Holiday expermentation

Over the holidays I began to experiment further with character, scale, and pace of story, as well as how to show the movement of the person throughout, rather than just have the same stance assumed in each image.
Also, because of a Chinese receipt I found in the pocket of a coat at the Thrifty Store, I thought about the possibility of adding a narrative where she is stopped at airport security and has to put on all her clothes in order for her bag to be small enough to fit on, which I think may help to make the book more relatable.

What do I think is successful?
-I’m definitely loosening up my drawings and letting the character dictate what I draw rather than what I saw
- Although I don’t think many of the drawings are too successful, I think through the imperfections and errors I have begun to understand what the character of my narrative would be like, and how to portray this visually
- Really loved having the opportunity to just experiment with different layouts and compositions without worrying about how they would turn out
- I think I have begun to develop a character who is really able to set the quiet tone of the book whilst still showing emotions

What do I think is unsuccessful?
-Water colour doesn't work too well with sharp facial features, blurs them a bit too much
- Shape of body not quite right with reference to movement, need to practise this
- Shading on face perhaps too complicated to be used in busy compositions
- Scale in characters not quite accurate

What do I need to do?
- expand with media more- perhaps collage
- Explore varients of my character, and ways to put in more ‘authorship’ into the images
- Try more challenging compositions
- Practise drawing the whole body

Artist research

Through looking at the work of professional illustrators I was able to see how they use white space alongside their character work to create interesting compositions. 

The book by Jimmy Gagné shows the relationship between simple illustrations and a 3D product. I Really like the flow of this book, and how the slight addition of colour lifts the drawings from the page and ensure that the reader is kept interested throughout.

Jimmy Gagné

I also looked at the work of Art Jeeno, as I thought the mixing of loose colour with fairly refined facial details create a lovely transparent and whimsical feel the the artwork. I also love the emotion showed by the subtle differences in the eyes and lips of the characters.

Art Jeeno

What I like:

- How the style and simplicity of drawings can lend to a beautifully quiet product through the composition

- How contrasts in style and colour can bring more liveliness to the work 

- How slight additions of strong colour bring a strong focus and crisp finish to the work

How this has influenced my practise:

- Really need to think about how my artwork is going to sit on the page

- Think about small additions of colour, and how this can work against black and whit line

- Consider how emotion and personality can be portrayed in my character 

Thrifty Store research

Today I visited the Thrifty Store in Sheffield in order to gather imagery from which to work from later on this week. The most stand out event of the trip was when my friend tried on as many coats as she could, which ended up being 10 until we ran out of sizes big enough! I also got asked to put some of the photos I took up on their Facebook page with the prospect of being hired to take their photos, which is something I definitely didn't expect when I decided to visit. I found this day trip very informative as I was able to collect photographs, drawing, ephemera, recordings and quotes which work well together to really give a feel of the place. I asked the manager for some thoughts on the place and he directed me to an interview he undertook this month, some of my favourite parts of which were:

“I like to call it wonderland, the entrance is like the rabbit hole which opens into this big area full of amazing things.”

"HA! no one else has this, it’s mine, all mine"

"There’s a lot of males that like to dress as hookers"

In addition, it was very helpful to see the actual reality of trying on many coats one on top of each other, as I found both the visual outcomes and the actual experience of manhandling them onto my friend extremely beneficial in understanding how this action would actually be completed, and has made me very excited in pursuing my chosen topic.

Overheard/recordings:
"We don't charge for bags"
"It's awesome working here, we just get to try stuff on"
"Why don't you want the monks hat though?"
"Na mate, take what you like"

Music:
Courtney Barnett-Elevator Operator playing

History:
Because it's a relatively new shop, there isn't much history about the business, but  tried to find out as much as I could about the company and the building it's in.
-Built in 1962 and one of the first modernist department stores to be built in the UK
-Grade II listed building
-Originally built for the Co-op, and named Castle House because the store used to be located on the site of an old castle
-Moved into Castle House in September, and open seven days a week
-Has a 'sister' business in Huddersfield

Reviews on their Facebook page:
"So much stuff to rummage through it'll blow your mind. All in one place and all at great prices!!!"- Claire Pinder

"Quality shop!! You need to visit just make sure you have a few hours to spare! So much to rummage through!!!"- Jason Pinder

"I like to call it wonderland. The entrance is sort of like the rabbit hole then it opens up to a mysterious world of clothing."- Karl Beaumont

"Amazing store, amazing staff can't wait to be a model for your fellow self's. Pimp and hoe's here we come"- Tyler Johnson

"Looking forward to this bobby dazzler!! Great venue too love #TheNightKitchen"- Bally Johal

GIF of some photos of putting coats on

Project proposal

After yesterdays group crit I'm a lot clearer on what I want to explore further in my project, and have decided to explore the Thrifty Store idea more.

