Throughout this project I will be conducting both primary and secondary research which will be documented consistently in my sketchbook alongside my blog page. Having looked at a series of visuals, which I displayed as a mood board in my sketchbook, I am going to look closer at specific artists in more depth.
Initial mind map
Visuals
Chris Jordan
One artist which I found whilst researching for environmental artists is Chris Jordan. Chris Jordan is an American artist, film producer and photographer based in Seattle, Washington. Chris Jordan’s works are based on garbage and mass consumption which he creates photographs from. His works have powerful meanings of the impact which occurs to the environment with plastic pollution which he states he likes to leave “it to the viewer to draw conclusions about the inevitable consequences which will arise from our habits.” He hopes to create awareness to an audience about how serious mass consumption is.
Chris Jordan uses thousands of tiny pieces of plastic to make up these beautiful meaningful images. At a first glace, you just assume the above images are paintings, drawings etc, however when looking closer into the image you began to recognize the plastic. He wanted the audience to find the meaning out for themselves and begin to link the design and the materials together. With the whale, he is wanting to outline the fact that the plastics in our oceans are over taking the marine creatures, he used 50,000 plastic bags to design this piece of art work. One thing which I feel is powerful in his work is the colour schemes he uses. With the whale he has used a monochromatic colour scheme by using blue with added tints however you can see he has been careful when using the blue. With artwork that is related to the ocean, I feel you have to be careful when choosing colours as bright blue resembling the sea can easily look like a bright happy situation however with this serious subject matter this would have an opposite effect as to what the artist is trying to show. He has used dull tones which matches the subject of the design. This is something I will take into consideration when creating any piece of artwork related to plastic pollution in the ocean – I will avoid brighter colours which are often used to represent a happy scenario.
Although I like how he has used plastic to create a sea create, I might not actually create designs using plastic however I will be incorporating plastic, this may be done as a collage with other mediums; painting,drawing,printing. However, the colour scheme in his images are important to me to keep into consideration.
“Midway Journey project”
Chris Jordan created a project called “Midway Journey project” This is where he took a series of photographs of rolling carcasses of a baby Laysan albatrosses which were filled with plastic. The purpose of this is to bring realisation to the fact that the birds nest on Midway Atoll are being fed plastic by their parents, who find floating plastic in the waters and mistaking it for food.
These photographs are powerful images themselves. It is fairly hurtful to see how much plastic has been eaten by birds mistaking it for food. This makes me personally wonder how much plastic larger animals intake and the impact it has on them. Seeing these images give off a powerful message which I don’t feel enough people take seriously. If I was to raise more awareness to this subject matter and even get one more person to think about reducing their plastic use, then this would be an accomplishment to me.
With inspiration from these images I am thinking of creating a similar picture however In a 3D piece. I am thinking of creating a mould cast of a frozen fish from the supermarket and mixing plastic in with the mixture. Hopefully the results will be a fish with plastic coming out of it to represent the plastic intake. I am not completely confident with 3D work therefore I will enjoy experimenting with this when I begin my practical work.
Climate change is a massive issues which obviously could not be resolved in 13 weeks. However raising awareness and bringing more of an audiences attention to even consider the situation could help make a small difference. I feel artwork with more of a meaning behind it is much more interesting to look at and think about.
“Art works to make a change”
Andy Goldsworthy
Andy Goldsworthy is a British environmentalist who focuses his works on sculpture, photography and land art based in natural and urban settings.
At first glance of Goldsworthy’s artwork I admired how stunning the images are. The way he gives nature a whole new appearance fascinates me in a way. Goldsworthy carefully creates patterns/sculptures out of nature which we all walk past every day however whilst doing this he transforms the whole idea of the nature itself. This makes me think about nature in a different light, if I were to see (for example) a single yellow flower against multiple neutral colours I would walk straight past it. However like Goldsworthy has demonstrated when there is multiple leaves together, colour coordinated, this is really strong and pleasing to the eye.
Colour is something which I admire in art work, I feel bright colours which are eye catching and used well can look stunning in comparison to more subtle colours which is why I am especially attracted to these images. Goldsworthy has thought of the formal elements colour, space and shape which all work towards creating these natural sculptures. His work changes the way I think of nature and makes you appreciate it more. The colours on the leaves are beautiful when put together as a pattern.
