Week 2 - Visual Communication

For the first part of this workshop is to draw a perfect square with a letter you've chosen inside the square, drawn to scale. Also we had to create random squares with mixed media lettering, ranging from ink, acrylic, oil pastels, felt tips, charcoal, and graphite.

Type Faces;
- Serif Font - traditional, formal, embellished.
- Sans Serif - informal, simple, fun, stylish, modern.

  For the second part of the workshop we worked on easels for doing timed drawings in different mediums all on A1, then to draw an A1 big piece of your object in all different mediums you can get on paper. Then do the same with more of an organic object. I chose a pair of pliers and for my second object/s a rose and a leaf.

We had to use the positive and negative space to create an interesting piece.

Drawing the perfect square and perfect letter proportions.

Typography Experiments

1st Photo of Development

2nd Photo of Development

3rd Photo of Development

4th Photo of Development - Pair of Pliers/Wire-Cutters

Organic Final Copy of Rose and a Leaf

  Easy? - I found the second part easy because that is what I enjoy painting and drawing.

  Difficult? - I found the first part hard because it really tested my patience. Even though I am a patient person I couldn't stand doing the square very well but I tried.

  I did enjoy elements of this workshop and definitely want to do something like this in Exploratory 2 before our pathways because I do like the drawing aspects of Visual Communication.

Week 2 - Collage

  We had to create between 5 to 10 collages on A4 paper out of a choice of two magazines, books, newspapers etc. and each must link together like a series.

  My theme I chose to run through my collages was the distortion of female beauty in the media of modern-day society. This is because it is an issue with nowadays young people and I wanted to bring forth the obvious problems and things we point out in the media today. I also wanted to show what society's expectations of women and how we should look and be like verses the reality. I used two magazines due to most of pop culture and fashion are the main content in the magazines I chose.

  I did like the exercise due to us choosing what we wanted to do because I am fascinated with how people are composed as a whole so I focused on what I enjoyed.

  Easy? - Finding a theme and creating an interesting collage from it and using negative space around the piece to make it look more interesting - especially when its photocopied to bring out the torn edges and the difference in patterns that you didn't notice before. Its like giving a new angle on your own work which is intriguing for me.

  Difficult? - I personally didn't find anything particularly difficult.

  I would like to do something like this again because I really liked this exercise a lot more than the ones I've already done but there's still more to do.

Week 1 - Animation

  The task was to pick two objects and draw versions of one object morphing into the other object. I chose a long light bulb because I found the inside of the light bulb interesting and I like the detail inside it which I find pleasing to the eye. My second object was a lamp because both objects have a light element and also a colour element the lamp and bulb share; light yellow (in my opinion).

  I chose to merge my two series' together because I didn't have time to create two; one black and white version and a colour version.

Lamp Sketches

Light Bulb Sketch & Morphing Sketches

  Easy? - I found drawing the objects relatively easy to recreate because I enjoy the still life element used and that you have to be quite observant with your work.

  Difficult? - I didn't like the fact it was hand drawn because I had the expectation it would be a digital animation we had to recreate so I did struggle slightly with it.

  If I could do it again I would have planned how it would morph before I started because I made it up as I went along which isn't the best idea now I've learnt to sketch things out before you go ahead with your idea.

Week 1 - Ceramics

15th - 16th September 2014

  Before we started the workshop we were told to bring in two objects to do with '150 Years of Revolution' for a exhibition in Oxford Brookes. I chose a Lego man to represent the change in children's toys. In the past 150 years children toys have shifted from dolls, action figures, cars and trains to entertainment systems such as tablets, phones, computers and games consoles; physical toys are not as popular as they were. My second object is a guitar pick to symbolize the revolution of the music industry e.g.; how women are represented in the music industry (I have done a study on this subject and focused on nowadays women in the music industry last year for my A2. Link here: http://mediaa2projects.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/railton-watson-representation-of-black.html).

  We had to make sketches of them, collage and combined them in some way using Egyptian paste and paper clay. Also, we created wire 3D-ish sculptures.

