Orchard Pig - Meeting 2

We met up today to discuss progress and see how the pig situation was coming on. I shared my sketches and alternative ideas and the other members of the team said that 'you can take the pig out of the orchard but you can't take the orchard out of the pig' was an appropriate direction to take this brief in. Obviously I am pleased that they liked my idea but I am a bit disappointed that the first idea I presented was accepted without any further exploration or suggestions. We wanted to use today to get a solid idea down on paper so that everyone had a clear idea of what we could be getting on with between meetings. We read up on the descriptions for each of the products but it was difficult to find distinct differences in the language used to define the tastes, especially as we don't know that much about cider tasting. We were thinking about using the different cider names as a basis for characters but we searched #orchardpig on Instagram and found that some people has put their entries online and this seemed to be a very overdone idea. It is probably best to avoid it. 

Time Plan
We tried making a time plan but found it difficult seeing as we are still awaiting a response from Ian's Farm about access to a pig. The main aims are to have a solid idea and storyboard by Wednesday 3rd February and then going off and producing the work to be at the stage where we are finalising our submission by Wednesday 9th March. I think this is realistic but that we need to be more productive in the time we have together as a group. At the moment I don't feel the sessions feel focussed enough which is probably because we haven't yet nailed down a solid aim so we can't put a plan into action of how to reach it. 

Potential Outcomes
The main focus of the group at the moment seems to be a film. I personally think this isn't really playing to our strengths and we should be focusing more on 2D and paper/card based products and imagery for on screen. 

Problems with the pig film idea and possible solutions...
Will we be able to get access to a pig? We are still waiting for a response but if we can't, I thought of the option of improvising and filming as if from the pig's perspective. This would be from a low viewpoint and we could use sounds and visual symbols to suggest that you are looking through the eyes of a pig.  Alternatively we could take an animated approach but again, none of us are very experienced with this so we might have to seek out help. 

None of us have particularly good camera/film skills. We have put a call out for any photography or vis com students who may be able to help us so that could potentially solve that problem if anyone gets back to us. It might be good to learn a new skill anyway. We could take a amateur filming approach intentionally and play on the humour of that. 

If we do get a pig, what if we can't get it to do what we want it to do? Writing about pigs like this just sounds a bit silly but in all honesty, we are not going to be able to force a pig to do something it doesn't want to do. I think the best way to approach this is to form the situation we want around what the pig is already doing. We are definitely going to have to play on the fact that the pig will be totally uninterested in everything because this is what would make the film amusing. As long as we work with the humour of the situation and not against it, the audience will hopefully become engaged. 

We thought that fifteen seconds was a good length for the film because this will fit into an Instagram post, and we could combine a couple together maybe if we have enough material to make a longer promotional advertisement. I suppose the film will form the basis of our campaign and then other promotional formats will follow. We brainstormed some ideas of what else we could produce...
coasters, leaflets, magazine spread, images for social media, billboards, lorries, festival advertising, festival stall, packaging, paper cups...

For next week - more storyboards, more ideas and roughs. 

Orchard Pig Storyboard Ideas

In preparation for the next meet up, we said we would all come up with a few storyboards or rough ideas of what the pig could be doing in a short video and also some alternative ideas for what we could do if we don't manage to get access to a pig. I produced some roughs of pigs performing activities that are typically related so somerset. They are based around traditional games that we found through our online research last week such as hay bale jumping and rafting. I don't really feel these are very well thought out or inspiring so I think I need to work on this to start forming more solid and interesting ideas. I thought about trying to sum up the campaign with just one sentence and I was thinking something like 'you can take the pig out of the orchard but you can't take the orchard out of the pig'. I don't mean for this to be a tagline or anything, just something we can have in the back of our minds so that we have a concept to be working to. I think this has potential because it provides scope for the pig to be doing some unexpected things which would provide the element of fun but it also has the rooted element of the pig being most comfortable at home which will allow for the Somerset connection. I think we could move this on to something a bit more original though. 

Illustration Friday Week 7 - Spin

Initial Ideas
spinning top, children playing, spinning around, dancing, spin class, spin a web, concussion, being drunk, washing machine, coin spinning, plate spinning, pizza dough, hamster wheel, windmill, fairground rides, spin the bottle, hula hooping, planets. 

Roughs
My initial roughs were based around a few different ideas. I looked at the game of spin the bottle and what this would look like from above, using visual elements to suggest a teenage house party kind of atmosphere. Another rough was a based around a wind farm but this felt very generic and uninteresting. My favourites so far are the roughs based around a coin spinning. I have tried to show this from above as if on a pub table with drinks and people's belongings around it. I particularly like my other idea laid out more like a step by step diagram showing the stages of spinning a coin. This is the one I want to take forward. 

