Websites:
James Gulliver Hancock - jamesgulliverhancock.com (15.06.14)
Guggenheim - www.guggenheim.org (10.10.14)
Eric Rosner - erosner.com (23.06.14)
Jo Peel - www.jopeel.com (01.09.14)
Claire Rollet - www.clairerollet.com (08.09.14)
Julia Rothman - www.juliarothman.com (22.09.14)
Jessica Hogarth - jessicahogarth.com (06.09.14)
Met Museum - www.metmuseum.org (20.10.14)
I Love New York - www.iloveny.com (21.10.14)
Charlotte Farmer - www.charlotte-farmer.co.uk (12.11.14)
Street Fashion Style - www.thesfstyle.com (17.11.14)
Owen Sherwood - www.owensherwood.com (19.12.14)
Whitney Museum - whitney.org (07.01.15)
Gina Hollingsworth - cargocollective.com/ginahollingsworth (14.01.15)
Tuesday, 19 May 2015
Tuesday, 3 February 2015
Summary Of The Project
The final piece for my project is collection of posters which, among other outcomes, promote my arts exhibition of New York. The posters all have a similar layout, containing the same text and logo which I had come up with but have different designs. The title of the exhibition, "In A New York Minute" was paper cut in the style of Gina Hollingsworth where the paper was partially cut and then folded out to complete each letter. I then photographed this with various images I had created in this project behind each of the letters, this showed my images as works that would be held in the exhibition. The information on the posters and the designs would be placed on top of this photograph.
One design is an illustration of Manhattan buildings I had drawn in the sketchy style of Eric Rosner but the layering of the buildings and how I had laid them out had been inspired by some works of Julia Rothman. This illustration was scanned in and coloured with shades of a grey/beige colour to give it shadowing. I had experimented with a range of colours, some much brighter but the subtle look of it seemed to work best. I was really quite happy with how it turned out as despite the use of the same techniques as certain artists, I felt the style was a unique combination of influences that made the outcome personal.
I did another drawing based upon New York buildings for the second poster yet this was mostly influenced by my research into Jess Hogarth. I used more neat, defined lines to create this bolder work with a select colour scheme mostly taken from another of her works. Because Hogarth hadn't drawn many skyscrapers in her work, I had to refer to my research of James Gulliver Hancock and his style has a part in this illustration of mine particularly within the lines and marks I had made to show detail.
For the final poster, the artwork was a portrait of a New York looking friend of mine done in the style of Owen Sherwood. The New York hat causes the subject to seem like they are from the city and therefore it showed my exhibition wasn't just about the places in New York but also the people. I first made a rough tracing of the face before applying water colours, these were similar to the photo but I made the skin quite pale and the clothing bolder. When I scanned it in to put together on the poster I increased the vibrance.
The designs on each one of these photos were different for a reason. If one design didn't appeal to some people they may still be drawn towards the others. Being as the exhibition was open to the public, the promotion would be directed at a large audience and so one poster couldn't attract everyone's attention.
I think the three go well together, the same paper cut title on each one makes them look like a set and this also matches some other products I had produced for the exhibition. Not only the folded-out paper-cut title causes the advertising materials to look 3D, I put a shadow around the edge of each design so it looked on top of the poster. Each one I felt seemed to really stand out for these reasons and that is the main objective of a poster. I believed the Owen Sherwood styled design of the New York looking person was the weakest of the designs. Although Sherwood's method of illustration is quite sketchy, my work was too messy and I could have re-done it better had I more time.
In terms of this whole project, I covered a range of New York things to illustrate from buildings to people and used a selection of techniques and methods to produce outcomes, some of these proved better than others.
One of the most successful parts in the project was developing patterns based upon my research of Julia Rothman and Jess Hogarth. Because I did these mostly digitally, there was many ways I could keep developing to produce new images, some quite abstract ones. I then liked combining the patterns with photography to create some original works. Generally the use of a computer to colour and edit illustrations seems to be effective for me in this project when re-producing works of some artists such as James Gulliver Hancock and Claire Rollet.
