Person of Note - Sketchbook Development

This is a development of the hairstyles idea, using simplified solid shapes and textures and patterns to push this idea further. I like the introduction of the microphone because it is a symbol to show that she is a singer and this would make her character more easily identifiable. It would also balance the composition in a portrait frame as it shows where the mouth would normally be. 

I quickly painted these shapes in gouache. I wanted to see what I could come up with when drawing from photographs and being selective with what I put onto paper. I think this was a successful exercise because it got some more idea flowing and made me think more about how I was translating what I was seeing in a photo into a drawing. 

Gouache experimentation - I love how versatile gouache is so it was really good to work with and seeing the difference in effect of the watered down paint and the paint in its neat form with a strong colour. 

Microphone sketches

Person of Note - Crit Feedback

I like the idea of developing the hairstyles idea and maybe incorporating different microphones through the decades. I could do a lot more research into this, thinking about fashion and record covers, as suggested by my group. I think record covers could be interesting because I could analyse the imagery and see how I could use this myself. Looking into art of the time is a good idea because it may lead to other cultural references which would help the different times be identifiable. 

I need to get onto making roughs soon and working within the frame so I can start to think about composition and how these images will work as a set. I will continue to do more research but I want to leave myself enough time do develop my roughs to a standard I am happy to work with. 

Person of Note - Research

All of my research can be found in my sketchbook but these are a few drawings from reference and pages of information that I am particularly interested in at the moment. 

Pencil drawing

Ella Fitzgerald's hair was ever changing and there were some iconic hairstyles which were good to draw. I think these could be simplified down into shapes and maybe would still be recognisable on a very small scale, on the stamps for example. 

This is some general information about Ella Fitzgerald explaining her career and talents. I an really pleased with this drawing I did in fine liners and marker pens. It was done from reference from a photograph but I found it challenging to work in reverse, leaving the white areas blank and having to work around them. I like the atmosphere of the drawing and might continue with this idea later on in the project, maybe incorporating colour or stencil work. 

Ella's contribution to charity both before and after her death was something that caught my attention. Her inspiration for doing this charity work was closely related to her childhood so this led me to look into that. She had a troubled childhood which led to her living on the streets eventually. It was interesting to see how she could rise from such a low point to being this huge star - this is interesting to me but I feel like it is a cliche direction to take this project in as 'rags to riches' stories are quite common, especially in this industry. 

Her friendship with Marilyn Monroe and the story behind it links to themes of racism in these times. My only concern about using this story in my final images is that I need to be careful that Marilyn doesn't become the centre of attention as she is more iconic and well known than Fitzgerald. 

