OUIL404 - End of Module Evaluation

OUIL404: Fan Art - Leonardo da Vinci screen print

Leonardo da Vinci

Choosing Leonardo da Vinci for my fan art poster was easy. I have favourite films and music but da Vinci is someone who I have always had huge respect for and one of the people who most inspires me. He's obviously considered a genius and admired by everyone for his talent but I also have a personal, life long obsession with his drawings and his desire to know as much as he could to understand about the world.  

After a slightly dodgy start we managed to produce some prints that turned out really well and were what I had hoped.

Alternative interpretation, not a facsimile

I thought it would be a good idea to simply copy a few of his drawings and paintings to get a feel for which areas of his work I wanted to use. Quickly it was clear that copying his drawings is difficult in itself as they are technically some of the best drawings ever so I needed to use a different method.

I also wanted the poster to be a modern interpretation of his work rather than an ineffectual copy.

Why da Vinci? What about him do I admire most?

I thought about what works of da Vinci's most people think of and there were the obvious ones such as Mona Lisa so I tried to create a modern vision of her using reference photos/found images. A more graphic style make it feel more contemporary but I thought hard again about what aspects I personally like but his paintings aren't the main reason I'm a fan of his. I needed to celebrate his drawings without copying them badly somehow. 

The two sketchbook pages above are exploring the famous images often associated with da Vinci. 

Such an iconic image has been reimagined thousands of times. Maybe another version is a cliche in itself.  

I looked at the anatomical drawings which I find both technically and aesthetically incredible. I copied a few of the drawings and gradually tried to isolate and simplify the complexity of his drawing style. 

I find when I draw from references in a fluid, non exact way, that the most important shapes and tones are brought to attention and any other details are lost. I focused on the light and darks and wanted a simple graphic representation. 

Collage and black ink worked together as a striking and vivid version of his anatomical drawings of the muscles in the human body. The Dover book had some perfect images as the old etchings were from a period when realism was required and they reminded me of the renaissance paintings but also Leonardo's anatomical drawings and studies he did for paintings.  

Another thing about da Vinci was that he never finished many of his projects. I seem to have a soft spot for unfinished works of any artist, and illustrators whose work is selective and seemingly abandoned and da Vinci often felt he could never truly represent the beauty of something and only ever make an inferior version. So cutting out a section of the complete etchings gives a them new meaning, and immediately focuses attention on the anatomical structure as well as a non final piece of artwork. 

I was really happy with the positives after applying the ink. It had the modern feel I wanted and a bold, solid aesthetic which i knew would work on screen print. The limbs remind me of renaissance paintings and the black ink adds the anatomical muscles. 

Less is more

The problem I've been having most on the course is probably managing my time for each project. Either rushing near the end or not spending enough time playing with ideas. But because my screen print partner could only do the following Monday my time was halved which helped me focus and produce one of the better pieces of work I've done in probably the shortest time. 

    

OUIL404: Diorama

Diorama 

Once again I think it's all about making stuff and making mistakes. From the diorama I can take aspects that surprised me and like and also the things that don't work when analysing my practice as a whole. 

The experimentation is something I'm trying to bring together with my drawing.

What I need to do is be selective with which experiments/tests work together.

I'm still trying to cram everything I've been trying into one image, making the finished image confusing for the viewer. 

With the diorama I needed to simplify the cutouts and keep them separate from my more detailed pen strokes. That or just keep the cutout and drawn details consistent throughout the image. 

Things that worked

The brown paper added a nice texture and depth and worked well the piles of earth(without the pen drawn on top). Blocks of red used worked well to create a central line of sight from the figure at the bottom up to the trees at the top and I'm gradually thinking more and more about the effect shapes and lines have on the viewer. The diggers can be used as a frame to keep the viewer's gaze central. It's interesting to see how subtle changes in the arrangement can completely alter the line of sight. I'm realising how crucial composition is and that lines drawn on the page are needed to make you think about what or who is the main focus in the image. In the past I've always spend a long time moving things around on the page until the image works, all the time without having composition tools in mind before or after I'd finished the work. 

