Competition:
In November 2014, I entered a competition that required me to create an illustration to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the First World War and the 70th Anniversary of the D-Day
Landings. I took inspiration from
my Great-Grandad who was a paratrooper in the D-Day Landings.
I think it’s great and exciting when I feel I can produce something that I know will mean a lot to myself and others.
I played around with a few ideas and compositions but I thought it was most important to have my Grandad’s face as the main focus alongside the red Poppy.
This is a mixed media piece of work, using tea stained paper, ink, Acrylic paint and just a little bit of Photoshop.
Having won the competition and experiencing how rewarding the feeling of having your work noticed by others is, I’d love to enter more.
Working to a Live Brief; Thursday 30th October:
Today we had a Live Brief bought to us by the design agency PINKSKY. We were required to create a poster for Spanish Picota Cherries. Working for a live brief was quite exhilarating and something I hadn’t done before. Having to get the work finished by 4pm on the same day that it was presented to us meant that I had to be organised, I had to work to a timetable and I had to get my ideas generating straight away. After researching and scribbling down a few thumbnails, the objects I really wanted to include in my poster became apparent.
1. The cherries - I couldn’t create a poster for ‘Picota Cherries’ without including the cherries.
2. The tree in blossom – My research told me how beautiful the Picota cherry trees were when they are in full blossom.
I had in my mind the old fashioned/rustic Spanish sort of colouring and style. I think I achieved this in the earthy colours I used and the handwritten type ‘Fiesta de Picotas’.
I did manage to get my poster finished and handed in to PINKSKY by the 4pm deadline. I found that the live brief, continuously kept my brain working and kept me engaged in the poster, as I knew I had to get it done quickly.
I think the only downfall of working to a deadline is that once I had my idea I had to stick to it, there wasn’t much room for changing my mind or altering something if it went wrong. Being a perfectionist I struggled with accepting this as I don’t enjoy handing over work I’m not 100% happy with. However, this was the nature of the brief and it helped me realise that in the Illustration industry I’m not always going to have a lot of time to create and finish a piece of work. I think it was a very useful experience.
In November 2014, I entered a competition that required me to create an illustration to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the First World War and the 70th Anniversary of the D-Day
I think it’s great and exciting when I feel I can produce something that I know will mean a lot to myself and others.
I played around with a few ideas and compositions but I thought it was most important to have my Grandad’s face as the main focus alongside the red Poppy.
This is a mixed media piece of work, using tea stained paper, ink, Acrylic paint and just a little bit of Photoshop.
Having won the competition and experiencing how rewarding the feeling of having your work noticed by others is, I’d love to enter more.
Working to a Live Brief; Thursday 30th October:
Today we had a Live Brief bought to us by the design agency PINKSKY. We were required to create a poster for Spanish Picota Cherries. Working for a live brief was quite exhilarating and something I hadn’t done before. Having to get the work finished by 4pm on the same day that it was presented to us meant that I had to be organised, I had to work to a timetable and I had to get my ideas generating straight away. After researching and scribbling down a few thumbnails, the objects I really wanted to include in my poster became apparent.
1. The cherries - I couldn’t create a poster for ‘Picota Cherries’ without including the cherries.
2. The tree in blossom – My research told me how beautiful the Picota cherry trees were when they are in full blossom.
I had in my mind the old fashioned/rustic Spanish sort of colouring and style. I think I achieved this in the earthy colours I used and the handwritten type ‘Fiesta de Picotas’.
I did manage to get my poster finished and handed in to PINKSKY by the 4pm deadline. I found that the live brief, continuously kept my brain working and kept me engaged in the poster, as I knew I had to get it done quickly.
I think the only downfall of working to a deadline is that once I had my idea I had to stick to it, there wasn’t much room for changing my mind or altering something if it went wrong. Being a perfectionist I struggled with accepting this as I don’t enjoy handing over work I’m not 100% happy with. However, this was the nature of the brief and it helped me realise that in the Illustration industry I’m not always going to have a lot of time to create and finish a piece of work. I think it was a very useful experience.
