Photoshop; Tablet Experiments

During a photoshop workshop this week we were given access to the Wacom tablets for the first time. Although I own a tablet myself I found working on these ones much easier, control wise, due to their larger size. These are just two examples of me playing around with different textured brushes, while using some of the shortcuts I picked up during our photoshop workshops. I found that using the '[' and ']' keys were really useful in changing brush size quickly ad easily without having to move your pen from the image to click on the brush settings and change the size that way. 

Visual Language; Sketchbook Line Drawings

 

This week I felt myself becoming really involved in my theme and subject matter, I did a lot of research into New York in the 1980s and specifically into the crack epidemic that was sweeping the city at the time. I printed out numerous photographs that had been during this time period to get a better visual understanding of the place. Working with line and figure was something that I really enjoyed doing. I found also that through repeating an image, each time I drew it again I got more from it. I get a better understanding of not just how the image worked proportional and compositionally, but I felt as though I got a better understanding of character. Of how I could use the image to my own means and ends, adding text, making the character sadder or grumpier to reflect the overall misery and pessimism of the environment these people had been living in.

Photoshop Workshop; Conclusion

Although I've used photoshop frequently in the past, over the course of the two week's worth of photoshop workshops, I've been reminded and even learnt a few new tricks and shortcuts to use while using photoshop to enhance my images even further. From the initial ink illustration, I have produced five alterations showcasing a few of the techniques I've learnt during these workshops focusing on; monochrome and levels, colour and texture overlay. 

 

Visual Language: Sketchbook Seminar (Line)

• "Have always the courage to draw it yourself." - Andrew Loomis, 1947

Functions of line:

• To convey it's own intrinsic beauty
• To divide or limit an area or space
• To delineate a thought or symbol
• To define edge by form or contour
• To catch and direct the eye over a given course
• To produce a grey or tonal gradation
• To create design or arrangement

GESTURE, CONTROL, SPEED, TOOL, PRESSURE AND MEDIA ALL IMPORTANT THINGS TO CONSIDER WHEN THINKING ABOUT AND USING LINE

Possible artists to reference for different approaches and techniques in using line:

• JulieVerhoeven
• Matt Boismier
• David Hockney
• Ping Zhu
• Lucinda Rodgers
• Raymond Petibon
• Ceri Amphlett
• Jonthan Edwards
• Tina Berning
• Picasso
• James Jarvis
• Sam Vanallemeersch
• Jon Boam

Take a book out of the library to do with drawing/line of some sort. Dip in and out of it throughout the week.

Visual Language; Sketchbook Pages NYC

In preparation for creating a minimum of four sketchbook pages in relation to my chosen theme (New York in the 1980s) I conducted a little bit of research into what what going on around that time and what the general feel of New York was like. I found it to be very much a time of the rich were rich and the poor were poor. The lower classes lived in suburban anti-cultures, immersed in a world of crime, drugs and deprivation, while the higher class bathed in their wealth; faking ignorance to the underground world living outside of their doorway. It was very much a time of gritty, dirty imperfection, and that aesthetic was something I was very interesting in conveying through my sketchbook pages. I've always been a strong believer in not being precious with a sketchbook. IF you start to worry about each page or drawing being perfect and beautiful, you're sketchbook will become lifeless, un-experimental and dangerously dull. I believe a sketchbook should be somewhere to make mistakes, make bad drawings, make messy drawings, make whatever drawings you feel like making. And this idea of a tainted and imperfect New York city seemed to fit ideally with how I wanted to start my sketchbook.

'Initially' Studio Brief 1; Week 3 (Evaluation and Self Reflection)

I found that throughout working on this brief I encountered a few issues and problems that I have learnt from and will take the solutions through with me to the next brief. The initial task of producing 260 drawings within a week that each had been carefully thought through with a specific theme behind them was rather overwhelming to start with. I did find, however, that once I got the straight forward and obvious ideas out of the way and began working on themes that were less conventional or a little quirky I began to really enjoy constructing the alphabets as little rough themes. It was a lot easier to work on a theme by planning it out before hand (making an A-Z list) and then working from both that and reference material to create original scamps. And by tackling each theme one at a time it was easier to immerse myself in the idea and come up with creative alternatives and variations for each letter.

