Diary Cover Photoshop Development

Ive started experimenting with some different textures and colours, designs etc. with Photoshop, these are a selection of the best colours that i tested. Although i like the idea of the book looking like a diary, i really dont like the designs as they look really graphic, theres no illustration and they just dont look appealing.

I am going to have to rethink the idea and see what other designs i can come up with.

Diary Cover Development

Ive started drawing up some ideas for the diary cover, i want to highlight key things from within the book and hint at them without revealing too much information to the reader. For instance, Adrian in the book gets a girlfriend from school called Pandora, who he is madly in love with throughout the book. He also has a dog at home that ruins and eats everything, which causes rifts within the parents relationship.

I am going to play about with this design on Photoshop and see how it goes, im going to experiment with different textures and try to make it look realistic and a bit battered and bruised for being used for just over a year by a teenager.

Book Cover Development

These are some initial ideas of book covers for the competition. My first ideas are to make the book cover look like a diary, like a school excercise book that the boy has used for his diary, the book is set in the 80's so i thought of what would be used in those days. My other idea was an illustration of a boy sat on a stack of books reading as this is what i pictured when i read the book.

I have asked some of the other students from my course and the feedback i got was that they like the diary idea, I am going to work on this a bit more and develop the idea.

The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4

Ive started reading this book for the penguin brief online. This is the children's category in the competition, which is what i am most interested in. I have been reading it for a while and it is quite funny, it was hard to start reading at the beginning as the grammar was as if it was written by a 13 year old but improves so much as the boy loves reading. I would like to create a book cover that shows his love for reading as it is one of the main themes within the book so far.

Paper Craft - Comb Quilling

Another technique of quilling i have tried is with using a comb, instead of a quilling tool. This technique looks really nice although it takes a lot of time to do. This one picture took 7/8 hours of work and becomes tiring and tasking.

Although it takes a long time to create, i really like the technique as a whole and i have received a lot of compliments on the flower. I do think you would have to factor in the time when considering using this technique for a brief, maybe a mixture of this an other paper craft would be nice.

Paper Craft - Basic Quilling

I've started my one-a-week paper craft brief, i have started with basic quilling techniques, learning how to make the basic shapes with the quilling paper and quilling tool and create simple illustrations using this method.

This is a really simplistic method of papercraft although very time consuming.

Character Development

Ive started Character development of what was once a character from the inktober drawings, and although i like them, i dont think this is for me. Iam starting to loose interest in drawings things with no context behind them. My Cop work was really engaging to me, where i could thoroughly research something  and create something as a conclusion. This seems really tasking as there is no purpose for them, i like the idea of character development and it will be something i will do in briefs, but i feel like it is almost a waste of time as they are not going to be used for anything. I really want to make work with a purpose so i think i need to step back and take a look at what work i really want to make.

Inktober

After starting Inktober, i realised with the work load i had at the time, a drawing a day was hard to stick with. So i decided with the few illustrations i had created, i was going to develop each character each week. This will help with future projects, developing characters.

Statement of Intent for Turnitin

SOI for the workshop

This was my Statement of Intent for the workshop, which i will have to change now as my briefs have changed,  but the feedback i got from this was that i was clear with what i wanted to do and why i wanted to do it and the briefs i've chosen go well with what i want to do.

Briefs for the Workshop

For the workshop, we had to write out our briefs that we have chosen for this module out in a brief format sheet. We then discussed this within our small groups along with our Statements of Intent.

I found this really helpful as the tutor came and sat whilst i discussed my work and pointed out a few things which made me change the briefs.

Firstly, he asked why i had chosen greeting cards as my one-a-week brief, to this i was stumped, why had i chosen greeting cards? He said that that's just adding pressure to make a certain thing when actually instead of it being my one-a-week brief i could change it to my personal interest brief, where each week i could experiment with a different technique or skill in paper illustration, not focusing on a product, but the skill. I really like this idea as i can focus my skill onto paper illustration and develop my skills with the medium, experimenting with different processes. I think i will make this brief ongoing as i would like to use the process in my big project at the end of the year so i mays well practice until then.

Secondly, he said that for my one-a-week brief, i could choose characters i've designed from my Inktober brief and do one a week to develop even further. I think this is really good as i wanted to go further into character development, realising its not my strong point and developing my skills further for my practice.

