Evaluation of Prep Work

This being My last project of the course I really found that my skills have improved vastly. I have had the opportunity to learn and understand new techniques through Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and the more traditional means of design such as that of Hand made techniques. I found My work to be more Fluent and problems became easier to solve as my thought process in design continues to grow. I have had more vultuntary gallery visit and has made it my duty to go out and view works of artist  for my own inspirations and to help my individual progression as an artist. I found that the more I look into these artist I begin to understand more than what is on the surface an example of this is that of David Carsen as the typography in his work was an oxymoron to the way in which the artist uses his work to get his message across in such a subtle way; I believe that it is this reason that the work has had such a large effect on me. I believe that the techniques I have learnt and reviewed by other artist is starting to transfer into my own with a much greater effect. the things that I like about this project are that of the Collages and the way they transfered into the photograms, I have had to take a step back from the designs I had previously to create much simpler concept that had a greater effect on the aesthetics of the outcomes. I have had the chance to think more about what I have been doing before I make it tangible; I found that this helped me with changes that I would have to make and found it easier to make them. The brief that I have to work around is that on Inside, Outside, and Inbetween with regards to Typography. This has given me the freedom to rome and explore ideas as a result I found that I was having a lot of fun with the design as a result I  found that the design became very personal and I was more self motivated to achieve the best possible outcome. I really enjoyed this project as it brought me a step back to go forward I do hope to continue to improve on my skilss after this project I have made the design a lot less complex and found that it has made the project work a lot better than I had expected. My only problems were working back into my photograms without making them appear worst than they were before. If I had a the opportunity to do this project again I would add a little more imagery to the type so that it doesn't stand alone something else that could add to the typography  to create a more intense scene in each image however overall I really enjoyed the project and thought it was one of my best. I will use this to go into the next venture with confidence and a high work rate continuously improving my skills.

Off Cuts Workshop Visit at the Tate/ Book Zine analysis

The Off Cuts exhibition has help to an extent as it has shown me the ways in which you can make and develop your ideas into a book zine. The zines that have been there were constructed very personally, seeing the ways in which people worked and the examples on the shelves up close shows the difference in how people made there ideas even on the stock zines they have received to work on, with the use of Bold colours, Sketches, wide range of colours and monochromatics.

This has helped in regards to the completion of a mini version of what I hope to achieve in my exam.

The zines that i have seen today were very personal, simple and made up of a small collection of  the artist's work with in that particular theme. The typography has a very wide variety and the images in the zines where both extensive and repetitive. I found that the Zines all had a story behind them, due to there personal link with the artist. Most booklets were very small in size but were filled with information. The Zine had very distinctive colours on its exterior I believe that the purpose of this was to attract viewers. these are all things that I will have to take into consideration whilst making my typography Zine. It has to be Personal, It has to have a variety of styles and materials used must reflect the hand made elements of the design.

Kurt Schwitters

Kurt Scwhitters was a German artist who has worked in several genres that include Constructivism, Surrealism, Graphic design etc. He is most famous for his collages  'Merz Pictures'.

The influence of these images came from Scwhitters participating in lecture tours with the International Avant-garde at a time where Germany became a more Liberal state. His collages are that of his best work, I am happy to have had the chance to visit the Tate to view his work up close, the work as much hasn't been very exciting but the chance it gives you to come face to face with history. The work that you are viewing has been made so long ago so much people have seen and came in contact with it. The work also is determined completely by the materials the artist could find to create his outcomes. I like the fact that not a lot of alterations have been to the appearance of the materials this makes us as viewers want to continue viewing the image; subsequently you look alot closer at the image and break it down searching for the meaning and end up finding them out.

En Morn was that of my Favourite piece from Kurt Schwitters, my first thoughts was that it had a great blend of Text, imagery and a range of colour. taking a closer look at the image the text at the bottom of the image becomes more evident 'Theses are the things that we are fighting for' it makes you thing of all the things that were going on at the time and the symbolism becomes very clear. the woman is one of the few things that have being kept clear to the viewer which may mean it is the main thing they are fighting for. The woman with her head up may represent hope for the people in their country in this time of War.