Being interested in photography, I would like to create similar images to Goldsworthy however using plastic. I have been gathering plastic for weeks in a range of colours. I am thinking about using a mixture of colour schemes monochromatic, complimentary and discordant and see which photographs appeal the most. I am also thinking of creating a harsher colour scheme such as a selection of black plastic too see how people view the opposing photographs. I plan to photograph the images which then gives me multiple pathways of what to do with them next. Some of my ideas include printing outlines of marine animals over the top of the plastic designs physically, using photoshop to manipulate and enhance the images digitally and even photocopying them and drawing/ painting over the top of them.
Andy Warhol
Screenprint on Saunders Waterford (Hot Pressed) paper
Whilst currently drawing fish I wanted to have a look at artists who have also focused on the same animal to see what mediums they found worked best for them. Originally I found these images on Pinterest which I then clicked on and explored a website which they were displayed on – https://www.artimage.org.uk/6402/andy-warhol/fish–1983 – the first thing which brought my attention to these visuals were how simplified they were. I feel sometimes when drawings are more simple rather than accurate they look more interesting. In this case, the colours used aren’t what you usually what you straight away associate a fish with which makes it more appealing to look at. These designs were actually screen printed however looking at these it inspires me to want to try a similar approach with fine liner. I could use mediums to layer the colour such as water colour/ acrylic. Further more I could collage plastic underneath the fine liner to get a similar outcome to the visuals above, this would emphasise my point of fish being overtaken by plastics. Just from these images alone it has given me endless inspiration for designs for my project. This includes simple drawings whilst incorporating different mediums, this could then be progressed further by creating a continuous pattern.
Primary research – social media
Whilst scrolling through social media I noticed someone I follow shared a series of images with the title stating “What are we doing to the world?”
When seeing this it made me think of how many images there out there which people blatantly ignore. During my artwork I will attempt to make my final piece as interesting as I feel some individuals would be drawn to artwork however don’t seem to look at real life photographs for long. These photographs helps me to have a wider understand of which plastics are in the see and general waste. One thing which shocked me were the amount of tyres dumped in the sea as I was unaware this was occurring which makes me think about the millions of people who aren’t also aware.
Social media is a good way of a research technique due to it having a massive range of opinions. It is interesting to keep up to date with social media as people share a lot more knowledge than you know which is interesting
Facts on plastic pollution – source, internet
Russell Mills artist research
This image here is a design which was hung up on a family members wall. When first looking at the image I admired the quick fast lines which were used to represent her hair and body. The way the mediums have been applied it looks as though they have been scraped on with a card for example. The quick lines portray movement in this image and overall creates a more chaotic approach. The fact that her face is the only proper recognized feature interests me. This could be done to resemble the fact that an individuals hair and body are constantly changing whereas the face is the most pure and recognizable feature in an person.
The colours used are based on Earth tones which to me makes me feel like there is a deeper message in this image. She could be portraying her chaotic and ever changing life. The splashes of red intrigue me. Red usually is associated with passion, courage and attention which links to the quicker movements. I decided to find secondary research on Scarlet Seal to try and find out more about their work.
Russell Mills is a British artist who was born in Ripon, Yorkshire, UK in 1952. He has a number of specialisms including painting, he creates multimedia installations, he designs stage sets and lighting alongside this he has produced record covers and book covers for famous individuals. Being a recording artist he has collaborated with many musicians also releasing 2 CDs. He works with a numerous amount of mediums from pen and pencil sketching with pastels, water colour. “His work brings realism into the realm of fantasy, light onto dark objects, movement into considerable stillness and dynamic into the unanticipated.” His work is full of movement.
Below is a section of an article which I found on Russell Mills. The part which states “allusions of cycles of natural decay” explains why the earthy colours are used in his artwork. The decay he is talking about could represent the fact that he uses abstract images with only a section of them recognizable.
Banksy artist research
Hoping to create some pieces involving spray paint, I decided to search for some graffiti artists where I came across Banksy. Banksy is the anonymous British street artist and is even classed as the “worlds most famous street artist.” He stood out to me as I noticed he has been known to cover environmental issues in his designs. Banksys art often carries a message.