Inspiration and Reference
I looked at some images of spinning coins but a lot of them just seemed like a blur which was going to be difficult for me to achieve with the media I want to use. I am trying to get used to my new brush pen so I have set myself the challenge of using this for my submission this week. After initially looking at reference imagery, I decided not to stick to it too closely because the image would end up looking like one big smudge. I took idea from it and thought the best way to show the movement was to use lines following the curvature of the coin. 

Drawing and Paper-cutting
After a few rough sketches with the brush pen I felt comfortable enough to try and draw out some images that I could then scan in to photoshop. I initially thought that the key to this was being really loose with my strokes, but after experimenting with this, these drawings looked messy and the lines didn't stay close to the circular form. I took a more controlled approach to the more refined drawings. The nature of the brush pen brings out a sense of speed and movement anyway which works well. 

Photoshop
I used some images of pound coins to select colours from to use in my drawings. I added a screen layer to change the colour of my black drawing and used other layers with blocks of different colours and opacities to try and create a result I was happy with. I was trying to make the actual coin look solid while the rest of the shape looked like a blur, without actually blurring the line work. 

Colour and Cropping 
I played around with colour a lot, continuously selecting different colours from the coin images and seeing whether they worked better. I finally arrived with the colours I was happy with, they didn't contrast too much but still showed enough distinction to make the coin noticeable within the movement strokes. Finally, I went in closer to the image and erased some lines to create lighter lines as well as dark ones to make more of a range of tones, this was an attempt to add more movement to the image and make it look more three dimensional. I also added a subtle shadow on the flat coin so it didn't look like it was floating. 

Evaluation

In comparison to last week's submission for Illustration Friday, this one is so much better. It's clear that I have thought about the subject matter and planned this out rather than just 'seeing what happens'. I am really pleased with my outcome for this week, I feel it has good concept, simple yet effective composition and appropriate use of media to convey movement. I think the brush pen works really well because the curves and quality of the lines help to enhance the roundness of the shape created by the blur. One thing I would improve about this image is the drawing of the middle coin so the crossing ovals merged more into one shape. 

Orchard Pig - Meeting 1

Our group met for the first time today and started to think about how we can tackle this brief. We read through the brief and looked at the Orchard Pig website to try and get an idea of what we would need to do. This is what we came up with...

• No clichés.
• Must represent Somerset - what happens in Somerset?
• The product range includes bottles, draught and juices. 

I proposed the idea of beermats to the group which could be used and seen in pubs, bars and rest also given away as a cheap promotional product. I think this would link to making this drink the equivalent of craft beer because these mats are traditionally for beer brands. 

After speaking to Teresa about the brief, we learned that the way that it is worded suggests that we need a story to support the brand. They don't want to reinvent their brand or want their labels totally redesigned, they want something that will help sell their product and engage with customers. 

When thinking about creating a 'story', these were the points that were raised...

• Secrets of Somerset, secrets of farmers, traditional Somerset games like hay bale jumping. 
• Something 'edgy', appeal to hipsters. 
• Festival culture - promote the bag in a box. 

When thinking about how to involve Somerset, we were researching what is traditional in Somerset and what the main things to do are. There didn't seem to be a lot and some of the main attractions were drinking related so I thought about how we could use this to poke a bit of fun. The idea of the campaign could be that there is nothing to do in Somerset so you might as well buy a few ciders and have a drink. We could also maybe use rain as a reason why everything seems really rubbish and the only option left is to go to a pub and have a drink, or sit at home or in a tent or something countryside-y, and have a drink. Orchard Pig have said they don't mind poking fun at themselves and at other people so this might be an opportunity to play on the negative side of living in Somerset. 

I think the festival idea also has a lot of mileage because cider is primarily a summer drink and the ethos of the brand fits in very well with festival and hipster culture. 

While we were discussing ideas, we started thinking about if we could use a pig character for anything. This made me think about the idea of 'taking the pig out of the orchard' and nothing really going to plan. It could be a case of having a pig doing traditional Somerset activities and none of them going to plan, and then the pig realises that he actually belongs in the orchard with a pint of cider. We discussed this idea as a group for a while and this is when our ideas started to get a bit crazy. We tried to find some places where we could hire a pig, there were some really local ones so we contacted them through their website or by email.

Obviously we need to wait for a reply from these to see whether it would be possible to get hold of a real pig or not before we can progress with a solid idea for our response to the brief. For the next session we have said to have some storyboards done for the possible scenarios the pig could be in, and also some alternative ideas for if hiring a pig for filming is not possible. 

