The graphics rotation began with a range of drawing exercises the first consisted of drawing a portrait with my eyes closed. I felt this concept was quite odd to begin with and questioned the point in not being able see? However as I proceeded with this task I realised that the aim wasn't to create a perfect outcome but to consider a new way of creating work; a technique that would form an unexpected and interesting outcome which I would not be able to create if I was looking at the paper. The next involved drawing with the opposing hand; again I did not feel comfortable with this technique because the lines I was generating did not meet my expectation. Instead my outcome related to a wobbly, childlike drawing which I did not consider as successful. Another exercise involved using my mouth to draw another portrait; I feel this task was unusual because I was using a technique I had never
considered before. Although I did not enjoy this technique because of the lack of control I had of my medium, I was beginning to realise the exercise was challenging my idea of ‘drawing’ and what creates a successful outcome. I previously always aimed for a visually perfect outcome but after progressing through the drawing tasks I am now questioning why my outcome has to be perfect? Why do I consider it as perfect? If my outcome is almost photographic why not just take a photo? I have learnt how these new techniques can form successful work and one which can be considered as interesting and unique instead of a repetition of many other designers’ outcomes which reflect the same over and over again. To continue my practise of drawing I went on to experimenting with a large scale observation of my ear. I found this task difficult because the curves and detail of an ear was hard to capture within the 15 minute time frame. However, I feel my outcome is successful because it does resemble my ear. I would improve my outcome by adding more tone to capture the darker areas which would contribute to the dimension of my drawing; to do this within the 15 minutes I should have used charcoal as my medium because it quickly and accurately creates tone by applying more pressure or using my finger to smudge it. Although I feel my drawing was visually interesting on its own when positioned alongside other student’s drawings it created an impact and became more eye catching. I also feel the collective of drawings would engage an audience more than one on its own because each one are individual and unique.
I then went onto visiting the technique of collage; my intension was to create a distorted
face. My starting point consisted of another student’s quarter of a face which included the nose, eye and glasses, I was influenced by the image of the glasses and aimed to find another image which would harmonise to form a full set of glasses. To do this I looked through magazines with existing images before coming across one I liked. Although the scale of the image was smaller than the one I had, I experimented with the positioning and surrounding visuals to produce a complete face. I really enjoy the unusual proportions of my collage because it links into my chosen word ‘crazy’, I felt this word was appropriate because I have never seen an advertisement representing one lens of glasses larger than the other. Therefore my outcome challenges conventions of existing products and
advertisements of them; I feel this contributes to my outcome being successful because it is eye catching and captures people’s attentions – it may make them question my intensions? From this outcome I used a view finder to crop it; this allowed me to focus on one section, it also transformed the collage into an abstract image. My aim was to enlarge the cropped section by observationally drawing it, but instead of just accurately drawing what I could see I wanted to explore texture and movement. To do this I used a range of mediums, the dotted tape contributed to the movement as it is difficult to focus on the dots, the sketch of pink and red add texture because it appears rough and vivid. The masking tape also adds to the texture because I used the technique of layering it to ensure the surface is not smooth and flat. Overall I feel my outcome is successful because the bright bold colours are eye catching and the diverging lines create movement whilst my mediums form the texture to my work.
The next task within the graphics rotation was one of the most confusing briefs I have been given. It involved one word ‘hair’ and from that word a design had to be created. However it
couldn’t have anything to do with the starting word. From this my group branched off into many words and ideas. We were interested in the several ways of spelling our word ‘hair’, ‘hare’ and ‘heir’ and how all these words sounded the same but had completely different meanings. This inspired the idea of a protest because it combined the three ways of spelling the word; our outcome consisted of an animal protest and infographics. The aim was to make our designs visually interesting and to capture our audience’s attention and shock them with our ‘twist’ on our starting point. The protest involves authority in relation to ‘heir’, animals in relation to ‘hare’ and ‘hair’ in relation to fur. The infographic involved animals to link it in with the protest; it also involved a hairpin bend to continue the transformation of our given word. I feel the outcome is successful because it represents how one word can spark many ideas; it also challenged the way I think about design and how I approach a brief because my group could have reached for the obvious connotations of hair, instead we completely changed the path by shocking our audience with our outcome.
The final brief of the graphics rotation consisted of creating 6 15x15cm squares; they needed to represent aspects of the week and my identity. I decided to focus on typography, the reason for this was because I feel typography is one of my weak points in graphics
because I find it difficult understanding what typography works with a design and what
doesn’t. Therefore this task would challenge me to focus on my weakness and try to improve the difficulties I have with it. I began by layering my initials until it became a distorted pattern; I also used bright, bold colours to represent the positivity I felt towards exploring my weakness. Although I did not have time to complete this square I feel it was still successful because by not filling all the spaces in with colour allowed some of the typography to be recognisable; I also feel the layering technique contributed to the movement of my work. For the next square I wanted to use existing typography; to do this I looked through a range of magazines and chose the most interesting designs of my initials. Again I used the layering technique to create a collective of my initials. I feel by combining these existing typography’s into a small space took the attention of individual ones; unlike the magazines where each one stood out, once positioned together I realised how similar and in some cases repeated the designs were. This aspect influenced my next square because I challenged myself in looking for an interesting pattern and then creating my own big, bold typography which was placed on its own in the small space. The white background increased the focus on my design; I feel this square also made me look in my surroundings at design because I tend to miss interesting visuals and do not take the time to appreciate them. For my final square I wanted to understand how a chaotic pattern within the typography would affect the visual; I feel the complicated and intricate designs made the design appear delicate and sophisticated and once finished will be unique. Overall I feel my outcome was successful although I did not finish in the time given I feel I challenge myself and learnt new techniques within typography; if I was to present my work at a gallery I would display it from the ceiling because I have sewn each square together the shadows would be interesting. I could also cut typography in my other squares to increase the range of shadow forms.
Overall I feel the graphics rotation week has represented how graphics is not always based on a computer and can be created from materials. I have also been inspired to look at existing designs and designers because this can increase my idea's and influence new techniques.
No comments:
Post a Comment