UCA Illustration Year Two Documentary - Reflective Journal

Unit 1 - Documentary Boileroom, Guildford reflective blog

Unit Introduction For this unit we were told to research and look into local businesses or communities that we have a genuine interest in but not one that we knew a lot about. The goal for this project was to learn something unique about that business that you could only learn from being there and carefully observing and documenting little things that you notice or conversations you overhear. From the beginning I was very interested and knew that the success or failure of this project would rest on the decision of the chosen location. When we initially started to look at the possibilities of businesses that would be a great source of inspiration for stories I immediately thought of a tattoo studio, not only because at the time I had been looking at artists and studios for my own tattoo but because I’ve always had a genuine interest in the art behind tattoos and the stories that we connect with so much that we feel the need to permanently ink on our skin. Also as an artist I’ve always been impressed with the way people trust their tattoo artist with something so permanent. As an artist I always want to make art that will stand out and that people will want to see and look at for a long time, so someone wanting a piece of art on their skin is the ultimate compliment an artist could get.

choosing a location I knew about a tattoo studio here in Farnham called ‘Ministry of Ink’ but I was told that someone had asked to go there but that another illustration student had already taken the space. I then looked into studios in the surrounding areas, as it had to be somewhere we could visit frequently. I came across ‘Boileroom Tattoo Studio’ and immediately knew this would be a great source for the project. It is a small studio that sits above a music venue and artistic community in a very unique looking building. I was immediately drawn to it. Looking at the artists’ work I was really impressed by their style; it really stood out as very high quality work.

EMAILS These are screenshots of the conversation I had with the people at the studio trying to book a time to visit them.

Unfortunately once I had been told that it was ok for me to visit, the owner of the shop went on a business trip for just over a week and was unable to access emails so that meant I was slightly delayed in being able to visit straight away.

EMAILS

All of my research up to this point had to stay fairly general, as I didn’t want to commit to a particular direction before I had even visited the location.

Character workshop For this workshop we were asked to design and create a character that we believe could be found in our chosen location.

This involved looking at the details of the location, in my case a tattoo studio and make certain decisions about the kind of person that would go there.

I looked back on some of my initial brainstorms and mind maps of things that are linked to tattoos and a main thing that stood out to me early on was gang tattoos and biker culture so I wanted to take aspects of that and reflect it in my character. I’m not pleased with how the final drawing came out but feel that the process and analysis that lead to the creation of him was very valuable.

Small story telling notes that gives you a sense of the kind of person he is just from a particular piece of clothing like the torn jeans, or gives you an idea of his attitude from the way he is posed and standing. All of these elements come together in character design and will flow through all other projects and work that involves deeper levels of story telling.

character workshop There are so many varied elements that go into creating a character. You want to make someone that people are interested in; you want the viewer to be able to connect with and empathise with.

Small details become so important and can make or break the depth of a character.

Looking back I would have loved to make my character more abstract as I feel that it would have resulted in a visually stronger and vibrant character. The image below is not my piece but was done by another illustration student Veronika Pažická.

Her piece stood out to me the most out of all the others in the class so I wanted to use her piece as an example as it gave me ideas for how I could improve my own work so felt that it was important to share that thought process. Whilst I wanted to add detail to build my character and make him more interesting I could see that Veronika’s character has even more personality than mine and that she does this with her use of shapes, colour, and also the multiple poses and drawings beyond just the straight looking forward pose. All of this shows everything that we were asked to do and more and is an incredible example of how a ‘detailed’ character doesn’t need to be super realistic and lifelike, that you can add detail in many other ways and that is one of the main things I will take away from this workshop and that revelation came from viewing another student’s process. That is always very valuable to me.

book-making workshop

The book-making workshop was really helpful and gave me skills and techniques that I can use in other projects in the future. Learning the process for the folds and stitching really helped to build our level of precision. It reminded me of my previous graphic design work because I love being accurate and lining things up perfectly and in the making of the flag book seen below if your measurements are slightly off it can have an effect on the entire piece. Being precise is not only a skill needed in book-making but all kinds of art so this is a skill that will no doubt aid me in the very near future.

book-making workshop As we progressed through the session I was starting to see how the basics of the fold could lead to so many different possibilities. The basic fold of the flag book on the previous page is also the structure of the book to the right and below. For the book to the right I cut out pieces of sugar paper and tracing paper and when I added my design I placed them so they were sitting on top of each other. We then stitched it into the paper so that they could turn and flip as you go through it. The final product really impressed me, I was starting to see the possibilities that could develop from this simple fold and that you are only really limited by your imagination as to what you do with it next. I am definitely going to be using this technique when I make mock-up books or even as a different way to present smaller ideas or pieces of work. Just from folding a line along the bottom of that original fold you are left with a free-standing book with a lower pocket which I decided to use to store and display some of my leftover cuts from the previous flag book on the left side.

etching workshop I have always been interesting in printmaking as it’s not something I really did during high school and during my A-levels as I was so focused on graphic design and digital art that I missed out on a lot of opportunities to do things like this, so I wanted to make sure that I took advantage of any workshops that I can now, while I am surrounded by the equipment and by people that can pass on their knowledge and experience. I have often tried to replicate textures and effects that come

naturally in printmaking to my digital work, so now instead of just creating close versions in Photoshop I want to be able to actually create those textures and effects for real. Etching was something that I really knew nothing about the process or what went into creating them I only knew what the final result would look like. I loved learning the steps and process that go into preparing the metal plates and I am looking forward to experimenting and pushing the boundaries of what I can do with it.

etching workshop These are photographs of my 2 etching plates that I made over the 2-day workshop. The top photo was made using soft ground. This allows you to pick up smoother and more textured marks, as the surface is more sensitive, so even a fingerprint can show up in the final plate. I am really impressed with how it turned out as it was a new process I had never done before so I was unsure of what to expect but the way it replicated my pencil marks is incredible.