I also asked about my substantial brief, Penguin random house. I asked what would make it substantial if I only wanted to one of the books, and he said i could make the book cover for their deadline but for the module also make promotional stuff and maybe stationary etc.

Pan Macmillan

So looking at the old Pan Macmillan brief was quite important, especially when i want to illustrate children's books. Looking at the brief it looks amazing, i would look to illustrate my own children's book, although i don't think i would have the time to write my own story. I would probably have to find someone else to do it for me and work collaboratively as it seems like quite a big brief. 

I think i will wait to see what brief Pan Macmillan bring out this year until i decide to do something as big, as it would be nice to be in the running for a prize if you were going to create a large body of work like that.

Folio Society

Ive started looking another briefs after the workshop this morning, I liked Fred's idea of using a brief you like that might not necessarily have the book for you in it and changing it. So I've had a look at Folio Society brief and i really like the sound of doing a book cover and 3 illustrations to go with it.

Now i just have to look at children's book either fiction or educational to see what i would illustrate instead. I would like something contemporary, recent, and a best selling perhaps and interpret it in my own way.

Reviewing my work after the Workshop

After the workshop, i feel like it was really useful for me. At the moment i have started Inktober as one of my briefs to do, which is one a day but it is ink. I have adapted it to go with the type of work i want to do. I am using a list from instagram which is characters to make an epic fairytale, correlating with the Children's book and education theme i am going for within my practice. 

I also want to make paper cut illustrations within my work, but i have designed my cop work to be around that thinking these do not have to be connected within every module. But i think it would be nice to do briefs within Extended Practice that are papercut, as this is what i would like to do, although Inktober is in ink.

Im going to carry on with inktober and use it as a way to gain skills in character development as work to go with my theme.

This workshop has definitely made me re-think my approach to this module, as i would like a cohesive body of work at the end, i really like how Fred said that if theres a brief we like but not necessarily like the book, we could change it to fit the style of work we want to create. I think this could be really good for me!

Extended Practice - Workshop

In this session we discussed the briefs that we will be choosing to do in this module. 

We need something to tie together all our work within the module, it doesn't have to be style but with children's books and education, it could be:

• Character development
• Education
• Book covers
• Method

We should work out the mandatories in the brief, what needs to be there.

Work out what your actually going to deliver, what will you make or propose.

At what point you are going to resolve or re-write the brief

Identify the context of your work i.e. book covers - logos, type, barcode, format etc.

We wrote a list of briefs as a table that we were proposing to do:

• Inktober
• Editorial-a-week
• Penguin
• Folio Society
• Bradford Textiles
• Secret 7
• Threadless T-Shirts
• Macmillan Brief
• Self-directed
• Etsy Packaging
• Save the NHS
• Guardian Food

Then the context of the briefs:

• Editorial
• Packaging
• Publishing
• Digital Publishing
• Texriles
• Children's books and education
• Health and Wellbeing
• Fashion
• Product
• Self-publishing and Small Press
• Public Space art

We then filled out a form for a 1 a week brief to go through it thoroughly outlining the audience, tone of voice, deliverables etc.

After we made two lists of benefits from a self-contained brief (competition & live briefs) and the benefits of week long briefs.

Self Contained Briefs

• Adapt to meet your own needs and suit your practice
• New Audiences
• Good to develop the work
• Deadlines
• Shows you can handle a bigger brief
• Time management of a larger project
• More refined, bigger amount of work
• Real life problems
• Refined/focused response
• Winning and glory
• Research
• Professional experience - insight
• Purpose-function
• Shows you're Professional
• Shows Experience
• Shows you can work to limitations/deadlines and evolve your work to fit a specific brief

1 A Week Briefs

• Constantly making work 
• Instagram following
• Time management
• Time
• More efficient
• Have to be driven
• Bulk of work
• More playful and fun
• More scope for visual language and playful
• Keeps you making things
• Doesn't matter if one is wrong
• Collection of focused work
• Practice
• Individually
• Passion

5 Statements

• I want to learn typography because this means i will be able to create more professional looking illustrations for books
• I need to learn how to create 3D paper illustrations, this means i will be able to gain more skills to develop my practice
• I want to go into schools and talk to teachers and students, this means i will be able to see how children learn best and what they like to see in regards to education and children's books
• I need to talk and connect with fellow paper cut illustrators to see how their practice works for them, this means i will be able to gain advice and skills to further my practice
• I need to develop my character development by possibly going to life drawing classes, this means i will be able do better illustrations within my work.

