Writing with ketchup

This was just a quick experiment on writing with ketchup. I wrote on plates to reference the idea of beautifully painted crockery. 

The first one, 'ugh', didn't really turn out well because a) it was the end of a bottle and just splatted everywhere and b) the pattern on the plate sort of distracts from it. So for my second attempt I chose to use a less patterned plate and a new bottle of ketchup. It came out a little better but ketchup is still really hard to control! I kind of like the effect. It's kind of like a play on ceramic design and playing with your food. It's also a very every day, iconic kind of material.

Writing with sugar

Inspired by the work of Stephen Carley, on Friday afternoon I decided to try drawing with sugar. I felt this would be good for my project as it's an everyday material. I used PVA glue to stick the sugar in place.

You can't really see it very clearly here but I think it worked quite well on some of the backgrounds. I like how delicate and subtle it looks. To follow on from this I'd like to try using different fonts and incorporating it somehow into my previous work.

I also did some writing with orange peel. Although it was an interesting material it doesn't have such a good visual effect as sugar.

 

Typography workshop

Today I was experimenting with creating lettering in a variety of ways and styles. Here's what I got up to.

This was using black ink and a thick brush. I really like how it turned out because it looks quite professional. I don't think the layout is very interesting though. That's something I wanted to work on later on.

Again the layout of this one was hardly inspiring. So for the next image I concentrated hard on trying to reflect the feeling of the words through the way I set them out on the page.

I wanted the 'boring' to kind of trail off to reflect loosing interest. Then I wanted to fit the word 'dull' in with it to connect them and make the image flow. I think this works well and is much more interesting and coherent than the last two images.

I then cut letters out of collage material. I really like the combination of the cut outs and the negative shapes left behind. This is something I'll bear in mind during development.

Then I scratched into paper using scissors and rubbed shoe polish over the top to reveal the message. I really think this works well with my project as it involves every day materials. This helps to reflect and strengthen the theme.

Then we did some left hand drawing and spraying it with water. I like how there is a lot of elements on the page.

Stefan Sagmeister Graphic Design

For two weeks we are going to be exploring 2D design. There are four disciplines which are Illustration, Graphic Design, Textile Design and Animation. We have been asked to research the work of some artists and designers. Stefan Sagmeister is the first one I researched.

 I like this piece because of the combination of text and image. In fact the image itself is used to create the text using the branches of the trees. I like that there is also a strong message behind the piece about not waiting for the future to be better but to seize the day. This works well as it seems to be an advert for a school of visual arts and it could make the viewer feel like they will be able to immediately improve their future by joining the art school. The way that the tree branches create the text could also catch the eye and appeal to creative people, which shows how it is meeting its target audience.
Although it is an advertisement it could also stand alone as a piece of artwork because the image has been very carefully considered. The message could also be interpreted in lots of different ways depending on the viewer.

 I think this image is interesting because of how Sagmeister has used the unconventional material of a flower to draw his text onto rather than something ordinary like paper. The contrast between the pristine whiteness and neatness of the first image and the wilting and destruction of the second creates a strong visual effect as well as meaning behind it. The first image on its own would seem to be romantic and because it has been been photographed, kept the same way forever, linking with the concept of 'always'. However in the second image the text has been destroyed by the wilting process and the flower is dieing. This gives an idea that actually there is no such thing as 'always' and that nothing lasts forever.


























I like how this piece also uses unconventional materials and the contrast of textures it makes, for example, the rough, brittle straw and the shiny, smooth horses. I also think the choice of colours is good because it gives a very strong look and atmosphere. Again this piece seems to link to the theme of 'always' not lasting forever, because the lettering is made of straw or hay, which the horses are coming towards, and if they were real, the text would soon be eaten and destroyed.

'Scavenger Hunt' Sketchbook Work

The Scavenger Hunt project involved collecting images in our sketchbook. I tried to use lots of different media to do this. It was good to be able to experiment with different things without worrying too much about neatness and perfection.

I don't really like how this page has ended up because I think it looks quite messy and I don't like how the colours work together. But I like how the project has made me experiment with different things to what I would normally do. I think I need to worry less about things looking bad/ not perfect and just concentrate on developing my art and trying to improve.

I think that this page has come out better because although things are still overlapping the composition looks less hectic. Using a narrower colour palette also helps it to look less clashing, and I think the lilac and yellow work well together. I think I'm sometimes wary of using a lot of colours together because it sometimes ends up looking tacky. This is something I want to improve on.