OUIL603 EXTENDED PRACTICE: Project Report
STUDIO BRIEF 1 Gig posters
STUDIO BRIEF 1
gig posters
STUDIO BRIEF 1
This was an incredibly fun This similarly allowed me to brief to tackle and begin level actually use the crop and 6 with. registration marks that I had been printing along with my Having developed a passion positives, meaning that my for screen print over the registration greatly improved. course of my degree, to produce a series of prints I attempted to contact people at a large scale every two to get my posters out there weeks made for an exciting to the relevant industries, project. I’m pleased with but had little success. Flight how varied all the prints are Facilities shared the poster in terms of the techniques I made for them on their employed and colours/stock Instagram and I got a sale used. Having explored these from it, and I was in talks techniques on large scale with the Brudenell for a brief prints meant that I was able period about selling the to really nurture my skills in Shonen Knife one, but they screen print which has been quickly fell out of contact. valuable for the rest of the year when undertaking other screen printed projects (the The project was wrapped up same for post-graduation). after Christmas due to the demanding nature of the Improvements in my screen module’s other briefs. This is a printing pratice were evident shame as I had begun to start throughout the project, such printing on nicer stock like as the decision to print on somerset and experimenting larger stock than the design, with non-A formats like which helped me to achieve 18”x24”. Despite this, I think tidier edges on my prints, that I came out with five rather than having frustrating strong portfolio pieces which gaps between the design set up the foundation for my and the edge of paper. later screen printed projects.
gig posters
Photos showing the problem with printing on same sized stock and the improved registration from printing on larger stock
STUDIO BRIEF 2 (FMP) ASTRONOMICAL
STUDIO BRIEF 2
ASTRONOMICAL
STUDIO BRIEF 2
I’m incredibly pleased with how this project has turned out. Even though I didn’t get to make my screen printed concertina, or even a screen printed book, I think the quality of my posters is topnotch and the book that I’ve mocked up looks really slick.
lengthy research period was enjoyable as it fed into my practical development very quickly through my planet paintings. Once I understood how I could visualise the planets, I was able to go back to researching and pick out what were the most relevant points to read up about. I Having the main imagery for feel as though this is an even the project presented in a more organic synthesis than boxed design means that it exhibited in my COP module. has translated well to the inner book spreads and the vinyl Although I can’t submit a sleeves which I’ve mocked physical version of my book, up. I’ve been told that some at least I have produced all of the poster designs, such 36 spreads and the binding as Jupiter would look good design. I intend to get it on textiles, though I don’t sent off it blurb.co.uk to get feel as though mocking such it printed soon though, as I products up would give me would like to have a copy. any better understanding of my imagery, especially as I This brief has been a great am not a textile designer. exercise in my abilities as a screen printer and designer The final imagery was - the designs/quality of the produced as a result of me posters and the book is simplifying both my scientific well beyond anything I’ve and visual research more produced on this course and more. Simplification before, making it a suitable has been key for me this end to the module. module, and has resulted in me making some really interesting images. The
ASTRONOMICAL
Early experiment showing the painterly approach informed by the characteristics of the planet, as well as an early screen print test.
STUDIO BRIEF 3 Do androids dream of electric sheep?
STUDIO BRIEF 3
do androids dream of electric sheep?
STUDIO BRIEF 3
I initially wrote this brief as a Folio Society-style book project. When it was made clear that I was just repeating what I had done earlier with War Horse (Studio Brief 4) (and that I didn’t have enough time), I had to scrap the interior illustrations and just focus on making a really nice book cover for a new edition. The book comes with a transparent dust jacket that has the musculature of a human on it. When the dust jacket is removed, the blue prints of a Nexus-6 android are revealed, along with design notes taken from data found in the book. When I contacted Henry Steadman, a book cover designer and ex-art director, he mentioned that my portfolio didn’t show a lot of diversity if I wanted to work as a book designer. I think my approach to designing the main artwork for this brief was good in going some way towards remedying this. This is especially true when considered in relation to the
first cover I designed for the book early on in the brief but later scrapped. While I’m disappointed I didn’t get around to finishing off the interior illustations, I think I made a really interesting portfolio piece that shows more creativity in terms of book design.
do androids dream of electric sheep?