Visual Language - End of Module Self Evaluation

1.  Which practical skills and methodologies have you developed within this module and how effectively do you think you are employing them within your own practice?
I have learned some valuable Photoshop skills during this module, I had never really used Photoshop before so these workshops at the start of SB1 taught me some of the basics which I have continued to build on through projects later on in this module and in other modules. Using pure shape as a way of creating images was something I hadn’t really considered properly before. I think this has been important in the development of my practice because it has moved me away from always using line to build up an image. The mutants task introduced me to using photography as a form of illustration. I didn’t find this method particularly inspiring but it definitely made me think about the variety of less generic ways illustrations can be made. My skills in screen-printing have developed again since the one week book task in the visual narratives module. I am feeling a lot more confident with this process and would probably be comfortable now using the print room facilities by myself.
2. Which principles/ theories of image making have you found most valuable during this module and how effectively do you think you are employing these within your own practice?
I think using roughs has proved invaluable during the SB2 part of this module. I have used roughs in previous modules but I think they have been especially important when considering the composition of a piece of work. I have become better and quicker at sketching out my ideas within a frame because I understand that these do not need to be neat drawings, as long as they are understandable and help me figure out the position of all the components in the image, they are doing their job. I think at the beginning of the module in SB1, I was really getting into drawing the same thing over and over again which was beneficial to my practice because it forced me to try different drawing techniques and media. Repeatedly drawing the same thing meant that I became used to the shapes I was drawing and I got progressively more confident with drawing the image.
3. What strengths can you identify within your Visual Language submission you capitalise on these?
I think I took more risks with my image making the SB1 sketchbook tasks and I should have capitalised on this by continuing with this level of experimentation throughout the rest of this module. I think the variety of media and tools I used during the first stage of this module really benefitted my image making and pushed me to think about mark making and quality of line and the effect these things can have on an image. The sketchbook tasks definitely helped to loosen my drawing style. I was very much in the mind-set that successful images were clearly representative of the reference imagery used but this module has helped me to use photographs as ‘reference’ and not just something to copy from. My final outcomes from SB2 feel a lot more informed and considered than any images I have made in the past, I’m not saying they are the best pieces of work I have ever made but in terms of and in depth consideration of composition I think they are the most advanced.
4. What areas for development can you identify within your Visual Language submission and how will you address these in the future? Experimentation slowed down towards the end of the module so I think in future I need to push myself to continue to draw things over and over again until I reach something I am happy with. I think I was too easily satisfied with my imagery in the last few tasks when I should have been challenging things and seeing how I could have done parts differently, experimented with more media and maybe referred back to the drawing exercises from the start of the module for inspiration. I feel I got caught up more in making roughs and most of my experimentation was related to my compositions rather than the physical methods of image making. This is only relevant to a few tasks during this module but I did leave some of them to the last minute and I know I didn’t produce work of a high enough standard for me to be pleased with. I think this was all part of getting used to juggling the different modules in the early stages of the course and I am already on my way to organising my time more effectively.
5. In what way has this module informed how you deconstruct and analyse artwork (whether your own or that of contemporary practitioners)? I think my ability to analyse images has definitely improved, particularly being able to point out the compositional devices used in the work of others. Before beginning the visual language module, I would be able to understand whether an image was pleasing to the eye or whether it made me feel on edge but I often found it difficult to specify the actual reason why. My improved knowledge of composition, frame, depth, line of sight and value have been invaluable to my overall understanding of analysing images. Because of this, I think I have become better at using compositional devices in my own work, particularly with line of sight and the use of foreground, mid-ground and background. I have become better at noticing which compositions are working during the roughing stages and I have more of an open mind when it comes to composing an image now because I have a list of things in my head that I know I can play around with to try and make my images more interesting.
6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas: (please indicate using an ‘x’)  5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor
	1	2	3	4	5
Attendance					X
Punctuality					X
Motivation				X
Commitment				X
Quantity of work produced					X
Quality of work produced				X
Contribution to the group			X
The evaluation of your work is an important part of the assessment criteria and represents a percentage of the overall grade. It is essential that you give yourself enough time to complete your written evaluation fully and with appropriate depth and level of self-reflection. If you have any questions relating to the self-evaluation process speak to a member of staff as soon as possible.

Person of Note - Initial Research

After doing some research into these three people, I have decided to go ahead with Ella Fitzgerald as my person of note because I think she will be a really interesting person to research. Her strong links to the jazz industry are something I would like to explore more - I think I will enjoy researching this,  getting to know a new style of music and I can see myself getting really into in this project. 

Person of Note - Portrait Artist Research

These are some illustrated portraits which caught my eye when I was browsing Pinterest. I like the use of media in the top two as it adds interest and character to the pieces and I thought the bottom image by Katharine Asher was very clean, simple and captured the elegance of the woman. 

Nike Schroeder

Florian Nicolle

Katharine Asher

I am presuming that this image by Katharine Asher was done with watercolour paints. I think the minimal amount of brushstrokes used are really effective in keeping this image clean and sophisticated. The way this woman has been painted makes her appear classy, delicate and ladylike.

Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol's portraits are iconic, probably his most famous being of Marilyn Monroe. I like how he combines print, photography and collage into his portraits as it captures the person's actual appearance but also reflects the person they are inside. The Mick Jagger portraits are my favourite from this small collection because of Warhol's boldness with his collage pieces and the use of shifted line. I also like the interesting viewpoint of the Mohammed Ali portrait as it isn't a conventional angle for a photograph to be taken but it makes it look like he is concentrating and 'in the zone'. 

For my project based on Ella Fitzgerald, I hope to bring in more than one image making process to add some variation to the aesthetic and represent different aspects of her life though different media. 

Greetings from... - Final Crit and Evaluation

Feedback

Most of my positive comments were about the compositions of my postcards which I was happy about because had tried to keep the compositions simple but they were clearly effective in making the four images work as a set. 

