Composition hand out-holiday task

 I read a lot of art related books based on art history, art that made movements and icons through art and time and I have done for many years now, doing so I gained a understanding about art through time and some methods that artists use. This to me is more academic learning.. Nothing that helps my practice has such. After reading the five page hand out I was suprised at the reaction I gave to it! Iv learnt lots from this little hand out that made me see things completely different! The four main elements is what grabbed me the most, it made me think how much this could change my work. 

It made me question my work that I had recently created. I looked through my body of work and noticed that, there isn't room for improvement but now it's not finished! This hand out has changed the way I look at illustration and art pieces. Make me release how maybe iv been a tad quick with my methods and missing out the most important parts such as experimenting with composition, or not doing enough of it anyway. 

Iv always had an understand about depth and tone, so the points and lines is a new trick for me. This will help my progression in my studio practice and my commission work loads.

Before I even read about the points I looked at the image of the soldier and my eyes did look at the large centre piece and eventually glanced across the gun and towards the foreground action! And then reading afterwords that is the hole purpose of points amazed me.  

Rather strange of how excited it got me after reading the hand out. 

Tell an untold story, page idea

•Making rough sketches of a story.

•The sketches are not my final idea this was just to give me and idea that will be on each page. By doing this I can add and remove pages to create a successful story. 

The main elements that I have learnt from a fox life are:-

• scavengers 

• survivors 

• pests (making a mess)

• looking for food in every kind of weather 

• the risk of been harmed in traffic 

• being confidant around urban places 

• confronted by people 

• aggressive 

• timid 

• travel miles in a short space of time

I wanted to have all these things with in my rough. I need to show al these things. I feel I have but maybe not in the right order.

• cover!. Fox in his hole, having a stretch

• page 1. Looking out on to the urban 

• page 2. Fox roaming the streets

• page 3 looking at bins for food 

• page 4 fox emptying bins

• page 5 birds eye view of the mess he's made 

• page 6 fox running through traffic 

• page 7 fox sat in worse weather 

• page 8 fox finding entering a park 

• page 9 fox finding old kebab and drinks ( to insinuate the time of the night and drunk people) 

• page 10 getting chaiced by people

• page 11 hiding from the man 

• page 12 scared and hungry 

• page 13 startled by another pertential chaise 

• page 14 standing the ground 

• page 15 standing his ground 

• page 16 makes man run off

• page 17 rooting for food

• page 18 lost hope for food (sad expression, rubbish weather)

• page 19 finds pizza (looking from behind the fox head)

• page 20 takes it back to his hole for family. 

•wanted a little twist at the end like this to just show that fox's are just surviving 

• the text in my pictures will not be there I added the text as notes to what I want the expression of the characters to say. I'm still not 100% sure if I want this book to be a serious, child or mature book! after drawing these roughs I feel im pushed towards the idea of making a childrens book. 

• next I will experiment with layout and perspective for each page, I will also be experimenting with media that will help me choose a style and media for the books illustration.

An untold story - project proposal

Picture book title? 

Not decided just yet 

What is your picture book about?

My book is about the life of the urban fox, to illustrate with out txt the nighty activity of the animal. Following a fox from the moment it wakes to the time it rests. 

What are you trying to achieve?

I Nicley crafted book that is entertaining and enlightens the life of a urban fox. I want the images in this book to be different to my own style but very well crafted 

How might this book function?

My book will be a basic stapled book or as a consantina, so when it unfolds it will act as a graphic Noval 

In order to develop these ideas, my research over Christmas will be...

To research other illustration books and styles, to devolve a body of campers of styles my book will be devolved into,I will create the story page for page and create experiments of lay outs that work best to tell my story.  

Self evaluation 

The past two weeks on this brief I have discovered a new love for items that I wouldn't draw, I also gained a new knowledge on urban animals. Through out my research I did a wide variety of methods to research. How ever I struggled with observational drawing... Because there was times were I wanted to draw just for the sake of filling the pages or just to tick boxes. The most beneficial was when I was gathering information from poeple, making conversation to document in my sketch book. Through out all this work I don't regret any research because I have learned somthing from each method all was beneficial to my work and had gained me to the point I am with my work now. I'm going to experiment with media drawing the same image over and over but in acrylic, water colour, ink, acrylic ink, charcoal, pencil, digital.  

