Time Management - City Brief

As the project has only a full week left,
and I am not close to finishing my final
piece, I decided to create a way to get
my time management in line. This is an
important part of any project, as it
makes you set yourself goals so you know
what to do and when. I find this very
helpful when I know I am short of time.

City In Watercolour - City Brief

 As just of bit of extra work, I decided to do some detailed watercolour paintings of the Bristol Cathedral and the Eiffel Tower in Paris. I then presented it on tea stained paper with the word 'City' in Chinese.

Stain Glass Window 2- City Brief

Once I finished the city stain glass window,
I decided that the sides were too plain. this
gave me the idea to do old and new, so I
printed a modern city picture and filled in the
boarder. This piece is an image of the city,
representing the old and the new.

Stain Glass Window Work - City Brief

From the visit to the cathedral,
I was inspired to create my own
stain glass window. Using acetate
 and glass paint, I did an old style
city in stain glass window style.
     Although this is not complete,
you can get the idea of what I
am trying to achieve.

Developing Ideas - Umbrella - City Brief

From the thumbnails I created last week,
I further developed my umbrella idea.
     I explored the different possibilities
of materials, different cities and mixing
it with another idea that I had.
    I am going to focus on this idea and
the can idea mixed together and think of
ways of incorporating the two.
   

Religion In The City - City Brief

 On Monday this week, we visited
 the cathedral.
With religion being a central piece
of the city as far back as we know,
 it was interesting to visit a cathedral
and see the city's history through the
stain glass windows and architecture.
     The stain glass windows gave me
 an idea towards my final piece, so I
found the visit very beneficial.
   

Thumbnails - City Brief

Today, I began to develop small ideas that could possibly be my final outcome. I came up with 3 ideas:
1) The Umbrella: This idea is more based on Bristol than the general city, there would be hot air balloons hanging off of the edge of the umbrella and I would stain glass window paint the umbrella itself, which will be brought clear.
2) Cans: For this idea, I would collect larger sized cans, and paint a different city and it's iconic landmarks.
3) Briefcase: For this idea, I was going to buy a briefcase, which is what I think of when I think of busy city mornings and fill it with the city. I could possibly record busy city noises and make them play when the briefcase opens, as well as a kind of pop up of the city.

Cathedral Visit - City Brief

  This Week we paid a visit to the Bristol Cathedral,
  this saw us studying the history that went into this       cathedral, and the influence of culture and society       today. I learned that the stain glass windows in this cathedral are actually made of the shattered glass that came from the cathedral that stood before, after it was bombed in the war. Stain glass windows are beautiful pieces of art that give us an insight not only to the city's history, but Christianity's, which is the soul religion of the UK and Britain.

Sketching The City - City Brief

Going out into the city and just sketching is a great way to look at the city and it's history from different perspectives. I have sketched and painted an image of the iconic Suspension Bridge, this is an old and historic icon of Bristol, past this you can see the modern city, this shows how the history of a city develops the modern buildings we have today.

Mind Map of the City - City Brief

For this brief it is important that we are constantly developing our ideas and thoughts on something like a mind map, so over the week I have been constantly adding words that I associate with the city, this will help me think of small ideas that I could develop into my final piece. It is always important to keep a mind map for each brief.

Using Photoshop

We chose an image from the internet, I used Banksy's famous piece of art showing a girl hugging a bomb.we then reduced the picture to a basic black and white stencil, and placed it onto a suitable background image. We then distorted the image to fit in with the perspective of the background and made the image transparent.

New Brief - The City

We have just began a new brief after finishing the Creative Self Portrait brief, this new brief is called 'The City'. This brief is a 7 week brief that will develop into an exciting personal project that will be based on an element of the city that interest us. Our response should include observational studies, but should also explore ideas about the cultural life in the city: the rich history peoples sense of identity, community, different religions, festivals and landmarks etc. that make up a complex city environment. 

           To begin our brief, we visited the Mshed, a Bristol history museum that explores places, people, transport, war, fashion, education and much more through time. 

Notan - Visual communication - Week 4

Today in Visual Communication, we explored Notan, a japanese design concept that involves the play and placement of light and dark. Notan translates as 'lightness-darkness' and is the balance of the two. Yin and Yang is an excellent example of Notan as it is a perfect balance of both light and dark. Above you can see I created 3 separate images of this art style. I created these using black and white paper, cutting designs out of the black and flipping it on to the white. i really enjoyed learning about and creating Notan, and will definitely use it in future.

