Project Report By N.Ronke
Spook-A-Week What Is The Spook-a-Week Brief? The spook-a-week brief was to be a Lino cut of a creature of some sort each week. This Then became fortnightly due to outside work and other briefs, before it became more about the product and process than making multiple final pieces. The aim was to expand and improve my Lino cutting and printing technique. Using different Lino printing skills such as Lino reduction, the benefits of hand burnishing vs relief press, the effects of gouging out or in all the detail on a print and who that affected the outcome, colour collaging Lino cuts and the effects different papers had on Lino prints. How It Happened? The spook a week brief was initially inspired by both my growing love of horror via podcasts and video games such as the no sleep podcast and the Dead space trilogy. As well as a way of improving my ability to design characters. Initially I looked back on my syphilitic character from last year as my starting point. using the concept of humanised personifications of diseases as the starting point to create characters. This then led to me heavily researching the origins of cholera and How they came from a small village in India with only a stagnant lake as the sole source of water. The image began to transform in to a character based historical editorial after a while. It did however do something that would become a common theme throughout my spook a week project. I wanted to re-try some more reduction Lino cutting, which came out successful in the final image making process. This is when I began to think of Lino as my major technical process when creating my work.
Spook-A-Week
! Skills Learnt What I learnt from this brief was the importance of matching the correct paper to the correct Lino cut. Some need texture to break it apart as the reduction of detail in it allows you the relief you need to do it. While more detailed cuts with multiple small details to it would need a more matted paper to allow the details to come through clear. Similarly a printing method would entirely depend on size, detail and texture to a piece. Burnishing is better for small Lino cuts (A5 and Below) while for larger ones work better with relief. Success Overall I would say this was a very successful brief for me. One of the most in fact. It lead to the creation and inspiration for other briefs such as Colours May Vary, The World Vampire series and My Final Major Project. Alongside getting me a commissioned Job from The No Sleep Podcast which was to myself, when I wrote my initial stamen of intent a far fetched dream; almost.
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Cryptid Zine
What is the Brief? The Cryptid Zine was the main piece of work I made solely for the thought bubble convention. It was a 10 paged zine telling you the ‘facts’ of different cryptids. The descriptions would slowly fall apart and become more humours as they went alone. It was my take on a mockumentary style guide. What Happened? Inspired by Kristyna Baczynski character sketches which where made by her drawing a random shape and then using line work to create a character that filled in that shape I used this methods when creating my monsters. Though looking back I’d now create small Lino cuts for these and, in retrospect, should have done it similar to most zines in having it printed on thin coloured paper to create a more ‘made by a cyptid specialist in the woods’ vibe’. Successes Even though reflection I know I am more skilled and could create more refined pieces than this now. I think at the time this worked pretty well. Travelling man has asked about stocking it in it’s zine library in York and their is potential for me to collaborate with multiple different artists around the uk and Finland on a cyptid book.
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Travelling Man
What Is the Brief? Create an A2 poster for traveling man on the theme of fan art with a specified colour scheme. What Happened? In hindsight I don’t think well but I know I was desperately holding onto the notion of almost 80% of my practice being digital at the time. I did overcome issues I had with multiple characters within one scene and I think this is when you get to see the thought I put into composition. I wanted it to be as chaotic as Rick and Morty council of ricks or really any episode is. I feel like my attempt to create that vibe and relationship both characters have with one another as well as making sure all the the different types of Morty’s depicted the correct emotions that reflected their personality types within the pocket morty game. It mush have gone well though because I sold two!
Penguin Brief
What is The Brief? Create a Book cover based on the Book in cold blood for the penguin brief competition as well as maybe a few other non-fiction adult book covers. What Happened? The Penguin Brief went awry, very awry. Reading and researching the book was simple. I had a specific idea in my mind of what to do. However I was in a very big creative slump where I couldn't seem to make good work as I was struggling with my practice as a predominantly print based Illustrator. I, after finishing cop and not being happy with the end result. Decided to rebel against Lino and focus almost solely on digital. This didn't end well as I wasn't that enthused about digital either. As a result of that and a lack of guidance at the time I ended up producing this. It was a very forced piece that made me feel neither accomplishment of a development in my skill. I think sometimes you have to realise that forcing yourself to do something when not using the correct methods for your practice or any passion at all can kill a project and your drive very succinctly.
