I have been joining in all the Christmas festivities lately and have enjoyed a nice break after a frantic few months of moving house, decorating, essays and quick turnaround briefs!. Today is the last day of 2012 and what a year it's been, I passed my first year and progressed into second year, I have also enjoyed volunteering at GROW Manchester and the Just So Festival in August, they have been brilliant experiences and I have learnt so much from them.
I also lived a life long dream of visiting New York with university, I am still speechless about that place! It was another world and I hope to go again in the future. My knowledge and understanding of the Illustration world is growing more and more as I move through the degree and it just makes me more and more hungry to reach my goals and ambitions!!.
My new art room is all good to go and I'm very excited for the final brief of second year, which I will learn about in my return to university in January. But for now my fancy dress costume is hung up in the wardrobe ready for tonight's new year celebrations.
Happy New Year to All!
Monday, 31 December 2012
Tuesday, 18 December 2012
Self Evaluation: Dialogue Ignites Change
I have decided to start posting 'reflection' posts after each module, firstly to get into a routine of doing it, and secondly as a record of my progress through my degree so that I can look back and identify on areas I have done well in or areas that may need a little work.
I have just finished the third brief for Gay Straight Alliance which is the final brief for the Dialogue Ignites Change module.
I found this project the most challenging so far due to sensitivity of the project and ensuring that I communicate the relevant meaning that both visuals and non-visuals will get. The visual problem solving was very challenging in the way I had to represent a stereotypical perception and also the reality, but then I questioned what was reality? and also people are so diverse!. I found it easy to discuss my challenges and progress with clients from the GSA as they were understating and sympathetic to the challenges we faced along the way. I also found it a real confidence boost when they liked my ideas!.
I just kept drawing and drawing ideas in rough and developing ideas, that way ideas kept popping up in my mind and ideas stemmed from one another. I also think meeting with the clients helped as they narrowed my choice down by selecting two of my ideas, Mr Gay Buns and Gingerbread Men!.
At present I am making final drawings of Mr Gay Buns and the recipe and then I shall add colour on Photoshop so I haven't had client feedback on finished ideas as of yet, I will post more on this later.
This project has been challenging but a great learning curve in terms of problem solving visually. Doing projects like this are really interesting as the push you out of your comfort zone, inspire you to learn about other people and cultures and also get you out of the university bubble.
There are some images from my sketchbook on my previous post about the GSA Project Research.
I have just finished the third brief for Gay Straight Alliance which is the final brief for the Dialogue Ignites Change module.
I found this project the most challenging so far due to sensitivity of the project and ensuring that I communicate the relevant meaning that both visuals and non-visuals will get. The visual problem solving was very challenging in the way I had to represent a stereotypical perception and also the reality, but then I questioned what was reality? and also people are so diverse!. I found it easy to discuss my challenges and progress with clients from the GSA as they were understating and sympathetic to the challenges we faced along the way. I also found it a real confidence boost when they liked my ideas!.
I just kept drawing and drawing ideas in rough and developing ideas, that way ideas kept popping up in my mind and ideas stemmed from one another. I also think meeting with the clients helped as they narrowed my choice down by selecting two of my ideas, Mr Gay Buns and Gingerbread Men!.
At present I am making final drawings of Mr Gay Buns and the recipe and then I shall add colour on Photoshop so I haven't had client feedback on finished ideas as of yet, I will post more on this later.
This project has been challenging but a great learning curve in terms of problem solving visually. Doing projects like this are really interesting as the push you out of your comfort zone, inspire you to learn about other people and cultures and also get you out of the university bubble.
There are some images from my sketchbook on my previous post about the GSA Project Research.
Saturday, 15 December 2012
GSA Project Research
Following on from the brief for Gay Straight Alliance I decided upon a number of things to do as part of my research for the project,
Asking Questions - I put together a small amount of questions that I can ask people about their views, opinions and perceptions about Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual and Transsexual individuals to help aid my illustrations and obviously give me some content to work with.