The bottom photo is of the plate I made using hard ground.

I equally loved this process and the amount of intricate detail it could pick up. I was able to get the smallest lines in the tiny bees wings. Both pieces originated from drawings that I did on location in the tattoo studio so I am pleased that I was able to link this workshop to my main project. It is definitely a process that I will use for future projects as I now have a solid understanding of the process and its a process that I really enjoyed and was impressed with the outcomes.

drawing on location My favourite part of this unit was definitely the observational drawing in the tattoo studio. I never really did any observational drawing before university, I didn’t really see the point if I could draw from a photo but looking back I can see how naive that was. Typically I have never been a huge fan of my observational drawings but I have to say I am really pleased with how these turned out. I have learnt that it is definitely a skill that needs to be worked at and pushed and is very different to ordinary drawing from your head.

Spending time in that studio sat on the waiting bench observing the room was a very interesting experience. I felt like the more I was drawing the more I was noticing, the more I would focus on the smaller details. It isn’t often we take the time to do that so it made me see things in a very new and fresh way which helped with idea development a lot. If I had just Googled images from inside of the studio I would have ended up with a really one-dimensional view of the place. I really had to be there and experience it right down to the strong smell of the anti-bacterial spray that they coated the surfaces in.

Just looking at photos I wouldn’t have

drawing on location had that to build from. On my first day in the studio I was drawn to a huge bright pink neon sign on the wall that said ‘TATTOO’ I really liked it and felt it was a great addition to the studio but it wasn’t until the second day that I got the full benefit of returning to a location and experiencing it. The second time I visited the studio it was a dark and grim day where the previous time had been very bright and sunny. With the weather rainy and grim it meant that the glow from the neon sign reached out across the entire room and touched everything in there. It reflected off every surface and even as I was drawing it created a pink tint to my sketchbook. The benefit of being in a place and returning multiple times really paid off in that moment and it is small unnoticeable moments like that where an illustrator can tap into and use something so minor and turn it into a unique narrative point.

reflective unit summary From the beginning of this project I wanted to try and push myself further outside of my comfort zone. I don’t feel that I have particularly achieved this overall, but I have noticed it in smaller areas. I still feel that overall my work this unit has been ‘safe’ and I haven’t really pushed the boundaries of illustration. I am still getting used to the way I work best and for this year I discovered that working within an A4 sketchbook was limiting my work and making me feel restricted.

I have always been jealous of messy sketchbooks and I have never been able to do that but once I had started to use an A5 sketchbook I felt a lot more freedom to explore ideas and jot down ideas as they came to me, whereas with the A4 I felt that the work all had to be presented and high quality. This is one way that I have pushed myself and I am glad as I have definitely seen an improvement and I am happier with the look of my sketchbook and I am a lot happier working in it compared to before so I feel that is a step in the right direction for me.

A big thing that I worked on last year that I am continuing to see the benefits of now is that I am following the research before deciding on any kind of final direction. Previously I would have decided on an idea for a final piece very early on in the process and worked the research to fit in with that, but I now know that working like that doesn’t lead to the best work and in fact blocks out loads of potentially better ideas. This was very hard for me at points in this unit when I wasn’t able to get to my location due to having to wait to hear back from the studio so I was only able to visit them for the first time quite late into the project. I feel like this had put me behind quite a bit, as I couldn’t begin to focus my research and narrow down lines of inquiry. I didn’t want to risk falling back into that old mindset again.

The more research I did and the more I spoke to people about my subject matter, I knew that I really wanted to move away from the tattoo art side of things and to instead focus on the building and the studio of the Boileroom. I didn’t want this to be an excuse to draw

reflective unit summary skulls and roses as a final piece, but to instead focus on the individual elements that make this studio unique. I wanted to try and capture the small details that I noticed and turn that into something bigger, as I have experienced this place and gained an understanding of the tone and the feeling, so why not use that to my advantage.

I have continued to try out new things and jump into new workshops to build up examples of varied types of work and to expand my knowledge on the industry. Mainly the bookmaking and the etching workshop stand out to me. They were both things that I knew of and admired the work, but knew nothing about the process, so I was very excited to start to build up those skills and be able to demonstrate them in new ways. I’ve always thought to myself that I was never very good at creating things with my hands like model making or sculpture, but I was surprised at the quality of the work that I produced on those days. Often with any kind of 3D work before I have even begun I’ve told myself that it will end up looking terrible and that I’ll hate it, but having strong guidance and being shown examples of how to do things correctly really helped to build my confidence. I was brand new to these processes, but now feel that I could stand in front of a class and clearly and precisely talk someone through the steps on how to prepare a metal plate for etching and that is something I wasn’t expecting from this unit. During this time I have also taken part in a few mentor sessions with the new year ones and I have seen such a difference between where I was a year ago to now. It feels like so long ago, but I remember how nervous I was when we started and then to be standing at the from of the class with Fiona introducing myself to a room of strangers as a mentor was a very surreal moment for me, but it reinforced how much I’ve changed and developed since we started a year ago. I am hoping I will be able to say the same next year.

ryan waddon year 2 illustration reflective blog