What Are You Drawing?

Sometimes work produced takes more research than just looking into existing work and practitioners. Sometimes a piece of work will require further investigation into the topic of the work, for example if creating illustrations for a medical book research may be required into how the organs look, how they need to drawn or broken down for the book or a book on pregnancy may require research the stages, the baby, organs etc . Without this knowledge the illustration could be wrong and no good for the purpose.

One final piece for my domestic violence brief.
An information card on how to help to prevent domestic violence.

For one previous brief I created a campaign for domestic violence against women, using facts and figures of domestic violence to create awareness and prevention. For this work I had to do a lot of research into the figures about the amount of violence. There was a lot of available material, lots of existing figures and records for many different years, countries and world wide. It required a lot of research into the information available and because i did this I was able to correctly incorporate and create my campaign around them.

Swine Flu Virus, Edmond Alexander
From: http://www.cynthiaturner

Looking at an working practitioner, Edmond Alexander shows us that research is required to create informative diagrams and illustrations. Edmond Alexander shows us how medical illustrations can not only be informative but beautiful. Alexander is a medical illustrator that specialises in not only 2D but 3D visualisation of medical information. Alexander notes that his illustrations 'have been heavily influenced by the beauty of the Disney films during his childhood years, and the art of Frank Armitage during his formative years in medical illustration,'
http://www.alexanderandturner.com/html/edmond_alexander_biography.html.
Alexanders work is recognisable through the strong and vibrant colour and very graphical, digital look to the works. The swine flu virus work demonstrates that Alexander would have had to do research into not only the swine flu virus but it's transmission from pig to human, how the virus looks and that the virus causes the production of antibodies in order to create an accurate illustration.
This principle is also demonstrated by Alexander's partner Cynthia Turner who is also a medical illustrator. One of her works on Asthma would have required research on the condition itself, bacterias, cytokines, histamines and how these all look not only themselves but within the lungs.

Cythia Turner's Illustration On Asthma
From: http://www.alexanderandturner.com/assets/images/autogen/a_19a.jpg

Looking Legibility At Work

Road Sign
Taken From: www.proshieldsafetysigns.co.uk

I am now going to look at how different designers use the legibility of the type in their work.
In some cases it is important that the text is easily legible. The best example of this is road signs. Drivers need to be able to read signs quickly and easily, usually from a distance so that they will be able to make a decision in time. If the designer didn't make signs easily legible it could cause a serious accident.

NHS Advertisment for stopping smoking during
pregnecy. Taken From: www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/

However the designers doesn't always have to use text that is legible. Sometime the image used can be strong enough to convey the message and the text is used to strength this or to add extra information.
This advertisement for stopping smoking during pregnancy. Almost all the text is very small and would be difficult to read at a quick glance. However the image itself tell the viewer everything. If you smoke during pregnancy your baby smokes as well. The text is used to add information on how it harms yours child and how to get help.

David Carson is a graphic designer who uses text that is not always legible. I have chosen to look at him because he is known for his graphic designs for magazines, which is what I am doing for my current brief.

David Carson's legibility often relies upon the reader having good attention span, the reader has to want to read what was there on the page. Here is an example of David Carson's cover for Ray Gun magazine. Here he uses large amounts of texts, they are placed all over the page, in different sizes and font styles. The text is layered over an image, with another appearing to cut up the text. To the viewers eye line they are drawn to the magazine title, Ray Gun, the rest of the page tho appears chaotic and distracting, the reader has to be willing to spend the time reading this cover. This lack of legibility works for Carson because not only is this his intention but his audience is willing and want to spend the time reading what is on the page.



Can You Read This?

The consideration of the legibility of text is one of the key points to consider when creating a piece of work. The situation the work is going to used in could affect what choice is made for the text. For example, is the viewer going to need to be able to see the texts clearly and quickly, like a road sign or billboard where a viewer may only get a few seconds to read it as their car goes by. Or is the viewer going to have time to be able to read the texts over a period of time, such as magazines or newspaper article, advertisements or perhaps a piece of art.
What makes something legible is dictated by certain choices made by the designer. What affects the legibility of something is:

• SIZE- It is obvious that larger texts are easier to read; small sizes are not always as easy and could cause the reader to become bored of trying to read the piece.
• COLOUR- can affect the legibility. Dark colours on light backgrounds should be easy for the eyes to read, such as black on white however certain coloured type for example red and green cause confusion to the eye. Light font colours and a light background are usually straining on the eye to read, such as yellow on white.
• ALIGNMENT- When the text is all aligned the same the eye will simply follow the sentence from line to the next. If the text is aligned differently, one line is aligned left and the next is centred and the next is aligned right, the eye might struggle to follow the lines of texts.
• TYPEFACES- simple typefaces are easier to read; sometimes certain typefaces at smaller sizes are too difficult to read.
• MEDIA- Where or how the work is going to be displayed could affect the legibility. Large media surfaces such as billboards could make the legibility easier. Small media platforms could make the type harder to read.
• BACKGROUND- Plain backgrounds allow the eye to focus purely on the text, busy backgrounds or text over the top of images make the text harder to see and therefore harder to read.