How am I going to record this process?

I have been thinking about the best way to record my own contribution to this collaborative project and I think the best way is to blog after every time we meet up and give my honest opinion of what has happened in that session and what my personal contributions were. 

I think I need to keep really on top of my blogging for this brief because it will be so easy to forget what has happened or who said what if I don't write things down straight away. 

I need to schedule a time each week to focus solely on responsive, I need to make sure I don't neglect this brief and leave it to the last minute because this would be letting my teammates down and I don't want to do that. It's not a professional attitude to have. 

Evaluation

This is my evaluation of the meeting we had today. I feel it went well as it was the first time we has sat down together as a group and were able to discuss the brief in more depth. I like that my teammates are as driven and excited about the brief as I am and they really want to do well. From the ideas discussed in this session, I think there are some solid concepts which could be developed and taken forward. I think hiring a pig could go well and would really show how much time and effort we are willing to put into this, but I am just concerned about the quality of the outcome if we were able to get one. We have all admitted than we aren't particularly good with camera work so I think it would be wise to reach out to a photography student to help us with this. I think there is a lot of potential to have fun with this brief so as long as we don't take ourselves too seriously with it (but still maintain a professional attitude) I think we will be along the right lines of producing something they want.  

Orchard Pig Initial Ideas and Research

I thought it would be best to research and start thinking about the brief before the first meeting with my group so I have something to bring to the table and discuss. 

Product Range

This brief has said its 'all about the cider', so I am not sure what they mean by this. It could mean that they don't want the response to the brief to include the juice range but maybe they just used this phrase to get across the commitment they have to the products they produce. 

Themes from the Website

I have screen grabbed these parts of the website because they clearly have a strong, authentic and natural theme. A lot of it is texture based, revolving around things you would find on a farm such as metal sheeting and cut wood. Their web design combines this with bright, block colour which I think tackles the fun element of their ethos. I think the images above represent the grounded and honest aspect of their brand. 

Initial Ideas

It might be an idea to use the different names of the various products they have as the basis for an adaptable theme which can work with all of them. This could stem into character design. 

It could potentially poke fun at stereotypes to break down barriers between groups, this would fit with their brand being inclusive of anyone and not being afraid to have a bit of fun with their promotional tactics. 

People might be more willing to poke fun at themselves if they can see that they fit into a certain category but the overall effect would be that all of the categories can drink Orchard Pig cider so everyone is included. 

Thinking of the idea of being honest and down to earth, maybe consider the idea of rooting for truffles. This has links to pigs anyway and suggests the idea of rooting through dirt to search for the best. 

I feel these ideas are very cliché which is understandable for a first attempt. I hope to move past these and think of something new and inventive with the help of my group. I will suggest a mass brainstorm of ideas at our first meeting. I think this will help us all to understand each other's ways of thinking which will be useful as I have never worked with the other members of my team before. 

Summative Evaluation

This module has definitely been a journey for me, I feel my work has become more conceptually driven and I have moved away from being literal and started to visually represent the intangible. 

I informed an opinion on Agatha Christie very early on which stemmed from my prior knowledge of her work and my initial research. My opinion is very two sided because her stories are a pleasant read, however this relaxed vibe contrasts with the dark things actually taking place and the bad feeling between characters that lies below the surface. This idea is something I have carried through my whole project from the very first mark making task to my final prints. 

Drawing around a theme is something I find useful when becoming familiar with a topic and I think I have produced a broad range of work. This began in my summer work and continued in my visual journal, it helps me to get all my obvious ideas out of my head and I can start to look past them and consider more sophisticated ideas and concepts. Merging these drawings with my research led to the development of strong, informed concepts.

I think my prints and animation do work well as a collection. They are clearly linked through process, colour and texture and the key feature of the chess piece in each means they literally do form a set. The oval frame is something which exists in all of my outcomes and the vague symmetry of the composition creates consistent layouts as well. 

The process of drawing and redrawing things, tweaking them each time is something that is just becoming a matter of course for me now. This has been especially noticeable where I have had to simplify my sketchbook drawings to make them appropriate for linocut.

I had never used AfterEffects before this module so I have learned a whole new skill from scratch. The only animation I have done before involved the use of individual frames so this is a totally new approach. I understand how the program works but the transition from a storyboard onto screen is something that took a while for me to get used to.  

