LEARNING AGREEMENT For the negotiated practice unit, I propose to respond to the Folio society brief of ‘Brave New World’, whereby initially a book jacket and three images corresponding to the text are required. In order to make this brief into a more substantial project, I would like to look at selected themes within the book that I have been inspired by, and create at least five images, and two book cover designs relating to the text. I also want to consider how to make the work that I produce into a marketable form of merchandise such as t-shirt and badge designs as a primary idea, but also with elements of innovative design. There are many themes within the text that can provide as triggers to initiate work. I have decided to look at the themes of escapism and the love versus lust scenario, which are explored through the means of social interaction between the characters in the text. Escapism defined as: ‘the tendency to escape from daily reality or routine by indulging in daydreaming, fantasy, or entertainment’ which is encompassed within the theme of the text of Brave New World in a variety of forms such as the drug ‘soma’, and the use of technology to control society. Escapism is something that we all do from time to time in one way or another, and it is a subject matter that I want to explore further within my practice. I want to focus my practice within print making, as it is something that I have always enjoyed, but I would like this unit to aid me in furthering my skills in print making, and amalgamating differen I want to focus my practice within print making, as it is something that I have always enjoyed, but I would like this unit to aid me in furthering my skills in print making, and amalgamating different types of print making techniques that will stem from my drawings such as screen printing, lino cuts, etching and mono printing. In previous projects, printing has been a part of the process, but has not been the sole outcome so by focusing on print-making I hope that I will become increasingly more proficient in this area and that these types of processes will allow me to think more about composition and colour combinations.
I also need to find a way of compiling, rendering and displaying the different types of print processes, that I am going to create, so that they work together simultaneously in a series. In order to achieve this task, it will necessary for me to experiment early on in the project the effect of print making and making critical judgment about what is and isn’t working. I hope that the final outcome will be a series of prints that would be suitable for a wall-mounted display in an exhibition, but also work as a set stand alone images and products that can be viewed on their own and speak for themselves in the context of the chosen narrative text. I have been inspired by the work of the illustrator ‘Parra’, whose simple mark making provides the viewer with the critical ideas and concepts of his themes. His work is also effectively translated into prints that are bold and striking in their design. His use of colour juxtaposed with black and white work both compliment his work, which is something I want to consider within my own work. t types of print making techniques that will stem from my drawings such as screen printing, lino cuts, etching and mono printing. In previous projects, printing has been a part of the process, but has not been the sole outcome so by focusing on print-making I hope that I will become increasingly more proficient in this area and that these types of processes will allow me to think more about composition and colour combinations. I also need to find a way of compiling, rendering and displaying the different types of print processes, that I am going to create, so that they work together simultaneously in a series. In order to achieve this task, it will necessary for me to experiment early on in the project the effect of print making and making critical judgment about what is and isn’t working. I hope that the final outcome will be a series of prints that would be suitable for a wall-mounted display in an exhibition, but also work as a set stand alone images and products that can be viewed on their own and speak for themselves in the context of the chosen narrative text.
Themes of Brave New World • Loss of individual identity • Use of technology to control society • Consumer society • Alienation in society (Bernard Marx & John) • Sex (love & lust) • Soma drug - instant gratification
INSPIRATION Parra
The Dutch artist Parra, has a simple, but effective style, which is eye catching and simple to denote meaning. His character design constitutes is quite graphic, use of colour is bold and the line work is strong. The themes in Brave New world I think could be explained using a simple, but effective visual language.
MATISSE
Someone said in passing the other day that my work reminded me of Matisse. This does worry me slightly as I did not create work with his work ingrained in my head or thought processes. Hence why I must keep experimenting with my image making process. The above ‘Sorrow of the King’ is collaged an uses vibrant rich colours. The use of simple rectangle shape in the background contrasts well with the busy foreground images.
KEITH HARING
I have realised that I have absently-mindedly taken inspiration from Keith Haring, with his use of simple, but strong compositions and colours. His images communicate his ideas across effectively and simply, using dashes and other marks and shapes to illustrate emotions and motions.
INITIAL DRAWING IDEAS I really don’t know what inspired me to start drawing images like the ones below and on the opposing page, but it really helped me to brainstorm some of my ideas. In turn these images themselves have proven to be quite effective in terms of illustrating the relationships and emotions of the characters. One of the main themes within the text of Brave New World is the loss of individuality. It seemed to obvious to just draw realistic drawings of the human form, if they are all the same. This simplistic figure can be manipulated through a range of different body gestures and facial expressions. Simplistic backgrounds allow the figures to take the main focus of the images. Continuing to work in this simplistic way inspires the imagery to communicate at its most basic level, and allows compositions to be considered earlier on
Linda visits John to Seduce him, John has different views about this ...
This scene depicts when John visits his dying mother in hospital and become distraught as a result... resulting in his irrantional actions of throwing away large quantities of the soma drug out of a window.
Below are depictions from the savage scene in New Mexico (left) and the infamous ‘whip’ scene (right) in the build up to the climax of the text.
MONOPRINTING
Whilst in the printing frame of mind, I created these mono prints with the idea of possibly using them in some way for backgrounds or textures. Mono-prints allow you to create interesting textures quite quickly, and it was a good way to create simple shapes, whilst allow experimentation with printing techniques. The results I ended up with were quite expressive, but simple, and possibly could be used in the front cover design.
