Vectors

   Finished vector drawings! The colours on the file saved slightly off as a JPEG, but I like some of the colour combinations that ended up happening, like the bright turquoise against the yellow.
The second one is based on an observational drawing I did of me drawing, and the old man is a mash up between the man slumped in a chair at nero, and my fisherman character! I am a sucker for cute old men with majestic beards.
   As I did them I got a lot faster, because I started learning key shortcuts and how to move the mouse more accurately. I spoke to kerry about them, and we were concerned that they wont fit in with the rest of my exhibition, which will be mainly hand made prints. So, I will try to hand make these as well using water based media like watercolour and inks. Throughout this course I have worked hard to improve at these as they are what I enjoy working with the most, so it would be a good chance to put everything into practice. A big plus of this is that because it will be in traditional media I won't be restricted to block shapes, as I can add lines and patterns a lot more flowiness to the piece.

A3 prints finished!

   All four layers are finally done! I am so happy with how they turned out. I made 8 so there was room for changing colours and mistakes if some were misprinted, so I ended up making 3 that were a completely different colour palette, and honestly they were my favourite. The original colours were meant to be green, orange, pale yellow and dark brown, but I changed the dark brown to black, and then did some ones with prussian blue.

   The prussian blue ones are nicer because the lines are much less harsh than the black, and it gives a more subtle finish. Then I did a set with pale yellow, pastel pink, bright pink and prussian blue. This colour palette is a lot more lively and illustrative like an image from a book, and these prints were more aligned as well with no misprints. This is probably the one I will put in my exhibition. This is the most ambitious lino print I have done, and I think I pulled it off! 

First layer test print, with just the highlights.

3rd layer test print, adding details like wood grain and a picture frame.

Final prints! The blue shows up much better in person c:

Collograph printing

   I was inspired by a few artists, like Monster Riot, to try collagraph printing, where you build up layers to print rather than take them away like in lino printing. I wanted to print the fisherman from my paper cuts, but I wanted to be able to change the colour of each piece, so I made each part separately. I also printed over collaged grounds, which didn't go well because the print was already so complicated that adding a collaged BG was just overpowering. I think these prints could also be changed into vector drawings on illustrator.

   I'll probably but some of these in my final exhibition, as long as they fit. If I do this again I will need to paint the surface with thicker PVA and more layers, because after a couple of washes they started falling apart, so I was limited with changing colour.

Flowers make it extra aesthetic for instagram

Maria and the Fishermen

I have finished the first vector drawing! It took a while but i'm happy with how it came out. I chose the colours based on the outfit she was currently wearing, but ill probably mess around with the colours at some point later. The hands were the hardest part because they were so fiddly, but I saved them on a separate file so I can reuse them.

I also worked more on my paper cut drawing technique, and made some cute hipster fishermen characters. I used a combination of found papers and printed grounds to collage them, cutting out individual parts to build up the image. I think my problem before with papercut drawings is that I used the rush them, as I would get impatient, but today I took my time and made some decent paper cuts for the first time.

Lino prints

A small selection of 2 colour lino prints

   So far I have done two lino print designs from the A2 ink drawings I did. Getting the flowiness of the ink drawings to translate into lino is very difficult, and instead it gives a more structured, illustrative effect.
   By doing lots of prints I saw that just by changing the colour, the images can have complete opposite moods and interpretations. The orange girl for example looks more happy than the one in grey, which looks a lot more melancholic. Also, the green coffee mug reminds me of a science experiment, with bubbling chemicals, but the yellow one reminds me of sweet honey.

Starting Vector Drawing, and painting characters!

    I started a vector drawing today based on one of the lino prints and cafe drawings I did. I am new to the software so using illustrator is a learning curve, but it is coming along nicely. Hopefully the more I use it the faster I will get, because it is taking a while to complete this piece. The plan is that she will be holding a cup of tea, relating to the mindfulness research that I have done in my project previously, and she will look very relaxed. I want to do more of these, so that I can maybe have a set for my exhibition. The good think about vector drawings is that I can blow them up to any size, making using the digital printer a possibility. I could make them into posters and even frame them!