Commission:
A friend of mine has set up a Surf School Business and got in contact with me to design a piece of work to use at his Surf School and to reproduce as vinyl's to advertise on the van he uses for the school. He allowed me around 3 months to create the piece of work. He described to me the sort of thing he was looking for and did a few rough sketches for me to work from:
With some discussion and agreement over composition, size and colour we then looked through images to reference from and we discussed the style he would prefer. He wanted puffins surfing, and some sort of scenery. He wanted everything in black and white apart from the puffins beak's and feet, and he wanted it relatively large.
Here's the final painting I created for him. He was ecstatic with the outcome, he said it was exactly what he was looking for.
I really enjoyed creating this; I did the background (the sky, hills, water and surf boards) using watered down black ink and layering the ink to create the different tones. I used undiluted ink for the darkest areas. For the very white areas I used masking fluid to ensure it stayed clear of ink. I decided to use ink because I think it gives a really good effect on the water, like the light is reflecting off of it and it's quick and easy to apply. For the puffins I used acrylic paint. I felt that the puffins needed to stand out and the beaks and feet needed to be especially bright and eye catching. Acrylic paint allowed me to layer the colour and build on the bird, causing it to stand out and become the main focus of the painting.
The experience of making a commission piece was very enjoyable. I may have been lucky in my commissioner being very flexible with time and being understanding of how his original ideas may have had to change slightly to be more pleasing to the eye...I realise that not all commissions would be as straight forward as this was and sometimes final pieces can go back and forth a few times until the commissioner is 100% happy. Luckily he was pleased with the final image first time.
I really enjoyed creating this; I did the background (the sky, hills, water and surf boards) using watered down black ink and layering the ink to create the different tones. I used undiluted ink for the darkest areas. For the very white areas I used masking fluid to ensure it stayed clear of ink. I decided to use ink because I think it gives a really good effect on the water, like the light is reflecting off of it and it's quick and easy to apply. For the puffins I used acrylic paint. I felt that the puffins needed to stand out and the beaks and feet needed to be especially bright and eye catching. Acrylic paint allowed me to layer the colour and build on the bird, causing it to stand out and become the main focus of the painting.
The experience of making a commission piece was very enjoyable. I may have been lucky in my commissioner being very flexible with time and being understanding of how his original ideas may have had to change slightly to be more pleasing to the eye...I realise that not all commissions would be as straight forward as this was and sometimes final pieces can go back and forth a few times until the commissioner is 100% happy. Luckily he was pleased with the final image first time.
Screen Printing the covers for the Risograph Book:
As a year group we have collaborated on creating a Risograph book. Today, 21st January 2015, Aimee and I worked together on screen printing the book covers and end sheets.
We had to print to make 70 books. We decided to print 80 copies just in case we made any mistakes...we quickly learnt that we should have provided a lot more copies allowing for mistakes.
In preparation, Aimee had made the screen the day before printing so we could start straight away. We began with the end sheet side. We printed onto acetate first so we could line the paper up, we then applied markers around the paper for reference so we could put the paper in the same place for each print. When we started printing we found that the image on the screen was positioned quite close to the edge of the screen, where the mesh was a lot tighter. When we ran the squidgy down the screen, it made it slightly more difficult to get a good print. We found that pressure was everything; the more pressure you applied, the clearer the print would be. There was an occasion where we used the squidgy at the wrong angle, slightly over the 45 degree angle and this caused the print to bleed, creating more of a splodge effect rather than all of the intricate lines produced in the design.
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Once we had printed this design, we cleaned off the screen and waited for the prints and the screen to dry (approx. 25 - 30 mins).
We then had to do some quality control checks we found that some prints had faded in areas, some had the splodge effect and some just didn't print evenly. We decided at this point that we would start again once we'd printed all the layers and create a batch of 20 more copies.
We then began printing the cover on the reverse of the end sheets. The cover required two layers. We printed the orange layer first as the next layer was black which would sit over the top of the orange ink. We had to take one sheet of the paper with the print of the end sheet to the light box as this allowed us to line the paper up properly once we had printed the orange layer on the acetate. We also had to measure to ensure the print would not print on the fold of the cover. We applied markers around the paper again as reference.