I am glad I loosened up with my mono printing this year. In last year’s workshop I stuck to my subject matter too closely and it inhibited my experimentation. This year I was more confident to try out new things and this is what sparked the use of textures within my work. I have kept a bank of textures now because I really like how they can change the aesthetic of an image so drastically. 

Linocutting is harder than it looks, what I produced took a lot of concentration and this was a learning process for me. I had never cut lino before but I think my skills have improved as I got used to the tools and action, it just takes practice and patience. It would have been great if I had managed to print my finals entirely through analogue methods. This is my main regret with this brief, I feel like I settled for the easier option too soon. 

I think screen print is something I will always be battling with. I don’t find the process enjoyable which is frustrating because I have seen how great the outcomes can look. It is just something I really struggle to connect with and I always seem to revert to digital processes when making my positives. Maybe the next time I use this process I should use hand drawn positives.

Colour is one of my main weaknesses. I love working with black and white imagery so adding a second colour was a challenge and as a result of this, the decisions about colour were left to the very end of the project. Part of me thinks I could have pushed myself more with colour by eliminating the use of black.

I have been really strict on myself with my blog because blogging retrospectively is really frustrating as I can’t remember what I was thinking at the time. For this reason, I blogged most days so my ongoing evaluation was running parallel to the development of my project. This allowed me to be as honest as possible and also meant there was very fewer things I forgot about. 

Organisation and time management have been good for this module, I have kept a list of things to do on my laptop which I continuously have been updating, I then select things from this to do each day. I worked hard over the Christmas break to try and keep up with my workload, I did wear myself out and started feeling anxious that I hadn't got enough work and it wasn't good enough. Stress is something that is becoming more of an issue with me, deadlines have always stressed me out but I am finding it harder to manage the ongoing pressures of the course. I know I need to give myself a break, but I see how much work I have to do and feel that my time could be used more wisely. This is an attitude that I really need to change before I run myself down.

I lost a lot of confidence in my work at a few points in this project and sometimes found myself treating feedback as approval. Feedback is important but I want to have the confidence in my work to trust my instincts.

There have been ups and downs with my motivation for this project, I would be churning out lots of work and then have a phase where I just cant see how to progress. I guess this is just a part of being creative. I am normally driven by the pressure of a deadline as a project comes to an end but this time especially because I am really keen to up my game this year.

Project Proposals - A Cross Platform Collection

These are typed versions of my project proposals from weeks ago. I have written at the bottom of each one the ways which my outcomes have strayed from my initial intentions. 

Production and Presentation of Printed Pictures

I intend to produce…

• A set of three linocut prints potentially involving monoprint/monotype processes too. The finals may be printed digitally if more than one print process is involved.

The content will focus on…

• Narrative by explaining the stories of the individual chess piece based on the themes of Agatha Christie’s novels and the experiences of her characters. 
• The concept of using chess pieces to show how everyone plays their own part in a crime, the strategy and plotting involved in the stories and the fact that its all a game and there will always be a winner and a loser.
• There will be a more decorative, lighter element to the prints which will initially mask these darker themes. I will use flowers and other plant life to represent the quaint village locations of Christie’s stories. 

I will be aiming to communicate…

• Secrecy - fitting in with these novels being murder mystery, this will incorporate blackmail and lying.
• Death - the key event in the murder mysteries is the death of one or more characters as this forms the basis for the plot, things to consider include darkness, evil and poison. 
• Revenge - the motives of the murders are often about revenge, jealousy and greed, this tends to link to wealth, love and relationships. 

To an audience of…

• People who appreciate the processes of analogue printing. 
• Fans of the murder mystery genre. 
• People who enjoy reading Agatha Christie’s work or watching adaptations of her stories on screen. 

What changes have been made since this proposal was written?

Instead of just three prints, I have made five, adding two extra themes to the list of things to communicate. The five themes of my prints are wealth, secrecy, revenge/jealousy, death, and noticing the uninteresting. These are all strong themes which are not just specific to one specific story, therefore I think they are successful in summarising her work. The idea of using flowers to show the lighter side to her stories has remained but with a twist because I put a lot of research in to selecting flowers with relevant meanings to support the themes of each print. At first they might look purely decorative but they are conceptually driven. One of my audiences was people who appreciate the process of analogue printing, this is still relevant to my final outcomes but they are actually digitally printed versions of analogue print processes which makes this audience slightly less reachable. 

Production and Presentation of Moving Pictures

I intend to produce…

• A fifteen second animation combining the themes and imagery of my prints. I intend for this to be a large image that can be panned across to focus on different elements that have their own individual movements happening. 