Wine Label What is the Brief? Design a label for Campo Viejo celebrating spanish culture. Within 3 days What Happened? As I’d Just come back from Madrid when I saw this brief and had spent the time soaking the art history and culture of Spain so I felt pretty ready to take this on. Doing this wine label design with the quick turn around time allowed me to basically strip what my process when going from start to finish was. As A result I know how research even if minute comes into it as well as the importance of finding an angle to your brief that makes it easier for me to be at least excited about the work. Their was a large amount of pride within madrid on their history and royalty whereas tourists prefer universal symbols of Spain such as the flamenco dancers. which where there as an appeasement to universal tourism. I wanted to show these to different cultural aspects coming together surface spanish culture and Spanish heritage. Something that I learnt from this experience however was the importance of contrasting colours and referring to the colour wheel. As parts of the background eclipsed the foreground and at different points the faces blended into the background. I would Focus more on the colour next time. The size I submitted the image at left much to be desired and made the images difficult to read. Although I uploaded it in the correct format I may need to look at the placement and sizing of images next time. I don't think I'd do a competition label again however if I was commissioned I'd love to create another wine label.
Lindt What was the Brief? Create a single Image design, depicting the new easter range of milk, white and dark chocolate 200g bunnies. As most of Lindt’s branding and packaging design is shit. What Happened? I designed a mock up poster for what was then the Easter. Choosing Digital collage as away of keeping a child friendly vibe to the rabbits while also looking cleaner more contemporary than most other design packages. I showed said design to my manager who approved of my mock design. I have been put forward by my manager to be allowed internship at the Lindt design company. I'm hoping for a response soon from them as it would be a great opportunity for me.
Historical Editorial What is the Brief? Create a series of editorial pictures form historical articles. What Happened? With the first one On the war on Ireland I decided that A personification of the countries and Irelands resistance would work best to depict this complex scenario. A lot of complex information is best illustrated using either personifications of issues or simple symbolism as you want to create a piece of editorial illustration that goes along well with the article. I wanted to be very careful with my colours here. I knew that even in black and white the british flag was easy to distinguish however the Irish one is more complex as the colours and order of them distinguish it away from other european countries. So i did research which colour codes the flag contained. Trying to stick to a simple colour scheme based around the irish flag I was able to use the black and white element a highlight for the hero (Ireland) and the villain (England). The composition of the piece pushed across the idea of a domineering antagonist and a weaker but determined protagonist. All in all I think that this piece came out exceptionally well and has reignited my confidence in editorial work. Similarly With the others Although I didn’t sped the same amount of time on them on the whole they all came out well. I realised simplicity can speak louder than complexity in a scene and the effectiveness of spot colour within editorial art. Afterwards So I sent my Historical editorials off to suzanne , the art director of the BBC history magazine. She was impressed by my work. However said they already have a select number of illustrators they like to use constantly.
Vampire Brief What is the Brief? This is a development brief from the spook-a-week. The idea was to create a series of narrative Lino cuts depicting scenes of Vampires from different countries and cultures. What Happened? A big focus of this piece was detail. I decided I was going to cut every single hair on this monster after designing the final product. What makes it different from a lot of my other posts is that this Illustration was made through multiple sketches and developments focused around the key characteristics of the creature I found from my research. Hairy, Long legs, backwards feet, Large Eyes,Iron Teeth In this case the large amount of character concepts and composition sketching was booth a blessing and a hinderance. At one point I got too lost in it. But taking a step from previous briefs where it got too much. I left it for about half a day and came back to my sketches. Looked over them critically and curated things in both the character designs and compositions that worked. Which is how I was able to get the idea finalised.
