Summer

This summer I'm going travelling through Europe. Not sure exactly where I will be and when but I'm looking forward to
finding out where my feet will take me. The plan is to get a coach, through France and Spain ending up in Porto, Portugal
after something like a 33 hour trip. Where my Dad has bought an abandoned building. Which he intends to renovate into a
cafe/bar. But while they wait for planning permission. I plan to turn it into my base of operations for this summers adventures.

As I said I have no set in stone plan about where I have to be or a what time. However at the moment it's looking likely
that as well as Portugal I'll be spending time in; Spain, France, Austria, and possibly Croatia, Ibiza, and anywhere else I
can manage to get to. especially considering I don't plan on flying anywhere unless I have to.

I just don't wanna be in England anymore. I'm ready for a change of scenery. And I look forward to coming back for my trip
with some new inspirations and insights that I can put into my work.

The plan for my trip is essentially, first and foremost;

• Spend the entire summer out of the country.  
•  Go to as many different places as possible whilst spending as little money as possible 
• Try and come home with some money left.

Life of Pi

Life of Pi by Yann Martel published 2001. The story follows a young boys esacape on from a shipwreck on a lifeboat accompanied by a group of wild animals. I think the book explores ideas about how the human mind deals with trauma and the lengths man can go to when really pressed. I must admit I was also influenced by the film as the imagery and cinematography is hard to ignore.

I didn't use tracing paper when creating this image as i wanted to be really meticulous about the way the animals flowed into each other. Instead using photographs slowly built up the image drawing the animals one by one whilst using the surrounding lines to help me with my placement. 

I found to my surprise that the tiger and zebra were the easiest to draw because of the stripes, where I thought the tiger and zebra would most difficult because of the stripes. But I found that the stripes of the animals really help to show the movement of the animals and the shapes under their skin. 

Once I completed My drawing I inked it and scanned it in to photoshop. Where I added water to the image in photo shop using the brush tool and then taking away parts of to create the raged edges of the water. In this piece I wanted to experiment more with my photoshop skills so I added a dot to the water which I thought worked really well to give a transparent effect. I also added the sun in the background using photoshop.

I feel that this piece of work is a great end to the year for me as for me it is the best piece of work I have ever produced. I think it's not only the best drawing but also the best screen print I have ever done.

When Drawing this piece I wanted to try to make sure that I used my line work and the black within the final screen print to more of an effect. I tried to approach this by adding more small detail to my drawing before the scanning process. as I can now create my layers without losing much detail within my drawings where as before some fine details could be lost. I used dots to create tone within the image, which is a technique I have used before but that I kind of forgot I had in my arsenal.

When it came to screen printing this piece I used my new registration method of first placing a guide in a light yellow/white colour. When I put the orange of the tiger over this it created an intersting yellow effect over the light yellow I had used for my guide, which is an idea I want to explore further within my next prints. 

King

I created this image while I was catching up with my reading. it is a revised version of an old image I had previously tried to make. When creating this piece I incorporated another new technique into my work. an idea that I am quite proud of at is has made a vast improvement on my registration technique. My new method is t print my black layer first but instead of printing it in black I first print it in a very light off white colour so that I can only just see it on the page. Which then gives me a guide  when it comes down to where I should place my layer with much less difficulty.

This was my original design for this piece which I revised, by making both heads the same and and changing the design slightly, generally using my improved drawing skills to improve the image. as well as this I also used my increased knowledge in photoshop, which is something I have spent a lot of time developing, to add straight lines and other aspects of the design that I felt could be easier and more effective to do in photoshop.

 I feel this piece is a prime example of how my way of thinking has changed and improved when it comes to how I am going to design and complete my pieces as well as how I can achieve the finished product to the best of my abilities. With the strides I have made with my screen printing technique I really feel confident going forward that I can produce a large amount of high quality prints. 

White Fang

'White Fang' by Jack London first published in 1906. The story follows a half wild wolf dog, from a somewhat canine perspective allowing London to think about life from an animals point of view, how the view the world and how the view humanity. As well as as this I think the book definitely explores ideas or morality, loyalty and redemption.

I started this piece by drawing a wolfs head which I developed using source material although as well as this I think I was influenced stylistically by all the wolves that I regularly see in tattoos and other media. Fur is always something that I have struggled to draw as I have found that it can be difficult to replicate the way that fur hangs as well as its softness.