   Also today I finalised my character designs for my A3 print, so I can get printing that ASAP! It will be 4 colours; Orange, yellow, green and dark brown, inspired by the special ramen we had at Wagamamas! They should pay me for all of this advertisement, or at least give me free ramen...
   I ended up making the lady look more like the Yubaba lady that I drew at the bus stop, because the original just looked weird to me, and she looked kind of severe, like a harsh wife. I want her to be cute and relaxed looking! The end result looks much more like I planned; A nerdy hipster woman who probably has a million cats, and her husband just lets her because if it wasn't cats she was spending her money on, it would be expensive hand printed silk scarves...

composition tests

Today I worked on various compositions that I can use for my final A3 print. I used a lot of methods to do this so I could also experiment with techniques and materials. The first one was a monoprint with emulsion over the top.

  The emulsion kind of ruined it in my opinion, so I took these and photocopied them in black and white to collage them. I really love work that uses this technique but I am not very good at it, though I would like to be, so practice makes perfect!

After I collaged I overlaid the two using bypass printing. I really like how these came out because the overlapping materials created interesting patterns, but the drawings were still visible underneath, without the ugly emulsion smeared all over it. Tried sewing into one of them also, but getting straight lines is impossible! How do fashion students do it?!

   With some more photocopies I also put ink on them, then cut them out to make more collages, overlaying them with patterns made by printing with found packaging. I think the one where there is 4 sat around a desk looks very ominous, like a very serious meeting, or a group of cannibals at a dinner party.. I really like the composition of the other one though, how they aren't on the same level but still opposite. This is probably the one I will use for my A3 lino

Character design

   After doing the print of the man eating noodles I decided I want to make A big A3 print using lino based on this theme, as I really enjoy this printing technique and I have never done anything bigger than A4. I won't just jump in because the characters will not fit together, so character design is important.

    For this design I just took the man's face and basically made him into a woman. This way the characters don't look odd together. However, I don't like this composition, so tomorrow I will work on that to figure out what works best. It might be a bit weird that he is basically having dinner with himself.. that's not very romantic unless he's a narcissist.. but shhh nobody else will know..

Wagamamas

   Whilst at Wagamamas celebrating my 19th birthday I did an observational drawing of my boyfriend eating his ramen, with Nicolas Nemiri in mind who I found on Instagram, as I was using a pentel ink brush pen, and Nemiri works in a loose
way with ink that I admire.

  I experimented with mark making and layers in the prints based on that drawing, like Nemiri does in his work, and I like how the two colour prints came out, with the bold shapes and textures. The third 3 colour print however looks too busy, with too many marks, so if I use more than two colours in the future I'll work more with shapes and less with pattern.

Working Big

observational drawings from cafe Nero

   I wanted to get out of my sketchbook, and work more loosely like we have in previous workshops, and doing this really gave me motivation and ideas to work with. I want to use these paintings to create more refined prints, as they would go well in a series of 3.  The coffee cup image works the best because it is the simplest and the loose drips in black ink contrast well against the bright yellow. If I use colour in my prints I want it to be a bright contrasting colour against black. Translating the looseness of these ink paintings to lino print or collagraph will be difficult though.

A2 studies inspired by observational drawing, experimenting with ink, emulsion and acrylic paint.

Printing on collage

  This time I used sewing just as an accent in the background of my print, that I made out of found materials. I like the texture that the sewn parts create under the print, which is more visible where the ink is darker. It is subtle, but it adds something to make the image more interesting. This way of working isn't my cup of tea though, because printmaking using monoprints is very hit or miss. I'm glad I experimented with it though, as it is a good way to put texture and pattern into a piece.

To cheer myself up after the monoprinting I did a bit of lino printing onto collage. The contrast of this, from the light left side to the dark right side, works well in a composition, but something is missing.. Maybe it is his line from the rod, or fish swimming underneath..

Sewing

  Taking inspiration from Jose Romussi, I sewed over a picture of my boyfriends Grandad Rod using freehand embroidery on a sewing machine. He was very fitting because he was a sea fisherman in his spare time. I like the effect it gives because it adds translucency to the picture, like on his hat, which looks like it could be seethrough. However, I realised that there is such thing as too much, and sewing into the features of his face added a creepier feel that I wasn't going for...

When using this technique in other pieces, it would be best as just a small touch or to emphasise certain areas, because it can be overpowering. However, I would also like to try and sew an entire image on fabric, but maybe hand sewing would be better, as it gives more control.