Designers consider all these points, if not more, when creating a piece of work. The designers choice can and will affect the legibility. Most work needs clear text in order to convey the message to the viewer however sometimes designers make the conscience decisions to make the legibility difficult to coincide with the message or visual look of the piece.

My Fith ITAP Lecture

The 5 key principles from this lecture are:

• Legibility
• Researching the content
• Researching the practise
• Tone Of Voice
• Visual Hierarchy

This ITAP lecture emphasised the importance of research when creating a piece of work, not only researching the content for a piece of work but also the practise for it. Giving the notion of how important and effective good research can be.

Waiting for the Light Bulb

Finding inspiration for a piece of work or a project can come in all shapes and sizes and from all directions. It could be something small, a moment of the day, an object or a few words that strikes inspiration into the mind or it could be something massive that ignites the spark that is needed, a piece of history, an event or an era, a place, city or country or a person . Inspiration could and should come from anywhere.

My inspiration comes from things that surround me. If I'm in my room it's things that I have collected or things that are important to me, family photos, things that remind me of good times, or other artists work that inspire me or that I like. When I'm out inspiration can come from a place that I'm in, the building or a person, or something that I over here that gives me ideas. Sometimes something just pops up from out of no where, but this is hardly ever.

This is a piece of work for the current design brief. The initial inspiration came from artist's work that I wanted to recreate within my own, Sabrina Ward Harrison and Robert Rauschenburg. After this initial idea of wanting to produce some form of collage I went to New Street. Here I was inspired by the things I saw and collected, train tickets, time tables and maps. From this inspiration i went on to produce this collage that I wanted to reflect not only travel but also people who I saw there. 

There No Such Thing As Everyone

The audience is one of the most important aspects to consider when an artist is creating a piece of art work, this is even more so when you are a visual communicator. To be able to create a clear message that is understandable to your audience you must understand the person you are trying to convey it too. The most important thing to remember is that there is no such audience as everyone; you wouldn't produce the same advert for a child as you would for adult just the same as you wouldn't create an advert for for old people as you would for a teenager it simply wouldn't work. An adult advert wouldn't attract a child, it would be too complicated, they wouldn't understand hidden messages and the images used would be unlikely to appeal to them. Through understanding the audience you are directing it too you can understand what would appeal to them, what they would understand etc, and only by understanding your audience can you understand how to convey your message.The best example of this is the importance of an audience in the advertisement of a product. To sell a product the producer must have a clear idea of who is going to buy it and aim the advert at them. There would be no point in creating an advert directed at women for men's sportswear.

An advert that has a very clear and strong message done in beautiful illustrations is the new Twinings tea advert. Clearly this advert is aimed at women. Lost, alone in the rough and dangerous sea the boat is transported to a safe and beautiful island full of tranquility and peace. The message is clear that women are trying to juggle life and that sometimes things go of track and women get stressed and feel lost but drinking Twinings tea gives peace and tranquility and restores them to a refreshed and new them. This message is enhanced with their soft choice of song and gentle colouring and illustrations which portrays this message well and clearly.

My Fourth ITAP Lecture

'Research and Inspiration'

My 5 key principles from this lecture are:

• Research
• Practise
• Visual Vocabulary
• Inspiration
• Audience

The focus of this ITAP lecture is through a deeper understanding of both the subject, your own practise and the audience you are aiming it towards it will enhance not only your work but the message you are trying to convey

Original?

Mike Ruiz, Masterpiece

The biggest question among artists is that their art work is original. However the question is, is a piece of art work original or will it always be a copy of something that has come before. There are so many artists and so much art work created it would be virtually impossible to create something that somewhere along the line hasn't already been done in some way before them. Although not art relatedThe tyre is a good example of this concept, when the wheel was invented it was original, the invention of it was new and unseen, everything that had come before was unlike this creation, however every wheel that has come after has always had the link to the original wheel even though in some ways it is different, new or better. This could be said for art work, there will always be a connection to an original piece of work that has come before. Pablo Picasso is famously quoted for saying "good artist copy, bad artists steal" this reinforces the idea that all artists use existing ideas. But Picasso tells us that a good artist will use existing ideas then go on to use this influence to create their own pieces of work whereas a bad artist will use the work the have a call it as their own.

