Illustrated Self Sketchbook

Illustrated Self Sketchbook

Had a flap. Didn't know what I was doing.
I realised that I needed to start drawing "things" in the way I create images. Process has always been the driving aspect of my art work and so I needed to get cracking...
1) collage
2) continuous line drawings
3) my experimental loose movement
4) Wacom illustrations

It is a self portrait so I thought I could have a try at creating a life drawing of me but through continuous line and using colours that are relevant. These draw on the skills that I have learnt this year 1. character design 2. things don't have to look realistic 3. simplicity.

 I wanted to have a go at combining:

1. colourful paper: The brightness of the coloured paper reflects the intensity of my personality and how it makes each project very intense.

2. continuous line: It creates an interesting portrait and works well at portraying the different stages of a process/detail/understanding  through the different line qualities and the string.

3. loose drawings of dance: It combines that I want to make my artwork looser and experiment more

The combination of all 3 of these begins to create the aesthetic of my busy life and how busy my brain is all the time: that there is some order (straight lines of the paper) but that everything is over lapping.

I like this. It is something which can definitely be explored and played around with more. It is along the right track of how I want my artwork to look. I need to combine music in here somewhere...

 PLAN: to show how important experimentation is and how I am not very good at making final decisions for the final outcome I thought I could create multiples. This could be 4 A4 pages or 9 almost a5 pages. To be honest one face would just be terrifying! Doing this I can include the colours of green, yellow, blue and orange on my inclusion list. This will also create a pattern which is something I wear every single day. I am looking forward to creating quite a few portraits of something very similar but making them interesting and different through different combinations of media.

It is strange that these faces are the first pieces of my artwork that look a little bit similar to my long term favourite artists. This was subconscious and I only realised by looking at my bedroom wall at home.

 Lucy macleod

Alina Zamanova

I wanted to refine my portrait drawings... none of these actually look like me but I am getting the hang of how to make the continuous line drawings of faces and they are all representative of me: my hair and eyes. I wonder if the colours used are very important and that if they were on green or blue paper if it would still work...

 I then wanted to explore my dancing carefree and loose and experimental and not uptight without a performance or final thing learnt, expressive without a routine or structure. These are drawn off videos but through continuous line rather than extreme simplicity like my tap dancers/flamenco dancers.

 These are truly awful drawings. They are not in proportion with strange legs and arms but they capture the movement and fluidity and were fun to dance and draw. The faces are also extremely scary but I feel like it is okay because they are playful. I feel that my hair is captured well in these images.

 Simplicity is achieved in these images through the limited use of colour. Not everything is coloured in and even when it is it is rough and playful. I think this helps achieve movement from a static image.

I think I need to start creating the pieces now and work through problems in my sketchbook when I come to them and maybe make more than 9 images so I can chose my favourites?

 I really enjoy creating Wacom drawings and even though photoshop is still a struggle to me I need to keep exploring this, perhaps creating a final piece like this in the future... It links perfectly with my COP which battles between analogue and digital and this debate is something I have with my image making but maybe Wacom drawings are my bridge

 I wanted to keep the drawings as simple as possible and only using the colours that are already in my poster... red, black, orange, green, yellow and blue... it is already not a very limited palette...

 I wanted to create different images of the same image. I don't want it to look extremely regimented... its almost like incorporating sketches without a final "perfect".

They all represent the different aspects of my creative self... 

• the microphone represents performing and the band where we write the songs 
• the guitar is something I have taught myself...not just chords for songwriting but also classical guitar which I play when I want a break or to have some mellow time
• the records represent my love for analogue and that I am very fond of my record collection (vinyls and Cds) and that this translates in my art process and COP research
• the tambourines represent this bluegrass band which I am in... that it is something new to university