I only really studied two people/character artists in this project, Owen Sherwood and Charlotte Farmer of which were very different. This meant I found it hard to develop my illustrations of people. Some smaller drawings I had done were not great or didn't have a professional finish. If I had spent more time researching the artists then the outcomes would have been of a better quality. I therefore wish I spent less time looking at the buildings of the city and focused on different aspects such as the people, music and culture of the city which I had only touched upon. I could have also at least experimented with combing illustrations of people with the buildings.
All the same, I believe I have answered the brief of the project, I have produced promotional materials for the exhibition as well as branding for it and the museum itself. Furthermore, I put together a selection of 'gift shop' items to be sold such as mugs, postcards and phone cases.
The designs on each one of these photos were different for a reason. If one design didn't appeal to some people they may still be drawn towards the others. Being as the exhibition was open to the public, the promotion would be directed at a large audience and so one poster couldn't attract everyone's attention.
I think the three go well together, the same paper cut title on each one makes them look like a set and this also matches some other products I had produced for the exhibition. Not only the folded-out paper-cut title causes the advertising materials to look 3D, I put a shadow around the edge of each design so it looked on top of the poster. Each one I felt seemed to really stand out for these reasons and that is the main objective of a poster. I believed the Owen Sherwood styled design of the New York looking person was the weakest of the designs. Although Sherwood's method of illustration is quite sketchy, my work was too messy and I could have re-done it better had I more time.
In terms of this whole project, I covered a range of New York things to illustrate from buildings to people and used a selection of techniques and methods to produce outcomes, some of these proved better than others.
One of the most successful parts in the project was developing patterns based upon my research of Julia Rothman and Jess Hogarth. Because I did these mostly digitally, there was many ways I could keep developing to produce new images, some quite abstract ones. I then liked combining the patterns with photography to create some original works. Generally the use of a computer to colour and edit illustrations seems to be effective for me in this project when re-producing works of some artists such as James Gulliver Hancock and Claire Rollet.
I only really studied two people/character artists in this project, Owen Sherwood and Charlotte Farmer of which were very different. This meant I found it hard to develop my illustrations of people. Some smaller drawings I had done were not great or didn't have a professional finish. If I had spent more time researching the artists then the outcomes would have been of a better quality. I therefore wish I spent less time looking at the buildings of the city and focused on different aspects such as the people, music and culture of the city which I had only touched upon. I could have also at least experimented with combing illustrations of people with the buildings.
All the same, I believe I have answered the brief of the project, I have produced promotional materials for the exhibition as well as branding for it and the museum itself. Furthermore, I put together a selection of 'gift shop' items to be sold such as mugs, postcards and phone cases.
Finalising Posters
The feedback I got on the initial posters I had created was the title would look better if it read: "IN A" on the first line "NEW YORK" on the second and the "MINUTE" on the bottom line. I therefore had to re-cut the title, which I did to a larger scale and then photograph it again with the images underneath.
I created these three posters using these images. This selection was because of the different styles of illustration. A person could find one poster appealing even if the other two didn't catch their eye. However it seemed more professional if they all had a similar layout like they were a set. The background in them was darker than the previous posters and this was because the photo of the paper-cut title turned out more grey. I didn't think this was such a problem as it seemed quite glossy and reflective.
Another way I made these poster more effective was by adding a "drop shadow" to the layer of the image, this made the illustration literally stand out as it seem raised above the rest of the poster. Zoomed out, this looks quite subtle but it just gives an element of a third dimension to the work.
I went back to developing the logo as I thought it needed to fit better in the design of the posters. I decided to put it in the square shape as this was most popular in my survey and I then put the museum name, in white, in the black square.
In this photo shoot I only used the soft light to create the shadows as this was the most effective way from the last one. I focused mostly on taking the photos from directly above. I was happy with these images and this layout of the title seemed more professional as well as reading better.
I next edited these photos so I could make photos from them.
I created these three posters using these images. This selection was because of the different styles of illustration. A person could find one poster appealing even if the other two didn't catch their eye. However it seemed more professional if they all had a similar layout like they were a set. The background in them was darker than the previous posters and this was because the photo of the paper-cut title turned out more grey. I didn't think this was such a problem as it seemed quite glossy and reflective.