LINO CUTS Initially, my first thought was to create a series of prints that reflected the themes of Brave New World. Having never worked with lino cuts before, I decided to create some prints from my initial ideas that allowed me to experiment with different media, colour and line. I did enjoy creating these prints, however I felt that the time consuming process of cutting the lino would eat into precious time that I needed to formulate more realised ideas. Striking imagery is what I intended to make, but these prints are still in the early stages of ideas development.
SCREEN PRINT IDEAS..
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Subsequently, I moved into the idea of creating a screen print, that would explore the ideas of isolation that both protagonist (Bernard Marx and John Savage) experience within the text. In a world where technology is used to control society the ‘hyponpaedic conditioning’ does not promote spending time by one’s self. Being intocicated by the drug soma offers instant gratification, and allows society to escape from unconfortable and unpleasant situations. In the end I didn’t go a head with the screen printing, as I still felt that my ideas needed to be stronger at this point in the project, and I felt that the imagery was not communicating the ideas as well as they coiuld.
LASER CUT - PRINTS These little acrylic discs in the image below were an experiment I did using the laser cutter to engrave and cut some of my drawings. I really like the clinical quality to them. They also make good relief prints using a little press. I think this is something I may expand on as it isn’t as laborious or painful as lino cutting and they have the potential to become a product, which is something I am interested in looking into in the future.
DRY POINT ETCHING In one of my printing workshops, I undertook some dry-point etching, which was quite an enjoyable process. An aluminium plate was scratched into with a sharp nail. These prints focused on looking at the landscape of New Mexico (where the savage reservation is situated in the text). I wanted to create an image that illustrated the earthy, dusty and vast terrain. The most enjoyable part of the process was inking up the plate and creating an atmosphere within the print. By leaving an excess of ink on the plate, it was possible to make the landscape look more sinister and uninviting. The bottom right drawing uses a chin colle process, whereby a material i.e. tissue paper is placed between the etching plate and paper, and put through the press. This process allows textures other than ink to be work into the image, and I think in this case it was quite effective.
NEW MEXICO ‘The Savage Reservation’
The savages appearance... ‘Their hair was braided with fox fur and red flannel. Cloaks of turkey feathers fluttered from their shoulders.’
In the text the savage reservation is described as being a ‘geometrical outcrop of naked rock’. The inhabitants of the reservation are dirty and uncivilised, which is a complete contrast from the almost clinical world where the rest of civilisation reside. The images below were taken from a book that features a large amount of imagery from Santa Fe, which is a region in New Mexico, which I believe is an accurate depiction of what the savage reservation is meant to look like.
CHARACTER DESIGN INSPIRATION
These ancient cypriot sculptures provided some good visual stimuli whilst developing my characters. Despite their simpleness, they still manage to capture expression through their body stances and faces.
These aboringinal figures below have been hand crafted and sculptured in a way that has abstracted the proportions of a human
The image below was something I did quite quickly with ink overlaid with colour pencil, which seemed to work. The character design is very simple. This way of rendering images was a turning point in the project, as for a while I was worried that the character designs were too simple, and spent a while experimenting with trying to develop a figure that
Here are some inky images that I’ve been working on in the last week. I have been inspired by ancient cypriot figures to construct a naive feel. I have been trying to develop the characters from brave new world, so that each character has more individuality than the figures I have previously been working on. I have considered that despite the fact that each individual may have been brainwashed into a particular way of thinking, that aesthetically each person looks slightly different in their appearance. I am still developing these characters and keep pondering the question of simplicity versus a more sophisticated style. I think the simple generic characters could work for a front cover but not for the images of the book. I particularly like the detail of the rather sinister looking red inked door way, and has potential for the landscape of the book illustrations.
Some images that I used to help figure out the perspective for the scene where Lenina approaches John to seduce him. The opposing images show developing work depicting a scene where John pushes Lenina away in an angry rage, as his refusal to satisfy Lenina’s lust with accordance of his morals and love towards her cause confusion. Lenina falls to the floor...
The image above doesn’t quite work, as it is too over-worked. Back to the simple figures...
This page features developmental sketches that experiment with character development
Image design for scene where Lenina and John become aquainted, whilst Lenina is under the influence of Soma.
THE LIGHT HOUSE In chapter eighteen, (one of the most prominent chapters in latter part of the text) John seeks solitude after confronting the reality of the brave new world distopian society. The landscape for this particular scene depicts a lucious green paradise, oddly with a light house at the top of a mound. Below are some inspiration images that inspired me for the light house scene.
This image rendered in colour pencils seems to work tonally. In order to make it into a final image, elements of the composition need to be tweeked i.e. the horizon line of the hill needs to be moved down in order to for the image to breath.
CRITICAL REFLECTION As this negociated practice has come to a close, I think I have learnt a lot, but in all honesty I am not particuarly happy with my final outcomes. I think I struggled with my sense of direction within the project, as I found it very difficult the realise the potential of the work, where in some cases the work could be taken further. In a sense, I enjoyed making the work, but making ‘final imagery’ seemed to be quite a daunting prospect. Working on a larger scale is not something I have done much in the past, and it was liberating to work in such a way. I created a large amount of drawing and created a body of work, that once collated I can now see potential for future projects. This isn’t what I set out to do in my learning agreement, but I think it was important to focus on a way of image making that I enjoyed.
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