BTK Berlin - Urban Art and Graphic Design

BTK BERLIN- Urban Art and Graphic Design

This is a design university in Berlin that I originally interviewed/applied for to study Illustration at for University. They told me that I didn't have the necessary Maths and Science A-Levels for the Bachelors but that I could partake a summer school. I kept my eyes open for this and began saving. 

This is a 10 days course at the BTK. I am staying in a B&B with a roommate from America which they organised. They are running 2 classes; Graphic Design and Photography. I was contemplating taking the photography as I would really love to learn about dark rooms and could create a portfolio of photos of Berlin. I decided that I would benefit the most from the Graphic Design and Graffiti course. When arriving in Berlin I knew nothing about the course other than I would meet someone downstairs at 9am.

It turns out that I am 1/5 on Graffiti; English, American, Russian, Turkish, Spanish. The teacher was very disappointed/surprised at the turn-out because they didn't do any advertising for the course!!

I am hoping to learn about typography/design/composition this summer school. I really want to try something different, new and out of my comfort zone as I feel that this will definitely benefit my Illustration practice and development. 

I am aware that I will also learn independence as I will be left to my own devices to occupy myself in the evenings and weekend and survive living/exploring in a foreign city. I will be conversing with people which some of them have limited English and are from different cultures (some and share a room with a stranger for 2 weeks! I also wish to speak as much German as I can, there are so many different languages spoken here and everyone seems to be fluent in another language that I am really inspired to work at German even more!

Tuesday: Day 1

I have never heard someone talk so long and so passionately about Graffiti more than Felix Gephart. He is such a lively, enthusiastic and sarcastic person and he really knows his stuff!!!

In order to become a graffiti writer we needed to understand typography. This began by drawing out our own alphabet. Initially I was scared of even how to start this but found that if I made sure that the edges of the letters were at different angles and I kept the width of the letters the same it was simple, as required, but also had a character....

The next step we were asked to do was to distort our alphabet... This meant; bending it, pinching it in the middle, elongating it, widening it, stretching it. This was harder than expected and he had very clear ideas of what was right and what was wrong... Maybe that was the German in him haha

 We then were asked to create a word (tag) which contemplated distortion and composition. I was quite happy with this. I consciously considered how the words could compact together and kept making amendments till I was happy. I ended up having to colour the image in to outline the shapes that were correct as I ended up adjusting it so many times...

 Furthermore we were asked to create a font that was all slanted. I wanted to try the composition and font of my first image and improve it. I decided that it would look better if the lines followed a pattern for example they followed a horizontal line on the bottom and the top, but I could still keep the tight bends and the angular corners of the lettering.
I realised that this is probably more of a type face than a piece of graffiti that the teacher was interested in teaching. I am not sure that I find the aggressive style of graffiti tagging something I want to create myself but I do quite like the character of this lettering- although the B is too thin.
I also learnt from the time before to really sketch out my letters before confidently drawing them in as therefore it is easier to rub out/alter and to keep a strong and clear line.

 Then I had to create a type where the main blocks were vertical. He suggested trying to keep the same typeface but using a different word which had different lettering. Here I concentrated more on if I could make the letters overlap and how I could alter the height of the different letters to add depth and balance. 
I am not sure why but not that the graffiti writing is not on the slant it seems more ugly and boring. I don't know the best way to describe it but it seems dull...

 Then the next task was to create the same type but with straight lines... This made the graffiti writing seems very aggressive and far from something I would normally produce. 
I then wanted to explore creating a 3D effect. I decided to create a perspective point and draw everything up to that point. This is not a kind of 3D "shaping" I have tried before... This is something very popular of graffiti. I found it difficult knowing which bits I needed to try and turn into shapes. I had overlapped some of my lettering and this proved difficult articulating what was in the for-ground and background. I realised that you wouldn't turn the letters in the for-ground into 3D as it is important to be able to differentiate the word, which you want to stand out.

