The point of this lesson was to imitate a parlour game from the 17th Century called Corpus Exquis, or Exquisite Corpse. This involves cutting up and collaging images to create figurative characters. They are just recognisable as human but have a surreal or creepy feeling to them.

The first exercise was collaborative. We created a head as a trio, and other groups created bodies and legs. These were placed together.

What I was really happy with in this exercise was the collaboration. The strip of eye over an existing eye delighted me, and I would never have thought to do it. The diagonal row of faces leading out from the center of our head was Martha’s idea, and that again became one of my favourite parts.

Another really useful element was learning how to use the photocopier and scaling things up or down as well as playing with colour. This I will definitely use in my work outside of classes, to create iterations of characters or ideas.

I was very pleased with how Lovers came out. I didn’t start off with any idea in mind except with all of the sheets full of images that took my fancy. A pair of heads on one sheet looking at each other became the base of the two faces, with other features stuck on top.

Even though this project was on my own, I ended up using a large jacket that Martha didn’t want to clothe my left Lover after having nothing the right shape myself. So it still wouldn’t have looked like it does, had I been working alone outside the studio.

How could I take this further? I have a Vogue magazine now which I think I will use to repeat this exercise at some point; if not the exact same then on a slightly smaller scale (to save my printer money!). I will also place Lovers into Clip Studio Paint and experiment with layer effects to create a series.