Final Major Project Update!

It's been quite a while since i posted on my FMP! I guess it's not really changed loads, but it's developed into a really nice idea. It's turned into a charity called 'Arturself' and the slogan is 'Heart Yourself' (which is what the name is saying too! Ha!), which hopes  to challenge the way people see themselves. The charity focuses on helping people love themselves and encourages individuality and self confidence. 



I am working on 2 main parts of the charity. The First part is where the charity gets is funds from, so I will be designing inspirational merchandise to encourage people to be confident and individual on a day to day basis. I'm currently working on some Canvas Bag designs, which is actually really great, because we're trying to raise money for our end of year shows, so I;m going to be selling them at the Teenage Market in Stockport! So it's quite realistic and it will give me a better insight into what kind of stuff interests people out there. I'm hoping to also sell some A5 prints of some designs. and perhaps one more small thing to sell along side, which I haven't exactly decided on right now! I will also be designing a small arty Zine, which will explain the ins and outs of the charity and give a sneak peak into the meanings, merchandise and events that go on within the charity. It will be fairly eaasy to reproduce and I will make a few in bulk. I'm planning to make the Zine by hand and then put it together in photoshop, then send it off for print, so it can be hand made but also be fast!

The second part of the charity will be the live event and workshop, which in the real world be a street campaign, but because this isn't a 'real' charity it will be done inside of college at our end of year show. The event would be aimed at young people (8 - 16 years) and I would get the children to paint mannequins that I have reproduced & made myself, out of clay, and display them in a city centre (but this will be at the end of year show). The children will paint themselves and aspects of themselves in a stylised way onto the mannequins, portraying themselves in any way they want, ignoring the generic things people want to see. They would for example, paint themselves with wings  to symbolise freedom, or use pattern to express a certain emotion / passion for something they want to express, that they perhaps feel that they can't because of peer pressure. I hope to have about 100 small dolls, some painted by myself, to fill up all the space I can get in my show. I want this to create a big impact, although each model is identical to the other, the individual feelings and passion drawn onto the models will shine through above all else, which is essentially the main thing that the charity wants people to feel, a sense of individuality and no fear! So by targeting the younger audience, we want to make them unafraid of being themselves!

I am also thinking of a bigger picture for the end too, which i'm currently unsure of. I want the models to come together to create something bigger, something i can put together myself to make. Since this FMP is focusing on the work that I produce, having not much to show that i've done myself is not an option. So I really have to think hard about something I could make that amounts to a reasonable amount of work. Hmmmm! 

Daria Hlazatova

One of the most amazing people EVER. Theres just too much good work to chose from to show you, but here are about a microscopic selection of my favourites. Mostly working in black and white, Daria uses pattern and shapes to create slightly gothic and other worldly images. They resemble old english pagan illustrations and old creepy carnival posters. I've never seen such clever use of black and white shapes making such amazing structures like this. It has a very unique look and feel to it, and every now and then a splash of colour around the eyes of focal point will be used.

I will have more knowledge on this work later, as i am awaiting an e-mail from Daria.

Images from: 

http://www.facebook.com/DariaHlazatova

Wordless Wednesday

But not really... kind of more like a limited word wednesday. Have some pictures that i've been working on recently. They are related to a short brief we were given relating to Poems written by Edward Lear, we made image responses to one of our choice.

Although I didn't actually like my final thing (It was a bit rushed) I like the elements when they're in parts and not together.

"There was an Old Man with a beard,

Who said, "It is just as I feared!—

Two Owls and a Hen, four Larks and a Wren,

Have all built their nests in my beard."

Sophie Parker

Sophie Parker is a Fashion Artist from London who has delved into a bit of everything from surface design, to Photography. She specialises in Illustrating. One of the first things that caught my eye about Paker is her use of pattern in illustrations, which is something I have been trying to refine and struggling to find something which i liked. Theres not that much out there that is this appealing to me! She has a way of drawing people & animals and i admire her consistency, since the one thing i find it hard to do is stick to a specific type of drawing (although this year i have vastly improved) and I have a lot to thank her for since looking at her work has given me the chance to overcome these obsticles! She has her own shop that sells her work and she is very successful, which is something I really want to have when I leave university. Although I do want to become a teacher, I also want to keep in touch with my personal interest in illustration and having a shop selling my own work is my dream. I know i'm going to do it, and i know exactly how i want it to be. I have been in touch with Sophie and I can't wait to hear back form her! 