I found this more tiring and time consuming than I would have predicted. We spent 4 hours on this... I found it quite frustrating because when hand-drawing everything there are always things to tweak and I could definitely have explored the 'Berlin' over and over multiple times, making slight different changes, as it is only the beginnings of a design. Also with each piece, I over lapped the letters to far into the next letter or I made the width of a letter too wide or framed a letter too high in the word. They are all small things I only realised when I had drawn the final outcome and with time I would re-draw these and explore them further.

Wednesday: Day 2

I feel a great sense of achievement from today.  We literally worked on figurative drawing for 7 hours! I don't remember being taught how to draw a realism face since I was in primary school. We were focusing today on trying to draw realistic faces from imagination and did this by using a grid method structure (eyebrow line, lip-line, jaw-line, for-head and hair-line from a circle).

It also turns out that I have not drawn anything other than roughs in pencil since GCSE as I have been working in Biro and now fine-liner! Also used a rubber in the first time in aaaages... It was a special artists rubber than I was initially scared to use as it literally is grey blue tack and i didn't want to make a tit of myself.

 Cross hatching is something which I haven't really ever used to create tone in a face. Similarly I am not very good at seeing contours and realise that this may stem from the fact that I can't paint very realistically. When I used paint it is normally for texture or to fill in flat blocks of colour. I really wanted to explore this cross-hatching to try and create a 3D looking face. It was also interesting trying to draw shade from a made up light source!
In both of these the eyes are too large and this creates an stylised effect... 

 It is interesting trying to create a male and female face. There are subtle differences but also stereotypical ways to create a masculine (sharpening the jaw line, thickening the eyebrows and using straight lines) or feminine face (raising the eyebrows, using softer/curved lines). 

It proved very difficult trying to contour when I didn't have anything to reference I wanted to shrink everything down a little bit and try and get the features right and down in a simplified structure. I ended up creating this very gaunt little bald creature, I like him. He doesn't look realistic but has a plain and unimpressed expression on his face. He is also overly slim and pinched almost reminding my of some elongated "demons" I have drawn however this dude looks sad (probably the raised eyebrow, wide eyes and baldness)
At this point I seem to have created a personal way of drawing eyes...

 The next stage was to draw a figure from the side. He made it seem very simple... 

Teachers drawing

 This is a drawing of a guy, but a "beautiful man"... It was subtle differences that made it be a man or a woman. For example how receding the for-head was and how pointy and angular the nose was and how sharp the jaw-line was. I also had no idea how to draw the facial contours on the face to create form that works. 
I edited the outline so many times that I decided a good way to define the outline would be to shade the background to bring the for-ground forward. I have realised how important it is to really lightly outline the facial features until I am happy with them as pencils can be forgiving. 

 I then wanted to try again with a woman, trying to make more feminine features. I didn't overly complicate this image as I was just focusing on the facial features, trying to femininify them subtly (using one line to curve the nose and the for-head, less of a chin and a thinner nose). I also thought it would be useful to differentiate the hair from the face.

 Furthermore I wanted to try and draw from a different perspective. Our teacher showed us his sketches from every angle of the face and it really showed how to bring a character alive and make them less stiff.
This was complicated so I asked him to stop after basic marks

Teachers drawing

This was my attempt. I didn't spend a lot of time making this. It was very difficult drawing from imagination from this angle because it isn't an angle you know very well but you know when it is wrong. The nose took 3 explanations from the teacher. The mouth was too small and the eyes weren't drawn at the bizarre angles that they turn into when they are at that angle.
However, I really wouldn't want to bump into this dude. His expressions makes him appear like he would start a fight, his lips seem pursed and he has a very large angular jaw.

This is another smaller image but I decided to draw it with hair (down to the shoulder) and more feminine (curved outline and raised eyebrows). It reminds me if a pixie like character or someone that was from a historical novel that I used to read when i was 13/14.

THEN the final outcome we produced was drawing someone from life/reference (my roommate). This was drawn by eye which was different as I didn't use a circle. I also decided to ignore the some of the principles because her ears weren't in line with her eyebrows and her mouth was lower down/her face was longer.

