Second Visit to V.M. Box (Brighter Days ♥)

Today I psyched myself up and went for a second day at the V.M. box. A large part of me dreaded returning to the cold lonely street, scared I'd find a drippy box of smudged paint and have to start all over again.

However I was pleasantly surprised when I arrived!! There was very minimal smudges, and only a few patches of yellow background needed touching up.

I also felt a lot more prepared painting this time. I had a lot more layers on, as well as some gloves and a flask of peppermint tea (mostly for warmth rather than drinking haha).

I spent the majority of the day honing in and getting some of the details down. I also improvised a 'vine' like pattern to go behind the bear and leaves to make the composition feel more whole and less 'random dotted leaves'.

I was even visited by Chay on my painting day, and I made sure to have a break halfway through to pop to costa and get some warm food. I also took my bottle of water into the toilets with me and filled it with fresh water (from the tap obviously not the toilet hahah) for cleaning my brushes with once I got back.

There was a girl also painting a little down the road from me this week who had a few bright ideas I'm going to take into consideration next time. She'd laid the plastic wrap cover onto the floor to give herself a dry area to sit on and work, as well as tucking the plastic cover around the back of the box when she was done rather than hiding it in an unsuspecting recycling bin for Ruth to find like I had previously.

All in all this day was a huge improvement from my last visit, there was even a lovely sunset towards the end of the evening. Getting to grips with the practical aspects of this brief (the elements, drying time, using the paint to get the line I want etc) has been the biggest learning curve so far. It also feels pretty nice leaving the box each day I work on it knowing I've done a little more of something that's really not that easy. I feel like if I can leave this box, being happy with the result and having painting in the depths of Leeds winter, any other live painting briefs will be a breeze!

 

Virgin Media; The Box Painting Starts

So today I started painting my Virgin Media box, AND WHAT A DAY IT WAS.

I've done a couple of live painting events now, so painting large scale in outside conditions isn't something that's totally new territory to me. However, painting outside in November in Leeds IS A WHOLE NEW EXPERIENCE.

The day started off relatively well. I took my boyfriend with me so he could help get the base yellow colour down on the bxo (I figured it would be a lot quicker with two people). The base coating of the box didn't take too long, however the rest of it felt as though it took an age haha.

Once I started to get to more precise image making (outlining especially) the process slowed down tenfold. I marked everything out with chalk firstly so that I knew rough compositions, and I think this worked well as the chalk also easily wiped off once the paint was dry.

Ruth (who organised the project) was also lovely enough to bring us both a cup of tea throughout the day. I recon I was there from about 11AM till around 4.30PM; so it was a long day of blocking out colours haha.

The cold was the main issue with this painting. It took the paint a lot longer to dry, and after about two hours I couldn't feel my hands or feet.

I think it was 2 degrees for the majority of the day.

It got to about half four and I decided to call it a day given that I was almost turning blue and I hadn't felt many of my outer limbs for a couple of hours. I messaged Ruth to let her know that I was done painting for the day and that she could go and cover the box up in around 30mins/ an hour when all the paint would be dry.

Very cold and tired I started walking towards a main road so I could order and UBER and it started raining a little bit. The thought of rain ruining my entire day of painting almost brought me to TEARS. I would consider myself a working class Northerner through and through, and today was the first time the cold and rain almost brought me to tears.

I've been hoping against hope that the rain hasn't ruined my painting. Taking the elements into consideration is something I've never previously had to do with my artwork.

NEXT TIME I AM TAKING A FLASK, 300 LAYERS OF CLOTHING, 5 PAIRS OF SOCKS AND GLOVES AND A FLASK WITH SOMETHING MOLTEN IN TEMPERATURE INSIDE IT.  

Artlink Exhibition Opening Night

I went to the Artlink opening night tonight!!

On display was one of my framed prints, as well as my loose prints displayed via plastic holders affixed to the wall. It was really great to see my images within their formal context. I wish I'd take more photos but it was really busy and I was absolutely riddled with cold at the time and didn't want to infect anyone!! Ah well still a lovely night <3 

Final Poster for La Betes

Dan agreed with me that the central layout worked best; whoopie!!

