O -Practical Work

This project – my object-will be strongly based and focused on my watch. After taking in a variety of considerations I specifically decided to dedicate my work towards my watch. This was because I felt that the level of detail and texture on my watch would benefit me. In particular, the chain is created with crosses and hearts which creates a beautiful pattern which I thought I could potentially use to print with. At this stage I am thinking into a graphic design specialist route therefore I will be trying to engage my work using graphic design techniques which I have researched. However, as I am not certain about this route I am going to take this project as an opportunity to explore the range of pathways within art and hopefully by the end I will have a solidified decision which I can base my final piece on. 

Accurate drawings 

To start of my project I am going to interrogate my object, I will be doing this in a range of ways but first I decided to create an accurate drawing so I could really engage with my object and identify it’s qualities. 

I chose to create my drawing with a selection of pencils, this is because I wanted to start off by creating a simple accurate drawing without adding any mediums as of yet. Observational drawing is something I find quite difficult however, I ensured I kept patient. A method to help me whilst observational drawing was to start of by getting my object to scale, this involved measuring and my object and lining it up correctly. once the basic outline was created this gave me a starting point to start adding in the main detail of my watch. Regularly I would step away from my drawing which allowed me to notice it’s imperfections as I do feel I can get caught up in my drawing resulting it parts not being accurate.

Looking back at my drawing, I feel I could furthermore add to it and create even more depth- the more depth I feel the more is begins to look 3D, which is something I will be going back to. As a whole, although drawing isn’t one of my strongest qualities, I enjoyed drawing my object and it allowed me to feel confident with each aspect of my object ready to develop my artwork using it. I can clearly see how my drawing has developed from the beginning of the course which is securing to see.

Photography

Photography is a specialist route which has always interested me. I admire how you can capture something and just by using different angles it impacts the picture completely. With photography you can really focus on a part of the object/ scenery using a variety of techniques such as adjusting the lighting, using varied camera angles, the positioning of your object which comes alongside the editing you can indulge with once the photograph is taken. This is a quality which I focused on during my media course.Whilst researching graphic design, I have found that photography is linked with this specialism which I find interesting and will be looking for when researching university courses.

I photographed my object in various angles including: close ups, medium close ups and high angles. I chose these camera angle methods as I wanted the detail of the watch to be exaggerated with the level of detail which it has. I chose close ups so I could see the detail allowing it to be easier when further drawing my object. One observational drawing is a good idea to show my skills however I feel my work will become to develop into interesting pieces when I focus on a section of my object and go into detail on a specific section.

One benefit of my watch is that it has a wide variety of detail from a patterned arm, to an oval head which as seen in the photos creates some interesting shadows which works perfect when focusing on my tonal studies. In some of these photographs the shadows have worked to my benefit as this gives me opportunities to create tonal studies. This could be done with a range of mediums including: charcoal, pencil, paint etc.

Now, with having a selection of photographs of my object, I decided to create a upscale drawing of my watch. This time I used different’t mediums including graphite, pencils and coloured pencils including Gray blue and red. I chose to create it in this style because with it being a bigger picture I hoped for a more bold look which I feel I have succeeded with. Although this drawing doesn’t look strong on it’s own, I am thinking of photocopying it creating further work with it. As the watch is drawn with a range of cold silver tones I feel if i contrast this with a colourful background it will create an interesting piece – I am thinking of potentially creating a collage using this drawing to bring excitement alongside it.

Printing

Printing is a topic which I have previously enjoyed therefore I wanted to cover a section of printing within this project. I am still at this point trying to figure work out my strengths and weaknesses which is why I feel it is important to cover a wide range of mediums before settling. I attempted to create some mono prints using an upscale photograph of my watch.

Even with these two adjustments, the results were still similar to the previous ones I had attempted. I concluded that the only way I would get the inc to go through the net material was if I had a oil based inc instead of water based. I was hoping to use the net background to add character to my prints but as this wasn’t working therefore I created a template of my own.

I chose a simple cut out design to experiment with the template.

I used a card cut out as a template for my watch. Previously I had used paper however it was becoming too wet quickly and starting to mis shape.

This was the result of my print. As you can see the inc was too thick and wet which explains the misshape at the top of the design where the inc is running but instantly I can see the difference with the background pattern. Now I know this works I will be trying more interesting backgrounds although I am pleased with how this design has come out despite the running inc. I feel with this design I have potential to layer some inc maybe on top of it, potentially a yellow to contrast with the grey inc.

