Sketchbook; Shape and Texture

Laura Carlin

I've loved Carlin's work for a while now, and her use of texture and shape is something that really excites me. The hand crafted textures brings a true sense of authenticity to her work and the way she deals with form and figure through use of shape was something I studied a lot while undergoing this task

 

Leading on from last week I tried making textured shapes straight onto the sketchbook pages using a variation of media, but found myself again going back to the paper cutting and collage with simple features on top of them again

Textured paper that I'd made for an OUIL403 brief came in very useful in allowing me to create really hand-rendered textured shapes

Strangely I'm really enjoying making images of despondent, naked New Yorkers. The idea stemmed from a few photos of performance art and the bohemian movement going on in NYC at the time. My research into the crack epidemic has also fed into this idea of grungy, desperate people that were trying and failing to get by in the slums and ghettos of NYC. Shape has allowed me to exaggerate and manipulate the gesture and anatomy of figures, while texture gives me that dirty, worn and imperfect aesthetic

Sketchbook; Shape

This week was a really transformative week for me. Previous to this week's brief I'd never encountered using shape as a way of thinking about drawing.

I think I really started to notice a huge difference in the way shape was making me work when I began to use collage and paper cutting out figures as a new form of image making. Shape was making the way I read source material and images totally different to how I usually would. It allowed me to simplify the figures and in turn their features. Due to this simplification I became more selective in the information I wanted to convey in my own illustrations.

It also felt a lot more organic and authentic, like I wasn't trying to mimic a stylised version of reality, rather translate the information from the photograph to the way I saw it.

I really enjoyed this week's task

Sketchbook; Line, Tone and Mark Making

  

Throughout this week I learnt about the importance of mark marking in regards to the media choice and how these two things can really change and affect the aesthetic and tone of an illustration.

Mark making through use of line can be used to describe not only tone but direction too (the direction of how the light/dark is affecting a subject/the way a fabric folds/the way hair moves and sits on someone's head)

Depth and texture can also be informed by mark making and how that sits besides the line quality of the image

Affective use of negative space alongside textured mark making can also add to an image and allow it to look well designed and crafted

End of Module Self Evaluation

1. Which practical skills and methodologies have you developed within this module and how effectively do you think you are employing them within your own practice? 

The structure of working from start to finish of a brief is something that I feel I've really been able to get into the swing of, and make the most of, throughout this module. The act of using scamps, then getting peer feedback to develop them further is something that I hadn't previously done but have found to be very useful when furthering my illustrations. Practically, I've found that working with restrictions in briefs has also made me more aware of media choice, texture ect. This experimentation with media is another skill that I've found myself employing more and more in each brief as it allows for quick image making whilst also instantly allowing me to get a feel for the final illustration and whether or not it will work.

2. Which principles/ theories of image making have you found most valuable during this module and how effectively do you think you are employing these within your own practice?

The idea of scamps and repeating an image multiple times with a few variations is something quite new to me, and something I've found to be very beneficial when developing my ideas. The concept of 'thinking through drawing' is something that I'd dismissed in the past, thinking that there is no difference between thinking about ideas, and knowing which will work, and drawing them out. But throughout this module I've found that drawing out your initial ideas, no matter how obvious they seem, can help in developing new possible outcomes.

Media variations in scamps is something else that I've found to be useful when developing ideas and seeing which ones work/don't work. Colour can very quickly be an indication of how the illustration will work as a whole after completion, allowing you to quickly draw out and evaluate multiple scamps to choose the most effective one.

3. What strengths can you identify within your submission and how have you capitalised on these?

Craft is something that I not only value highly in my own work but something I relish doing. I've found that my most successful illustrations have been ones that I really invested time and effort into. The intricate image making forces me to constantly evaluate what I'm doing and why. It also allows me to get lost in the illustration making it a very peaceful and enjoyable thing to do.

4. What areas for further development can you identify within your submission and how will you address these in the future?

Time management is something that I feel I could work on more for the next module. Making sure that I blog regularly so that my posts are more immediate and detailed in content, and so they don't build up and become a 'chore'. Also making sure that I allocate equal amounts of time to each illustration if I'm required to do a set so that they're all crafted to the same level. This is something I feel I improved on greatly in my last project, and it showed too with both the final outcomes and feedback in relation to them. More extensive use of scamps would also help in creating even more refined and original works.

