Memory Poster

To learn some new skills on some software that we will be using through the course, we were asked to making a graphic poster using 3 software programmes: Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign.

The poster was to follow the theme of Memories.

We firstly started off with Illustrator creating the Heading that would be the title of our poster, giving an indication to what it would be about. We started off by creating shapes and curves so we could then type out title on to the curve. Below is the step by step process of how to do  create a title.

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I made some changes throughout this process but think it has corked out better, in the final product.

Next we went on to Photoshop where we edit a photograph that could easily be malipulated and changed. We also had to make a background for the poster using different effects. Again here is the step by step progress of using photoshop.

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Then we opened up InDesign where we adding the body copy of what our memory was about. 

Here is the final out come of my 'Memory Poster'

  Fig 1-14 authors own

    

Tate Review

The Tate Modern in London is Britain's national museum of international modern art. The exhibition that I liked the most and really captured my eye was 'Energy and Progress'. The concept of the exhibit was the sheer variety of intentional art. The embodiment of art in everyday life. Life as it is today. The artist that I liked the most was William Eggleston. Eggleston is an American photographer, who focuses on colour and the surrounding around him. 

I like certain photographs that he has taken especially ones with natural lighting because I feel that it brings out the best in the natural environment. I also like the depth of field that has been shown in some of the photographs taken in his home state of America.  A lot of this work is very simple but effective to look at. I mean this by the way that the camera has been set up in a specific spot for example a empty road or sitting above the subject they are taking. Also where the model is stood in a secluded place in the middle of nowhere, it captures your eye in the way that you not really sure what the main focal point to this image is, the person or the background. I understand why Eggleston has kept the scene so minimalist as it brings alot of meaning to the photo. 

William Eggleston
Untitled 1970–73

Another image that really captured my attention is this image of a car in the middle of a deserted car-park, with a massive puddle in the background. I like the composition of the car because of the way that only 3/4 of the car is being revealed in the frame. Another reason is because of the colour of the car stands out from the brownish concrete and the watery puddle to the far right. However that puddle does add element of depth to the final piece. 

William Eggleston
Untitled 1970–73

All in all I believe that William Eggleston's work is very good way of describing the theme of Energy and Progress. This is because everyday we produce energy and progress as the day goes forward. 

Final Garment

This is my final result of my garment. I made nine individual fans using the brown paper which I thought would be quite durable for making this type of structure. After making 9 fans I stapled 3 groups of 3 fans together. After that I made a structure that would be able to hold the weight of the 9 fans on one shoulders. 

Here are a few photos that I took of my garment being modelled around the uni building. 

Fig 1-4 authors own

Potential designs

Here are some of my designs that I drew onto a a photocopy. I photocopied a model that had a lot of her top body showing, I thought I would design a garment for the shoulders. The 9 designs below are all different to eachother, colour, shape and texture wise.   

Here are few rough sketches that of what designs could potentially work on the shoulders. With the type of paper that could be folded or made into one of these, either paper cones or scrunched paper.   

This is the final sketch, which is supposed to resemble lots of fan shaped pieces next to eachother on both shoulders held together but three pieces of thick paper making sure its secure together. 

Fig 1-3 authors own

Collages

As a part of the second day we had to design collages on top of models, but being creative as possible without trying to follow the body shape. Here are my 4 outfit samples that i created with different types of paper.

The first one is scrunched up pieces of brown paper, placed around the models body making it look larger that it should be. For the next design there was two people on the page, so I decided to make the 'outfits' more colour. The green construction was cutting triangles into a rectangle. The purple 'shirt' was cutting strips and curling them on scissors. The next 3D structure was folding three pieces of magazine paper into a triangular shape. Finally the last design was out of news paper that was folded into 3 fan shapes, creating a circular shape. 

Once we completed our designs, the class put their best one on the wall so we could see eachothers designs and how we all made them.

Working on the Manikins

After making our garments and duplicating them so we had multiple sizes of one of our samples. I chose the garment that I thought would be the most effective on the manikin, I found the the looped circles would be quite quick and very structural to work on the manikin  

After making a range of different sized garments, we were put into groups of three. We had to make an outfit out of all our garment pieces.   

This is the first design that we as group created. Even though it isn't finished the concept of the design was to have the looped skirt, backless with a intertwined material. If it was finished it would make more sense as a outfit. 

After the first outfit, as a group we moved to the right of us to the next manikin was aimed at being revealing at the front and more covered-up at the back. I like this design because of the contrast of the difference structures, one being quite three-dimnetional and the other being more patterned and flat.    