Group Crit - Everyone who is working on this project have been meeting in the studio and sharing ideas and also feeding back on their findings, We also put together lists for all categories and stated the attributes, perceptions and things associated with that stereotype.
Drawing, drawing and drawing! - I've been pretty much scribbling very rough ideas down on paper and brainstorming ideas that I have come up with. I also looked at Gingerbread Men as I think there is a strong metaphor with the way in which they are moulded and decorated/sexed which is similar to the way humans are.
Below are some examples of my very rough ideas so far...
Yesterday we met with our client from GSA and I talked them through my ideas, they were drawn to the Gingerbread Men and Mr Gay Buns idea, they thought that it communicated the message well. My plan is to decide if I am going to make or draw the Gingerbread Men, and also begin drawing Mr Gay Buns and the Recipe!, I thought about using a style similar to food graphics and advertisements from the 1950s as they are light hearted and uplifting.
Our illustrations will be in A5 size in a postcard format that shows the perception on one side and the reality on the other, therefore out tutors have decided on a set colour palette to keep the images in harmony to the viewer. I will colour the images using photoshop.
Below are some examples of my very rough ideas so far...
Yesterday we met with our client from GSA and I talked them through my ideas, they were drawn to the Gingerbread Men and Mr Gay Buns idea, they thought that it communicated the message well. My plan is to decide if I am going to make or draw the Gingerbread Men, and also begin drawing Mr Gay Buns and the Recipe!, I thought about using a style similar to food graphics and advertisements from the 1950s as they are light hearted and uplifting.
Our illustrations will be in A5 size in a postcard format that shows the perception on one side and the reality on the other, therefore out tutors have decided on a set colour palette to keep the images in harmony to the viewer. I will colour the images using photoshop.
Manchester Art Gallery
Last week I visited Manchester Art Gallery in preparation for my 'Image Analysis' brief as I will be choosing a painting that interests me and writing an analysis on the painting and its context, I also took some photos of a few things that caught my eye...
Tuesday, 4 December 2012
Gay Straight Alliance Project
Today we started work on the 'Gay Straight Alliance' project. We met with two representatives from the Lesbian and Gay Foundation to discuss the brief and ask any relevant questions. The project aim is to produce a A5 image to show a prejudice, sterotype or homophobic attitude towards people in LBGT community. Our research will be gathered on Friday when we meet with a group of young learners and ask questions on regarding their views on the sterotypes of people in the LGBT community.
Between today and Friday I will be working on devising a serious of open questions that I can ask in a group capacity and I will work with another student to share the task of questioning and note taking. I will also put together a questionaire and will think about approaching other learners from different subjects and age ranges in order to gain a wider scope of research.
Between today and Friday I will be working on devising a serious of open questions that I can ask in a group capacity and I will work with another student to share the task of questioning and note taking. I will also put together a questionaire and will think about approaching other learners from different subjects and age ranges in order to gain a wider scope of research.
Map in progress
Over the weekend I have been working on 'On the Map project', I decided to make my map in 3D for this project as I have developed a keen interest in making over the last year. I visited charity shops and had a look around in my box of oddities and gathered together some objects I could paint or alter to fit in with the theme of my weekend, a trip to Hobbycraft also took place and so I began to make, glue and paint.
I really love the idea that as people we become are own visual map based on experiences, things we collect and stuff we do etc etc. I used a wardrobe style jewellery box as the basis and have been making bits to go inside and visualising the senses I experienced on the front of it by use of painting. It's slowly coming together, here are some photos of my progress so far.
I really love the idea that as people we become are own visual map based on experiences, things we collect and stuff we do etc etc. I used a wardrobe style jewellery box as the basis and have been making bits to go inside and visualising the senses I experienced on the front of it by use of painting. It's slowly coming together, here are some photos of my progress so far.
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