Banksy created a famous piece called ‘The flower Thrower’ where a deeper meaning was portrayed. The stencil of the man on the wall is positioned to look as though he should be holding a weapon. However he has replaced a weapon with a bunch of flowers. He did this to portray a sense of peace, rather than war. When reading up about Banksy it states he tries to carry the message that peace comes with “active hard work.”
The image on the right states “I remember when all this was trees” and displayed all over the ground is heaps of rubbish. With me focusing on environmental issues such as plastic pollution I would like to be able to create some spray designs myself. In the left picture Banksy has used a stencil of a boy, I am thinking of using my objects – plastic bottle and fish – to create stencils from.
Primary objects
Plastic straws –
When observing my house for inspiration I came across plastic straws in my cupboard. I have previously heard about plastic straws being a major problem with oceans therefore I decided to research this further.
Plastic Straws Are Wreaking Havoc on Oceans and Marine Wildlife: Skip the Straw or Try These Sustainable Alternatives
“According to the Ocean Conservancy, straws are among the top 10 items found during beach clean-ups. This is because the plastic tubes are too lightweight to be easily recycled, so they become trash and often end up in the ocean, polluting the water and eventually killing seabirds, marine animals, and fish.”
Seen as they cause such a huge problem I thought I could incorporate them into my designs. This could be printing/ drawing marine animals over the top of the photograph.
Plastic bags –
When finding the plastic straws this inspired me to look for more plastics in my house. I like using brighter plastics as I feel this creates more interest. The bright colours stand beautifully. At first glance, a marine animal printed over these luminous colours would look beautiful, it would make the audience really appreciate them. When an audience then look further into the picture they will begin to see the plastic bags and the brand names and start to see the relation between the marine animals and plastic bags. This could help to start to make individuals think about how they could help reduce plastic pollution.
Jackson Pollock – abstract expressionism artist
Jackson Pollock was a painter who based his works on an abstract expressionist and movement style. He became well known for his technique of pouring or splashing liquid paints onto a horizontal surface which meant he could view and paint his canvases from all angles. The fact he dripped liquid paint from a distance meant he could explore energy and movement with the paints on his canvas.
I have created work in the style of Jackson Pollock’s work in previous projects. The quality which I admire the most about Pollock’s work is how simple but effective it is. His works portray movement an excitement which especially intrigue me. One colour scheme which captured my attention was the gray and yellow one which he has used in many of his designs. The yellow and grey work perfectly together especially because the calming grey tones down the bright strong yellow. For example when the two colours work together they create a whole new colour which they could not on there own. The yellow becomes toned down with the grey whereas the grey becomes uplifted from the yellow. Recently I have been focusing many of my works with spray paint. Grey is the only colour spray paint which I have left therefore I wanted to explore ways of how #I could use this as a positive. I will be attempting this colour scheme in my works alongside his splashing techniques. With my subject matter being “plastic pollution” it is based on a messy environment (the plastic taking over the natural habitats) which I feel if I start to involve Jackson Pollock’s techniques this will furthermore exaggerate this.
Kurt Schwitters –
I have the technique of collage in many works. I love how it can really help to build layers and depth into works. I have recently been working with spray paint designs however I wan’t to start to build up layers using plastic materials.
Kurt Schwitters was a German artist who worked in several genres and media including: graphic design, sculpture, typography, painting and he is actually most famous for his collages.
He studied at the Dresden Academy however he returned to Hanover and started his artistic career as a post impressionist. In his works he sometimes expresses a distinctive and darker approach to his work and the reason behind this due to the first world war progressing. His state of made was becoming obvious in his art work.
One thing which most appealed to me was his materials which he had used in his collages. He dedicates his work to waste materials, magazine clippings and alternative recycled items. The purpose of this was to ‘attempt to express the rapidly changing world.’
I would like to follow a similar style to Schwitters such as using waste plastics, using a collage approach, to try and get an audience to notice what their plastic pollution is doing to the environment. I will do this by using a collage of plastic bags with recognized brands on to try and start to make an audience think about the relationship between marine animals and plastic bags.
Artist Research – Mark Hearld
Mark Hearld was born in York in 1974. He is known to have a fascination with animals such as hen runs, pigeon lofts and foxes – he bases his work on his observations of the natural world. His main inspiration comes from a famous artist – Picasso. The main technique which he uses is collage this comes alongside printmaking: mono printing, lino cutting and he uses spray paint to create a sense of atmosphere in some of his pictures.