Extended Practice Briefing

Today we had a briefing on the extended practice module. I am really excited about this module, it is giving us an opportunity for us to do briefs that we want to do and relating to our practice. I really like that we can write our own briefs, this means we can write it so it will be beneficial to what we would like to do with our own practice. There is no specific number of briefs we need to produce, although we need to collaborate on at least one.

I am quite happy with this, i wouldn't mind collaborating with another illustrator, although i would probably do this after January. We can also do past briefs that have already been done e.g. last years, i think this would be good as a practice and getting back into working to a brief.

This year i would really like to do more paper cutting, and hopefully go into 3D paper cut. Hopefully i can explore this further within this module as i also want to produce children's books, either educational or fictional.

Project Report

Presentation Boards

Mock Ups

I am really happy with the mock ups that i have made. I made two possible ranges, one being a beer brand and one range for merchandise to go with a book on theories of nursery rhymes, like stationary etc.

I think the product ranges look really good, i think they work well as a set.

I think i could do with polishing up on my photoshop skills as although i have improved this year, i think if i had better skills, i could make things look a bit more professional.

Final Pieces

I am really happy with my final pieces, i like the simpleness of them but the multi layers of card create detail through colour and shape and not from complex design.

I think these will work well applied to a number of different products.

The only thing i will have to remember in the future is that the planning and drawing of the pieces take a lot of time and cutting and sticking can become quite tiring as it is a long process, but i really enjoyed it, i definitely want to carry on this process into other work.

First Attempt at paper cut

Today i tried to create my first paper cut illustration, which i ended up not finishing as, as you can see, it got ruined as the paper buckled way too much because of the glue i used. Which means i will have to do it all again, but next time im just going to use pritt stick as it doesnt have to hold anything heavy and it wont be too wet. 

I do think i am going to re-think the background and i might make them into spot illustrations coz i think this looks too child like.

Feedback

Today i got some feedback on my compositions for my final pieces which was really helpful, instead of doing the play panflet i was told to have a look into the play itself and create something that was recognizable as from it. I was also told to focus more onto the brand of beer more, for instance keep the beer pump but also add a plaque i could turn into different products for branding. I found this really helpful so i decided to re do some of the drawings.

Development

Ive started drawing some of the elements for my final pieces, i focused more on the faces and shapes i am going to use within my pieces as i am using shapes and doing paper cut for the first time. I actually really like the drawings i have done, theyre quite simple but with the right papers and colours they could be quite effective.

I have also decided on my compositions for my final pieces. Being realistic, I have only decided on 3 2D pieces, 1 for each theory, just because of time and i wanted to give myself something doable for the deadline, accounting other deadlines we have in the meantime.

I feel like if we didnt have the deadlines so close each other i could definitely make something more adventurous, but i am excited to make the three ive decided on anyway as i am doing something i havent done before and i'm excited for the craft element to it.

Group Crit

Today we had a group Crit where i got the chance to talk about my work so far, in the crit unforetunately my tutor suggested to not create the 3D illustration as it will be time consuming and the emphesis should be on how we apply the illustrations to products. He also said that the beer theory behind Jack and Jill could be really interesting for a brand. Although devastated about the 3D illustration part, i came away really happy with the feedback i had and motivated to get cracking on some illustrations.

3D Paper Cut Illustration

After my contextual research my ambition is to create 1 3D paper cut illustration with a few 2D paper cut illustrations. Im not sure how i would actually achieve this, but i have read through processes of how to achieve it and it is usually with wires in a box, ive collected some shoe boxes with hope this is something i can create for my final pieces.

The only thing i am worrying about is the time involved, especially when it will be something i am doing for the first time.

Marie Antoinette

In class today, someone suggested for me to watch the Marie Antoinette film. I ended up watching it so i could have more of a picture of what the times were like back then and the reasonings behind the revolution. As i understand it, the French people didn't have a lot, whilst the King and Queen were throwing money away on ridiculous stuff. This could be quite interesting to use in my final pieces.

