Over summer I really wanted to focus on improving my use of tone and lighting within my pictures, my first step with this module was to draw out the authors I was interested in, looking back on this I can see how much I’ve improved since summer and since last year.
During this module I realised how important it is to keep drawing. I also improved a lot in terms of colour, tone and lighting within my drawings.
During my experimental phase of this module, I went through a lot of different media, partly because I was afraid that print would make my drawings stiff and cold.
Monoprint made me realise that print can be expressive and loose and a bit mental. I was also able to add the lighting and tone to my prints just as well as if I were drawing them. I think what makes my monoprints successful is the looseness of them, and the fact that a lot of them are happy accidents where I’ve taken risks.
I had a lot of troubles with my sting in the beginning of this module but that was because I avoided doing it as I didn’t want it to be shape based, I wanted it to have atmosphere and emotion. After being shown this Jimmy Turrell video, it showed me that I can create loose, expressive, glitchy stings using layers which would bring the sting to life.
Using different papers was definitely a key point for me in this module because it provided me with so many new textures alongside my prints, it gave them depth.
Hand drawing my type was a risk because I’m no graphic designer, however I think it works because my work contains a lot of monoprint and is all about being loose and expressive and rough, which my handwritten type turned out to be. It fits well with the book and images as a whole.
Changing the layout of my spreads was also a changing point in this module because before I decided to do it, the book looked far to busy and had too much noise going on in each page.
Making the covers of each book opposite definitely ties it all together and makes the message I’m trying to get across a lot clearer.
Finishing my sting was also a key point in this module because it meant I now have another skill that can take me further in life. Although the process was stressful and I didn’t particularly enjoy it, I learnt a lot from it and learnt how to apply my own tone of voice to something that doesn’t necessarily allow it at first.
Finishing my book was also another key point in the module because I’ve never attempted to double bind a book like this before, and I have little experience in book binding. However I aimed high with this brief and took a lot of risks which I hope will pay off.