'Record' Project: Working With Text In Photoshop Again...

Another extension of previous work, looking at combining the text with the images.

I think the text really works with the image here, however because I put the print in negative to get the colours I wanted, I think it lost some of the quality, but I didn't want to block in the characters because then I'd lose the texture! So I was a little stuck.

I really love this image. I like that the colours are slightly visible and it's not just black and white. I replaced what was the speech arrows with the text and used the same green to emphasize certain words. I'm really happy with this image, moving towards creating final imagery I think this is more like what I'm looking to put together.

'Record' Project: Working With Text In Photoshop Continued...

Trying to improve my images based on the evaluation of the previous ones, and also experimenting with new phrases and text.

This text was more difficult, I decided to make certain areas transparent so it would blend in with the image. I actually like how this looks, I decided to overlap it with the speech arrows to further bring across the idea of speech or conversation. It's very bold but not overpowering, I'll definitely experiment with this more.

Same print different text. I didn't like this at first but it's growing on me. I think leaving the rest of the page clear was the right decision, however I worry it's now a little boring. I'm conflicted because while I like the technique and the colour I just think it's too simple. At least it blends together quite well.

My last one, and first time mixing the two phrases together. I think this would really work if the two elements actually worked together, because here they're quite separate. I love the colour of the bottom half of the text, and I think I'll experiment with separating colour within the phrase again because it works quite nicely!

'Record' Project: Working With Text In Photoshop

I started using my first scans, and working over images I've created previously, editing them here and there to fit with the text.

My first image, I clean up the text a little and decided on white, it's still a little messy but I quite like it! however if I could fix something I think I'd make the text smaller, I didn't adjust the size at all and I think it takes up a little too much of the image.

My second, using the stamps was a good idea, it hardly needed cleaning up at all! I love the style and consistency of the font but I regret the colour choice. I think it looks flat and forced, I'm worried this type will only work in black. 

My favourite of the three. I think this type works really well, particularly with the quite bold imagery and colour. I reckon it's also quiet enough to handle any colours. I'll need to try this out with busier images and see what happens.

'Record' Project: Sounds

More recorded sounds, but I've been focusing more on conversations. I think these are more interesting, some of them are quite muffled but some are complex and busy. I like how you can make out small areas here and there but not always the whole picture, which is really what I've been looking at both in my journals and during development of work.




I think this is a good example of what I was talking about before, I was quite lucky here because on the bus the background noise is usually too loud to make anything out! There are probably around 10 different conversations happening here.




This is from the library in college. This was just one conversation between lots of people which I liked, because you'd think the sound would be clearer, but they were all talking between themselves and over eachother so it's still quite difficult to make out.




This was a large group of people all talking to eachother, and you can hear the television on in the background, with presenters having a conversation with eachother, and the viewers if you like. I think that adds another dimention to the recording as there are different types of conversation and also communication involved.




This is a good example of what I meant about the buses, it's hard to make anything out past the background noise! You can hear some muffled conversation but nowhere near as clear as my other recordings.

The clear recordings are a great addition to my work and I think now I'm really rounding up the basis or theme if you like. It's good to have something other than drawings and recorded conversations in my journal to go by. To improve I think I'd need to place myself in busy places or situations to get good quality clear recordings of the conversations, because some of these are quite hard to understand! I am happy with them though, I like that you can get a little look into someones day or situation.

'Record' Project: Conversation Collage.

I'd been wanting to experiment with collage for a while, and so I thought I'd try to convey the idea of conversation and communication through found imagery. I was using figures I cut out from some old dress patterns, I thought they were perfect as they were quite cartoon like but still aged. I'd drawn up some ideas beforehand and then started working with thread.

My first image using a thinner thread, this works really well. I think the black/white and colour combination is very complimentry. I want to try something busier though and see if I can build it up.

Built up with more characters and thread, I was thinking about old and new conversations. I now wanted to try using coloured figures instead of coloured thread.

I don't think this works as well, you lose the significance of the thread. The textures work quite nicely but I think I'm losing what the image is supposed to represent.

This image was a complete accident, I was trying to begin working with black space, and scanning on top of a piece I did in my sketchbook where I followed conversations as they were happening around me. Instead i got this. I think it's quite interesting and I love that you can see the lettering coming through in all shapes and sizes. It's made me think more about using black space and cut outs instead of the figures themselves, moving forward I think that is what I need to experiment with next.

'Record' Project: Video

After my video from the journey while I was away, I wanted to film a journey back home. I started filming my bus to college in the same way, but I split it up into sections. Mainly because the first part was so boring!