The initial cover designed for the book as a paperback and an unfinished inner illustration
STUDIO BRIEF 4 Folio society - war horse
STUDIO BRIEF 4
folio society - war horse
STUDIO BRIEF 4
This brief was really enjoyable to do as it is relevant to my practice, and is where I want to eventually get to in my career as an illustrator. I think that the process of completing this brief has helped solidify some semblance of an ‘illustrative process’ that I can hold onto. I went through various methods of making imagery for the brief before I landed on final compositions which I would later update postdeadline. The more shape-based illustrations were really interesting, but hard to follow through with. I also didn’t feel as though they were very ‘me’. While I was less expressive with the forms in the original finals, I think that perhaps this was the more appropriate way to go in the first place, simply due to the nature of my work. The original finals were purely digital due to the time
constraints I felt were present in making the deadline; but now I know that approaching things purely digitally simply doesn’t work for me for more sustained pieces of illustration. More life is imbued in the images when I’ve started them traditionally and built on top of that with the computer. The updated finals are much stronger than the originals and I am a lot more confident about their place in my portfolio. It’s frustrating that I submitted what I did to the competition, only to come out with these a couple of months later. At least now I know that I’m capable of making images to a much higher standard than I thought, with a process that I feel much more comfortable doing.
folio society - war horse One of the early concepts for the illustrations and one of the original finals that were actually submitted
STUDIO BRIEF 5 responsive style briefs
STUDIO BRIEF 5a
This was another really enjoyable competition brief to enter, as it is similarly relevant to my future career interests. I think that I’ve approached it in a much more intelligent way than I did last year and from the start to end my eye for direction has improved through the rigorous distillation of the image into simpler and simpler forms - looking back at my initial ideas I see the flaws with their overbearing designs more and more. Watching Chip Kidd’s TED talk was definitely a massive inspiration to reaching my final solution. This brief definitely taught me to simplify the work that I make, especially if it’s going to go on a book cover. The way I had been trying to make typographic elements work around a screaming portrait I was so desperate to use wasn’t very smart and I’ll avoid clinging onto one image so desperately in future. I feel as though the typograhic side of my design was very simple,
but effective. It’ an area that I’ve started to feel a lot more comfortable in. I think my initial idea to screen print the book cover was an interesting one, but at that point in time the design wasn’t refined enough to make the process work. If I had attempted to screen print the final simplified design, the results may have been better. Despite abandoning both the portrait and the process of screen printing, I have revisited this brief in order to produce a screen print of the portrait for the End of Year Show Art Market, seen opposite.
PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE DESIGN AWARD
Even though I didn’t get any pieces into Secret 7 again this year, I’m still really pleased with what I’ve produced for the competition this year.
STUDIO BRIEF 5B
I think the images I’ve made are really strong and hold up on their own as standalone images, particularly the two ones for Max Richter’s Dream 3 (top two images opposite). I think the use of colour on these images, but also on the psychedelic images is intelligent. I’m surprised I was able to use such a garish colour palette successfully on the more psychedelic images as I usually tend to shy away from using such bright colours, especially if there’s more than one. Music is something that I’m really passionate about, so the personal success I feel with these images has inspired to try and get my illustration work more interlinked with it in the future. I feel as though this brief and gig posters brief almost
compliment each other in terms of the way they forced me to make more conceptually driven imagery in response to music.
SECRET 7”
STUDIO BRIEF 5C
This has been an interesting brief to tackle since I took the concept a lot further than what I initially planned to do.
The process of making the different illustrations which can be overlaid onto the same background was time consuming, but incredibly interesting. I am interested in exploring this further (in publishing and other areas) to create more meaning and intrigue behind my illustrations.
The competition asked for entrants to read the description of a triptych that is central to the story of Laura Barnett’s novel The Versions of Us, and depict it in any way they see fit - illustration, photography, film, campaign, This brief inspired the final etc. outcome of my Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? I initially planned to only do brief (Studio Brief 3). one panel of the triptych described in the brief, but when I felt unsatisfied with the simplicity of my outcome, I decided to do all three, and then eventually apply the three illustrations to a book jacket. I’m glad I did, as having just the three illustrations on their own in my portfolio wouldn’t have been very interesting - but now I have a portfolio piece that shows consideration into how my illustrations can be turned into functional products, and interesting ones at that.
ORION CREATIVE COMPETITION
STUDIO BRIEF 6 D&AD x shutterstock
This brief asked for entrants to create three images that related to three of the seven main plot archetypes, and then a 30-second video explaining their entry.