After experimenting with mono printing I don’t feel as though I have created any designs worthy to adapt with. With it just being an experiment I am not disheartened with the results of this. I would like to create a series of lino and screen prints, given the chance further in the project. With mono printing its hard to express a wide range of detail and with detail being a specific quality which I liked about it I don’t feel it has benefited my project. With a lino print I could really focus on the detail of the watch is something I am going to try.

Further Photography

Already having focused on the detail of my watch in a variety of angles I decided to develop this further and experiment with the positioning and setting in which the photographs were taken. Observing the garden I liked the fact that the trees hung carelessly against the shed, at first I attempted to hang the watch from it’s buckle however it did keep falling off. I eventually found some nylon wire which I tied the clip of the watch onto a branch of the tree. I feel this image looks interesting to look at instead of the watch being flat against a background – it instantly make it exciting to look at. This type of background has given my simple object much more character and excitement. I like the fact the watch could be carelessly hanging. On the other hand, it could even be a metaphors to symbolise how some individuals see life as slipping away and therefore cling onto it.

Nature is an interest of mine therefore I continued with this theme as I feel that time and nature link together perfectly. In which furthermore I found a pile of leaves which caught my eye. I liked the fact there were a variety of warm natural colours I found them beautiful to look at. In particular the red and orange leaves really stand out in contract to the greens and browns and allover gives a pleasing colour scheme. When placing my watch onto the leaves this was exaggerated further and the cold silver tones of the watch instantly stood out again the warm tones. It makes the silver look even colder and gives an on edge feeling especially with how the silver colours clash against warm toned leaves.

Knowing how well the silver works against bright colours inspired me to furthermore photograph my object against some of my previous designs. I placed my watch over my disperse dye designs (created using synthetic materials such as yester satin Kent, polyester chiffon. I created a series of three photographs with similar arrangements. I feel once they are printed onto photograph paper they will appear very powerful to look at. I am also thinking of displaying them against each other to enhance there power.

The bright colours remind me of Andy Warhol work, not necessarily with the design or lay out, but with the bright powerful colours used to capture the attention of an audience.

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Collage

This collage was inspired by the wrist watch painting located on saatchi page during my research. I admire the fact the painting looked half abstract and half accurately painted. With painting not being a strong point of mine, I decided to create this in a way of my own – a collage.

This piece was created using my existing wrist watch drawing (various shades of grays, blacks and a touch of red and blue) and then contrasted with a variety of materials being used to collage such as newspaper, tissue paper and foil. The colour scheme came from the photograph which I took in the garden, I liked how the warm colours contrasted with the old shiny silver of the watch I feel gave an empowering atmosphere when looking at it which I what I portrayed in my collage. The warm tones of tissue papers reflect the warm autumn colours which against the colder watch created an interesting look.

Being interested in graphic design I felt the importance to include some interesting Chinese writing onto my piece as an introduction into graphic design. I do feel I could exaggerate this further by maybe printing a word onto my piece and maybe including the watch to print with.

Looking back at this piece I think I over layered the piece with too much collage and I feel it has taken away the attention from the watch itself therefore when going back I am going to take some college off the top so that it has a more half abstract – half accurate feel, like the image I was inspired by. Overall, I think the colour scheme has worked to my advantage and I have even more ideas to create this look by using a variety of colour schemes; monochromatic, complimentary…

I attempted to create a graphic design piece of artwork onto my collage. My inspiration came from the student who based her artwork on a graphic design piece of a croc. However I don’t feel my work looks strong like hers did I feel the collage alongside the black inc don’t necessarily work well together, maybe this would have looked stronger in a college instead of inc. Not only this but tinge Chinese writing looks out of place with the English word “time” I feel this would of worked better either all in Chinese or all in English. Although my piece wasn’t as successful as I hoped it has taught me to properly think things through first and to accept when things don’t work. I feel it is important to notice when things don’t go the way they’re hoped and to not get disheartened by it.

Although the idea of this piece was not how I had hoped, the actually photocopy itself turned out to look even better in person then the original. It has surprised me how a simple photocopy in this case has made my work look professional, this is something I am considering up-scaling to A3/A2 and using as portfolio pieces.

Following on from my previous art work, I created a college using a colder colour scheme in contrast to my previous warm one. When you place the two collages together they look completely different which to me proves the power of colour. I added the tin foil to exaggerate the cold shininess of the watch which I do feel has worked and I feel it could even be further developed by adding on smaller pieces of tin foil in smaller aspects of the watch to further evolve this piece.

To further develop this, I am thinking of creating a monochromatic collage in a similar style, I feel that the three collages against each other will look exciting to look at.

