The first practical work that I created for this project was using the idea generating method the 'Idea Factory'.
I chose the three words; Utopian, Water and Wrap. Using these words I created a collaged piece.
Problem solving:
Instead of using the traditional collage techniques with cutting images out of newspaper or magazine and sticking them down I used photoshop to visualize my idea. I ran into different problems while creating this piece. The two main ones were I struggled to get certain shapes that I wanted and the images didn't blend well together. To fix these problems I took certain parts of the images that I collected, that already had a certain shape, instead of trying to create shapes that I wanted, it gave a more natural look to the final outcome. And for the blending, I sorted the images about, so the images with near the same colours were placed together or placed so the colours blended together naturally.
The Idea Factory task is a great idea generating process and creates different ideas and ways of thinking towards methods that I wouldn't of thought of without this task. Because I have used this method before I already had an idea to base this piece off. I used the idea of creating a creature out of the material I chose, water, and had the person being encased in the water like it was protecting, guarding the person. I wanted to create a sense of protection that the water creature I designed gives off like a guardian spirit.
I liked the outcome of this piece. I think it is a great start to this project as the ideas I gathered were unique and the technique to visualize my idea, collage, was effective. I will develop this method of using collage to visualize my ideas throughout this project.
Evaluations for collage work.
Evaluations for collage work.
Paper dolls are apart of the material, technique and processes that I wanted to explore this project.
I looked into the different types of paper-dolls: dolls that have tabs so you can change the cloths and paper dolls that use split pins to create moving joints. I focused on making a doll with moving joints using split pins for my experimentation using this technique.
I like the style and idea of a paper doll, I think the moving joint doll is a great, but I don't like the outcome and the process of the experimentation that I created.
I think if I took my time and created an actual paper doll, I might of liked the technique more, but I think you can get a level of detail using this technique but I think you can get more detail in a normal illustration. And I also think this idea is to fragile for the work I want to create.
The health and safety that I need to consider when using the split pins is, when piercing it through the paper make sure my fingers are not near the area where I am pressing the split pin through, so I dont injure myself.
Health and Safety:
Artist research responses:
James Gurney response:
Beatrix Potter response:
I liked the style of Beatrix Potter's work and I liked the outcome of collaging my initial ideas of her work and the process, but I don't think this is something I would want to develop further in this project because it doesn't link to my project or how I want to develop a piece for my final work piece as well as the ideas itself.
Ellen Jewett response:
Ellen Jewett response:
After researching and analyzing Beatrix Potter's work I collaged the ideas that came to me when I started looking at her work.
I gathered images of small to medium sized mammals because Potter focuses on smaller creatures rather than the much larger ones. I also gathered coloured and patterned paper to create the clothing.
I liked the style of Beatrix Potter's work and liked the outcome of collaging my initial ideas of her work and the process, but I don't think this is something I want to develop further in this project, because it doesn't link to my project or how I want to develop a piece for my final outcome.
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I used extinct animals and the same technique and process for the previous ideas.
I used images of 'Carrier Pigeon' and a species of 'Bison' from North america. I merged these extinct animals with images of plants and flowers that are native to their previous habitat.
I am extremely happy with the outcome of these collages as well as these two are some of my favourites that I created inspired by Ellen Jewett.
Health and Safety:
The health and safety I had to consider while making work based on the artist Ellen Jewett was, while cutting the images out that I wanted to collage together using a craft knife I have to use a cutting mat under neath what I was cutting as to not damage the surface I was working on and to be careful while using the craft knife as to not harm myself, so I cut away from my body and kept my hands away from the direction I was cutting.
After developing my project into looking at immortal animals, I wanted to develop my blob creatures that remind me of these immortal, microscopic animals using different practical techniques.
After I blew up my drawings of the blob creatures I used them as a base to draw into my lino so I could create prints.
Lino Print process:
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I started created my lino prints by, using the blown up images of my blob creatures. I traced three of my favourite creatures onto tracing paper and then transferred them onto the lino.
I then used different lino tools to get the intricate details of my drawings and to cut the large sections of the lino that I have used.
I then mixed the colours, light yellow and purple, onto a mat, which I transferred using a roller onto the lino prints. Then using a second roller I smoothed out the paper on top of the lino to make sure the ink is evenly pressed onto the paper.
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Health and Safety:
The health and safety of lino printing is: when using a lino cutter be sure to cut away from yourself and place your free hand away from the direction you are cutting with the tool as to not injure yourself, but place it on the lino as to not move it while I am cutting.
Another risk is when mixing and printing with the ink, make sure all work that could be on your desk is moved as to not damage and ruin your work if ink is spread across the work top.
Lino Prints:
Problem solving:
One of the drawings I chose to transfer onto lino was to complicated to cut, so I decided not to cut this pattern as it is to difficult and complicated to complete.
The second problem I ran into while printing my two patterns was one of the other designs that I struggled to cut into the lino wasn't printing properly. I printed it twice in both the colours I mixed, but it came out as blotchy and not neat compared to the other design I made, so I only printed this design twice and the other three times.
I liked how the duck creature came out but not the dinosaur design, as it was difficult to cut on the lino and the design came out as blotchy when printed onto the paper.
The duck design came out clear and detailed compared to the other designs I chose.
I think this technique works with the drawings I want to develop, but I would have to simplify or only chose the designs that are simple to create into lino prints as the detailed drawings are difficult to cut into the lino and don't print very well.
I like the outcome using this technique, but I didn't like the process or the material I had to use for this process.
Ernst Haeckel response:
These pieces are inspired by Ernst Haeckel. He created scientific illustrations of specimens.
From looking at Haeckel's work he looked at specific groups of specimens from sea life to detailed illustrations of plants such as mushrooms.
