OUIL505
APPLIED ILLUSTRATION Project Report
Jess Dawson Level 5 BA (Hons) Illustration
The Brief:
Aim:
Audience / Target Market:
Create a substantial environmental conservation campaign using research and creative methods – to inspire others to get involved and hopefully make steps to help change the world for the better.
To produce a creative, in-depth and eye-catching body of work that fits within the chosen context of “Object & Environment” aimed at spreading the awareness of major environmental issues – Specifically coral reef degradation and habitats in our oceans, inspiring change and motivating action.
The project will be aimed at the wider audience, hopefully appealing to all who take an interest in environmental issues, the health of ourselves, the planet and its future.
The campaign will explore a variety of applications within the design industry such as 3D models / studies placed within environment, products and merchandise, online presence material and large scale mural / exhibit pieces educating and spreading awareness.
Image source: http://inhabitat.com/new-submission-7/
The project will also have the benefit of appealing to those interested in the design industry, creativity and unique interactive experiences.
Initial Concept & Project Proposal Beginning the project, it was important for me to be as thorough as possible when proposing my ideas and concept - to help focus my aims and intent. As this was a self directed project, there was the possibility of becoming lost in the freedom aspect, therefore recognising my indecisiveness in past modules and projects - I made sure to tackle this as best as I could now - to hopefully stand me in good stead for the rest of the time on the module. I have strong aims and ambitions for this brief and wanted to do my ideas justice instead of having to compromise at a later date.
Research To gain a better understanding of my context and chosen area of focus, it was imperative that I take on a large,in depth and varied body of research in order to inform my development and potential outcomes. To do this, I didn’t want to limit my focus or research approach too much on any one thing, therefore made it a priority to delve into many areas of interest to me and gather as much first and second hand research material as possible.
This included: • Gathering examples of practitioners and their practice that fit within “Object & Environment” both by way of second hand research (online sources & books) as well as first hand by visiting galleries and relevant exhibitions. • As my project heavily relies on key facts and data surrounding my environmental conservation topic of coral reef degradation, keeping up to date with current stats, news reports and journals has been a main area of focus within my investigation - fuelling my passion for this subject.
• Investigating into existing creative conservation campaigns has also been vital when considering possible outcomes and the application for my artwork. • My own self-directed visual research and investigation into organisms and patterns within nature by way of macro photography has provided key first hand reference and kept me in touch with the creative side of this project.
Visual Journal Greatly inspired by my vast growing body of on-going research, responding to what I had found came easy and I soon became engrossed in the process of image making. Rather like the mass of natural and beautiful organisms I have been studying, I wanted to attempt an array of new and varied techniques when it came to creating artwork. I began as I always do by putting pencil and pen to paper and attempting detailed studies of various endangered coral species to gain better knowledge of their structure, detailed patterns and also the habitat in which they are situated. This again quickly moved on to more loosely based artwork, as I become more intent on exploring the patterns within nature as I had first intended for this project. These organisms fascinate me as well as the beauty that can be found in such natural - independent living things. The exploration of colour and detail became key and I was able to generate vibrant pattern studies using a variety of new media and approaches such as • metallic acrylic ink • vibrant Uni Posca pens
Media Experimentation & Development - Airbrushing My media experimentation took a new turn when I stumbled across my airbrush given to me as a gift a few years ago. Having been previously scared to try this creative technique out in my practice - due to its renowned complexity and lengthy process, I could see the potential for it within this brief I had set myself, in particular the investigation of patterns within the natural organisms I have been studying. Using my airbrush didn’t disappoint and I found online tutorials incredibly valuable in teaching me how to get the best results. Stencilling, colour matching and cleaning the airbrush is all extremely fiddly and time consuming, but the results are different to anything I have created within my practice before - and the clean, almost printed finish of the experiments meant that I was able to apply this work to various resolutions as my ideas continued to develop.
Proposal Re-Visited: “Coralise” I aim to produce an in depth, creative body of work that explores the issues, diversity, beauty and detail within nature and its varying environments/organisms. I aim to approach this by producing work in keeping with my chosen area of context: Object & Environment. I would like to visually communicate the contrast between natural worlds / realms / environments / realities / perceptions by exploring pattern, scale, media, colour, detail, distortion and perspective. Through this body of work and my final range of resolutions, I hope to educate, enlighten, immerse, create interest and grab the attention of my audience whilst pushing my illustrative practice forward and undertaking new creative methods and processes. Concept A creative, educational campaign with impact based around the current and shocking environmental issue of coral reef degradation and the impacts this is having on aquatic life. Creative resolutions will include: • Large scale artwork within context (murals, graffiti, billboards, advertisements, exhibition pieces, 3D model resolutions) • Campaign products aimed at consumers interested in the cause and wanting to do their part (available as part of a museum / exhibition / gallery shop, online conservation shop, conservation rally merchandise - proceeds donated to the cause) • Online presence spreading awareness of this important global issue, up to date facts and inspiring others to get involved • Distribution methods and application: Museums, galleries, art fairs, conservation events, online websites, stores, social media presence, exhibits, public art with direct impact Mission: To create artwork with substance, meaning and impact, educating society on important global issues, challenging preconceptions and inspiring change. Campaign name: “CORALISE” - A play on the world “colonise” - a natural entity taking back what has been taken and destroyed. Ethos: Using creativity to inspire positive global change to our oceans environment. Audience: All those open minded, interested in creativity, nature and the good of our planet.