 It was bizarre how different a drawing looks from the angle when you are sitting down and when you stand up and look at the drawing from directly in front of it.  My teacher also told me that he had a way of drawing hair that didn't make it look like wire. hair is silky and smooth and he recommended that I divided it into to different blocks. Again I had to edit and amend things the whole time as I really focused and noticed tiny amendments.

I really doesn't look exactly like her but it is recognisable as her. It was also helpful taking this photo as I noticed more things when it is shrunk and a position is captured and therefore I made a few amendments after this. However I have realised that the mouth needs to be wider.

Finally after working so solidly I had run out of energy and concentration so as I was being drawn I decided to explore another way to draw hair, more different tones and blocks of hair.

Thursday: Day 3

Palimpsest was actually something that I had to pass onto my friend. This was perfect for her Level 4 Fine Art words project and because I have seen her work develop I found it really interesting listening to his Words on the Wall presentation.

I have always been interested in typefaces but have never had an understanding of them (other than practicing how to write beautiful with calligraphy pens but never actually doing traditional calligraphy). Therefore everything was new and I was trying to soak up as much as possible.

We had a lecture on this at the beginning of Level 4 but it was interesting seeing another presentation as it covered different things and there was lots of opportunity for questions as there was 5 of us (3 people listening).

Friday: Day 4

Need to be convincing at pitching ideas if you want your work to be chosen! Make things as easy as possible for the employer buy getting the guidelines right!

Introduction to typography-grid systems

'The end of print' David Carson-book about printing being over
Books are a certain size so that humans can hold them...landscape books are less convenient to read
Format:ratio between the width and the height

Fibonacci ratio: added numbers up and the sum is the next number=1.6143 GOLDEN RATIO..it is found all through nature and has inspired art through the ages
Activity: he draws a line on a blackboard and tells people to mark it pleasingly in to 2 sections...almost everybody marks in in which it adds up to the golden ratio

InternationalStandardsOrganisation/Dean paper sizes, they remain as the same ration when in different sizes. The golden rectangle is a5 and 1cm less

Rosarivos Cannon page layout:
Pages usually a mirror

Column method:

How to give good talks

Visual Aid's History

500 Public Speaking

950 Glass Windows

1350 Bar Charts

1845 Comic Strips

1945 Overhead Projectors

1987 Powerpoint

1992 Pervasive PC

How much text should you project?

Only bullet point key points (less bullet points make your important points stand out)

Which font?? 

(Courier-organised and structured, Comic sands-funny)

Aesthetic, readability (give a hand out of you want them to read things), size, save as a PDF

Can use a grid for the layout of presentations

Colour schemes?

Greyscale stops people being distracted by the background...headings on top and bottom of title and name

www.kuler.adobe.com - colour schemes eg. plum and friends

Images?

Include relevant images, don't put in distractions

Be careful of the positioning of the type so that they are readable... could maybe lighten up the image if it isn't an important part

Only important images

Transitions?

Fade is good

Keep it simple

Always deliver a presentation that you would want to sit through, empathise with your audience!

Day 6: Tuesday

Today we were planning out what we were going to graffiti. I decided that I wasn't enjoying creating graffiti writing so thought I could use this experience to illustrate something. These faces have been something which has evolved through my continuous line drawing this year at university but further more inspired by other artists and influences. 
Whilst walking along the Berlin wall there were many gaunt faces like these and furthermore I was particularly affected by a conversation with Felix. He was explaining about after the Berlin wall falling that the East Berliners had to adapt to a capitalist society. This got me contemplating capitalism. Also a conversation with a stall owner at the Berlin Mauer Park where I bought a red-indian leather belt. He told me that I was only allowed to wear this belt with leather shoes and that shoes like converse are made by unethical corporations. Although this was very extreme it is true that I was at a market, buying lots of things that I liked the look of but had no idea I was going to fumble across and aren't essential to my life.

