EMILY FLANAGAN PROJECT REPORT
PROPOSAL “I intend to communicate and portray the two different atmospheres in North Korea versus the UK. I want to show the stark difference between lifestyles in a repressed, communist country and a free, capitalist society. I want my audience to be able to feel the atmosphere I intend to communicate through my images in order for them to feel as though they are experiencing it themselves through my artwork.”
Themes: Mundanity/Atmosphere/Social/Political/ Emotive Specific Subjects: North Korea/The UK/Atmosphere/Social Audience: The general public of high street shoppers/ young adults (16 – 28)/ Anyone who takes interest in socio/political associated works. Production/Distribution Methods: A set of images in the format of posters, billboards and a final publication.
RESEARCH I Began researching according to my chosen theme, Editorial and Reportage. reportage illustrators such as George Butler pushed me to looking at more contextual topics for this project. Because some of his work is location based, I decided to focus on North Korea as my underlying theme.
This book ‘Above the Line’ is a compilation of images surrounding every day life in North Korea. The atmosphere of these image struck me, and was the catalyst of this project.
Similarly, an ‘all that is interesting’ article includes a lot of images which highlight the eerily quiet.
development My visual journal was a place where I experimented with how to best achieve creating atmosphere in an image. I wanted to focus on composition and media forms In order to explore how these elements can affect the feeling of my work.
It became easier to utilise space and light in my drawings to connote the idea of vast, loneliness. I believe these images compared to scenes we are used to in the UK are successful in communicating an eerie atmosphere.
Creating images from locations in the UK is what brought my project together. It introduced the ideas of juxtaposition. Because of this, I was able to place an image of a north Korean supermarket along side an English supermarket in order for my audience to be able to see the difference in lifestyle and atmosphere with clarity.
Because of this, I was able to place an image of a north Korean supermarket along side an English supermarket in order for my audience to be able to see the difference in lifestyle and atmosphere with clarity.
APPLICATION I curated a series of 8 illustrations, 4 images from the UK and 4 images from North Korea, to present on double page spreads to showcase the ideas of contrasting atmospheres. This was the most blatant way I could have used juxtaposition, and I am very pleased I did so, as I think my final publication succeeded in terms of my initial goals.
I also propose that my final publication is also available in the format of an ebook. This will allow my work to keep up with a younger audience who predominantly use smart phones and tablets and may not be so interested in physical booklets. I believe having my work available on many platforms will push my message further.
Applying these images to poster stands is a way of comparing the opposing environments directly and physically to our own. This is the way that my project addresses my target audience.
SNAPCHAT CAMPAIGN I thought that another way to engage young adults was through social media. To achieve the same concept as applying my images to physical billboards and posters, I propose the development of using my images on a snapchat filter, to bring these environments into their own and then have the ability to take a snapshot of this and share it with their friends.
SUMMATIVE EVALUATION When we were first briefed on this project I was excited by the idea that we could pursue any topic we wanted, but must apply it to the world. I felt that this would be a really valuable experience in terms of work, as it is a realistic Insight into how a freelance illustrator would work. Because this project was self-initiated, I felt that I had a lot of freedom, and enjoyed being able to explore many of my own ideas and allow the project to grow without having numerous restrictions. Though this was mostly positive, there were times where this felt daunting as there was a lot of uncertainty as to what we should produce in terms of final outcomes. I curated, printed and bound a publication to support my project, and now feel that this was unnecessary, as simply proposing this could have been enough. Because of this I am worried that I put too much work into the production side of the module opposed to the application side. I found the application side of this module very interesting. Using Graphic Burger was a big help to begin with, it is fun to see how my work would look out in the world – however I found that I had images of what I wanted my application proposals to look like, and was unable to find anything similar online. Because of this I set up a lot of my own proposals, the snapchat campaign and e-book for example, were photographed and edited by me to meet my specific requirements.
I noticed when looking around on application websites that when I have seen artists selling prints online, that their product would have been mocked up via these websites too. I thought this was interesting as I have never questioned the legitimacy of photographed prints before. I usually struggle to get a successful picture of my own work to use online, so knowing how to mock up images and edit them in Photoshop is a skill which will prove valuable in my practise. The one thing I feel that this module has really tested is my ability to manage my time as this is a module that has been juggled alongside two other submissions. I felt like the work I was doing for this module was easy to do in the gaps I had among COP and Responsive, because a lot of the time the work was easy going rather than hard hitting. I think one thing I did which was a mistake was give myself too many tasks to be able to handle. For example, I had countless ideas of where I could apply my work, but found that I always had so much that I wanted to do which are completely relevant to my underlying intentions. Because of this I had to leave out proposals which are not necessarily relevant, such as mugs and t-shirts.
Though it is realistic that my art work could feature on these items, I felt that this had nothing to do with my project concept and that the application of this would be purely for the sake of merchandise rather than purpose. I think if I was to change anything about this module, it would be that I would want to have more time to paint my mages rather than use digital formats. Though I loved working digitally for this module, the aesthetic of my Gouache painting was so appropriate that I wish I could have done it for the others. Sadly the one painting took me days, so it would have been unrealistic to create 7 more of these without putting strain on the rest of my workload. I definitely want to carry this module on, if not the concept alone, in third year, as I think the painting work alongside the concept and application of these images is absolutely strong enough to further develop and turn into a portfolio piece. I will be using the skills of application in future projects, as I think mock up images are a great way to show direction and potential within a project to not only clients and customers, but also to myself.