LAUIL503 - Printed Pictures

More mono print testing..

I'm having problems scanning the mono prints which means the colours aren't coming through well.

Instead of a strong orange I'm getting a horrible yellow and the pink mono prints aren't coming through maybe because they're too luminous which is frustrating.

The group crit idea was to print on to the drawings so no need to scan in but I'll try some other colours as I want to be able to move things around compositionally in Photoshop.

I'm happy with the idea of combing abstract mono print shapes with the drawings and the concepts of desert hallucinations is working but they are too bare, floating in white space and need a solid base to make them stand out.

LAUIL503 - Printed Pictures - print tests

Print tests

The mono printing is the way to go - the simple shapes and speed of mono printing means I can get lots of printed texture and colour into the finals. 

I want to keep the drawings and abstract nature of the characters and desert landscapes to go with the hallucination theme. 

Combine the drawings with the coloured mono prints 

Use jarring colours to contrast with the drawings

Work out compositions for final ideas

How subtle will the prints be within the image?

Study Task 3 - Three Illustrators using Print Processes

Glyn Smyth
http://www.stagandserpent.com/
Influenced by "otherworld", fairytales and mythology.
Initially hand drawn and then separates the layers in photoshop.
Scans in work or uses lightbox for final drawings but now uses mainly a Wacom tablet.
Uses local communal print workshop for hand made screen printing.






George Douglas
http://georgebenjamindouglas.com/
Riso-printing and screen printing process
Overlaid with hand drawn markings
Minimal colour use usually combining black with another vivid colour
Collaged imagery applied with a quick, energetic arrangement


Yann Kebbi
http://yannkebbi.fr/
Kebbi builds up layers over colours using etching process
He has to simplify the etchings and not overthink the process
The monoprint process doesn't allow for overcomplicated imagery

Studio brief 1 - Idea Pictures - Reflective Report

Idea Pictures - Final editorials

I found it difficult when using small thumbnails for initial idea generation. It was quite restrictive as a brainstorming method. Usually I make lots of notes and random sketches without frames so this was a challenge as a process. 

Thumbnails can be useful for composition once I know what I am going to draw but I did get the botanical ideas from the thumbnails which I could really explore once I reverted back to filling pages with more detailed and unframed sketches.

It's important to not become too literal with some of the ideas and always have some subtlety with the concepts. I became too literal at one point, drawing lots of brains and became a bit lazy, drawing floating jellyfish brains rather than thinking about Sacks' stories and character in more depth.

But once I went back to my core research about Sacks' love nature and how he spent time in the New York botanical gardens I focused on that as well as some of the hallucinatory themes from The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat and also the theme of confusion and perplexed anxiety of his patients that runs through all his stories.

The final editorials are subtle and only make sense visually to someone who has read about Sacks and his neurological case studies. They also work in the sense that they are relatively complex and play with perspective and interpretation of abstract patterns intertwined with the human anatomy which mirrors some of the neurological complex disorders Sacks describes in his books. 

As editorials the final pieces use the format dimensions well. However, I will look at replacing each white background with a possible coloured layer or a botanical backdrop to make them more visually stimulating and engaging. 

I'm happy with how the overlaying and collaging of the drawings has been executed. 

The botanical theme links the images together and I find a restricted use of colour can actually enhance an image's impact and add a clarity.

The feedback at the group crit was really pleasing and positive. The comments were exactly what I was intending for the audience. It's also interesting to see how another person can interpret an image and see something different that you don't see yourself despite spending so much time on it. The comment about the red leaves looking like muscle and sinew was a fascinating thing that I hadn't even intended but is obvious and an unintended but brilliant effect. 

Study Task 2 - Editorial illustrators

Mario Wagner uses traditional media methods - paper cut and acrylic for his collages.
He uses anthropomorphised objects for people's faces and anatomy.
His character's faces are often blank which eliminates any emotion and reduces the characters to a very simple, visual tool to communicate his ideas.




Kim Ryu uses similar methods to Wagner with her emotionless characters in order to not over complicate the message.
She uses handmade textures and strong contrasting silhouettes with minimal, subtle drawn marks.
Minimal colour palette.
Simple, bold use of 2D characters and silhouettes on negative space

Study Task 1 - About the Author Zine

One of the feedback comments was 'Seems a bit rushed?'
The zine was definitely rushed towards as I was adding the texts in on the deadline day morning.

The zine has some consistency in it's aesthetic and colour use, using bright pink against the black.
The guideline was to not think too hard about the zine and I didn't so it was nice to be loose and make 'bad' work in a funny way.

