Indepenent Practice 3A Articulation EGRD3014 Alina Kostiuk
Dictators book Genocide, dictators and facial hair. My final piece for this unit will be a book about dictators. What they have in common is facial hair and their cruel rules and victims. After researching worlds worst tyrants I have narrowed my list to the most cruel ones and well know and recognised: J. Stalin, V. Lenin, A. Hitler, S. Hussein, H. Tojo and I. Enver. All of them have characteristic moustaches and look strange without them. This is a rough sketch of the book layout. It will be a spread
per dictator, on one side where and when he ruler on the other his image without moustache instead of it the number of people he killed and in the middle a transparent page with the moustache of the dictator which you have to turn over to see the dictator. For updates on the book please see my blog http://alinakostiuk.gdnm.org/
Amnesty International Recent advertisement with world leaders conserning human rights. This is a recent Amnesty International advert that I think fits perfectly with my project. Amnesty International is presented as the bug on the nose of international leaders, forcing them to consider issues of human rights, in this print advertising campaign featuring George W Bush, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Robert Mugabe, Vladimir Putin, Kim Jung Il and Hu Jintao.
Faces of Evil The book by Hans Weishaeup shows the faces of the 13 cruellest and most infamous dictators of our time. Faces of Evil, the book by Hans Weishaeupl, has won a Yellow Pencil for photography at the D&AD awards. The book and exhibition shows the faces of the 13 cruellest and most infamous dictators of our time, from Mao to Hitler to Mugabe. Hans Weishäupl took photographs of over 350 people in each dictator’s country and pieced particular parts of them together to create a new and alarmingly lively look for each of them. All seem familiar and yet somehow impenetrable due to the many faces that hide behind each portrait – just as in reality.
http://www.faces-of-evil.com/
No moustache Have you ever wondered how Hitler would look like without a moustache? Have you ever wondered how Hitler or other recognised dictators would look like without facial hair? Thanks to Photoshop I managed to erase their taches off. This made me realize that their facial hair is very important in the image and this is what makes them so recognisable.The outcome is quite shocking, they look like other people. It took away their iconic look and authority, they look common now. Tache is a symbol of manliness and masculinity which worlds dictators know how to use to make their image more powerful and iconic.
Piotr Uklanski ‘The Nazis‘ The most expensive Polish artwork.
The Nazis (1998) is created by Piotr Uklanski and is the most expensive Poilish artwork ever sold. It is a collection of appropriated stills of Hollywood actors dressed in military uniforms, showing that art can expose things we’d rather not remember. It is very controversial due to it’s subject and history that some people prefe not to remember.
Manipulation I decided to recreate images of Hitler and Stalin and show them in different light. For my little experiment I decided to take pictures of well known dictators Hitler and Stalin, and try to recreate their image. I decided to draw their portraits in crayons, because it shows them in a different light (then they are perceived now). It seems to me that Nazi were kind of living double life at that time, because their job was to kill people (but it was secret) so they were perceived as “the good ones� by their nation and country. These people were also living double life killing people in the day and in the evening coming back to their families and pretending to be normal, loving fathers, so their children had no idea and perceived their fathers as heroes not murderers. So I hope drawing them in crayons will show the other side to the characters and their life.
Che Guevara Che Guevara as a fashion icon. What drags my attention in fashion is how and why things become fashionable? Are people aware of what they wear (where it came from etc.)? For example the famously used and abused image of Cuban revolutionist Che Guevara. He became a face of popular culture and you can find him everywhere on t shirts, bags, beer labels, packaging etc. But people who wear his image have no idea who he was. So why do they do it then? They just simply follow the trends. This makes me wonder how you could use fashion to raise awareness and educate people or use their unconsciousness and ignorance to make them think what they buy.
My collages Collages out of body parts. To do more active research not just flick through blogs and magazines I started to make collages with images that caught my eye. The curious thing about them is that they concentrate more on a person and the body like hands, eyes, lips etc rather than clothes. I have chosen some of the collages I liked most and put them together into a book thanks to a bookbinding workshop with Mette Ambeck. I think the outcome works really well.
Fashion photography Fashion show in Carnaby Street. For new inspiration and first hand research I went to a fashion show in Carnaby Street to look out for new trends. I took my camera with me to practice my photography skills and capture the fashion creations. It was a lot of new ideas and unconventional combinations of clothes. Models running back and forth while I just managed to press release button on my camera. The outcome is a pile of photos so I chose the most interesting ones which I decide to put together into a little booklet so it will be easier and more pleasant to look at.
My illustrations Developing drawing skills.