5. In what way has this module introduced you to the BA (Hons) Illustration programme? 

I feel as though I've really settled into the course now that I understand the structure and timetable. It's a lot easier to keep on track of what/how many projects I'm undertaking at once and time management is improving, I think, with each brief. Whilst I found the first brief to be a little overwhelming, I've enjoyed every brief since and feel as though an improvement has been made with each one. The input of Visual Language has also been really helpful in developing work for this module and the fact that they're run side by side has been really great. Overall, though the course can be very demanding, I'm enjoying it a lot, I just need to get a little more organised.

Play, Play, Play; Evaluation and Self Reflection

I feel as though my three final outcomes for this brief have been my strongest to date. The idea of working with shape and texture to create engaging illustrations has really pushed me to work in new ways when constructing my illustrations. I found that not only did the use of collage and texture work well in achieving the atmosphere I wanted the three pieces to evoke, I enjoyed the process too. The act of sitting down and individually crafting each of the textures, taking the time to arrange and place them, cutting and sticking them all down was something I really relished. I found that because of the somewhat meticulous nature of this form of image making I was constantly making micro decisions throughout the construction of the final pieces, and this constant evaluation and attention to detail stopped me from cutting corners where I might have done if I'd drawn or painted the images. The general feedback also seemed to be that this technique of image making was well received, people were getting the sort of nostalgic, childhood feel from all of the pieces that I wanted them to evoke. People were also engaging with the illustrations a lot more because I'd left a certain amount of ambiguity in there, they were making up their own stories and backgrounds to my images which is something I'm so pleased to have achieved.

Play, Play, Play; Week 2

I made the decision this week that I wanted my final illustrations to be constructed primarily with shape and texture (feeding in from Visual Language tasks) as I felt it would work well in creating an authentic feel that would in turn amplify the sort of nostalgic and 'human' feel I wanted my final illustrations to have.

Notes for next time: Scamping through collage is too time exhaustive-use dry media to quickly achieve texture instead, sketchbook annotations can be helpful rather than just thinking about things, physical act of merely writing down thoughts can be helpful in overcoming them-draw through problems

Play Play Play; Week 1

This week I found the peer feedback session extremely beneficial to developing my work past the initial ideas I had. I found myself too caught up on creating scamps for my pure image illustration and my ideas for the image/type pieces were weak in comparison. The peer feedback I received has really opened up my mind to new ideas and deeper concepts; it's pushed my work along further and I feel like I have a much clearer direction in which to develop.

• Strengths of this weeks work: Clearly presented, nice scamps, good concepts

• Developments to be made in relation to feedback: Don't spend too much time on one idea and neglect the others in comparison, variation of media to be used in scamps, use annotations to develop work further

A Day in the Life; Evaluation and Self Reflection

This project opened my eyes as to how scamping and thinking through drawing can really help in forming and developing new ideas when faced with a new brief. By simply getting the obvious ideas drawn out first, I found it easier and quicker to develop them into new and more creative ones. The act of actually making the images, in particular the first one of Ed Miliband, was something else I really enjoyed. The crafting of these images, taking this time to paint out the intricate details was something I felt I could get lost in, and was one of the reasons I feel as though the landscape image didn't work as well as the others. It felt as though the piece lacked the same level of craft as the two other works, and peer feedback also commented on the difference in style with this image too which made it seem less 'part of the set' compared to the other two. 

Notes for next time: Be sure to continue same style through all sets of images, ensure consistent level of craft with all images

A Day in the Life; Week 2

 

 I changed my ideas around for a few of the final illustrations as I felt the ones that had been chosen for me in the group crit lacked room for development as much as other scamps. This meant for a few of them I had to switch around the composition of the pieces to fit with the specified measurements. I did a couple of media experiments before starting to craft the illustrations this week. 

Day in the Life; Week 1

While working through this brief I found it benifical to draw out my first thoughts even if they were really obvious. The process of getting the straight forward ideas out of the way helped in coming up with more interesting and imaginative ideas later on. From one drawing of Ed Miliband drawn from reference, I got the idea of transformig him into this puny, unsure prince, trying to lead his labour comrades into battle against the conservatives. Te figurative language in the text really informed my 'medeval theme' that I started to adopt into my scamps. I felt also that as soon as I began to add colour to my scamps it was easier to determine which ones worked as illustrations and which ones didn't. The colour limitations really helped me in becoming more imaginative with my line and mark making too I think.