STUDIO BRIEF 6
The three archetypes I chose were ‘the quest’, ‘comedy’ and ‘voyage and return’. I chose to relate these three images to the story of art school.
I think that the idea of telling stories is incredibly important in every image, and surely this brief has helped me exercise that skill to apply it to other illustrations that I produce.
I think if I take the principles of image-making that I’ve learnt with this brief (while also keeping in mind the modernist principles I developed in COP), I can really push the intrigue of my I think that this has been an illustrations a lot further. enjoyable brief to complete, perhaps mainly because of Making the video was also the screen printing aspect of a lot of fun. I went into the it. I set out to make a series of soundbooth with Adam so images that were relatable to he could narrate. Syncing his others through the nature of voice plus some stock music the story they told, but also found online to the images illustrations that were quite on screen was challenging, personal to me. I think that but rewarding. I introduced screen printing the images some very simple animation was a perfect way of showing into the video which is always my art school story. fun to do. Once I began doing heavier research into the concepts behind the archetypal stories, I feel that my images gained more weight and I felt a lot more confident in what I was doing with them.
d & ad x shutterstock
STUDIO BRIEF 7 THE BELL JAR
STUDIO BRIEF 7
This brief is an off-shoot of one larger brief that involved me designing a series of book jackets and other material for novels I had read.
the vacuum bed to pull the squeegee since first year, but I still had a few problems with ink pressure on the outer edges. Even though I usually get annoyed by these errors, I took a typographic approach I found myself not minding to designing this book cover them so much with this print. for a change and decided to play with the idea of type as image. This approach was carried on throughout the rest of the product range which included a bookmark, screen printed poster and window decals (seen opposite). I think that I pushed my conceptual image making skills in a good direction with this brief, using type no less. I think that the composition of the poster is particularly strong in depicting the claustrophobia and stress that the protagonist feels in the book. Using figure and type like this together makes for some really interesting images. Producing the poster as a screen print was, as I expected fun. It was the first time I had used the arm on
The Bell Jar
STUDIO BRIEF 8 LOLITA
STUDIO BRIEF 8
This brief is an off-shoot of one larger brief that involved me designing a series of book jackets and other material for novels I had read.
I am beginning to be able to see more value in the piece in terms of composition of space and the muted colours which are working really well. The colour palette has Having looked at loads of translated really well across other covers for the book, all the products. I haven’t used any obvious cliches; instead opting to I was surprised by how well suggest the point in the the point of sale turned out. book where Humbert and I think the colour scheme has Lolita are driving from motel translated really well and I to motel around America. could easily see it existing in Despite the serious nature a shop. of the novel, the comic narration is also a big part I really enjoyed making the of the reading experience. animation as well. I feel as I think I’ve captured both of though its simplicity is a good these aspects in the cover example of working smart in through the tone of voice. order to produce something new out of existing imagery. Most of the positive feedback I’d like to get better at that I have received for my animating in order to tackle book covers has been aimed more ambitious ideas related at this Lolita one. I was to literature in the future surprised by this since it only though. took a few hours to complete the cover, and then only an Animation: extra day to do the rest of the www.vimeo.com/159384760 product range which includes a bookmark, a poster, a point of sale stand and an animation (seen opposite).
LOLITA
STUDIO BRIEF 9 NAKED LUNCH
STUDIO BRIEF 9
This brief is an off-shoot of one larger brief that involved me designing a series of book jackets and other material for novels I had read.
simple vertical design.
Making multiple images out of one image is a really interesting way to construct images, and a really effective I designed this book cover way of making a product and its product range in a way range that ties together well. unique to how I usually work. I thought it would be a good I think that the type of idea to take some inspiration imagery stands out from the from the way the book was rest of my portfolio, which written - it is mostly in the ‘cut- is counter productive to my up’ technique, making it very desire to make a cohesive disjointed and hard to follow, body of work, but having so I decided to cut-up the spoken to some people from initial nude I did for the front the industry in PPP, they cover and re-arrange it into said that being able to show different posters that would a range of approaches to make up the campaign. image making is good for a publishing portfolio. The posters depict a portrait of Burroughs (whose experiences are in the book), a centipede to represent the ‘black meat’ drug in the book which is made from its flesh, and an abstraction of heroin use. I feel like with these four images I cover most of the themes of the book. I also made a bookmark, taking brush marks from the original image to make a
NAKED LUNCH