lecture 9 The Production of Graphic Work

The History of Production

There have been a number of key developments throughout the history of graphic image, but the ten which i find have the main focus of them all are;

• The invention of paper in China by Ts'ai Lun,
• Diamond Sutra, first printed book, in China,
• First American press established by Stephen Daye at Harvard College,
• The first paperback books produced by Tauchnitz Verlag, Germany,
• The first colour photograph by Clerk Maxwell,
• The invention of both the Linograph machine by Ottmar Mergenthaler and the Monograph machine by Tolbert Lanston,
• Nearer the present the Adobe systems were founded,
• The CD-ROM was invented Parke Lightbrown creates a program that runs from a PC based compact disc,
• The first www web browser was invented by NCSA,
• Internet explorer was released by Microsoft.

I find these key points in history more significant than the rest as they are innovations in technology and the time, they made way for other similar projects and inventions, they were the starting points for today’s graphic work.
Without these key moments in our history we would be living in a different world, or maybe someone else would have stumbled upon these important inventions and things would have turned out the same.




Neville Brody is my favorite expert becasue he is revolutionairy and conventional at the same time. he has been in art for about four decades and has worked with a number of people not just artists but musicians and publishers.
He has designed album covers for musical artists and bands from the 80s and 90s and has worked with magazines such as The Face and The Arena as well as newspapers like The Times, The Observer and The Gardian.
His early work was heavly influenced by Punk Rock which was taking over when he was younger, some people said his work was uncommercial for the time and was missunderstood, but he carried on with the concepts he had and got into pop art and Dadiism.
Later on in his carreer and to the present he is one of the co-founders of the Fontsworks in London and has designed a few notable fonts for them, one of which was used for The Times newspaper.
The thing i find the most interesting though is that he can use what he has and put it all together without coiming up with a image that doesnt work or a terrible idea, a good example of the good ideas he had was with the Fuse project which was an influencial fusion between Magazine design Graphic design and Typeface design, and thats the reason i think he is the best expert.

lecture 7

Development of Creative Thought and Structure

Over Coming Mindsets

Mindset is a set of assumptions, methods or notations held by one or more people, which become incentives for people to carry on with these methods. Overcoming these mindsets is a deliberate thinking strategy to free ones self from everyday problem solving by conventional methods and using unorthodox methods and getting out of the habit of retaining one strategy (finding a unique way to answer a question).



A common concept of thinking out of the box

 By sticking to the same routine and using the same methods to tackle a problem, even if these methods have a way of working, will lack the element of surprise to the job at hand.
There is a three step process to overcoming mindsets -
Think of metaphorical rules to break to analyse their characteristics. -
Find ways to challenge or change the rules. -
Be playful and avoid assumptions.-

A good example of Breaking the rules and doing something unorthodox to solve a problem would be Christopher Niemann who works with illustration techniques and graphic art techniques, and looks at various problems in different ways such as he looked at the relationship between toothpaste and the toothbrush which i thought was quite unique and had an interesting humour to it.


What i like about all his work is that it has humour to it and isn't too serious, i also like how he tackles problems in unique ways. I also think that by looking at a problem in different ways and not just settling for the first idea and making sure there isn`t any other ideas which could be vital and have a more creative feel.


Managing a Creative Environment

Being creative isn't just about the work you do and the ideas you have and how you create work, there is a good slice of the creative experience which consists of having a good working environment to create work and get inspiration from, such as collections you may have or others work decorating your environment to culture and personal interests. The workspace can be a big assist when creating work and in the production of ideas.




Collecting in whatever form can have a good and influential impact on your work, it involves a process of appreciation which the artist is usually very passionate about, for me it would be graphic novels as i find them interesting going from scene to scene through the story like a stop frame animation on paper.





