Sketchbooks, Group Crit

Today we presented our own sketchbooks which we had been working on over summer, and had the chance to see what everyone else had done.

Here are a few examples from my book:

I'm happy with some parts more than others, but I think it's just about filling pages and doing little test pictures. Sketchbooks as a whole look nice, somehow the quantity of all of the filled-in pages looks impressive.

It was interesting to see how everyone's books were so individual, also how they related to the person that made them. I liked when most of the pages were different in some way, yet they were linked by similar themes or images.

Here are some I liked from other people...

I spied this in the first year classroom and just enjoyed the weird collection of objects, including mutated hands. Nice one.

Someone made a tiny zine of all the bits and bobs they had in their bag. Simple and lovely! Makes me just want to go for it and make some stuff. 

This double page spread caught my eye, the pictures sit so well together. I like the contrast a lot.

Well done everyone

OUIL402 Personal & Professional Practice | End of Module Self-Evaluation

Final Presentation

Visual Diagram | Final

It's all printed now. I'm both happy and unhappy with it which isn't really a surprise but it's done! The negatives are that it doesn't display a high level of skill or craftsmanship, nor is it anything groundbreaking or loud or exciting.

However with that said, it does embody a lot of thoughts I've had recently about my own work and aligns with values I both admire in others and wish to take on myself.

Although people may disagree, I do think that on some level it shows authenticity which I'm a little happy about. It shows the change my work has went through. Going from 'accurate' and detailed images, to drawings that are more expressive and attempt to convey a tone or feeling more than appearing 'right'.

Ambiguity has been part of this ongoing discussion I've been having in regards to my work, and I think this poster does display a level of that. Drawings that are unlabeled and vague, and are open to interpretation.

it's a nice print actually. it's matte and shows the textures and colours

Narrative and personal stories has also been an element I've considered throughout the year, and this has been touched upon with this finished piece. The objects represent real possessions, moments, feelings and thoughts that are personal or related to me in some way.

The personal factor contributes to this sense of ambiguity as it is introspective and secretive, no one will know what they are unless it is talked about.

Visual Diagram | Digital Process

Once I had scanned and arranged the objects, I had to pick colours. I wanted the diagram to have a very restricted scheme to let the drawings speak for themselves.

I tried changing the colour of the background, objects, and the links. Even though the monochromatic version was nice I thought it was a little boring. After changing the colours around for a bit, I made myself keep it minimal and not over-embellish / edit.

I added a slight noise filter to lift the flatness of the background a bit, and I chose the light blue accent colour. It gave a little bit of brightness to the image but didn't overpower the drawings as they were the main focus.

Visual Diagram | Linework

Example of final pencil drawings.

After some last minute thinking, I just decided to stick to my guns and make some fun drawings that were a bit hastily drawn. I like the quality of the pencil line, and I'm happy with how decisive the marks seem (which is a big deal for me).

I scanned in the sets of objects, adjusted their levels, selected and placed them individually on to an A2 sheet. A very straight forward process. 

Some objects had a slight grain around the edges (either from scanning the paper, or a smudge) but I thought to just keep a bit of this so they didn't look too clean.

Keep it Weird | Gary Wilson

It's silly but I'm gonna write this and share a thing. I was listening to music and found this album a little while ago, and it embodies all of these qualities I've been speaking about - not self-editing, making things for you, having a tone of voice, and just having a nice time with it all.

Quite possibly one of my favourite covers of all time...

The album is really funny, weird, but cool in its own strange way and it just makes me laugh. Gary just made this album all by himself when he was 24. Well done.
Please read this extract from a review of Gary's album it's very hilarious and accurate.

I don't really know what I'm saying, but I guess sometimes you need to just make things and not really worry too much. Do you think Gary worried when he penned the lyric "your love is like a make-out party"?