London Art Fair

there was so much to see here i actually couldnt see it all

-student tip-me and my accomplice got in for free! i like to visit them small independant gallerys you see here and there and having a freindly chinwag in one of the they gave me a complimentary ticket for me and another!brilliant.-normally £15!

its always exciting to see things sold for hundreds of pounds that have been made using processes we have readily available at college

a large percentage wer simple screenprints, some using different kinds of inks onto different surfaces.not rocket science, what we all lack is a name recognised by the general public.

for example the skulls are screenprints by Hirst, each went for a few thousand. later in the show i saw a beutiful oil painting of a window that went for about a tenth of the price. it did twang something in my memory to want and wish i could use oil paints as well. but there was a massive stack of bizarre and interesting things and stacks to enjoy and thik about. i was also delighted to see some work on display from a previous teacher.

I also learnt a little bit about the law in regard to appropriating a rcognised image within a painting. i saw someone had used iconic cartoon characters in their paintings and asked how they are able to get away with this. according to the owner it was because it is classified as an 'original art' and not something like say a t-shirt that is mass produced. also the characters wer taken out of context.i think this is one subject id like to look into further. i find something like that more useful for my futura as opposed to the history of art i mentioned in the previous post. both have valid merits, its jsut at the moment im facing more challenges with somethin im doing that certainly fringes on some kind of copyright law

id recommend this show for anyone thinking of it next year. just eat before you go and have plenty coffee!

Leake street-last week in jan 2010

Im still enjoying leake street. its not what i aspire but its good to see, and ive commented enough on previous posts on why i like it all the same and what i take from it

some nice colourful offerings this week. some good distorted letters and qicked little poster which im annoyed it didnt post the right way round even tho i edited it

id like to make a weekly or fortnightly post on what i find down there. it will be interesting to have a collection to see how it evolves over time

i was considering making a point of visiting other spots of a similar nature to enrich these kinda of posts. but this place is plenty for what i get from it and my time is better spent looking at things that are more relevant for what im looking towards.

VCT -timelines

in this weeks VCT session we had a practical to sort out and put in order i timeline of art styles and which was influences by which etc. 

I found this quite tricky as my art history knowledge is quite stunted and to be honest i havent seen the value in spending some time learning it. i would like to become familiar with it but not too much so, personally wish to look into and learn about things that personally interest and inspire me. but thats the whole point of further education -broadening my horizons and streching myself so ive made a mental note to spend time looking at much older influences of what inspires me. if that makes sense, almost a comprimise between what i should learn and what i want to

In this session our timeline is the most messy crazy one at the top. This represents not so much an exact timeline but a visual discussion where i and some of the others considered what we personally felt what inspired what, what elements we could recognise in different eras and styles.

life drawing-development and ethcing experiments

I thought it wise to upload images from a brief life drawing session last night as i sited it as how i may approach the style for this weeks illustration.

Im never particuly happy posting self initiated study simply out of modesty but as this is relevant...

you can see what i did was sketch out the model with a .7 gel pen.-i like these for a number of reasons, its quite graphicy, its unique, its brings out my drawing style and you can see how it is drawn, you can do mistakes but you can draw tone with line by holding it lightly or going over a line repeatedly.

once i had a feel for th image i took the pre-prepared etching plate and drew basicly the same image i just practiced, again from the model and this time using the sharp pointy end of a compass.

im not happy with the left eye and a few other parts but the second image is my favourite. although each has its own quality. ive only ever etched from life once and the results werre litrally either appalling or far batter than i expected.

for this plates ive used rusted steel. they work out about a pound each. i only learnt yesterday that each metal requires its own mix of acids in order to 'bite' into the metal. luckily i didnt spend tooo much but the aluminium i bought is fucked, but i was made to feel better to learn i can use it as drypoint as it is a soft metal. this ive barely touched upon so something new and beutiful has blossomed from that cock up

I have barely two years at this college. it is during this time we are to learn and progress. i am lucky to have full access to so many things so this is why i am charging into just about every experiement i can dream up with every process as much as possible to learn the mistakes and what works.