In light of my project proposal I have decided on a few things which I need to pay particular attention to.

What I'm doing next:
- Explore the possibilities of composition through scamping (Based on feedback from module 403)
- Experiment with more media
- Visit Thrifty Store again and draw/photograph
- Spend time developing character

Group and visiting practitioner crit

Today Eleni Kalorkoti visited our studio for the day to help us develop our projects and offer feedback on our current work, including the hot dog drafts we made.

I found this immensely helpful in my project as even though I only had a brief chat with Eleni, the validation she gave me about my ideas really helped to ground them in the 'real world' as I feel I am often in danger of falling into the safety net of university and not really thinking about a wider world context.

After a further discussion with a group of 5 of my peers, I established that the story I want to develop is the Thrifty Store theme, where a lady puts many coats on top of each other. We chose this narrative because we collaboratively thought it had the most scope for unusual and diverse development.

What worked well?
- Pace of Thrifty Store narrative, slow and simple in order to mirror story
- Media of Sheffield story, mix of coloured/ black and white collage- looked almost like a finished piece
- Scope for concertina in both Thrifty Store and Sheffield ideas
- Design elements in Sheffield book

What needs improvement?
- Look at different ways to show the increasing of clothes- show movement?
- Expand on media, too 'stuck' with pencil, try to mix up media too
- Messy exploration of Thrifty store- imagine that each drawing could be the final one
- Too choppy with viewpoint on Squirrel one, doesn't need too much narrative

What has this taught me?
- That just because and idea is simple doesn't necessarily mean it's not good
- That if I keep pushing my work visually, the outcomes will probably be more interesting
- To not always settle for what visually looks the best at the midway point (Sheffield idea) but to explore the potential for other ideas
- To really think about the composition on the page, and how the pages relate to each other

What am I doing next?
- Explore movement in the human form
- Undertake more primary research at Thrifty Store, both the act of trying on clothes and wider store
- Explore media more widely and less timidly
- Try scamping out different narratives through storyboarding

Hot dog books

Think:
scale
pace
language
point of view
intent
media
adaptability

Through scamping up some rough hot dog books based on my different ideas, I was able to see how my narrative would flow over the pages, as well as explore how pace and scale can be manipulated to show different intents.

What worked well?
- Like simplicity of the Thrifty Store idea, think the media would have to be quite complex to prevent the idea from being boring
- Like the use of collage in the Sheffield book, think it strikes the right balance between nature and urbanity
- Mix of cohesive colours with a clear colour scheme on the Sheffield book help to balance and harmonise the different sections, as well as pointing out the difference contrast between buildings and natural form
- Think the abstract lines work well to ground the piece onto the page

What could be improved?
- Squirrel story too busy, switching around too much with more than enough narrative
- Sheffield possibly too boring? Not much more scope for imagery
- Media in Thrifty store- could be more experimental and varied- gouache?
- Perhaps develop a narrative in the Sheffield one? Such as the roughs where green is slowly consuming the city?

What will I do next?
- Research collage artists
- Voice concerns of imagery at group crit tomorrow and see what my peers think
- Experiment with how to build a narrative through further roughing
- Decide which narrative to pursue after consulting with my peers tomorrow

Sheffield idea:

Squirrel idea:

Thrifty Store idea:

Rough idea planning:

Shape and texture

Texture can be used to compliment and imbue meaning to shape, and when used appropriately, can add huge amounts of interest to flat colour images. Texture can also be used to add tone and light and help to show the hand of the maker.

Aims
The aims of this session were to build upon the previous shape work, but thinking about texture and how this works along side shape.

Intent
The intent of the session was to put into practice texture and shape, and see how the two relate. We started by making different textures on big pieces of paper before constructing self portraits using the textures.

