Life Drawing

We began by filling a page of 4 quick sketches of the model in different poses, ranging from 5 minutes to 10 minutes. I chose charcoal as my media as I feel it is much more affective when creating light and shadow, and you are able to use a rubber to go back on it to create lighter areas for a more realistic composition. I like the way the charcoal smudges across the page. I enjoyed this given task, as I was able to be sketchy with it as we were given small allotments of time. I feel as if some of my achievements were successful and other were not so successful. For example, because we were working on table, I soon realised that I was making the body too stretched as I was looking at the paper at an angle. I attempted to overcome this problem but propping up the paper and trying to make the legs longer and the torso shorter. Doing this task, I have learnt how to create sketchy, yet accurate drawings, this will help me later when I want to make accurate sketches in a small amount of time. 

I used a ruler to make this sketch, and we were given 20 minutes to do this one. Using a ruler was helpful as I could use it to hold up in front of me to measure the placement of body parts. I enjoy using a ruler in sketchy work as it gives a kind of cubic effect. I think the unsuccessful area of this work is the fact that the legs are slightly too short and some other areas of the work appear to be out of proportion. I found it difficult to place the figure and make it appear as if it was in the room and not floating, I attempted to draw the tables in the background but I tend to find this particular area of drawings in general hard to do. I found the shading fairly easy and there was a strong light source in the room. 

I enjoyed experimenting drawing from different poses and different angles of the body, as it widened the range of drawings.
















We also attempted making some fashion illustration sketches. I enjoyed doing this as we were able to exaggerate parts of the body to make the clothes stand out more. We could also exaggerate parts of the clothing for the same affect. I attempted this in charcoal again, and then noticed the permanent markers were more effective in this case. When I got home I also tried it using water colour paints and working from models in different magazines and in different clothing and poses. I feel this was quite successful and I am quite pleased with the end result.

Paper Fashion

By using the ideas I had on the previous day I designed a necklace made up of cut up cubes. On each face of the cube was a different material. One side was plain white, another was tin foil and another side was covered with a photocopy of one of Paul Virilio's bunker photos. This made the necklace appear more interesting, especially the reflective side. Below are some sketches I made of my designs, based on the developments I made in the previous day, making 3D designs onto magazine pages. Eventually I decided to make an accessory instead of a dress as it seemed more practical and more durable. In the above picture, we can see the method in which I made the triangles. Firstly I made a net of a cube, and then cut out squares of the photocopies and squares of the tin foil. The cubes I made varied between 6cm, 10cm and 3cm, therefore the size of the squares I cut for the faces varied. Each cube needed two squares of each, I then glued the squares onto the faces of the cube, and then cut the cubes into 4 different triangular piece using a small pair of scissors.

Once I finished making each of the cubes and cutting them out, I pinned them onto the mannequin in place. Then I stapled each of the triangles together and removed the pins. I then used ideas from the previous day like the string which made the piece more structural and held it in place. I made a choker out of the string and attached the corners of the triangles to the choker so it would be held in place better. I also made a string belt and attached the triangles from the back to it so it became even more secure. 

Here is a picture of the necklace when it is finished, on the mannequin. I wanted it to be oversized so one could almost wear it as a top. Here are also some modelling pictures of the model wearing them in different parts of the building with different lighting. When standing by the window, the tin foil faces reflect the light, making the necklace appear more modern and interesting. 

The necklace reflects the original picture I was working from as it is very structural, and by using string I was able to make the whole necklace stay in place. Similarly to this, the bunker pictures used rope and reinforced steel to hold up the buildings and to make them twice as strong so they were able to withhold shooting during the war. Therefore I feel my necklace is reminiscent of this as it is very durable and didn't break throughout the day when the model was wearing it. Although is this product was manufactured, I would make the string a lot stronger.

By editing these pictures into black and white, we are able to concentrate on the tonal appearance of the necklace is normal light, and we are able to tell which side is tin foil and it is reflective, and we are able to see the black and white photocopies of the bunker photography on some of the faces of the triangles.

