of using 2 colours, however, aside from this, I'm very pleased with the appearance of the sting.

First Sting!!!

FIRST DRAFT - Dreams - Angela Carter from Emma Knowles on Vimeo.

WHAT WENT WELL?

• I set myself the task of making the animation 'flickery' to reflect a handrawn animation that I enjoyed so much in my research. I REFUSE to let my work look digital, I really like the natural and drawn aesthetic so this is really something that I strive for in my work, and I really feel like I've been able to do this successfully in this sting so far.
• I love the sound with the subtitles, I think it was such a strong idea of mine to use a clip of speech from Angela Carter herself, it really makes the animation feel like a true homage to her and I feel like the imagery reflects her well aswell. The use of the nature sounds in the background is also something that has been successful, so overall I'm really pleased with my use of sound and I dont think I'll be changing this in the final draft of this PARTICULAR sting!!
• I'm pleased with how i've used movement, I knew that creating an animation in this very digital way would be a challenge but i feel that I've been able to do it very well, particularly in terms of the eyes, i was so pleased when I worked out the blink, although it could be a little smoother, I'm happy that I was able to go through the process of discovering the different layers and transform tools to enable me to do this!

WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO CHANGE OR IMPROVE

• I took a risk with the colour, I used the very natural feel of the tracing paper that I initally scanned in, I felt like when I edited this it just became very digital and this isn't what I wanted for my stings. I'm disappointed that I haven't been able to use textures from my prints, but it was impossible for me to have the different elements from the prints to scan in and use for the animation, and due to time restrictions I wasn't able to re create my prints in order to do this. This IS annoying, but I would like to learn how to add colour in a way that looks very hand prinited so the stings can link even more to my prints.
• Thats my GOAL for my final sting!
• Some of the movements of the flowers are a bit fast, I might need to work on these in order to learn new ways of allowing them to move across the screen in a more more natural and free way as oppose to a fast and forced way.

A zine based on my final prints.

 

I made a small zine using my final prints and other visual images that I have been exploring as part of small side projects based on Angela Carter.

I'm happy with the outcome of the zine, even if it's just a simple side project. This could be something that I could potentially sell or look at improving and including my other work in the future.