As a year group we have collaborated on creating a Risograph book. Today, 21st January 2015, Aimee and I worked together on screen printing the book covers and end sheets.
We had to print to make 70 books. We decided to print 80 copies just in case we made any mistakes...we quickly learnt that we should have provided a lot more copies allowing for mistakes.
In preparation, Aimee had made the screen the day before printing so we could start straight away. We began with the end sheet side. We printed onto acetate first so we could line the paper up, we then applied markers around the paper for reference so we could put the paper in the same place for each print. When we started printing we found that the image on the screen was positioned quite close to the edge of the screen, where the mesh was a lot tighter. When we ran the squidgy down the screen, it made it slightly more difficult to get a good print. We found that pressure was everything; the more pressure you applied, the clearer the print would be. There was an occasion where we used the squidgy at the wrong angle, slightly over the 45 degree angle and this caused the print to bleed, creating more of a splodge effect rather than all of the intricate lines produced in the design.
Once we had printed this design, we cleaned off the screen and waited for the prints and the screen to dry (approx. 25 - 30 mins).
We then had to do some quality control checks we found that some prints had faded in areas, some had the splodge effect and some just didn't print evenly. We decided at this point that we would start again once we'd printed all the layers and create a batch of 20 more copies.
We then began printing the cover on the reverse of the end sheets. The cover required two layers. We printed the orange layer first as the next layer was black which would sit over the top of the orange ink. We had to take one sheet of the paper with the print of the end sheet to the light box as this allowed us to line the paper up properly once we had printed the orange layer on the acetate. We also had to measure to ensure the print would not print on the fold of the cover. We applied markers around the paper again as reference.
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As you can see the print came out well. However, on a couple of the sheets we accidentally printed upside down, these we had to discard. After a quick clean of the screen and allowing the prints to dry we could move onto the final layer.
This layer was slightly more difficult. Although we did all the same referencing procedures, they didn't always print in the right place. We then decided we would have to use the acetate to line the paper up properly for each print. This wasn't a huge hindrance, it just increased the time spent slightly. We also found that a couple of black spots were appearing in the print where they should have been pure white so we covered these areas with a small bit of masking tape and the problem was rectified.
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Competitions:There was a competition by an organisation called the Secret-7. This organisation chooses seven songs each year for people to design vinyl covers for. The covers go on display, and no-one knows who has designed the cover until they buy one they like for £50 and all the proceeds go to charity.
So I decided to design two covers...
The first one I did was inspired by the song Reflections by Diana Ross and the Supremes.
I had already done the drawing of the fish and I thought the fins and the colours made it look like a diva, sort of like Diana Ross, luckily I could fit a microphone on perfectly. I played around with a couple of backgrounds.
One background I did by wetting all of the paper and put a wash of colour on the paper. Then I put watercolour on a toothbrush and pulled on the bristles to create the sprayed effect.
I thought some parts came out water marked and it was a bit too plain against the fish, I wanted something that created more of a statement and I wanted to see how the toothbrush effect looked on a white background.
I really liked this effect but the colours didn't really work with the colours of the fish so using Photoshop I played with the colours and discovered the teal colour you can see in the first image which I think works really well.
The second piece of art work I created was for the song Dead Flowers by The Rolling Stones. I had a few ideas but the main one was to have a woman cutting up roses, like she really didn't care about anything.
This was my first drawing:
This layer was slightly more difficult. Although we did all the same referencing procedures, they didn't always print in the right place. We then decided we would have to use the acetate to line the paper up properly for each print. This wasn't a huge hindrance, it just increased the time spent slightly. We also found that a couple of black spots were appearing in the print where they should have been pure white so we covered these areas with a small bit of masking tape and the problem was rectified.
We printed the extra 20 copies after this, which seemed a lot easier; practice makes perfect.
I'm really glad I did this screen printing today. It taught me a lot about quality control, and that mistakes will happen. I just need to be aware, allow for the mistakes, and rectify the mistakes as I go. I feel a lot more confident with the process and I know what I'm doing should I need to screen print again. This is a very useful way of printing for printing a large quantity of illustrations, it's relatively quick and the fact it's all done by hand makes it more appealing than printing from a normal printer attached to a computer.Competitions:There was a competition by an organisation called the Secret-7. This organisation chooses seven songs each year for people to design vinyl covers for. The covers go on display, and no-one knows who has designed the cover until they buy one they like for £50 and all the proceeds go to charity.
