Tuesday 16 December 2014

Evaluation


In the project, “Am I an animal or a building”, the research I did was all secondary as it was found on the internet. I researched the artwork and inspirations of Peter Clark to use for inspiration in my own work via the internet and various videos in class. I also researched the characteristics and selected/printed pictures of my animal, a two toed sloth.

Peter Clark influenced my final 3D piece with the idea to collage it using random clippings of magazines, newspapers etc. I produced a research sheet, consisting of pictures printed from the internet and my own drawings, to familiarise myself with his style.

For the first mood board I put together various drawings that I felt were part of my life/me, eg. Lyrics, music artists I find inspiration from, characters from films/TV, comics, etc. For the second I drew pictures of the animal I chose. The third consisted of printed pictures of Peter Clarks drawings and the last a large collage of my animal.

In this project I experimented with different inks for background and used different media such as watercolour paints, pencil, oil pastel and coloured pencil.

The main material used was A2 paper of which was used for the boards and other materials such as paper from magazines, printed pictures and cardboard for the final piece. The main technique I used was stretching the boards with paper and gumstrip (before wetting) and the processes involved were tonal shading on the myself board,  blending in the collage and others, painting and crosshatching on the myself.

I had to be careful when cutting the pictures and gumstrip as the best way to do it was with a knife; of which can obviously dangerous. A cutting board was used to prevent damage to the table.

My strengths were found when attempting my own style for example in the myself mood board where I could attempt comic style when drawing the joker and batman, aswell as highly detailed studies including Alex DeLarge from A Clockwork Orange and Frank the rabbit from Donnie Darko. This was also shown in the animal board where I copied, in great detail, pictures of two toed sloths of which portrayed realistic and detailed fur/skin of the animal.

If I were to do the project again I would chose a different artist. Although I like some of peter Clark’s work I found it hard to replicate his complicated style and have little interest in collage work. I would choose an artist who is relevant to me and how I want to develop my own style and maybe someone who has already influenced me in the past/interests me.

 I found that the collage went well, the colours I chose were effective and interesting and the picture actually resembled my chosen animal.

I could have improved on my first board by allowing more space for more drawings and the Peter Clark mood board could have included more drawings by me.

I  feel I managed my time quite well

Friday 31 October 2014

Observational Drawing & Mark-Making Project Evaluation

In this project I have learned a few mark-making techniques; most of which are new to me like sgraffito, continuous line and single lines. The drawing techniques I have learned were all familiar to me before college such as using coloured pencil on a black background, line drawing, colourless, detailed, sketching and painting with acrylics and using oil/soft pastels.

Media was used greatly in the mood boards project, cameras were used to take pictures of objects in the workshops and uploaded to laptops from which we would copy them onto paper. I have often used Pinterest and other websites to explore different drawing and mark making techniques also.

The four studies on different backgrounds, I think, are quite effective; the colour pencil on black card and newspaper is the most detailed and interesting due to the switch between black and white, the coloured pencil on inks is effective how it contrasts the colours with detail in the objects and background.The coloured pencil on white emulsion is effective because of the different directions and shapes of the strokes used of which also creates a good texture for the drawings. The bleach on brusho inks

When the sgraffito drawing was finished, I found that the different colours merged and flowed very well when scratched away of which was very effective, this I was skeptical of before I started scratching. Another way the drawing is effective is how the details are very intricate and the block colours are bold, there is a good contrast that works between them.

The homework studies I think were successful, I spent at least 3 hours on each and all turned out as good as I expected. In some ways they could be improved, for example the clothes pile could have included more detail and could have been bigger, and maybe they would be better if I challenged myself more.

I don't think I have improved my observational drawing skills because in some cases I felt the need to rush and most objects I have copied and drawn so far have been uninteresting ( in my opinion ). However, I feel that my observational drawing skills are already quite experienced and I don't think there is much in which I can improve.

Time management in the project wasn't amazing, but that particular factor of working is what I often need to concentrate on. I think that although I tried to speed up in some cases it had a negative effect in my drawing and when I work at my own pace I can always expect better results. Overall the time management was good considering I didn't have a massive amount to complete at home but I could have been quicker to help make time for improvements in some pieces and complete other with better quality.

Within the time frame I feel I have produced good drawing and mark making outcomes but there wasn't enough time on some pieces to allow me to finish them to the best outcome.

Other drawing techniques I would like to explore include sketching and surrealism to better my understanding of perspectives. I would also like to try comic style/cartoon techniques.

Overall, this project has challenged me, mostly because my interests were not in the drawings I was doing and I have often been uninterested by the things we have drawn/copied throughout. Some parts
 of the project, such as the sgraffito, I enjoyed, and have learned some new skills in the process. I
know that if something is boring it shouldn't be an excuse for me to not try, so I have the best I can.

Thursday 16 October 2014

Signs

Here are some of the signs I used as inspiration. They were taken by me around the workshops; I tried to include as many varied versions to link them to the different workshops, i.e. textiles, 3D, fine metal, fine art











Mood Boards

Here are the two mood boards fully completed. Around three weeks were spent on both
TEXTILES This is the best of my mood boards (in my opinion) because it features a greater attempt of surrealism, of which I was trying to achieve for both, and greater detail in the objects I copied. The background colours however are not as fitting as they could be.
3D WORKSHOP The objects I chose to copy are partly to blame why this board didn't go as planned. The detail was hard to replicate and lack of ideas for twists and arrangement at the time contributed to it looking worse. The centre wooden figure is the most detailed and the background is much better than the previous.
3D DESIGN PLANNING Here I have sketched and produced rough ideas to use for my 3D project. The far right image is the best in my opinion and will keep me interested the most if I were to produce it as a 3D model.