Lauren Dennis O U I L 6 0 3
Extended Practice Lvl 6: 13/16
The Briefs Studio Brief 1: Secret 7� (Abandoned) Studio Brief 2: Val Cale Artwork Studio Brief 3: High & Lonesome, Etsy and Art Markets Studio Brief 4: Live Art Studio Brief 5: Tattoo Flash One a Week (Abandoned) Studio Brief 6: Nature Prints Exhibition Studio Brief 7: Tattoo Flash Portfolio
Studio Brief 2: Val Cale THE BRIEF: VAL CALE ARTWORK AND SUPPORTING WORK CLIENT(S): VAL CALE, STRANGE QUARK RECORDS AREA: TYPE AND LAYOUT, COMMISSIONS AND BAND ARTWORK DELIVERABLES: FULL SLEEVE, CD, LOGO AND SUPPORTING PROMOTIONAL MATERIAL.
For Studio Brief 2 I developed artwork for Val Cale’s upcoming single Ouzo Dreams. Val Cale are a psychedelic blues 4 piece based in Leeds, I completed this brief as I wanted to develop my knowledge of layout and image for bands, as I think this will be useful in the area of illustration I would like to go into. For the brief I mainly focused on the sleeve and logo, but mocked up supporting work such as merch, online material and posters. This brief has been both the hardest to tackle because of difficult clients but also the most visually rewarding. I am very happy with the final outcomes and think that my work on this brief progressed significantly from initial tests to final. I think that although I am not a Graphic Designer, I enjoyed designing a logo that the band are happy with. My first outcome for this was not so well recieved, and if i’m completely honest I wasn’t happy with it either, this further developed design is much more aesthetically pleasing. In future I will approach briefs like this better, with a contract and a firm agreement in place, as working with bands can be quite unreliable. I think that the first explorations into creating this image was something that I had never tried before, mainly using digitally recoloured photographs and collaging them together, although this wasn’t the direction I finally took I think the work is still informed by those initial tests. As part of the module, I think that this has been the most successful, I think this is through more rigourous testing and having a clearer direction from a client rather than working from my own ideas.
Studio Brief 3: High&Lonesome, Etsy and Art Markets THE BRIEF: HIGH AND LONESOME, ETSY AND ART MARKETS CLIENT(S): LEELEX LTD, BELGRAVE, THE BRUDENELL SOCIAL CLUB, THE BRUNSWICK AREA: COMMISSIONS, PRODUCTS AND NETWORKING DELIVERABLES: EVIDENCE OF EVENTS, PRODUCTS AND PRINTS.
For Studio Brief 3 I originally planned on just completing the commission for High and Lonesome festival, though upon evaluation I realised that this wasn’t substantial enough. I decide to combine it with some other smaller briefs to create a larger one, I suppose it’s a brief comprised of product and selling work. It consists of: - High and Lonesome Festival - Etsy listings of my products - Art Markets throughout the year, focusing on experience, networking and branding myself. I think this is the brief that mostly represents who I am as an illustrator and what I like do to, I like producing finished prints and visually appealing finished work. It also tied closely to my work in PPP and my collective I help run Sister Said, which helps showcase new designers (Including myself) and is something I plan to continue after I graduate. The poster to the left is one of the first pieces I completed this year, and I think that although visually and technically I have developed my skills, this is a piece where I used a process I was happy with, and I think that although there are lots of things I would change about the final image, it is a good example of the work I make when I don’t overthink myself into a stupor. I also produced a range of products for my Etsy and the Art Markets I have attended this year, so this brief was mostly about producing and putting out finished works. The reception of which has gone down quite well, and has allowed me to build a platform for my work after graduation. I think in hindsight I should have dedicated more time to the second part of this brief for it to be more successful.
Studio Brief 4: LIVe art THE BRIEF: THE MIDNIGHT CLUB PROJECTIONS, PERMAHIGH LIVE ART, FRED ALDOUS INSTORE LIVE ART. CLIENT(S): STUDIO 24, PERMAHIGH, FRED ALDOUS AREA: LIVE ART AND LARGE SCALE WORK DELIVERABLES: EVIDENCE OF EVENTS
Studio Brief 4 is the brief in which I focused on Live Art. It was an aim this year to develop my work on larger scales and gain a better understanding of such. I think that this brief helped me gain confidence in my ability to create large scale work within time limits, almost placing more importance on the process itself rather than the outcomes, as there is a lot I would change about those. The thing I took from this was that even though it’s the immediacy of creating the work that was the focus, better planning of the pieces beforehand would have made them more successful. In future I will be more wary of collaborating with other creative’s, or at least clearer about what I want to get out of the project, I think that the work Melt Trip creates is very successful, but maybe they weren’t as open to my ideas as I’d have liked, the things we worked out during our practice tests for the night were mostly disregarded on the night itself, but luckily I managed to sort that out and showcase my images a little better. The other parts of this brief were also quite disapointing, at the Permahigh Live Art night I created a large painting of a moth, but as it was almost pitch black due to being a music night it was very hard to judge what I was painting, I also used entirely the wrong shade of green, which only became apparent when the lights came on. The live painting at Fred Aldous was both good and bad, I liked the experience and the work I created, I think you can really see the progression from the Permahigh night. The downside was the lack of clarity about what we would get from Fred Aldous, they made it sound more rewarding to draw artists in, then didn’t really follow through on that. If anything it has taught me to be wary of companies or clients and to ensure everyone knows what everyone else wants out of a brief. This brief also taught me that I don’t have to be so scared of stepping out of my comfort zones, I created some work I was proud of and the physicality and scale of the pieces really drove that home. I think planning the pieces more beforehand like with The Midnight Club would have made the others stronger compositionally.