Mini experiment with printing

Photoshop Express – mobile app

I found an app named Photoshop express which has lead me to completely transform my photographs of my watch. This was originally inspired by Andy Warhol with his pop artwork. I specifically liked his design which he created multiple butterfly’s I feel his artwork looks bold and instantly catches the eye which is a quality I wanted to portray in my artwork. I experimented on the app adjusting colour, brightness and other effects, I am very pleased with the results and I am hoping to use this app regularly on my work to enhance it, I think I am going to use this technique on some of my existing artwork; maybe my collages or my tonal drawing on my watch.

To further explore with my images I decided to focus on a complimentary colour scheme – green and pink. I generally find this colour scheme to be pleasing to the eye as I feel the softness of the pink really contrasts with the bright colder green and you can really focus on both colours together. Even though the colours aren’t usually seen together in day to day life – maybe this is why the colours look so pleasing together. I enjoy working with bright colours as I feel they are seen in day life commercials which is something I am interested in. 

The way I have laid out these designs is a style which I took inspiration from Andy Warhol’s work as I like how he displays his work in multiples. 

I further developed my work focusing on a monochromatic colour scheme, with these photographs it looks like the watch is fading away which could be seen as an interpretation as time fading away… 

With my photographs having a variety of tones and shadows within it, I wanted to explore this further. Therefore using my Photoshop app I adjusted the brightness, contrast, brilliance, exposure, highlights, shadows and black point. In which all together I created these three tonal photographs emphasising the detail in my watch. I like the fact that when the three photographs are together it creates a multiple effect and they look strong together. 

Week two: 3D work

Planning my Design

This week I am focusing on 3D work and looking at my work from a variety of angles and elevations.

With my watch being very detailed I know this would be fairly difficult especially with me not being confident with 3D making.

Without having he draw my watch again I decided to photocopy a previous accurate drawing and attempt to create it 3D however although I gave it a good go it didn’t entirely go to plan.

After evaluating the situation I decided to turn my watch into a simplified version which meant turning it into block instead of curves. This instantly proved to work better which encouraged me to create some monsters drawings.

Instead of constructing the entire watch I planned to take a small section and duplicate this into multiples to form a pattern however, this again changed in the process. I concluded on creating my full watch in blocks (3cm) and the head of the watch -6cm.

After planning how I was going to create my 3D object, I located some Card, a glue gun, a craft knife, scissors to begin my design.

I decided I wanted to create the actual watch instead of a pattern, this being so I could further edit the photographs of my watch. Another idea is that I could print with the sculpture of my watch.

Constructing my Design

To create my watch I simply crafted squares (3cm2) and stuck them together using the glue gun. Some problems which I faced was that my object kept falling apart, to resolve this problem I ensured I held the card together for 30 seconds before releasing so that the glue was stronger and properly stuck – this worked to my advantage. 

Looking at my sculpture I do like the way I created the ‘straps’ of the watch, as they look like a interesting pattern. I do feel I should have created my object to a smaller scale just as I feel there was no purpose for it to be as big as it was. I have also noticed that I should have been neater when cutting the card however I did find using a craft knife difficult as it wasn’t easily cutting the card. This resulted in my using scissors which explains how the shapes weren’t entirely accurate. If I was to make this again I would maybe focus on another 3D technique to make it appear even more interesting. I feel my object has a wide variety of detail within it and I don’t feel as though my sculpture emphasises this. 

As a whole, with 3D not being something I am entirely interest in, I feel I have given it a good go and have explored this topic with an open mind however I don’t feel as though the results have been completely beneficial to my work. 

Furthermore, With the sculpture itself not being the most interesting, I decided to photograph and attempt to bring more excitement into them. I turned towards my Photoshop app which I interpenetrate colour, pattern and tone within my sculpture which instantly made it more striking to look at. I feel these photographs would look good as a selection of multiples. I especially like the designs where colour has started to come in a subtle manor. 

War related piece

With the ideas which I thought of on remembrance day which is referenced in my research page, I decided to create my piece which was originally generated from the poppy’s.

I chose an existing drawing, I did this because I had a drawing which I am pleased with therefore I feel it wouldn’t benefit me to draw another one.

One slight inconvenience which occurred was that the face of my watch I had already drawn however for this piece I wanted the hands to point at 11:11. To overcome this I simply drew a circle and re drew the face of the watch with the time pointing exactly where I wanted it to.

I wanted the acetate to lay over the image of the watch therefore I began creating the background. I chose to use subtle greys in a water colour effect as I knew the photograph which would be laying on top would be the bold feature of this artwork.