I wasn't a big fan of Scwhitters' work however it has helped me to with my thoughts on how to construct my ideas leading up to the exams. When the art of collages are done properly the outcome looks very interesting and also makes the viewer think of all the possible emotions, symbolism and environmental issues going on at the time.

Photogram development

I was able to manipulate the photogram in Photoshop and Change the White negative areas to red. in this Particular experiment I didn't quite achieve what I set out to as the red colour is too bright and as a result you tend to switch your focus from sufficiently enough causing a miss understanding in the image. as way how I will avoid this mistake in the exam  is by using darker tones of red and try to blend it into the image a bit more as the image and the Type look seperated.

Photogram Development

I have developed my ideas from the Photogram experiments using hand made techniques such as Paint, ink, chalk pastel and a mixture of Collages. The monochromatic outcomes work really well being a photogram, the experiments have a sense of presents on the page being in Black and white with bits over shadowed by the darkness of the background. The negative prints came out better than I expected for the first time trying this technique I also found that it produced some of the better Experiments.  I have decided from  previous experiments to work back into these photograms using a third colour which I will do at a later stage. 

development on Photogram

I really liked this Experiment with the Photograms and the spray paints. I have tried to incorporate the methods of tying in the background and the foreground as one with minimal effect for this particular experiment, the lone red spray paint with the black and white sets the tone for a intense image, as it  really adds power to the text. 
As a viewer its really hard to take your eyes off. The broken typography adds to the effect in some ways it has symbolism in regards to one breaking away from there old ways; freeing themselves from the circumstances they are in, as the text reads inside you begin to relate it to things with in your own life, things that affect and mean alot to you. The text one its own reiterates the fact that it directly speaks out to the viewer, the colours are kept simple and universal as it can apply to all. The text seems to be so simple but very effective at the same time. I do believe that the text works well and it did give me an insight on what I should be aiming for in my Book zine it it needs to be filled with powerful pages that really draw the viewer into the image.

Face explosion Typography

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8k3jIo8iYoE

I found this tutorial to be very interesting but found that it works better with its intended media. Being ones face exploding, however I do believe that the Typography text did work to some extent, the fonts that would be suitable for this technique are very limited as to what can be done with it as the technique requires the use of a grid. The colours would also have to be in full as this is the only way that you would be able to bring out the effect to its maximum effectivity. I believe to improve on this experiment I will need to revisit the exploded areas so the they look a little more realistic. But aside from that I really liked this experiment and envision it in my book zine.

Nik Ainely

I found the work of Nik Ainely to be very colourful and quite eye catching the artist has a wonderful way of getting his message across within his chosen subject matter through the use of Typography and the appropriate back drop. The first of the two is a bold 3D text that illustrates 'Fresh Science Word' this was for Computer arts I believe that the audience was intended for a younger generation of technologist that needed a logo to keep up with the time. The second was a poster that is promoting the new Smirnoff Flavours.

The artist's use of contrasting colours is very effective in creating these outcomes, I really like the way in which they are brought together being that darker colours are used to set the tone in the background and and the use of mid-tones and light colours embrace the text and surrounding images to make them the main focus of the image which is really good in terms of what the images are used for, being that they are advertising a Company/Client. The artists placement of the text works really well as it is central to the image I also found that the fonts used were very appropriate in bringing the image together rather than tampering with its balance; The background colours and techniques shines through a lot in the foreground text which is something I found to work really well it is also something I do believe that I will try to do more often because of the effect it leaves on the overall image. The symbolism in each Image is very distinctive in regards to what the message was. In the first image there message is about technology and science, 'word' is painted in a way that it looks like an Atlas of the globe expressing its scientific values. The second of the two just looks like a party scene with the bright colours, the constant movement and the rush of the fruits leaving one container to the Glasses.

I really enjoyed this artist and do believe that his work has inspired me in terms of how to put together a piece of work. I also believe that the use of the background works well and it is something I will consider when doing my own work because of the mass positive effect it has on the outcome of the image.