Going with this format in mind I created the separate CMYK and RGB files for print and online. I also compressed the online version to much smaller than A3 so that it would be easier for Dan to upload and share it online. I added in a square format version too for them to upload to instagram (as it won't allow A5/4/3 etc sizes without cutting part of the image off.

As I mentioned I'm happy with this piece as design work, but for a post punk gig poster I'm not if it appeals to the correct audience? Had I had complete creative control of the image I think it would have turned out very different haha.

Chosen Image; Text Experiments (La Betes)

After sending the images to Dan he chose the white fade over their faces as the image he liked best, and while him and the band were happy with the typeface they wondered if I could play around with placement a little bit.

They also wanted 'La Bete Blooms' to be bigger than the two supporting acts names. I put these examples together, varying the font size and placement. I also moved the logo around when appropriate.

Personally I prefer the central version currently as it feels the most balanced of the lot. Though I'm fairly happy with this poster as a piece of design work, I wish I'd had a bit more of a chance to experiment with the idea on an illustrative level. La Betes as a group are very post-punk and this style of gig poster feels very commercial and a little (dare I say it about my own work??) bland.

As mentioned as a deign piece I think the image works, but I'm unsure if it reflects the bands aesthetic and ethos. The image however, is a part of the brief and this is how the client wants the final image to appear, so the final say lies with them!

 

Initial Digital Experiments; La Betes

Original Photo

I created these initial digital variations to send to Dan. Given that they like the analogue vibe with their work I chose to work with traditional painterly brushes on photoshop. In keeping with their direction, I also covered the faces within the image.

I put a gradient colour map over the entire image too, using pink and purple as they're colours Dan has expressed interest in with previous work I've done for them. The white text stood out against both the pink and purples areas of the image, and I wanted something easily readable and not too busy; so a sans serif did the job.

I've sent these across to Dan as some very initial starts to see what he thinks.

 

La Bete Blooms; Adelphi Gig Poster Brief

The Client;

• La Bete Blooms

The Brief;

• To create an A3 gig poster (two copies; one RBG for digital promotion, one CMYK for printed media) for La Bete Blooms upcoming home gig at the Adelphi.
• Pre-existing photograph already chosen for the gig. Want it to look a little scratched up; preferably with faces covered.
• Details to include on the poster;

1.  La Bete Blooms
2. Three Day Millionaires
3. Dead Hormones
4. Location; Adelphi 
5. Date; Friday 23rd Dec
6. Price; £4 OTD
7. Doors open 8.30PM

The Rationale;

• Having done the previous artwork for La Betes since the release of I know it's Nothing, it makes sense for me to do this gig poster for them too. I think this brief will be more image manipulation than illustration, but it's something I'm more than happy to put together for them. It also gives me a chance to have a go at gig posters, something I've been interested in exploring for a while now! Also paid live work is always good.

Printing for Artlink

I spent this week printing the images for Artlink, so they would be ready for me to travel down and deliver them this weekend ahead of the final deadline of the 7th Nov for hanging etc. The show would have an official opening night on Friday 11th Nov. 

Altogether the printing process went a lot better than I would have expected it to!!! The staff at the print room were super helpful with any queries I had or little reminders that I needed as I haven't screen printed for about a year!

I'm really pleased with my colour choices too, and the split fountain gave them the illusion of something more complex than a simple one colour screen print.

The two prints featuring figures did come out with some additional textures than I'd planned on them having however, I think this was down to the screen perhaps not being fully clean when I exposed the images? I asked my peers for their opinions on the prints as a sort of 'mini crit' so I could gauge whether or not they needed reprinting.  However most people actually quite liked the extra texture, so with time restraints and the positive response to the prints I chose to not reprint them.

In preparation for the show I also bought two frames so a couple of the prints could be seen in a final context rather than just loose prints. I bought clear plastic sleeves for the loose prints so they wouldn't get scraped up during the exhibition. 

With all this done I took the prints over to Artlink during the weekend!