Media Experimentation & Further Development - Clay In keeping with my chosen area of context “Object & Environment” sticking within the realm of 2D just didn’t seem effective enough for me and I felt that further exploration was needed. I am an avid lover of all things 3D - one of the main reasons I chose this area of context and further inspired by other practitioners and their approach to creativity, I thought I would have a go at various new approaches to 3D image making - in the hope that in doing this I will have a better idea of where to go next and what possible final outcomes may be. Clay as a medium enabled me to explore this idea of “patterns within nature” in depth and having never attempted this process before in my own practice, I was really pleased with the outcomes. This was a real turning pint in the project for me - taking my concept and being able to physically apply t to the context in which I wanted my body of work to sit. Proposals are one thing, but creating physical work in this way helps to promote my idea for a campaign further - providing me with high quality products and pieces to be used in a variety of new ways.
Campaign Prep: Logos & Labels As part of my growing campaign, it was important to think about the presentation and advertising of my final physical products as well as giving a “face” to my project by way of a logo, to be featured on sales tags, various promo material such as business cards, stickers, letter heads and of-course feature on my website and social media presence. I enjoyed this process and found it a necessary part of my proposal - rounding off my collection nicely, giving it a professional aesthetic, whilst linking directly to the create body of work I had created. The aesthetic of everything I have produced for this project remains as natural as possible with a clean and simple look - remaining as clear as possible in its message and “tone of voice”.
Campaign Prep: Product Photo-shoots In the final stages of this project, I realised the importance of high quality photography when attempting to capture the detail and patterns within the physical elements of my collection. The higher the quality of photographs, the more doors this opened for the us of my artwork and the application within this campaign concept. I was able to use these photos within my online presence to promote “coralise�, whilst also providing professional marketing material such as tags, business cards, postcards etc.
Final Products Bringing all my products together it is nice to see how professional each individual piece is as well as how the whole collection works together, clearly linking to my project proposal and intent for this module. An idea which started out as extremely ambitious has finally been achieved - each piece working as a strong application of my creativity and communication of my “Coralise� concept
Extended Products Collection & Application (right > ) As part of the ever growing collection, the application of my work continued and I was able to incorporate more ideas to help convey this idea of a full environmental campaign. Although this work is diverse with many applications, I feel pleased with the collection and feel each piece is necessary, relevant and would be used in a viable real-world situation.
“Object IN Environment”- Final 3D sticker bombs in context
Having always been interested in urban street art and the application of design within this unique and often independently driven creative environment - I came up with the concept for an extended application for my designs that I hadn’t really seen before. Instead of remaining within the normal street art approach (spray paint, 2d mediums such as acetate, or gloss stock used for sticker-bombing and tagging) – I thought an interesting approach could be to create my own sticker bomb collection using 3D media- clay. To me this was a clever way of fitting products within my chosen context of “object IN environment”, spreading awareness of my concept and campaign whilst appealing to yet another audience – those interested in street art – as I am. The placement of my coral pieces in environment helped to commutate some of the research and factual elements that have helped influence my development in this module. For instance, in the oceans of Sri Lanka, coral is blast mined on a large scale in order to provide locals with cheap construction materials which are used in breeze blocks and various cements. To juxtapose with this usage – I wanted to highlight this awful issue by creating a serious of 3D “sticker bombs” in their white, skeletal “dead” form and place them within the environment they are being destroyed for. Clearly highlighting the destruction of a habitat (coral reefs in our oceans) to make a habitat (our buildings and cities.) Overall I feel that these pieces and the concepts behind them are some of the strongest within my submission and work to date. I had the aim to have impact and meaning within my work and creating some physical 3D resolutions that fit within their environment this way, helped to take my project that one step further. Placing these items in and around the streets of Leeds in order to be photographed for this submission – people were so intrigued by the concept – it got them talking and I was then able to point out some of the other issues within my “mock up” campaign – educating, spreading awareness and hopefully inspiring the change that I had set out to do within this brief.
Online Presence Getting the word out there doesn’t just stop at physical work, exhibitions, sales in shops and advertisements etc. With this in mind, I created material that could be used within my online presence - an important part of an environmental campaign. These of course are mock ups but I enjoyed seeing how my work can fit within this professional application. Website: A base where I can direct my audience to find out more key information about the campaign, see a larger body of creative work as well as get involved themselves and find out up-to-date news about the cause. Social Media: A way of getting a wider audience involved and interested in the campaign, as well as being a place to showcase the “creative” elements and portfolio included in the collection - aimed at the design industry.