Jack & Jill

After all my research into the different theories behind nursery rhymes i am going to focus my research into Jack & Jill for my final pieces as there are more theories behind it than the others.

Nursery Rhyme Research

Theories behind Nursery Rhymes:

• Ring around the Rosy - Dates back to the great plague of London in 1665. The symptoms being A rosy red rash in the shape of a ring on the skin.
• Jack & Jill - Most popular explanation being that its about the beheading of King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette in the French Revolution. Also, King Charles decreased the half pint (jack) to a quarter pint (Jill) but kept the tax the same. Lastly, people believe it originated from Shakespeare as it is mentioned in his 'Midsummer Night's Dream'.
• Mary, Mary - Supposed to be about Queen Mary, who was notorious for torturing protestants.
• Baa Baa Black Sheep - Based on King Edward I imposition of taxes on the wool trade in 1272.
• Humpty Dumpty - Based around a cannon called Humpty Dumpty which was placed on a tower at St Mary-at-the-walls in the battle of Colchester in 1648 and the tower was blown up and the cannon could not be brought back up as it was buried in marshland.
• Jack Be Nimble - Based on how hard it was to catch pirates.
• Old Mother Hubbard - Based on Cardinal Wolsey, who failed to faciliate King Henry's divorce to Queen Katherine of Aragon.
• Rock a bye baby - Based on Native Americans who would suspend their children on branches and the wind would sway them to sleep.
• Three Blind Mice - Based on three loyalists who were protestant and plotted against Bloody Mary, they were burned at the stake.
• Georgie Porgie - Based om George Villiers, rumored to be the lover of Anne of Austria and then started dating King Charles I, and through him became very powerful, he was even knighted as 'Gentleman of the bed chamber'. Parliament ended the relationship.
• The Grand Old Duke Of York - Based on Richard, Duke of York who at the Battle of Wakefield marched his army from the top of the hill and then down and then back up, confusing his army which ended in him loosing the battle and his life.
• Jack Sprat - About King Charles I and Henrietta Maria when Charles declared war with Spain, parliament refused to finance the war so his wife imposed an illegal war tax after the king dissolved parliament.

Emma Van Leest

The thing i like the most about Emma Van Leest's work is the use of colour as well as the detailed paper cut. I think the use of two colours in her work, really makes it stand out. It almost looks like lace or wallpaper. I also like how the actual paper cut isn't in a set format and is different shapes.

Maude White

Maude White creates beautiful, intricate paper cuts which i love. I am unsure whether they are done by hand or by laser but either way the outcome is fantastic. A lot of time and effort must go in to each piece, which definitely pays off.

I would like to try some intricate paper put but maybe not as much as this as i think it would be pretty time consuming and would be really good on a big scale, if i enjoy this module, i would consider doing this for a bigger project in the future.

Dylan Graham

I really like how Dylan Graham uses lines in the background of some of his work, it adds something extra which i like, although used on maps, it still looks affective on other pieces.

I could experiment with this technique within my work as i really like it, although i am not sure whether it would fit within my chosen topic.

Elsa Mora

Elsa Mora's work is very eye catching, it seems to me to be very pretty and feminine. She uses a lot of intricate paper cut and does both 2D and 3D pieces. I definitely think that her stele is consistent throughout, which is very nice to see. I also think she bends and folds the paper to create some 3D effects.

Helen Musselwhite

Helen Musselwhite is my favourite paper cut illustrator i have seen so far. I love her use of simple shapes and colour palettes, along with different layers to create eye-catching 3D illustrations.

I am definitely going to try and achieve something like this when attempting paper cut, i think the different layer add a lot of depth to the illustration and add something you can't get from a painting or drawing. This is quite motivating to use this technique outside of this module. The only problem being the time it takes to create them.

Paper Panda

My tutor informed me of Paper Panda whilst i was discussing my topic. She's became really popular, with increasingly popular social media presence. Her paper cut illustrations are lovely, she also includes hand cut typography which is very intricate and professionally done.

I think her style of cutting away the negative space really works nicely and it something i will consider moving forward. I think her silhouette work is niece when there is different amounts of paper left, not just intricate lines like others.

Sangeeta Sandrasegar

I really like Sangeeta Sandrasegar's work as it is really detailed but different from others. She uses intricate paper cut along with separate bold bits within the work, which really pulls her work apart from others.