Another way I made these poster more effective was by adding a "drop shadow" to the layer of the image, this made the illustration literally stand out as it seem raised above the rest of the poster. Zoomed out, this looks quite subtle but it just gives an element of a third dimension to the work.
I went back to developing the logo as I thought it needed to fit better in the design of the posters. I decided to put it in the square shape as this was most popular in my survey and I then put the museum name, in white, in the black square.
I then changed the logo colour as well as the text in order to make it look more subtle on the poster and less distracting from the artwork or the title. Overall this gave a more professional look to all three of them. At this stage I decided to edit the illustration I had done on the second poster to make it neater and more vibrant.
Bringing The Exhibition Together
I had to decide on a museum to hold the exhibition in as well as a title for it. I had looked at a few New York museums in this project such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Guggenheim and the MoMA. I decide to use The Whitney Museum of American Art. This was because the museum was more contemporary, meaning it would be more likely to hold an exhibition with similar styles works to the ones I had created in this project. The shape of the building is very interesting, stories of it stick out from the front and overhang the entrance meaning any illustrations I did of it would make them recognizable. Also, I thought the logo of museum wasn't too exiting and I wanted to redesign it.
I first made a simple line drawing of the building. I then scanned it into Photoshop and coloured it, inspired by the colour scheme and also the style of James Gulliver Hancock's work. I thought that some illustrations of his where he just draws a single building could work as a logo. However, my illustration for the Whitney seemed too complex, especially if it would be reduced in size. I therefore decided to make it into a black and white image. This seemed to make an effective logo as it simplified the original drawing. I then put in some different shapes and did a survey to find out which one people preferred, at the same time I asked peoples opinion on a range of fonts I selected.
It turned out that the most popular was the image inside a square, all though a few people had suggested that it would look better inside a thicker square.
I now wanted to start creating some illustrations based upon the Whitney Museum. I created this work based upon Eric Rosner's style but by putting the buildings in a way similar to how I did with Jess Hogarth's style. I started off by drawing the Whitney Museum building in the center at the bottom then worked upwards adding more buildings from Manhattan.
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With this photo I used a hard light to create bigger, more defined shadows. I thought this could be effective as the shapes the paper-cut makes look like skyscrapers. However, when I started editing the photos, the outlines of the letters became unclear so you couldn't see the difference in the paper-cut that was sticking up and the paper behind it.
When editing the other photos, I attempted to extend the white paper background, increasing the size of the image. I did try and make the background a more complete white but I couldn't do this without making the shadows look unnatural.
I used a photo which I had taken at an angle for this one. Although the text seems quite easy to read with this image, it doesn't work on a poster and makes it look like it's just been placed on top. I also couldn't use this illustration of mine because it is of The Guggenheim Museum and not The Whitney where I planned on using.
It turned out that the most popular was the image inside a square, all though a few people had suggested that it would look better inside a thicker square.
I now wanted to start creating some illustrations based upon the Whitney Museum. I created this work based upon Eric Rosner's style but by putting the buildings in a way similar to how I did with Jess Hogarth's style. I started off by drawing the Whitney Museum building in the center at the bottom then worked upwards adding more buildings from Manhattan.
The next thing to do was to decide on a name for the exhibition. I originally wanted to use the 'I Love NY' theme based upon the advertising campaign for tourism in New York. However I thought I could come up with my own name and make the exhibition more unique. I came up with a list of various titles & taglines, song names, lyrics and slogans that related to New York.
I ask a survey and the most popular was 'In A New York Minute', the name of an Eagles Song. I liked this as it could mean the exhibition was about all aspects of the big city. I next had to come up with a range of fonts in which the exhibition name could be read. I planned in putting my patterns into the shapes of the letters. This made it much more interesting and related to the works of the exhibition. First put the work in digitally by selecting the shapes of each letter and filling them with the pattern. I then also experimented practically by paper cutting out the shapes of the letters and putting my image underneath. This lead to me thinking of how I could make the paper cut more exiting and less flat. I found typography artist Gina Hollingsworth.