Different people have different ideas when it comes to a creative environment as some people don't find it easier to work with a mess or a cluttered work area, they prefer to have somewhere to produce their art and somewhere to store their art so there rooms don't look messy and their work and tools aren't scattered and hard to find.
Where as other artist find it easier to work with their previous work around the, to give them inspiration, along with others work and their interests and related subjects to enhance their work and keep them on track.
For me i like a clean and tidyish workspace to produce work, it works but i haven't ever tried and had the space to create a workspace made of things i like and my collections, maybe in the future when i have my own studio or workspace i can decorate it to enhance my creative thinking and influence my creative process.

Lecture 5 Moving Image

Identify 3 Act Structure in a Recent Film

Toy Story 3 Three Act Structure

At the beginging of Toy Story 3 (act 1) the characters (toys) are looking to find a way for them to become useful again and played with, and they end up being bagged, ready for the attic as their owner Andy who is the main human character throughout the film is going off to college and doesnt need toys anymore. The ending of act 1 is when they are about to be put up in the attic, they end up being put in the garbage, escaping the bin bag and ending up on their way to a day care centre for children as they are being donated.

This is the begining of act 2 where the story plays out in the daycare centre, with the toys being welcomed and all seems good, untill they find out that the leader of the toys at the daycare is using them for the younger children who are rough with the toys unlike the older children who are in a seperate room. So the toys embark on an adventure to escape the daycare prison and be reunited with their owner Andy.

 Along the way though they are thwarted by the other toys who dont want them to leave, leading to the main toys and the evil toy leader being taken to the trash dump where they fight against machines and try to stay alive, defeating the leader and managing to escape the trash dump and returning home to Andy. this is where act 3 starts as the toys are boxed up ready for the move but the toys find an alternative to being put in the attic where they can have fun and be played with. so they are taken to a little girl whos mum knows Andys mum, and gives the toys to her with a heart felt goodbye to his toys who have been with him throughout his early life and moves on with his leaving the toys to get used by the little girl.

lecture 6 Production

Production and Outcomes, Influences and Reactions

Interpretation - How do illustrators amplify the meaning within a message? most would say that illustrators use the ideas and spirit of their time to decipher and interpreter message's and content.

A good example of illustrators using their time is when reflecting their time and era into their work would be Little Red Riding Hood and the wolf, where the wolf is in grandmas bed dresses as grandma, this is quite an iconic scene and has been used throughout the decades.

this has been drawn by many different creative and has been used in other areas like photography and graphic design.

All these representations of the same scene are all completely different as they have small changes to make them coherent to the right time. the older looking illustrations can easily be places in the 19th and early 20th century as they have a real feel about them, they look as though they have been drawn first hand and to scale to make the scene come to life, while the more colourful looking images can be placed in the late 20th and 21st century as they are smooth and represent cartoons for either children or just as a stand alone illustration.
As i said before though these concepts have been used in other medias across the creative study areas.





Delivery (clients and illustrators)

What are the platforms which illustrators use for appropriate formats and context for their work?
Choosing from a selection of platforms, illustrators are for appropriate uses bringing relevance to the topic via the creative work.

There are a number of platforms in which an illustrator is placed and selected from regarding their work style, such as Editorial which would involve magazines, journals, etc. Publishing which involves printed media including, books, posters, etc. Online animation and comic strips. Advertising and Branding which could be anything in all platforms. Textiles and Fashion, fabric design, wallpapers, etc. And Installation and Interventions which include retail and architecture.

Following on from the previous principle i would like to explore the Advertising and Branding which i find the most interesting as all the different medias can criss cross and use the same ideas with different outcomes, such as illustrations which can be interprited to become a photograph for a fashion shoot or a theme for a magazine article, it could even become a theme for an advertising brand for a company who would use it to sell their product. an example of this would be again like the previous principle Little Red Riding Hood which has been used for a number of different formats and media styles.

Here is an image which is a photographic representation of Red Riding Hood which has been used for an editorial concept and theme to advertise and promote the magazine Vogue.