The content will focus on…

• Chess pieces tangled up in ropes and vines to show that everyone gets caught up in these cases even if you never thought you would be. 
• The tangle will show the complexity of a case and how all the themes and characters intertwine into one big puzzle. 
• I will use music rather than sound effect and the music will reflect the music at the time Christie was writing and will reflect the mysterious nature of her books.

I will be aiming to communicate…

• The idea that everyone has their own secrets and motives. 
• A build up of tension and bad feeling. 
• Agatha Christie’s work is a reflection of herself, for example, mysterious, unexpected, appears traditional but is actually much more than that. The work will need to have some personal elements in as well, maybe shown through visual symbols. 

To an audience of…

• People who enjoy the murder mystery genre, whether through reading or watching on screen. 
• Relaxed television watchers who enjoy ‘Sunday afternoon’ television for easy viewing, I can imagine this would be the sort of time when a documentary about Agatha Christie would be shown.

What changes have been made since this proposal was written?

I have changed the idea of this being a large image that is banned across because it was too misleading to the eye when the image is moving around so much. Instead I was working with layers to create movement and depth. The idea that everyone has their own secrets and motives isn't really shown in my animation because when I tried out focusing on each individual chess piece, I realised this was too much to fit in to fifteen seconds. Instead I decided to focus it mainly on the tangled complexity of the mystery and the build up of bad feeling. I think my proposal for my moving pictures was quite vague so what I have actually produced fits in with a lot of what I had said. 

Printed Pictures - Final Response

Evaluation

Strengths

• I am really proud of my concepts for these and how each element included has a meaning behind it. I can't think of a time when designing these that I just added something for the sake of it and I feel that all aspects of the images are explainable. 
• I think they work as a set but also individually as they stand well alone. I think this is probably down to the colour scheme tying them all together through the subtle tones and textures but also the distinct compositions with the oval frame and symmetrically based designs. 
• My prints incorporate two analogue print processes which is a result of a lot of experimentation and decision making. I am glad I took this root instead of using monotype over my linocuts because these designs look so much cleaner and more well presented. 
• I think I have done well at thinking outside the box when it came to the tools for cutting my lino. I knew that cutting so many tiny pearls out was going to be challenging so using the belt hole puncher was great for solving this problem. Although only small, I think this is one of the best decisions I made in this project as I feel that cutting these with a normal cutter had the potential to go terribly wrong. 

Weaknesses and Improvements

• Linocutting is something I hadn't done before so I was proud of what I managed to achieve when cutting out my linos, but I still don't think they are excellent quality. This is probably down to lack of practice and the tools I was using which has left my designs caught in the middle of being refined, detailed designs and just being a little wobbly. Obviously I can't gain years of linocutting experience in just a few months but I think for the future, I will be more aware of the do's and don'ts and maybe get some finer cutters. 
• Continuing on from this, I think the smoothness of the ovals could be improved. Cutting these out of square linos meant I had to plan how to optimise my use of space. Through the tracing and re-tracing process, my designs got a little bit bigger each time due to the shifting of the trying paper which meant that the edges of the oval hit the edges of the lino. This made some parts straighter than I would have liked.  and having to make the the oval-ness of them
• The fact that these are digital prints and not authentic analogue prints lowers their value to me. Obviously I can't speak for everyone but it seems a shame to me to spend so much time on producing something that can be printed with a traditional process and then altering it to be digitally printed. Part of me regrets not trying to monoprint and linoprint directly onto my finals but looking back, I can see this would have taken so much more work which probably would have been detrimental to my contribution to the rest of my project and my other modules. 

Overall comment

• Overall, I am pleased to say I have made something I am proud of which is great for me because so often, I finish a project and realise that I don't like the final outcome. Most likely because it has caused me so much stress and I am fed up of looking at it. I'm not fed up of these yet though. 
• I like they aren't intimidating at first glance but are have darker concepts embedded within them. They are clearly conceptually driven and I think this has been a big step for me, to move away from the tangible.
• I like to think that they bridge the gap between Christie's time and modern day, the colours link to the revival of vintage which is on trend nowadays.  
• I don't think it initially screams out 'Agatha Christie' to a viewer with no concept of the inspiration for the work but I feel that this actually might be a good thing because it shows I have avoided the cliché and recognisable things that have been done before. I'm sure that with some knowledge of the background of this work and some prior knowledge of Christie, people would be able to piece together the meanings of these individual prints.

Moving Pictures - Final Response

OUIL504 Final Animated Sting from Naomi Smith on Vimeo.