Mike Ruiz, Masterpiece

However even if a piece copies an artist’s style, technique or even the image itself the work could still be called original. Using an idea but it portrays a different message, is within a new context or different desired audience can make a piece original because of the different purpose  it has to the original intention of the exsisting piece. An example of the use of this is on magazine covers. Lots of magazine covers use artist styles or imagery on their covers to capture an icon image that the reader will recognize. Mike Ruiz's 'Masterpiece' in Zink Magazine shows us this. With Roy Lichtenstein’s distictent benday dots and use of comic style imagery, speech bubbles, telephones etc, Mike Ruiz cover is an obvious recreation of Roy Lichtenstein’s infamous pop art style. However there is an obvious recreation of the distinct style indicating that Mike Ruiz has used Roy Lichtenstein as an influence but gone on to create this in his own work, giving the piece originality. 'Coping, not stealing.' The piece has the strong connection of a fashion magazine, the use of models, softer use of dots and careful use of comic imagery and positioning of both, gives the audience and the conveyed message a totally different feel to Roy Lichentiens. This difference in pieces is what makes a workan orginal piece

Making History

All artists work is more than about creating a picture or photo. Sometimes the work is an advert to sell a product or sometimes the work is to accompany or explain a piece of text. Most artists work is there to convey a message. However the creation of the message or the reason behind it can be effected massively by the time period the work is created in. What is happening at the time may be something that affects the artist themselves or something they feel strongly about and which they what to tell people about through their work. An artists work can capture a piece of time in paint.

Peter Kennards,
http://www.artrepublic.com

Peter Kennard's work demonstrates how what is happening at the time can be reflected in the work of the time. At first glance the painting looks like a copy of the Constables Haywain. Originally produced in 1821 the painting depicts a hay wain at the Flatford Mill in Suffolk. However take a closer look at Kennards piece and there is an obvious difference between the two. With almost all the work identical, your eye is instantly drawn to the cart in the centre of the piece. Behind the cart in stark white, three nuclear missiles point up towards the sky.
The work was produced in 1980 a time when nuclear war became a major issue to the world. Many protests took of all through Europe, especially in Britain protesting against nuclear war. One major protest that occurred in Britain in the 80's is the Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp. Beginning in September 1981 a group of Welsh women named 'Women For Life On Earth' arrived at Greenham protesting against the government decision to place nuclear cruise missiles there. Causing significant media interest and many other peace camps around Britain and Europe eventaully the goverment revoked thier decsion. Kennards work reflects the feeling of the time. By placing nuclear missiles in a classic and well recognized painting Kennards message conveys that by placing nuclear missiles in Britain that the government are destroying Britain's country and history.

My Third ITAP Lecture

'Connectivity

• Notions Of Originality
• Cultural Context Within Your Chosen Medium
• Relationships Developed From Existing Forms Of Historical Culture
• Bricolage And It's Use Within Contemporary Culture
• Pastiche, Synchronicity or Conceptual appropriation

This weeks ITAP lecture focused on the orginality of artwork. What can we class as an original idea or is every piece of work simply a recreation of something that has already been created.

'Bad artists copy. Good artists steal.'

Pablo Picasso

It's A Tangled Web We Weave

When it comes to ideas they are endless. There a million options to choose from, a million answers to a question, a million ways to solve a problem. So with all these millions of ideas and answers and questions tangling their way around our brain, there's no wonder that it sometimes feels like they are coming out of our ears. When it comes to the creative process of problem solving it is important to untangle this web of ideas in order to gain a clear sense of what you have generated and where theses could lead to. The best solution to this problem? Take the tangled web of ideas and make them into single threads. Kinda like untangling a ball of wool but in this case, mind mapping.



John Clapp's Evolution Of The Eye
http://www.johnclapp.com/artw_pages/sketch_pages/sketch_eyeworks.html

 John Clapp is a children's book illustrator who demonstrates that mind mapping is not only a way of organising thoughts but also a creative process. In the centre of the map is Clapp's subject matter, the evolution of the eye. From this central topic forms initial thought and ideas, these are the main branches of thought, such as colour, evolution, signals etc, and from these develop more detailed and interact ideas relating to each of the subject titles. For example in colour, Clap has broken it down into smaller sections like frequency, colours visible to the etc and illustrated with graph and colour samples. With this all done with the use of illustrations allows the simplification of a complex subject into easy chunks of information. Even the central title, 'the evolution of the eye', is drawn as an eye itself. This along with graphs, sketches and doodles all related to the subject have allowed Clapp to create a obvious display of his thought process not only to himself but to anyone who looks at his sketchbook.

http://www.johnclapp.com/artw_pages/sketch_pages/sketch_images/vilppuasilomar.jpg

My Studio

Here is what my studio space looks like, it's only small but I've managed to fill it full of loads of stuff.