This made me want to illustrate this with ugly/ demonesque/ haunted/ unhappy faces (figures) coming out of the 'capitalist flame' which is engulfing them because consumerism/ want/spending is the fuel of the fire.

I had an idea of what I wanted my image to look like (the colour schemes etc) but released that a lot of refinement was in need. Blue and yellow are complimentary colours and are very striking next to each other. They blues are also a nice contrast to the warmth of the flames in the mid-ground and the yellow is used in both.

Straight away Felix said that it would work even better if it was in prospective. For example the faces are closer up and then further away. He also said that the purse didn't look good and that I should find a photo to use as reference.

I struggled to find photos for reference in the 3/4 view that I wanted so thought I could use my own purse to get the gist, however he told me that it didn't look real as it looks like it was about to fall over! My characters had started to become their own. I also realised that the best faces were the ones with the usual shapes chins and with one eyebrow higher than the other and that same eye larger than the other (mental note to incorporate these features in the development). Also drawing on my figurative drawing I thought I could make the faces even more gaunt by adding hatching.

At this point I realised how important it was to really know what you were drawing and how to draw it. This image isn't real, yet somehow Felix wants me to create something that is realistic. For example drawing a purse with flames coming out of it. You really need to know your forms to know which areas would be dark and which bits would be covered to be able to make something imaginary look realistic. This is a skill I realise I haven't tried before so this purse was challenging. 

I realised at this point that this piece was going to be a task and a half. It was going to be too much to handle for someone who had never picked up a spray can before. It made me wonder whether I needed 6 faces to get my message across or whether I could simplify it to 3 for example.

At this point Felix suggested that to create a 3 Dimensional illusion there are tricks for example having that flames coming in from of the faces (cutting off the neck or the chin). 

I found that if I was more bold with my fire, it created a more solid shape and from my thumbnails I realised that I liked it when the flames created a parallel line with faces, which frames the image almost on a diagonal.

I was quite pleased with this purse. To say that today I came from that really basic clasp sketch to this was tonal qualities of an object I have never studied before, I am impressed with myself. 

I have also added greater tonal quality through using black and white to really create a striking contrast in the image.

Furthermore I wanted to create more of an overlap with the flames and the figures... there is more room to develop this.

I realised that the purse and the flames were developing but the characters needed work. I wanted to keep so line qualities in the faces like cross hatching and dots because it makes it interesting to have some pattern as well as blocks. I also tried to fill in part of the shadow side with block dark blue and yellow for the light.

Felix suggested being even bolder and filling in that half of the face. I really like this and I didn't think I was going to. It makes the figures seem even more deshevled but the introduction of blocks for the light is also very affective. The whites of the eyes are also very important because it draws attention to their expressions. At this point the figures have become quite Picasso and distorted but I really like the way that they have developed. The contrast of the black and the white on the faces is also very important.

This is the final design. I would not leave the studio until this was finished! I am really happy with how this piece has developed and quite suppressed really but thats what a focused 6.5 hours work can do! I drew the faces and then the flames and asked for a final bit of advice. 
Felix said that I should have a brown Gucci purse. I really wasn't convinced that adding another colour into the image is a good idea (there are already 7) but it seems that in Graffiti art it doesn't matter and actually the brown makes this a much better well rounded and balanced piece. He also said a little trick he knew for flames was to make the edges wiggling because it create the affect of movement, as if they were flickering and to add white to create the blindingly bright effect. His final point of advice was to make the necks of the figures seem as if they were flames as well and to lose the outline of the chin. I agree with the flames but I am not sure how I feel about losing the chins. They were an important part of the character design and without them the face would lose its elongates shape? But perhaps it would still work, this may be something I need to try?

After looking at graffiti around Berlin and seeing so many pieces of graffiti I feel like I have an understanding of what is capable from the spray can (from the BEST graffiti writers) so I can imagine this being on a wall. HOWEVER I need to make sure that I don't have perfectionist, high expectations for this as it is my first ever piece and although I want it to look amazing every single little part is going to be difficult...

