Zine inspiration
on on Zine spread ideas
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Final spread ideas
Sustainability
on Jave Yoshimoto
Creating extremely brightly coloured paintings using gauche. Inspired by traditional Japanese prints and contemporary depictions of modern disasters, Jave Yoshimoto created vibrant coloured images of destruction, man made as well as natural. Using his art to create a message, he created a series named ‘Disaster’ that addresses environmental destruction.
The piece of art I have chosen is named ‘Evanescent Encounter’. I have linked this to painting. Firstly, looking at the name of the painting (Evanescent Encounter), I had to research the definition in order to have a greater understanding on the message Yoshimoto was trying to portray. The definition of Evanescent (“soon passing out of sight, memory or existence; quickly fading or disappearing”), I was quickly aware that the artist was alluding to the fact that the earth is fading/ disappearing due to the treatment of humans and the destruction we cause to the earth.
Published in 2010 (aged 36, now 46), there was no direct information on where this art was displayed or who for. However, a website named artworksforchange.com feautured the art in an online exhibition in 2020 to promote sustainability, showing how alive the subject matter still is 10 years later.
When looking at the way he uses colours and shapes, it shows his message in an extremely smart way. The main aspect of this artwork that impresses me is the block colours. In the sand on this image, he has shown a big oil spill of a brown colour contrasting the bright yellow of the sand. The contrast of these colours show the bright beauty of the earth, compared to the dirty oil that is being polluted into our oceans and causing a lot of destruction to our planet. Using block colours of different shades of grey, compared to the blood red sky they are on top of, it shows the destruction of large fires that are releasing things into the atmosphere. The colour of red/ orange he used shows a beautiful skyline, completed by the blue sea and Sandy beach which is ruined by the smoke taking up the air and highlighting that we are ruining the beauty of our earth
Theme Research
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Graphic design artist research
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Semester two choices
on Major choice fine art: painting
My major choice for semester two is fine art, more specifically painting. I knew I wanted to do this as soon as I started working on the project we were given. Initially, I thought it was really interesting how we worked on them. I had never started two pain tings that are both extremely similar, working from the same setup that was infront of me at the same time. I thought the process of switching between the two and building them both up at the same time. Learning new skills and techniques during this workshop as well as the enjoyment I had when working on them showed me how much I wanted to specialise in painting. When researching fine art I found a definition that outlined how I feel about painting. It said “the highest art was that which allowed the full expression and display of the artist’s imagination”. This sentence stood out most to me as no matter what is being painted, it would be in any style and not even resemble the original object yet if it reflects the artists imagination and creativity, it is deemed the highest art. I have always preferred doing 2D art works and think painting is best suited to me rather than the likes of ceramics or textiles. The creativity of fine art allows for the painting to turn out however you like and overall allows for different outcomes in the artwork no matter how you decide to paint it. This works best for me as sometimes I find myself constantly getting stuck on the finer details of my artwork and when working in an abstract kind of style, i am able to continue to layer and use different colours to create shapes, lines, or tones while detaching them from how they actually look. Overall making my major choice be fine art painting.
Minor choice Graphic Design
For my minor choice, I have chosen to do graphic design. When completing the tasks given within the workshop I found that I really enjoyed it which was very unexpected. When creating the task for the album covers, I decided to create one of my friend who is a local artist and has released two singles. When showing her the work I created for her music, she ended up using them as her singles covers as she didn’t like the original artwork that was used on them. I found this project extremely fun and showed what I am capable of doing. I also think that by doing Graphic Design it will also allow me to work on my skills within digital art. During the brief projects we completed in the workshop it helped me discover new skills within a digital software. This goes well with the fact I have also chosen fine art. While working on my painting skills and techniques in one area, I would be able to work on my other skills in another. I also found that in the workshop for graphic design I used both digital skills and hands on art together. I think by having these subjects together it will allow me to complete tasks to my best ability. From researching Graphic design and the careers available, it made me realise how useful it will be and even in my own work, hopefully going into teaching, the skills it will give me in a lot of different design ideas and ways of designing will hopefully help me in the future and give me more knowledge. Overall I think my best options are graphic design as well as fine art painting.