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I chose watercolour as I felt I could blend multiple greys to create a warm atmosphere. I do feel this has worked really well and I feel if I had used an alternative medium it would’ve been too bold. The dull greys related to the theme of war and how soldiers have lost there lives – war is a sensitive subject therefore bold bright colours would not make sense with the theme – I wanted to avoid creating any offence.

By using work I created a template of the number 11 which I then traced onto my paper. I chose a simple bold font which I coloured in black. Originally I used watercolour however it didn’t stand out well. I kept in mind that the photograph which I would be laying over the top would overpower most of the image therefore to be able to see the numbers I went over the numbers in black marker pen which proved to be much better.

Once I was pleased with the background of my art work, I printed my image onto acetate alongside tracing paper. I chose these two materials as they are both transparent and I wanted to experiment with both. When they came out of the printer I preferred the qualities of the acetate as it was even more transparent then the tracing paper and the aim of my project was to be able to see my drawing underneath the acetate.

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One thing I didn’t realise with my image that effected how transparent it was, was the darkest points of the photograph which means once the image was printed, it became less transparent. Furthermore this meant that if I just laid the full image over the top of my drawing you couldn’t really see my watch underneath which definitely defeated its purpose.

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Due to this, I began playing around with my tracing paper as I had ruled this out. I cut it in half to that half of the page was poppy’s alongside the other half being my drawing. I wan’t keen on this idea as I feel it took away the purpose of my image being transparent – I want the audience to have to look through the photograph to see my drawing and the reference to 11/11.

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I then thought of an arrangement of cutting the acetate into slices, which I much preferred. I liked how you could try to focus on either the photograph or the drawing. At this point I thought my piece was looking bold and strong however there was something not quite right about it. I wanted it to have more of a layered effect instead. After assessing the situations I thought about placing the strips in different ways instead of them being all the same length. I experimented and decided to cut some of the slices in half to see how It worked in which I was surprised with the outcome.

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Looking back at my work, I love how I have arranged the acetate I feel it really impacts how you look at the work, adding extra layers makes it more interesting to look at. I think throughout the process my idea has developed well and the outcome has turned out even better than I expected.

I have noticed a few minor problems such as the numbers not looking very neat and accurate, once it has dried I am going to go back over this. The paper has began to tear due to the mediums being applied therefore I feel any more layers It would cause big holes. As a result of this I am thinking about cutting the numbers out of a black sheet of paper which I feel will add to the picture. I am unsure as of yet weather to stick the numbers over the acetate or underneath.

This design was mainly an experiment therefore I will be adding it into my sketchbook instead of using it as a port folio piece due to the imperfections on it.

Week 3 – Deconstructing and Re constructing my object.

This week will be dedicated to deconstructing and constructing my object therefore today we had a group discussion as to how we could deconstruct are objects and the purpose of doing so. At first thought I was going to smash my watch however once thinking deeper into the situation I realised I wouldn’t benefit much from this – I would just be left with tiny pieces of glass which doesn’t excite me. The other alternative to deconstructing my object would to be to do so carefully so I could identify each piece which makes up a watch. I chose to go with the second option as I think I could relate the technical pieces to graphic design work and create some interesting artwork using the mechanical side of the watch.

Similar to when I first engaged with my object, I took a series of photographs, my purpose of this was to be able to draw from these photographs although I like how the photographs themselves look bold and clear, If I were to take these photographs again I would use a professional high quality camera which would impact on the quality and detail which appears on the photograph. As I am just using these photographs for inspiration, this doesn’t matter too much.

When I took some photographs of my watch previously against the synthetic coloured fabrics I liked how the cold silver contrasted with the bold colours. Thinking of a port folio pieces involving photography, I decided to take these photographs again with the object being deconstructed.

I printed my previous photographs alongside my recent ones in A5 and stuck the six images together on an A3 sheet of paper.

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Mixed Media Piece

For this mixed media piece, I was inspired by Jim Bray. I liked how his work was messy and looked like it had lots going on. In a specific piece of work he included the ‘cogs’ of a watch which was where I decided I wanted to recreate this using my own style.

