The Themed Patterns (developed and finished)!

 I have now made my two patterns. I first made two more illustrations into my sketchbook that form a segment of the repeated pattern. Here is the 'wartime' theme:

Wartime Theme

 As you can see I have applied shading into the design. Due to the context being about the blitz, I immediately made the connotation of soot and ash. The grainy texture made by a pencil on its side represents this perfectly. I applied this method and then used a wet brush to create a smudge effect. I deliberately made the shading around the destroyed area darker to emphasise that a bomb caused this destruction; so a burnt effect basically. I originally drew the outline in pencil just in case I made a mistake and then went over it in fine liner. Then to put it into the pattern I began duplicating the image, attaching them at each side. I repeated this a couple of times and gradually it built up within the A4 horizontal page. Here is the outcome:

 As I described before, I wanted it to appear as though the houses were ascending up a hill from the perspective of the viewer. The monochrome and the endless amount of roof tops and windows makes this piece look very dense. The destroyed areas of the terrace houses reveal a living room window on the street behind. This makes the pattern almost hypnotic and abstract. It forces the viewer to peer in closer.

 This pattern further represents the context due to the catastrophic nature of WWII. It serves almost like a memorial to the victims taken by the blitz because the image appears so vast and infinite; symbolizing the almost countless deaths. It also could symbolize society and what human nature is capable of; even worse in mainland Europe where innocents were murdered by gas according to their race. War is a terrible thing, and the events that happened during WWII must definitely never happen again.

 Now for the 'historic buildings' theme. As I had been working closely with the theme of Pear Mill, I thought it appropriate to incorporate it into this cover somehow. Due to the term given to work upon, 'buildings', I realised that the cover had to be something universal; something that applied with most standard buildings. When I think of a building, I imagine a giant rectangular block with windows. The windows I then thought were a great idea. When I found this idea, I immediately remembered the album cover Physical Graffiti, by Led Zeppelin:

Physical Graffiti, Led Zeppelin

 This influenced my idea of having the pattern just as windows. In accordance to Pear Mill, I decided to draw a segment of the windows into my sketchbook:

Buildings Theme

 I drew and kept the windows in the same style as my entire illustration of Pear Mill, with the pen and ink and watercolours. I then applied the same technique as I did with the 'wartime' theme and kept on duplicating them until they filled the A4 space. Here is my outcome:

 Yet again, compared with my 'wartime' pattern, it appears rather densely populated with the amount of windows there are. It appears almost like a 'super factory'! I believe it appears abstract as well as representational because of the same reason (the size). Its difference with the 'wartime' cover is that it has colour. Colour is more so necessary in this one because of the burgundy/redness that is associated with industrial architecture. The weathered red bricks that crafted these working spaces symbolize how huge the buildings were.

 I believe this relates to the context of the brief well because the buildings that were made during the industrial revolution still stand today and so keep the memory of what was. Their dominance in the landscape pushes across the message that everything has a history, and that these histories will never be altered or forgotten. Even if Joyce cannot remember, the building physically remains present.

Pear Mill Revealed!

 I have made my illustration of Pear Mill. I cleaned it up a little in Photoshop and increased the contrast to enhance the colours of the paint:

 Looking back on the previous designs, I decided to redraw my strongest one and add extra detail. It's essentially the same shape and perspective as that one, and the colours too are similar. Again, they were painted in watercolours and they helped let the ink run unpredictably. Also the windows have received a touch up with the extra lines going through them, which represent the panes. The most important aspect obviously is that it illustrates Pear Mill. It acquires a Quentin Blake style where the paint is running over the lines and the lines are hastily drawn. This gives it character and it displays a great example of how effective hand-rendered work can be.

Development of the Booklet Covers

 As well as the Pear Mill illustration and the sweet shop animation, we ALSO have to design two pattern-based booklet covers! It seems to be a very busy project. The two covers are themed 'historic wartime' and historic buildings'. For the 'wartime' cover, I came across a photograph of a residential street in Manchester during World War II that had been blitzed:

Blitzed Street in Manchester

 The pattern appeared in my head and I knew what I wanted. The pattern will be a drawn version of this photograph and will be repeated as though a house has exploded every few yards down the endless street. The streets will overlap one another as though they are gradually going up a hill for example. I have started drawing this idea within my sketchbook:

 These are deliberately first drafts, so I'll make sure to put in adequate detail. I will keep the image monochrome to keep with the theme of the war period. Photography during WWII was predominately black and white, so I want it to bear that connotation. The pattern idea for this is well suited as well because terrace houses from above appear as rows and rows and rows of almost infinite (exaggerating) stretches of streets. It emphasises also the fact that the Germans could have dropped a bomb anywhere over the city without knowing where, and it will have destroyed at least something. It must have been such a scary time, especially for young Joyce who had to hide under the staircases in her sweet shop whilst the sirens blazed. I find WWII so fascinating. The fact it occurred during the Twentieth Century still astounds me.