Recording My Work - Creative Self Portrait - Week 4

Recording our work is a vital part of the course. Recording our work allows our teachers and assessors to understand the journey we took from start to finish. It is also a bonus if we can make it artistic, with cool patters or a wash of watercolour. Above you can see how I have recorded the development of my final creative self portrait.

Creating my Creative Self Portrait - Week 4

To begin my painting, I got a photograph of me in this position crouched around leaves and woods. I blew it up and photocopied it in colour, and took it to the light box where I traced it onto a piece of A2 cartridge paper, rather than the coat i was wearing i styled myself in an Alice in Wonderland style dress. I then began to paint it with acrylics at home, while in college i made cotton flowers that would later be placed on a wooded frame.



           


Once the painting was complete, I cut around the painting in a random pattern. Once I did this, I cut out a piece of would slightly bigger but the same shape. I then stuck it on using PVA glue and let it dry. Once dry, i thought about varnishing it before deciding not to as it was a risk to the painting itself.


     

Once I was happy with my work, I heated up the hot glue gun and stuck each individual flower I had made on to the visible wood.

I am very happy with my final piece, it took a lot of decisions, ideas and development. 

Visual Communication - Week 3

  In this lesson we began by shading a face purely out of shadow rather than line, I enjoyed this as it is something I have never tried before, and found I actually did okay with.

we also did a nose which is made up of forms we have worked with: A cylinder, a sphere and two partial spheres.

I did this using charcoal sticks, a material I really like doing sketching with.

  We then went on to explore the Golden Section. this is an                 important part of composition in art and has been used by 

many artists and even in ancient architecture. It is also

 found everywhere in nature, and even in the human

 body. It is known as the Fibbonacci Spiral. 

Creative Self Portrait - Tester Piece - Week 3

I decided on my final piece being the nature painting and decided to do a tester piece in acrylic. As you can see, I have styled myself in an Alice In Wonderland style dress. I am pleased with the outcome and decided I will go with this specific design as my final piece.

Visual Communication - Exploring Tone - Week 2

On the second week of visual communication, we explored tone and shading in shaped to create realistic drawings. We explored the tone in a sphere, a cylinder, a cone and a cube. We then created a drawing that would show the skills we had just learned. I chose a curved vase with ridges in the top, I also included perspective in the way I drew the shelf. I really felt i had learned a skill i did not have before this lesson.

Creative Self Portrait - New Idea - Week 2

I came up with the new idea of painting me surrounded by nature. I thought of this because although the puppet idea was creative, it wasn't me. so I came up with this as I really love nature and it's something that I find myself happy around it. I decided to go with the middle design as I like the vibrant colours and the idea of dressing myself in an Alice In Wonderland style dress. 

Creative Self Portrait - Artist Research - Week 2

This week I have been doing artist research to broaden my mind, creativity and development towards my self portrait. I chose to research Chuck close as he chooses to use both photo realistic techniques, and he warps his images in creative ways. I also chose to research Frida Kahlo as one of my portrait ideas is to paint me surrounded by nature. Frida Kahlo works nature into a lot of her paintings. 

Creative Self Portrait - Designs - Week 1

After researching artists well known for their self portraits such as Van Gogh, I began to develop designs as a rough idea for a final piece.
      The top left hand design, is one I decided that if carried through, I would do in watercolour, and rather than build up the picture with line, I would build it up with light and dark tone.
       The top right hand picture would be an acrylic painting of myself as a puppet, but rather than in cartoon style, or portraying myself in the style of a traditional puppet, it would be a realistic image of myself, I would have strings attached to my arms and legs, and a hand at the top of the page would be holding the strings.
     The bottom left hand image, would be a pencil crayon or watercolour painting of my eye. The top would be either happy or sad, the middle closed and the bottom again, either happy or sad. Each opened eye would have an image inside connected to the emotion. The final design (bottom, right) would be of myself half realistic, and half skull, this would be done in acrylic. From each of the four designs, I am undecided on which one I prefer.

