Tribal Masks

 I used a mixture of oil pastel and chalk to create these pieces of work.

The overlapped drawings create a really interesting composition, multiple exposure vibes. The repetitive face creates a real eerie atmosphere, I like how it has merged into a pattern.

Tribes - Further Development and experimentation

The expressive splash effect works so well with this painting. Although the proportions of the face are inaccurate, I feel it it weirdly works and creates a somewhat eerie atmosphere.

Visual subject - Tribes

For this task I chose the visual subject of tribes. I thought this subject would be really interesting to explore with the shapes colour and interesting masks involved. I wanted to visually show my own interpretation from photographs. I went to the library and took out a few books to give me some first hand sources for my observational studies. I wanted to really explore materials as well has technique and process. I quite like the idea of repeating a subject again and again using different techniques and processes as it creates alternative perspectives and conveys different types of emotions.

I really like the sense of movement on my page. I like the repetition and prominent use of brushstrokes. This contrasts well with the more refined minimalist drawing. I really like the amount of life on the page with so many different techniques and materials. I have really experimented with materials and I think this is evidently successful.  The ones I think are most successful are the more simple designs with more of a free flowing structure. I think the sense of movement creates a really interesting dimension and interpretation - huge contrast to the original photograph.

Future plans - increase the scale and start to look at tribal masks experimenting with bold colours.

Look, Think, Draw

For this task, the aim was to focus on the beauty of observational drawing. We went out into the city and drew a series of relatively rough drawings, capturing the essence of the subject through a series of different categories.

 I experimented with a variety of materials and various techniques to show a sense of movement within my drawings, as well as a refined sense of detail and tonal value. I really liked the freedom to experiment and make some quick sketches surrounding me. I like the combinations of shapes and structures presented on my page. 

Brief 1 - How to Hide - Typology poster

For our first task, we have to create a 'how to...' typology poster in monochrome. We were given a problem and had to come up with 100 solution drawings. From these drawings we then have to pick our top 24 and use these in our poster design. I was given the problem 'How to hide'. I initially started thinking about ways in which you can physically hide yourself using hands, masks, etc. I then moved onto people hiding in  different kinds of objects. I wanted to explore as many aspects of my theme as possible so I could then refine my strongest ideas and select a sub theme for my final poster. 

Here are a few of my simple drawings from my A2 design sheets. I particularly like the idea of morphing people into objects, focusing on the simple aspect not over complicating the composition. I want to have a prominent style throughout my poster, perhaps using black white and one other colour.

To develop my ideas further I will now experiment with shades of colour both within the tonal structures of the design and as a background - using different coloured paper seeing what the designs look like on alternative paper to white. I will also experiment with different pens. I also need to figure out how the layout of my poster is going to be presented. Do I want it more structured or scattered around the page to create more of a flowing nature, each shape corresponding nicely with one another?

 

I had a really useful feedback session which I learnt a lot from. Majority of comments were about my particular style of work - the repetitive use of visual techniques works really well throughout. They particularly liked the character design - the same design in each drawing. What they questioned was colour. What would happen if I started to introduce shades of colour?

I started with adding colour to the darker parts of the drawing but I felt it was too subtle and the colour wasn't easily recognisable. I had an idea to colour each drawing with a different colour pen over the top of the black outline. I felt like this perhaps was too chaotic and quite messy with a lot going on, taking away the beauty of the drawings, making your eyes jump around the poster with no particular focus point. I think a coloured background works really well as it draws closer attention to the the white shape, making it literally come out the page. I then thought of drawing onto different coloured paper then adding bits of white used as subtle highlights. I think the white really brings the drawing to life. A darker shade of paper doesn't work as well because the black isn't easily visible and the white properly stands out. I was thinking more of a lighter orange as orange is too dark and with yellow the white doesn't show up as much. Also the lighter colour fits in well with my child genre.
Another option is a grey piece of card which would create a really nice gradation tone (middle
colour) with white and black. I also like the monotone effect as it's not lenient to any particular sex.

Final Poster

Feedback - People really liked my choice of paper as the white highlights really make the poster come to life and you are instantly drawn to each drawing. I decided to have more of a flowing structure with some drawings bigger than others to create focal points for my strongest ideas. The clock and bulb for example, both voted for by my peers as my strongest so I not only decided to have them relatively big, but I placed them closest to the centre of the paper.

Observational Drawings

Visual Language

Visual language is about image making with no context. Its about drawing to play, think and ask questions. It is about the construction of a piece of work, how they have made it and the key techniques used in the process. I aim to experiment with a wide variety of materials and techniques.

Observational drawing forms a strong relationship between viewer and subject matter. It enables the viewer to intensely analyse and get a greater understanding of the visual language presented.

Drawing from reference is also value because it enables you to interpret your own style on the piece. It is also easier to access.

For our fast task we had to analyse a photograph for 5 minutes, fully absorbing the structure of the image taking in as much visual language as possible. We then went into another room and tried to memorise the image and draw it. We repeated this process.  

We were restricted to ink and brush which gave us freedom of expression. I liked how the task allowed us to make our own interpretation of the photograph and not just replicating it into a drawing (making a detailed copy).

What I really like about my 4 drawings is the clear progression and improvement from my initial drawing. As you can see as my drawings developed, I started to become more and more comfortable with adding tonal values and more aspects of  the composition.

After this, I used a plant which i bought in as my subject matter. From this, using only black ink and a brush I started to experiment with different techniques to create multiple varieties from close observation.

So here are my 8 experiments of one plant. I wanted to capture the essence of the plant by using a large brush with simple free flowing brush strokes. This gave a whole new take on the plant and showed a completely new interpretation. I experimented with framing certain parts of a plant to show a whole new dimension.

I decided to walk around the room and pick out other peoples work which I felt showed a great deal of skill and success. Although this one is considerably small in reality, I just thought they really capture the significance and beauty of the plant. You can tell this is a framed image, zoomed in to show an alternative aspect of the plant. I really like the detailed analysis through tonal values and fluid structure.  

This one I find incredible interesting. I love that splattered effect and think the subtle expressive freedom at which the person has attacked this makes it even more successful. It creates a whole new perspective on the plant with firework connotations perhaps. 

With these two pieces of art, I particularly like the simplified block nature and expressive freedom. I feel like the more freedom put into a piece of art the more interesting the outcome is because it creates alternative structures and therefore emotions. Both the negative and positive images convey a sense of minimalism, The simplified image gives a stencil like composition something which would be interesting to pursue, adding colour to create another dimension.