Again everyone moved to the right and had to make a design in the style of a goth. This meant being very bold and making a statement. Having a massive shoulder piece and the rest of the outfit being very long. I think this outfit fits the brief. 

This was the next garment, which was only for the waist. Being very minimalist one side, then very bold and big on the other, giving the garment a statement look. And working with the brown and white paper looks really good together.

This particular garment was only of the shoulders. As a group we chose three flat simple black and white garments to create the the sides and the back, keeping that quite minimlistic. But we added a vibrant coloured flower to be contrasting with the simple sides. 

The final garment was an outfit of our choice with our original group samples. We went for a simple coloured tissue paper skirt, with the looped garment belt with the top half being a mixture of brown and white papered construction.

All in all the garment exercise was quite a good way of mixing different bits of designs and structures together to create a whole new aspect of outfit and design. 

Fig 1-6 authors own

Garment Samples

For the fashion week, we were asked to make either 5 samples of structure, texture or patterned garments. I decided to chose structure because I felt that working with different types of paper it would work quite well with the unusual shapes. Below you can see my garment. 

From the top left is 4 pieces of bright green paper zig-zag together, to create a two-layer construction.

To the right of that is two triangles joined together by a simple piece of paper. The folded triangles are really simple but are very effective.

Again to the right is another paper structure. I used brown paper for this as it was more stable to hold the weight of the layers. The layers a conjoined rings/loops all supporting one another. 

To the far middle left is a single piece of red paper just folded in a way it stands up on its own , and able to hold weight of other objects.

Finally below that is a simple fan made up of a newspaper page. So the fan gets a range of colours instead of one colour. It also creates a textured effect with the mixture of colours.   

Fig 1 authors own

Storyboarding

After the group story boarding we had to go away and make one of out stories or a new one come to life in images. I came up with a story of a cat going outside in the garden, to then being locked outside not knowing what to do. 

Below is my original story board which just involves basic step by step. 

This was then developed with some critique by fellow peers on how to make my story better. This included adding collage and making my story more funny.

Here is my final story..

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My story is about how a cat wants to go outside in the garden. The cat manages to get into the garden but the wind slams shuts the back door. The cat begins to search around the garden and comes across a strange bug, unfortunately the bug enlarges and scares the cat. The cat is scared and must run away and get back into the house. The bug monster is chasing the cat up the garden stairs. She manges to get to the back door but it is still shut. All the cat can do is try and jump at the handle to open the door. Finally the cat opens the door by jumping at the handle, and gets in. 

Fig 1-7 authors own

Group Storyboarding

A story is basically death and rebirth of something, meaning it can start being happy or sad but it must potentially end up being the opposite to what it started. The beginning involves a character, a world and a problem. The middle is the journey of solving the problem, with struggles. And the end is the resolution of solving the question.  

The next part of the day was getting into groups and drawing characters that have been apart of our lives, different places that mean something good or bad to us. As a group we had to join up things that could possibly work as a story, for example someone had a Barbie doll which was joined to Bratz dolls, making a story of which was the better toy doll. Eventually we came up with three stories involving some of the drawings on the page, but only using 6 frames which had to include a introduction, problem, 3 struggles and a resolution.  

The stories that we cam up with were very random but they did all include a introduction of characters, a problem, struggles and a resolution. 

Fig 1 authors own

Drawing from a Photograph

As apart of the lens based media stage of the course, we were asked to take photographs that sparked up a memory for us. I photographed Admiralty Arch leading from Trafalgar square, passed Green Park to Buckingham Palace. I thought I would use this photograph to draw from because it has a lot of history behind it. This means that the arch is very monumental and has 'seen' alot throughout the time of being built, and up to the modern day things around the piece of architecture is changing.   

The next part of the process was to crop the image using pieces of spare paper to make a complete new image, concentrating on compositions and framing. I tried to create 7 different frames for the drawn image, making them different each time to create a new story behind it. 

I like the idea of how much framing and composition can lead to a good photograph or a really beautiful scene.  

Fig 1-8 authors own

Timelines

Definition of Timeline:

A graphic representation of the passage of time as a line.

Throughout the years there has been alot of different ways of displaying things that have happened like drawings, words, brainstorms or photos in the way of a timeline. We were asked to create a timeline of our week so far. Some artists, photographers & designers have displayed some really unique ways of displaying the past and how affect they can be to look at.  I decided to create a wave of timeline meaning what I most felt and didn't feel during the week. 

As you can see these are some of the emotions that experienced throughout the week from the least I felt to the most I felt. I displayed them by blue-tacking them to the arch in my living room to create a rounded line. 

Fig 1-4 authors own