While I did plan out the composition for my final piece I feel as though it didn't turn out how I would have liked it to. The illustrations seemed in places too close and in others too far away from one another. The negative space was a little overwhelming and I don't feel as though they did the illustrations any favours, I feel as though a border would also have helped the poster come together as a whole. After looking at some of my peers work as well, I found the posters I felt most drawn to were those done in monochromes other than blacks/greys. Peers who had completed their posters in hues of blue or purple ect, seemed to have more interesting work that really stood out against the white background. For monochrome in the future perhaps I should play with different colours and shades other than the obvious.

'Initially' Studio Brief 1; Week 2

At the start of week 2 we had a small group crit/review of our initial illustrated ideas to get feedback from new, fresh points of view as to which of our themes were working well and which ones were less engaging. Having others go through your work while you're unable to discuss or explain it in depth, although difficult, I felt worked very well in being able to self assess which themes were working best; which themes were communicating the ideas and getting an emotional reaction from the viewers (in this case my peers).

After this review, I chose to pursue and develop my idea of 'wishes' as that was the theme that people seemed to be most excited about and interested in seeing it developed further. I undertook a few media experimentations to see which worked best for the sorts of illustrations I wanted to do. If there were any images that I still wasn't happy with I also tried to re-draw and re-work them until I was happy with the final outcome. Once most of the images were planned, I drew out a basic compositional idea for where each letter would fit on the page. I then took a photo of this compositional image, inputted it to photoshop, and played around with scale and the images whereabouts until I was happy with the final composition. The last thing I did before starting the final piece was to very roughly plan out scale on a spare piece of A1 paper, so that I had some sort of idea as to how large/small each of my illustrations would have to be to make the composition I had planned out work. Obviously scaling up from an A4/A3 layout sheet to A1 required a bit of thinking in terms of the scale of each image.

'Initially' Studio Brief 1; Week 1

Brief outlines: Produce an A-Z poster of yourself, in monochrome, must contain 26 pieces of work, no typography/words, A1 portrait dimension.

I began this brief by writing down some initial ideas for potential themes I could explore, to see whether they contained enough scope for subject matter and ideas. Some of these initial ideas such as animals and movies, I felt were too obvious, and as I started drawing out ideas it became apparent that the ideas I felt most drawn towards were the less conventional and more original ones. One of my small sketches of a cat that was particularly full of expression lead me onto the idea of drawing breeds of cats illustrated through the name of their breeds as much as their physical attributes. I also found that through drawing my ideas out I was very quickly able to gage as to whether or not they would work as a poster. Some ideas I had initially written off as boring or lacking in depth actually pushed me to become more inventive to make the illustrations more interesting. For example the theme of crystals could have been simply beautiful stylised images of different types of crystals, but given the monotonal nature of the brief I felt as though they would lack a lot of their impact as most of the crystals I looked into had vibrant colours that I wouldn't be able to replicate. This obstacle forced me to look at new ways of making the illustrations more interesting. I eventually chose to look at the attributes and characters often associated with each of the crystals and input them into the design of the illustration. For other themes such as my A-Z of wishes, I re-drew many of the initial sketches I made for particular letters until I found one that worked best. This process of elimination and self reflection allowed me choose the best illustration for the theme.

Photoshop Workshop 2: Inputting Texture

 Inputting texture

Using the File>Place Embedded tool I inputted some textures that I scanned in for this brief. Then using a variation of filter effects on the layers I overlaid them, cut them, segmented and selected them to fit in with my colour edited illustration. 

Imputed notebook texture with Soft Light layer effect

Divide filter used

Overlay filter used

Selected specific parts of the image to apply texture to

Imputed secondary texture, edited and overlaid with the rest of the image. Slight alternations made in the colour of text and lines across the image.

