Unit X Evaluation

This year and unit X especially has been a time I have really used to question my practice and my overall approach to my work and the outside world. I feel it has really changed and refined me as both personally and a creatively.  In this last year I have developed more confidence and self-belief, which has caused my work to progress into areas I would of never of, considered before.

Unit X has been a opportunity for me to refine my work and prepare myself for graduation. Overall I feel I have succeeded. I wanted to use the body of illustrations I had been developing in the Previous Practice Unit and experiment with how they could be applied to different contexts.  I found that each area applied to different areas of context for instance my gothic dark art would be applied to heavy rock album covers or products such as tarot cards. But my more innocent illustrations would be applied to book illustration and large scale.  I discovered I am very hybrid artist. I take my imagination and drawing skill and adapt it to whatever opportunity I find inspirational making me adaptable to many contexts.

Tarot Card Designs

One context i really investigated this unit was large scale installation art for galleries and to make my work three dimensional. During the practice Unit I used that time to gain more understanding of my work and refine my illustrations but in Unit X I wanted to take that knowledge and start to experiment with how I could take the characters and places I imagine and make them visible for others to experience.

Developing this idea has been a very enjoyable experience for me. I started to work with 3d design in Unit x last year collaborating with a 3d student and I really enjoyed it. I have always enjoyed visualising and making 3d objects so it seemed like a logical step. Reflecting on past years I realised I had not done enough experimenting and testing and everything was very 2d. This Unit have made a large number of 3d models in a variety of materials and ways to really test and trail applying my drawing to surfaces. These included Ceramics, special papers, card, Perspex, chalk pens etc.

The testing has taught me a lot of new skills and also things that work and don’t work. For example drawing with chalk pens on Perspex worked well but after a while it started to rub off very easily therefore if I ever did an illustration on a shop window etc. I would have to find something else to use that would also rub off. Also through making it helps me see if making what I imagine is as easy as first thought. For instance I chose the pyramid because I thought it was a easy shape to make quickly and neatly however through making I have had to alter the template many times to get the folding accurate and the corners smooth. I also found that having no base on the pyramid made folding them neater easier. Also when testing suspending them for the Installation idea for the degree show, I found they were too light and the fishing wire was not staying straight therefore I had to find a way of weighing them down but using something decorative because they would be visible when suspended inside the pyramids because they will have no base covering.

The testing and making in this unit has definitely taught me the importance of trying ideas because there are many little obstacles that come up which need design solutions which you only discover with testing.

Although I feel overall the Unit has been a really important turning point for me I know there is always things to improve on.  

 Firstly I think Unit X is just the start of taking my work larger scale. The degree show will be my first step at attempting an installation piece and I want to carry on refining and improving to eventually create these Worlds I imagine in galleries.  I have only just started touching on the idea of ‘stepping into my imagination’ and I really want to carry on pushing this concept and collaborating with other practitioners in other areas of design to learn new skills to apply to my work. For instance I really want to learn how to make glass because I feel it is a skill I really want to incorporate into my work.

Networking has also been a dominant part of my practice this year. I want to carry on improving and creating contacts because my efforts so far have offered me some great opportunities and possible work experience for the future. For instance I would not of got the experience I will with Andy singleton and Richard Sweeney if I not for my networking. I feel this experience with them is going to transform my work to a whole other level and answer a lot of questions I have about getting my work in galleries and becoming more adventurous with the Installation art. I will continue to refine and develop my online presence with my Instagram and website growing an audience for my work. I also want to Use my experience of the Vertical gallery pitch and carry on improving my presentation skills and confidence talking about my work to others.

And Finally I want to really use the time after graduation to carry on refining and improving my artwork because drawing is at the core of my whole practice and I feel it is very important for me to continually improve my art so that all the areas I apply it to will improve as well.

Although I feel I still have a lot to learn this year and University in general has been a very life changing experience for me and my work. I look forward to my final degree show and New Designers as my first steps into the Industry.

Virtual Presence

Recently graduates have visited University to show their portfolios to help us decide how we want to approach our own. I found the portfolio day with Hannah kirkbride (Patternmash) and a talk by recent graduate Elnaz Yazdani the most helpful and informative. Both graduates portfolios were simple in approach which is how i will approach my own so the focus is on my work rather than layout.

I have also started to develop a website to work alongside my Online presence on Instagram. I wanted the website to be a place where people can view my work finished as opposed to just developing on my instagram. The design is deliberately simple because i want the focus to be on the work not on the functions of the site. I looked around at other artists webpages to get a sense of placement and style and i found Susie Macmurray's site approach most effective. I am happy with the site so far but i will continue to refine it.

Website Homepage

Instagram Homepage

As part of the Unit i also decided to design a business card which i will be able to give out at the Degree show and New Designers. It was challenging trying to show yourself in a very small space and give the right first impression. The end design i feel shows me and my work effectively in a simple refined way. 