After looking at all the pretty illu of others I decided to try and m of my own and develop my dra which will be useful for further p I tried different mediums and co I started to make patterns from colour shades to show light.
ustrations make some awing skill projects. olours. m triangles in
Fashion illustration Research from “The Age of Feminine Drawing“. After seeing the exhibition at the Design Museum I decided to research contemporary fashion illustration. The images come from a book “The Age of Feminine Drawing“ and prove the point made at “Fashion Debate“ that today fashion drawing is rarely just done by hand it’s mainly mixed media are used. I personally like the combination of different techniques put together and manipulated in a computer I think they attracts more attention and are more engaging.
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when it wasn’t that commercial. Although I felt that the illustrations were a bit old-fashioned or out of date, it would be interesting to see more contemporary work so you would get the whole spectrum how this industry evolved. After the exhibition I went to the talk “Fashion Debate“ with Collin McDowell the British fashion journalist guru, Joelle Chariau by whom the collection was put together by over 30 years and other speakers like Francois Berthoud whose illustrations are in the exhibition. It was very interesting to hear how those drawings were collected, how their perception changed with time and how
this industry looked like when it wasn’t fashionable. Unfortunately, what I’ve concluded from this debate is that fashion illustration is dead and will never be as good as before. It was said that now magazines don’t appreciate fashion drawings and how modern media destroy it. This made me think more critical about fashion and made me wonder if I would like to be in this industry which golden ages are over. Although there were some points made about fashion drawing that made me think a lot and develop my understanding of it. Apparently fashion drawing is before the garment is made and fashion illustration after its creation. It’s about what you leave out in drawing that makes it work. Do you draw a person inside clothes or clothes on a person?
Mapping trends One to one meeting with Suzi. This is a rough proposal for my ‘Independent Practice’ unit, that I have written after the one to one meeting with Suzi which helped me decide what I really want to do. My interests are based in fashion industry and this is where I would like to end up as a graphic designer. So I thought the best thing to do is what you feel passionate about. But I didn’t really know what is it about in fashion industry that fascinates me and what I would like to do. After speaking to Suzi I realized that I have interest for trends. What fascinates me about them is their origin really, where they came from and how come they are worldwide/international trends. I realized that I have interest for trends. What fascinates me about them is their origin, where they came from and how come they are worldwide/international trends. So for my project I am going to pick some trends and research where they came from, their way from their origin to becoming fashionable. I wonder do their connotation change with their evolution and expansion into different cultures? I hope my research and gained knowledge will lead me to the idea of how I want to present it all at the end. The visual map of trends. For this moment I think it will be hand-made, with illustration elements and in big scale format. Or maybe a book?
Museum of Everything A place I have never been before. I went to the Museum of Everything, a place I never been before and was very excited to explore it. I was amazed to discover that this years theme was circus and folklore. The museum was in an old recording studio turned into a museum, so it was very different from what we are used to see from the start. When I entered there was a woman sitting in a small box where usually people sell circus tickets so you already got the feel of the exhibition. It was a huge collection of things connected with circus and folk art, starting from circus banners, photos of the midgets and strange people, collection of old, creepy dolls, objects made from shells to stuffed animals put into peoples context like in small houses behind the glass. So you can imagine how crazy and inspirational it was.
I also managed to listen to a talk with sir Peter Blake, Jeremy Deller and Alan Kane who created the exhibition. They were telling how all of this started, this passion for collection and how they created the exhibition. Apparently it just starts from getting one thing you like and then whenever you see something from the same theme you buy it and so one. It is just like a normal consumption of products but not mainstream I guess. Anyway now they are scared of buying anything else because their houses are full of stuff and there is no space for anything. So watch out collecting might be dangerous!
Thing you never done before Outside my comfort zone. I have decided to challenge myself with doing something I have never done before, always wanted to do but was always afraid to do it. Mainly it is fashion drawing. Flicking through magazines I tried to visualise what gripped my attention. As for first attempt not too bad but needs a lot of development and skill. This is something I really enjoyed doing and I will definitely carry on with it and hopefully broaden my skill of drawing.
Graphics for fashion Researching the the industry I would like to work in. Analysing my ‘5 proposals’ show that one of my main interests is fashion and how it is connected with graphics. Those images come from “Graphic Design for Fashion“ by J. Hess and S. Pasztorek are a small part of my research. I really like ‘Victor&Rolf‘ label it seems to be aware how powerful graphic design can be and uses it to strengthen their brand identity. It uses hand made elements like type and illustration in its posters, invitations etc. what makes their audience feel unique and exceptional. It also complements the brand and its fashion designs which are one of a kind, hand made and special. Love the poster with Karl Lagerfeld (their biggest competition). It shows that they are aware of the competition and not scared to admit it publicly.