You can see that this is just trees, it's interesting for a short time but after that I don't think it really works very well. I wanted to get more windy roads and people like I had before.


I picked up filming again when I know there were going to be more houses and people and generally people moving around. I much prefer this.




I did enjoy this, however as I do this journey all the time, it wasn't really as exciting as filming somewhere different was. Personally I find myself not being able to engage as much as I would had it been somewhere else. I'm still glad I made the films but for future reference I think i'll try and step more out of my comfort zone.

'Record' Project: More Sounds.

Over the break I've been trying to collect some more sound pieces. They are quite varied but I think that's important as I want to have lots of very different material.




I like this sound clip because it shows a very normal everyday situation, however you are focusing on it in more detail. I think the conversation and language is interesting!




Something incredibly different. My younger brother ended up joining a choir through what started as a Sheffield music project in primary schools a few years ago. This is from a performance we went to see in the church. I decided to record one of the songs because the material is so different to what I have already. This is a great contrast to the everyday voices and sounds I have already.





This is very muffled and you can barely make out anything at all, it is very loud on planes. Even so I kept it in, I think it's a lesson that very loud background noise isn't always the best time to try and record, and also the quality on my phone is rubbish!




This one is great, there is very mixed conversation going on and in different languages too! Unfortunately you can here my cousin and uncle talking about berets but perhaps that only adds to the strange but great mix of different voices here!

I'll leave it here for now, but I'm really enjoying working with these sounds. I think it's a great alternative way to collect material and adds another dimention to the work. I apologise for the rubbish quality though!

'Record' Project: A Journey.

I went away during the break, and while we were there we did the same bus journey everyday. It was really exciting to be in a place I didn't know and the journey was really interesting, lots of very windy roads and sharp turns and different streets. I decided to film what I could one day. I love the effect it has when you turn the corners and your viewpoint changes, I also thought it was funny how I'd occasionally come face to face with people. My phone didn't last the whole journey unfortunately but I got a fair amount of it. I was originally going to mute this as I talk the whole way through it (hate hearing your own voice.), but I couldn't figure out how so you'll just have to put up with me.




I think it's great to get an different and ever changing viewpoint of an alien area. Every corner you turn the perspective changes and suddenly there's another alleyway or a train track that you weren't expecting. I really enjoyed filming this clip, it was just quite embarrassing having people notice what you were doing!

3D Design: Artist Research.

As part of the 3D design block we've been given a list of artists, and told to research and blog about one. I chose to look at Kiki Smith. I was already aware of Kiki Smith's work but not of her sculptures, which seems mad as there's so many! I love how Kiki's work is always a bit confronting, challenging and has a dark/unusual feel.

The first piece I really liked is called 'Pee Body'.

I love this piece because it's really bluntly showing something that is considered taboo, and in my opinion doing it in quite a humorous way. I love the mix of materials and the contrast between the beads and main body, the awkward positioning and flailing stream of beads.

The next piece that caught my attention was 'Sirens'.

I'm not sure what to think about these pieces, they're incredibly interesting and slightly dark and eerie, and they're really reminding me of something which is also winding me up! (The bird/human that transports you places in Zelda) I really like the idea though, I'm not quite sure of the concept behind them but they're unsettling. I like the change in sizes too, although the faces don't really change you instantly get that feeling of age differences, interesting that size corresponds to that.

The last piece I'm going to blog about is called 'Daisy Chain'.

I love this piece. I like that when I was looking through different images of the sculpture, it had been arranged in various different ways, constantly changing/evolving the first impression and feel of the work. The contrast between the the loose chains and sculpted limbs actually has a funny impact on you, and makes me feel quite strange. I like how it makes the solid limbs look like they could be limp also, made out of rubber. 

Fine Art: Photography: Artist Research.

We were shown a presentation of 50 photographers of note, and instructed to blog about a piece of work by three different artists.

The first photographer I chose to write about is Martin Parr, I really enjoyed looking through his work. Much of it has a running theme, exploring british/western culture and consumerism. For me the look of his work matches this -extremely high saturated pictures, lucid block colour (I love the deliberate-tacky feel that really works!). This repetition and simple factor to it. Matching people with food and money, and the zoom allowing us to look close at particular quirks or branding. This picture I chose to post here was from one of his books 'Common Sense'.

I think this image sums up my analysis of his work, the sea of people all looking the same and with the same towels with a huge price tag stuck over the top. The badly painted toenails, tanned feet and glittery sandals (I love those!). Together it really does have an impact in bringing across this theme of consumerism.