My Sketch book, Notebook and laptop are all close at hand so I don't have to go looking for them and loose my train of thought, which I'm good at doing.



I have collected prints off all my favourite films, these are just a few

There's a calender to help me keep to deadlines, surround by friends and family photos. These help me think of the good times when I get stuck

I make little notes and stick them on the wall to remind me of things to do or need to remember

My collection of materials

The Room Around You

http://colorfulwallpaper.net/

The world can give endless inspiration and ideas. From developing architecture, culture, religion, and the constant development in technology, to the ever changing landscape and the vibrancy of people themselves, the world itself provides us with an endless fountain for innovative and inspiring ideas. With such a strong influence from the world around us it is important to consider that smaller environments will have as much as, if not more, effect and influence on us. A studio is therefore a place of great importantance. A place where we can nurture, create and develop.The surrounding of a studio should be things of personal interest, inspiring, that help you feel creative and inspired. Your surroundings should allow your creativity to flow freely from mind to paper, materials should be close at hand. But importantly the environment should create an ambiance of calm creativity, a place where you feel that you can produce anything.

John Lasseter is Walt Disneys and Pixar Animation Studio's principle creative adviser and chief creative officer. His ground breaking animation is famous world wide and is seen in almost all of Walt Disney's Pixar movies, such as, A Bugs Life, both Toy Story 1 and 2, Cars, Monster inc, Finding Nemo, Walle, Ratatouille, The incredibles, Bolt and Up. With so many award winning films and memorable characters, John Lasseter's studio is a place of great importance when considering the development of his work.

John Lasseter's Studio is a reflection of everything that interests him and that he is passionate about.



Lasseter Surrounded By All His Characters
http://collider.com/wp-content/uploads/john_lasseter_01.jpg

 John Lasseter surrounds himself with his work. The characters that he has created surround him in every form, from models to drawings, crammed into every shelf and covering almost every wall. Lasseter's characters are infamous world wide by both children's and adults. By being surrounding by his creations, Lasseter feels inspired to create more as well as being reminded of what his creativity is capable of making. Being surrounded by his characters also lets Lasseter see what he has already created which may prevent him recreating similar works. However not every space is taken up by his creations, crammed on the desk, Lasserter also surrounds himself with family photos. Although there is not as many photos as there are characters the careful choice of both picture and location, very close to where Lasseter sits and within easy view to him, suggests that these may be even more important to Lasseter. In between all of the characters there is also things that Lasseter is passionate about, from animated cells of the Looney Tunes and peanut comic strips to stuffed Miyazaki characters, a collection of old and new ViewMasters and slides and LucasFilms artwork. The other side of the wall houses a collection of model trains. Lasseter's studio also holds everything to allow the creative process, from pen and paper to computers. With Lasseters animation initial development may begin in rough sketches, then on to development and eventually into the computer. This studio will allow Lasseter to do create in any form without restriction.

John Lasseter's studio is an important example of what a studio can do, without it Lasseter may never have created such wonderful characters like Woody and Buzz. His studio is personal to him, a reflection of who he is. The things that are important to him, the characters he has created, family and things he is passionate about, surround him and are there to give inspiration. There is every way to to create from traditional methods to modern computers and animation software which allow the freedom of creativity.  Lasseter's studio demonstrates that the environment that surrounds you should be your own personal inspiration allowing you to create your own inspirational work. Your studio such be a reflection of the person you are and the work you create.

My Second Itap Lecture

The 5 Principles from this lecture are;

• Over Coming Mind Set
• Getting Rid of Assumptions
• Restating Problems
• Developing Fluency
• Managing Creative Thinking

This lecture conveyed the message that in order to produce ideas that are original and interesting it is important to approach the problem at hand with an open mind set and non conventional methods of thinking. As well as taking into account how to challenge problems from new angles, developing a form of fluency to your work and how the enviroment that surrounded by affects your working.

Childs Play



The Two Sides of the Brain
Taken From: http://1.bp.blogspot.com

In order to utilise the creative brain we must first understand it. Although not literally the brain is split into two sides, the left and the right. The left hemisphere is thought to deal with black and white areas of our life, for example things that are clear and logical like a maths problems. The right hemisphere is thought to deal with the grey areas, for example art and writing like drawing a picture or writing a story. Another way to look at the two sides is that the right is full of hippies (no offence) that are free and creative and the left is full of office workers who are trapped within their cubicles working to ridged deadlines. You could also look at the right side as child and the lefts side the parent.

