Visual Language: Line Quality

5 pages of sketches

When sketching the 5 pages in relation to my chosen subject I drew them freely with no restrictions unlike todays task on line quality.

Experimentation with Lines

I produced 4 A2 sheets based on the quality of lines. Each sheet was represented a different shape, and each shape was created with a different tool/quality of medium. 

Things I used to change the quality of line included:Fine Liners, Different gradients of pencil, Different thicknesses of brushes, Brush pens, Calligraphy nibs, Pieces of card, Snapped/chipped ends of brushes, Marker pens.

                     

At the beginning of this process I didn't really see the point and I couldn't understand why it was important to experiment in line making, however once I began  creating these lines I found myself focusing on not only the shape anymore but the actual lines and structure that made up the shape. I began to consider how I could make them all different to each other which meant searching for different tools such as broken brushes or pieces of card.

What went well?

I think I was able to successfully use a range of tools to compare and explore different line qualities in the form of different shapes. I was also able to jump out of my comfort zone and learn that trying out new challenges actually enhances your way of thinking about your drawings more carefully.

How to...Bridge a Gap: Final Outcome

Final Poster

What could I improve on?

I am happy with the final outcome of my poster, however I do believe I could've done better. The main issue I came across was when it came to finishing off the poster and I was colouring the background in and unfortunately my marker stopped working, this meant I had to change colour slightly and the poster became bit patchy. Another thing I would like for my poster is for the images to be bit more separate from each other, however this was difficult to do given the amount of images which had to fit on there. I would also like the more white coloured drawings to be coloured more  as I feel like the poster looks a little un finished, maybe this is something I could re visit.

What went well? 

I do however really like the colour scheme which was something students picked up on whilst we lay our work down and had a look at everyones posters. I also like the majority of how the drawings turned out, I think the more simplistic ones work best. I like how busy the poster looks, there is not much free space but I think I've handled the composition well.

How to... Bridge a Gap: Experimentation and rough plans for poster

Within the last hour or so in class, we began to create some rough plans for the final outcome. This was very helpful as I wasn't even sure which 24 images I wanted to use out of the 100. I experimented with making a grid like composition where all of my images were the same shape and size and also just putting the drawings in random places making the different sizes in scale.

     Rough 1                                                                          Rough 2

Rough 3

Overall I decided that although I love the colour scheme in the first poster, it was a bit difficult to understand what was going on because all the drawings were falling into each other and merging into one. I think for my final poser I will be using the tiled composition as it looks neater and tidier.

With not using inks so frequently I decided to have a play about with the colour schemes for my cliff, which I decided would be repeated through out the poster. I found that I liked the pinks more as although they weren't realistic colours for a cliff they looked quite unusual and silly which I thought would go really well with my theme and humorous drawings. As the poster had to be in monochrome I decided pink would be a good idea because then I could introduce reds which means I would have a slightly wider colour palette to work with.

I carried on experimenting with a few of my chosen drawings in ink. I chose a more simplistic drawing to work with and then in comparison a slightly detailed drawing. This gave me the opportunity to see how I got on working in this medium with two completely different types of drawings before I got down to doing it on the final outcome. I found that when using ink the more simplistic drawings have the most successful outcomes.

After experimenting with a range of compositions I decided to pick my chosen images. I think the way I have picked the good ones from the bad is to consider how clear the illustration is, is it funny? can you clearly understand what is going on in it? I thought it was a good idea to start refining my chosen images so I re drew them out so I was prepared for drawing them out on my final poster.

something that also encouraged me to pick my images were the class when we had the chance to go around and look at each others work, if we liked an image we would put a tiny dot on it and write a little explanation on a sheet next to it. The ones with the most dots I definitely considered for the poster.

How to... Bridge a Gap: Idea bang

Idea Bang!

After the class had been given a 'how to problem', in preparation for our first brief, we carried out an Idea bang process which meant we had to generate 100 ideas on our problem, mine was 'How to Bridge a Gap'. This meant we could jot down ideas but initially we had to create 100 drawings based on our topic.

I think that at the begging I found this method quite difficult as I felt like I was put on the spot and I felt unhappy with my given topic however, as soon as I started drawing, more ideas came flooding out and I began to reach the 100 target and surprisingly I really started to love my topic.

I was worried that my ideas would be bit random as it was difficult to think of so many but I guess that was what the aim of the project was...to be creative. Some of my favourite and more successful drawings were the more humorous ones such as 'chain of dogs' and 'a baguette from greggs'.

Visual Language: Photoshop Task

Using Photoshop I manipulated a piece of work I had created in a previous session to create a number of different outcomes. It really made me realise the relationships between analogue and digital methods and how you can use both to create something completely unique and different in comparison to your original starting point.

what I was trying to achieve within these edits was that I wanted the piece to become real and alive - so the best way of doing this was to give the images  bright vibrant splashes of colour. 

I feel as if theres is A LOT more to learn with Photoshop and that I'm just coming to terms with the whole software but I definitely think that this is a good first step, and as always practice makes perfect!

Visual Language: Choosing a Visual Subject

In todays session before we started our Visual Skills task we briefly spoke about how we will be experimenting with our photoshop skills in which we would be choosing one black and white image we created during the observational drawing session to work with digitally. We were advised to scan it in and then produce five different photoshop treatments of that image.