Wild workshop

Acrylic paint and emulsion with ink over the top 

A1 piece, Ink with emulsion slapped on over the top 

   With Eddie we did a really fun workshop where we circulated around tables every 10 that required us to work with different media on different scales. We worked with collage, making grounds, photomontage, paint and bypass printing. I enjoyed this because it pushed me out of my comfort zone and I made things that I would not have thought of otherwise, so it was great for quickly generating ideas and it helped me accomplish what I set out to do in my last blog post. Working on such a large scale was scary but it was actually much faster than doing a small thing in my sketchbook.
   I really liked the effect that brushing emulsion over the ink gave; it blurred the lines to give a watery look. I also love the texture of acrylic, and I think it would be great for fabrics especially because the brush strokes show movement.
  To expand on this I need to take what worked (the movement and texture) into further experiments, and use these methods to quickly generate ideas throughout the rest of the project. It doesn't matter if everything's not perfect, as long as it gives more ideas that can be worked on later.

Development

     I spent a day developing the mark making processes that I tried out during the workshop, to create more controlled experiments focussed on my topic. I chose to develop the observational drawings of fishermen that I did, because fishing is a very important pastime in my family. I also wanted to add an element of colour, so I chose a palette that my mind instantly relates to fishermen; the bright yellow of their jackets and the reds in their faces from all of that bracing sea air. The first experiment was very detailed, so in the second image I tried to simplify it, but I think I still prefer the first one because although their are more lines, the simple colours break it up into shapes.

   After this I will use different media that I do not normally to draw with and make marks, to push me outside of my comfort zone, because Ink has become my go to media lately.

Print experiments

   Thursday is print day, I used to hate printmaking but I love it now because it is a fast way to kick out lots of work, that looks good together! For these prints I wanted to experiment further with some of the mark making I did the day before. I translated the marks onto monoprints, and combined that with collage and using stencils, to create lots of small pieces. These types of marks can be used for anything, so from now on I will probably fill my sketchbook with this kind of work. The next step will be seeing how these marks apply to different things, such as fabric and photographs, and how I can use different media and tools to do this.

Making a Mark

In a workshop I made lots of strips full of marks, made using only a small selection of tools. It is not something I am used to, as a lot of the marks were very uncontrolled, but it really helped me loosen up and I feel like it has kickstarted my productivity a lot! Using these techniques in my sketchbook will make it much more vibrant and interesting.


   After I exhausted all of the tools I challenged myself to do an observational drawing using only a selection of these marks, no pen or pencils aloud! I really enjoyed this way of working, and it created some interesting, and...terrifying drawings that I am really proud of. Seeing these results encourages me to experiment more fearlessly in the future.

Mindfulness

   I have started to think about mindfulness, and how this whole concept of being at peace with yourself is trending right now. Relaxation and me time are becoming the new thing, and this concept is everywhere, which I am thankful for! Adult colouring books are now a thing, stress related mental illnesses are being dealt with and from watching a lot of videos I have figured out how to de-stress myself in better ways. We are starting to realise the importance of free time, and abandoning modern stresses to look back at a simpler time. 

   This whole idea fits my project's theme perfectly, because it shows that how we pass time is becoming a cycle. When we didn't have technology or books, we would de-stress by meditating, watching the world or doing a hobby. In an increasingly busy world we forgot about all of that, but it is coming back into fashion. 

Here is the Ted talks on Mindfulness  that I watched recently, which I found really inspiring for my project. 

London drawings

    I drew from exhibits in the V&A that I thought were relevant to my project. I want to develop them to add narrative, and expand on the media I use in my work. I want to use the drawings of people I did to make characters and designs, to build on my ideas. I found out a lot about what people used to do in Europe in the past, and I will use this research to develop ideas later on.

A woman I saw smoking at the bus stop on my way home, that I drew partially from memory, as she escaped half way through! I had to draw her because of her magnificent nose; she reminded me of Yubaba from Spirited Away. From this I could look at people's bad habits. I am sure a lot of people have some weird ones.

Relating to one of the questionnaire answers. Luckily, it is anonymous. 

