Art and Language conclusion

This project has been a massive journey, i have learned a load of new techniques and have advanced myself further as an image maker. This time i thought that i would try a bunch of new techniques which i have never done before so i can see how the final outcome varies from my normal work. I have worked using a scalpel to cut away from paper to form three dimensional images which worked to great effect though they were time consuming. Most of my second stage was spent trying to figure out ways to fake the cut out effect, i wanted to make silhouettes but without the hassle of having to cut out every detail. To solve this i drew out my images by hand and then went over the outline, i then scanned the outline into Adobe illustrator and image traced my work so that the image was then a vector shape. I then imported the image into photoshop and flood filled it black. In the long run this took about as much effort as it would have cutting them out by hand.

 After slowly giving up on my original book cover idea i started to get away from the silhouettes and work more simply. Thomas Flintham was my salvation at this point, though i did start to look at his work a little late in the project. Flintham works in a really simple way but he fills his image with beautiful lines and detail, quite a bit like Tom Gauld. I started working with him as an inspiration for a while and before i knew it i had my final idea at the ready. For future projects i really need to blog things as i go along just to save time and to make things more efficient. I also wanted to start getting into the habit of posting my thoughts at the time i think it so then i can see a clearer journey to my end product.

Finally i need to plan my work out more and take it step by step, at the moment i am jumping too far ahead and although it is easy for me to understand where i am going it is not so clear to everyone else as to where my idea is going.

To sum up the project it was incredibly fun and i learned a lot more about how to structure images as well as which elements to use when making them. I never thought that text was that important to an image but after finishing this project i can now say that text is just as important as the image if not more important. Learning how to wrap text around my image so that it complements the piece was key step in learning how to composite a piece of work which successfully conveys information but is also easy on the eyes and legible.

various type tests for art and language.

Messing around in illustrator and making brushes, pretty interesting text but i'd assume it will be a bit hard to read if it was placed together into words.

More fun with brushes! 

Text that i ended up making in illustrator after fiddling around with brush sizes and styles, i ended up using this as my final text for the front cover. 

art and language - Phil's type

For Phil's workshop we were told to made up an alphabet using a bunch of shapes which we were able to cut up and put back together to make an endless combination of characters. this was a tedious session as we had designated boxes in which each letter had to go in and they weren't very big and cutting out small bit of paper wasn't great. I got more into it though as the day went on and i could begin to see my alphabet come together.

This is the alphabet i ended up making. It is pretty cool, i tried to keep the style uniform but i ended up going off on a bit of a tangent. 

The second task of the day left us making images out of text, we were given eight words and each box had to describe one of the words but as an image.
In order on the top row from left to right the words are Rigid, chaotic, fragile and bold.
and on the bottom row from left to right the words are clumsy, graceful, calm and fluid.
this project was fun to do though it was boring at times. 

Finished book cover - The Hunger Games

This is my finished hunger games book cover, turned out pretty well, though there is currently a massive problem with the printers so i could not have my piece in the flesh but it still looks pretty cool. I left myself with a decent margin so the image works no matter where it is cut.

art and language, artist research - Peter Callesen

Peter Callesen is a paper artist who works by cutting away from a sheet of paper and folding it into something new, he normally leaves the negative space he creates alone so it complements the new creation he has made, almost as if the paper character has risen up from the paper and the cut out is his shadow. I really like his work though i have never touched a scalpel in my life up until now i really liked working in this way, made a change from all the fine liner work that i usually do.

Here he has cut out a human shape and has turned the cut out into a skeleton , the fact he works on paper make his images look so delicate and fragile and i also think that reflects in his work because he deals with delicate concepts such as life and friendship. 

I wanted to try one of my quotes in this style because i had never done anything like it before and it will allow me to learn a new skill.

I like the double shadow effect created by the light hitting the cut out. I made one of my quotes using a similar technique and when the light hit them the shadows made were awesome. 

I know there are a lot of trees in the Hunger Games, this technique seems appropriate because the negative space that is created can give off a feel for something that is missing, the skeleton image makes me feel like he has left his human body behind.  When working in this way i found that as much as a liked it the whole process of drawing it out and then cutting it out really took it's tole on my time schedule so i wondered if i could mimic this effect digitally. It was this realization that made me move onto making digital silhouettes in stage two.






 

art and language, artist research - Jhonen Vasquez

Jhonen Vasquez is the creator of Invader Zim which was a brilliant cartoon about an alien invader named Zim who tried to live a normal life under disguise as a normal human. His art is very loose in terms of the the elements of the character but the way he builds his images can become very geometric. I used Vasquez to influence one of my quotes for Ben's task, i really like how loose his art is but i also like how he builds his image of geometric shapes.

This is one of the characters from Invader Zim, Vasquez limits features of the characters which make them easier to animate, removing features can sometimes be a risky move because the character will loose it animated qualities like it's fingers or it's feet. i like the two tone colouring as well, it separates the different sections of the character in such a simplistic way. I need to note down his colouring technique because sometimes my work gets a bit too complicated and it would be nice to tone down my work in this way! 

Just another character from Invader Zim!
very similar to Tim Burton's style of character creation.

Zim only appears to have two, maybe three fingers which when made into a fist almost become completely opaque leaving him with just a square for a hand. the way this character is drawn inspired my design for the quote "Zach! ima fish". I used Zim as a bench mark for my design.  

Vasquez also worked on a show called 9th grade ninja which still used the simple two colour shading  technique and it looks really effective here, at this point my character is coming along well and is nearly finished.

Art and language, Artist research - Thomas Flintham

Thomas Flintham first studied fine art at university but then went on to get a masters in illustration, he has illustrated many book covers since getting his masters in 2009. In 2010 he was commissioned to illustrate the front cover for the book "The Cardturner" whose author also wrote the book "Holes".
The Cardturner has a beautifully illustrated front cover which came in either blue or red.

Flintham normally draws straight onto the computer using his graphics tablet, he also works traditionally with ink and pens! 
i could really relate to this artist because of our similar use of tools to create our images. i was getting really stressed out with trying to draw a detailed book cover and then i came across this guy, his work is busy but the content is simple, so i took on his style for a bit to allow myself to chill out.

His image making is busy and well thought out, but it's the way that he fills his image with lines and texture that really does it for me. the image itself is but a shell holding in all of his beautiful linework.

Reminds me of the ice king from Adventure Time. Here the empty space is used to fill in a large part of this character. white on black always looks good. 

I read that he takes a lot of influence from comic books, graphic novels and Japanese cartoons  which is now clearly noticeable. The random characters which just pop into the scene appear to have no relevance but they mimic the Japanese spirits that always seem to pop up in cartoons and films such as Spirited away and Ponyo.      

I like the simple trees and the little accent lines really make them pop, i can easily see myself drawing some trees in this way, both of these images are published books and they work really well as both an image and a cover, though the simplicity of the image does make the image appear slightly cute, even with rabid bears lurking in the trees the soft shapes don't allow much to the violent imagination. could be a problem when trying to make a cover for the hunger games. 

Love the white accents on this little bear! i want to experiment with colouring some trees this way, the lines could make my dull silhouettes very interesting to look at, the lines could also be foil? maybe.