Getting in touch with illustrators is still a daunting prospect. Not because I'm short of people I would love to be able to talk to; I have a lovely long list of designers that I have been collecting (and continuously adding to) for that very purpose. But I never know exactly how to word my emails-am I being too grovelly? Is flattery the best way? Which people appreciate formality rather than informality? I just want to get across the fact that I am genuinely interested in their work and what they have to say. I try and imagine the kind of message I would like to receive (in my fantasy where I am a successful artist and a student would seek advice and inspiration from me). There are SO many talented people out there. At the moment I am mainly using my tumblr blog to spot artists' work that has been reblogged-this comes in very handy! I have been made aware of so many artists I probably wouldn't otherwise have noticed.
Wednesday, 14 March 2012
Wednesday, 7 March 2012
A Sudden Improvement
Today's plan is to carry on with as much drawing as possible. Yesterday I sat myself down and did some drawing with Blackadder in the background and managed to do some work I was actually proud of. I hope I can continue to feel 'in the zone' this morning.
My most recent drawing in progress.
3b pencil and fine line pen.
Sunday, 4 March 2012
Struggling!
Since coming home to York, I've been trying to keep up with the work I am currently falling behind on. But, frustratingly, I can't seem to be able to relax enough to draw as well as I normally do. I'm trying to finish some drawings of Natalie Portman, but I can't get her face quite right at the moment. And I'm probably worrying about being far too meticulous, but I want it to look right. I've already got the drawing I am so happy with, and feel actually looks like her, and now I want all the other ones to follow suit...which is admittedly easier said than done.
Study of Nina in progress. Pure graphite pencil and uni-ball pen.
Tuesday, 28 February 2012
Monday, 27 February 2012
Always carry a notebook!
I tend to take a little notebook or diary with me everywhere I go. I have a collection of them, filled up with writing/drawing that I keep and get out to look back on...it reminds me how much I've grown and changed, and of thoughts and feelings that might otherwise be lost. As well as being helpful on a personal level, they can be very useful for jogging ideas for projects- playful little drawings can easily inspire something that may not come about when approached in a less relaxed way. It's always interesting when other people contribute too. To me, they're pretty essential, and I would recommend it to everyone. That is, if you can get past the potential discomfort in being viewed as massively pretentious sitting with your head buried in a notebook out in public. But most people aren't so judgemental these days!
Thursday, 23 February 2012
Cancelled photo session.
Last night I stayed up late trying desperately to pull my work together in time for it to be photographed in the studio today, but unfortunately I had to accept defeat, so today I will be going in to college to cancel my session. My work motivation has been stunted by an upsetting weekend...it's a shame I seem to have gained my focus back that little bit too late. However, the deadline is still a little while away, so I will continue my sculpture and the drawings to go on it over the weekend, then do my best to photograph it nicely myself. The college deadline and competition deadline is different (the competition doesn't close until 9th March, so hopefully I might even have time to work with the photography department before then, but I'm not getting my hopes up too high.
Here is how the wire sculpture was looking yesterday:
After posting the above photo on my Tumblr blog, I was flattered to get it reblogged and compared to Alexander Calder!
Saturday, 18 February 2012
Pulled apart By Horses!!
Last night was amazing! The show opened with The Computers, who I think I enjoyed just as much if not even more than P.A.B.H! Managed to get a few pictures of them, then once P.A.B.H started playing, my bag broke. The strap got ripped off so I had to go and leave all my things in the cloakroom, then back to the giant mosh-pit that filled the main area of the room. The last time I went to a gig this rowdy I had a handy perch on some stairs just at the edge, but this time I got hauled around, kicked in the head, hair pulled….etc. Safe to say I’ve never been that exhausted by a gig before, or looked as horrendous afterwards. So much fun though!
A little snippet of The Computers.
Pulled Apart By Horses performing 'Wolf Hand'.
Wednesday, 15 February 2012
You'd think I'd be getting sick of her face by now...
another peek into my sketchbook...
The first page of my sketchbook....just doodling really, usually the best way to notice a few interesting ideas for me.
A crude plan of the idea I'm going ahead with.
A time-consuming struggle to get her face perfectly right. I was so happy with the bottom half of this sketch!
My most successful drawing so far plus colour and transfer experiments.
Absorbed by Shrigley...
It's been a disgraceful amount of time since I last posted anything, in my opinion.
Today is an essay day- I've had a tutorial and am currently working on an essay with the title:
What have been the connections between fine art and design? Choose one specific decade and the design / designers must relate to your own pathway area and link their work/s to relevant post-modern ideas and theories.
I've chosen to look at Shrigley because he fits perfectly in to the brief, and I'm a bit of a fan already!
When my essay is done I will post it, but for now, here is a wonderfully articulated bit of writing from the introduction of WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING? The essential David Shrigley:
Shrigley's maps and plans reveal an endemic predisposition on our own part to mislabelling: we do not know the names of our own parts, let alone the parts of anything else...
To quibble over whether Shrigley is a 'fine artist' or a cartoonist is just that: quibbling. He is, perhaps, neither-rather he is the maker of meta-textual chapbooks that simultaneously drag us back to a pre-literate past and flog us forward towards an unutterable future.
Sunday, 5 February 2012
Little White Lies brief progression
I now have an idea that I am happy with, and is in the early stages of development.
Initially I was reluctant to go ahead with it as it will be a 3d structure again, similar to what I made for my Totem. I was worried that this might be inappropriate for the brief, as it strays quite far away from how a typical portrait would look, and is definitely very different from the examples of covers on previous issues of the magazine. However, after I little encouragement from my tutor, I've decided to go ahead with this plan, in the hope that they might take a shine to something a little bit different!
So, like my Totem, I will be creating a structure; this time in the shape of a swan, with imagery (of Nina) on paper sewn onto it. Here was how the idea looked roughly in my head when it first came to life:
So far I've been putting off beginning making the swan, partly because it seems like a daunting task at the moment (an essay on postmodernism needs some serious attention), and partly because I'm not sure how big to make it. My tutor also mentioned a simple way of making it easy to fit the right scale when I'm using 3d- make a frame the exact size of the required dimensions (or to the right proportions) to fit things into so that when I photograph the work it should be easy to fit to the Little White Lies cover template.
I've been continuing some studies of Nina, mostly using film stills, which has reminded me of how much I enjoyed doing studies of Amelie screen shots last year, using watercolour and ink.
Amelie screen shot studies.
Black Swan screen shot studies.
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