I particularly like the comment about the images being calming to look at. I did intend for them to be peaceful images because pilgrimage is a religious journey where people feel in touch with their beliefs so this comment leads me to believe that this has been successful. 

People didn’t comment on the specific locations of my postcards so I am unsure whether they could pinpoint the cities or not. However, there were comments about my concept being clear and it fitting the brief so I think that the theme of my four postcards was clear and the religions and locations could probably be worked out from this information. 

When reading through my criticism, the question was raised about the positioning of the statue in the Lourdes postcard. I had battles with this issue earlier in the project but eventually decided that it was more efficient to have the hands on show rather than the head because more visual symbols were visible when it was cropped in this way. 

Someone also asked whether Mecca is ever as quiet as I have portrayed in my image. I do agree that Mecca is a busy place but I wanted to capture the calming feeling of a religious person feeling close to their god. I understand that maybe adding crowds of people into the background might make the location clearer but I would have to consider their position and arrangement carefully if I wanted the image to have the same peaceful atmosphere. 

Evaluation

I had only ever used illustrator once before and this was only briefly so I felt very new to the software and I didn’t know a lot about the different functions. Considering I was basically learning from scratch, I think I have done well to produce these outcomes in this space of time. I felt I needed to inform myself about the subject of my postcards for the religions and locations to be represented accurately and respectfully. I found this research element interesting and I learned quite a few new things. 

I think I may have wasted a little time at the beginning of this project with my drawings from reference as I was drawing things that would be difficult to transfer into vectors. I am undecided whether this actually was a waste of time or not though because a few of my final postcards had stemmed from some of my initial drawings even though they are in a totally different style. I tried to do enough roughs so that I had a clear idea of what I needed to do on Illustrator before I actually opened the program. I knew that I wasn’t very confident with the software so I wanted to have a clear plan to work to to make the work less complicated for myself. I still got a bit caught up with designing on screen which I now know is dangerous territory because there are so many options available to you. I think the main on screen alterations I made were to try and make the images work more as a set which, in the long run, has been successful. 

I think colour was something I did not put as much consideration into as I could have done. I was hoping to make a clear colour palette for each postcard but I got carried away with the designing and just selected colours as I went along, judging whether they were working well or not. I tried to take inspiration from the key colours of the location and the colours of the country’s flag. For example, the Lhasa postcard has the red and yellow of the Chinese flag and I included the green of the Saudi Arabian flag in the Mecca postcard. 

If I was to do this project again I would make an even more detailed plan of my images to stick to and maybe trace over more of my drawings rather than building images up from pure shape. I didn’t really like using photographs of the two buildings to trace over because I felt like it wasn’t really my work and I hadn’t put my own stamp on it so if I do a project like this again it is something I would want to avoid. 

Greetings from... - Mecca Postcard

I used this rough as a guide for my background and I started to put this together using the pen tool to make the basic shapes and then repeating the shape of the arches and evenly spacing them by eye. Spacing them was quite challenging and in hindsight I think I should have considered perspective more. I was in the mindset of using flat shape and creating quite flat looking images which made me think that it might be interesting to ignore the principles of perspective and create something more quirky. I don't think the image as it is looks strange but I think it could have been better if the arches got larger as they got closer. 

I added in some simple details of the Ka'ba and then reflected my image to fill the page. The pale yellow oval looked plain and I wanted to make this more interesting to look at but in a subtle way. I thought curves would help to show that the oval continues all the way around the central Ka'ba. 

After some research into the Hajj, I found out that the men wear white robes as part of entering the state of Ihram which is the state a muslim must be in before participating in the pilgrimage. This is one shouldered so I knew this wouldn't fit in with the overall symmetry of the image but there are asymmetric elements to all of my postcards in some places. I used this image to trace the line of his arm which I then reflected to get a general guideline for the upper body. I moved away from the reference image and used ovals for the head and ears so that I wasn't getting caught up in making this person too representational. 

I added some final touches such as adjusting the skin tone, adding detail to the face and putting some creases into the fabric of the clothing. I think the creases were a good, efficient way of adding some texture to the fabric without actually adding a texture to the shape.

Final Postcard