Evaluation
I don't really like this piece, as again I think I've been too safe and not developed enough character into it. However I have learnt a lot about texture, and how to use it sparingly in order to create strong images, which is something I didn't do in my work this time but will explore more in the future.

Questions
Could I have only used a couple of textures to ensure the outcomes wasn't too busy?
How will this impact on my future work? It links well with print based media



The work below by Ben Jones uses a simple, cohesive colour palette which contrasts well with the busy texture on the shapes, which is something I should have considered more during my process. I also think the contrast in amounts of texture, such as the texture heavy coat and plain background give room for the imagery to 'breathe' on the page.

Ben Jones

In terms of authorship, Eric Carle uses hand made quite busy textures which he then translates into simple shapes and imagery which give him a very particular style which is unmistakably his work. I also really like his regard for colour, as although it seems very simple, actually contains multiple shades and tones which add a lot of interest and tone to his imagery, which fit well with the audience of young children, as there is enough diversity in colour and shape to keep them interested whilst still possessing enough finesse to be appealing to older children.

Eric Carle

Sketchbook development

After deciding to open up my project to different diverse ideas and methods of communication I came up with the following thoughts on possible starting points to follow.

Through sketchbook experimentation I have been able to explore my different ideas visually which has given me a good feel for how these thoughts would translate and how they could work in a book form.

Things which don't work:
-Think contrast between nature and buildings isn’t working with media I’ve used, maybe try different, such as collage?
- Character needs to be broadened, focused too soon
- Drawings don’t show the place and experience, too precise observational drawings

Things I like:
- Potential for interesting compositions/ character with Thrifty store
- Like full pages exploring close up detail- could try to include a mix of scales
- Liked experimenting with Gouache, first time I’ve used it and I like the overall appearance
- Really liked the mixing of media, especially collage with flat

Things to explore further:
- Explore character more- all threads have the potential for character
- Tell own experiences through imagery, including looser, more imaginative drawings
- Try to include quotes or facts more precisely
- Begin to develop narratives from research
- Decide which aspect to focus on
- Look at other practitioners

Ideas to expand on:

1. Nature and city mixed
- Taking over PACE
- people:trees INTENT
- Taking over people SCALE
- Quotes, pride in city cleanliness LANGUAGE
- depleting

2. Winter Gardens
- Glass/flowers
- Events within
- anecdotes INTENT
- WINTER gardens-look at seasons
- community- carols- own experiences

3. Felling
- following with seeds POV
- ^ not POV
- scene of it being felled
- being turned into houses
- protests

4. Botanical studies
- detailed drawings
- reason for it being built
- alphabetical names
- 360 drawing
- oxygen giving to people

5. From above
- spread of disease
- steamroller effect of felling
- River giving life but being taken by people
- plotting on map
- light pollution

6. Thrifty Store
-Different items
-Signage
-Warehouse
- Amount of clothes
-Crazy styles

Idea development

During our Visual Language lesson today I was able to see what work others had undertaken, and how this compared to mine, and the first thing that struck me was how realistic mine was, whilst others in my group had really put a lot of character and feeling into their final outcomes, meaning they were emotive and often humorous. This made me really think about the pitfalls in my work and I feel that in general I don’t always explore my ideas enough, as once I have an idea I like I just pursue it rather than look at the other options first and then choosing the one which works best after a bit of development. Because of this, I will take a step back from this project for a moment, reassess my ideas and scope for development before creating three hot dog books which are vastly different in content. Although this means I won’t be able to explore as many different compositions and narratives early on, I feel this will hopefully benefit my practice greatly and ensure I end up with a subject matter which I am happy with and works well in the context of telling a narrative.

Things to explore:

- Sheffield winter gardens
- Felling
- Huddersfield
- Transport
- Thrifty Store

Character research

After deciding to try and loosen up my project and explore personality within my work, the best way of which I thought would be through character design.

Therefore I looked at the work of Laura Callaghan, as I really liked her simple block colour and line work. I also really like how she uses contrasting colours to separate the main focus of this image, and centre the character on the page.

Laura Callaghan

Another artist whose work I liked was Mészely Ilka, as her expressive simplistic work captures the personality of the characters, as well as having a high level of authorship to it. The things which I find particularly charming about the characters are the eyes, and how they seem to tell their own story by not simply looking straight forward.