When reading about Mark Hearld his work methods sounds similar to the ones I enjoy doing. When it states his uses spay paints to create atmosphere this excited me as I have been using a similar method in my works. The fact his interest links with animals and the natural world I knew Mark Hearld could be a big inspiration to my works.
When looking through his gallery of artwork I admired his lino prints. I have not always been the best at lino printing however I wanted to give this a go and really try and enhance my skills during this project. One piece which fascinated me the most was the fish displayed on the picture above, especially the level of detail which has been cut out from the lino – it creates a messy look. The fish appears as though it is swimming in a chaotic scene. MY project is based on marine animals being overtaken by plastics in the ocean therefore this links nicely with a chaotic atmosphere.
Not only was I impressed with Mark Hearlds lino prints, when conducting further research I found a series of wall papers and fabrics which he had made. This stood out to me especially because with my work I needed some ideas as to how to push it forward. I am satisfied with how I can create designs however how to present them is a still quite new to me. When looking at how Mark Herald uses his lino prints as a repeat pattern in some cases to create a wall paper design this gave me inspiration to do the same style. I have previously created repeat patterns using photo shop however at this moment in time I don’t have Photoshop therefore I am going to hand make a wall paper design – although this may be time consuming, I am excited to see the results. I would love to be able to experiment using colour for the wall papers as I feel this really creates a vibrant appearance however I do only have black lino printing inc therefore this limits my ability to explore with colour.
Surface Pattern
Below is a sheet of paper which I found in my house which has an interesting description of the types of patterns. It is quite unclear to read however I found the type of patterns interesting such as: brick repeat pattern, vertical mirror design, an irregularly spaced design, half drop design. The type of design which I am wanting to try out for my wall paper design is the brick repeat design as I feel it gives a simple design for my wall paper.
Lino printing
In previous projects I have attempted many lino print designs, this is something I haven’t been particularly the best at however I wan’t to take this project as the opportunity to re explore techniques and not rush them. I decided to look up lino prints which were sea related. following on from the research I have already conducted from Mark hearld. When browsing the web I came across many ‘ship in a bottle’ designs which inspired me. I would like to try these designs however rather than a ship, I could use a fish in a bottle. This could be seen as quite cliche however I am going to spend time making sure the design is interesting rather than childish.
What I like about these designs the most are the simple colours used, the design on it’s own stands out enough without overloading it with colours.
Plastic Pollution Quotes –
I have created many large scale pieces therefore I thought it would be interesting to start linking in some of the shocking quotes which I found earlier in my research. I would like to begin looking in tot turning my images into posters as my subject specialism is graphic design therefore I am going to begin looking at some famous poster artists to influence my work. One quote which I liked due to it’s dramatic approach was one which stated “There will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050.” I thought this quote was so simple and snappy however really effective and is genuinely shocking to hear. I thought this could give off a powerful message.
Pinterest – Plastic Pollution posters
These were some visuals I found on google of plastic pollution posters. They mainly focus on talking about the solution which to me when you read them it feels like something you have seen many times. Rather than a cartoon approach, I would like to use my artwork designs and use text to really create dramatic posters. I would like to focus at first on the facts of plastic pollution. I feel as though an audience realizes there is plastic pollution however they don’t know how serious it is. I feel if I can label some dramatic facts on plastic pollution I can start to shock an audience into changing their ways rather than just pointing out the obvious which I feel these posters do.
Article – Negative space typography
Thinking into posters I found some graphic design posters which inspired me based on Typography. I was really intrigued by the way the images were shown through the text themselves. I thought this was a really good way of linking the topic with the message of the poster. Once reading about this I found it was called negative space typography. I have heard about negative space therefore it makes sense that this style of writing is based on negative space. Having a place at University to study graphic design I find it helpful coming across graphic design terms as it starts to build up more knowledge of my desired subject specialism. From this, I am going to look at YouTube videos which demonstrate how to create negative space Typography.
Campaign – Lovers campaign for the Greenpeace borrowed from the “grotesque brand soup” found in our oceans.