Studio Brief 6: Nature Prints THE BRIEF: NATURE PRINTS CLIENT(S): WAKEFIELD BEER EXCHANGE, UGOT HARROGATE, WE ARE PROJECTS AREA: EXHBITIONS AND PRINTS DELIVERABLES: EVIDENCE OF EVENTS, PRINTED PRODUCT.
Studio Brief 6 has been the most unsuccessful brief. I think that I should have developed it further and spent more time on this for the work to be better. This brief focused on my love for nature, and wanting to create a series of prints that showcased that, it then developed into 2 collaborative exhibitions, one with Sister Said at the Wakefield Beer Exchange, in which I exhibited 3 prints that adhered to the brief, and another collaborative exhibition in Harrogate, which I intended to focus on creating 4 more A3 resolutions, which didn’t come to fruition. I think through poor time management this hindered my ability to make the work, I got stuck in my sketchbook. The deadline for the second exhibition has now been extended to the 28th May, so although I haven’t made the work for the module deadline, it’s still something I will be doing. I think this brief is very telling of the time where I struggled to make work I was happy with, I spent time trying to figure out the process in which I wanted to work and in doing so I lost a lot of motivation when nothing was going right. I like the ideas behind a lot of this work, I just don’t think I know how to produce the work itself. This evaluation isn’t the time to say what I would do better next time, but in hindsight I wish I had dedicated more time to this brief in the beginning and been more exhaustive with my testing and research. I left it so late that the big brief of the module had to take priority over this one.
Studio Brief 7: TAttoo Flash Volume 1: Birds THE BRIEF: TATTOO FLASH VOLUME 1: BIRDS AREA: PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT, PUBLISHING AND PRINT DELIVERABLES: PRINTS, PRESENTATION BOARDS AND PROPOSED PRODUCT
After I graduate I will be undertaking a Tattoo Apprenticeship at Oddfellows Tattoo Collective, where I am currently Studio Manager, this brief intended to help me combine my work towards that and my end project, it made sense to create something I could take out into the world, as this is what my portfolio would ultimately need to be. I can’t decide whether I think this brief has been successful or not, I spent a lot of time testing different processes and ideas, but got too caught up in what I thought my work should look like. Initially I wanted to create a full book with 20 design sheets all ready to be tattooed, but 5 designs per page meant that mammoth task completely outfaced me. I began panicking that even if I did manage to sort my hands/head out and begin painting things of quality again that I still wouldn’t have enough time to complete them all. It became clear after a talk with Fred that I needed to change something, to paint everything how I paint birds. I decided that the thing I paint as good as I paint my birds, are more birds. I changed my idea slightly, these are still tattooable (though not in the more traditional aesthetic of the image on the left) just with more of my tone of voice within them, which in actuality makes a lot more sense, because I wouldn’t want my work to look like anyone elses. There have been many ups and down in this module, and within this brief especially, I think that if I spent less time outside of my own head or my sketchbook I would be happier with the work I have produced throughout the module.
One thing I have enjoyed in this module is placing my work in different contexts, rather than just A sized paper. Throughout this module I have used projectors, oils, photography, wet media, screen print, lots and lots of ink, shrink plastic, clay and embroidery. I think that although I haven’t mastered any of these, although I am getting quite good at ink, I have needed to try all this out during this module to figure out that Ink is my strong point, and it’s where the charm comes across in my work. I’m happy with the direction I have taken in this brief, though I wish I head realised this earlier on in the module rather than fighting the way I naturally work. I should have utilised my strengths more rather than trying to push against this and develop new ones as much.
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
- My work with ink has progressed a lot throughout this module. - I have created work on a larger scale and been confident enough to do so. - Botanical Illustration is something I have realised I enjoy creating. - My technical ability to enhance analogue work has progressed a lot throughout this module. - My choice in colour has become braver, and more successful.
- Time Management is something I tried hard to work on, but didn’t account for motivation and personal issues with my work. - I tried too hard to make work that wasn’t my natural way of working. - I got too caught up in the way things should look, rather than trial and testing them until they did. - I didn’t utilise my strengths properly. - I didn’t make enough work as I intended.