Offset talk
on Tara O’brien
From watching Tara’s talk I really like how she created her art around her own personal movement. From not getting enough representation of people with the same body shape as her own, as she described her self as a “fat lady” she wanted representation for all the other fat ladies who don’t see themselves in the media. However she talked upon not knowing her style, a problem I assume most new artists come into, personally I know I have not found my style. I was particularly interested in how she came to discover herself, she decided on making a portfolio on a style she had ventured in. I think the extremely smart part of this plan was that she used the platform that wasn’t representing her and people like her, to find herself. She asked the people of tumblr to send them their coping methods for how they handle their mental health. From this she made multiple drawings based on what people had said. I think this was really clever as she knew what she wanted her style to be after creating art of other people. The main thing that stuck out to me was what she spoke about in the end; she explained that she started to become worried in how her art looked to other people and other illustrators, yet she had to remind herself about what started her in the first place, creating art for people like her who were not represented, because she was not represented in the media and that she didn’t want others to feel like her, reminding her that the art work she was creating was not for other other people to judge, it was for her.
Game design
on For this I decided to just edit the game battle ships.
I drew out my board on Procreate. The board above is magnetic, on this board you place a magnetic counter on the squares where your opposing players battle ships is.
rather than losing a ship completely with no possible way on getting back, I decided to edit the rules and allow for you to win back your ship. The way in which you could win your ship back is if you get rid of their ships in one go.
for example, if my opposing player has a ship on D4, D5 and D6, I will place a counter on these squares on my magnetic board, if I predict this all in one go without getting it wrong and saying D3 or going too many squares over, I will be able to get one of my ships back and place it back on my board, giving me an advantage.
Remastered project
on For this project I am unfortunately experiencing some difficulties, my whole household has COVID except for me, meaning I am having to isolate away from them in my room and do not have access to any objects, props, materials, or space to complete this project. I got in contact with Pauline and she advised me just to do research; please see her email attached.
Whistler’s Mother by James McNeill Whistler
This painting was one that caught my eye in terms of how well it would work for this project. The first thing that made me consider this image was the plain wall behind her, decorated with a simple framed photo and a curtain. In terms of recreating this, the background would not be difficult to recreate. I was then interested in how she was sitting. By looking side on, it allows for a very simple expression and pose, she isn’t doing anything with her face and creates a simply way of remastering a great painting. The painting itself is assumed to be the artists mother which has been referred to in pop culture many times. The painting is very interesting. By having the image formed by many straight lines, it becomes interesting as to why the woman is in a reclined position and brings in many questions. The painting work appears very soft, and the contrast between light and dark is very subtle but allows the woman to stand out and become the main focus of the painted without being too obvious. Overall I really like the painting and appreciate how well this would work for the remastered project.
Madame X by John Singer Sargent
This painting I thought would work really well for the task due to the simplicity of the painting. Personally, I have the background and the dress in order to recreate this, meaning it would be easy for me to take on this task. The painting itself was create by John Singer Sargent who wanted to kick start his career with this painting. However the results of this painting were not all positive. The low-cut dress caused unease in society when the painting was released in an exhibition. The opinions were so strong it caused the model Virginie Gautreau to retire from society. Sargent repainted portions of her dress in order to fix some of the issues people had with the painting. I really like the painting, I am unsure if this is the one with touch ups to the dress or if it is the original however I like the evident contrast within the painting. The browns that surround the woman allow the dress to stand out, without putting it against a white background, while the paleness of the model allow her to take up most of the viewers attention and makes it a very strong piece and one that will be easy to remaster.
Gari Melchers
I felt like this painting would be really good to use for this project. The front on view of the woman only framing her from the waist up shows her to be the main focus of the painting. The background of this is plain, meaning when recreating it it would be simple as the woman takes up most of the frame. I really liked his painting as I feel like she is telling a story through her facial expression. Melchers created the image using really bright colours, giving her Rosie cheeks and a bright white wedding dress. Overall I think everything in this painting is useful for this task.
Graphic design research
on Peter Saville is said to be the most famous record cover designers. Everything that Saville works on “evinces a rare degree of rigour” as well as a lot of experimentation.
From looking at his work, they all show different techniques and shapes, making every one unique in their own way. For example when looking the cover below, it shows a repeated pattern over the the front of the design. Despite the cover being somewhat plain, the vibrant colours used bring your attention to the artwork without being too in your face.
In contrast to this cover, another one that stands out to me shows the silhouette of two people and a lot of different colours that create the shape of their bodies. I think his work is really interesting in all aspects as it shows the same style but repeated in very different ways in how he uses colour, figures and positions on the album for it to look different.