! The way I put this all together was a using digital collage as a cleanup (slight enhancement tool). Realising that for me digital is the final 10% of a process. Which if done well takes my images to a whole new level. The importance of using digital sparingly is crucial for my practice, keeping my work to it's highest standard.
Fantasy Character What Is the Brief? So I want to do more character designs and look at different ways of using different media. I thought this will help me work out the best media for my quicker and more fluid character designs. I'm hoping to build up a portfolio of character design for more potential character design jobs. What Happened? I have been looking into d’n’d character designs that had become more contemporary such as dungeons and drawings from Blanca Martinez de Rituerto & Joe Sparrow My digital images had more flaws than successes, due to the restriction in fluidity thanks to digital lining and a flat look to them. However the digitally collaged Elf came out better than but still had it’s problems. Although i would do backgrounds in the collage again. Maybe look at other ways of mixing traditional and digital together to create characters with more life to them On the more Traditional side I Found some issues in the drawing of the characters. I hadn't set myself clear goals which meant most of the work I produced was very lacklustre. Similarly I found when colouring and inking most I had a issue with using the wrong lining tool or colouring equipments. I feel like I hadn't just left them raw the images would have come out cleaner. Next time I would use the more traditional means again but with a clearer Idea of what i'm doing in mind. As I seem to work better with restrictions. However I would definitely use digital to clean up and refine my illustrations to a portfolio worth standard.
Passion Fruit
What is the Brief? Passion fruit is a competition for queer artists to pitch an erotic comic to beyond press in hopes of getting chosen to create said comic (paid). What Happened? Creating the initial character boards and scenic concepts for said proposals was new to me. I've always avoided drawing nude people because I was, weirdly worried what my family would think. However this project for me became a rather freeing one in that I did it because i wanted to do it. Rather than because I felt that I had to do it.These are the final character sheets and one environment board which I sent to Passion Fruit. the submission also came with an extensive description of the plot, character designs and themes of the story. Block colour doesn't really work for me due to the fact that my line work does not mimic that solid clean form. I think thats why I have to start colouring the same way I line to get more effective pieces. I Know my time management would have been improved if I had set clearer goals of what I wanted to achieve within a certain time frame. If I knew that I was going to do 2 character sheets 3 environment ones and maybe a mock up page. I feel I would have been more successful in both the production of work and getting into Passion fruit. These type of competitions are something that I would definitely do again if given the opportunity. I'm going to look at more of these competitions after the course to help develop the comics side of my practice.
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Colours May Vary What’s The Brief? Create a 30cm x 30cm poster around the theme out of order. What Happened? I wanted to draw two thing that I like to draw. Women and Monsters. The idea of a forbidden 'love' between the two that is more symbolic than crude has become the point of this. I had this idea of someone looking at the image in a old parisian cafe as they retell the tale of the image to an american journalist looking for inspiration in Europe. And after they tell this fantastical tale of the blurred lines between the personification of female innocence falling in love with this deformed monstrosity representing death they'd take a long drag from their cigarette in its long black holder and say "to fall in love with death, is truly, out of order' I know it's a bit convoluted but having these narrative tales in my head can really help create the passion and drive behind a project. I started to sketch things out and a major thing with this one was composition and shape. The contrast between tall and long and short and wide silhouettes mimics the contrast within what the subjects represent. This also draws upon my spooks a week as I wanted to create a more advanced narrative scene similar to the way I am wanting to advance my Lino cuts. Another similarity is the fact that I will be pushing my Lino cutting again in creating a reduction with this piece. Keeping with the narrative background of this in my head the image will be black and grey. Creating this simplistic parisian gothic aesthetic to the piece. paper and first layer. This created (in my opinion) a gorgeous contrast in texture that the subtle differences in colour emphasised
Colours May Vary