An untold story- group feedback

Group critt. 

This briefs group critt was different and we had to fill in detailed paper work for us to get more beneficial feed back from our crits. 

• this is the questions and my answers

Details of your location:

My first successful location was of a antique collection shop that line out items for props to the itv TV station for dramas 

My second location is the city but based on the animals that live with in it.

What was your expectations before your visit?

I expected a dusty rustic place that resembled a car boot sale or somthing that resembled my my grandmothers living room.

What did you do there?

Firstly I walked the huge shop area and had a good thorough look at the mass of items there. I was hugly inspired by all the items and the history and story's that they express with the age battered appearance.

My second location. I walked around the woods looking for animals and any nature that inspired me, I collected a body of work for my research.

Details of each research:

Observational drawing, on site research (getting info from people at my location)

Library research and Internet research

People/interview quotes 

Shop owner explained how she rents out the items for props to itv and film university's. She allows members of care homes to visit the shop to be reminded of there past, and to help member of that care home who have dementia.

Experience

I experienced bitterness of winter, experienced the motivational kick that I've been needed lately. I also experienced drawing things that I wouldn't think about drawing and really enjoyed it and will draw more of this. 

I experienced a face to face moment with a fox that was stubben and aggressive that lead to my inspiration to document urban animals. 

Factual/historical/ secondary research 

I found out what some of the items was and what they was used for. And a story to go with each item that backed up the meaning and what the item is used for.

I found out reasons why animals live in Leeds and the habitats and there personality.

How did you use photography to document your field trip?

I used photography to document items that inspired me and items that I wanted to study in more detail at a later date.

How have you used writing and note taking to speculate and develop potential routes for further development in your sketch book

I took notes of things I heard around me and notes of conversations I had with people. I took notes that told me detail and colours of items so I could relate to them at a later dat.

From your research you've done so far , if you had to make a book tomorrow- what would it be called or be about

My book would be based on the items from 1940s each page will have an item on with a story that goes with it from my grandads past. Or illustrate the story's my grandfather told me.

Would be the personality of a urban animal.Or I would create a story that follows a fox that describes there habits and personality during the night, to show what we don't see at night.

What would be its purpose/ tone or intent of this book.

The item/grandads story's would be a book that evidenced items from the 40s and has a story to back that up. Maybe a educational book is keep it charming but try to make the book for a younge age.

Fox story. This book would be to entertain and to show the story of a fox that we don't see, if the book is aimed at a older audience or not depends on the art style.

Group feed back. 

How well has the illustrator speculated around their research? 

Pretty well. Direct initial ideas that I can push forward! 

Comment on the use of drawing as a research tool.

Verry well made little roughs that makes a clear vision to each idea.

Comment on the use of secondary research as a research tool.

Research pretty well

Which proposed themes/ concept at this point do you feel have the most potential for further development?

Relate the items to grandads story's 

Urban animals and characters.

•explore both topics more

•visit other antique shops

•ask more people more story's compare them to grandad

 

Tell an untold story

We was given the task to choose a second destination. I didn't go to a location because I was inspired by a grumpy fox I bumped into late at night. I have a love for farm and urban animals. I chose to go with my inspiration and to make more a body of work based on nature. 

•  I started my sketch book work by going to the local woods behind my accommodation. I could have drawn lots of trees and bush but I felt I was just drawing that for the sake of filing pages in my book I wanted to draw things that truly inspired me to draw them.

• the depth of the oath way inspired me to draw this one. If you looked closely and long enough you could see the trees was slightly different colour by distance. I exaggerated this and documented it. 

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• the knotts and the perspective of look up at the tree made me wonder if I could express that in my sketch book.

• bumping into animals was beging to become a challange, so documented the sounds I could here from my room window and used photos that I had collected from my stay here in leeds . 