Beginning our Visual Communication Brief - Week 1

As this is a separate brief, I decided not to mix the visual communication work up with my main sketchbook. This is why I decided to create a new sketchbook specifically for this work.
      As the aim of this project is to create a perfume bottle design, you can see I created 3 small watercolour drawings of perfume bottles in the middle of the cover, I also drew my hand in a few different positions at the bottom of the cover to show drawing from observation.
     Finally, I completed the title 'Visual Communication' with ripped pieces of paper and a light wash of pink watercolour.

We began the first task of naming formal elements in drawing such as:
Lines, tone, depth, texture, perspective and scale. We then focused on line and began to explore it's properties and potential.
     We found that it can create tone, and that the softness and hardness of it can be used for the basis of important elements in art such as calligraphy, depth and perspective.
                                         


We then explored how using lines in simple shapes such as circles can create form, and make it appear 3D, this is called contouring. I also created the image of a leaf and gave the image the appearance of curves using only light and dark lines.
     

          We then went on to draw a Mobius Strip                   using only lines to highlight it's shape and                   curves, rather than tone or shading.    
 


 
                                     

New Brief Task - Week 1

For this task, we had to create a list of words that are associated with us. Each word wasn't deeply thought about, but just words that popped into our heads, e.g. places, names of family, star signs or things you like. After completing the list, we made a creative mind map/collage of our list as you can see on the right. I completed both tasks, by using washes of watercolour, fine liner and felt tips.

Introduction To New Briefs.

For the next brief, we will be doing 3 separate briefs alongside together:

Creative self Portrait-

For this brief, we are working towards developing a creative self portrait. We will begin by researching and developing ideas through other artists. We will then begin to visualise some of our best ideas by sketching and developing them in our books, experimenting with different materials and media in order to reach a point we are happy with, so we can turn a development into an outcome.

Visual Communication-

This unit aims to develop our depth of our visual communication knowledge, skills and understanding. We are expected to study the many ways in which practitioners use visual imagery to communicate ideas, messages and meaning, and to apply the ideas in our own work. Throughout this brief, we must research into advertising and design aspects of the retail of perfume, to eventually design our own bottle, perfume name and logo, and to present these visually through an advert.

Computers in Art and Design-

For this unit we will be using photoshop to extend the artwork we create in our sketchbook. We will also be using Illustrator, in our graphic design project, creating logo, brand identities and packaging. We will also be using cinema 4D, which is a 3D modelling/animation software for our graphic design project.

End Of Week/Brief Log.

I particularly enjoyed working with lettering this week, using our creative skills to produce classic and fine art from our own imaginations. I felt that this week I really have learned a new skill, and new technique of presentation.
    We have now come to the end of our first brief which I have really enjoyed. I have also learned a lot such as techniques, visual recording and how to use different materials.
     Throughout this course, we have explored tone, line, scale, stylising, pattern, mono print, cubism and abstract art. To allow us to explore this brief further, we have explored other artist works and blogs along the way whose works are similar to the work we were doing at the time. These artists included: Dan Young, Jeff Koons, Ralph Steadman, Quentin Blake and also researching the Book of Kells.

Group Abstract Drawing!

For this small project, we were put into groups of 4, where we put 4 pieces of A1 paper together and drew a circle on it. We each had our own corner where we had to pick parts or a part of our sketchbook and draw it. We also had to try and blend it into each others. Mine is the top left hand corner with the clocks. I really enjoyed the teamwork involved in this project, I had a really good time and am looking forward to working in teams in the future. At the end of the day we all had to vote on the piece we thought was best and ours won!

End of Week Log.

I have really enjoyed this weeks theme of illustration. Not only being able to explore it ourselves, but to be able to see the work of other well known illustrators and cartoonists such as Quentin Blake, well known for his work with Roald Dahl, and Ralph Steadman, a famous cartoonist and illustrator.

Induction Project Week 3- Lettering

On the last day of the week, we did a page of lettering. I decided to to A-X (I didn't have enough room for Y and Z). Each letter was themed on something beginning with that letter. For this task I used watercolour, watercolour pencils and felt tips.

Induction Project Week 3 - Storyboard.

This is the completed storyboard of 'Lyra and the spider'. To do the pink in between, I used a mouth diffuser of blue and pink over a wire net. the pictures themselves I did with black ink and water to emphasise it against the pink strips in between, adding a small  element of pink in each picture.