I then traced the image further developing the wolf, I ended up losing about half the hair on the sides of the wolf's face. As well as this I added a mountain range and a moon for the background as I thought these two things really helped to represent the book. Once my drawing was complete I used my old method of creating layers as I planned to print on to black paper and therefore wanted to leave gaps where black should be within the image. 

I thought this piece looked really good on black paper and I was pleased that this experiment had worked as I wasn't sure what my colours would turn out like on black paper. Using my old technique was effective in that as I wanted it to it left gaps for where I wanted my black areas to be withing the image, although it made it slightly more difficult to registrate. I feel this image is a good example of how my drawing skill has improved slightly over the year as well as my screen printing ability.

Animal Farm

With this print it was the first time I tried a new technique when it came to creating my layers, and therefore a new look at registrating my layers. Before when I created my layers, I just filled in the gaps between my lines with black, leaving white gaps where my black lines would be printed. Although this method was successful, I believed my new method would be an improvement.

My new method to create layers, is to use the pen tool in photoshop to follow the lines of my drawings. But rather than going to the edge of my lines, using the pen tool I can create layers that spill halfway into the lines, therefore leaving me with some margin for error when it comes to registrating.

When drawing this piece I thought a lot about things mentioned in my review. And as advised I tried to make sure that I looked at and gathered a lot of source material as well as including a more detailed background. as these were things that seemed to be missing from my portfolio. So I gathered many images to base my image on. for example I looked at and sketched pigs, windmills, houses, bushes anything I could think of to build my image.

I wanted to show the pig 'Napoleon' from the book, and he was somewhat of a dictator in the book, I wanted to reference the real napoleon to this image. I tried to recreate the background of the left image, with an 'Animal Farm' theme. And the clothes I dressed Napoleon the pig were influenced by the right image.

 

I built my drawing up over many layers, using tracing paper to draw different parts of the image and then bring them together to create my overall image. Drawing the bushes and path which I sourced from a photograph and then adding the house, windmill, and pig separately. This technique of using tracing paper create my images in different layers is a new technique to me and one that I think is very effective and enjoyable. By using this method of building up my drawings I am able to think and plan my layouts more carefully and as well as this it gives me many opportunities at different stages of the process where I can rework the image and try different possibilities. It's kind of like photoshop without the computer.

Once I brought the drawing together I created my layers using my new method, which was painstakingly long. and continued to screen print.

I had endless problems with this print. My screen broke down at every stage of the print which meant that it took far too long to complete. as well as this I had some issues with my new layering technique, I followed my lines too closely with the pen tool which created odd looking shapes that were difficult to registrate. In future I plan to simplify the shapes of the layers which I think will vastly improve the success rate of my new technique.  

Secret Wars

 Went to 'Secret Walls'. formerly known as 'Secret Wars' which is an live art battle between two teams of two artists who are pitted against each other in a bid to create the best piece. There are no rules about what the pieces should be about.

It's interesting to see artists working like this as they have to think quickly about what they are going to do and be completely confident in the mark they are making to be able to complete a good piece within the time limit.

RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR THE COMPETITION

• 90 minutes on the battle clock
• Only black SW special markers and black acrylic paint can be used as battle weapons
• No pencils / sketches should be on stage or used as reference
• Each artist has to stay within the allocated space, if they creep over then there will be a 1 point deduction
• Battles are judged by 2 nominated and neutral guest judges + crowd vote (3 point system) (using a decibel reader)
• Hosted on giant white walls

Personal Project

For my project this year, I plan to create screen prints influenced by books that I read over the year. I find it very interesting to try and create imagery that represents the books well. I want to try and create images so that people have a chance of guessing where I got my ideas from. As well as this I want to develop my drawing and screen printing skills. I want to try and spend longer on each of my pieces so that I can try to create something to the best of my abilities. Over the year I want to try different techniques and ideas I feel I could potentially incorporate into my work on a more permanent basis.

Symmetry

At this point I still wasn't entirely sure what I was going to do but some plans were developing. With this piece I wanted to take what i'd learned from my experimentations with my earlier print and develop them further. Also I wanted to experiment with using symmetry within my work.

As with before I started by making sketches unsure of what exactly i wanted to draw but as is often the case I ended up drawing characters. Although I have been looking a lot at 'The Yok' lately, and i think i can see some influences from within his work as well as maybe some influence from Adam Smith.