With my work working towards a campaign style and I want to start to create graphic design pieces I thought it was crucial that I look at existing campaigns. This camapaign was made when Green peace reached out to a design agency in London to help publish their campaign “to make people see that it’s grim.” The campaign is created with a series of qualities such as typography, imagery, textures and colours to engage with an audience. The inspiration for this campaign came from someone called Paul Kelly who went to ‘Thames Estuary’ where he had a task of sifting through rubbish found on its banks. This is where ha gathered a bag of visuals as inspiration.
The branding aims to reflect on what brands look like once ‘hoinked out of the sea, all salty and knackered’ he then used typface with the same feeling such as making it look distressed and partially eroded.
This campaign was really interesting to me as the ideas came from genuine experiences and the people involved with the campaign were desperate to show an audience how damaging plastic pollution actually is. When looking at some of the posters you can see they’ve used typography to play with the wording and they make it appear as though the words themselves are floating in the oceans. The main source of inspiration I took from their posters was the short, yet powerful, messages. The short wording such as “the amount of plastic in the ocean could circle the earth 425 times. With the use of real statistics to me this is much more shocking. I feel as though you regularly see posters telling you to stop plastic pollution however not many people know the facts of plastic pollution itself. When you hear a statistic as large as that it is much more shocking and gets you thinking more about plastic pollution, in contrast to just being told to stop. The posters themselves are quite simple, they show a visual as the background and are then overlaid with text. The colours used draws you in, especially the ones dedicated to a monochromatic colour scheme. Taking my inspiration from the negative space typography and the short factual statements from this campaign I would like to link the two together and create my own unique designs.
YouTube Video –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oukDDTT1t1w
When first seeing this YouTube video I was intrigued by the writing inside of the text. I thought it looked so different and visually pleasing rather than just an image with text overlaid. The ‘sea’ theme drew me into watch this tutorial. This tutorial was a You Tube video which was very simple to follow, the video shows clear demonstrations and instructions throughout making it very easy to follow their steps on my computer. Luckily, I was able to access Photoshop which excites me to be able to try involving text over my larger scale work. With my purpose to be encouraging an audience to change their ways with plastic pollution I thought it was crucial to be able to start to involve text and overall practice my subject specialism. This has furthermore inspired me to look into Typography which is a well known quality with graphic design.
From this YouTube video I have been able to start to include text into my artwork using an interesting technique. YouTube is a brilliant source of research especially because you can type almost anything and there will be endless videos on how to do the thing you’re looking for. The demonstrations gives me many chances to take my knowledge and practice it into my own works.
YouTube video –
Being keen on exploring Photoshop I decided to look up some more interesting techniques. This is where I came across this fantastic fish inside of a bulb design. This instantly brought inspiration to mind such as replacing the bulb with a plastic bottle to link to my theme. I observed the video and the steps were clear and straight forward which was a big help to me. The software on the video was the same layout as my own which furthermore made it simple to follow. I was so impressed whilst following this video and it definitely guided me to create something out of my comfort zone and really figure out technical ways to manipulate my work.
For the water itself I did use the templates which the tutorial added in the description box. I used a clear plastic bottle from google as the image was more clear than one I chose. However for the fish, I used a drawing a previously drew in the early stages of my project.
YouTube video –
I decided it was crucial to look at existing plastic pollution campaigns creating Photoshop. This video wasn’t exactly a step by step video however it was a quick time lapse on how to create a poster design. At the end of the video some photoshop campaign designs were shown which really intrigued me.
I absolutely loved how simple, yet effective, these designs were. The fact that a single image is shown with small hints of pollution is involved I love. I like how they have really involved the subject matter with the animal. For example with the turtle, they have replaced the body with cigarette buds to show the impact which they have on marine life. Not only this did I like, I was also interested in the typography used and the fact certain words had a different size and composition to the writing. In these images, the shocking statistics are used in a bigger font, this is automatically the first think which an audience reads. One reading the most important message this leads you on to the factual content. With graphic design typography is a major quality, every decision you to make with the text on a poster determines the whole image itself. You really have to think about what you would like the audience to see the most. For example, if the ‘8 million tons; wasn’t exaggerated on the first image, the audience wouldn’t think of it to be a big deal. The way it is blown up large gives a more shocking approach to those reading. Alternatively, if the whole message was blown up, this could take the audience away from the illustration itself, making them less aware about the effect on the animals itself. Following on from my fish inside a bottle, I would like t o start to use typography in a similar way to the designs below. I will begin to think about the formal elements such as size, spacing and composition.