Final Business Card

Installation Testing

Because i want one element of my practice to be focused at galleries and installation art i wanted to make a physical installation. I have proposed this for the degree show because it is a great platform to show this. With that in mind i wanted to experiment with the pyramids and the idea of my Imagination taking over an area. To use the pyramids as my medium to paint a picture from my imagination or represent me and my everyday imagination.

Firstly i tried a small attempt of the different pyramids progressing up an object. I used a chair and i feel it was successful. I enjoyed viewing it from many different angles because it revealed different designs on different sides of the work.

After this i wanted to attempt suspending and having the pyramids progress over something because although i felt the effect on the chair was a success i wanted to do more with the pyramids. I made a mini installation of a vision i had for the degree show, which would be the pyramids suspended and on the floor but collectively looking like a waterfall, almost like my imagination crashing though the art school.

The larger scale installation would not have as much space between the pyramids and from doing the test i found i need to find some way to weigh the suspended pyramids down because they are not heavy enough to keep the fishing wire straight without. for the little model i used coins but i may use something else such as crystal shards for the installation because they will be visible.

experiment mixing a0 illustration and pyramids

I also tested another possible idea of printing one of my illustrations large scale and using pyramids in corresponding colour to give the effect of part of the illustration spiking (pictures above), I felt it looked like a pulse of energy hitting the drawing. I plan to develop this idea in more detail as another installation possibility.

Vertical Gallery Pitch

As part of my Unit X development i decided to pitch an idea for commission for the Universities Vertical gallery space. This was an important step in the right direction for me because it was the first time i had ever pitched and considered making a installation piece for the gallery.

 Recently i have been experimenting with making my imagination and vision more three dimensional and the pitch forced me to think about what i could do with a gallery space. I really enjoyed to process of looking at a blank space and filling it with me.

My pitch was to make a paper installation of paper pyramids. The reason i chose pyramids was because i wanted the focus to be more on how i decorated and illustrated a shape rather than the shape itself and pyramids are easy to construct quickly.

The idea was to create a collection of pyramids which could be on the floor or taking over something. they could all be decorated the same or each one could be different. I made some visuals and sketches of the idea. (see below)

I unfortunately did not get chosen for the gallery but it was a valuable experience for me to learn more about working to commission and also having the confidence to pitch was a personal triumph. It has definitely made me enthusiastic to work larger scale and create installation art for galleries as one of approaches to work after graduation.

Outward Facing

Throughout this year i have been striving to improve my external presence and to start developing contacts with people in the industry i would like to work with and who generally inspire me. My Instgram has been the main platform for my networking but i have started to develop twitter and a portfolio website as two other points of contact.

During this process i have spoken to many fellow graduates and practitioners creating opportunities for myself after graduation.

The first is upcoming work experience with a Paper Artist called Andy Singleton who's work was featured in the First Cut Exhibition. He emailed me to offer me some work experience starting assisting which will be extremely beneficial to me and my ambition to make installation art myself. His work has always inspired me and i want to learn as much as i can from him. It is a exciting opportunity!

Nebula 2014 and Ice Form 2014 - Andy Singleton

I have also been investigating and talking to galleries and companies in Liverpool to see how i can get my work seen because i am planning to be based there. I have already spoken to a shop called Nook and cranny who sell many independent Illustrators work about stocking my prints after University as well as others.

Nook and Cranny - Liverpool

i like the ambiance of their store and will be going for a interview in the near future to discuss the ideas.

I have definitely learned the importance of networking for creating opportunities for yourself this year.

Model Making and Visualising

Developing the pyramid concept and thinking about where this work could be placed i started by taking my designs and making them into little three dimensional models to test the designs and whether they were achievable. I enjoyed this because similar to the quick sketches it allowed me to make ideas become physical quickly like a 3d sketchbook.

Different scales, Patterns and Techniques

Initial experiments placement and scale

I also experimented with scale and size to achieve a textural feel to the pyramids (below). The different lengths and widths collectively created a sort of textural pulse which intrigued me as a idea.

experimentation with different shapes and texture

I also started to visit galleries mainly in Liverpool and Manchester because i am planning to be based in liverpool after graduation. I wanted to look at the spaces which would be available to me in the future and also think about how i would apply my work to that space. To do this i took photographs and then illustrated over the top of them options of how i could use the pyramid concept and other areas of my work in  a gallery setting. I really enjoyed the process because it made me have to consider scale and placement and also what materials i could use in certain space. All good practice for gallery pitching.

Gallery Visuals : Whitworth Art Gallery and The Bluecoat Liverpool

Applying Illustration to Different Surfaces

Aside from the paper experiments i wanted to try drawing on a number of different surfaces these included Perspex, glass, ceramics and foils to show i am open to many different areas. I also wanted to experiment and use medium i would not usually. I felt the teapot was the most successful although the ceramic surface was very slippy to draw straight onto I could collaborate with a 3d student in the future to investigate other ways of applying my drawing. I want to develop the idea  further into a mini project of teapot designs. Offering an alternative to the traditional crockery. This is another context i could investigate further as another side to my practice. 