Designing 3D Clothing on a 2D plane

Using our ideas from the previous work from our piece of art, we created 3D designs on magazine photos of models. I wanted to further explore the idea of angular, cubic shapes, which go against the human form, creating an exciting design. I wanted the designs to be large and statement. I used mainly black and white as well as cut out photocopies of Paul Virilio's Bunkers to use as a more textural section of the garments. The first picture, I used the photocopies of the bunker as well as a cube which has been cut into triangular shapes. The movement of the models body made it more difficult to shape the 3D pieces around her, but I am pleased with the end result as it shows a range of different materials, although they are all in black and white. I chose this model as her colours are very tonal and I thought the shoes and arm pieces went well with the design. I also felt that the simplicity of the design was complimented by the plain white background. 

This second design is still experimenting with the cubic ideas. I wanted to create a very structural dress which could be held up by itself. I also wanted it to be symmetrical as it is reminiscent of the bunker designs which I was originally working from and I also wanted it to appear very geometric, like the cube models I was also working from. Again, with this design I wanted it to be simple and therefore only in black and white. Later on, I actually coloured a section of the skirt in fluorescent pink to see what the bright colour would do to the composition as a whole and if it would make it more statement. I liked the end result and I am using this idea in the future to brighten up my end garment. 

This design was my first design, and it is the most similar to my original model due to the parallelograms projecting off the shoulders. I liked this design but I thought it may be too difficult to make into an actual dress as it would have no back and would be difficult to assemble, so I abandoned this idea, but still used the cubic shapes and black and white only.

This was my last design which I was less keen on as I wasn't sure about the top half, due to complications with where the arms or neck would go and the garment would not hug the figure properly and would have to simply rest on the body which wouldn't work. I had the same problem with the skirt as that was also not be able to fit around the body, but works well on a 2D plane.

Paper Garments

To create these garments to put on the mannequins, we chose our favourite piece of art, and by using a view finder, we created 3D models of that particular area of the painting. I chose Paul Virilio's Bunker Archeology, therefore my 3D model was very cubic and structural. Once we had experimented making different models, we chose our favourite and created 10 of the same model on a larger scale. I simplified my model each time as it was very difficult to make and therefore very time consuming to make 10 of them.  There was a wide selection of models throughout the class which meant each mannequin would look completely different, giving a variety of different ideas. We went around the class in pairs, dressing the mannequins with other peoples models, and other people did this with our models on our mannequins. Each pair left 4 words to describe their models, this acted as almost instructions on how we would create the designs. It was interesting to see what other people had come up with and how we chose to place the models differently to other people in a way which we thought looked nice. It was also interesting to see how other people had arranged our models on our mannequin and how this differed from how we did, it shows how peoples minds think differently, and inspired us further as it gave us more ideas on how we could improve our original design, using other peoples inputs. The models below had words such as 'bright' and 'dark'. We interpreted this as psychologically dark as there seems to be fire on the 3D model. We thought this acted as a good skirt.

On this (to the right) mannequin, we wanted to make the design very bold and expressive, we did this by projecting these tentacle-like pieces outwards from the centre of the body, creating an exciting and bold composition.

The instructional words for this piece included 'innocent', therefore we thought we could use the long strips of paper to create wings at the back and a modest neck piece to make the mannequin appear more angelic and innocent. 

To the right: this is what a pair interpreted our models and words (the words included 'bleak'). They have used one of the cubic models as a mask, which I found very interesting and I wouldn't have thought of this myself, and I became inspired and interested by the idea of someones identity being taken away as their face becomes more robotic looking.

This is another selection of models which we interpreted in our way. One of the pieces reminded us of a spinal chord so we decided to use this at the back of the dress for a more structural appearance.

On this piece, the models were very different to each other, so we felt we had to incorporate them both in a way that would allow them to compliment each other. We used the large folded pieces of paper as a statement skirt, and the smaller, more delicate flowers as a floral bralet which covered one shoulder completely.

