Studio Brief 1 - Reflection

I instantly knew that I would want to focus on the Socio-Political Poster brief, although, I took it on me to make some designs for the Hookworms brief as well seen as though the deadlines were so distant from each other.

Making a design with little to no context isn’t something I usually do, making the Hookworms poster extremely difficult. I couldn’t grasp at an idea that would be appealing to the band and their current vibe. Starting with the text seemed to be most appropriate until I gathered up a strong enough starting point for the visual side of it. The photocopier became my best friend.

Using the photocopier seemed to strengthen my ideas massively, it creates textures and the mistakes are sometimes unexpected accomplishments. Accidentally overlaying the text on one of the copies became one of my strongest designs (according to my peers in a group crit) so I went away with a lot more confidence to make the designs more appropriate for screen print using Photoshop, always considering the scale of the poster and the short time that it had to be completed for, making my ideas as simple as possible with minimal colour.

Overall, I just couldn’t wait to get that brief over with and move onto the political poster where I knew I would be a lot more confident in my own practice.

As soon as I started focusing on the political poster I felt a lot more comfortable. Making a list of all ethical/political/social issues I am passionate about allowed me narrow my ideas down for what would be most suitable for the brief. Veganism is a passion of mine, although, I felt like the brief didn’t want this subject covered, so I interpreted my views in a more environmental and health orientated fashion. Whilst developing my ideas, I heard about the Conservatives cutting back free school meals, which is what my most finalised idea was based on, considering the number of children not being able to eat their lunch, represented by the apple cores in my design.

I only sent one poster off to Poland for the competition as problems with my personal life seemed to have a huge impact on my work, meaning I haven’t done as much as I would have hoped for this brief. I plan on possibly making more designs for the poster brief if I get time before the deadline (without it taking over Studio Brief 2).

Studio Brief 2 - Initial Research

The Vegan Burger that 'Bleeds'

'Clean Meat'

Horse Meat Scandal 

Studio Brief 2 - Study Task INDUSTRY RESEARCH (Group Presentation)

Some useful links:

• https://create.adobe.com/2016/4/20/what_art_directors_want_a_guide_for_editorial_illustrators.html
• https://medium.com/@modernthrive/the-business-of-editorial-illustration-a4904ae1e017
• https://www.creativebloq.com/career/become-editorial-illustrator-121310155

Industry Facts

• Editorial illustration is one of the most well known forms of illustration as it is seen most regularly by the general public in newspaper and magazine articles.
• Imagery alongside articles first started appearing in the 19th Century.

Online Resources

• https://www.itsnicethat.com/categories/illustration
• https://www.nytimes.com/section/opinion/editorials
• https://create.adobe.com/2016/4/20/what_art_directors_want_a_guide_for_editorial_illustrators.html

Trends

• Digital/Interactive work (as newspapers and magazines become more and more of an online resource).
• Social Awareness - an obvious one with editorial, people are becoming a lot more aware of social issues (especially women's rights and cruelty towards animals).
• https://www.creativebloq.com/features/illustration-trends-2018

Case Studies 

• https://www.posttypography.com/case-studies/editorial-illustration
• https://tubikstudio.com/blog/case_study/

Some resources I already know of:

• Its Nice That 
• The New York Times 
• Anorak 
• Sophy Hollington 
• Leslie Herman 
• Anthony Russo 
• Luba Lukova 
• Paul peter Piech

Resources I need to find:

• The most up to date issues. 
• How the editorial illustration industry works.

How do these concerns relate to your practices?

Being up to date on social issues is a huge area of concern for editorial illustration, keeping up to date with these issues can involve reading newspapers and researching into the issues you're passionate about.

Email people in the editorial industry and ask some questions (which is something I'm doing as part of PP Studio Brief 2).

Studio Brief 2 - Project Proposal

Leeds Arts University BA (Hons) ILLUSTRATION	Level	05
LAUIL504 ILLUSTRATION 4: Applied Illustration	Credits	40
Module Brief  Title: Product, Range & Distribution

STUDIO BRIEF 2: Individual Practice Project Proposal

Project Rationale

What do you intend to do and why?

In Studio Brief 2 I intend on making a minimum of 4 final prints that could go alongside an article in a newspaper. I propose to focus on veganism and how animals, the environment and our bodies are affected by eating animal-based products as this is something I am passionate about this subject and believe I could make people reconsider their diet. I do not intend on being ‘preachy’ in my work, I want to make a statement that’s subtler but hits the person with force after realisation. After researching into outsider/naïve art I believe I have become a lot more aware of my own practice and where it fits in the contemporary world. Making a set of prints that will fit alongside an article will make me consider the layout and content of the design as it will have to be appropriate for the audience of the newspaper. As well as looking into how editorial work has changed and become a lot more digitalized meaning I may have to consider how my work would look on a webpage and possibly consider how it could interact with the reader.

THEMES / SUBJECTS What Themes/Subjects will form the content of your work for this module? This should include theoretical and non-creative based content and concerns. This section should identify your consideration of the social, cultural, ethical and creative concerns of contemporary Illustration practice.

