Time

This project is revolved around the theme of time. Not as in clocks or watches, but in time periods. For this we were asked to think outside of the box and not do something which was obvious. Therefore I decided to mix two themes together. 

The first theme I researched was everyday items. I wanted to see how things had developed over time such as computers, mobile phones etc. So I researched into this and also did some observational drawings.

As an artist influence, I looked at Olivier Jeffers work to understand his use of collage mixed with type. I quite liked the irony and sarcasm in his messages.

I also sampled some image making with the every day items to try and use his style of work. I think this works quite well, although the fineliner doesn't bring out the phone much.

I also wanted to combine the use of photography into my work, as for recent projects the main focus has been drawing. So here I made a range of collage examples using photographs taken of everyday items that I had previously researched.

I think some of these worked really well. I like the computer sample, as I think the red works really well alongside the neutral grounds. The message also works quite humorously in reference to the actual image. 'N'aww doesn't she look pretty!' Describing the computer as it has an illustrated now. So this personifies the computer and gives it a personality.

The second theme I wanted to research was the tortoise. This was so I had modern items contrasting with the archaic, long living reptile. 

My sister has her own pet tortoise, so I was able to take lots of photos and study him. Doing this was useful as I was able to understand his personality more so that would benefit me in my image making later on.

I also did some observational drawings of the tortoise to analyse it's markings and unique qualities. I found working with thin nibs such as fineliner and pencil, allowed me to work more finely and precisely.

Another sample I made was a flick book animation, to portray the tortoise in movement. This worked really well, however the background was a similar colour to the tortoise so changing this would have been more effective.

I then looked into the markings of the tortoise shell and drew these in simple line forms. From these shapes, I then created miniature tortoise characters. I think these were really cute and are quite clever.

With the photographs and sample characters, I began image making with them. I was quite disappointed because the characters I created didn't work with the grounds, as they didn't stand out like they should, so I decided the best way to make the tortoise stand out would be to use photographs.

I experimented some more with the tortoise photographs to see how it could work in a composition. I think these worked well and were quite funny. Now it was time to combine the tortoise with everyday items. 

Here is the collection of images I made combining the tortoise with everyday items. I think these work well as a set because they describe a story of a struggling tortoise in every day life activities. For example, it's size being the same size as a computer mouse, its inability to answer the phone on time, and it's hope of flying away back to its original island. These were enjoyable to do so I found this project quite fun. To improve this, I would have liked more time to develop different ideas with the tortoise characters I had created using pencil, paint and cut paper shapes. 

To finish these images, I added white card behind each of them so that they looked more sophisticated. I also added captions underneath each of them so my images told a story. I prefer it like this as the story makes more sense visually as a set.

Declare a National Holiday

As a three week project, I was asked to create my own national holiday and produce four stamps and an additional piece as my final outcomes. To begin this project I had to do a lot of research both primary and secondary, in order to figure out what my theme should be. 

To give myself inspiration I looked at current artists who have created stamps. In particular, an artist who caught my eye was Sara Fanelli. 

Sara's stamp had my attention due to the limited amount of colour she used. You can see she's thought rather minimally so that the stamp doesn't look to bright. The similar orange and yellow contrasts brilliantly with the black, greys and white. I also like her idea of collage and I chose to develop this within my ideas.

The theme I came up with was life skills. By this I mean skills which are vital when growing up. For example, life skills could be cooking, cleaning, fixing things, making a living, etc. The four specific areas I chose to focus on for my stamps were: baking, sewing, educating and money managing. For research, I did lots of observational drawings and artist and charity research, to see what was already out there. As well as this, I also took photographs of people undergoing life skills tasks and I created a questionnaire that I asked people to fill in about life skills.

Here is some of the research I did during this part of the project.

Below is a colour chart I created showing the different colours which people associate with certain aspects of life skills. For example, education, languages, cleaning, cooking etc. This went really well because when talking to other people, they were also choosing the same colours so I knew what colours to then put onto my stamps later on.

Here are more examples of observational drawings from my sketchbook. Drawing is such a good way of doing research as it allows you to explore your theme much more and have a better understanding of what it is you're doing. 

I also experimented with different typefaces so that I could later on add some text onto my developed stamp images.

I enjoy creating hand rendered type. I find it really relaxing and beneficial when done precisely. 

After doing lots of research I began sketching out simple designs of stamps, taking into consideration the drawings I had previously done during my research. 

Oliver Jeffers was a huge inspiration for me at this point. I really liked his collage backgrounds using different sheets of paper with limited colour on top. This was the look I was going for.

After this I did lots of image making using different types of techniques such as: collage, cut paper drawings, drawing with different types of media and silhouettes. I found this a good way of exploring ideas and figuring out what would look best on my stamps.

Here are my final stamp designs. To make these I used a range of techniques such as collage, paper cutting, painting, using fineliner, graphite and pencil and much more. I also stuck my images onto white paper and cut the edges to make them look perforated so they were more realistic as stamps. I also added a hand drawn Queen's head on each of them to add to this.

Overall I was quite happy with what I had created and found them quite appealing to the eye. In particular I found that my drawing has improved quite a bit during this course, which was good to see.

After a group discussion it was said that one of my stamps needed improving. This was the 'lets make' stamp. To make the stamp more eye catching I drew another seeing thread and made this much larger to use up a big space on the image, as well as adding more of the Aqua colour in. 

Below are my completed stamps.

This is my 'Lets make' stamp. I used this theme as a way of showing people need to get back into the traditional style of fixing clothes, such as sewing a button back on some jeans. 

Here is my, 'lets bake' stamp. I think the use of the red colour for the cherry and the Queen's head works really well and looks lovely with the brown paper. It contrasts a great deal together. 

This is my 'lets love to learn' stamp. This has been done to encourage people to read and write if they can't already, or to just do something traditional rather than sitting on their phone or computer. I really like the pink and white emulsion painted on the background of this, it almost looks magical. However the pink may be taken as too feminine, which is something I would improve on next time. A different colour might have been more appropriate. 

This is my final, 'lets save' stamp. This is the largest of all my stamps and I think it could be my favourite. This is because the amount of colour works just right, and I think the drawings are really accurate. However, to improve this I would have been less generous with the white emulsion on the background, as this can sway your attention a little.

As an extra piece to this project, I then had to create an additional item. I sketched ideas such as a postcard, storyboard, poster, article, and piggy bank sculpture. The piece I decided to develop was the storyboard. For this I decided to sketch out a story which advertised national life skills day and promoted the local town halls where workshops were to be held to undergo different types of life skills. These would be: cooking workshops, diy workshops, education workshops and more.

For my storyboard I chose to use the same media so it didn't look too confusing. For this I used fineliner and pencil crayon. The fineliner would be used to create bolder colours and the pencil crayon to be the more subtle. 

The drawings I used for these storyboard ideas were developments of drawings I had previously done for research. This was a good idea so that this additional piece followed on from my stamps. I stuck these drawings onto brown paper which made them stand out and also matched the stamps as I had used brown paper for the grounds.

This is my completed story board. I think it works well as a way of promoting the national holiday and the White boxes contrast massively with the brown paper backgrounds. On each section I used as little colour as possible so it isn't look too mind blowing and I think this also worked well. If I was to improve this I would have explored more ideas for my additional piece to see what I could have come up with.