Drawings of Pear Mill

 After visiting Pear Mill, I now began drawing the building into my sketchbook. The best development work I'd made so far had come from my sketchbooks, like in the Penguin book cover project, so I just started being playful with the use of media and what style I'd prefer it. Here they are:

 The lines I've drawn were made with the pen and ink technique. It seems this has become my favourite use of line. I enjoy how unpredictable it is, such as when it runs a little or flicks ink to the other side of the page. It works effectively with watercolours too because the water encourages the flow of the ink to spread. The second-to-last image is different to the rest because I applied brusho dye for the first time. I was unsure as how to use it, but I guess I learn from experience. It was more difficult to use than I'd previously thought because the grains sometimes don't run and you have to be careful of putting too much water on the surface, otherwise it'll run off the page! I enjoyed all these styles of drawing and I believe the last one to be the strongest, simply because slightly more detail has gone into it, i.e. the different shades appearing on each side of the building and the line textures. My final outcome will probably end up being similar to this one.

The Stage is Set

 After almost a week's dedication to this image, I have finally completed it. It seemed simple to start with, but the layers from the original image were all locked together so I had to manoeuvre around them which took quite some time. There were so many layers by the end of it! Anyway, it is done and all I have to do now is put it into After Effects. Here it is:

Richard

 For the jars, I duplicated them adjusting their size depending how far down they were. I even added different types of reflection on each jar simply using the brush tool. For the shelf lines I extended them keeping in mind with the point-of-perspective, so they'd become narrower as they verge to the right-hand side of the image. For the sweets in the jars I again duplicated them and scattered them as randomly as possible. I adjusted their colours too to add variation in the types of sweets available.

 What also is required for the animation are the liquorice sticks. For this I photographed a small bunch of them and applied the same method of contrast levelling as I did with the other sweets. Here they are within the shop replacing Richard's figure:

Liquorice

 I find this a fun concept, but at the same time feel sad due to its context. Joyce's loss of memory is the crucial factor behind this brief.

My Animation Environment

 For this animation I am going to create, I am simply going to expand the scene of the sweet jars from my original outcome of the last Age UK project. This will mean more sweet jars and more sweets! Luckily with the help of Photoshop, all I'll have to do is duplicate everything. Here is a rough sketch of my initial idea including lines and arrows directing the flow of the animation:

Sketch of Animation

 My idea is to pan across this expanse of sweet jars as though a child is looking at them all eagerly. Then the child's eyes will pass over the figure of Joyce's husband within the sweet jar. There would then be a double-take back towards the figure, but he would not be there. Instead he'd be replaced with a stack of liquorice sticks. This concept is playing with the quote Joyce used to describe the memory of her husband, "A figure in the background."

Photographs of Pear Mill

 Yesterday I went to go visit Pear Mill to acquire some photographs of the building. I may use them as reference when I make my illustration of the building. Here they are:

 The building appears how it probably would have looked back in its cotton spinning days. Stockport, Manchester and most of the North-West of England remains very industrial looking. The buildings almost emit an echo from the past during the great days of the Industrial Revolution.

Stephen Byram Interview

 As part of my personal development, I was asked to seek out professionals within the industry to ask them questions to do with their work. My first chosen contact was Stephen Byram, who we met during our visit to New York last year. I remember admiring his work due to it being so prolific and similar to my own style. I've even used him as reference for the last project.

 For the interview I emailed him five questions in which he very kindly corresponded. Here it is:

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2213/2512897228_874a44ceef_z.jpg

1) I remember you discussing your past to the group and that you played bass guitar. Would you consider music to be a main driving force in your style of work?


A) I think I said I aspired to play the bass, but found that I had no aptitude in that direction. I would say that 
music was and is a primary inspiration for the content of my work. My style is something that developed 
(and keeps developing) over many years of hacking away at things employing the stuff I was given to work 
with. I like to think that my approach to art is musical, but since I’m not a musician I can’t say for sure.



2) Seeing your work first-hand, it stemmed in so many directions: from 3D sculptures to abstract painted
canvases. Have you always been experimental in your choice of media or has it developed over time?