What Happened Part 2? The issue with cutting Lino is that sometimes you slip about 80% though cutting your Lino and all you want to do is die because why is this happening. However the more you deal with Lino the more aware you become of good old adaptability. The problem with reduction prints however is that as soon as you've recut for the next layer you can do no more prints of the first. Also you can sometimes cut out more than you need to. Which is why I always keep a photo copy of the Lino cut to mark what does and doesn't need cutting. I used two different techniques on these images. The first layer was hand burnished with a padded burnisher. Allowing for the grey ink to come out in an almost stone like effect. The second was the a simple relief print that allowed the solid black of the lining to stand out against the textured paper and first layer. This created (in my opinion) a gorgeous contrast in texture that the subtle differences in colour emphasised
No Sleep
The Brief I was given 2 stories to chose between and create illustration of said story to be the cover of sunday 14th episode What Happened? I read and annotated the stories picking out what I believed to be strong visual elements of them. Then I chose the one that I believe i could illustrate with a strong narrative composition. I sketched for over half a day. Talked to some people. drew on the board because I found it easier. Cut the Lino, Printed it and scanned and added a slight bit of colour for emphasis. The Creator of the show loved it and I’m now part of the no sleep podcast team
Final Major Project
What is the Brief?! The initial brief fluctuated for about an month and a bit. I was proposing a comic board set and design at first for my comic idea. However that is more of my own personal side to the practice than professional side. At first I was going to be a series of linocuts depicting the tale of the marksman. A german folklore. Then it was a mixture of that and christian symbolism within european folklore then it was Christianity and dante. Then dante and the three categories of sins. But finally we came to the brief proposal that I actually followed through on. Create a book cover, chapter inserts and character boards for Dante’s Inferno the first part of the divine comedy. What Happened?! So with dante's inferno being part of the divine comedies I thought about keeping the chapter illustrations and book cover more serious but in the comic strips make dane and the demons a lot more humours. The daemons for this have been heavily inspired by my trip to the Prado museum where I saw some of Hieronymus borsch's paintings. That has inspired the more ridiculous but still demonic creatures I have drawn within this. Dante's inferno is a great example of dark comedy and trying to translate this into illustrated form can be difficult to do.
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Final Major Project
What Happened Pt2? Character design wise I began to focus a lot on making more fluid and shape based than my usual characters. As I believe that a looser but consistent character design will allow my work to be less awkward and funner for both me and those viewing it. With the Lino I'm really happy with how these turned out. Especially with the two part print where I imposed dante onto the forest scene. I feel like all the skills and techniques I've developed and honed over other briefs came through in this final piece. I can say happily that I have no issue with this being the final piece I make for this course. I had fun making the character boards and would do it again but maybe with another project. Creating more boards and learning how to clean them up better should help me create a succinct portfolio of character concept design.
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Final Major Project
Final Major Project Evaluation Once I set the goal of what i wanted to make I felt that I created some of the most successful pieces of Lino to date. I also look at my character designs and begin to see the shapes of what I’ve been wanting to articulate for some time now. Doing both the Lino and character boards allowed me to have some sort of epiphany. where I realised how I could utilise the two tools together to finally be able to develop and create the comics I’ve been yearning to do. But didn’t know the right media or skill to use. As a result of this poor time keeping at the start of this project i lost time that could have been spent exploring this theory more and this allowing me more final work to come to the end of FMP with. But I’m not perturbed about this. In the last two weeks I’ve been more organised in balancing all the practical work I have to do for both collage and my career that I feel much better about going into the professional art world. My only worry is the fact that now that I reflect on FMP and the whole of my extend module practice I have identified so many concepts I want to push further.
Final Thoughts
Final Project Thoughts Overall I can say that the majority of my projects where very successful in helping me build up a competent portfolio. The technical competency i’ve build up with Lino over the last year has allowed me to hone and refine my practice. But my stubbiness with wanting to create almost solely digital work and artistic slumps have hindered the progress and amount of work I could have been making. Now I feel like I’m in my stride and know what I need to do to get my portfolio up to scratch.