30 second video My train journey from home to university. This video represents my train journey form home to uni. I got this idea from my daily travels and thought of how times passes you by while on the train. It represent my journey in a nutshell so everyone could see where I get on the train, the stations it stops at (it flashes pink) and my final destination. Although it looks simple the task was challenging for me since I have never used After Effects before nor worked with moving image. I have learnt from it that it is very time consuming and doesn’t lie in my interest so I don’t plan to work with video or moving image in my future.
Creative analysis Analysis of the book ‘30 People‘ by Liver and Lights. My artefact for this ‘creative analysis’ task was a book “30 People“ by John Bently. At first I didn’t enjoy this task because writing is not one of my strengths so the first outcome was simply text on A4 page which I didn’t treat creatively enough. So I came back to it and I rewrote my analysis making it a visual pastiche of the artefact which is the blue booklet. Over all, I am happy with the outcome and I thinks it works well, its form follows function and fits the message.
Fun Zine Things I love and things I hate. I decided to treat this one day project to focus on things I like and dislike. I made it as a concertina so it is one whole with no front or back. One side shows the ‘things I love’ and the other ‘things I hate’. I am not quite satisfied with the outcome, it looks a bit childish. It is not clear what all those objects mean, it need some explanation text. Another thing is that it won’t be easy to duplicate the zine it would require a collection of alike objects that would be used for each zine.
My inspirations I love street art and redundant typography. I personally get inspired by nearly everything. But what I like the most is the street. It’s the unknown and unexpected what is interesting. Just look up the street you always pass by and you will see new things. It’s spontaneous what you see so you don’t know what to expect and how it will influence you. I admire redundant typography and old signs, they make me feel nostalgic and realize that those things will disappear soon so I take my camera out to capture them or their ghosts to remeber them and have an evidence of their existence. Another thing that inspires me is the street art. All those creative images that suddenly appear on the walls or buildings and the other they are gone. They show new trends in illustration and art which we can later see in magazines and exhibitions and all sorts of commercial art.
FMP Proposal For my Final Major Project I would like to produce a set of publications based on the book about dictators I did for this unit. Their theme would cover world leaders, different government systems and position of women in politics. Based on the book produced for this unit I would like to carry on with political theme, showing my point of view. I would like to cover todays dictators that obey basic human rights and democracy concentrating on their appearance and finding what they have in common like moustache. One of the books I will make will be about dictators that have no moustache (contrary to the book from this unit). Another book will be about women who rule. Depending on what I find in my research I may divide the publications into countries or continents like the dictators of America, Africa etc. As far as my timetable for FMP I plan to finish my research and choose the themes for my publications by the end of February. In March I will have chosen images that I will use in the books, then I will work on layouts. In April I will produce the images for the publications by screen printing them and end of April beginning of May I will put the books together. To develop what I did for this unit I would also like to redo my dictators book by screen printing the images of dictators not use some ones photos and this is what I will for other publications not use the secondary images but mine (where possible). I have been doing screen prints many times starting from year zero to my exchange in Barcelona where they had full serigraphy studio. On top of that my historical and political knowledge will be based on my research and what I have learnt doing A levels in history. Skills that I will have to develop for this project would be typography and layout design. Intended audience for my publications would be people interested in graphic design and books, other designers who appreciate unconventional books. This year I have been to few book fares (for my research and external positioning) to see how they work and this would be a place I would like see my publications.
Evaluation Over all, I am very satisfied with this unit and its outcome. I think I have produced a fair amount of work that shows my investigation and development. My passive research lead to active work. I am also very happy about my idea for final outcome for this unit the book of dictators. I am glad we were pushed to do things I have never done before and though I didn’t enjoy some of the weekly tasks I have definitely learnt from them and discovered some skills I didn’t now I had. I am not pleased with my outcome for one day zine brief so I think I should go back and re do it. I had fun doing it and I am interested in creating all sorts of publications maybe I just need more time to think through what I want to say and how to execute it. Although, I feel confused at the moment about where this unit led me to. In the beginning I knew I was interested in fashion (graphics) and I was convinced that this is the industry I wanted to get into in my future. But now I think it was a dead end and I am glad that it lead me somewhere else because I don’t think fashion is deep enough to do it as FMP. I don’t think it was beneficial from the beginning to limit myself to the fashion. This unit showed me that I got from theme of fashion into history and politics which I wouldn’t necessary consider to be the area of my interest but it worked out well and I am happy with what I am doing and the direction where I am going. As far as my final outcome is concerned, I am very pleased. I think it works really well especially the big book. Although there were some problems I faced like different facts about the dictators. It seems like every country has its own version about the history and I don’t know which one is the right one. This is why I didn’t include at the end more information about the dictators and the victims of their rules. I also wanted to keep it simple and minimal, and writing text at the back would change my conception. But I may try it out to see how it would work in the next unit.