When I had finished with the drawing I then scanned it into to photoshop and mirrored the image. While I was there I threw some colour schemes at the image and ended up with something like this. although in the end I decided to take away the brown in the horns and left them white as i thought they looked more like branches than horns in the final image. 

 While working in photoshop I also experimented with adding different backgrounds. I really like the idea of this weird conjoined twin creature that I created imposed upon these different and impressive landscapes.


I was pleased with what I learnt while making this piece. Symmetry is something that I think works really well and is some that I would like to incorporate further within my work. Unfortunately I didn't really progress with my experimentation with the backgrounds although this is something I could think about within the future.

I LOVE BAJS..

This was my first print of the year. At this point in the year I was unsure what project I wanted to do over the year. So I did this piece as a way to experiment with a few ideas and get some work done while I was deciding how to progress.

I started by taking this sketch from my sketch book which I had intended to use for my side-project 'Bajs'. Me and a friend have started a little t-shirt company where we make and print our own t-shirts. 

The concept behind the piece was some kind of poster design. But as I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do for my project over the year, what I really wanted from this piece was to experiment with something that I hadn't tried before.

After tidying up and penning my image I scanned it in and using Illustrator I tried out different colour possibilities for the print. With this piece I wanted to try and create something that looked good while only using a few colours. As recently I have been thinking a lot about how artists, for example Drew Millward, who often when printing only uses a few different colours, but still achieves an impressive outcome. As well as this I also wanted to try using a block of colour as a background.

During the printing process I decided to change from the dark red to a lighter yellow as it made it much easier to registrate as it meant that I could print over the top of the background rather then laying it on later. I found that using less layers makes it much easier to reigistrate successfully therefore giving a nice clean image which of course looks good. I also thought that having a block of colour was really nice as it really made the rest of the image pop especially with a light colour for the background as well as giving a framing effect and creating a much more finished element within the piece. 

Windmill

Mr Frederick Charles Ottaway built this windmill around about 1917, at Wainui Beach, on the seaward side of the road and opposite the present Chalet Rendezvous. It was built of timber and flattened kerosene tins and stood for some time before being demolished after the death of the owner. It was used for grinding flour and cutting wood, and appeared on marine charts at the time as a navigational aid. Sails were fitted on to the blades when the machine was in use. Mr Ottoway can be seen at the lower right in the picture. The photo comes from Mrs H. V. Isles, Grey Street. - image and info found at http://photonews.org.nz

I wanted to find a Windmill from around this time period so I can get as close as I can to the type of windmill the animals might have built in animal farm. Also this one is handmade. 

In the end I drew a slightly different style of windmill more for aesthetic effect.

Connan Mockasin - Forever Dolphin Love

Connan Mockasin - Forever Dolphin Love (Erol Alkan's Extended Rework Version 2) from metaldance on Vimeo.

Saw this today. Not really my kind of music but I kinda like it, goes well with the video...

'Animal farm' - George Orwell

I read this book having previously read, and not enjoyed, another Orwell book '1984'.

Animal farm is novel exploring the idea of human nature and its similarities to the animal world. I believe the core message of the book is to say, that power can corrupt the most steadfast of man. That while original intentions may be for the best of all, that greed a power can change the way man thinks about himself, those around him, his peers and life in general.

In the book the animals agree on a core of rules that are in the best interest of all the animals on the farm. And how napoleon the leader of animal farm corrupted by greed and power adapted and changes the rules to suit his own needs and purposes. The animals tried so hard to take themselves apart from the humans and the societal mistakes made by their previous masters, humanity. But in the end the animals appointed leaders, the pigs, namely napoleon became just as bad if not worse than the human masters they rebelled against.

The book reminded me a lot of roman politics, which obviously lends itself to the idea of modern day politics. In that the animals were reigned over using lies and fear to govern and control them. I believe Orwell's book is as relevant to modern day society as it ever was and will remain to be relevant.

Animal Farm is set in an unspecified time period and is largely free from historical references that would allow the reader to date the action precisely. It is fair to assume, however, that Orwell means the fable to be contemporaneous with the object of its satire, the Russian Revolution (1917–1945).

Sweden

For New Years I flew to Sweden. As a surprise Christmas present.

I stayed with Claes at his parents house in Vallentuna, a suburb of Stockholm. I didn't have loads of money to spend so options were a little bit limited. Looked around the city and Vallentuna. Overall had a pretty chilled holiday.

It was interesting to be surrounded by Swedish speaking people so much but i managed to get by, my swinglish is getting better.