Considering what the arrangement will be before I even start drawing is tricky I find. But I suppose a drawing can be worked around and made to work or even be made more powerful with a few simple adjustments around the drawing to increase it's importance. 

OUIL404: Story board

Storyboard task

My film was Interstellar and the best way to plan the storyboard was to first write down the key events in the film and edit them down to the twelve most crucial moments that tell the rough outline of the story.

Don't worry about detail

Doing the storyboard did make me stop and think about the story of the film but I focused on the more memorable and dramatic moments that people would recognise easiest through a simple sketch.

Control & Communication - my line control became a bit erratic with the rough drawings and it's important I don't allow my rough sketches to become only recognisable to me, like my hand writing sometimes does.  

OUIL404: Collage book

Robots and Future Technology

I've really enjoyed making this book. I've realised I can fall in love with an image or piece of illustration and at the same time reject the majority of image making I see. I'm drawn to collage for it's clarity and open ended possibilities of interpretation. The smallest adjustment can alter an images meaning completely.  

The subject of future technology is obviously difficult to visualise as the development of technology seems to be accelerating faster and faster and if we saw technology fifty years from now we'd probably have our minds blown. I feel it could be a more subtle relationship between machines with implanted technology into the human body.

I feel like I subconsciously reference Sci-fi TV and film in some of the images as this seems to form our vision of the future. Using hand crafted collage to illustrate future technology is difficult in terms of aesthetic but the concepts of extra dimensions and biotechnology for example can be communicated so sharply because universally we can make sense of the arrangement of the found images.

Torn paper and simple blocks of colour are given a meaning and purpose once one or two images are added.

The coloured background below is a printer test I found in the bin in the library. It's great you can use anything you find to create illustrations.

  

OUIL404: Collage

Collage - Robots/Future Technology themed booklet

Matt showed some collage artists and Anthony Zinonos was one of them who I had forgotten all about. He uses torn pieces of paper/fabric that become beaches and canyons. It's so simple and clever and shows how you can overcomplicate an image by trying to be too clever. I had some orange paper left over and used it in a similar way. I want to use colour in my collage because it can alter the texture and depth as well as adding a lot of personality and can act as a structure for the black and white imagery.

Found Images

Because I love collage and it's universal appeal I've been collecting old books which are fascinating and have beautiful photographs that can be re arranged and contextually manipulated.

Mad Scientist

Matt said making collage is like the process of a mad scientist experimenting to create a Frankenstein monster. I think I have a natural ability with collage arrangement and maybe this is because it is a medium that I believe will always be evolving and never fall out of fashion as anyone can try collage and nearly all results are at least funny or visually stimulating. At the other level they can be very profound and arrangements can raise questions for the audience that perhaps other media like drawing would struggle to ask as intently.  

Collage forces you to twist reality

Jump into an alternate universe

Images sometimes decide for you where they belong in the composition

Is it humour we usually feel with collages or unease at the unfamiliar?

It brings the inner child out of you

Scale, context, meaning can all be shaped into infinite different arrangements

There is a reliance on gut instinct for the final arrangement

Adding one image forces the image as a whole into a new direction

OUIL 404: Line Quality & Mark Making - Robots, FutureTechnology

Future Tech/Robots

I'm really enjoying the drawing tasks and trying to apply them to the subject.

Exploring expression of line quality and mark making creates infinitely more ways of drawing a certain subject.

A theme or subject can be represented in many different ways when using different methods.

I'm starting to combing fine lines with rougher marks. Fine line drawings are given a depth and have more energy.

Fine pen drawings give a definition of shape and abstract pencil marks add energy/movement.

For my subject I've explored nanotechnology - the very small that we can't see.

