Lord Whitney Brief

Just after Christmas our class was given a task of completing a brief by artists Lord Whitney. They came in for the day the brief us and I found it a really fun day which was very informative and helpful but also very enjoyable. They were really friendly and had some great advise and ideas. I took a lot at some of there work and was very impressed which it being really 3D, creative and entertaining. There brief was to make an illustration for a nonsense poem of a website which they gave us a link for. At first I was a bit apprehensive about this brief as I wasn't sure if my drawing skills were up to something like this as I have never illustrated a poem or story before. After looking on the website though I found the poems to be quite amusing and saw the fun side of the brief. I chose one about man building a ballon and looking at the moon, mainly because I have been looking at the sky and circular objects for my Major Project so I found it fitted in perfectly for me.

The poem I chose was:

There was an Old Man of the Hague,
Whose ideas were excessively vague,
He built a balloon,
To examine the moon,
That deluded Old Man of the Hague.

I drew a few balloons in my sketchbook and a moon to begin with (below) but I thought they needed a little bit more than just a black and white image...

So I scanned them into Photoshop and made a rotated pattern around a moon and scanned in some backgrounds and papers and layers them all up to create a more illustrative pattern design.

Final design below.

Overall I was quite pleased with the end result and it was nice to have a break from our Major Project work and fun to try something new and work in a way which I haven't before.

They very kindly sent me an email back with some really helpful feedback :
"Hi Lyndsay

Thanks for sending through your response to the Nonsense brief,

How did you find the project? We loved your piece. It was really well thought out and the pattern, colours and textures work great on it we were really impressed.

Thank you so much for taking part in the brief. We really enjoyed working with you all and really hope you got something valuable out of it.

Good luck with your work,

Bek and Amy."

Photoshop Experiments

 I have recently been trying to get to grips with using photoshop as I would like to use it more in my work this year. Here are some examples of some try out experiments with photographs, filters and my drawings. Hopefully the more I practise over the holidays the better I will get in time for my return to college!

Frodo Mikkelsen - Skull Sculptures

For my current brief I am coming up with a visualisation for a chosen song to put onto a glass wall in a studio for the company Music, the brief is a called Fish Tank. I decided to choose the song 'White Rabbit' by the 60's band Jefferson Airplane. I chose the song because the lyrics are very unusual with the women singing about the visualisations of taking drugs and they make me think of imaginative illusions which I could draw/create. The song is also based around the theme of Alice in Wonderland with the women singing lyrics like "go ask Alice when she's 10 feet tall" and "remember what the door mouse said feed your head". I decided to base my image around the idea of "feeding your head" so I began drawing skulls and heads with things coming out of them. The objects that I chose to come out of the head were mushrooms, caterpillars, leafs, smoke and white rabbits. Below are some examples of some experiments I have been working on.

When looking for some inspiration for this brief of skulls and heads and things coming out of them I came across the artist Frodo Mikkelsen. He created sculptures of skulls with little words on top of them almost like they are coming out of the skulls. He also creates some really imaginative paintings based around a similar theme. Looking at his work has inspired me to maybe make some sculptures or something more 3d perhaps for my final major project next year. Some examples of his sculptures and paintings are below.

Drawings

As its been the Easter term brake recently I have had some time to catch up on some work that I have been meaning to but not quite had the time. Something that I have been lacking in is the amount of drawings in my work. So I have spent some time doing quick sketches, ink drawings, acrylic and watercolour paintings and longer more detailed drawings which have been based mainly around feathers. I have had some fun with colour and have been playing around with patterns with them. I feel I have learnt a lot from my drawings and my work and ideas have really benefited from it! Over the next set of holidays (which are a lot longer) I will be sure to keep up this frequent drawing as I have learnt that it is important for an artist to ensure that their drawing skills are up to a good standard or the rest of their work may suffer. Also it is where a lot of inspiration can come from which can lead to further developing future work and help in terms of scale. 

Feather Collage

Watercolour on masking tape

'Hippie Hair'

Ink Peacock Feather

Butterfly Collage to symbolise freedom