I used the task as a test for the pink on black combination which always has positive feedback.

Using a single, bold colour with black really helps me visualise an image and appeals to me personally so I want to gradually develop this colour technique in more subtle, refined ways.

One thing I found with such a short deadline I reverted back to using collage to quickly get the ideas across. I often don't consider my rough sketches as anything other than preparations if I'm using a refined traditional media for the finished work. Maybe that's why I used collage instead.

About the Author - Oliver Sacks - locations and Bio/quotes

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/31/science/oliver-sacks-dies-at-82-neurologist-and-author-explored-the-brains-quirks.html

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/aug/30/oliver-sacks-dies-aged-82-eminent-neurologist-author-awakenings

Locations

New York Hospitals/Wards
Botanical Gardens, New York
Natural History museum
Swimming/New York bay



“I am very tenacious, for better or worse,” he wrote in “A Leg to Stand On.” “If my attention is engaged, I cannot disengage it. This may be a great strength, or weakness. It makes me an investigator. It makes me an obsessional.”

'He was also a man of contradictions: candid and guarded, gregarious and solitary, clinical and compassionate, scientific and poetic' nytimes

“I love to discover potential in people who aren’t thought to have any,” he told People magazine in 1986.

Sacks seemed to be very much a thinking person; asking big questions with a philosophical approach.

He was a clumsy/ not very practical person

“I lost samples,” he told an interviewer in 2005. “I broke machines. Finally they said to me: ‘Sacks, you’re a menace. Get out. Go see patients. They matter less.’ ”

About the Author - Bill Hayes on his relationship with Sacks

Bill Hayes on Oliver Sacks

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/mar/26/bill-hayes-insomniac-city-my-life-with-oliver-sacks-new-york

'My life with Oliver Sacks - he was the most unusual person I had ever known'
Bill Hayes

Oliver's periodic table

Bill Hayes' piece about his time with Oliver Sacks is very emotive. Before they entered into a relationship Sacks had claimed to not have had sex for over 30 years due to his extreme shyness that he called 'a disease'.

Sacks was shy but had a childlike enthusiasm and excitement for learning and discussing varying topics with people. He seemed to be incapable of judging people and had absolutely no interest in fame or celebrities as well as being completely clueless about modern technology; no computer, phone. He called Hayes' iPhone the 'little box'.

He clearly enjoyed talking to people such as Bjork when he and Hayes visited her in Iceland. He bonded well with other eccentric people like Bjork and had a charm that people warmed to. He was approachable and kind despite his crippling shyness. He seemed to adore nature and liked just being in quiet, natural surroundings with Hayes or listening to Bach.
'We took long walks in the botanical garden in the Bronx, where he could expatiate on every species of fern. We visited the Museum of Natural History – not for the dinosaurs or special exhibitions but to spend time in the often empty, chapel-like room of gems, minerals, and, especially, the elements – O knew the stories behind the discoveries of every single one.'

Hayes' diary entires describe Sacks as someone who enjoyed insightful, stimulating conversation and a drink but also someone who never stopped wanting to read and write but most of all think.
“I say I love writing, but really it is thinking I love – that rush of thoughts – new connections in the brain being made. And it comes out of the blue.” O smiled. “In such moments: I feel such love of the world, love of thinking…”   

The diary entries about his gradual decline with illness are very sad but also very dignified. He was a thoughtful, intelligent person who valued dignity even in his last moments. He was calm and accepting of his diagnosis.

I got the impression that he had a deep love of nature and the human mind and took great pleasure in what he did wether it be socially or academically.

O: “The most we can do is to write – intelligently, creatively, critically, evocatively – about what it is like living in the world at this time.”

The more I learn about Sacks as a person I find him to be a very decent human being who was clearly unique and also a genius. I'm feeling smug that I chose him as it is much easier to research as much as possible when that person is as interesting and intriguing as him. I will keep reading up on him as well as having a deeper look into his scientific writing.

Oliver Sacks on learning he has terminal cancer - New York Times 2015
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/19/opinion/oliver-sacks-on-learning-he-has-terminal-cancer.html?_r=0

Here I depart from Hume. While I have enjoyed loving relationships and friendships and have no real enmities, I cannot say (nor would anyone who knows me say) that I am a man of mild dispositions. On the contrary, I am a man of vehement disposition, with violent enthusiasms, and extreme immoderation in all my passions.

I feel a sudden clear focus and perspective. There is no time for anything inessential. I must focus on myself, my work and my friends.