OUIL505 Summative Evaluation This module has been a complete enjoyment from start to finish as well as a huge learning curve for myself, my practice and my approach to personal set briefs. Choosing my own area of focus has meant that I have been able to research, investigate and “become an expert” in an area which has always interested me – environmental conservation – in particular our oceans wildlife. My research skills have developed massively throughout the duration of this project and I found it really beneficial to not limit myself in this at the start of the module – but instead branch out and explore various ways of gathering key information to inform my work. As my project focused primarily on the environment and destruction of our oceans coral reefs, fact collecting was vital and I found that keeping up to date with current data, news articles, journals and documentaries helped me stay in the know and also increase my knowledge in an area I had not known in much depth previously. As well as online research, I have been able to utilise the colleges library facility and gather books not only just on environmental conservation, but in other areas of interest I wished to focus on such as patterns, nature as a whole, various new media techniques and practitioners in related fields within the industry. Researching online in this way has not only provided me with the breadth of information to help form my initial concept for this project, but has also widened my knowledge of online presence and the importance of this application within industry and my own personal practice. As well as secondary research, I have really made the most of exhibitions available to me throughout the course of the module. “Object & Environment” as my chosen context links directly to the physical, therefore the experience of exhibits (such as KAWS)– has helped me to gain a wider understanding of how my creative work and illustration can be applied successfully by way of physical objects, the importance of placement and setting, audience and the variety of extended product ranges linked with a body of work. On the topic of new skills, 505 has shown me the importance of exploring new creative techniques and approaches to image making that I hadn’t attempted before. A key skill I have learnt is airbrushing, something I have been a bit terrified in the past to give a go due to its complexity, however felt free enough within this brief to experiment, producing some successful pieces that I was able to apply within my final resolutions for the module. As well as airbrush I gave 3D modelling a go and found that, like most other 3D image making techniques, I love working with clay. This medium provided me with a great base to explore the natural coral based organisms I was studying – moving away from the 2D and applying what I had learnt so far about patterns and textures within nature. The area of my submission which I feel is most successful is my 3D sticker bomb collection. I am really pleased with how these physical clay pieces turned out aesthetically – being as high quality as I could have made them at this stage of my ability whilst also linking strongly to my initial idea of exploring the patterns within nature and oceanic organisms. The concept for the 3D stickers I feel really pushes my project and concept for the campaign part of my brief – to new heights and links my work directly to the issues I have been exploring throughout my research. To me- object & environment as a context is just that – the placement of artwork within environment, using atmosphere and interaction as a way of getting people involved with creativity and exposing the audience to deeper meanings and messages within work. I feel I have achieved this within my collection and enjoyed being able to use my photography skills to promote my collection of work and environmental campaign.
From the get go I knew I wanted to achieve a lot with this module and my concept for a full environmental conservation “campaign” provided me with enough scope to do just that. I feel I have challenged myself successfully throughout and found it beneficial to refer back to my own project proposal, revisit this and edit this appropriately to help focus my findings and approaches as well as reaffirm my aims. As with all other modules, I take it upon myself to attempt new creative techniques where possible and this was the case throughout 505, gaining a lot from the structure of the brief and making the most of the time available. This said, I have found time management extremely difficult throughout the whole year including the course of the brief, due to my struggles with personal issues. I have big ideas for all creative work I do and have the true passion and aspiration to be ambitious and push myself creatively any chance I can get. However, I have learnt that I need to be more realistic as a practitioner and a lot more reflective of my true abilities of the moment, not to get lost in something which is going to be too difficult and stressful to achieve in the time allocated. The advice of the tutors whilst on the course is so valuable therefore I need to be more willing to accept the help and understand why toning down my ideas on this course will help me to still achieve all I want to whilst on BA (Hons) Illustration – without damaging myself in the process and affecting other modules in an almost domino effect. -In further reflection, what really helped me narrow down my research and approach for this brief has been the on-hand help from tutors and my peers, reigning in my ambitious ideas for creative work and helping me to focus on what is important – often strengthening my development and leading to a concise and substantial body of work I am really proud of. If I was to attempt this project again, I would like to revisit my final artwork and produce a full range of physical pieces and products as well as a wider range of finalised large scale proposals. It has been extremely difficult to find high quality digital mock-ups for billboard pieces and murals/public art spaces and I worry that this has let let my collection of final resolutions down. To combat this, I would like to go BIG and produce an actual billboard piece, printed and applied within a real world context, as well as create an actual mural on a sourced wall space. Proposing these ideas in this project has been fun, however continues to feel unfinished to me as a proposal is not a physical finished piece of work. Continuing on into Level 6, this module has provided me with the one thing I have been searching for whilst being on the course. I have found that artwork with a purpose, meaning and impact on society is what really inspires me, in others work as well as my own and I would like to make this my main aim / focus within my practice. As an area of application and context to work within, Object & Environment will enable me to think about the setting in which my work will be received – using this as a platform to enhance the message within my work and I hope to explore this context in a lot more depth throughout final year.
2016