I've tried to draw marks and lines with chaotic energy but also very measured lines.

There has to be a certain mystery to the shapes as it is obviously my interpretation and it's technology still in development.

Robots and future technology are associated with Science Fiction which I am not that familiar with but I've found drawing concept art of landscapes and action scenes really helpful for developing my ideas of what the future might look like.

I've focused on spheres as they are a common shape associated with particles in textbooks and I think are a good way to illustrate tiny robots/technology as we need shapes/symbols to picture the infinitely small.  

It's interesting to see a repeated mark gradually evolve into a larger, solid object and take on a 3D form. Adding shade and tone with pencil helps create depth.

Ambiguous, blurry spheres are appropriate for the tiny, fuzzy, quantum world

When a simple mark is built up or used multiple times they start to become something interesting.

Mark making development

Research concept art sketches for science fiction films

Look at illustrators who use a lot of marks and unique line technique

Read up more on concepts of nanotechnology/future technology in general

Use different media - more brush strokes, colour, digital 

OUIL404: Mark making/Texture/Digital testing

Digital testing with A3 sketchbook

I wanted to do a quick experiment with some of my marks and A3 sketchbook drawings.

Below is the outcome. I used my mark making test as a sort of central focal point and used a textured section from an old photo for patterns to frame the drawing.

Digital allows a lot of manipulation of texture and scale but lacks the random, gradual process of drawing. I never would of come up with any of the marks and expressive drawings using Photoshop but Photoshop is brilliant for building around a drawing with patterns that would be impossible to draw

The section I used below is from an old photograph.

Perhaps a similar texture can be created using print processes?

Using one of the Photoshop tools does allow for some randomness when I selected patches from the photo.

The combination of digital and drawing works well.

Hand drawing the entire work would mean working out the layout and arrangement

Digital does speed up the process a lot but is it as exhaustive spending time sketching and planning the arrangement manually.

Using Photoshop does sometimes feel like style over substance but I want to continue learning how to use it in a subtle way and as an expressive tool the same way I would use a manual tool.  

OUIL404: We Built This City

Tone, Mark, Pattern

My house probably wasn't my perfect house but I tried to use the mark making techniques for the perfect house.

I find doing quick, expressive sketching comes naturally to me.

I seem to naturally draw very quick and loosely.

I let the mark making dictate the shape and structure of the house rather than draw from reference.

I liked the tone of the sketchbook drawings but it didn't translate well into the finished house which was kind of confused in that it was a mix of detail and rough mark making.

Matt said it's a harsh learning process of drawing that scale will change the way an image has to be approached. The small sketches have an energy and purpose but when working bigger, the marks and patterns need to be different in terms of technique and materials used.

My house was dwarfed as it sat on the outskirts of the city...

OUIL404: Shape & Texture

Shape

I talked to Matt about the human quality of hand crafted shape making. The imperfections are what stood out for me. Digital shape making can be impersonal in it's perfect form.

I have a natural love of playing with blocks of colour but usually in a more abstract way and next to detailed imagery so just using blocks of colour to represent an orange was out of my comfort zone which was interesting.

Simple, abstract blocks of colour can be quickly recognised as a familiar object.

A pure, coloured shape is immediate and instantly asks the brain to try and identify the object. 

 

                          
I was happy with the outcomes. Using orange paper on white background allows the symbol of the orange (fruit) to be shown with different shapes. I think the more abstract square shape would work along side similar fruit illustrations but maybe not on it's own.

                                             
                                  
                                                                      Texture

I found the portrait task liberating in the sense that arranging the textured paper was random and quick. I quickly found that there was no limits to how 'realistic' the portrait could be and enjoyed the complete lack of rules.

The final outcome at first seemed insane and messy but I liked the energy and honesty of the portrait. It's an image that would be impossible to create with my usual drawing techniques.

These portraits I recognised and thought had big personality and were beautiful as stand alone works of art.