A) Yeah, pretty much. I get a lot of satisfaction trying to put things together that may not obviously fit 
together, so experimentation kind of comes with the territory. I also enjoy trying to figure out how to do 
something unfamiliar, as long as I have plenty of time to wrestle with it. I like wandering around in the 
woods and stumbling over something of potential value (in spite of the anxiety this behavior can produce 
- or maybe because of it).



3) I remember you discussing digital interaction within some of your work. Would you say you prefer working digitally or more so hand-rendered?

A) I like both in equal measure, but you have to keep them in balance - too much of either is no good fer ya.



4) I find the compositions on your album covers very interesting and unique. Before composing an image, do you have an idea of what the outcome will look like or do you just play with the imagery to see what randomly unfolds?


Thank you!
I try to delay knowing the outcome as long as possible, the most important part of the process for me is 
the surprise that comes from finding out something that I didn’t know before, or seeing the connection that 
hadn’t occurred to me.
Yes, I love unfolding it randomly.


5) And lastly, your use of line is fantastic and emits total expressionism and punk rock – as well as its composition with the textured background. The lines appear very figurative. What draws you to the profile of the figure?


Again, thank you, that’s quite a compliment.
I basically consider myself a figurative artist in everything I make. I can’t really answer why other than to say 
that I’m compelled to make figures.
I guess that’s where all the action is in life, trying to understand the other and yourself, or vice versa. I need 
to see where I live. You need a good basic structure to riff on, figures be mine.

Dr Sketchy!!

 On Friday, me and a few people from the class went to Afflecks Palace in Northern Quarter, Manchester to participate in a themed life drawing session. The theme was GOTHAM VILLAINS!
 Catwoman came on first, did a few poses, went off and then Poison Ivy arrived... two words: nipple tassels. I wasn't really expecting a burlesque performance, but it certainly was a bonus! She did the same as Catwoman and eventually went off. Then a guy dressed as Heath Ledger Joker came on. He definitely looked the part. I wanted his jacket, shirt and waistcoat! He had his limelight until eventually all three of them appeared at the same time and they all corresponding to each other's poses by pretending to fight.
 It was an ok night. I got jolly and clumsy with my paper and equipment, but I'd probably only go the once. I think I was expecting more of a range of characters than just three. I'm glad I had the experience though. Here's what I got out of it:

Age UK Strikes Again!

 A new set of briefs were set for us this Tuesday including an extension of the last Age UK project. I decided to choose this one because it required moving image. The final outcome of the whole brief is to make resource packs which include: an illustration of a landmark within Stockport, two A5 patterned booklet covers each with the themes 'historic wartime' and 'historic buildings' and an animated version of the previous outcome, which in my case would be the image of Joyce's Sweet Shop.

 To start with, I chose my desired landmark: Pear Mill. Here is some background knowledge of the place.

Sourced from Wikipedia:

Pear New Mill was designed as a double cotton spinning mill, though the second mill was never built. It is on the northern bank of the River Goyt in Bredbury, Stockport, Greater Manchester, in England. It is a GradeII listed building. Pear Mill, Stockport, was an Edwardian mill, one of the last cotton spinning mills to be built, commencing production in July 1913. The architects were A.H. Stott & Sons and the building is typical of their work, but due to difficulties in financing, it was completed by P.S. Stott. It was constructed with concrete floors, and meticulous detailing. The power was provided by a Manhattan type steam engine by George Saxon & Co. Transmission was by a rope drives. The mill had 137,312 mule spindles which remained until the 1950's when they were replaced by 33,636 ring spindles, the mill being electrified at the same time. It ceased operation as a textile mill in March 1978.

My Final Gig Poster!

 After some thought, I cracked on with the next design for Tim's gig poster. Here is what I conjured up:

 Much better. I've applied myself a lot more in this design. For the background I scanned a sheet of lined paper and increased the contrast. The type at the top was hand rendered by myself and I have placed it alongside the original event 'P' logo. The 'P' is presented as the first letter. I also applied colour using the brush tool from Photoshop. I put the opacity at 50% which gives the strokes a highlighter pen appearance. The rest of the type I used from Photoshop and I prefer it much more to the previous one. My sense of hierarchy has improved also due to the decision in what should be in bold and what shouldn't be.

 What improves it most of all of course are the doodle drawings. I began doodling in one of my A3 sketchbooks small, random characters that I thought would make the poster more amusing. I began drawing a series that seemed to display limbs that were out of proportion and lines that didn't always connect. They felt more fun to draw, so I chose a few from them. Some of them appear more sinister than others, so I selected a friendly-looking bunch to be on the poster. All the doodles can be seen below:

 Aw.