Mészely Ilka

Thinking about what media I should use for my Sheffield brief, I looked at the work of Rocia Montoya. I really like how she uses crisp clean cuts in her own photography to create bold compositions with contrasting colours schemes.

Rocia Montoya

My main inspiration for my character design is Emma Block's work, as I find it incredibly inspirational and full of individuality. I love how she bends the rules of reality to create anatomically incorrect figures which still seem very realistic.

Emma Block

What stood out:

- Importance of colour differences and bold compositions

- How much of an impact authorship has on designs, and how even wild imagery can be recognised by the viewer as what they are intended to be

- The effect of simple but precise media applied in a considered manner

- How the illustrators style drastically alters the feel of the work

What I will translate into my practise:

- Try to explore different image making techniques to create a diverse and creative outcome

- Consider compositions within my work and how I can use the page boundaries to the maximum potential

- Ensure I don't over complicate my images or my story by choosing simple cohesive designs

- Experiment with different media and ideas which I would not normally do

- Push myself out of my comfort zone in order to achieve fresh new imagery 

Group crit and feedback

In order to help clarify which idea to follow, we had a group crit today where we all put forward our proposals, drawings and ideas for our projects. 

I found this immensely valuable, as although I had gathered a lot of drawings, photographs, recordings etc. I was unsure of which aspects of the project to explore in more detail. Two members of my group were actually from Sheffield, which meant they were able to give me new avenues to explore, such as the recent protests about felling in the city, and how this impacts on the residents of the greenest city in Europe. In addition, they felt that my strongest theme was how green Sheffield was, and the fact that there are four trees for every person in the city. Members of my group also felt that I needed to loosen up my drawings a little and observe the whole scene rather than just focus on individual items. Because of this feedback, I will continue to explore the relationship between the urban city and the natural green world, whilst drawing around my subject to really get the feeling of the city into my project. In order to make the most of this project I feel like I will need to take another trip to Sheffield sometime next week with more of a plan of what/where to photograph and draw. I also need to do more research into the timeline of buildings in the centre and how this has impacted on the natural environment.

What I will do to progress my project:
- Visit Sheffield again
- Develop drawings into a format usable in books
- Incorporate quotes/facts into my visual work
- Begin to develop narratives responding to some of the aspects of Sheffield e.g. felling, the greenest city in Europe

Sheffield field trip

In order to gather research for this project I spent the day exploring my home town of Sheffield. I found this extremely helpful in developing my ideas, as I simply explored all the place had to offer whilst drawing and photographing everything which I felt inspired by. 

One thing which was completely unplanned was how I accidentally got involved in a Christian carol service in the Winter Gardens, and afterwards felt too awkward to say I wasn't religious to the Minister's wife, so ended up telling her I went to a local church when I could and that my mum attended every Sunday (which she definitely doesn't!)

Although my interaction in the Winter Garden's was fairly awkward, I noticed many strangers coming together under this religious umbrella and I thought it really showed the community spirit this place held. 

Another activity I did was follow a leaf in the wind and took photos of what I saw along the way (Although I lost sight of the leaf several times, so I picked a new leaf a few times). I thought this was quite good, as it took me out of the mindset of finding the pretty places, and made me go to areas I probably wouldn't have otherwise.

Whilst in Sheffield I overheard some people talking about how green and beautiful the city was, and I recalled people always saying it was the greenest city in the UK, so I researched this a little, and I discovered that it is actually the greenest city in Europe, and has an estimated 4 trees per person, which I thought was very interesting considering it is supposed to be an industrial city.

Because of this I began to think about the juxtaposition between the man made and the natural environment, so looked in depth at the content and context of the Winter Gardens, a very modern glass building which is home to thousands of plants, as well as the slightly broader architecture of the city.

I also thought briefly about the mix of buildings in the centre, and how their ages vary drastically, so I tried to photograph as many varying styles and ages as I could, as I thought about developing a timeline of when and how these building were created.

In addition I collected lots of printed ephemera and tried to do as much drawing as possible, however since the light fades quite early and I had to catch the train home I only had a few hours and did not do as many observational drawings as I would have liked to. Therefore I think another trip to Sheffield is necessary as soon as possible. 

Overall I had a very informative and stimulating day, however I do feel a bit confused about where to go from now, so hopefully the group crit next week will help me to clarify what theme I want to persue and how I can develop the imagery I have already collected.