Day 7: Wednesday

We ended up being quite time restrained so we ended up painting on plastic which we wrapped around 2 poles rather than a wall.

There is a famous German graffiti artist by the name of Bond who uses this plastic wrap in natural places like the woods. He doesn't use a background so that the trees can be seen through the cellophane. Bond is know for creating really intricate beautiful unusual pieces ( which I personally really like). Because he is creating these designs on plastic he is not committing a criminal offence AND he has as long as he likes to create these images.

This is by far the biggest piece of art I have ever contemplated creating! It was like a bodywork out creating! It also proved extremely difficult as it took 2x 6 hours creating in 32' sunlight shinning on my back allllll day. I had to apply suncream every 2 hours but I managed to avoid sunburn...just about!

We started off by "sketching" our design in our lightest colour. This was quite challenging as it is so damn huge! You had to keep stepping back (knocking over the spray cans every time) to review the markings. This was the first time I had ever used a spray can before and i'm glad that we sketched first as my lines were soooooooo fat as I was figuring out how to control the lines. Basically the closer you hold it to the surface, the thinner the line... However you must make sure that you don't apply too much pressure or it will be thick, bumpy and run.

Then we outlined our sketches in our darkest colour (not black). This immediately was helpful as you could actually see what you were doing! These are still sketches. 

The crazy thing about graffiti (which I'm not used to) is that you cover all of your lines. Filling is actually difficult as its so difficult getting a sharp outline. We flicked between skinny caps and thick caps... we would fill with the white tops and then outline with the green tops. 

Also it is not necessary to fill a whole surface if there are going to be another colour on top. This saves ink... spray cans cost a lot of money and if you don't have enough cans of one colour you have to improvise. 

Something I have learnt is that I wouldnt make a good illegal writer because I had to have a break every hour because my finger would cramp up and I would no longer beable to get any spray out of the can. This was horrible my finger was killing but I still had another day and a half to repeat the painful action (fingernail hurt when pushing for days after I was back in England haha). I blame having small hands... means that I have limited control over the spray can and a lot of strain. 

Although I didn't create a piece of graffiti writing like we were recommended, I still used some of the aspects. For example the overlapping (having the fire come over the figures, like letters overlapping). 

The fire was something which was improvised slightly, with introduction of a different colour of yellow and a white to make the fire even hotter! The fire was created buy something called 'cutting'. Here you would create wiggles in one colour and then with the other colour spray sharply to make angular/pointy/specific edges... like you're chipping away from the other side. Which is quite bizzare to think about because the for-ground colour isn't what you expect because it is cut from the colour under neath it. Felix did the light yellow cutting...

I wanted to experiment with if I could make the edges of the fire better... another level of hot but this maroon colour didn't work... it made the fire look heavy.

I made the decision that I was going to drop the yellow circles on the face because they did't have any meaning but also the figures look striking without them. 

Day 8: Thursday

I then started with the darker filling...It is difficult seeing the black on top of the dark blue, it is less noticable than in my drawings. I decided that I was going to make the figures seem like they were coming out of the fire in the blue as well. Here is a good example of the dark blue flames before they are cut.

It was also time to fill the background,. This was really useful to see how the image was going to work. The background is where collaboration is involved. You really need to consider how all of the different pieces tye together (when considering a wall). We decided that purples weren't used in anyones colours. I originally couldn't see this being a good idea because it was introducing another colour to the piece BUT it actually makes the image stand out even more. 
The box was particularly difficult to get in proportion and drawn correctly. It is really hard drawing angles at this size, especially when the surface is so bumpy and you're trying to draw a straight line!