I also felt that filming my work would be something i want to try and improve at so i decided to record part of me drawing on this as an experimentation of film and to see how effective it was. The outcome was a very quick way of engaging my audience with my work. Although there is a lot of room for improvement with quality i am going to keep developing towards creating a youtube channel to work alongside my Instagram as another way of engaging the public in future.

Pyramid Development

Making the Paper cut lamps and book sculpture was a good starting point but i wanted to make larger scale work. Therefore i needed a shape that would be easy to make and quick to make a large number of. Also i wanted to focus more on how i would apply my drawing to the shapes rather than constructing them.

I realised that mountain shapes are a common occurrence in my drawings especially ones inspired by my nordic inspiration. This made me think of the Pyramid shape which would correspond with my drawings and is easy to make. Below is my mood board i produced as research of already existing pyramid installation art.

From the research i found the smaller pyramids most appealing because they looked like little mountains from my drawings and together created a textural environment. I felt that because they were small they would also force people to really concentrate and look closer at the details of my installation and experience my work more. 

I began to make a range of different sketches and ways the pyramids could be used. They could all be one design or they could all have separate identities each representing a character or place. I really enjoyed the process of quick sketching because it allowed me to get all the ideas out of my head for others to see and understand better. It is something i will continue to do in the future because i think of a lot of ideas but need to record them more. (see below).

Initial Ideas

Refined Designs

Paper Installation and Initial experiments

During the first week of the Unit I wanted to reflect on my feedback from the practice Unit and start work on my new concept. Therefore i started to find research in general for paper art using the Final Cut exhibition as a starting point. I then produced a moodboard of a range of paper installation (see below).

Paper Installation Moodboard

Because working 3d large scale was a new territory for me I wanted to progress and work up to that scale slowly so I started with paper cut art sourcing inspiration from Rob Ryan.

Rob Ryan - Entire Map of my Life

I enjoyed using the negative space as my way of revealing detail and silhouettes giving my illustrations a very graphic feel. However they were still 2d which is not what I was aiming for so I started to fold them into cylinders and shine light through them to bring the drawings more to life. I particularly felt the light through the pin prick holes worked well giving a star detail effect to the drawing (see around moon below).

2D combination of Illustration Paper cutting and light.

(left) Paper cut with Pin Detail Lampshade, (mid) combination lampshade and (right) Paper Cut with textural detail Lampshade.

Although i felt the Lampshade experiments worked well i was still working 2d so i looked again at my research and found Guy Laramee a book sculptor. I enjoyed how he carves book to create 3d worlds (see below). 

Guy Laramee - 'Grande Larousse' 2010

Responding to Guy's work i bought some old books and attempted a book sculpture myself. I really enjoyed the process of each page building up to create a piece of art and overall it was successful. I wanted it to look like a cave within a book. I also screen printed and painted the cover to add some of my illustrating to the sculpture. This is something i would like to revisit and make more of. However, i felt i was still confining my work to small scale so wanted to progress further to large scale.

First Book Sculpture Attempt

Unit X - 'Step Inside My Imagination'

‘WELCOME TO MY WORLD’…

Reflecting on the previous Practice Unit I decided that my work needed to become more than 2d Illustrations. Although I felt my Illustrations were developing to a higher standard they were not giving as strong experience to the viewer. I wanted to experiment with taking the two dimensional and transform that to three dimensional so that the things i imagine could be encountered and experienced by others.

Using the concept of 'stepping inside my imagination' as a starting point I started thinking about what 3d and large scale work I had seen that really inspired me. Straight away i thought of the First Cut exhibition I saw in my first year of my degree. All the work was made from paper in a range of ways. The exhibition included artists like Su Blackwell ( book sculpture), Rob Ryan (Paper cut Artist) and Andy Singleton ( Illustrator and installation artist).  All the work was unique and detailed and it really appealed to me and my practice.

'Map Of My Entire Life' - Rob Ryan

Looking at exhibition i started to search for a connection and i found that paper work would connect strongly to the book Illustration side of my work. My thought path was Story (my head) to Book and book is made of paper, take that paper and transform it into a physical set/story to be experienced. Therefore, Using paper as my medium i plan to test and sample different approaches to taking my illustrations and developing them into paper objects. My main aim is to really push the idea of making my imaginary creatures and places physical and visible for people outside of my head. I want to make my mind and outlook more accessible.

refining details in Drawings (close up)

I have also learnt from the last unit that as a practitioner I am very hybrid. I would class myself as a all round Artist and designer because I have discovered there are different sides to my work suitable for different contexts. For example My darker art is suitable for a Metaphysical market and Rock album covers and my more fantasy illustrations would be suited to Book Illustration and installation.

In this Unit I want to explore these contexts and refine them further completing some mini projects for my portfolio showcasing a few different sides to my work. I feel it is important to emphasise that my main practice is my drawing skill which is highly adaptable and open to many different disciplines and areas of context. Its all about how I apply my imagination and drawing to the different projects.