Evaluation FMP

I believe considering certain problems I have faced in my personal life, I believe I have done well managing my time, even though at the start I re-did a lot of my work and this set me back on a lot of time seen as I didn’t use them in my project. I believe I could have had a better idea on what I was going into at the beginning so I didn’t complicate my work and do something I wouldn’t be happy with and then have to begin again. I believe that even though I kept on re-doing my work it gave me a push to become neater and do my work slower so it began to come out at a higher standard. After the phase where I hated my work, I began to like it once I discovered the direction I wanted to go in and what artists I wanted to use. I feel like I should have maybe broadened my theme choice better such as using “women” and then I could have adapted my idea into it and still gotten a similar final piece and design sheets.

My focus was Pin Ups, I decided on this theme as I love all things vintage, especially the 40s-50s era, it was similar to the year I chose in my first year final piece, I didn’t do my best on that final unit but I wanted to look back into it and create something better. I had also not done well in my other projects seen as I got a referral for most of them, if not all of them and I decided to go with something that I know and love and add my own vision into it. Throughout my project I noticed that there weren’t many different ethnicities, so I looked a bit further into an artist called ONEQ who had done Japanese style Pin Ups. I was inspired by this and wanted to do the same ethnicity but I decided not to and instead I chose to do myself. I believed this would make use of my primary research and this way if I decide on a certain pose or position I always had a reference as long as I had a mirror.

For my primary research I decided to dress up in a 50s style with my hair a particular way. I believe this went well and I really captured the 50s image. I also edited them to be on a grey scale as well as using a vintage filter to make it look more like photos from the actual decade. I believe that my primary research is probably a sturdy foundation of my work and I have used it to build my ideas up. I also did some drawing from observation as I thought if I decide to use me as the model for my final piece I should practice looking at my own features. I did two on one A” sheet. One was of 10 minutes and the other was of around 30 minutes. I believe this helped me not only get to know my face, but it helped me get a rough idea of how long a good piece will take at a small size and then it helped me think on a bigger level. I also decided to do a gridding exercise and this went well for structure but not so good for detail.

I developed my research by looking on places such as Pinterest, Google Images, Instagram and, even though it isn’t advised, I used Wikipedia as they had a list of different Pin Up artists that I could use. Most of my research on Pin Ups went on my mood boards and alternative and unusual styles on Pin Up went into my sketchbook as I felt this was more appropriate as my final idea was piecing together I knew it wasn’t going to look like an average Pin Up illustration. I wanted realism in my final piece.

I chose to do several Critical studies for this project as there was more than one artist that stood out to me. One of them was Sasha Ira, her work wasn’t related to pin up but there were many graphite drawings of contemporary women and I liked the style and how the flowers in the background just came together to produce a natural looking composition, this was ideal considering I had just done a graphite drawing of Hedy Lamarr in my sketchbook. Another one is Tracy Lewis whose media is water colours and I liked the tones and the way she used them wisely in certain places as well as being able to merge the colours. I mainly chose my artists due to their style that I’d like to take on or interpret my own way. I tried to do my studies in a variety of Medias.

The elements that I took forward in my final design were the tones from Hsaio-ron Cheng and how they are light but colourful as well as the positioning of the model. I used the realism from Ira and Alberto Vargas. I didn’t use anything from my work on Angela Moulton or Tracy Lewis studies.

What influenced my work was the idea that Pin Ups should be of all races and can be of all races, and by using me with my features that are different but just as beautiful as any other ethnicity works. I wanted to use the different tones to show that with certain colours in the background can match different skin colours really well and give a very pretty pin up look. I liked the work that Pearl Frush had done and I liked the media and the use of a canvas and I knew for realism I would be better off using oil on canvas and to my surprise I was right.

The problems that effected my design was that the gold pen I wanted to use on my canvas wouldn’t actually draw on my canvas especially over the oil paint, when I shook it this caused the pen to leak all on my work and splatter. I managed to use the pen by draining some of it and using the nip to almost paint it on. I then used the pens fault to create a drip/splash effect all on my background just so the piece didn’t look ruined or like it was an accident. Eventually, I managed to make it look good and it actually gave it a bit of an edgy look which I think looks good and shines well in certain light. It adds my own touch among ideas interpreted from other artists. Another problem was that I wanted to do embroidery on my canvas however, using paper and a particular thick needle showed that the holes would be visible and would make it look un-neat especially if I didn’t like it there would be the holes randomly on the canvas. 

For my experimentation I looked into all the workshops bar on being jewellery. I managed to do a Tile in ceramics, Screen print, Lino print, Embroidery, Pyrography in wood work and Photoshop in Graphics. I liked that I managed to do more than one type of workshop, it gave me an idea of what I definitely wanted to do for my final piece and in what media.