Barbara Kruger – Artist Research
When asking for feedback on my previous suggests, the artist Barbara Kruger was mentioned to me. When looking at her posters her work interested especially her colour schemes.
Barbara Kruger is an American conceptual artist who runs a certain theme through her poster designs. She always follows a black and white photograph style which she then overlays with red and white text.
Being interested in her work, I found some quotes which came from herself. She mentions that she likes to deal with the complexities of power and social life. This to me, explains why she uses the colour red. Red resembles power, courage and attention which all relate to a sense of power. When placing reds against black and white backgrounds, this instantly stands out and over powers the background which turns out to be a nice combination on the eye.
When reading about her early life and career it states she was born into a lower – middle class family. This could be why she started to look into social life – she could have been looking at social life from different classes. When reading about her work it is stated that her work often deal with topics such as feminism, Communism and frequently uses images from mainstream magazines and using her bold phrases to frame them in a new context. Following on from this it states ‘I work with pictures and words because they have the ability to determine who we are and who we aren’t’ this could mean the pictures could be a representative of someone however the words can change this.
Her work appears bold, strong and really stands out from an audiences perspective. I would like to create some works in the style of Kurger to see if I can get the same powerful emotion running throughout.
YouTube – slicing an image
Whilst exploring the possibilities of Photoshop on you tube, I came across a tutorial on how to split an image into sections. This is something I would like to try on my own imagery – such as my drawing of a fish.
YouTube recently has been one of my most effective sources of research. It has endless demonstrations on how to use Photoshop and is helping me each day feel more confident with the software. Not only is this a great opportunity for my project, it is also a big help for when I begin my graphic design course.
Andy Warhol – Artist research
Andy is well known for being one of the most ‘significant and prolific figures of his time.’ His career began when he was eight years old when he was diagnosed with neurological disease which concluded in him being confined to his bed. In this period he began to have drawing lessons to keep him entertained. From a young age Andy developed love for drawing in which he undertook a course of fine art at Carnegie Mellon University.
In later stages of life he went onto become an illustrator for glamour magazine. I find this interesting as it relates to a career which I would love to be in also. In 1991 he revealed the concept of Pop art which included him showcasing work in mass production. His topic mainly focused on every day objects and celebrity names. A successful piece he created was a mass production of his painting of soup cans. To create his work he used several mediums including: photography, silk screening, and print making.
With Andy’s art work, i admire the bright bold colours as they appear very striking. Instantly they catch your eye and you almost feel involved with the work. Sometimes, bright work can be see as overpowering and too much to take in however with Andy’s work I feel almost involved with it. To me, I think this is because of his technique which he uses colour. Although he uses bright colours I have noticed he mainly focuses on tertiary colours such as in the example below. As you can see, the colours he has explored focus on a variety of colour schemes. When focusing on the colours it looks like Andy has used two contrasting colour schemes – warm and cold – and has used various shades of the same colour. As a whole the piece looks bright and bold due to variety of colours however zooming into a small section you notice they in fact a combination of tints and shades of a brighter colour.
When looking further into Andy Warhol’s works, I came across a complimentary colour scheme which appeared quite striking – complementary colour scheme. The purpose of using a complementary colour scheme is to make something stand out. For example, red and green are opposite each other on the colour wheel meaning this creates a high contrast which overall causes the image to stand out. With my project being based on a strong topic I feel it would benefit from a complimentary colour scheme. My next stages are to try this in my own posters to see the effect that it has.
Adobe Creative – Meddnes
On adobe creative I came across a series of graphic designs from a user names Meddness. What stood out to me in this designs is the clever playful approach they have. For example the third picture they have cleverly used fish to represent the leaves of the trees to link it to the subject matter rather than having a tree and fish separate. I have never been confident with linking words to imagery however I do feel it could be fun to do so.
Another aspect I enjoy about this designs is how simple they are. The first poster in particular has very little imagery however the meaning behind it is more powerful than you think. The small slogan ‘got more’ links to the world not having enough water, hence the straw sticking out of the world. With the subject matter i’m focusing on I could create a similar design of a poster with covered in plastic with a small amount of water, with straw sticking out saying ‘got more’ this is something I am going to try with the imagery I already have.
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