Beatrice Coron

When i saw Beatrice Coron's work in a book from the library, it really stood out for me because of the sheer detail in each piece. I also really liked how she uses silhouette in her pieces.

Su Blackwell

I have come across Su Blackwell's when i studied my foundation diploma. I am in awe of her talent to create these 3D models from books. After reading up on her process i found that she normally reads the book and then creates something inspired from the story. She doesn't like to reveal how she actually creates them as she said it would "ruin the magic", but I'm sure its quite a lengthy process, I'm guessing with wires for support and electrical elements for the lit pieces.

Yulia Brodskaya

I found out about Yulia Brodskaya when reading a paper craft book, she is really well known for her quilled illustrations. She makes both simple and details quilled illustrations. Quilling is a technique, were you coil stripes of different coloured paper around a quilling tool and then bend and shape the coils into different shapes. 

I would really like to try and experiment with this technique but i don't think it would be something i would use for my final piece as it would be pretty difficult and time consuming and i wouldn't be confident enough to learn something this difficult without having a lot of practice beforehand.

Allison Freund

Allison Freund creates 3D paper cut illustrations within boxes to create different layers, and then photographs them to make into children's books. Her style is very colourful and she uses a lot of simple shapes in her pieces.

I really like her technique, which is something i will consider when i approach this module as i think using the box like Allison Freud would be a good way to create something 3D, ready to photograph for other ranges of products.

Patrick Gannon

Patrick Gannon has more of a 2D paper cut style and adds more detail into the cutting of the paper, rather than multiple layers of different coloured card. He also has a Japanese style to his work, which i really quite liked, especially partnered with the amount of detail he has within the pieces. He also offers paper cutting courses (in Japan), which would be really interesting to see what his process is.

Although i like his work, i don't think i would use this style of paper cut in my work as it would be really time consuming and i like the affect that a 3D paper cut can give as it adds depth and it makes it look somewhat alive.

Jayme McGowan

I recently researched paper cut illustrators and came across Jayme McGowan, i really like the style of illustrations. I like the simple shapes and multiple layers of different coloured card to create detail, along with drawing/painting onto the paper.

This style of paper cut illustration is what i would like to achieve in this module. it is simple but really affective and pleasing on the eye.

Applied Illustration - Research Task

After our module briefing, we were split into groups and given a research task. In this task we had to choose three of the starting points given on the brief and then individually go off and do some initial research. We had to get contextual research and gather images, names and websites.

Our group chose:

- Publishing & Book Design
- Character & Narrative
- Object & Environment

I was quite happy with our choices as I didn't have many ideas of what i wanted to do for the brief so i was happy to research anything as i thought it might generate more ideas.

When we met back up into our groups, each table was assigned a starting point then we each had to place our printed research onto the table which it fits. After we wrote on big pieces of paper and were given different themes to write about them i.e. cultural, historical, technilogical, social & ethics. for each theme, we moved onto a different table, with a different starting point.

I found the exercise really helpful as i got a lot more ideas of where i could start with the project. I was really interested in the historical and cultural themes, which i will consider when deciding on things to do.

OUIL505 - Module Briefing

We have just been briefed on the new module we are about to start. The brief itself is very open, we have to choose one of the six starting points and then do literally anything we want. This seemed quite daunting at first because the possibilities are endless and sometimes having the ability to do anything makes me question every decision i have to make. We have spoken in the briefing about how one of the starting points could lead to something else, but at the moment, i like a few of them. I am considering, Publishing and Book Design, Editorial and reportage or children's book and education. 

Summative Evaluation

Over the course of the module I have developed a lot of varied skills that have become very useful to me and I am really excited about using again. I have developed skills in After Effects, were I normally find software like that very hard to grasp. I now feel very confident in using the software because of the workshops and personal use and I am already deciding to use it in other modules. I think my animated sting shows that I am confident using the software as I applied many various keyframes in my sting and I was able to correct a colour problem last minute before hand in. I have also gained skills from the various workshops we have had including storyboarding, I found this really helpful when planning my animation and how sound is very important and can totally change an animation.

I have also screen printed for the first time in this module, I found the induction really helpful but it wasn’t until I was in the print room for three days until I learnt how to do it all properly, from washing the screens, exposing to printing. I now feel confident enough to go into the printing room and screen print without any help. I now would like to create more intricate drawings for screen print as I think they would like really nice screen printed, especially after seeing other screen prints in the crit.