The problem solving that I encountered was that when doing my final piece my gold pen accidently splattered on my canvas and it wasn’t what I wanted so I decided to shake and put splashes on the background of my work and this gave it an individual touch so it worked out well. I used a bit of card after that to draw the ink out and use the nib as a brush and paint it on the sections I wanted to intentionally put the gold lines. I also encountered the problem of not having a phone at the end of the project to update my blog so I decided to come in to college and do it when I had days off and use the computers. I don’t think I had to solve a lot of problems to get to my final piece as I had a clear idea of what I was doing from my sketchbook where I ruled out certain issues and gained my ideas clearly and carefully. I used my experimentation to find out what would work and how and if it was something that I wanted, in a way I believe this helped solve my problem of what to do and if it was possible.

I believe that maybe if I’d have had the time to do embroidery I would have and I would have picked a good base material, rather than canvas, to produce it on. I don’t think I would have had the time to produce neat work for a full final piece. I did however experiment on a dress that my mum had bought me for this project, we had gone looking in charity shops for a vintage dress that I could embroider on. I started to do a small section but as I said it was only an experimentation but it was just to show that I am trying to develop my idea. I believe I could have done my primary research a bit better and produced better and more professional images. I could have also produced something that was at least in the pose like I have done. Because of this I used an image that I took of myself from a while ago and used it for a better reference.

I decided on my final design as I felt happy with portraying myself in my work, at first I was a bit unsure as I didn’t want to exaggerate my looks in a good way or a bad way. I also used some of the artists that I had looked at to get ideas, the main artist that influenced my work is Hsaio-ron Cheng, due to her tones and smooth textured gouache prints, I just used what I am best at, painting in oils, to get the same kind of quality.

I believe I used my blog effectively and it helped me to remember pieces of work that I had done when I hadn’t got the work in front of me. I also used it as a way to do my annotation at home and wait so I could get to college, print it off and put it to my work.

Altogether, I think this project has been by best out of the two years and I’m really happy with the results. I hope to continue to get inspiration from it and maybe in the future begin to sell my work from ideas I have gathered from this, I could also use the idea methods of the project to build my ideas before rushing into them. The organization that was needed for this project was just right for me as I like to be organized however, I found it hard to meet the amount of work needed as I would get things mixed up and think I had more artist research sheets and not enough design sheets. I also found it hard to differentiate Design sheets and final design sheets and why you would need two rather than one final design sheet? If I were to do it again I don’t think there’s much that I would do differently apart from use a broader subject that I could have gone in many different paths and still be on the same subject. I found it harder with the last few projects but with this one I found it a lot easier especially with the freedom to explore what you’re capable of. I would love to use the methods that I have learnt in this course again, for my own projects if I began selling my art or putting it on display.

Gridding Excersise FMP

Here I hage done a gridded image of a pin up women/model from the a book. I believe I have done my scale really well and most things are in the correct place. I think using this method really worked well for the body shape, size and scale, however it was really hard for me to do the facial features, hence why I left it without much detail. I dont think this method has personally helped me to do my final piece but I'm glad I tried it incase I wanted to do a full body piece with detail. 

Design development Sheet 2 FMP

Design Development Sheet 1 FMP

Mood Board 4 FMP

Mood Board 2 FMP

WIP Final Piece FMP

Mood Board 3

Creative and Corporate Business cards FMP

I wasn't sure in what to do for these and this was before my creative CV, the idea popped into my head about using my screen print after I didn't think it would work for my final piece. I got an A2 sheet of paper and used my print all over. I then cut them up into sixes of 3.5 inches x 2 inches for a corporate business card. I did this in blue and purple, my two favorite mixes of colours. I then decided I'd do my creative business cards with the same print but a different colour, pink and orange. I decided to do these like a book mark so they can be used even if not needed and are there when needed. I carved in the top my enitials and I think this was an effective and personalised touch.

Creative CV FMP

For my creative CV much like much business cards I used my screen print of hydrengas. I used different colours to both business cards, yellow and orange ehich I believe are bright and cheery colours and may influence the person I am handing my CV to, to believe my personality reflects this. Im glad I used the screen print for this as I can recreate almost identical ones and change the colour maybe even placement. The font I decided to use is Script MT Bold on word. I decided on this due to how similar it was to my own handwriting and how it has flow from one letter to the next, it has a feminine side but the slight boldness is adds the masculinity to it creating a unisex type of font.