GENERAL THEMES: ·       Veganism ·       Printing ·       Social issues SPECIFIC SUBJECTS: ·       Environmentalism – How eating animal products affects the planet such as rainforests, climate change, the amount of water that is used to look after animals for meat, how the ocean has been affected (killing of larger sea creatures e.g. whales, dolphins, seals etc). ·       Health – (How meat affects our body, more likely to get cancer, diabetes and heart disease) ·       Animal Welfare – The dairy industry, the treatment of animals, free-range’ ·       Naïve art, outsider art, primitive art – research from the last module feedback made me look into these kinds of practices and made me consider painting again (especially suitable for this brief involving animals and perceptive). ·       Screen-printing – experimenting with print methods (both traditional and digital) to work out different outcomes for the brief and develop my practice and interest/skills in screen-printing further. ·       Digital work – during this brief I am going to try and work out how to give digital designs the appearance of screen-print which will be useful in the future when I don’t always have access to printing, as well as saving time.

PRACTICAL & CONCEPTUAL APPLICATION What areas of Illustration do you intend to investigate in relation to the practical and conceptual, production/ distribution of work in response to selected briefs?

SPECIFIC DISCIPLINARY AREA: I intend to focus on screen-printing techniques and challenge myself with how I can make digital designs have the same appearance as print which is something I haven’t tried in the past, learning this technique will help develop my future practice when I don’t have access to print as well as it being a timesaver. I am going to look further into naïve art to become more aware of my practice and possibly start painting again to develop my designs. AUDIENCE/CONTEXTS: ·       People who generally read the newspaper/political magazines, focusing on more left wing orientated such as The Guardian and The New Statesman. ·       Young people (18-21) who are socially aware and will possibly share my posters. ·       Contextual research will involve using the internet to find existing articles and facts about the specific subjects that I’m looking into. PRODUCTION/Distribution Methods: I intend on screen-printing the designs, or just making a digital piece that has the aesthetic of a screen-print to save time and make more possible outcomes. Placing the designs in an editorial context will help me consider the layout of my designs and how it would fit into the article.

CONTEXTUAL REFERENCES Identify areas of professional/creative practices that will inform the contextualization of the work that you produce. This should include specific illustrators, studios, practitioners and products as well as broader creative disciplines and methods of Production/Distribution.

ILLUSTRATORS / DESIGNERS / STUDIOS: ·       The New York Times ·       The New Yorker ·       The Guardian ·       The New Statesman ·       Nobrow Press ·       French Protest posters 1968 ·       Naïve, primitive and outsider art ·       Stewart Mackinnon ·       Henryk Tomaszewski ·       Cobra Movement ·       David Shrigley ·       Henri Rousseau ·       Henning Wagenbreth ·       Bill Rebholz ·       Sophy Hollington ·       Stephanie Unger

CREATIVE SKILLS What practical skills do you intend to further develop and apply during your project? What do you intend to use the skills for? Consider extending the use of skills that you already have in order to deliver work of a higher standard as well as identifying new skills that you will need to develop.

I am going to develop my screen-printing skills further by experimenting with different textures and how different colours overlay each other. As well as focusing on my digital skills to work on how to give digital work the appearance of print which may be a challenge for me as I am not the best on Photoshop. I will use my existing skills in printing to get a strong starting point and interpret new skills into my designs to strengthen them further. Working on my digital skills will help develop my practice in the future as I will have the ability to make digital designs at a fast pace to meet any future fast deadlines to a professional standard.

KEY TEXTS List a selected number of books, articles and texts that are central to your proposed area of practice. These should include a combination of design and non-practice-based books, theoretical texts as well as visual publications. You should include a list of relevant websites.

·       http://culture.pl/en/artist/henryk-tomaszewski ·       https://www.itsnicethat.com/categories/illustration ·       https://www.nytimes.com/section/opinion/editorials ·       https://www.newstatesman.com ·       https://www.greenpeace.org.uk ·       DIY Culture: party and protest in nineties Britain – Emily Stein and Celia Willis ·       DIY: the rise of lo-fi culture ·       In Loving Memory of Work – Craig Oldham ·       https://hyperallergic.com/272933/the-urgent-protest-art-of-the-berkeley-political-poster-workshop/

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

I plan on doing further research into my subject area to make sure my designs are consistent and thoroughly considered throughout the brief.

LAUIL504 – Studio Brief 2 Project Planner

1	Briefing Studio Brief 2 - Individual Practice	Friday 23rd February
2	Proposal Planning & Research	Friday 23rd February – Friday 1st March, try and get group together to share ideas and research
3	Proposal Submission: 2 March (Studio Development week)	Develop work in both sketchbook, make more extensive research
4	Progress Tutorials	Monday 5th March – use feedback as motivation to make work more developed/finalized after a second set of eyes
5	Group feedback on SB2 development work	More finalized/focused ideas, possibly show the designs in a fake article layout/online
6	Interim Crit & Pitch to peer group	Presentation finalized
7	EASTER BREAK	See when the print room could be open to develop work further ready for group feedback
8	EASTER BREAK	Sketchbook work
9	EASTER BREAK	Sketchbook work
10	Studio Brief 3 - Presentation & Evaluation	Spend the week making and developing prints
11	Group feedback and tutorials	Prep for final designs (if they’re screen prints then strip the screen etc)
12	Work in progress tutorials	Make digital posters and possibly a slight bit of moving image (GIFs) to make the work more interactive for an online article.
13	Assessment Briefing	Most work should be finalized by now, a few tweaks
14	Final Crit & Peer Presentations	Work should be finalized and ready to be handed in
15	Module Submission 17/05/2018	HAND IN