A word that I found interesting in which I was unaware of the definition was 'Iteration' which defines as the repetition of a process. This is an analogy we can use for our sketchbooks. The class and I discussed that when working in our sketchbooks we should read it as an iteration, each piece we create in it doesn't have to be a work of art, it doesn't have to be finished, we need to understand that drawing things as we think and scribbling down ideas which are unfinished is fine, the page doesn't have to come to an end, the idea can continue through out the sketchbook if that is the case.

When sitting through the presentation in this session I picked up some artists in which I would like to research further, these included Keith Negley and Yelena Bryksenkova. I find their work so fascinating - the use of colours and basic shapes - perhaps something I would like to include in my own practice?

In todays session we were introduced to another task which included choosing a visual subject from list that we had been given. The subjects consisted of:

• Pirates
• Robots and Technology
• Indigenous Tribes
• Fun Fairs and the Circus
• Classic Horror Movies
• Punk Ska and Northern Soul 
• Deep Sea Diving and the Coral reef
• Mythical beasts
• Trees, flowers, plants and leaves
• Mountains, volcanos and geology
• American wrestling 
• Sheds, Treehouse and Lodges

After we had chosen our subject we had to research it and look for good reference material. I first of all chose the subject of trees, flowers, plants and leaves and went to the library to collect my research.  However, after realising that I had done a lot of plant drawing I decided against this subject as we were advised that we should pick a subject that we think we wouldn't get bored of, as we were going to be studying the subject of 6 weeks. So then I decided to go for the Circus and fun fair theme as it was something different and it would most likely make me step out of my comfort zone as I was used to drawing and sketching natural forms.

In todays session I hadn't done much drawing due to the fact I had changed my subject, however with the use of the internet I came up with some rough drawings with inspiration from Pinterest and google. I began to look at different characteristics of clowns and freely drew a number of sketches which lead me to my first page of my sketchbook, the aim is to create six pages in total.

Visual Language: Observational drawing: Look, Think and Draw.

     27.9.2016

Look think and draw

Within the observational drawing task we were given 10 subjects to study, this included: 

I find that with observational drawing I really enjoy putting time and effort into my drawings, however this means I am able to get a bit trapped within the piece of work and sometimes get slightly carried away. Whilst the drawings can look really nice with ranges of tones and definition, it tends to be very time consuming. So from this task I have learnt that observational drawings don't have to be so full on, its good to be able to sit in front of something and literally just briefly draw it whether that be just a few scribbles or rough line work.

I really like the outcomes of the two illustrations above (Pineapple and the hand), mainly because of the amount of detail that has gone into it. It was nice to revisit drawing from observation purely because I haven't done it in so long and it is nice to surprise yourself in what you you are capable of doing. I enjoyed drawing with this amount of detail as it was a little reminder myself to show that if i push myself I am able to produce some really nice outcomes and pieces of work. I don't intend working with this method constantly as it is extremely time consuming and I would also like to simplify my drawings and experiment with more line work in my drawings.

I really like the simplicity of the line work in this drawing above. Although the lines are so simple and tidy there are also elements of detail which I really like including in elements of my drawings.

4.10.2016

Drawing from observation

The following week we had a similar session based on observation, except this session we were tested on how much we rely on using reference. Our first task was to step out of the studio and choose an image we liked on the wall, from there we had a few minutes to memorise the image and then when we were ready we could go back into the studio and draw what we saw (in ink). Quite clearly the first drawing wasn't as good as the second which wasn't as good as the third and it was really interesting to see how much more information you take in when you revisit the image and you gradually see the image become more refined in the drawings as they go along. I found that each time i revisited the image i found something i hadn't previously picked out and i was able to include it in my next drawing. The final time we drew the image was different as we were able to draw from reference as the image was able to be in front of us. It was no surprise to me that this was my most visually appealing piece of work as I know that I feel more comfortable when drawing from observation however this task has definitely improved my skills in drawing from memory as you can see from my work a noticeable difference throughout all of the drawings.

   

Our next task involved a plant in which we had brought in, and similar to the previous task we had to draw it from observation using ink. Ink was something I wasn't familiar with so this appeared to be slightly challenging to me as I had to get used to using a brush in replacement to my pen or pencil, which in fact I got used to really quick and I enjoy working in this medium. With our plant in front of us we painted various pieces of work and when working in a similar style throughout the paintings we were urged to make them different whether that was working with negative spaces or just doing the opposite to what you were doing in the previous drawings.

                                     

Once we had finished our drawings the class and I completely covered the studio by sticking them all over the walls which made the studio look absolutely incredible. It was lovely to have the chance to see everyones pieces of work and give them a bit of feedback. I took some pictures of some of the work produced by other students in which I really liked.

The one thing I loved most when walking around the studio was to see the huge variation of working styles and techniques, no drawing was identical. I really like the use of line work and detail in the first two illustrations I picked out, they were the ones that stood out most to me. The dark black lines really contrast with the light grey washed out colour on the plant pot and leaves which really provide the plant with expression. The third drawing I picked out was the simple black silhouette of the plant.  The heavy dark shapes do not at all look forced, they in fact appear extremely neat and clear and describe the plant very well.