I used Haeckel's attention to detail and created three of my blob creatures using watercolours as the main block of colour and then went back in with coloured pencil to create some detail and realism in my creatures. I liked the first one I created, the green and blue creature, I think it has good detail and the coloured pencils blended together well to create the level of realism I wanted, but the other two that I created using this technique, I wasn't happy with compared to the first one I created. The coloured pencils didn't mix with the watercolour blob well and I thought it looked scruffy, so I didn't continue doing this technique with this response.
I created two pages to respond to Haeckel's work, because his work looks at the groups land and sea life, I created my own blob creatures based on these sections of animals. My favourite page that I created was the sea life, as it was detailed, and I liked the different patterns and shapes I was able to use in this piece. I would have liked to continue with the watercolours and coloured pencils technique as I know it works but I didn’t want to as I didn’t have enough time and I liked how they ended up with the original technique of using watercolours and a black or dark fine liner.
Sunniva Krogseth response:
To respond to the artist Sunniva Krogseth I took an A3 piece of paper and collaged a scene onto it using organic shapes to create my blob creatures. Krogseth uses materials like ink and paint, as well as some digital formats to finish off her pieces, to create scenes with organic shapes.
Using Krogseth's style of creating a scene using these organic shapes, I created an under the sea scene. I used organic shapes that I cut out of textured and patterned paper and used a dark coloured pen to add details on top of the shapes, like the patterns and designs I created at the start of the project.
I enjoyed this style of creating my blob creatures. I think quickly creating the shapes using textured and patterned paper as the base of my creature and then adding the details with a dark coloured pen with precision, is effective and made the creatures unique. I also like how there is a simple scene behind the creatures.
Screen Printing (Alice Irwin response):
Screen printing process
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I started the process by cutting organic shapes, some similar to the blob creatures I created and some random, out of newsprint paper, so it would be able to stick to the screen when printing.
Then I started preparing a screen, making sure it is clean from previous prints, and placing it in the printing device. As part of preparing the screen to print on, I had to stick tape along the open sides of the mesh screen, so excess ink doesn't bleed onto my print, after this I placed the screen on the machine and clamped it into place so I could start to put the ink onto the screen.
The third step was to mix the various colours I needed. After I mixed the accurate colours I had to add a special 'Print Medium' which changes the translucency of the ink; a lot of the medium makes the ink translucent, making previous layers viable through the ink. After I mixed the ink and medium together, I placed the ink across the top of the screen, half on the tape and half off, and using a squeegee I spread the ink across the screen.
Before I spread the ink across the screen, I placed some acetate, that I stuck together, under the screen, so I could place markers for where I should place my paper that I want to print onto.
Health and Safety:
The health and safety parts of screen printing that I need to keep in mind is, when lifting up the machine that the screen is clamped onto when changing the paper, I should be careful as to not injure myself because the machine is quite heavy and can cause serious injury if dropped.
Another risk is that I need to wash the screen after each colour as to not mix them and ruin the next layer of ink that I want to print. The other risk is, if I don't clean the equipment properly the previous ink could dry and make the screen difficult to clean or even be damaged leading it to be replaced.
Screen Prints:
These screen prints were inspired by the artist: Alice Irwin. She takes organic almost human looking shapes and creates unique screen prints. I wanted to explore this technique, so I used some shapes that I used to create my creatures and turned them into screen prints using the same layering technique that Irwin uses.
I really liked most of the screen prints I created. The only print that I wasn't happy with was the print with the dark green layer as the top, because all the other colours were light and went together and the green clashed with the colour palette of the other prints and previous layers on that print.
I really liked how each piece came out. Most of the prints having uneven layering of ink, there being to much or to little in some spaces, but I think the outcome came out how I wanted, I was happy as it was my first time using this technique and process.
If I was to do it again I would plan a piece and complete one or two prints of it to shorten my chances of uneven ink or mixing the colours.
Because I liked this material, technique and process, I will use it as one of my ideas for my final piece.
Alice Irwin developed the characters she created in her screen prints into sculptures. The sculptures started as small stands of about five inches then developed into 6ft tall sculptures. Taking inspiration from her smaller sculptures I created a 3D piece of one of my blob creatures.
Creature Design:
Foam 3D pieces process:
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I started this process with choosing a few blob creatures that I made at the beginning and photocopied then I blew up the images. After I cut out the blown-up images, I pinned them to the foam board and then cut around the images using a hot wire cutter. The leftover pieces of foam that was left after I cut the shapes, if they were large enough to reuse I put them with the other pieces of foam board.
Then I took the shapes that I cut out and papermached them using newsprint.
After I papermached both sides of my shapes, I mixed the paint to get the desired colours that the original drawings I created have.
And the final step to this process was to add the detailed line art on top of the shapes.
Health and Safety:
The health and safety that I have to take into consideration when creating my foam creatures is, when using the hot wire cutter make sure not to have the wire too hot as to not burn the foam, and also to not put my hands close to the wire because it could harm me but not enough to seriously injure myself.
I liked the 3D piece that I made inspired by the small sculptures Alice Irwin made, so I want to use this material, technique and process as an idea for my final piece.
Final Piece
I decided to use the 3D foam creature idea as my final piece because I thought it would be an effective way to present and portray my creatures.
I decided to add the small experimental piece that I did based off Alice Irwin's small sculptures into my final pieces because I liked they way it turned out.
I am very happy with the outcome of my final pieces. I think each piece turned out great, with the line art being neat and intricate, and the colours I chose were bright and stood out underneath the black that I chose to draw the line art with. If I had more time I would create more, but I am happy with the amount I created and the level of detail that I was able to put into them