I have also developed more skills in Photoshop and InDesign as I have used both of these softwares in my project. These skills have helped me create negatives for screen printing, page layouts and general development for my work.

In this module I have used Screen Printing, mono printing and digital print. I initially was thinking about just mono printing as it is something I have done numerous times before hand and I felt confident using it although, through investigating the other methods of printing and learning the skills I needed to use them, I played around and it concluded in me using all three methods. I am really happy that through development and playing with different methods od image making I pushed myself into trying out new things that I haven’t used before, which is what I would like to push myself to do further along in the course.

A strength within this module have been my ability to use After Effects to the point where I feel very confident in using the software and now I aim to use these skills in my other modules. I have also pushed myself to learn new things in this brief and I have now got the initial skills to develop and progress in them, this also widens my opportunities for future work. I have also tried to steer away from thinking literally, I am now going to strive to work this way from now on.

A big weakness of mine is keeping up with blogging regularly, I tend to forget the evaluative process once its so far back and now I have realized that if you blog straight away, you can evaluate and comment on the work when it is fresh in your mind. Another weakness of mine is not playing about enough, I think I could improve on how much development I do and trying new methods, as I have found out in this brief that the times when I have done more and tried new things is when I have made a pivotal decision in my work.

Next time I would definitely do more development to go with my research, as it is were all my ideas get generated. I would also like to keep on top of my blogging so it doesn’t become a hindrance later on down the line and the posts will be a lot more useful and evaluative. I would also change the way I approach a brief, I think my biggest problem was at the beginning I was thinking too literally, which was the time I should be playing with media and drawing. I also would learn more about each process and software in my personal time, as I did need a lot of assistance at first, when I could have possibly learnt a lot by myself and trying things out. I would also Screen print earlier than I had, as I didn’t plan for last minute hiccups and when in the professional practice, this is something I would plan a head for deadlines.

Pivotal Moments In the Module

Project Proposals

New Animation

Oliver Sacks Sting 2 Colour from Alice Franklin on Vimeo.

After the crit yesterday and being really unsure about my sting with it being 4 colours, i decided to try my best to change it. I spent a while trying to work out how to change the colours on After Effects so i didn't have to remake the whole thing.

I changed the characters to all black on After Effects using the hue and saturation effect and then i changed the brain colour in Photoshop and saved it and it automatically changed in the animation.

I chose to colour the brains as it is my favourite bit of my Printed Pictures and it is quite pivotal to Oliver Sacks' work.

Overall, I'm really happy i have changed the sting as it now hits the brief and it puts my mind at ease, and it didn't take much time.

Final Crit

Today we had our sat crit before the deadline, we looked at all the stings and looked and commented on everyones work. It was really nice to see what everyone had been doing over the last few months and the stings were really good.

The only thing that i am a bit confused with is that my animation isn't two colours. I told Ben and Teresa about this before the crit, as i was worried that it wasn't going to hit the brief. After reading in the brief again, it doesn't state that it has to be 2 colours but to check i asked their opinion. Ben said it was okay as how he understood it, the Printed Pictures brief asks for two colours, which i have done, and the animation just has to have elements of the Printed Pictures in it. But Teresa said that a paying customer might not be happy with it and maybe the best thing to do is to change it to two colours to play it safe.

Im pretty unsure how to change the colours in After Effects without having to recreate the whole animation again but i will have a look and if i can change it as i don't want to not hit the brief as thats a really important part of being an Illustrator.

Digital Print - Final Pieces

Today i finally printed out my final pieces for this project. I had scanned in my screen prints and touched them up and arranged them on InDesign to take them into the print room. I had to make a few decisions on the arrangement so it would be more cost effective; as the prints were just a bit longer than A1 paper, at first i though a continuous, banner-like roll would be best but then i thought that if i printed them all on 1 A0 print then i could just cut them out and i would only have to pay for 1 print. So that is what i did and it worked out really well. I had put crop marks on the page in In Design but they were the wrong way around so once printed i marked it out with pencil and used a scalpel and a ruler to cut them out.

I am really happy with the way they look, although the colours have come out a bit darker than i had wanted. The orange glasses now look red and the lighter green is now dark. but Overall, they look good and even more so now i can see them for the first time in the right format.