Drawing the eyes in was a stressful process as Felix did it all how he want, how it was accurate to draw an eye but I didn't want that. I wanted my stylised swirls. I then had to spray over them (no rubbers). He also wiped out my stripes. They were my interpretation of stylising the image but he wanted to add contours, similar to something being a woodcut. After he had explained this to me I quite liked it so chose to apply this to all the faces. It also replicates the similar shapes of the fire. 
At this point I then moved onto the Gucci purse. The straight lines were sooooooo hard and I had to repreat them sooo many times. I am also not happy with the Gucci logo but I only had one shot to do it because otherwise I would have to re-do the whole purse and I didn't have time... I have learnt that with Graffiti you cannot be a perfectionist. Especially graffiti writers, they have to have speed as to not be caught!

Then came the very stressful outline. You really only get one shot at this, at getting a neat and clear line... This was scary and I did everything possible to avoid this BUT in the end it had to be done... It took 1 minute and then it was finished! I also decided that it was important to make the heads rounder.

As you can see in this image. I applied too much pressure to the spray can when I was trying to draw the outlines. You needed to hold the can close to the surface to reduced the extra spray and create a thin line. From a distance you can't see these lines and Felix kept reminding me that Graffiti is an impression from a distance. The worst was when it was windy... you had to wait for the wind to pass. I guess the surface of a wall has different advantages and disadvantages. For example we wouldn't have been working on a virgin surface (one which was clean) and we would have to create our design on top of someone else's design which is a skill in itself.

Also the surface of the plastic wasn't easy to work on at all. It was unbelievably bumpy which was difficult to draw shapes onto. You have to fill buy spraying up and down to make sure all of the plastic was covered. Also the outlines of shapes went over the bumps and this was hard to work on. 

Furthermore after the first day, the second day sagged the plastic and it was droopy and had to be held up with tape. I also had the middle image so it sagged the most.

However I appreciate that this was a legal way of creating a surface to create an image and even though there were difficulties it still looks good as a result and maybe is something I could make in my garden?

The final thing to complete was to make the coins. Here Felix showed me how to make the coin look real. This included putting the spray can at one angle and making there be a gradual fade. I also had to make the money sign. I chose the euro (being in Germany and the current Brexit situation). I had to draw the Euro sign on the news paper about 5 times before I was happy that it was the right angles and I had to cover it all up and start again once. 
It really makes me sad that this didn't stay up very long. I am a hoarder and used to keeping everything...every single sketch, every single photograph. The only thing I have as a record is a photograph... This is what Graffiti writers have ( a black book- I made my own of all the graffiti I have seen around Berlin from Bonusprint).

Over all I am extremely happy with my piece of Graffiti. It took me a long time to create and I am surprised at how good it looks especially considering it was the first time I held a spray can. I am very inspired to so something like this back in England but I appreciate it takes a lot of planning and expense buying all of the different materials. I would also have to do it alone without guidance. However now I have done it once I really want to do it again and get better and try new things with the material.

Once I was finished I helped finish another girls piece of Graffiti writing as she missed a day because she was "ill". This was good fun because she didn't have a plan as solid as mine so there was room for improvisation. Also I then had a chance to work with letters, adding a marbling effect which I had learnt from the cutting and side spraying from my piece. I also had an understanding on how to make things sharp and have control of the spray can. She basically did the filling and the sketches. 

 This was an official certificate presented to me for participating :) Apparently it contributes to 6 ETCS credits however I feel that I have got waaaaaay more out of it than whatever that is.

• I have experimented with a new medium
• Met new people from all over Europe (Russia, Spain, America, Germany, Holland, Turkish)
• Been introduced to a whole cultural scene
• Met an inspirational illustrator/Graffiti writer
• Inspired to learn German better and how important languages are (ridiculous the fluency of English they can all speak and that I can only get by in German)

This is something I discovered afterwards by Aline Zamanova afterwards. This is from an editorial for NAKID magazine where the editorial "Overdose" is 'depicting the irony and ugly aesthetics of human beings and inspired by Ugliness and Beauty in our inner sense and our bodies'. The explanation of this is very similar to what I was trying to portray and fire and devils are obviously a good way of depicting this is deems. Funnily enough it is also created on clear plastic but I think it is acryllic paint rather than spray paint.