Evaluation

Strengths

• I think that the music fits well with the animation and is representative of the time Christie was writing - I think piano is an appropriate instrument for the time period and the social status of most of her characters. It also fits with the tone of voice of the sting by creating mystery and the increase in volume builds up tension which fits with the sequence of things becoming more intense before fading out. 
• I am pleased I managed to use so many printed elements within a digital outcome
• fits well with my prints 
• I think it is good that I have kept the movements simple and not made things too hard for myself like I usually manage to do. The sequence is not packed full of high drama events and I think this works well to mimic the tone and pace of Christie's books. 

Weaknesses and Improvements

• I think the level of detail in the components could have been better and I think this is a result of not enough planning. I planned by storyboard so I could see in my head what was going to happen but I didn't spend very long designing the actual components which I think is the downfall of the animation. If the components had more interesting things to look at on them I think the animation would be much more intriguing and the simplicity of the actual movements might be masked a bit. 
• One of the main struggles I had was trying to create a narrative with something that I could see working fine as a still image. I felt like the movements had to contribute something to it so thats one of the reasons why I tried to make the chess pieces look like they were falling because this would have been harder to do with a still image. 

Overall comment

• I admit that the sting was left on the back burner for most of this project. My prints always had priority for me, I suppose this is the format I am most interested in working with but that doesn't justify prioritising one part over another. Because of this, I was trying to make my sting work around the development of my prints almost like an afterthought. Maybe if I had approached it as its own thing I could have thought of a stronger concept and thought more creatively about how to tie them together as a set. 
• AfterEffects is not something I have enjoyed using and I can't see myself wanting to return to it, although if I do feel the need to, at least I will not know how to use it. 

Prints as Products

It is important to me to see how the images I make can be used and applied to real life products. Selling prints is good in itself but there is so much more mileage in an image and there are so many different things it can be applied to. Here I have looked at how my prints could be applied to products and I am judging whether each option is suitable for my target audience or not.

Prints were the first things I looked at but I wanted to see how they would work in a modern home, not the 1920s and 30s period that they were inspired by. I think the subtle use of colour in my prints and the variation within the set would help it to fit amongst a wide range of colour schemes. I think all of them could work within a neutral colour scheme, as shown on page 3, but even with a more limited colour scheme, i'm sure one or more of the prints would work. Personally I think the black frame works better as it is strong enough to battle with the black in the image. I think in the left example of a framed print, the frame appears washed out and dominated by the image and the product as a whole doesn't look balanced. Selling prints would clearly work for my audience as this was the initial intention for the brief.

Next I was looking at postcards and greetings cards. I made this mock up on Photoshop and included some ideas for coloured envelopes. I think this is appropriate for my project because at the time Christie was writing, all messages and greetings would be sent in written form because there was no technology to send a quick text or email. The sale of this product would be like trying to keep the handwritten word alive. I have also looked at a stamp on the back of an envelope or even having a sticker to seal the envelope with. I think the sticker has more of a purpose and if not used to seal an envelope it could always be used for something else. They could be sold in sets, maybe a set of found held together by a belly band with some a brand printed onto it. I like this idea, it seems simple yet traditional.

I really enjoy working with pattern so I tried to make a repeat pattern on Photoshop. This is a lot harder than it looks because it is so difficult to get the pattern to repeat when there are five different components you want to be evenly distributed across the surface. I wanted it to be a structured pattern because the individual compositions themselves are symmetrical so this would keep some nice vertical lines running through the pattern.

I tried really hard to get the pattern to repeat but it was just taking too long to get my head around and I couldn't think about maths or numbers any longer. I made the full pattern myself without using the define pattern tool, it doesn't repeat perfectly but it gets across my ideas well enough. Repeating a pattern is something I will keep battling with in my own time. I applied this to numerous different products.

I think the cushion works well, it would be in a similar location to the prints so I think this product would fit well in the home environment. Conceptually though, I can't see a strong link between furnishings and the work of Agatha Christie other than the interiors of the time. I have the same feelings about the tote bag. I know that these two products are booming in sales at the moment, everyone seems to want cushions and bags with all sorts of things on them but I would struggle to form an argument as to why I chose this as the channel of displaying these prints to the public. 

I do like the look of the phone case but it defeats the point that I made earlier of keeping the handwritten word alive. Most people nowadays have a smartphone so this is a product that does appeal to the majority but it doesn't conceptually link to Agatha Christie in any way and just feels too generic. 

The notebook is the product I can see a really strong connection with. I think that if I were to take these prints out into the real world as a product I would choose these because Agatha Christie organised her stories as well as her personal life in many notebooks. I think it would be a really fitting tribute to her as a writer and as a woman to produce a set of notebooks inspired by her. I think these would appeal greatly to the middle and older generation and even to younger people who have read her books or know a bit about her. 

