Studio Brief 2 Reflection

Last year I said I wanted to focus more on veganism, so Studio Brief 2 being a self-directed brief allowed me to do this. Being able to focus on something I am passionate about inspired me to work hard in this brief. 

After writing my proposal my ideas seemed too broad making the start off point a bit slow, as well as being caught up in Studio Brief 1 as the live brief had a later deadline than some others. This slowed my pace down massively which has affected the amount of work I could have put into my self-directed brief.

Originally, I planned on making a set of screen prints although, with the time space I had left after development it seemed inappropriate. I decided to use a digital approach to save time, which is something I am not overly confident with. However, I am pleased with the outcomes and I understand that improving my knowledge in Photoshop will be useful in the future when I don’t have access to screen-printing facilities, as well as most editorial work being fast briefs. 

If I was to do the brief again then I would pick up my pace massively so I didn’t feel rushed when making my final designs as well as having more time to cover the other subjects that I intended to cover at the start of the brief such as the horse meat scandal and the Yulin dog meat festival. 

However, one of my strong points is coming up with ideas that come across as funny but have a sinister meaning behind them meaning I can produce ideas quickly that still have a kick behind them. The ideas that I came up with are a bit of a kick in the teeth to companies like Impossible Burger that claim to reduce the consumption of animals (which might be true in some respects) but still support animal testing. This is what I intended to achieve, the rat sat at a dinner table appears to be light hearted at first glance but when looked into further and the viewer reads the article, it is clear that Impossible Burger isn’t so innocent after all. 

I hope to be able to continue this idea in my own time and possibly look further into the horse meat scandal and the Yulin dog meat festival to further improve my knowledge on the subjects.

UPDATED Studio Brief 2 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?

I intend on making a minimal of 4 editorial illustrations using a digital/screen approach to go alongside an article in a newspaper or magazine. I am going to focus on controversial plant-based/vegan ideas and products that have come out recently. Specifically, the vegan burger that ‘bleeds’. As well as looking into lab grown meat, the horse meat scandal and possibly the Yulin dog meat festival.  Making a set of illustrations that go alongside an article will make me consider the layout and content of the design as it will have to be appropriate to the newspapers audience. Although, I still want to have a satirical approach to my work that reveals the darker truth of eating animal product and even supporting plant-based companies that still use animal testing to create their ‘vegan’ products.

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/plant-based products ·       Controversy  ·       Social Issues SPECIFIC SUBJECTS: ·       The vegan burger that ‘bleeds’ – being aware that this product isn’t exactly designed for vegans but instead making a plant-based diet more appealing to meat eaters. Is it really going to work? How could it be made appealing? Impossible Burger fed the soy leghemoglobin to rats before human consumption so is it really vegan? ·       Clean meat – lab grown meat is definitely not targeted at vegans, but again reduces the environmental issues and the treatment of animals in the meat industry as animals will no longer be needed. However, the animal cells are grown in the blood of the blood from calf fetuses, so what are they really achieving? ·       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 on challenging myself by using a digital approach to create the designs to mimic the aesthetic of screen print. This will be a useful skill to have in the future as screen-printing facilities won’t always be available to me when I leave university and want to continue my practice, as well as it being a time saver, meaning I can produce more outcomes at a fast pace. 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. ·       Vegans who aren’t aware of the Impossible Burger being tested on animals to bring it to light and continue spreading their awareness. 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.

Monoprinting will help me to produce different textures that can be used in my digital designs to create the screen-printing aesthetic. Monoprint is one of my weaker points so using the print facilities with ideas from the staff will help me gain knowledge. 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.