Induction Project Week 3 - Storyboard Cover

For our next task, we had to design our character a story to develop them, I decided mine would be about Lyra meeting a spider whom at first she was scared of, but later found they liked each others company. I decided to do the cover in the style of quentin blake, using ink and a light watercolour wash. You can see the completed storyboard in the post above.

Induction Project Week 3- background

Throughout the day we created backgrounds for our characters using a wide range of different techniques, this is just one of my best that I chose to present. This one was completed in ink and watercolour. The others I created were done using materials such as: mono-print, stick and ink, water powder and mouth diffusers.

Induction Project Week 3- Cartoon and Illustration

Week 3 is based on illustration, so our first task was to design and develop a cartoon character based on our object. My character, Lyra Bulby (based around the word 'light bulb') is wearing my object and her head is the bump ontop. To emphasise the girly character, I decided to make the colour theme of her outfit pink. I did this task in watercolour and added a lampshade in the background as a relevant object. 

End Of Week Log.

I am really happy with the 3D work I produced in week 2. Working in 3D has allowed me to gain a more in depth understanding of my objects shape and hopefully allowing my work on the object to become more developed. I found that I really enjoyed working with the materials I used; such as clay, foamboard and wire.

Induction Project Week 2-Cubist Modelling 2

Continuing my cubist modelling, this is another piece I made. This model is an exaggeration of the small hole at the bottom of my lightbulb fitting. I produced this model using foamboard, dowel, wire and a hot glue gun. On completion, I found that my piece looked almost like a classical piano, and so I decided to decorate it with musical notes using wire. I very much enjoyed doing this task and look forward to more 3D modelling. 

Induction Project Week 2-Cubist Modelling

On Tuesday, we continued working in 3D. However, this time we built surrealism and cubism into our models. As you can see from the picture above, my model was the object from different viewpoints, but built into one. On a sideview (right), you can see a clear difference in the viewpoints of my model, however from a front view (left), you can see that the model doesn't look that different from the actual object. It took me a long time to come up with this idea, and the one in the post above, but I feel it has increased my creativity and understanding of my object.

Induction Project Week 2- Clay Modelling

This week we began working in 3D. On Monday we began working with clay to produce a sculpture of our object, as pictured on the left. I found this task challenging in terms of getting a smooth surface and keeping it looking real to life, but I found the challenge and outcome rewarding, in turn gaining a better and more in depth understanding of my object. We then did a clay relief of our object which i found easier. However I did find both tasks equally enjoyable. 

End Of Week Log.

I have found  week 1 really enjoyable and am now looking forward to developing and completing this project. The first week allowed me to fully understand and explore my object, which will hopefully allow me to produce better work as the weeks go on. I am happy with the work I have produced this week. I will continue to log my developing work as each week of this project unfolds.

Induction Project Week 1- Repeat Design

For the final project of the week, I drew my bulb fitting in it's simplest form. With this, using tracing paper, I repeated the design on a square piece of paper in an appropriate pattern. To contrast with the almost animated design of my object, I chose to add electrical bolts, which are also simple but jagged and straight lined. I also chose to keep the simplicity with just colouring the electric bolts. 

Induction Project Week 1- Group Drawing.

For this small project, myself and a large group sat around a table where began to draw our object with one of many colourful pens laid out on the table. After a given amount of time, and with the same pen, we moved on one space and began to work on the drawing. The same process continued until we just began to decorate and make the drawing more interesting. As the pictures began to develop, a unique mix of colour and style came to life. On returning to my space, I was far from disappointed. My drawing was a beautiful mix of everyone's individual colour and art style.

Induction Project - Light Bulb Fitting.

On the first day we were given a wrapped object. unaware of what the object was, we had to try and draw a mind map of what we could feel and what materials we thought it could be. After unwrapping it, we had to draw our object without being able to see our drawing, allowing us to explore, in depth, the object. This object will now be the basis to our induction project, which will be the first 4 weeks of this year. 

Introduction to Art and Design Level 3

This post is first and foremost an introduction and insight into the journey through my course of Art and Design Extended Diploma level 3. Throughout this blog I will be frequently posting my work and progress from initial ideas though to development, and finally to finished work.