I think this has been used to create a cover full of depth and meaning which can be interprited as the viewer or reader sees it, untill they read the article to find out what the image is there for.

Lecture 4 RVJ

Reflective Visual Journal


The RVJ is an indispensable tool for visual creativeness, a portable lab for all developing thinking, a good way of connecting hand and brain working with a range of materials and approaches. The main uses are to Collect, Organise, Develop, Edit, Refine and Evaluate.

Drawing gives you a physical connection to the work you are doing while giving you a good base to work through ideas and develop your thinking. instead of thinking of ideas and trying to remember them later on you can just write down and sketch out what you are thinking giving you both a description of the idea and a visual diagram to look and encourage more ideas for development. For me drawing through my ideas is quite engaging and gives me a good start on what to do next or where to go next with my ideas.
Leonardo Da Vinci had a good idea of thinking on the page so to speak, with diagrams of his machines which he drew he would draw them on a sheet of paper when he thought of his ideas. This is a good way of expressing your ideas through drawings.
When drawing most people will shun their work and wont use half of the ideas they come up with as our work is limited by our own self consciousness, but this is letting your inner critic take over and have judgement over your work instead of letting yourself flow and produce ideas out of your creativeness, drawing isn’t just about putting pen to paper, there is a range of materials to use when creating art.

random sketchbook drawings


Reflection
When it comes to reflecting on your work, the RVJ is a good workspace for visual thinking and for creative processing. The RVJ challenges the mind, it engages you with questions, it evaluates your work, challenges your work and compares it with previous work, while provides contrast and organising.
While reflecting on your work your main focus is too look through your book and write about what you did, how well you did it, does it work, why you chose to do that and could it be better.
What you need most is good visual language and to understand your work, to annotate your work is the most important as without annotation images and sketches can be boring and can pass as just an image or a random sketch with no meaning or purpose. there needs to be linking of images and description to give a good focus point and meaning to all the images.

reflection image from google

lecture 3

Tone of Voice

Web capture from Virgin at Home

Have words and images got a tone of voice? For me i would say yes as words can have different meanings and can be portrayed in different lights. it can also be seen as a wordless message if there is an image involved because images can be seen as something else when looking closer into the image and finding alternate meanings, which brings the relevance of the image to the front. Tone can also be made clear by colour, having bright colours to highlight certain things and dark colours to draw the eye.

This website uses soft bright colours to give a calm feeling and not to scare off the viewer with harsh colours.

Katy Perry on the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine!

Zac Efron on the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine

For most women the first thing they will look at is the left hand cover of Zac Efron, and for men they will look at the right cover of Katy Perry both for obvious reasons. This is Visual Hierarchy, where the image draws you first, this is what magazine publishers have to decide on when choosing the cover, who will it appeal to most depending on the article, what do we want the reader to look at first.
This is also used in everyday life, in situations such as danger signs which are usually red to warn and inform. Other examples of this are websites where contrast is essential to the design of the pages in order to stand out and attract the viewers and readers. Graphic designers create visual hierarchy using size, color, contrast, texture, shape, position, and orientation.
what I like about this is that you can see the target market as soon as you set your eyes on the pictures and colour.
Targeting certain markets requires the designer to know how to use tone of voice to attract their viewers and not turn them away! For when you come certain things you will get an initial response to that object/image, and decide on that whether to continue in reading/viewing.

Visual Hierarchy
What do you see or read first? This is used in page design to help the viewer process information. Visual Hierarchy is the order that most people will see and identify objects.

Final Photographic Pieces for One Week Project

This is my original photograph for my Photography and Moving Image project which i took of the subway. It didnt turn out the way i wanted but i thought it was a perfect picture of my idea of Birmingham as i couldnt quite pin point what that was, so made it a bit of a mystery. 

With this i used the levels function to make the image darker, and give it more contrast.

I used the Hue feature with this image to give it more colour.

And with this i used the Saturation mode to take away the colour and make it look more like a memory.