Observational drawing FMP

For my observational drawing I did them to do at set times one at 10 minutes the other for around 20-30. The first one, at 10 minutes, had more than one graphite pencil to ita dn I had took the picture I was referencing from in bad light. I could have used a mirror to get a better look at myself as I had took the picture at that time for the observational drawing. Although, looking at it the shape isn't very correct and could be improved and some of the facial feature could be better. The scond one is made up of a 2H graphite Pencil, it is also only an know of a picture I took in the past of myself. This is all I managed to do in 20-30 minutes as I admittedly had a distraction but i was tsking more care knowing I had more time rather than rushing and not getting it right as well as coming back to improve things. The shape and form of this is much better snd you can see what I'm trying to produce and it has a close similarity to the image I am referencing. I am now more familiar with my own face and feel like I'm not exaggerating my features, im just drawimg myslef how I see me through my own eyes. Using this will probably help to better myself when using primary research for my final piece.

Experimentation: Embroidery FMP

One thing I would really like to put in some of my work but I wanted to experiment whether I was capable of using embroidery. Whilst I was doing this experimentation I found it hard to not knot the string and keep it from shortening but it was hard for me and it caused me to keep restarting. In the end the outcome isn't great but it was my first time trialing embroidery and it was good for my first try. The sticmtching could have been in one direction, I should have probably watched a tutorial or asked my textiles tutor for help. I did however after this look into it and how to do a long french knot which is in my sketchbook. I dont think I will put it in my final piece though as I want to use a canvas and I believe using a pin needle and thick thread could ruin the canvas and cause it to be weak or show a large gap where the thread isn't always touching. I'm sad that I couldn't use it in my final piece though as I think it would have been really nice but I am set on a canvas.

Experimentation: Lino Print FMP

I did a lino print to try and make my final piece easier to do if I was considering a repeat pattern on a large canvas. I believe for this I didn't do great due to my skills using the tools, but I thought I'd do it and make sure I was certain before ruling it out as an option. I was influenced to use a pattern I got from a set of patterned pieces of card I had baught from Hobby Craft earlier in the year to make invitations. It had a slight 30s to 40s style but I thought with a bit of an addition would work well for a minimal background. However the size that I produced my work at was too small for me to carve out precisely but I continued and got two prints out of it and it turned out not to be a good standard. I decided instantly I wouldn't take it further. There were gaps where there shouldn't be and they werent all the same or symmetrical. The shape wasn't how I imagined and i was hoping for a gem shape almost a 3D effect.

Experimentation: Screen Print FMP

I began to gather ideas on how i was to incorporate the floral background and what media I could use. One of them was using a screen print to make a repetative pattern on the background. I decided i wanted to do hydrengas as they're one of my favorite flowers and  they are very bunched together and the detail would have to be very fine with a lot of individual flowers which may be complicated to by hand. However, what stopped me from using the screen was that I looked further into textile patterns and found designs which better suited my idea. Knowing that I could reuse the silk screen I still went on to create a design and screen so I could then use it for my business cards, both creative and corporate, I liked the design that much I decided to use it for my creative CV. Im glad that I trialed this method as it really worked for another part of my project rather than the intentional. I also used different colours to differenciate the types of business cards and CV. I could have done the lining thicker and worked with a bit more finer detailing but it was a trial that came out better than a trial should and the results to me were ideal. Theres not much form and it has lots of shapes to it but it does aim to cover a full A4 piece of paper without any blank, plain parts of white etc.
The artist I looked at was Hesketh, I tried to reproduce her work called "Liberty" in my sketchbook using a silk screen to look at the experienced artists work and how well screen print can be done. She manages to create shape and form well using one colour to seperate the line work. It is simple yet effective.

Pearl Frush Critical Study FMP

 

Pearl Frush works are very lively and vibrant for pin ups, her use of colour really works for the model and the use of contrasting colours. Their facial expressions also say a lot about their character and mood. I think this is good for pin ups to have if you're trying to make them look happy and fun. I believe Frush tries to capture the character in the expression. 

This piece that Frush has done is really well thought about, for example the contrasting colours of pink and green, the natural shine that the model is given adds to the realistic effect I believe she is trying to get. This is done in oil on canvas.

My version isn’t anywhere near as good as the original, however, I can see that I'm much better at oil and that I put in more detail than with acrylics etc. I am also able to better blend the colours to make them look more natural. I had trouble at first getting the shape of the face right and also the size of the chest. Her eyes have that shine effect that Frush has given the original however, I believe altogether the facial features take away quality between them. Each are good on their own but together they bring the piece down. The hair isn't as detailed and could have better shading. Apart from that, after re-sizing the chest, it is the best part of my study. There’s a lot of detail with better tones and shading.

