'Hello Beautiful' Brief: Potato Printing.

I wanted to expand from the leaf/plants idea but wasn't sure where to go with it. I really fancied doing some printing, but was at home and I don't have a lino kit. So, I decided to use potatoes! A little unconventional, but it did the job! I created really simple leaf shapes and tested them out in all different colours.

I even tried two colours, which only very occasionally worked. I actually really liked the shapes and textures they produced, so I kept going with it. I created a found imagery collage, with prints and shoe polish. Then I started printing off the work in grayscale, and printing over the top of that. 

I think this worked really nicely. I loved the pinky peach colour.

I think this looks great in only two colours, the shadows on the back are prints on the other side of the page. I think this works really well and I want to see what else I can do with it. 

'Hello Beautiful' Brief: More Observational Work.

After doing my found imagery collages, I decided to focus on the other two words I hadn't used, 'Growth' and 'Life'. For this I thought I would do some object drawing with plants and flowers, since I thought they fit those words very nicely, and they're beautiful and resilient! I was focusing mainly on shapes and leaves.

I started with this, still trying to keep the work in minimal colours, I think this spread works because of the masking tape, I'm not sure why! 

Some flower studies in different drawing techniques, I'm particularly enjoying the green felt tip and the black fineliner! 

I wasn't sure about this but it's growing on me! I think the masking tape and cut out silhouettes work well, it was the scans and placement I wasn't sure about. 

I did a very simple plain fineliner study, then picked out details and etched them into the page with scissors, revealing them with shoe polish. I love the texture this creates. I want to keep on this track, as I think there is much more I can do with it and I'm enjoying the outcomes. 

'Hello Beautiful' Brief: Collage Work and Themes.

To generate more ideas, my tutors had the idea of, almost censoring magazine and newspaper articles. picking out key words with positive connotations. This was extremely helpful and I created a mind map of all the words I'd picked out afterwards.

After this I wanted to do something different, so I picked out some key words from my mind map. 'Beauty', 'Power', 'Different', 'Growth' and 'Life' were my favourites. I started creating collage using found imagery, my first was around the word 'Power'. 

I wasn't sure about the one on the left, it's really weak and doesn't strike you in the same way the one on the right does.

'Beauty'

I really like my second image of someone almost drowning in cosmetics.

'Different'.

I think this one works as a spread because of the connection with the text.

I like a few of the outcomes here but overall I'm not that keen. I think I could've used a wider range of media and explored the words a little more. I'd like to work with found media again at some point, and maybe in a little more depth than what I produced here.

'Hello Beautiful' Brief: Observational Work.

Our newest brief is for a foundation called Hello Beautiful. We've been set the task of creating an image for an exhibition in college around the principles of the Hello Beautiful foundation, raising awareness and supporting those battling breast cancer, focusing on positive thinking, empowerment, happiness and healthy living.
We started as a group with word association, then stripping it down to a few key words to focus on, I started looking at hair, growth and healthy living. I did some drawing with objects connected to these words to start me off with the project.

 

I was trying to work in limited colour palettes similar to those stated in the brief, as our final image can only be in two colours. I really like the effect the water has on the lines in the second image.

For the healthy living objects I started working with grounds, I wish I'd done a few more like this, it works well and adds something extra to the image as a whole.

I'm happy with how the majority of these turned out, but wish I'd continued with a wider variety of objects, and continued to work on grounds. I think it's a great way to generate ideas moving forward though!