•   The first picture shows sketches in different media to show a to using different material.
•   The second picture taken is the outcome of a collage of the objects to show the difference there is when layering colours and creating objects from other forms of material.
•   The third picture is the final product of my Lego man only. I didn't have much time to create the guitar pick.

  We did start creating clay figures from our drawings, ripping them up and layering up with the first sketches to create a messier version and transforming that into a 3D sculpture. I forgot to take a photo and I also didn't finish so I don't have a photo of this product.

(16th I was away and missed the last day of the Ceramics workshop)

•   Easy? - The sketching of the objects. To me it was a simpler version of drawing still life and I liked it a lot.

•   Difficult? - The wire sculpture was very difficult to recreate due to my object being quite complex because of how many parts I had to make. I thought of it as simple shapes; if I broke the object down into these simple shapes, put them together and then bend the wire into place afterwards I should be as close as I could get to a simple 3D model of my objects I've chose.

  What I've learnt;

• Take your time - rushing gets you irritated and makes you enjoy it much less.
• Imagine the object in every angle in your mind and sketch it out first.

Researching Artists

13th September 2014

Quick Summary of Artists...

  Cy Twombly is an American painter of large scale messy or graffitti-ish works of art and he usually works on either grays, tan and cream/off-white boards. He combines aspects of traditions European works of art with the new movements of American style paintings. Twombly was interested in the layering up of history and time in his work which reflects in his drawings and paintings. His pieces of work reflected in the time he was living in and the impact of where he was had a massive effect through his work.

  Franz Kline is known from his large black and white abstract expressionist paintings. He first started out with a style which encouraged him to show admiration for artists like Rembrandt. Some have said his monochrome paintings have likenesses to New York's famous cityscapes, which links with his childhood home in Pennsylvania.

Induction Week - Line Drawings

9th September - 11th September 2014

  This week, I have been involved in an activity to create abstract line drawings to get a feel for different ways of how lines can be created.

  Material included pencils, A3 paper, graphite sticks, charcoal, oil pastels, chalk and drawing ink.

  The given instructions were plain and simple and were ours to muck about, have fun and do as we want with them, within the guidelines. How I approached this task, the first time, was pretty basic and as I reflect on the first drawing it was pretty boring and looked very same-ish to what what everyone else has done. We didn't think to draw a line with the side of a oil pastel/charcoal stick and do lines in a white than a visible line, or make marks with our hands from the dust from previous materials we'd been using etc.. The second product was far more successful for me because you can see how much I've improved and learnt through the first image to the second. At the end of this process through the three days, a group of three merged a section of each of our pieces and joined them up together and try and see something in the picture we've created.
  My group's joint line drawing looked almost like either a cave with the limestone dripping from the cave walls.
  A forest with the sharp looking edges on the right side, directing the viewers eyes towards the middle (kind of like thorns).
  An octopus from the left to right because of the smooth edges to the darker objects.

•   Easy? - To get the smooth blending in some areas and it was easy to grainy and imprints from the wall behind when I needed the effect.

•   Difficult? - As I prefer and used to drawing within guidelines and very detailed I found it very hard to let go and have fun with the materials I had. Being told there's a right and wrong to creating certain drawings before and having that idea flipped completely on its head is quite hard to come to terms with at first, but I know this is all in the learning process and the purpose of this workshop.

  I feel that this piece is very simplistic and almost washed out compared to other drawings that had been created around the studio, but different isn't bad at all. I did realize I enjoyed parts of the workshop in the end but at the time I found the task very irritating to grasp and didn't find it incredibly interesting. As I've learnt, this task to evoke our observant eye to find and appreciate whats going on in the drawings we've made; either they're accidental or purposefully made. It's just a simple exercise to make us aware of what we're seeing and drawing.

Finished work, but not a fantastic photo... (& my work is the middle section).

What I've learnt this week;

• Take your time.
• Take risks.
• Think about the proportions.
• Think about the process behind what you're making.
• Make use of the space you have.
• Being observant and having concentration is much needed.