I later thought about teabags which are a traditionally British thing and I think these ovals would make really nice end tabs for the string. I think this would be especially fitting if they were flavoured teas inspired by an english garden because of the floral theme running through the designs and the different colours which could represent different flavours. Here is a small mock up. 

I have become really engrossed in this part of the project. I love looking at how my designs could work as real products and its really encouraging to see that these things can be done and they would look professional in a commercial or home environment. I am really interested in the idea of making some notebooks based around these images because I have been making these in my spare time anyway with other designs on. If any of these products were actually made, I think they would need to be kept simple and accessible, like Christie's writing. I think the designs themselves have already achieved the concept of appearing decorative at first glance and then being able to realise the deeper meaning as you look closer. One thing I am concerned about with the pattern is that the small details would not get any attention at this scale so the meaning of the images may never be truly understood by the consumer. 

Project Highlights and Recurring Themes

This is a presentation of some highlights from my project from start to finish. It is clear that some of the work in my visual journal at the very beginning of the project has heavily influenced what has appeared in my final outcomes. I have started to realise that the concepts form my prints and animation were formed within my drawings far earlier than I had thought and the pathway of this journey has not been entirely formed from conscious decisions. This makes sense because it was only when I took the time mid-project to look over my entire body of work so far that I started to form clearer ideas of how to progress. 

Elevator Pitch

These images combine monoprint and linocut print processes and are printed digitally. The details of these prints are full of meaning and have clear individual concepts; death, revenge, secrecy, wealth and the importance of the uninteresting. My animated sting tackles the confusion of the cases and how so many people manage to be tangled up in the case. These concepts are all tied together by the set of chess pieces representing social status, strategical thinking and the fact a murder mystery is like a game, it has winner and a loser. The delicate imagery of the flowers and the colours make the image appear pleasant and calming at first but then when you notice the details of the image, the darker concepts become clear. It is a reflection on Christie's murder mysteries being set in quintessential country locations but also a reflection on her as a person because there is a lot more to her than meets the eye. 

Final Edits to Sting

So, I thought I had finished my sting and then I looked at it again later that day and I realised I hated everything about it. That was probably a slight exaggeration because of my frame of mind at the time but I just felt really disappointed that I hadn't done better with it. I know its coming up to the deadline now and I have a lot of other things to do to prepare for submission so it was not possible for me to change this entirely. Instead I wrote a list while I was watching it of things that I could change without too much hassle and they would hopefully make a positive difference to it. 

I went straight back to college and got on a computer and tackled it there and then. 

Texture

I added one of my mono printed textures to the background. I wanted to emphasise the movement of the chess pieces to show they were falling, I felt it would add more drama and explain this better if the background was panning upwards. I tried using the texture I had used for all my prints but the texture was very even and when it moved it just looked like a blur. I ended up choosing a texture with more distinctive marks (created by using embossed wallpaper in the print press) which you could clearly see moving. I lowered the opacity so that it was more subtle but not too heavy or distracting. I like the marks on this texture as I also think they contribute to the idea of subtle chaos. 

Type

I also had a bad feeling about the type I had used a the end. On reflection, it just looked very amateur and was clearly recognisable as a standard typeface. I wanted to change it. With Christie's signature in mind, I searched the internet for handwriting typefaces which I could use instead. I analysed a few of them in my head, some were too uniformed, some too flowing and modern. I decided on the one I have chosen because it looks like it has been done with ink pen which is appropriate to the time and what she would have used. I repeated the process I used for my previous type choice and replaced it in my sting.

Border

I also lengthened the time that it took for the border to enlarge to sit just inside the frame so that the first four bars of the music were like a build up to this component reaching full size. It emphasised the sense of discovery like in Christies novels when not all of the information is given to you up front. 

Volume

I had wanted to work with the audio before but I think it must have slipped my mind after the trouble of having to do part of my animation all over again. I altered the volume to fade in and out at the start and beginning and made it reach a crescendo towards the end where the chess pieces are really zoomed in to create more drama. I feel the music and volume changes reflect Christie's writing as it shows the delicate and calm setting of the stories but also shows that there is a build up of drama occurring as well. Having a quiet ending represents how the mystery is always resolved and things become settled again. 

I am happier with my sting now. I have altered the few things that were irritating me as I watched it over and over again because I know I wouldn't have been comfortable submitting something that I know I had time to make changes to. I think having the softer texture in the background lowers the overall contrast of the sting because there are now very few areas of pure white. I feel the background gives a three dimensional frame to the animation as people can see through to the back of it which creates a stronger sense of depth. 