I rejoice when I meet gifted young people — even the one who biopsied and diagnosed my metastases. I feel the future is in good hands.

Above all, I have been a sentient being, a thinking animal, on this beautiful planet, and that in itself has been an enormous privilege and adventure.

About the Author - Oliver Sacks

Oliver Sacks

I've decided on Oliver Sacks for this project. A few things made it an easy choice once I started to do some research on him. 

My friend strongly recommended him to me a while ago and she got well excited when I mentioned I might use him for the project. So she helped convince me that he is a brilliant writer and all round interesting person.

Neurology
I don't know much at all about how the human brain works so it will be great to learn more about neurology and the left/right hemisphere differences in the brain.

After watching the TED talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgOTaXhbqPQ Sacks gave I think there will be a fantastic amount of stories to pick from. Some of the hallucination stories from his patients are fascinating in how bizarre and strange they are. 

Sacks facts from Oliver Sacks interview 1989 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pwqu_K0Wj4A
He dropped out of his medical studies to travel across Canada where he worked as a logger and began writing.
Became obsessed with weight lifting and even set a state record in California.
Came to New York to find what he wanted to do with his life.
He began working with patients with neurological diseases across hospitals in New York.
'Where others may find despair, Sacks finds inspiration.'
He takes notes in the botanical gardens to process his thoughts.
"I'm addicted to patients"
"I need these other lives to become part of my own"
"Empathy isn't enough"
"I wish I could be in their shoes"

The impression I get from interviews and his writing is that he is a very compassionate person who talks about the importance of having empathy for the patients rather than 'statistics or lists' and treating them with dignity and how you need to 'get to know and love them, recognize, respect them, as people'(Awakenings).

Authors can have a reputation as being reclusive and hard to get to know but I find there is a warmth with Sack that I can identify with and that will make it much more rewarding long term, as I get to know him more as a person as well as his writing. He is shy but approachable and eager to share his expert knowledge with anyone.

About the Author; Carl Sagan

Carl Sagan

Carl Sagan was an astronomer, astrophysicist, cosmologist and astrobiologist. He made contributions to science academically and lectured at Harvard but is most famous as a science communicator and popularising science for a mass audience with TV series Cosmos and many best selling books.

He is often used in pop culture such as shows like family guy but he was a respected scientist in his own right. 

Brian Cox has stated Sagan as the person who most inspired him and has clearly been heavily influenced by Sagan's methods of communicating with an audience about the interesting mysteries of the cosmos.

There is a famous extract from one of his most popular books Pale Blue Dot which is a profound, thoughtful few paragraphs about the planet earth and humanity's insignificance in the vast universe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PN5JJDh78I

Sagan's philosophical analysis of our technical advances, impact on the environment and our self destructive acts is cutting, humbling yet optimistic. He lays bare all our weaknesses and faults as a species but also puts forward what we can do change our ways and believes ultimately we will succeed barring a natural disaster or nuclear war.  

Pale Blue Dot (1994)

Pale Blue Dot was published not long before Sagan died in 1996. This book was inspired by the famous pale blue dot photograph taken by Voyager as it left the edges of the solar system. The photograph was taken for a non-scientific purpose, instead taken out of curiosity of seeing earth from a huge distance. The resulting photo was a humbling image of earth as a pale blue pixelated dot faintly shining, in line with one of Saturn's rings. This provides an undercurrent theme for the tone of the book. Sagan explores our insignificance and vulnerability in the dark, hostile, lifeless universe and our need to preserve the precious life on earth rather than believing ourselves to be important and immortal as a species.   

The Dragons of Eden (1977)

Sagan looks at the evolution of the human brain and how we can determine intelligence of each species using brain to body mass ratio. Humans and dolphins being the most intelligent. He also calculates how civilised human's existence on a cosmic scale is barely one second before midnight on new years eve if the calendar year was to scale of the age of the universe. 

http://thegutsygibbon.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/dragons-of-eden-book-review.html

Broca's Brain (1979)

Sagan attacks various nonsense theories that were put forward as scientific ideas. This is an important part of being a credible scientist as pseudo science can be very damaging to the general public's knowledge of basic science. 