Georgia O'Keeffe Crital Study FMP

 

Georgia O'Keeffe is an amazing artist who creates a variety of art work with a particular style. She mainly paints enlarged images of flowers which are done in oil. I believe looking at her style and choice of media she does well to compose a soft shape with subtle and light tones in her floral pieces. Her work almost has a 3D effect and it has altogether soft and she almost does this intricate work effortlessly. I chose to take in mind O’Keeffe’s work as the soft tones and eye catching effects are what I want to make my Pin Up centre piece really stand out and be bold. If i don't use her enlarged way I may use her choice of colour blending and tonal work.
This Piece I have chosen to do is very colourful and ranges from pinks to blues which I find very interesting as again it manages to be subtle, possibly due to the form or the shape. There’s light shadowing in black but it doesn’t take the lightness away from the piece. It’s realistic yet it’s different to how you would see a flower. This piece was done in Oil.
My version of this piece has similar shape, however, the tones could be softer and much lighter. My blending isn't brilliant but I found it hard to blend due to using Acrylic rather than Oil. I believe this piece could be better altogether. There’s not much to it like can be said about O’Keeffe’s work. I don't think I will use this in my final piece as there’s is a lot of room for improvement and I don't believe I have the time it would take me to create work like this to the standard of O'Keeffe.

Mood Board 1

A small composition of photos that I found that inspire me and my work. I have chosen these pieces due to their differences in textile floral design. I find this Mood board to be pretty and feauturing quite a lot of what I like thats either come from fabrics from across the globe from china to France, some new and some old.

Sasha Ira Critical study FMP

This artist does art mainly in graphite and I thought why not try reproducing her work since my work is better in this media. I looked through her work and saw that her shading was brilliant and the way she uses the pencil for shadowing and highlighting is very neat and realistic. I love how its greyscale and sometimes she adds in colour making it all the more interesting. Age looks not only at the face but at the body and her proportions are outstanding.
I chose to do this one due to how well she has drawn the facial features of this woman. She has taken time to use the white/yellow of the paper to create a skin tone and hair colour too. I believe her detail with using different graphite thicknesses really worked out for this piece. Using the ends of the hair to show separation and a realistic look rather than a block.
My version isn't as good, but there’s room for improvement as I first used a HB pencil on its own and I knew this wasn't enough to show the details which the artist had. I got advice of my tutor what I should do and she advised to use different graphite pencils to add definition and detail. I then went over it with a 2B 6B and 8B just to add extra depth into my piece and it worked out to be better than I originally created. I believe pencil is my main strength and I would like to use it but at the moment I am quite set on using a canvas and to produce pencil on canvas wouldn’t be very neat or give the desired effect that I want. I don’t think I will use this style as though at the minute I’m not looking for that bold, intense colour, I do want some subtle tones of colour whereas this has none but only in black and grey tones.

Hsiao-ron Cheng Critical Study FMP

I chose to do a critical study on Hsiao-Ron Cheng because of their light and soft toned work in portrature. The portraits that she does look so delicate and beautiful it's unbelivable that such work can be produced. She portrays a veriety of people from black, asian and white to male and female. There is no discrimination or preferances and it shows that she is capable of widing her range of work unlike other artists who find it difficult to change familiar features in faces. I want to link her work to mine as with Pin Ups they are bright and colourful with a mild tease about them, However, I am looking at the classic beauty of these women so I'm looking for a classy, innocent kind of tease and I want to produce a more subtle and realistic tone to their faces that women actually have. I believe using Chengs tones in my work would really help me get that innocent look I'm hoping for. She does most of her work in Giclee print.
The piece I've chosen to recreate is of an Asian woman, I chose this piticular piece as I wanted to know if I was capable of producing a range of ethnicities in my portait work. I thought about how many pin ups are of white women and very little are of different races, rethinking my work to be more cultural will be something that I personally could feel proud of due to my mixed background and also other people to feel more ethnicities welcomed into the world of Pin Up. This piece was done as giclee print.
My actual piece I believe is a lot like the original, such as the features and the placement of them on the face. This is done in Gouache. I also worked hard to get similar tones and colours correctly for the skin and hair. It took me a while before I started in the skin as I wanted it to be perfect. For the hair I used a light grey for the base and then began to add thin lines with a detail brush. I used tracing paper to get the facial features right, by first drawing out the features free handed and then choosing a final outcome amd then placing them correctly on the face. I also used the detail brush to do the eyes mouth and nose. For the detail on the background and appear to be her clothing I used different shades of grey and green to get a 3D effect similar to in Chengs work. I believe I did this well. For the pink background I used a sponge to get an even colour and I believe this worked well too but I could have been a bit more gentle as the paper began to rub off. Overall I can see myself using something like this for in my work.

Primary Research FMP

Secondary Research FMP