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.

Dandy-Lion: (Logo Design is rather tricky)

On tuesday I met with Aisha who is a third year student on the BA Fashion Course at AUCB. I replied to an e-mail she sent out over the weekend requesting help with a logo design for a magazine. Although i've never done logo design before, i felt i could relate to the influences and themes she mentioned in her message so thought it was worth a go! I sent her a link to my blog and she showed me a lot of her research. I was given a rough outline of what she wanted, which included the image of the dandelion within the text. It was also mentioned that she liked my more recent pieces of work using marbling inks. This is my first image/idea and theres definitely a lot of work left to do. I think the end result needs to focus more on hand crafted aspects, be more feminine and also have more emphasis on the text itself. I also need to get more specific measurements for the logo itself as I am using Photoshop opposed to illustrator.

Solar.

This is my initial response to Philip Larkin's poem, 'Solar'. I have avoided reading any other formal analysis of the text at the moment as i think that retaining a personal interpretation is important. I used a variety of papers, fabrics and textures to cut out simple shapes and structures related to the imagery I found within the poem. I think the cut out technique works well, but feel the image is a little naive and feminine in terms of interpreting the text. This could be altered by adjusting the colour scheme, but i am going to also look into different textures and fabric's that could give a more bespoke and sophisticated essence. I also think that deeper analysis of the text would be benficial.

Research so far.

Christin Boltanski: Installation Work 'Ombres (Shadows)'

Rob Ryan: Inricate Papercuts/ Screenprints

Yesterday was really productive in regards to research and development. The main thing I noticed with the Faber & Faber designs is the simplicity of the prints and the images. Some were literal in terms of taking either a single image from a poem, or a title (Mark Hearld's Ted Hughes design for example.) Others were more abstract and focused on overarching themes and imagery. My inital idea's related to other traditional print methods such as etching and mono printing, but due to time restraints this may prove a bit tricky. I then progressed onto the idea of paper cutting as this is a way of producing graphic images but I can still incorporate the mixed media approach I prefer to use. I began by researching the work of Rob Ryan, reading his book 'This is for You'. The delicate imagery he adopts work perfectly with the stanzas in his book; even if you removed the lettering from the images his designs still encompass the text well. He has also produced the recent cover design for Carol Ann Duffy's children's book, 'The Gift'. I also began to look into the work of instillation artist Christian Boltanski. His work was suggested to me in a tutorial last year and I have focused primarily on his pieces related to sculpture, shadows and silhouettes. I think that the dark and surreal qualities of his work could be applied in relation to the more haunting and thought provoking aspects of the poetry I am interpreting.