So I decided to design two covers...
The first one I did was inspired by the song Reflections by Diana Ross and the Supremes.
I had already done the drawing of the fish and I thought the fins and the colours made it look like a diva, sort of like Diana Ross, luckily I could fit a microphone on perfectly. I played around with a couple of backgrounds.
One background I did by wetting all of the paper and put a wash of colour on the paper. Then I put watercolour on a toothbrush and pulled on the bristles to create the sprayed effect.
I thought some parts came out water marked and it was a bit too plain against the fish, I wanted something that created more of a statement and I wanted to see how the toothbrush effect looked on a white background.
The second piece of art work I created was for the song Dead Flowers by The Rolling Stones. I had a few ideas but the main one was to have a woman cutting up roses, like she really didn't care about anything.
This was my first drawing:
I really like this use of pattern I felt that the range of patterns gave it a story and broke up each part of the drawing.
I played around with a couple of backgrounds on Photoshop from plain black, faded grey, moody, foggy sort of backgrounds but nothing really looked right. So I decided I'd draw a background using the theme of roses.
I thought this was really pretty and I really liked it, but once I had placed the woman on top nothing really worked, like there was too many lines and too much pattern.
So after deliberating over backgrounds for a long time I looked at the woman again and tried her in a few different positions on just a plain white background, working with composition. 
I decided that this actually really worked. With the woman being so busy in pattern and basically portraying what I wanted to in the image of her I didn't really need a background.
Unfortunately neither of these illustrations were successful in the competition but I enjoyed creating them and I can always use the artwork for something else in the future.
Visit to The Paragon Gallery, Cheltenham. 20th February 2015
The Cotswold Artists Show.
There was a local exhibition in Cheltenham which I decided to visit. The exhibition has a lot of 'fine art' work. It was interesting to see the array of styles that each artist portrayed in their work.
Two artists stood out to be a lot. The first of these was Jilly Barr.
Two artists stood out to be a lot. The first of these was Jilly Barr.
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| Deer - Jilly Barr |
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| Rex - Jilly Barr |
These pieces of art stood out to me because of the mixture of bright colours and abstract shapes with the profiles of animals. The art is eye catching and it stood out strongly against the rest of the work on show in the gallery. These pieces are very cleverly created and there's a lot to see. I enjoyed viewing them on display as you can take a step back and see them from a distance, everything becomes clearer and you can really appreciate the artwork.
The second artist whose work I could really appreciate was that of Robert Goldsmith.
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| Wet Day, Winchcombe - Robert Goldsmith |
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| Heavy Snowfall, Dunalley Parade, Cheltenham - Robert Goldsmith |
I'm not usually a fan of landscape art but the work of Goldsmith captured the beauty of his surroundings perfectly. The reflections he created in 'Wet Day, Winchcombe' made the painting feel realistic and as if you were there looking up the street.
The colours Goldsmith uses for the snow in 'Heavy Snowfall' reflect the colour around the composition of the painting. For example, the blue in the snow is a reflection of the colour of the sky, and the warmer tones of red and orange reflect the light of the street lamps.
I really like that he paints from life, he has clearly visited these places and painted from what he has seen, especially with 'Heavy Snowfall' as it is a scene from Cheltenham.
The colours Goldsmith uses for the snow in 'Heavy Snowfall' reflect the colour around the composition of the painting. For example, the blue in the snow is a reflection of the colour of the sky, and the warmer tones of red and orange reflect the light of the street lamps.
I really like that he paints from life, he has clearly visited these places and painted from what he has seen, especially with 'Heavy Snowfall' as it is a scene from Cheltenham.
Wednesday 15th April 2015:
Today we went to the London Book Fair.
I was quite confused with everything that was happening at the book fair as it was just so large. But I found it fascinating how many publishers there were there. I think it was great to be able to go this year as I will have to go next year to show my portfolio to the art directors and it will be a far less daunting experience now that I have been already.
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