To the right is our final design for our own models. We used the curled strips of paper for a flowing dress which stretched from one shoulder to the knee. At the back, we have used the cubic shapes to create a counterbalancing selection of shapes. The back looks as if it is part of a different dress, which we found interesting.

The Photoshoot

We began work in the studio, testing out different lighting techniques such as reflective sheets and flash as well as natural light from the windows. We worked with natural light first, and we each took it in turns modelling by the window and photographing each other. This was a good way to test out the lighting and the angle of the reflective sheet. We used the windows and the seats to come up with different poses and to experiment more. 

To the left is a picture taken of me during this particular indoor photo shoot, using the reflective sheet and natural light.

We then went on to use the artificial lighting techniques, using the camera flash, which was linked to another larger bulb, which would flash at the same time for a higher and stronger exposure. The more light there was on the face, the less blemishes appeared on the skin and the photos became more crisp. We experimented with the different lens options, blurring the background and focusing on the face only (lower 'f' setting) as well as high focus on the whole photo (higher 'f' setting). The fact that the walls were a plain white made it easier for us to find the right focal point and the white would reflect the flash, also leaving a clear shadow to form behind the figure, this gave a crisp outline to the figure and lit up each composition. I think that working in the studio was better as we were able to control the light completely, but the pictures became very unnatural, and clearly posed. 

We then decided to go outside and use completely natural light and one reflective sheet. It was a very sunny day so the photos were high exposure. As well as pictures of us posing, we also shot many in motion which was interesting and some areas of the photo become blurred where we are moving. We also wanted to get more unposed pictures of us as they appeared more natural and more similar to street documentary photos. I also enjoyed photographing outside as the pictures produced looked natural and unposed and we were able to move around more and pose with structures outside.

Once we had finished taking all the photos, we chose a selection of the pictures we liked, and then put them on drop box, allowing each of us the edit the photos how we wanted. I edited the pictures so they became tonal and I gave them a higher contrast and exposure, which I think made them more dramatic and eye catching. 

Here is a selection of group photos we took, in different poses to  make the photos become more interesting and different.

Disobedient Objects at the V&A

This exhibition, currently on show at the Victoria and Albert museum focuses on the period between the late 70s until now. The exhibition shows the arts of rebellion around the world, with a selection of banners and videos around the exhibition. The videos show just how horrendous these protests can be. One area of the exhibition contained signs, which children would hold up to protest the education cuts in Italy, the children drew their favourite book on the front of their signs, and when the police would hit the people to keep them under control, they would be hitting the signs. This is symbolism for the government attacking their education. I found these ideas very interesting. Below are some of the signs used.

The V&A described this exhibition:"From a Suffragette tea service to protest robots, this exhibition is the first to examine the powerful role of objects in movements for social change. It demonstrates how political activism drives a wealth of design ingenuity and collective creativity that defy standard definitions of art and design."

10 Personal Items, a collection of things, which are significant and important to me

For my selected 10 personal items, I brought in a few architectural books, which I found interesting. I also brought a collection of photos I had previously taken in central London and Lewisham. They reflect my interest in the growth and evolution of buildings in the developing world, they also reflect my interest in structural compositions.

The first page of one of the small books includes the statement below, for new students in the art world. I think it well reflects our attitudes, as students, towards our new life coming.

My composition is made up of a few of the books and photographs I brought in. I chose these items in particular as they are a mixture of 2 dimensional forms and 3 dimensional forms. The scaffolding appears to be growing from the book. I also wanted to use a selection of medias such as charcoal, permanent marker and pencil to create a gloomy, polluted-like atmosphere. This was then counterbalanced by the brightness of the highlighter, creating importance to these single words, which stand out in the page.

To the left is another photograph of my drawing, during the process, as well as slightly edited so you can home in on the idea of the drawing being completely tonal before the words and ideas are added in a bright colour.