Final Prints

I printed my final five images digitally today. I had a slight last minute panic when I saw my colours on the screens in the digital print room because they looked different to how I had hoped. I tweaked a few to make them closer to what I had planned but I don't think this will actually be noticeable to other people. Its probably because I've been looking at them so much over the past few weeks that I know exactly how I wanted them to look. 

I think the colours could have looked more subtle but I also didn't want them to look bland and grey. I think I have found a good middle ground with my prints, and I think its the strong black and white contrast that makes the colour stand out more than I had hoped. I chose a matt, textured paper to print on to help fit with the analogue print process, I didn't want the outcome to look glossy or polished because that't not really what print is about to me. The only thing I would change about the paper would be for it to have more weight to it. I felt the thickness of the paper and thought it would be fine but with these being A2 size, I can see how flexible the stock is at this scale. I think a stock with a higher gsm would have made the prints feel higher quality. 

Illustration Friday Week 6 - Tropical

This week's theme is 'tropical' and this has to be the most rushed Illustration Friday I have done so far. I have to admit I have been prioritising OUIL504 over responsive for a while now and this is really starting to show. I am hoping to focus a lot on responsive once I have submitted my work for the 504 module so that I can begin to catch up. I have realised that my work for Responsive is suffering but seeing as this is a weekly competition, it defeats the point if I don’t get a submission entered on time. Its hard but I’m trying to be harsh on myself by forcing myself to enter what I have - I hope that this will encourage me allow more time each week to get this done to a higher standard and then I can submit something I am actually proud of. 

In the mega crit, I received feedback saying it was great that I was trying new processes and materials each week and this is something I want to continue. This week I wanted to take an entirely digital approach using a Wacom tablet and Photoshop. Digital isn’t my strong point so maybe this wasn’t the best week to try this as I didn’t have loads of time to experiment. 

Initial Ideas

Heat, climate, island, holiday, humid, resort, beach, sea, 

Tropical animals - birds, fish, reptiles, mammals, scales, skin textures, patterns, insects, 

Tropical plants - leaves, flowers, unusual shapes, 

Flavour, drinks, fruit, cocktails, salads, coconuts. 

I have decided to take forward the theme of tropical leaves because there are some really interesting shapes and patterns within this. 

Roughs

I did my roughs using the Wacom tablet which was a challenge in itself. I think it must be my hand-eye coordination that is off but I can’t seem to draw with my hand while I’m looking at the screen. It only really works for me when I’m looking directly at the pen and I can see where I’m moving it. Anyway, these are the roughs I did which are based around making a pattern or simple line up of different leaves. As you can see, drawing with a Wacom really isn’t my thing. 

Inspiration and Reference

I found some photos on Pinterest that I used to draw from, I tried to select leaves with interesting and eye-catching designs which I could try to simplify down to key shapes and patterns in my drawing. I am trying to keep this as simple as possible. 

Drawing with a Wacom Tablet

It took a lot of attempts to get these shapes how they are now. I suppose this is quite a naive approach to drawing. Ive been planning on adding some really bright colours to exaggerate the colours found on plants in tropical climates. 

Colour and Texture

I added basic colours to each leaf and used the hue/saturation levels to change it to a strong set of colours. These are like leaves from a very high saturation world. I added some mono print texture onto the background after changing it to black. I experimented with some other background colours and I think the purple one works nicely but I don’t think it particularly relates to the tropical theme. I settled with black because I felt this was the most high contrast and striking option. It reminded me of the colours of tropical themed parties like clothing and lighting, not that I really know a lot about that. I googled some images to help explain my thinking. 

Pattern

With this in mind, I started thinking about pattern, which was one my my initial ideas which I decided against. I used the ‘Define Pattern’ tool on Photoshop to create these patterns and then shifted each row to ensure that all the colours didn’t run in straight lines. Thinking of the size of the square your image is shown in on Illustration Friday, I cropped these down so the leaves were more visible. 

Submission

I submitted my design to the Illustration Friday website and it didn’t really look like any of the others on there. I am taking that as a good thing. 

Evaluation

This piece of work is clearly rushed and I am disappointed in myself for leaving it to the last minute. However, I am also pleased to have entered something rather than nothing. there’s no point in doing the work after the deadline has passed. Seeing as I wasn’t planning initially to make this into a pattern, I didn’t really think about spacing too much. If I were to do this again, I would jumble up the pattern square so the leaves weren’t sitting in uniformed rows, it doesn’t reflect the freedom of nature and the life in tropical locations.