Christmas Cards

thankyou father...

sheds sheds sheds sheds...

just to prove i have been doing something...

These are a few of the designs I have been working on as artwork for the film's website. The initial images were the first ones I sent to the films producer. For some reason I found it really hard to get started despite loving the brief and the imaginative aspects of the narrative. I think it may be due to the fact that this is work for someone else's project, not just uni work...which definitely makes it all the more nerve racking. I felt the first images were too feminine, which was also mentioned in the feedback I received from the producer. He also suggested re-working the image of the shed itself to add more depth, which was really helpful as this definitely gave me more of a direction to pursue. I went to the allotments and took a few photos of some interesting looking sheds as reference points and have developed a few more designs since. I'm still not particularly happy and can't quite work out why, am struggling to create an image that isn't over-crowding the frame. That however is enough photoshop for one day.

Where Would You Hide?

May have gone little off topic, got slightly carried away with layering and cutting out on photoshop. But this image is a starting point for my narrative project. I have decided to base my narrative around the script for a third year graduate film titled 'The Shed.' The film focuses on the themes of childhood escapism, imagination and denial as the character of 8 year old Neil attempts to come to terms with the fact that his mother is facing a severe illness. In his struggle to understand, Neil sets off in his imagination on a wild space adventure. In terms of creating artwork for the film itself, the brief I've been given relates to focusing on childhood imagination. In terms of the narrative unit I've decided to begin by looking at the themes of escapism and denial (particularly in childhood), in more detail. Consequently prompting the question, 'Where would you hide?'...

The making of a den will commence tomorrow...seeing as first hand research is essential and all.

Wotton House

people on trains get scared when you try and draw them

23.11.2010

Screen Prints

I decided at the outset of this year that printing (in particular screen printing) was an area I wanted to pursue. It should be beneficial in that I can produce a mass amount of the same image, but can then work into these individually. These are a few example of the prints from today. I also managed to get the two designs onto t-shirts which is something i've been wanting to do for while. Hopefully after a bit of altering, or framing, I can use them for our 'Bespoke' exhibition in Boscombe next week.

Peter Doig

Beautiful.

logo design take two.

These are a few ideas in relation to the possible logo design for the fashion publication Dandy-Lion. I've calmed them down a lot from my initial idea, after talking to friends studying graphics and visual communication it was pointed out that a logo needs to be simple and not detract from the image on the front cover of a publication. They're all still a bit rough but I figured it was probably more important to focus on idea generation at this stage.

Reflections on the Everyday: An Anthology

Rough for Front Cover

Philip Larkin: Solar

Philip Larkin: Maturity

Ted Hughes: Crow and the Birds

Ted Hughes: Fulbright Scholars

Sylvia Plath: Edge

Sylvia Plath: The Sleepers

These are my final 6 images, and rough for a front cover, related to the interpretation of text unit. The six images are responses to the poetry of Ted Hughes, Sylvia Plath and Philip Larkin. Despite a slight last minute panic in relation to printing quality I am really pleased with the final outcomes. The development of visual concepts is an area I have always struggled with but the thought provoking nature of poetry meant I had to confront this at an early stage of my designs. I have definitely enjoyed this project a lot more than any of my work last year, the formulation of images seemed to come far more naturally, and hopefully this is reflected in the final outcomes! All in all...yaaaay for Illustration.

new duvet cover

Tutorial/London

I was really nervous before my tutorial last Wednesday as although I had decided the format and basic style for my final images I was still in the process of 'hoarding' materials I could utilise. I went in with the two roughs I have posted on my blog, and my sketchbook. Overall it was helpful, both tutors liked the Crow and the Birds image. It was also suggested that I should consider picking up on more colour references within the text. I will definitely develop this as I don't feel the image is particularly intruiging or emotive at present.

On thursday I went to London, we managed to fit a fair bit into one day, including the Rob Ryan exhibition at the Air Gallery, which was beautiful. It's amazing to see his work up close and on a larger scale, really highlights the intricate detail of his designs. I also went to the Chalk Farm area of London which was where Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath lived for a while. Although I doubt i'll use any of the sketches I did in this project, it was still really interesting to explore the area.

Although the week seemed to be going well, I did wake up in a bit of a panic on Friday morning. I had collected so many materials and had vague ideas for each poem but it was a case of getting started that was hard. But in the evening I had a group critique with a few friends from the course which was incredibly helpful. Everyone suggested that the more abstract 'Solar' image is worth developing. The image is far less literal compared to the 'Crow and the Birds' rough, and creating images the reader can look into coincides well with poetry. This was the initial direction i was planning for my project, but as I usually add drawn elements I found myself leaning towards this. I also plan to develop the effects produced through the inverting line drawings and collaged elements on Photoshop as I like the ghostly, fragile quality this adds to the images.

Crow and the Birds

This is an initial response to Ted Hughes poem 'Crow and the Birds' . I have been continuing to work with paper cutting, but decided to experiment with the incorporation of drawing based work also. I received responses from a few of the illustrators who designed the Faber and Faber book covers, which has been extremely helpful and given me a good insight into the design process. It sounds as though they were all given a very specific brief, which even included being e-mailed paintings to reference. Illustrator and print maker Clare Curtis suggested that:

'If you want to evoke a feeling you might be better off taking an abstract approach. If you are a good draftsperson I sometimes think a beautiful drawing of an object mentioned in the text is enough.

I could really relate to this comment as I don't want to 'pin-point' an image in the readers mind, and force an interpretation of the text upon them. I do however feel that this image for 'Crow and the Birds' is a bit too literal and specific. It was quite simple to draw meaning and a visual concept from this text compared to many of the others which may make it hard to combine it as part of a series.