Portfolio Review with a Post Graduate

I chose Alan Dalby as my 1st portfolio review this year. I chose him because he is new in the world and he is experiencing right now what I will experience soon, so I wanted to prepare myself. I actually had to send Alan my old portfolio since I hand't got round to updating it just yet, so after he gives me his advice I suppose it will help me redesign my Portfolio in a much better way that will show off my work for what it really is. I decided to do the review over email since everything is digital nowadays, and it will be a good experience to see how different things are to translate.

"Hi Rachel

Lovely to see your portfolio and I look forward to seeing all your work at the end of year show!

Theres a few easy things to change with your portfolio that will make you look a lot more professional.

These small problems can detract from your work but can be easily solved.

The most obvious thing I noticed, is that you've used a portrait portfolio. 

I would strongly recommend that if you're going to send your portfolio digitally, to use screen ratio.

Obviously keep using the portrait portfolio for the physical copy, but avoid sending digital portfolios as portrait. 

Let me explain a bit why this doesn't show your work to it's best!

When I open the file, I get a big band of pixelated birds across the screen as the pdf stretches the fill the screen.

This doesn't sell your work as well as you could!

It also causes the problem of having to resize the PDF. 

This makes the work small on the screen and also will frustrate people who want to look at your work.

Obviously you want people to really enjoy looking through your portfolio, so this small change will help that a lot. 

(Also, it's a lot easier to flip through pages with a landscape portfolio on screen.

Portrait makes you have to scroll and doesn't display pages as individual while pages.)

I know that will be a bit of a pain to sort out, but I would really recommend it before you start sending your portfolio out digitally. 

The second thing that I would really recommend changing, Is to put a bit of detail about each project.

For instance the second page,  "BMW WHF, t-shirt design"

I don't really know what BMW WHF is, and it would be great if you could put just a few words, explaining a little bit about each project.

Remember that you're not going to be with everyone when they see your work.

Each page design looks nice and minimal and is laid out well with a nice level of white space. 

I think I'd personally get rid of the key line around the bird on each page. It looks a bit weird in the box and takes the focus away from the work.

On that subject, I'm not sure you need the fourth page (with the three strips on birds) as they're on each page, as well as on the title page in the strips.

Photographs of the design on a mug, might be a good replacement If you feel you need it.

Right, I think I'm going to leave it there.

I strongly believe I've given you good advice and having taken an hour to write this (time slipped away), I'd really appreciate if you'd follow at least my first couple of points.

Obviously It's your decision but If you decide to revise the portfolio, and you'd like any more advice/opinions, feel fee to send me the update and I'd be glad to help you.

Alan"

I enjoyed reading Alans views, because it's completely different to the other reviews i've had. it focuses a lot on the design of the portfolio, which is something other people didn't take as much notice of, and I do think it is important. After Alan had mentioned the portrait layout is not good, I was thinking of how I could make it work in a landscape view instead. I had chosen portrait because most of my work was actually shot portrait when i was working on it last semester. It will be a challenge to get everything to fit in landscape, but I know i need to do this. I also agree with the extended descriptions of the images. I never thought that I would be in a situation where i could explain something about each image, so it's hit a key point i have clearly missed. 

I am working on getting my designs on actual products at the moment, but since i want to focus all my time on my Final Major Project i'm struggling to find a whole day to do this, I still have made no plans for this, but I have to do it. Last semester I did buy mugs & transfers, but I was told (after i had applied the transfers to the mugs) that the transfers would not be able to be glazed. So this let me down in some ways. I must schedule this. 

The lines around the work I've began to notice after Alan pointed it out. I would definitely agree. I'm even thinking as far as removing the birds completely, and just having my description. I don't want it to be too fancy or else we won't know where to look!

Thank you Alan Dalby!