Photoshop Workshop 2; Colour and Selection

Photoshop Workshop 2

Colour & Selection tool

Going through photoshop today we used various tools to select appropriate segments of our images to fill with colour. Layer effects such as Multiply and Screen also came into play today with the layering of colour and gradients over the initial black and white imagery.  

Coloured freehand with mouse using a solid brush

Using two colours with a soft brush in Screen mode

Same as above but with increased contrast and darkened colour

Began layering up block colours with original image on Multiply 

Development of layering and addition of text

Visual Language: Sketchbook seminar (notes)

Most valuable tool

"Without generating a deep and genuine understanding of your sketchbook, you will fail to achieve your potential as an illustrator" - Matt's promise

Ideas and imagery at the heart of illustration

Sketch constantly

Document transformative moments

Separate sketchbooks for each module

Make images because you want to say something 

Photoshop Workshop 1

Continuing on from the observational drawings I made last week, this week consisted of importing one of the ink paintings I made into photoshop, and playing around with editing, scaling and cropping.

Screen shot of process and information inputted whilst scanning

Whilst I have used photoshop previously to edit and create work I still learnt new things in this workshop that I was not aware of previously. The scaling tool in regards to the crop function was something I had not previously come across; I found it extremely easy to use once I knew how to access it and know that it is a tool that will become extremely useful for editing and scaling future work.

Adjusting the levels of the image after using the healing tool to clean up and blemishes

Other previously unused tools include using the transform>perspective tool and learning the difference between the spot healing tool and the stamp tool. Once the initial workshop was over, we were left on photoshop to experiment and edit our images.

Variations made through use of the different tools on photoshop

Drawing from observation

Observational drawing is not just looking at the world around you and copying it onto paper. It is a reflection of the world around you through your eyes, forcing you to really look and concentrate on what is in front of you; it's form, shape, texture ect. Because the world around us is experienced by everyone it is a shared experience, something people can understand and relate to, thus making it interesting. Through observing this world and re-imagining it through our own viewpoint, we are able to portray something entirely original and new onto the paper before us through illustration. Our own perceptions of an object can change the way in which we view and therefore draw it, thus changing the way other people see it. Drawing from observation is therefore crucial in being able to develop our own tone and voice through illustration.

Drawings made in ink from observation

Drawing from reference

Through yesterday's workshop I got a greater understanding of what it means to draw from reference. Whilst you're looking and engaging with an image, it is especially important to not just copy it. The purpose of drawing from reference is to look at and begin to understand the image in front of you. Repetitive drawing highlights details in an image you may not have previously seen the first time around, and redrawing it allows for a deeper understanding of the reference as a whole. Once more confident and sure about the reference image, the way you translate it onto the page through your own hand can be more exaggerated and stylised, resulting in a more successful illustration.

Selected drawings made from reference

Look, think and draw!

Through the process of observing and inhabiting the spaces and objects I was drawing from during this task I felt as though my drawing habits changed from those as if I were drawing from reference or imagination. 

I found that through being able to see things such as architecture and buildings in front of me in 3D they became slightly easier to understand and break apart into pieces that made sense. Usually I find solid, angular structures harder to draw as I find that by nature I prefer drawing with movement and gesture.

 I find it easier to understand the mechanics of anatomy and movement as opposed to solid structured forms. However during this task I found that these structures slowly began to make more sense to me. By being able to see the thing in it's three dimensional form I could look at it in ways to understand where certain lines or shadows were coming from, what was causing them to occur. 

Though there is still much room for improvement in this area I found this exercise very beneficial. As usual however I did find myself drawn to the figures around me. 

I love the idea of capturing a person when they don't know they're being drawn, it forces you to sketch and draw quickly in case they move or walk away, and that rawness in a quick thirty second sketch shares just a tiny bit of honesty in that moment you were looking at them. 

Sketches made throughout the days working on the brief