Animation

Oliver Sacks Sting from Alice Franklin on Vimeo.

After Effects

I finished my animation today and i am really pleased with it, I had taken time getting all of my elements together, the music, the drawings and i wrote out the text for it as well. Overall, i think it looks really good, you can definitely see that it goes with my prints as it has all the elements of my screen prints and the mono print. It also goes to the music, i took a lot of care making sure that the pieces of the animation went to the music after we had the storyboarding session with Fred, as he pointed out what a difference it would make, and i think it does!

I kept it simple, like i wanted too and I really enjoyed the experience of making it. I have felt confident with After Effects as i tried hard in the sessions to take good notes as technology doesn't come very easily to me. After i finished, i actually realised that i quite enjoyed making it and it would be something i would look forward to using again, if i get the opportunity.

Storyboard for My Animation

I have done some storyboarding for my animation, its very limited as i knew i wasted to use all of the elements from my printed pictures part of the brief. I have gone for the last storyboard as i have thought about the frame and music to go with it.

I have decided to use classical music for my Animation as Oliver Sacks really liked Classical music and his favourite is Bach.

Screen Printing

After hours in the print room, i have finally printed all of my prints for my final pieces. I am really happy with how they have came out, especially the mono printed brain. Although, it was testing at times, as at some points i had problems with bleeding, as the exposed images on the screen were too close to the brackets on the frame, so after a lot of trial and error, i worked out that if it was too close to the bracket, i just needed to turn the screen around.

Overall, i am really happy with my experience screen printing, i did find parts difficult at first as it was my first time screen printing independently as the only other time i have done it was in the induction. But i have definitely learnt how to do it now and will feel very confident next time i do it. 

Next time i would really like to screen print some more intricate drawings as i think they would look really great.

Negatives for Screen Print

Today i made my negatives ready for screen printing. I decided that i wanted each element the size of A4, so one print would be the length of 3xA4, when i drew them out and put them together it ended up being a few inches longer than A1, which would make it impossible to print them all in one go. Because of this i made A4 negatives of each element and will print them individually. This also meant that i wouldn't have paper big enough.

I spoke to my tutors about this problem and we came up with the idea that i would screen print each part on A4 and then put them together on InDesign and print them digitally. I was quite disheartened by this as i really like how Screen Printing looks and when we went to Colours May Vary, they were telling us how they love screen printing and prefer it over digitals. But after thinking on it, just as much work, if not more, will go in to mine as i haven't just digitally printed, I will have screen printed and mono printed as well. Overall, i am quite pleased that i will be using all the printing methods that were mentioned in this brief, although it will probably be a lot more costly now i have to print digitally, and on bigger paper. I will either have to print on a roll of paper or somehow fit them all on to A0, so I can save on money.

Monoprints

I went to the print room today and had a play about with different materials and did some resistance printing, using different objects and fabrics to create patterns and textures. I really enjoyed it and i ended up with some interesting prints. I also did some brain prints, using a comb and cardboard to take away the ink before inking, i think i got some quite interesting prints from it.

I am now thinking that i might use the mono printed brain instead of making a collage. Although i think the collage would look good, i think if i scan in the brain print and invert it so i can make it into a negative, then it would look really nice screen printed.

Its taken me a while to decide whether i wanted to screen print or to mono print, as i really like mono printing and only done screen printing in the induction. But I have chosen screen print as for my designs, which are quite graphic, i thought the clean lines and the effect that screen print gives, would look really good for my designs. And now, i can incorporate mono print as well.

Progress Tutorial

I had my crit with Pete today, he hasn't seen any of my work before so i sent some time describing Oliver Sacks and what i have down with my work so far. He did have a few good pointers about my work that he thought i should try out:

- He told me to have a play with mono printing and maybe make the brain out of the mono prints by making a collage of some sort. And play around with textures to do this.

- He also liked where i was going with this but i needed to make a few more plans, especially with the bottom prints.

- He told me that i needed to organise my work. My visual journal definitely needs rearranging as i have filled it now and have been working on loose sheets and slotting them in but its now getting tot he point where i can't find anything.

I definitely agree with what Pete said in the tutorial and i am going to go to the print room and have a play about to see if i can make any interesting textures and patterns.