• I couldn't see an owl but I could hear them.

• magpie and hesghog drawings from photos 

• this is the image I have in my mind of the fox that was slightly aggressive and protective. 

• my window back on to feilds and woodland from my window I see foxes running in and out of the woods. By chance I saw a fox scrounging. I had to keep whistling for about 30 seconds to draw it. I added the grey wash after my observational drawing 

• hare drawings are drawn from Google images. Before this I researched what urban animals there are in leeds 

-badger 

-fox 

-hate

-hesghog 

-rats 

And birds too many to List. 

 

• after collecting a body of work, I was at a lose end of how I could make my animals into a book. After speaking to my tutor he gave me the direction to develop a book about urban animals, maybe a picture book of a list of illustration of urban animals with in Leeds or to focus on one and document its behaviour and personalitys or how a urban animal differs from a country animal. All positive and exciting leads. 

Tell an untold story

I find this project exciting and a good opportunity to push my skill and develope them. I look forward to the chance of been able to create a book, this is somthing I have been waiting to learn for a while. For the untold story I chose to visit the York railway museum but I changed my mind and felt it would be better to not plan to visit anywere and do this spontaneously because With a destination in mind I couldn't help my self but begin to think of the things j could draw there I was already plotting story's and what not. So it would be better to just hit the road and see what I get from a body of work. 

After a long cold morning of been told you can't draw this and your not aloud here I found my self desperate and unmotivated later I ended up at a antique shop. 

• a collection of photos from the shop

Some facts about the shop 

• they rent out there items to film colleges and to the itv center for props for dramas 

• they allow members of care homes to visit there shop to be reminded of the younger past 

• the shop is always freezing 

• I found my self obsessed with the 1940 items. The history with in them and the story's they tell with there ages body.

I asked my grandparents if they recall any of the items and they did, and the story's that went with them was amazing!

• one of my favourite story's was my grandads old footballs tails from his teens. " we used to play with them footballs... All leather, all heavey if you hit them with the wrong side of your toe you would know about it. If you was in the box waiting for an header and you saw the leather stitches coming in for your head, you knew you was going for stitches your self. Many Sunday's I was at the drs with a cut forehead or a broken toe. 

• I drew these glasses because I was in love with the age of them and in my mind was thinking how many things these have seen how many story's, and history they could tell. 

• experimented with ink to get a old ageing look. With a bit more controll and time I feel ink would be the perfect media to voice the age of an item 

Cowboys and Indians- collage poster

I started this task by researching wanted posters and the styles they was created in, I felt the wanted posters was a bit obvious to make and that a portraite on a poster would be easy because that's one of my strong skills with in my practice so I decided to go for a more figurative and lesser detail image on a poster.

• making thumb nails of different poster ideas let me experiment with fun a quirky posters themes. I was taken to the rodeo idea because I felt it would be somthing you would have seen in the old west... Anything for a cowboy to make a bit of cash.

• I made a rustick backdrop with brusho. I started by wetting the paper and and brushing a thin layer of brusho over it to get a solid base and then I flicked black ink on to the poster backdrop

 

• I found a very basic image of the out line of a silhouette of a rodeo cowboy, I used sharply and a fine pen to block out the image but leaving enough information so you can see what the image is. I then used asertate to trace the silhouette so i could apply it to my poster and later photocopy the image.. I used asertate on the hope that when I photo copy it you could see the texture to give it an old printed look.

• I printed of a western A-Z font and used asertate to create my txt for the font 

Final layout

• I was advised to add white to the image to bring out movement and a more prominent expressive tone to the image. 

At this stage I'm really happy with he results because I never do collage work or use asertate in any of my methods of working but after this I feel I will definitely use this method in the future. Been able to move the asertate and experiment with layout and been able to see it before hand has really helped me, it's given me a confidence to use txt in my images, as before I would keep away from txt, due to my dyslexia I have (had) 0 confidence in adding txt to me work. I feel this is a tiny brake through in my practise.

 

Happy with this scanned image I got the effect I was looking for the grainy backdrop and the texture with in the txt and image.