photoshoot

1. What did you do?

Last lesson we looked at the works of other artists for inspiration and reference. We took some notes on what's notable in their photos and applied them to our own work. We also discussed what each of us had to bring.

2. How did you do it? 

We brought things from home, mainly make-up related objects, and arranged them into a nice composition.

3. What went well? We arranged the objects nicely, so I think the composition looks good. The use of focus is good as well.

4. What could you improve? 

We could've brought more objects. 

I’m looking at three artists for this analysis, Georgina Luck, Natso Saki and Matt Midgley.

First off, the major thing all three have in common is that they’re working as freelance illustrators, marking artwork for magazines, book covers, posters and packaging. Freelancing, while not being as stable as a full-time job, gives artists more freedom and that’s why they prefer it. However, they still have exhibitions in various galleries, to showcase their work and attract potential clients.

They all like using watercolor, Georgina Luck and Matthew Midgley working almost solely in ink and watercolor. The two have a thin, loose but still accurate line drawing as a base, and washes of watercolor on top. Georgina, compared to Matthew, uses vibrant colors in her illustrations. The colors in most of her drawings bleed out of the lines, but that’s definitely not to be seen as a flaw, more like a part of her style. Matthew Midgley uses less saturated colors, making his drawings appear a little more realistic. Both like to have a little typography in their artwork, be it the brand name of the object they’re drawing, or just some annotations on the side.

 Natso Saki has less text in her illustrations, but has a much wider variety of subject matter, color and materials. She also uses watercolor less, relying instead on collage and ink. When she does use watercolor, it’s usually to cover big areas with a single color. She doesn’t focus on food and everyday objects unlike the previous two artists, and instead prefers big scale illustrations of urban places with lots of detail.

The three do have a lot in common, such as the materials they use and what their work is used for, but they also have their own unique styles.

I like all of the artists, especially Georgina Luck. I think the saturated colors she uses are nice and contribute to her style. They will definitely look good on a magazine page, and the splashes will draw attention. As bad as it sounds, it makes me wonder how much money she makes off those illustrations.

checklist

WEEK ONE
Setting up a Blog

WEEK TWO
Blogging: Uploading hand drawn type 

WEEK THREE
Watercolour Typography 
M&M Paris Typography 
Kinetic Typography 

WEEK FOUR
Experimental Type: Furry Font/Pin & Thread
Experimental Type: Object Typography/Vladimir Koncar 
Experimental Type: Food Fonts/Ed Rushca 

WEEK FIVE

Oscar Wilson/Sarah King Analysis

Hand Drawn Calligram  (to post)

Digital Calligram

WEEK SIX
Fontstruction
Si Scott 
Bleaching & Heat Transfer (haven't done bleaching; heat transfer to upload) 

WEEK SEVEN

Reviewing Experiments 

Mind Map & Initial Ideas 

WEEK EIGHT
Moodboard
Developing ideas 

WEEK NINE
Printing t-shirt 
Photoshoot 
Final evaluation 

review 2

1. Write an explanation of your brief: What did you have to do? How did you come up with the ideas for this project?

For the project we had to make a t-shirt design, using the techniques we've learned so far. To come up with ideas I looked through the typography we did in the last couple of months. I made a lot of different t-shirt examples as well so I can pick the best one in the end.

2. Write about the creative 'journey' of the project: How did you project and ideas evolve from start to finish through experimentation and research?

I made a lot of experiments. Firstly, I drew a sketch in the sketchbook to set the composition. After that I took a photo and tested various techniques in photoshop. I looked at some t-shirts online for inspiration and reference. 

Because of the experimentation the design changed, becoming more about the text than the image. 

3. Who inspired your final outcomes? You MUST talk about who has inspired your work, and include images and links of/to them! 

The character on the design is Bane from The Dark Knight Rises. I looked at some t-shirts of him and there's a couple that inspired me:

Of the artists I've researched, Oscar Wilson inspired me the most. He has a variety of calligrams and I've done several experiments inspired by his work: 

4. What saying or expression did you use? What technique did you use? Was there a link between your materials and the words used? What was it?