Gina Hollingsworth has created a paper-cut alphabet where only part of the shape of each letter is cut, this allows part of it to be folded over to create the full letter. I first recreated this alphabet of hers before cutting out 'In A New York Minute'. With mine I thought I could put some of my works underneath the cut out, this would show the works that would be shown in the exhibition. I took photos of this as a way of getting the title onto the computer so I could put it onto promotional materials.
With this photo I used a hard light to create bigger, more defined shadows. I thought this could be effective as the shapes the paper-cut makes look like skyscrapers. However, when I started editing the photos, the outlines of the letters became unclear so you couldn't see the difference in the paper-cut that was sticking up and the paper behind it.
When editing the other photos, I attempted to extend the white paper background, increasing the size of the image. I did try and make the background a more complete white but I couldn't do this without making the shadows look unnatural.
Once I was happy with the edited photos, I could put them onto promotional materials. I added some information about the exhibition then super-imposed it onto this New York bus.
I think this makes an effective advertisement as the 3D look of it with catch people eye. I next started to produce exhibition posters with the paper-cut title.
I used a photo which I had taken at an angle for this one. Although the text seems quite easy to read with this image, it doesn't work on a poster and makes it look like it's just been placed on top. I also couldn't use this illustration of mine because it is of The Guggenheim Museum and not The Whitney where I planned on using.
I therefore used some other illustrations. This one was a collection of drawings I had done in the style of Julia Rothman. It turned out ok but it wasn't one of the best works I had created in this project, nor was it a very centered image so it didn't seem suitable for this style of poster.
I put this original logo design on this work and the simpleness of it seemed to work as it didn't over complicate the poster. However I hadn't created the illustration to such a great quality because I had planned on using it as a logo where it would be much smaller.
I much preferred this image on the poster. I was happy with the illustration and the colours in it seem to match the images behind the cut-out title. I included lots of well known New York buildings in it so it relates well to the city.
Developing Patterns
Interested in pattern making, I now looked at the works of Jessica Hogarth as a way of developing my drawings into patterns of a different style to Julia Rothman's.
Hogarth bases her work on places she has been to and includes lots of architecture in her work. Although this tends to be old, British cottages from seaside towns, I thought I would be able to use her style to illustrate buildings from New York City. Her method to produce these images often starts with a pen drawing before scanning it in to colour and make it more abstract.
From my collection of New York photos, I made this drawing. I started off by finding smaller buildings or shop fronts from my photos then translating them into simple lines at the bottom of the work. Still returning to the photos for inspiration, I drew upwards from the small buildings to recognisable skyscrapers of the City.
The next stage was to scan this into Photoshop and to apply colour. Some parts would be left white, I sampled the rest of the colours from an abstract pattern Hogarth had made. I was happy that each colour on my drawing was spread out evenly across it.
Now I wanted to make the illustration into more of a pattern so it could be put onto products. Jess Hogarth's works can sometimes look very abstract so I didn't mind too much if the buildings lost their recognisability, as long as the image could be representative of architecture. I created this image by taking a square selection from the illustration. I then duplicated this and placed it side-by-side. I then grouped these together, then duplicated them so it mirrored the image. This created one larger image only using that one selection.
I used this technique again but with a different selection of the original drawing to create these works. I was quite happy with how all of these turned out. They were simple enough to do and I think the selections in each of them fit really well together.
The next development was to make an even more abstract image based upon the original illustration of the buildings. I decided to actually re-draw a section of it and so I drew out a rectangle shape. I then split this up with various lines and used details from the illustration in a more abstract way. I scanned this drawing into Photoshop to colour it based on a different image of Hogarth's. The reason I had chose to draw it in a rectangle was so that I could duplicate it several times and then create a pattern by placing them all together. This was very different to the other images but it still looked like architecture because of the window shapes in it. I decided to put this pattern onto phone cases which could be sold at the exhibition gift shop.