The materials I focused on while creating this piece were watercolour paint, inc, newspaper, acetate and fine liner. As mentioned in previous work I liked how bright colours contrast with duller colours which is why newspaper was involved. I feel it is a reflection of the duller colours of the watch. To stick down the newspaper I used PVA glue which was time consuming when it was drying however this ensured that I wasn’t rushing into my work. At first when it was just paint layered over the top of the newspaper this still wasn’t giving me the exciting feel I was hoping for which is when I decided to use the inc. I have always liked the bright neon effect which inc gives off, it always appears bold which is why I thought it would be perfect to brighten my design which proved me right. I used a dripping method when applying my inc/paint and allowed it to be free on the page as I wasn’t hoping for a precise look. When drawing the pieces of my deconstructed watch, I looked on the internet at cogs of watches as disappointingly my own object wasn’t filled with loads of interesting pieces which I then drew a combination of my own watch and the copied cogs off google. I was unsure what media to use when drawing the pieces as I am not confident enough to use a steady hand when using inc and paint. I attempted to use white board pen however this was too thick and wasn’t allowing me to focus on detail. Once testing out a variety of mediums I settled with fine liner. Although the fine liner didn’t appear very bold, the drawings were accurate which I found was a good combination alongside the messy background.

Even with the drawings onto my work I was slightly disheartened with my drawings. I gave myself time to reflect on my work and after taking a step back I looked at my war related work where I used the material acetate. This gave me an idea to print out my photographs which I had taken of my deconstructed watch onto acetate paper and carefully cut them out. to add onto my mixed media piece. This definitely added character to my work and I feel that it made it more obvious that the work was about my deconstructed watch.

To finish off my piece I wanted to include some wording onto my work due to me being interested in graphic design. I am aware of typography in graphic design however with me not knowing the skills of how to create typography I decided to use stamps. In the next project I will focus more on typography however I felt it was time consuming for the length of this project.

This was the final outcome of my work. As a whole I feel the outcome was even better than what I had planned. I feel it looks interesting to look at due to the wide range of mediums which are layered. Once photographing my work, I enhanced he brightness and colour which made it appear even brighter. If i was to use this as a portfolio piece I would most likely print out the edited version just because I feel it looks more eye catching. The colours I have used have worked to my advantage which I am pleased about. I do feel this work could be created using a variety of colour schemes however I think the bright yellows, oranges, reds and pink work together and contrast against the grays and blacks used.

The deconstruction of the watch could be an interpretation of time falling apart. Alongside this the bright colours used could reflect the excitement and power you have over your life which you should appreciate.

Collage – Using acetate, newspaper, tissue paper

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Previously I photographed two images of my watch against nature. I feel the images themselves look interesting however I wanted to further experiment with them and try to make them into a port folio piece. I decided to print the two images onto acetate. I created two backgrounds which were made up of newspaper, magazines, inc, paint which I then overlaid the acetate over the top. I was amazed with the results as I love how the wording shows through the acetate making it look more interesting. These two images up scaled onto A2 would look really strong and the level of detail behind the photograph would be shown. Once photographing my work I changed the brightness, colour and contrast which furthermore made it look bold.

Photo Shop Mock up

With graphic design the way things are presented is an important quality. I wanted to gain a feel of how my work would look in real life scenario. Graphic design is all about giving messaged to an audience which means first of all grabbing the attention is very important. I looked at my designs as posters, using Photoshop I downloaded a poster mock up. The Photoshop mock method is a quick and easy way to get a feel of how my work would look in a realistic environment. By using these mock ups this backed up my reflection of my work appearing bold and eye catching.

I also looked at my work as being magazine covers which is where I found another Photoshop mock up. Although I like the idea of my work being presented through a magazine, I feel as though the grass in the background over powers the colours of my work taking the attention off them. As of yet I am unsure of how to change the grass to an alternative background however this is something I will be furthermore looking into.

Further development

I liked the outcome of how the acetate photograph and the newspaper collage blended together therefore I wanted to see how this could be furthermore experimented with. I decided to create a collage including my deconstructed photographs of my watch, newspaper, magazines and text. I don’t feel as though this piece has particularity made it look much better, I feel without the collage laid over the top it looked stronger. I wanted to include text within this piece however instead of using illustrator, I used white board pen which in my opinion ruined the style of the work – not to mention you can barely see the wording. Although this hasn’t gone to plan, It has taught me to thoroughly think through a piece before jumping in and creating it.

My second miniature experiment was to think about the photograph itself being deconstructed instead of the watch. Therefore I created tears in the photograph making it look like it is disintegrating. this could be seen as a resemblance of time fading away / falling apart. With the image being a photograph disintegrating this could also be a resemblance of how memories begin to fade away over time.

I chose to use a black background which I feel works well, if I were to use white paper this would have an opposing mood and may appear too bright. The contrast between the black paper and the colours within the photograph contrast nicely.

This photograph was actually a failed photocopy attempt. Instead of allowing this image to go to waste I actually liked how the bits of white appeared where the photocopy didn’t pick up the colour, which is where I gained inspiration of the photograph itself disintegrating.