-and just to simply learn and develop so when im booted into the real world i have alot of experiments and preparation to draw upon when i wont have as much to me or access to develop progress learn and experiment so every spare minuite that print studio or computer room is open im straight down there. soon as the letterpress and photograpy lab open again im fucked

EARLY ROUGHS.all ears illustration WEEK 3

Im delighted with this weeks text. a few things have come together, this week im set on using fine drawing pens or possibly eveng an etching. but etching takes time and i think the end result wont further any communication, only a slim chance about the style. plus im using steel for an etching plate and apprently they have to make a special acid mixture for me to finish the plate for printing.

anyway i like this style of drawing. it was a lucky coincedence karl suggested i do more life drawing when i had pre arranged attending a session last night! in about 70-80% of my life drawing i like to use a .5 gel pen or one of them staedler liner pens, and once done make a copy and fil int he shading ina creative way and last night i did 2 etching plates with a needle which gives these incredibly fine lines i love

ANYWAY ABOUT THE ROUGHS- again ive focused on 3 main ideas, each i am particuly happy about this week, one more so than the others.

the top image will be of a stripper taking a break when it is quiet and reading some kind of intellectual book [like rocket science or algebra or something, but going on something in the text i will use the sceince of robotics as i interepreted that as not so much robotics as some dance but explaining the theories of it as an engineering thing] with this book hidden behind a copy of heat magazine as mentioned in the text. there will be a mirror reflecting her back so you see that inside this heat magazine is this intellectual book being hidden. also drawing the environment to show it is a lap dancing club, with the tabel having a pole on it too. 

-What i am trying to say with this is somehting along the lines of the stripper 'having to play the part' and that there is more to them than their body, and also that it is a choice out of enjoyment or simply employment and not forced [i say this as the debated are mentioned at the start]

the second image is simply a robot stripper. the stripper portrayed as a robot, yes to visually mention that word in the text but also to show that the stripper must do as they are told , do as they are paid, as if some kind of sex dance robot. or possibly some kind of quasi robot woman as if she actually fulfilled the request to do robotics for good money. but this employment is paid well so i would want to show also that this is froma  freedom of choice and not forced, so possible a bling robot [hmm dont like that] or something to suggest this further which im a bit stuck on at the moment.

MY FAVOURITE: the last image, i really like both the idea and they way in which i can execute it. simply the image of a stripper with those dark black censor bars you see in things covering up the naughty parts, but instead of just black bars saying CENSORED [ive mispelt that havent i?] i want to have money going accross covering it up. and i want to use dollar bills as they are default money and their shape works for what i would like to do. 

I may tweak the two notes to relate to the text similar to what i did last week, maybe showing a suggestion of her previous employment which is touched upon in the text [ "so thats her now then.no going back..' ..to whatever she used to be/do] possibly portraying her doing some low paid boring job or/and having the nots as £800 and 'all the money you have' for example as a means to push the text further, and like i did last week with words from the text or supporting the text in the notes. -And this week i aim to make a closer truth to real notes as opposed to completely inventing my own. so correct colours, very similar text and drawing style etc

i may not even do this, if i feel the imae alone with the dollar bill censor bars il leave it at that and include visual informatio to suggest it is a bar, with two men discussing her and maybe even in the background things to suggest her depth beyond her body, so the science books i mentioned, or possible a chalk board with algebra equasions on it.

either way im quite happy with each of the ideas. the previous is my favourite simply cos of the style and the way i could aproach it and i feel its a solid comment on stripper and is as if puts a price on her body; at first i was to use a 1dollar bill for her upper half, and a five for the lower half. -also maybe say a £1000 bill over her eyes or head to try and reflect that her mind/knowledge/personality is worth so much more, or is priceless.

i really like this idea but im open.

[note to karl-ill try not to waffle on as much in the future !]

Graphic design TREASURE HUNT!

this turned into quite a laugh AND some very good learning experiences.

we were tasked to find and approach graphic designers and studios, interview one of them, get a business card off another, and take a photo of a studio

bad timing and excellent good luck played a big part of the days proceedings. i was lucky to find myself in a group i worked well with. as ive commented before ive found this can have a massive impact on how it all pans out. 

more than once i found it difficult calling on a button and explaining through a tinny microphone what we were after. all in all pretty much everywhere was very student freindly and we picked up some excellent leads to follow up later int he week.which im confident we will do. two fancy looking places suggested we make an appointment for later in the week and they would talk to us about what they do how they do it how to get a job what they did after graduation show us round etc etc, some places sounded like they do excellent projects such as posters, dvd cases, moving image etc. one place even left us with a ton of magazines.

most places ,as it was monday morning, where very busy with meetings and pitches etc but like i say invited us back, so it wasnt quite a door in the face.

we were very lucky enough to stumble accross a courtyard full of illustrators and one was more than happy to have a chat to us and gave me some solid gold feedback....

