Project report 603

In my initial proposal for this module I had an idea, that I would explore printed textiles with the Ohh Deer brief as a starting point. The idea was that the textiles would have different narratives flowing through them. I tried to find ideas that could work with fabric, they didn’t have much depth and I found that I was naturally thinking and drawing in a way which would work well for a stand-alone image and still drawn to subjects that have a darker context. Still making images that had sequential narratives but would work better as a piece of editorial or book illustration. The project when this became clearest to me was the Sherlock Holmes illustration that I did using the folio society’s brief as a basis. This was the first project in a while where I could enjoy immersing myself in the story, and is the only project where I am happy with the all three outcomes. I went back to lino having not used it for a while, and found enjoyment in it again, but also that my understanding in key elements such as composition and colour had improved. One improvement however, due to the scale restriction and that I screen printed the final outcomes, was that some of the detail is lost or hard to see, especially in the people. And this was a reoccurrence in a few images after this series. Another part of this project that I took value from was relating image to text and developing that idea through roughing. Texts gives you a good foundation in which to build on, and roughing has now become a necessity of my practise. It is clear looking back through developments that there is a stronger correlation between the roughs and outcome. The way I rough could still be improved, for example I do tend to draw on image the same, reputedly for a few pages, for example the roughs for the first Wuthering Heights print. For a brief with fast turnaround, I wouldn’t have time for that. Roughing looser and fast may help with this.

The short Wuthering Heights series, much like the previous project was one that I got into both research and images. The first print was the most successful. It acts as a good summary image of the story and has a strong aesthetic appeal. In the making process, I still used lino as a base but tried to speed it up by painting detailed features in ink and scanning them in. It did help slightly but if this was an editorial it would still be too slow. Moving on from this I decided to focus on speed up the making process and keep pushing ideas forward. This first happen was with the next image for the story about the ‘Twelve Sons’, the image of the ravens flying out of the window. The image related to the text, still had a match to the previous aesthetic but was made using quicker techniques. Black paper and gouache were used to create the base and along with different elements scanned in, then digitally edited into the final image. It sped the time up and this image also pushed me on the be more dynamic with composition and lighting. It is hard to get an image that is prominently digital to appear analogue and the second image in the series (the one with the dogs in the smoke) is an example of this. To resolve this issue, I have built a library of screen print textures to evenly overlay images with. I have tried to push composition in the module as it is something I have always struggled with, but now I believe I am getting to grips with it. A strong composition helps the communication of the image. Especially with book illustration. But in my editorial work sequential illustration is method I am using a bit now and I find it helps get the message across, whilst still incorporating all my ideas.

Overall this module has pushed me more than previous. I have produce a large amount of work, that challenges narrative and composition but also my whole practise. Moving away from more traditional print processes to adapt to fit with the realistic time scales I would have to complete work within industry. One problem I’m still finding and getting better at is having confidence in my work. I see not liking my own work as a good thing at times because, it pushes me but at others it has become a hindrance. Moving on I need to keep working and pushing myself, but also know when to take breaks so I don’t get burnt out and lose confidence.