Author: turquoisecho

Non-Places: Day Three

Non-Places: Day Three

by turquoisecho ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

I was ill and didn’t come into University for the third day of Graphics. However, I did spend some time at home that day completing the same work we would have done in the workshop: namely, continuing iterations of book covers and research into hand lettering.

A worksheet containing original photography (only three examples of about 20), three iterations of my book jacket cover and various hand-lettering research (traditional and printed).

The book I got my research on hand-lettering on was one of the recommended library books on the brief: Hand Job.

Was my research purposeful? I had a good time researching the hand lettering, and the introduction of the book was honestly inspiring. However, I don’t really see myself using the hand lettering I practiced in a final design of the cover – mostly because of the difficulty of importing transparent hand lettered work into photoshop. There is, despite this, an example of hand lettering in my third book jacket iteration (seen above).

Critically, some issues I ran into while working at home included working on Clip Studio Paint. I’m desperately trying to reconcile my hatred of Macs and the un-useability of their mice and software with the fact that I literally HAVE to use Photoshop. For example, in Clip Studio I had already rasterised the text with the title in the third iteration to work with it – however I had the title wrong (It’s just “Introduction”, not “AN introduction”).

Other issues include not being able to place guides at the halfway point or measuring out area by the mm – a problem I solved by creating the document at the right dimensions, then placing a low-opacity layer of the original indesign proportions underneath any work I was doing. So in a sense, I did have the guidelines.

How will I proceed from here? This is a difficult question. I had worked to the idea that “Day Three” would mark the end of the project, so I tried to create the necessary work for the brief and lead it to a natural end. Most likely, I will take two of the finished designs and print them at the correct size to operate as a book jacket. I’ll then create a final worksheet complete with the jacket and photographs of it in use around the set text.

Artist Research: Emma Green

Artist Research: Emma Green

by turquoisecho ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Emma Green is a part-time illustrator who did a degree and master’s at Bournemouth University. She currently works at Oxford Brookes and acts as a sort of teaching assistant to some of the classes. I’d never really seen her until recently, and today she gave us a short lecture on her education and current profession.

This is the piece of her work that really attracted me. I talked to her after the lecture and found out that it’s some of her older work, and that it was created on Photoshop.

I liked the colour scheme a lot, and the cut-and-stick feel of the buildings really attracted me. It turns out she uploaded the sketch into Photoshop, then used the polygonal lasso tool to fill in the buildings with colour.

Colour wise, you can see layers of red, then of blue, then red again. She’s interspersed blue details into red buildings, e.g. the windows at the very front, and vice versa. This makes the piece feel bustling and natural.

Texture wise, I like the white crayon-pencil brush she’s used to add details. E.g. the curls and lines on the bottom left blue building, or the bumps that look a little like bunting or terracing running along walls. Using a mixture of details lighter than the surroundings and darker than the surroundings balances out the piece.

How has this impacted my work? This piece has a similar feel to the busyness I’d like to portray in Utensia. I might use blocks of painted colour to try and mimic the aesthetic Emma has created. I may also use a white detailing pen alongside a dark one like Emma has here, to create a little more interest.

Letterpress Workshop Reflective

Letterpress Workshop Reflective

by turquoisecho ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

I signed onto the letterpress workshop with Ruth today. It was really interesting, especially seeing it alongside reading Type & Typography so I could place it historically into context.

We worked with a Galley Press (I think that’s what it was called!). This involved setting type into a metal tray using “furniture”, which includes all the pieces of metal like leading used to space and hold type in place. The type we worked with today was wooden blocks.

This is an example of how you’d set the type. The metal to the far left of the picture is actually a strong magnet that held the word “writing” in place. Ideally, I’d have used more magnets in setting the type but Ruth only had 8 in the whole studio… and there were 8 students.
This is an experimental piece. When these have dried, I’ll stick the white paper onto the off-white back sheet with “RAVEN” printed on it.
This is printing and shadow printing (printing again, offset, without re-inking) onto a scrap piece of paper full of mechanical diagrams. I like this a lot for how busy it is.

How was the workshop useful? I took letterpress because I was so interested in it and have been for years; I hope to be able to use it in personal projects or when my art brief becomes appropriate. I have to book in with Ruth a couple of days in advance if I plan to be in the printing room – but I’m just so glad I have the resource available now.

I also learned a lot about the practicalities of letterpress printing with this method. I know how to clean my hands correctly to remove the oil paint (that is, rub vegetable oil in followed by a gritty soap paste by the sink). I also know why letterpress requires oil-based type, and is one of the only printing forms that has not been replaced by water-based ink. (It’s because water would interfere with the wooden type, and would print slightly less well.)

Where am I going to take this? I can’t say I have any practical ideas in my head right now, except maybe for typesetting a poem or something smaller scale as experimentation. I’ll stick some of my experimentation into my sketchbook, and maybe mount the rest onto a complete worksheet. When the right brief comes along, I’ll definitely book in again!

Type & Typography Notes

Type & Typography Notes

by turquoisecho ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

I’ve been reading Type & Typography by Phil Baines and Andrew Haslam for about a week now. It’s dense, but already I think it’s changing the way I look at typography.

I can’t remember or make notes on everything I’ve read, so I’ll just include a couple of highlights (if anything to prove I’ve actually read the book!).

“Lexicographers record these patterns of change, continually collecting words, cataloguing them and preserving them in dictionaries, glossaries and thesauruses.”

“If writing were architecture, then books would be buildings, pages floors, paragraphs rooms, sentences walls, words furniture, letterforms bricks, phonemes clay and grammar mortar.”

In reference to Grammar

I learned that the origin of the idiom “a square meal” is actually from the Navy, where for some reason they had square plates.

I also learned that the Phoenicians were one of the very first cultures to create an alphabet, and that theirs had 22 letters. E.g. “Aleph”, meaning Ox, was similar to a small pictogram of a bull with horns.

The Greeks took many of the Phoenicians’ letters and changed them to suit their own culture. Aleph was flipped so the “horns” of the ox faced downwards, and was renamed “Alpha” – or, of course, “A”. It really interested me that the evolution of language is that traceable!

I’ve learned about the evolution of printing from its very origin in the fifteenth Century when the fist type was printed. I’ve also learned of many examples where the circumstances dictate the style and source of certain typefaces. For example, “Broken Script” or Textura (you might know it as Gothic), was amongst the first typefaces to be printed but in order to be accepted as an invention it closely mimicked handwriting at the time.

Many typefaces, in fact, mimic handwriting either implicitly or explicitly. E.g. Copperplate fonts mimic brushstrokes made by a calligrapher’s pen.

The move from metal cut letterpress printing and typesetting to Phototypesetters was revolutionary, and then again to typewriters. Each new invention speeds up – and reduces the cost of – reproducing type for mass production.

“The Intertype Fotosetter was the first Photosetting machine to prove its worth in a commercial environment.”
My Christmas Card Prints!

My Christmas Card Prints!

by turquoisecho ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

I always get so excited about Christmas. For the past couple of years, I’ve sold my art at Christmas Fayres – and my bestsellers have always been cards with christmassy lino cut prints on them.

I’m tired this year and couldn’t take that opportunity even if it presented itself, but I’ve lino cut my own new Xmas print for my friends and family to receive.

Here he is!

After a little experimenting (you can see below), I decided that watercolouring a patch of red underneath each bird to represent the red breast was my favourite look. It makes every card especially unique, and the red I have from my Artway kit is so vibrant!

Here you can see examples of the normal watercolouir patch, torn red paper to represent the breast, a rose painted underneath and a heart underneath. I thought that the rose and heart were a little too busy and complex, and the paper just didn’t do it for me.
Here are three examples of the finished cards.

I thought I’d include this because it’s an example of my personal artwork! I did this on a weekend home, and in all I made 26 cards.

I’ve even bought some little peppermint candy canes to slip into the cards of some of my closest friends!

Non-Places: Day Two

Non-Places: Day Two

by turquoisecho ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Yesterday was the second taught day of our graphics project.

The morning consisted of printing off our pictures and collaging them into potential abstract book cover designs. As (and hopefully WHEN) I make it into university today, I’ll take and attach a photo of the worksheet I created full of collaged designs.

In the afternoon, we had a photoshop tutorial with Neil. I’m not going to lie, the fact that I didn’t have a mac to work on because the class sizes aren’t correctly managed did make me angry. I had about an hour at the end of the day to get my practical work done, though, and I’m really pleased with what came of it!

What was successful about the day? I would say that, after a lot of moping, my morning collages came out really well. I’ll be using them as inspiration in my photoshop endeavours. It was Danny, continually encouraging us to be quick and not to think too hard, that allowed me to create the work I did. He kept saying “it’s an instinctive exercise, not an intellectual one.” After about the fifth time, I was coming up on exasperation because I do everything the intellectual way. But he was right, of course.

I also think that in my limited time (and incredibly limited temper), creating the book jacket draft that I did was impressive. I had to create the word “PLACES” in Photoshop with the pink branches as a clipping mask, then import it into InDesign and flip it.

Interestingly, my reading the book Type and Typography has actually influenced the way I’m thinking about type.

What still needs to be done? I need to go in for a little while longer and spend some time mocking up other drafts of book jackets. I’d also quite like to write a blog on what I’ve been learning in Type and Typography.

Utensia: Day One

Utensia: Day One

by turquoisecho ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Last Thursday, we started the illustration project. I picked an extract from the Wizard of Oz about a kingdom full of kitchen cabinets and equipment to illustrate.

The three week project is going to consist of experimentation and a lot of research.

Here are some examples of picture references I used to create an initial ideas sheet:

If I end up making it into university today, I’ll take and attach a photo of the finished initial ideas sheet.

What was successful about the day? I liked that Louise encouraged us to work quickly, and make as many scratchy doodles as we could. I felt like I couldn’t make any mistakes, no matter how crappy the drawings looked.

What will I do to continue the project? Ideally, I’ll research a relevant illustrator or two. In terms of physical work, I’m creating a ton of thumbnails for potential compositions; this Thursday we’ll be experimenting with a lot of different media. Then I can combine the best media with my favourite thumbnail to produce the finished illustration!


These are thumbnails produced for the next week in my self-directed time. I will ask friends which they prefer and I have a few preferences myself!
Personal Growth: Hospital Walls Brief

Personal Growth: Hospital Walls Brief

by turquoisecho ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

I had a little spare time the other day, and looked at Peepshow.org.uk for some successful illustration projects in the professional world for inspiration.

I found http://www.peepshow.org.uk/illustration#/university-college-hospital/ – this is a project done by the organisation to brighten up the University College Hospital in London. The walls in several areas of the building were printed with bright, uplifting illustrations.

It wasn’t in my style, but I thought that that was exactly why it would be good to try and fulfil the brief in a similar way.

This is an example of some of the work in the hospital.

I established visual motifs in the art across all of the walls. This included things like:

  • Bright colours (hues, primary, secondary colours)
  • Blocky, print-like designs
  • Themes that children might relate to
  • Basic, bold shapes and silhouettes
This is the page of my reflective journal that illustrates my thinking process.

I created an illustration in Clip Studio Paint that attempted to fulfil the brief.

This was designed to fit a jutting piece of wall, e.g. one hiding pipeworks or something similar.

What do I believe was successful? I like the darker green wave over the green hill. It’s like stylised shading I stumbled across while experimenting. I also love the pink cactus-like plant in the background, and the white flowers on it.

What didn’t work, and how might I improve in another attempt? I feel like the teal and the purple just didn’t sit right together. I was married to those colours, and should have tried more out instead of being stubborn. It’s just a bit too much of a wacky colour scheme for how simple the image is: imagine it were more complex, I could have a purple creature in the top corner that tied in with the low purple hill and created a better composition. As it stands, it’s a bit naive and jarring.

If I’d had more time, I’d have created multiple illustrations exploring different aspects of the brief. But there’s a bit of a limitation on my time now I’m doing uni-set briefs; I just thought I’d include a post about this so it doesn’t get lost.

Non-Places: Day 1

Non-Places: Day 1

by turquoisecho ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

On Monday this week, I had my first day of the three-day graphic design project. The brief is to create a book jacket for Marc Auge’s Non Places: An Introduction to the Anthropology of Supermodernity.

The day was split in two: the first, a briefing and Adobe InDesign workshop with Neil. The second was pretty self-directed; finding photos and doing research for the book jacket.

This is a screengrab from the end of the InDesign walkthrough. We have a template of the correct measurements for the jacket, complete with the logos and text the brief requires. Now we can play with it without worrying!

I also got a few photos inspired by Non-Places. I’ll include a couple of them.

This is the top of a bus shelter, although it might not be perfect because the viewer needs to KNOW what it is in order to create a coherent mental image of the term “non-places”.

Was the day purposeful? Yes! Having missed my InDesign induction workshop with Neil the first time, I really needed the tutoring. There were lots of little things I learned about creating guidelines and layers, etc. I have a working note on my phone with interesting advice I’ve been given about using InDesign.

Were the media and techniques I used successful? Why or why not? The photograph collecting is all done on my phone. It’s quite high quality, but I know it could be improved by booking out a serious camera and getting to grips with it, e.g. aperture, focus, etc. Otherwise, I’ve been taking photos when I see relevant places. I try and get landscape and portrait versions, on the off-chance that I might like one enough to do a complete wraparound of the jacket.

Where am I going to take it? Outside of class, I have assigned work to do. Apart from collecting more photos, I have to compile them together in a document and ensure they’re printed out for the next workshop. I might also experiment with colour digitally on a few of the images, see what I like and don’t like. Research-wise, I’ve checked out a ton of the recommended reading from the library… but I’ve already blogged about that, so you’ll know!

Non-Places Research: Artists: Andrzej Klimowski

Non-Places Research: Artists: Andrzej Klimowski

by turquoisecho ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Klimowski’s parents were Polish emigres. Klimowski studied at St. Martin’s School of Art, but unexpectedly returned to Poland in 1973-80. “There he specialised in poster design and made films in a political climate where graphic communication was not merely oil for the wheels of capitalism, but a way of maintaining hope of a better future than Communism could provide.”

He had success creating book jackets for writer Milan Kundera, whose work was supporessed after the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. His collages are surreally inspired, often featuring bodies with the head obscured. This has relevance to the suppression of intelligence under an oppressive regime.

A quick google search on this book suggests that the Author set out to make the point that neither love nor art offer an escape from political background and conflict. The burning fire might suggest the intrusion of politics into the love stories within the book.
I like the inclusion of both photography and enlarged sections of engravings here. I’d like to make some sort of surrealist-inspired work, and this jacket really appeals to me. The starkest tonal difference is in the hand holding the puppet-strings, and therefore draws the eye there. The composition is balanced, with darkest patches in the upper left and lower right.

How is this relevant to my current practice? The graphic design brief specifies that our book jacket will be a photographic collage, and Klimowski’s works are just that. They have a “cut-and stick” feel to them that corresponds to the workshop’s activity of physically creating a collage.

Source:

Powers, A. (2001) Front Cover – Great Cover and Book Jacket Design, Mitchell Beazley, UK.