Thursday 28 April 2011

Tuesday 26 April 2011

Layout Research

Some of my research into space layouts, some quite loud and colourful like what I want to achieve in my music design.

Staging Space













Monday 18 April 2011

I Wish I'd Done This

 "You know the moment when you fall in love with a piece of work, that dizzy mixture of wonder, respect and, "damn them!", creative envy." Varoom magazine.


Title: "merry merry merry"
Size: 220 × 210mm

By Yoko Hasawama, a Japanese collage-Illustrator. I first found her work in a book from my class which led me to research her, she wasn’t that easy to find as her links are all in Japanese so I didn’t know what to search, I later came her blog titled ‘mon parfume et le petit bijou’, which is French for ‘my perfume and gem’ which I think is so sweet and fitting for Hasawama’s style.
 
I really wish I could call this charming image my own, although I wish I could put my name to everything that Hasawama has produced I would settle for getting my hands on her collection of lace, sequins, beads and all things that sparkle!



Through researching this image, I have come across a few variations, not sure yet which is the original but (Image 1) is from her blog, dating back to May 2008 and the other (Image 2) from her website.
 
Image 1

Image 2

…….but the image I have chosen as my ultimate wish has to be the pink version, it was commissioned for the January issue of the ‘ふれ愛magazine’ (‘Love Touch Magazine’).


To create this image Hasawama used: antique lace, beads, accessories, Victorian silk fabric, kimono fabric, tickets, sequins, French perfume labels and to make the three-dimensional look, the horses and swan are applied to styrene board, and the background is done with acrylic pink glitter and pearl.


The fascinating quality makes it my favourite piece from Hasawama’s collection. Delicate lace and nimble placement create a magical carousel scene to envy. Hasawama uses bold shapes with lace to represent the innocence of a carousel ride. A strong textile collection is evident here as the carefully selected lace along with the fabric come to life. The three dimensional view creates movement within the carousel and leads me to imagine carousel music. 

This piece has a great hand-made quality that brings me warmth and appreciation. I admire the well thought out structure, the shape being off-center and at an angle in the layout gives a dizzy and magical feel, which relates back to childhood and to the relationship of trust and willing you have with such magical games. 

The pink, although wouldn't be my first choice, works! and looking at the other variations I am not sure it could work as well in any other colour. The gold is the only colour I could think that could come close but it gives a feeling of wealth, which is associated with adult life so takes away from the innocence, so I feel the pink, in all its shades with a hint of gold detailing fits it well.

From the shooting stars that frame the image to the smallest detail in the bottom right corner, a lot of attention and detail can be taken for granted in this piece but the more I study the image the more I discover and I loose myself in the detail. This image has taught me to be patient in my work, to collage carefully with precision, never to make do but to seek out the missing piece.

It has inspired me to put more effort into collecting and archiving my textures and found elements, so I will always be prepared. I wish to collect more lace and introduce it more to my work, as shown in Hasawama’s piece the lace gives such a delicate effect and further depth.

1.2.3 -Pablo Picasso

1. "Bad artists copy. Good artists steal."
I think this quote from Picasso relates to me the most, as most of my work is taking a turn for the collage route were I find small sections from others art, whether is photography, patterns ect and use it to represent just what I am looking for, I either reproduce it to a similar standard or take a small section from it and turn it into something new- never use element as my own. Another way that I look at this quote is that ideas have to stem from something, they then snowball into a different idea but that initial inspiration isn't stealing, I am merely copying it and moving it forward.


2. "Every child is an artist. The problem is how
     to remain an artist once we grow up."
This is one of my favourite quotes, Picasso had an interest for the playfulness and lack of rules children have to creating art, I also have an interest in this, the way children draw like they know exactly what they want to image to look like, resembling nothing of the object in front of them but shows exactly how they wish to see it, art like that cannot be taught, we are taught to draw what we see and what looks visually pleasing on the eye, not what we truly see.


3. "I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it. "
This quote to me is the most meaningful, I feel you should thrive on pushing your limits, within art you shouldn't stick to a technique that you find easy and less time consuming, the art where you test yourself and go outside your comfort zone is the most rewarding, this quote can be put to all aspects in life, so is a real life lesson.

1.2.3 -Personal Advice

To Me:
1. Play!
        See your style as being relaxed and fun so aim for that when given a brief, stress head 
        is no longer your style.

2. Collect, Collect, Collect
        Store, collect, record everything -this will be your library, this will be your art.

3. Confidence
        Nobody else will believe if you don't!

Monday 11 April 2011

Nate Williams

I have known about Nate Williams for the past 3 years now, I always refer to his work for inspiration or just to get me mentally in the creative mood.



 I will study his characters to help crate my own 'James' character for James and the Giant Peach, I look closely at the features, the empty space to the face, and the shapes that build the figure. I enjoy the freedom to them, the loose-ness of the shapes, yet they are still beautiful crafted shapes- no sloppy edges.




 The overload of detail in his work is fascinating, the added accessories work well with the colour to balance the image.

Wednesday 6 April 2011

Music

For the Music live brief I have choosen to team up with Lisa Rockall, and from much consideration we decided to theme the deisng around the song Eple - Royskopp.
Here are some styles I am are thinking of:




Friday 1 April 2011

Editorial Development

For this brief I was asked to choose a newspaper article to illustrate it to a given layout.
I choose and article about game shows being like a child's toy played by adults.
I decided to base it on a child's toy car (the red and yellow one we all owned in childhood) and to exaggerate an adult using it, my chosen media will be paper collage and to concentrate on shapes.
These are my current development stages: