Studio Brief 1 - Presentation

SCRIPT

Visual metaphors and emotional connections

·      This year I have been focusing on how to communicate sensitive topics in a subtle, sensitive and sophisticated tone of voice. I have tackled both the rights of women and the Remain point of view regarding Brexit through visual metaphors.

·      I have always begun projects by thoroughly researching and investigating the topics before then struggling to turn writing and reading into imagery. What I have found from these 2 projects is the importance and power of identifying specific words for moving a project on. For example, in the Brexit brief the project stemmed from the words dead ends, cutting ties, fragility and the Atwood the concepts of speechlessnes , no rights and sexist dystopian society.

·      I have also learnt about the importance of media for my work and how much power the materials can have. This has led to me wonder if I am perhaps an Image maker more than an Illustrator . I feel that, although I do have my own recognisable visual language, perhaps my making is more to do with what story the media wants to tell and then the aesthetic comes as a result rather than creating work in one particular way?

·      Researching the topics of women’s rights and Brexit has been really interesting and the projects have helped further my understanding. In both I have tried to portray a thoughtful perspective that although is biased isn’t disrespecting other opinions.

·      I have been exploring editorial. I found this very stressful as, for me, it takes a long time to process all of the research and information when in the world of editorial illustration, you have a very short period of time to turn these images around. Perhaps this will come with time and I have been finding strategies to get started on a brief. Faster, for example with Hookworms.

·      I also find in hard refining my imagery from all my experiments. For example for my Margaret Atwood, person of note, I couldn’t produce 5 final images. Sometimes I work but I produced a zine in which each double page was chosen, through imagery, to make people think about the themes the book was covering. I am not really sure where Zines fit into the creative world. They are coloured, often wordless or word limited, publications which I believe can be thought provoking and powerful but are niche and specific. For example I interviewed someone from the world of publishing and she had never heard of them before.

Future and context

·      The concepts of depth, empathy and simplicity are things which I would like to continue to explore and experiment with next year.

·      However, I don’t think I would like to pursue political or socio-political illustration because there is so much that I don’t understand as things go out of date so quickly and BREXIT was just of specific personal interest. Instead, still applying these concepts, I would like to steer my practice towards the music industry and the communication and promotion of music.

·      From what I have learnt in this module I would like to develop how art can express and visualise the emotion, sound and atmosphere of music without being too literal and clichéd. Perhaps I could explore articles which discuss music and respond to these?

Simplicity and Design

·      Simplicity and design are things which I began to explore across my practice this year but I have realised that combining text and imagery does not come naturally to me. It is something which I have been battling with throughout university because personally I love patterns, colour and vibrancy and so find it quite difficult to refine my images. I definitely feel like I am getting better.

·      I began exploring this is the Hookworms live brief project where I realised that I needed to work digitally. Although this was out of my comfort zone it really helped me improve my digital skills eg Learning how to use Illustrator and Drape on Photoshop. These are transferable skills which could be important to anything that I do in the future

·      This was also a different way of working for me in that it was more aesthetic orientated. I detached myself and only really carried out visual rather than textual research. This allowed me to start straight away which was progress in itself. It also made it a different project which was centred around the impact and graphic design of the posters.

Future and context

·      I really appreciate how important composition and graphic design skills are within the music industry. Posters and album covers are the main and most important ways to communicate a band’s identity and to promote the band and their music. Therefore, balancing text against imagery is something I really need to explore further and get more comfortable with.

·      I enjoyed refining my images and creating a visual identity for their band which was separate to that of my band “Badmash” but also was still my visual language. This is something which is important to recognise because if this was a commission the band would want a poster that was in keeping with their existing identity.

·      I much prefer analogue image making, it has always been the natural way of me working both with writing and planning as well as creating artwork. However sometimes it isn’t appropriate for example the Hookworms music definitely translated to digital. It was also brought to my attention through interviews with people in the music industry that although analogue can look really good, it takes a lot of time to create and when trying to make money, time is very precious.

Conversation between analogue and digital

·      For my COP this year I have been investigating the concept of aura by applying it to the collecting and the rejuvenation of bluegrass album covers and how this is affected by analogue and digital

·      This is something which I am really interested in because it theoretically combines the discussion my work has between analogue and digital but applies it to music and specifically investigating one music genre which I wanted to learn more about

·      I am exploring the combination or rejection of analogue and digital media in my own practice to think about when, how and why they can work well and enhance each other but also when and why they are less effective and appropriate.

·      I have begun creating some reportage style drawings of sporting and music events. These have been exploring capturing the atmosphere and movement of events and have been appreciated by the organisers afterwards.

Future and context

·      From my interviews with people in the music industry I have been advised that it is very important to create art work for music genres which you feel a personal connection to and passion for ie. you enjoy and like them.

·      I think I would like to steer next years’ COP into the direction of exploring aura and authenticity in relation to live music performances. Trying to discuss how analogue and digital can communicate different aesthetics and how being at a gig creates different imagery than from a photograph afterwards. I feel that this would help me create a portfolio of different work which, as advised by my interviewees, I could then send to the different performers or bands to start getting myself out there in the music scene.

·      This is something I will also continue to do for sport events as there is a very active social media presence around these events, linked to large communities of club members (of whatever sport). As well as exploring this in terms of image making, this could be another way of broadening the number of people who might be brought into viewing my portfolio. Music lovers are everywhere and those who do sport are employed in a wide range of industries, including music.

·      Drawing after watching music events is something which I have really enjoyed doing and want to keep developing. I have a few things lined up which I want to try and capture, for example the Green Man Festival and Edinburgh Fringe as well as local events.

Application of professional practice in the real world

·      I have been part of my band called Badmash for a year and a half now and over this time have created all of the promotional material for us. This has meant that I have built up a recognisable visual identity for the band. It has been a good challenge creating a variety of different outcomes around one theme in a low pressure environment.

·      I have created posters, tickets, album and single artwork, logo, t-shirts and earrings.

·      I have worked along-side the art person at the Library pub, creating a poster inspired by 3 examples sent to me so that it fits with the venue’s aesthetic and standard but also allowed me some freedom.

·      I have created both analogue and digital covers and posters and realised that digitisation looks much more professional than analogue, which has led me to work hard on my digital skills within modules.

·      I have learnt about the risk involved in creating merchandise and the careful budgeting needed. For example, investing in buying things like t-shirts in bulk and then having to sell them. I created a budget and worked out the best value per t-shirt, thought about which sizes were most likely to be bought, what price I needed to set and how many I needed to sell to break even and how important it is to know if t-shirts have been given out and payed for.

·      I realise that selling to friends is only a start. The goal is to end up selling things to strangers. I appreciate that this is a long term and difficult aspiration and will require me to gain a reputation and a pull for my goods. This will require me to develop a visibility both offline and online.

·      I have also created cards and zines, which I have been trying to sell. As told by the people I have interviewed I need to grow a hard shell because there is likely to be a lot of rejection and lack of success. I have opened an etsy shop this year and it hasn’t really taken off… I have made cards and gone into a few shops which were very vague or told me that it was the wrong time of year or even to leave the cards with them and they would contact me later. However there have been one or two glimmers of success. For example my music zine is on sale in Jumbo records in town.

Planning for the future

·      In terms of working independently beyond University, one of the most powerful activities was the spreadsheet study task. I shocked myself with the amount of money which I spend each year at uni. Because of this I appreciate that I will need to make some adjustments to my life style if I am to stay in Leeds and live and work independently. I have become aware of the budget items I have little opportunity to change, for example rent or car insurance. Therefore, to realistically support myself, I feel there is only a very slim chance I will be able to just work freelance as part of the music industry and so I need to have another job to help me.

·      I have learnt this by being part of the Bean Train Gang which deteriorated part way through this year. This was a semi- professional, not a University, band. Although I was in it for the enjoyment some of the musicians were free-lancers and gigging was how they earned money. I learnt about dividing up money between the members and how there isn’t a lot left over for free-lance illustrators for small local bands. Being part of this community I got to meet other band members through different gigs and watching my band members perform with different groups. Now that I am not part of the folk community I have lost this networking opportunity. I was also creating artwork for Bean Train gang when we broke up and I appreciate that, if I had been commissioned, I would have lost that money and hence the danger of working for bands in the music industry.

·      I really enjoyed researching the mobile art therapy centre in the group project and have signed up to volunteer at the art therapy centre called Inkwell in Chapel Allerton next year. I would perhaps like to pursue something art therapy related after university as well and so need to explore what further training and experience I need, as well as which paid employment might help me gain useful experience for this. I am considering working as a Teaching Assistant in schools or training in Counselling and maybe working for a charity. I would hope that this could be part-time work and training which would still leave space for me to continue with my music industry activities.

·      I hope that by the end of next year I have a strong collection of a range of different posters, drawings and pieces which are all centred around music and explore different aspects of music in different visual ways. I hope that I will have built an online portfolio and digital presence and that I will have built local network connections to those in the music industry to develop this as a line of paid work.