London

  I went to London to gather research and inspiration for my project, specifically the V&A gallery, and the Natural History Museum, not because it has anything to do with my project but because I want to see the dinosaurs! The dinos were very inspiring, and so was all of the beautiful artwork in the V&A. I have always loved traditional sculpture; the detail, the flow, the strong forms and of course those amazing booties! One thing I admire the most is the way they sculpt fabric.. I can't even draw it, let alone make it out of clay. Here are my best snaps, not including selfies.

Achilles Heel.. If you're in pain, you have to do it fabulously!

"Paint me like one of your French girls"

A strong woman who could snap a man in two

The deep.. she is calling

The gates of Hell.

The Tsum Tsum summoning circle, worshipping our lord Satan.

Question time!

   I created a questionnaire on Surveymonkey that had questions to do with how we pass the time now and what we did when we were younger. I got a lot more responses than I was expecting! From these responses I had a better idea of what to draw from observation, and it gave me a lot of ideas.

   Below is a self portrait I did showing a popular answer to "what do you do while waiting for the bus", which was judging other people, or "people watching". I did a line drawing of my expression if I am judging someone, and on the other side I drew how my face looks whilst feeling judged. I find it silly that although every person dislikes the feeling of judgemental eyes upon them, we are all guilty of judging random passers by on the street.

The survey: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/5GQHNSZ 

   When asked "what distracts you", a lot of people said that their pets did, which I can definitely relate too, because my dog is the biggest attention whore in the world! Another attention whore is my grandma's bird, Lady, who chirps away until you hand feed her seeds. I did several sketches of her, then made some more polished pieces. The first one is just done with a thin brush and ink, and the other is done with cut paper collage and ink. I really enjoyed the process of making a nice finished drawing, but it took way too long, and I became too precious with it. From now on, I have to just jump in and make a mess, or I will never meet the deadline!

Lady the Birb

Under my Umbrella

*Not relevant but pretty.

          Done using a similar technique to the ink blob character workshop. They are observational doodles of a paper parasol, done using a fine line pen and ink with a stick.

Observe, Experiment, Create

   On the first real day of project work, we started by doing some timed observational drawings to get our hands working. They look gross I know, but hey, I hadn't drawn in like.. a week...

Of course seeing this pile of lines kicked me up the butt, so after this I began to draw every day again.

After this we took the drawings and experimented with them, using different techniques and compositions in an effort to make them less cringe-worthy.

On this first one I liked the contrast of the line drawing of the scooter against the the solid shapes of the umbrella.




      On this one I tried to be messier, using collage with ink and stick,

To make a final image I combined all of the things I liked in my experiments into one Frankenstein design, I combined collage and cut paper shape background, with messy ink (scraped across with card) and careful line drawing. Observe, Experiment and Create is a tactic I will use throughout this entire project
(:

*Says the old lady inside me, shaking her stick at the Younguns..

Mind Mapping

   The first thing I did before starting the project was create an extensive mindmap, so I have an idea of the type of research that will need to be done, and which direction I can go. 
So far the routes that I would most like to explore are related phrases, passing things down generations and the horror of having no wifi.

Character Workshop

Featuring Mogzilla the eel, Francake the cat and Allkazar the Great and Powerful Wizard.

  In this workshop we were shown a technique to help us loosen up before starting our projects, which is also useful for creating original characters/creatures/objects. We had to make a random mark with ink, and add to it with pen to create an image. Then, we gave them stories. It was really helpful, because it forced me to come up with random creative ideas, to draw things I would not normally do. I found as we were going that the less marks you make, the better your character will be, because you have to be more creative to use a smaller mark. I also found that doing things like this outside of my comfort zone has helped me settle into a style, that I can doodle in and feel comfortable with. 

Starting the project

  My Brief...

   In this project I want to explore the concept of free time. How much do we have? How do we use it? Has our perception of free time changed? I want to find out what people do to relax, no matter how weird. I want to capture quirky personalities and moments of blissful free time, and show them through illustration using different media.
   This blog will be dedicated to documenting my final major project in my foundation degree course. I will use it as a journal to track my progress, to see in one place what works and what doesn't, and to note down my thoughts. My end goal for this project is to exhibit some work, and discover more about who I am and what I'm interested in before I head off to university. It will be an exciting and hectic process!