New York Times: 'Sagan can write about anything...and seem as if  he learned what he knows while playing in the sandbox'

Carl Sagan was a brilliant science communicator but struggled to win over some of his scientific peers who felt he did not warrant the praise he gained from the public. He was not given tenure at Harvard as it was felt he did not specialise enough in one particular area of science and instead had too broad a range of research subjects. He polarised opinion in the scientific community but also did huge amounts for science in terms of winning public support and interest for science as a whole. He held a strong belief that knowledge was the most powerful tool for mankind and the need to maintain a hunger for knowledge was vital. He had a spooky ability to make some accurate predictions about the future of technological advances and the dangers of isolating the public from science and not using it's benefits for everyone. He predicted that information would be the new currency in the future and manufacturing jobs would be moved away from America and how technology will be in the hands of the few, brings to mind companies like Apple and Google as well as his prediction that people wouldn't be able to trust the authorities with anything and become paranoid and slip into ignorance is very close to the current state of things in the US with Donald Trump's administration and the willingness to ignore facts. https://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/yes-the-eerie-carl-sagan-prediction-thats-going-viral-1791502520

SPACE

My girlfriend takes the piss out of my interest in space and all things scientific but I had to research Sagan as he is the closest to nonfiction science writing and I wanted to indulge in my ambitions to create science illustration. However I feel as he is more of a all round brilliant scientist who was best at being thoughtful and philosophical about humanity's future I didn't find he had enough material or writing about the more intense subjects in science that I find the most interesting such as quantum mechanics and new theories that are up to date, modern scientific discussion. For example one of the most significant discoveries about Dark Energy was made two years after Sagan's death.

Sagan is a fascinating person with some truly beautiful thoughtful pieces of writing but I can't see his subject matter keeping me hooked enough. I've watched loads of videos of his musings and they are profound and thought provoking but the whimsical tone might start to grate after a few briefs.  

About the Author: Naomi Klein

NAOMI KLEIN

“What we have been living for three decades is frontier capitalism, with the frontier constantly shifting location from crisis to crisis, moving on as soon as the law catches up. ”  

“It is a civilizational wake-up call. A powerful message—spoken in the language of fires, floods, droughts, and extinctions—telling us that we need an entirely new economic model and a new way of sharing this planet.”  

“This, without a doubt, is neoliberalism’s single most damaging legacy: the realization of its bleak vision has isolated us enough from one another that it became possible to convince us that we are not just incapable of self-preservation but fundamentally not worth saving.”  

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!”  

“Either greed belongs in a war zone, or it doesn't. You can't unleash it in the name of sparking an economic boom and then be shocked when Halliburton overcharges for everything from towels to gas, when Parsons' sub, sub, sub-contractor builds a police academy where the pipes drip raw sewage on the heads of army cadets and where Blackwater investigates itself and finds it acted honorably. That's just corporations doing what they do and Iraq is a privatized war zone so that's what you get. Build a frontier, you get cowboys and robber barons.”

Social activist/film maker. Exposes how giant global corporations' operate in wars, natural disasters and financial crises.
Climate activist
From a family with a history of peace activism
Changed at the age of 17 from a 'spoilt brat' obsessed with brands and shopping after her mother became severely ill.
The massacre at the University of Monreal of female engineering students had a profound effect on Klein and changed her views and sparked her passion for taking on subjects such as women's rights, racism, rape and capitalism.
A university drop out in her third year to work in journalism.
She was a determined activist in the 1980s fighting for reform in gender equality despite rape and death threats.
She tried university again but managed to get an internship in journalism eventually working for the Guardian.

No Logo (2000)
A manifesto for the anti-corporate globalization movement
1 million copies sold. Highly critical of corporations' exploitation of workers in poorer countries, including severe criticism of Nike.

The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism (2007)
New York Times best seller
Thesis is that large corporations profit from disasters, economic, natural, war etc.
Public schools privatized after hurricane Katrina destroyed most of the schools
Private security companies profited from the Iraq invasion
This creates huge financial inequality

She has become the modern face of the political left's movement against global capitalism and is often seen as an intellectual authority on these issues, often giving lectures and speeches, promoting an alternative vision to the current political status quo.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jul/06/naomi-klein-how-power-profits-from-disaster

Initially it was interesting reading some of Naomi Klein's articles, the corporate profit making of natural disasters and war in particular are truly shocking and sad. However, as much as I am disgusted by the way large corporations and governments operate, I don't feel I have an active passion for these areas or at least to keep me going through level 5.
It's really alarming to hear how big corporations operate and how sinister governments can be but I feel these subject will not inspire me as I have grown exasperated with the global political climate and may lose the will to live if I read more about the way these psychopaths and morons run the world. I want an author who has more politically neutral work.

OUIL406 - End of module evaluation

OUIL406 - Final poster/postcards/stamps

 Final poster - Martha Graham

Postcards

Stamps

What worked?

There is a successful harmony between the different media used in all the designs. 