No matter what you decide is up there in the two sides of your brain it is important to understand what this means in terms of producing an outcome of work and how the two sides of your brain effect this. The right hemisphere of your brain is like the part of you that never grew up, the child in all of us. It is innocent, creative, sensitive, experimental, playful and curious. This side, is the side that is best let run free with its creativity. Allowing your brain to express the playful and experimental side allows us to create; whether that be images, designs, patterns or just simply drawing on paper. The left side is the side of us that continued to grow up with us, the adult. This is the side where we apply logic, where we evaluate, organizes and criticise. The left side is usually over active when it comes to being creative as we are quick to criticise our work, compare it to others and dismiss it due to imperfections. The best way to overcome this is learn to utilise our creative side. Its time to turn of the left hand side and allow yourself to draw freely, avoid rubbing out, allowing ideas to follow freely from the right hemisphere onto the paper. Do not let your critical left hand side put you of  no matter what it's saying, it can have it's say later. Once completely exhausted of ideas, go away and have a break, then come back and allow your left hand side to evaluate what you have produced, what works, what doesn't, what could be developed etc. Together your left and right along with  this design process will allow the production of creativity. 



Let It Dough, Christoph Niemann.
http://neutradesign.files.wordpress.com

 
Christoph Niemann's Let it Dough is one example of the two sides of the brain working together. The simple use of dough, cutters and sprinkles to creates shapes, people, animals and and objects is something we have all probably done as a child. This indicates the right brain working as this is a simplistic material and the things created are childlike and playful. The lack of rigidity and attention to detail in the images also suggest this. The left brain will then have evaluated what has been produced, for example associating the ball of dough as looking like the earth and thus creating the story of creations in a dough version. As well as creating the link between what has been produced in dough and the captions created, the left hemisphere will have also organised the order of the series in Let it Dough.
This is supposed to be a critical commentary and therefore we are supposed to avoid say things 'like I this' etc but I do love Christoph Niemann's Let it Dough and if you wish to see the full version follow this link;http://niemann.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/let-it-dough/

Pictures Equal Words



Developing a visual language allows the simplification of a complicated idea or theory, a route to solving problems and the process and development of initial ideas. Visual language can also be used to create communications or messages to the viewer about certain topics or ideas, for example a collection of drawings, photographs or materials on paints and art materials could convey a message about an artist at work or an artists tools. A visual language means that meaning or message can be conveyed without the necessary use of words.



Peter Blake, The Toy Store, 1962
Image From, www.tate.org/collection

Peter Blake shows the use of visual language. One of Britain's leading British pop artist Peter Blake is still continuing to produce work now. Although Peter Blake had a strong interest in American popular culture, such as denim jeans and Elvis, which is reflected in other works, the visual language in the Toy Store communicates that Peter Blake had an interest in childhood toys and memorabilia. The British flag and associated idea of a British shop front give the viewer the idea that this is British nostalgia. This along with the collection of old toys in the window itself creates the a visual language of old time British childhood. The idea that this collection is of something of personal interest to Peter Blake himself suggests that the message conveyed is personal to him, that this is what interests him. As well as this message it could also be a message to future generations about how childhood has changes from then to know.

It is important to create a good visual vocabulary in order to be able to communicate your message clearly with your audience. It will also allow you to create a language that people will recognise and relate to you as an individual artist. This is something I want to explore further in my reflective visual journal, RVJ, because although I have a basic visual vocabulary that not only could it be extended but also defined so that people will recognise certain images or techniques that they will being to associate with me.

My First ITAP Lecture

My first ITAP lecture, intergrating theory and practise, explored 5 key principles

• Draw by Hand
• Utilise your Creative Brain
• Develop Visual Language
• Cyclic Design Process
• Cultivate Reflective Practise

Out of these 5 I must choose two to write a critical commentary using artists examples to demonstrate them at work.

Where to Begin?

I guess with a blog it's all about the begining. As many of you reading this are already bloggers yourself you will understand that the start of something is always the hardest. It's kinda like when you have to draw on that fresh, clean, white piece of paper and you spend hours worrying about starting it because you don't want to ruin that clean whiteness. So here I am taking the plunge and drawing the first line on my new white piece of paper. Hopefully from now on it will only get easier. Initially the idea of a blog was my worse nightmare (I'm not that technically minded and had no idea how to do this) but I can already feel myself getting addicted to it. Hopefully my future post will be of intrest to you. I'm about to begin my journey exploring the aspects, practioners and princples my degree course Visual communications. Scary but exciting!