Primary research Trip to Newcastle

The week that we received our blog list we also got a list of recommended places to go to do some research and get some inspiration. The list included a few different places that were in the Newcastle/Gateshead area so i decided to ask my class mate Glenn if he wanted to go on a few trips to a few of these places to see what inspiration we could get from them.

The first place that we decided to go to was the baltic. I hadn't been to look around this art gallery before so i had an open mind before i got there. I was pretty impressed by the exhibition that was on the top floor as it was very bright and fun to look at. The exhibition showed Thomas Bayrle's pieces, It was amazing to see because Brayrle was a pioneer of pop art. His art is all very bold and mainly focusses around repeated patterns. all of his work looked really graphic and computer generated witch was strange as it was all created in the mid 1960's and i don't think that the computer software that would enable anyone to make this art was even around back then. it made me appreciate how much easier it is now to create digitally rendered art.

The Baltic art gallery Gateshead

Thomas Bayrle exhibition 

We then decided to go to wondering man comic shop over the river in Newcastle. We got recommended to go here because one of the narrative briefs was set by Nobrow  and they have a no brow section in thier shop. It was a really nice little shop with some great comics and an independent press section that enabled artists and illustrators to create and sell their own books and zines, It was lovely to look through. As i chose to do the no brow brief for my narrative brief i decided to buy one of their magazines to look through for ideas and inspiration. I will post a separate post on the pieces that have gave me ideas and inspired me from this magazine. One other really nice thing about this shop was that they have a free comic style news paper full of local artists comic strips that they have made based on the subject of science.

me in the comic shop at the Nobrow section

The Nobrow magazine that i got

Logo of the comic shop

Free comic newspaper

The final place that we decided to go was the Biscuit Factory it was really nice and interesting to look at all of the art work and see how much it was selling for. I liked some of the pieces more than others but overall everything in there was lovely. i saw a huge painting of a bear that i really loved but it was for sale at £500 (i think) so i couldn't afford it. When i went down to the gift shop i found a book called 'Norris the bear who shared' by Catherine Ryner that the painting was from for only £5.99 so i got that instead. It was a children's book but i didn't mind as they are so much more pretty to look at and i love the simple happy stories that they often have.

overall it was a really good trip and i saw a lot of great things to give me inspiration for my narrative brief. Hopefully the things and information that i collected on this trip will help me create my art work for the module.

Narrative illustration

i finally decided that i wanted to work on the Nobrow brief. This entailed creating my own narrative based on the word 'exclusion'.  The idea is to create a zine/comic strip style of story. I liked the idea of this brief as it gave me more freedom for creativity. I did look at a few other book options but i couldn't really find a book that i was hugely enthused by. When i read the Nobrow brief i got really exited about it so i decided that was the right narrative for me. I also think it will be good for me to choose this brief because i feel like it will be more of a challenge for me doing something completely different from what i have done before. The three colour palette is also a new venture and challenge for me to face and i am looking forward to trying it out.

I had to think of a story outline before i could continue on with the character development so i thought of what comes to mind when i think about the word exclusion. The main thing that comes to my mind is feeling left out or different to everyone else. I decided to take this simple concept and turn it into a story. The story is about a pony at a unicorn school that gets left out because it doesn't have a horn. I decided that the story would have a happy, funny ending where the pony gets an ice cream horn and it then feels accepted at school.

The next step that i am going to take is to research Nobrow styles and artists. I will also do some research on the things in my story to help me get a better understanding of how everything will look.

The book of drawings: Binding disaster

Binding the book was a bit of a disaster and proved to be the hardest challenge i have had within this project, I think a few different things contributed to this. One issue that i has was making a book with joints so i could include a pop up page. This ruled out a lot of easy binding techniques so i had to think of a way to bind it. I decided that it would work folding the book in the style of a zine but using a larger sheet of paper. in the end i got a A1 sheet of watercolour paper and folded it into the right shape. I thought this would have worked because it was a pretty simple technique but the paper turned out to be too bulky and it looked a bit messy at the edges. 

I then had to think of how to fix it to make it look better. I tried scanning the images in and printing them off on A4 paper then sowing them together. This idea didn't work because a lot of the colours got lost, i spent a week trying to get the colour and computer settings right but i just couldn't seem to do it. Every colour setting that i tried seemed to make everything grey and murky as of there was a layer of fog over it. I think if i was to do this id need a longer time to learn how to use colour settings properly.

i had to completely re think how i was going to bind it last minuet as nothing that i tried worked. i decoded to use the original one that i painted the images onto. I cut off the edges to try and get them as straight as possible and a sowed all around the pages so they all joined together. Although i cut all of the edges perfectly correct when i sowed them up they didn't line up. i think the pages look nice when they are open the only issue is when the book is closed as all of the edges aren't the same. 

Although i am pleased with how all of the drawings look, i am pretty disappointed with how the binding turned out as it didn't line up properly and it looked a bit messy. I just don't think i had the practical skills or experience in binding a book and i had a bit of a panic and i had to make do with what i had. This has been a learning experience for me because i finished everything in time it was just the binding and presentation of the book that i had a problem with. I have learnt for the future to not do a pop up style book as it is quite difficult and think through a binding technique that will work better and look neater.  

The book of drawings: Making the images

Before i started to make the images i had a long think about what i wanted to use to paint the images with. In the end i decided to go with Goahe paint. Because the paint that i decided to use was rather waterey i had to decide on a suitable paper that wouldn't warp too much when wet. In the end i went with watercolour paper. i knew what images i wanted to have on each page and because i didn't want my images to have an outline i just painted them straight on the paper. Here are my images  ( I scanned them in and the colours became washed out )

front cover

first and second page: plant girl

third and fourth page: biscuit mountain pop up page

fifth and sixth pages: First conversation and apple fight (there will be people sitting on the steps in the final book.)

I then had to decide how i wanted to bind my book and include a pop up page. After a while summing up all of the options i decided to scan all of the images into indesign and print the book onto card. I will then stitch the book but leave a space in the middle of the spine that will allow me to create my pop up page. 

Digital manipulation Fourth and fifth images

For my final two images in the digital manipulation module i decided to stick with the same technique as the first two collage style images that i had perviously created. I decided that they would work well as a set, i used the same techniques to create them starting with a quick sketch and building the image up in photoshop with colours and textures. I used quite restricted colour pallets on these two images and i think it works and sets the mood of the day as it was a dark and dreary day. Although the colours for these images worked i think if i was to create these images again i would probably change them as i think there is too much brown being used. Overall i am satisfied with how the images turned out. Below are my final two images 

Artist research: Giovana Medeiros

I was searching tumblr to see if i could find any illustrators that inspired me. I came across Giovana Medeiros. The thing that i like about her drawings is the cute fun style that they have. I like all of the different textures that they have, i also love the colour palettes that the illustrator uses. 

Artist research: Neesha Hudson

I was searching for illustrators on pintrest i came across an illustrator called Neesha Hudson. The soft pretty colours is what first attracted me to her illustrations. She outlines in pencil or coloured pencil then uses ink washes and water colours for a lot of her illustrations. I like the washed out pastel colours