Balanced use of colour and a coherent aesthetic link between all the images. 

The gritty, defiant tone captures Graham's philosophy and attitude. 

The tone is bold and dark like her dancing style but also celebrates her influence on dance.

The brush strokes create the sense of energy in her dance.

A textured background creates the atmospheric backdrop for the content within the frame.

What didn't?

A comment in the final crit suggested the paint strokes could of been more angular like Graham's dance movements which makes good sense - maybe the brush strokes are too fluid.

Simple things like organising the layers in Photoshop - it's easy to lose track of all the layers if you don't keep grouping and labeling them.

Flattening layers and checking the right canvas size is simple but vital stuff to get right. 

OUIL406: Northern Ballet - Company Chameleon 'Witness'

Witness

I'm glad I went to see this dance even if it is late in the project, because I was able to see and feel the physical movement of the dancers up close. It was an intense dance about coping with mental health. The emotional investment was immense - it was the Martha Graham philosophy of using dance to express raw emotion.

It was very inspirational for the project in the sense that I have a much better understanding of the movement. It was a more brutal and raw movement than graceful and it will help me finalise my illustrations with a more accurate tone.

I can see how it requires the constant, disciplined conditioning that Graham demanded as some of the interactions and movements of the dancers would simply break a normal person physically. The strain must be horrendous on the body. Definitely a lot of respect for the dancers.

OUIL404 - End of Module Evaluation

406 - Martha Graham

 Layer, repetition, movement

The drawings I started with below I'm scrapping after my tutorial because they don't capture the movement of Graham's dancing or any of the aspects like repetition or the violence she had in her movements.

I've decided to try new things and be out of my comfort zone. It's really been beneficial. I'm getting results I've never had before and like it - I'm definitely enjoying the freedom using big brush strokes gives me. Working at a bigger scale the brush strokes create much more movement and action that drawings ever could. Black ink is perfect for the jarring violence of Graham's choreography. The red paint also works for her exploration of deep inner human emotions and sexual expression.  

Digital

I've tried a few digital experiments which allows me to use textures from landscapes that are appropriate for her style of dance. Rocky landscape photos of the coast line I took recently are symbolically powerful of her uncompromising attitude and philosophy towards her dancing. Photoshop is useful too for repeating images and creating transparent layering for her ideas on practice and discipline.

Chosen direction

Using black ink and found image is the method I'm going to refine and eventually adjust digitally.

I may need to keep the ink marks and collages separate and layer on top of each other digitally

I want the ink marks to create movement and the collages of body parts can merge into the ink markings and with help with composition and act as lines of sight.

Ink markings are more fluid and expressive - collage body parts are rigid and recreate her contract and release movements which were more jarring and aggressive.

406 - Person of note - research

BBC - Behind the scenes at the ballet

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-39179575

I'm going to get some tickets for next week's Casanova ballet. I'm hoping this will get me closer to the emotional side that Graham thought was so important to her choreography.

406 - Initial Task 1 - Illustrator using shape - Noma Bar

Noma Bar

Noma Bar uses vectors to create illustrations that have both positive and negative images within them. He has a minimal colour palette. They're often charming and funny once your brain adjusts to his clever manipulation of shapes.   

He always has a defined solid shape that is instantly recognisable before you notice the more subtle negative shape. Bar shows how it is possible to create these using as few as two colours.  

 

The egg astronaut below is just two shapes but I know it's an astronaut and I know it's an egg. Neither is weaker than the other in terms of being recognisable but the main thing I enjoy is that each illustration makes you smile.  

406 - Martha Graham

Martha Graham

I've chosen Martha Graham because there is so much to go on visually and conceptually. Her legacy is immense and really interesting and I can't wait to start exploring her work visually. Her dancing is honest and from the core of what she believes in - it's been quite inspiring reading about her attitude to making art. I hope to learn from her philosophy.

Picasso of dance - abstract, mono prints, shapes

Total discipline - applying her idea of disciplined training to mark making

Monochrome - Vintage/found images, black/white tones  

I'm going to look at aspects of her dance and her philosophy such as violence, power, gravity, human's inner-emotion. She was totally dedicated to her craft until the day she died - this needs to be reflected in the illustrations - it's the power and innovation she had that made her so influential.  

Research

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/martha-graham-about-the-dancer/497/

http://www.biography.com/people/martha-graham-9317723#from-dancing-to-choreography

http://marthagraham.org/about-us/our-history/

http://marthagraham.org/school/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb4-kpClZns

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaoBLxSElJE

 

The Northern Ballet in Leeds