That Printmaking and hand-made marks are important and 'very relevant' full stop-and are becoming more in demand and popular [she sited wood/lino cuts and monoprints and their textures, i think this is her style though-but relevant none the less] [i cheeky bough a good slab of lino recently as a result] [as well as a stack of etching plates-more on that another time]

she got into it by studying graphic design too, and undertook illustrative modules. -i feel this is excellent and incedibly encouraging. i also think its a very positive to have a sloid grounding in graphic design if your going for illustration to understand how the piece will work in relation to the print/web based end product etc.

aim for the market. HAVE YOUR OWN STYLE

be flexible

at first you will 'have to put in 200% effort'

it is hard.but possible and achievable

KEEP SENDING OUT SAMPLES

be firm but polite when negatiating with clients

and also mentioned a helpful website www.association of illustrators

i havent checked it yet, but its £70 a year and puts you in tuh with a big base of work.

£70 sounds better than the 30% of whatever you earn going to an agent which karl mentioned yesterday. and i must say some feel £120, £150 a job is low. id be quie happy with that, thats about 20 quid an hour, yeah you couldnt live on it but with enough work or part time on the side id be proud of myself to get this

All in all i feel incredibly lucky to have her time and meet and illustrator especially considering the explosive realisation that editorial illustration is fucking amazing and i feel i can really tune in to it.

Ive also contacted two places we visited who were too busy to see us as it was monday morning and all had meetings. with a bit of luck they may get back in touch so we can visit and learn more about how a graphic design studio works and how we could fit in and what skills they use the most etc. ill hassle them next week if i dotn hear back but ive already taken a massive amount from that illustrator so im content for the time being.

final illustration-my comments

I went with the idea of creating 'dirty money' to show points form the text and how some of these thigns are obviously really dodgy.-hence the £7 £15 notes etc and the illustration within the notes.

i feel having 'the bank of daves cousin' may have been a little too explicit towards the text. I did try to freehand something akin to the curly text on our pound banknotes, but i felt it looked cheap, and if it was a fake note i felt having the text a kind of scratchy written in biro look would be more effective. plus i much preferred how it looked.

This week i tried with a stick and pot of ink. Im treating this whole project as like something of a playground to text out things and sculpt a particular style from a range of approaches ive used for different things such as life drawing, drawing characters and the way ive done these things as a self initiated and use this in this project. 

for instance this weeks i have used this ink and a sharpened stick may times before and i really like the effect. the previous week i used marker pens which i have done many times or even a biro or .7 gel pen even.

-I did want to push this further, i wanted to make a textured background using those lower images to make some prints using the process 'photocopy offset litho' which i learnt last year and has a particular quality to it. it distorts the image and makes it look as if its coming out of the ink as the elements involved in the process arent eexact, well depends how you take it, i dont think barbara in the studio would like me saying that! I prepared the images for this process but unfortunately the time i allocated for myself to do this was taken up with a wood cut workshop at the time, using the tools i needed so an polite as i was to the technitians it wasnt possible for me to try this. considering we all had anohter project to complete for today and ive a monster on my back pressuring me for work i was a bit gutted i couldnt continue. having said that i worked around it by using watercolours also to boost my images quality and working on top of the drawings further to create splash marks etc for two reasons: to give the image more of a hand made one off quality to it, and to further convey the dirty dodgyness of some of the goings on discussed in the text.

personally i feel i have communicated the text well and in an interesting approach. I am still disappointed with the end result, i think in the future i should work from something, say a photo of someone, or a burning car or something, rather than what is ee in my minds eye. i think i draw better this way. the only times i do a half decent drawing from my imagination is when its something that only exists in my imagination like a flying robot or a weird plant.

I am learning alot through this trial and error process im approaching the entire project, and if anything i have learnt that i want to put serious effort into this as a form of future employment. i love the results ive got already from a communication perspective, something i feel i have much difficulty with in a more graphic design like project. I see myself returning to these briefs in some time and re-doing the entire 4 pieces in one chosen style i feel is most fitting for my 'style'

Final illustration[s] THE BANK OF DAVE'S COUSIN