'Make Your Mark' Brief: Picture Books and Evaluation.

To finish the project, I decided to go with the picture book idea that I mentioned previously. Constructing these was fairly difficult, as I couldn't decide how I wanted them to open. Having them pop out (like paper pop up books) proved too difficult an idea, so I settled for something much less elaborate. My first one is about the backpack/badges idea. I combined many of the techniques I had used when experimenting with ideas, and picked out my favourites. This included white on black imagery, bypass printing and blind drawing.

For my second book, I use similar techniques, applying my favourite processes to create final images. For the hands, this included more collage, bypass printing, scans and text. This book was shorter, because I felt like what I had was strong enough to run with.

Evaluation.

Initially generating ideas for this project was difficult, I thought I'd have many ideas but I got quite stuck. Tasks like the quickfire questions/100 things I love were very useful, and are simple, thought provoking challenges that I'd do again. I got to try many new processes, including collagraph printing, experimenting with type and working more graphically (which I then continued to do throughout the project!). I'm definitely happy with the work I have produced, although ideas for themes were lacking. Moving forward, I need to push myself to explore further ideas and concepts which will give me a wider range of materials to work with, and generally make life easier!

'Make Your Mark' brief: Observational work.

I'm nearing the end of the project, and have been experimenting with more observational work, and the idea of having all the badges on one page (like previously). I've been working with mixed materials and just trying out different layouts on the page. Here are two badges in continuous line/collage. I really like both of these, I think the image on the right is stronger, with the little bit of black on white imagery.

The next two are mixed, one is all the badges collectively, and the other is a simple observational image of my hands, bringing it back to the previous project idea. I love the card outline in the first image.

This is quite a short post, but I thought I should show little bits of progress in between. I spoke to my tutor about rounding up the project, and we talked about doing little picture books, and looking at both the badges/hands idea (why I included both). I think it's a great idea and finalising both main ideas would be a good way to finish this project for me. 

3D Design: 'Enclosure' Brief part 2.

After developing my first two responses, I worked on constructing a further 3. I struggled with the wire when trying to keep it straight, and so started to experiment with different materials as well as different shapes when looking at ways of responding. I found some double sided card (white on one side and grey on the other) and thought the contrast was really interesting. I planned out different techniques in my sketchbook, like hole punching and gold eyelet detailing, and started to construct my first spherical cage.

I used staples to fix the card in place. The finished response was surprisingly strong! I was very happy with the strength and look of this response. I moved on and started experimenting with more materials, paper, canvas, plastic coated wires etc... I wanted to create a very colourful piece to contrast with the previous one. I took pictures as I put it together to show the layering of different materials, like the hidden canvas I tried out on the inside! 

For my third and final structure, I decided to risk using the wire again! I thought it would be easier to bend into a circular shape than keep it straight. Alone it looked boring, so I wove green thread round it. I loved the contrast of colours and also the straight angles created within this circular shape. It looked really interesting! 

...and here is all 3 displayed together! Overall this task has been fairly beneficial, I enjoyed working into and developing my responses, and looking at all the possibilities that come from one word! I'm happy with my structures, however if I had more time I would have tried to suspend them (cubes and spheres) or display them in some other way. 

2D Design: Colour Palettes.

In the 2D block we're currently experimenting with contrasting/matching colours and colour palettes. Part of the work for this week was to create explore three different colour palettes, and then create three compositions corresponding to those colour palettes. I used three leaflets collected from the last exhibitions I visited.

The first was from the Laura Buckley exhibition, the mix of warm/bright pinks and cooler dull blues and greys worked really well, and was used throughout her work too.

I used a camera and blind/left hand drawing to do the composition. I liked the grey messy pen line, however I think as a whole the images were washed out by the white page. I could have filled the background better. 

The next was from Nicolas Deshayes' exhibition, the colours were quite industrial mixed with more natural blues and greens. 

I used a toy figure and blind drawing for this composition. As before, I liked the pen lines but as a whole it was washed out.

For my last one I used a leaflet I picked up about art in sheffield. Unlike the other two this colour scheme used neon yellows and oranges, and contrasted it with plain black/grey.

I decided to use a button and collage for this piece, as I didn't feel the last two had worked out too well. Looking back I am kicking myself for not using a background, the whole thing is just too plain.

Overall, I wish I had experimented with materials a little more, and less on just using pen and watercolour. I feel the white background overpowers the majority of the compositions. I think had I used background the images would be far more interesting. However, I enjoyed experimenting with different colour palettes, colour is something I really enjoy playing around with and I am beginning to notice the use of colour palettes/themes much more in everything around me! I enjoyed exploring this task, but I am not as happy with my outcomes.