All of the text on the design is quotes from the movie ( The Dark Knight ). I used photoshop to make it, and 5-6 custom fonts (eg. Gotham Lullaby, Assassin's Dub, Redux, Distorted and Scratchy)  There was a link between the words and the fonts I used, for example, words like "gotham" "blood" "the devil" were in a gothic font (Gothic Lullaby), and coloured in red. Other key words like "reckoning" and "the league" are in a bigger, thicker font (Distorted and Scratchy), also coloured in red.  

5. What do you think you have done well? What has worked? Are you happy with your final outcome?

I'm quite happy with the final outcome, I think the different fonts work well. Even though the palette is limited it fits the character and it doesn't get too cluttered.

6. What do you think you could have improved in your final outcome? There will be something - nobody is perfect!

I could've added more colours, and added more smaller text. The silhouette could be clearer, but the character himself doesn't have that much of a defining silhouette. 

7. Conclusion: Overall how did you find the project? Would you like to complete more typographic work in the future?

I haven't experimented with typography before, so this was definitely new. I liked the amount of freedom we were given because I like to choose my own topics into the project. It makes things like research and analysis more enjoyable. I would be interested in doing more typography, but perhaps not calligrams. 

t-shirt

Final outcome of the t-shirt. Done with heat transfer. The picture to the left is the final design. First one to the right is how it came out on the t-shirt. Below it is a close-up.

T-shirt development

1. T-shirt ideas

6 different initial ideas for the t-shirt. Most of the prints are pictures I've done through the year (1, 2, 3, 5). I was still thinking of the different techniques I could use. For example, the 4th one is meant for spray paint, 3rd for bleaching and most of the others for heat transfer. I ended up using the heat transfer, and making something a bit different to what we've done up till now.

2. Mood Board

Mood board for the image. I used a couple of the fonts I initially picked (1). I initially intended to use a cooler palette with more blues (3) but ended up using reds. Link to the separate mood board post.

3. Example image

First example image I made in photoshop. I ended up changing it because in the end the picture would be more visible than the typography. I still like it though, might use the same technique later on for something else.

4. Final image

1. Original image from google. As the whole picture will be covered in text, I was looking for something with a clear silhouette and a recognizable pose. There are some snowflakes in the foreground but they're not that noticable.

2. Separating the character from the background, done with pen tool in photoshop. The resolution is pretty small but there are still some details. For example, I made sure the folds were cut out properly and smudged the fur parts of the jacket to make it look more realistic. I also did some color correction. Though the original image had already been retouched, I made the colors warmer and darkened some places (eg. his hands) to keep the viewers eye on the upper body.

3. To focus on the text/typography I made the image completely black for this part. These are Bane's quotes from the movie (The Dark Knight Rises). Different words are emphasized through different fonts, size and color. I used about 5 different fonts, main ones being Gotham Lullaby, Assassin's Dub, Redux and Distorted and Scratchy. There was a link between the words and the fonts I used, for example, words like "gotham" "blood" "the devil" were in a gothic font (Gothic Lullaby), and colored in red. Other key words like "reckoning" and "the league" are in a bigger, thicker font (Distorted and Scratchy), also colored in red.  

4. Final image, with the colored words and image in the background. I made the picture a bit darker so the text stands out more.

Kinetic typography, inspired by Heebok Lee and done by following a tutorial.

testing t shirt designs

ideas for shirts

Mood board for t-shirt

1. First cut out of Bane. Tested coloring, filters and a couple of fonts on this one. I ended up using  the fonts, but changed the image. I needed something with a clearer silhouette.
2.  4 T-shirt examples I found for inspiration, all of the same character.
3. Swatches. Ended up using reds instead of blues.

Hand-made font I made on the iPad
very fun and quick process, the "O"'s and the "Q"'s have little feathers