The next photographer I decided to post was Lewis Hine. I think the fact his photo's were quite instrumental in bringing about child labour reform in the US is so important, and brings so much more depth, meaning and emotion to the photos whilst viewing them. His work is very plain, you are drawn only to the reality of the images, the detail, the time and people. The picture I chose to post is of an 11 year old girl who works in a mill. 

I think this photo is so beautiful. You can see an endless stream of spinners (work), this is complemented by the lack of focus. She is surrounded by grey, plain, dirty conditions and she stands in focus looking out of the window and into the light in wonder. His work is very impacting and very real, and I really enjoyed looking through the photographs. 

The last photographer is Mary Ellen Mark, I love her street photography of New York. The angles she uses are particularly interesting, tilting a shot and a blurred image as if the photographer themselves is moving. It really creates this sense of movement and busy cities. Again there is a real focus on people and character, and with no back story the images leave the viewer to interpret their own characters and scenario. The photo I picked was...

As I said before, it's the angles that interest me. It's almost as if she was walking down a busy street with camera in hand, and accidentally snapped a picture! I love how she cleverly manipulates your view of the surroundings. The photos are just a snap of a second in time. I found her work really thought provoking.

Fine Art: Brief part 2: Card with hole/ Hole with card.

The second part of our brief was to take a piece of card with a hole in it, and experiment with different ways of utilizing this piece of card. Like before, I started with a mind map. Below are the different ideas I came up with:

• Use hole in card as part of an image, construct an image including the hole.
• Use hole as a window, how does it obscure or change a view?
• How the hole changes texture or pattern, get people to feel an object through the card and describe textures, how detailed are their responses? do they struggle?
• Straightforward viewfinder.
• Using card to separate (grass/rice...)

I went straight in with the window idea. I placed the card over a window and a painting, and observed the difference looking at the 'bigger picture', and the selected view through the hole. 

I found in both cases that the card on the window/painting obscured the majority of the view, and your attention was drawn directly to the card rather than anything else. However, looking through the hole in the card allowed you to pick up on much closer detail/textures than you would have before. From these observations I produced two small sketches/paintings. 

I then decided to use the hole in the card as part of an image, and did two still life sketches on either side of the card incorporating the hole. (A pritt stick, and a mug)

I stuck the piece of card between a double page spread and placed a material on either page -allowing the materials to show through the hole on the other side (people could feel the material through the hole, but not see it). I asked family members to feel the material and make comments about the textures. 

My first object (seen in full) was a plant, the comments included:

• Very smooth
• Dry soap
• Plastic
• Cork 

...and the second:

• Creases
• Fluffy
• Very soft

Overall I was pleased with the observations in both the window idea, and also the texture element. I liked how the hole in the card really allowed you to view/physically experience something in much more detail. The texture observations were surprisingly accurate, but also interesting as they were descriptions I would have never placed with that material before. 

Fine Art: Brief part 1: Hour long walk.

 Our Brief for the week was made up of different two different sections,
Firstly we were challenged to take an hour long walk. To prepare for this walk I drew up a mind map in my sketchbook and played with possible ideas of what I wanted to achieve.

I decided I would walk through town for this task, as I wanted to focus mainly on people, conversation, population and effect. In terms of outcome I only have a few bits to show you, as much of it is observational writings (recording conversation, sound, smells, sights etc...) but I did take a few pictures along the way.

"Can you send me Alex's number? I think I left my bank card at his..."

Subway:

Very loud and animated, smelt of plastic/toasting bread. A baby crying, lots of people working because of large queue/demand. Man in front orders foot-long chicken tikka on white bread, and a woman pretends to have a child to cover up that the child's meal is for her.

"Cashier no.4 please

-Hi, how can I help you?

Cashier no.7 please

-Rubin goes to put money in bank

Cashier no.3 please..."

 

Looking at the effect the weather had on (usually) largely populated areas.

All parks deserted.

I also visited this exhibition at the millennium galleries, I found it to be particularly relevant to my task and very atmospheric. Later, reflecting on the walk I realized how interesting the day had been, and how much more I had noticed about places and people by focusing on smaller things like sound. I was happy with the information, but was disappointed by the lack of rubbish in the town centre!

Life drawing/Mixed media

I had my first life drawing class today, I learnt a lot in only a few hours and I think you can see the difference between my first and last drawings. Later, we focused in on one item and practiced scale, mixed media and repetition. (I chose my open draw from the previous day).

2D Design: Scavenger Hunt

Some photos from today's brief, you can spot several pictures of various fonts and yellow items, including an abandoned lemon water bottle!

I liked the way the filing cabinet doors overlapped from the angle, and also I've included some pictures of our first sketchbook work. I tried to do some collage/paper work and then some sketching in the library and main room.