I went back to the initial drawing. I wanted to develop this digitally again but in my own way. I decide I would increase the size of it by duplicating it and putting it side-by-side. I had to change a few lines in it too make it fit all together but was happy with it. I decided to change the line colour so it was more bright.
I wanted this project not just to be based on buildings but include people as well. I took a photo shoot of a group of my friends that I thought could pass as American. I then wanted to combine the pattern work with the photos. I had a range of approaches to this, sometimes I cut the shape of the person out from the image and placed them on top of the pattern. Another way I edited them was by just placing the line work over them. The most effective outcomes were when I displaced the pattern so it warped around the shape of the person.
From my collection of New York photos, I made this drawing. I started off by finding smaller buildings or shop fronts from my photos then translating them into simple lines at the bottom of the work. Still returning to the photos for inspiration, I drew upwards from the small buildings to recognisable skyscrapers of the City.
The next stage was to scan this into Photoshop and to apply colour. Some parts would be left white, I sampled the rest of the colours from an abstract pattern Hogarth had made. I was happy that each colour on my drawing was spread out evenly across it.
Now I wanted to make the illustration into more of a pattern so it could be put onto products. Jess Hogarth's works can sometimes look very abstract so I didn't mind too much if the buildings lost their recognisability, as long as the image could be representative of architecture. I created this image by taking a square selection from the illustration. I then duplicated this and placed it side-by-side. I then grouped these together, then duplicated them so it mirrored the image. This created one larger image only using that one selection.
I used this technique again but with a different selection of the original drawing to create these works. I was quite happy with how all of these turned out. They were simple enough to do and I think the selections in each of them fit really well together.
The next development was to make an even more abstract image based upon the original illustration of the buildings. I decided to actually re-draw a section of it and so I drew out a rectangle shape. I then split this up with various lines and used details from the illustration in a more abstract way. I scanned this drawing into Photoshop to colour it based on a different image of Hogarth's. The reason I had chose to draw it in a rectangle was so that I could duplicate it several times and then create a pattern by placing them all together. This was very different to the other images but it still looked like architecture because of the window shapes in it. I decided to put this pattern onto phone cases which could be sold at the exhibition gift shop.
I went back to the initial drawing. I wanted to develop this digitally again but in my own way. I decide I would increase the size of it by duplicating it and putting it side-by-side. I had to change a few lines in it too make it fit all together but was happy with it. I decided to change the line colour so it was more bright.
I wanted this project not just to be based on buildings but include people as well. I took a photo shoot of a group of my friends that I thought could pass as American. I then wanted to combine the pattern work with the photos. I had a range of approaches to this, sometimes I cut the shape of the person out from the image and placed them on top of the pattern. Another way I edited them was by just placing the line work over them. The most effective outcomes were when I displaced the pattern so it warped around the shape of the person.
Monday, 15 December 2014
The Initial Research
James Gulliver Hancock
The first artist I decided to look at in this project was James Gulliver Hancock. JGH has illustrated many building in New York city and so I thought I would be able to get more of an idea on American architecture as well as his techniques by looking at his work. He creates his colourful buildings by first drawing them by hand, adding in less accurate lines to show detail before applying his effective colour pallets digitally. In the same way I used his drawing style on other New York buildings then scanned them into Photoshop to edit. I did this for the Radio City Building and the Guggenheim Art Museum and was quite happy with the outcomes.
Eric Rosner
I next studied another illustrator of architecture, Eric Rosner. Eric Rosner has a unique style as he draws buildings from the late 1800's of some American Cities. He uses ink marker to create stunning iconic structures, this process is then combined with digital enhancements. I tried to illustrate in Eric Rosner's style by using a range of methods. I first painted in water colours and then went over them in fine liner, I tried starting off with a fine liner drawing and then adding colour digitally and I also tried combining mono printing with the use of bright coloured inks. Out of all the methods I believed starting off with a drawing and adding colour on Photoshop was the most effective. I used this to illustrate the Metropolitan Museum of Art as it could serve as another building for the exhibition.
Claire Rollet
Claire Rollet was another artist I researched in this project. I think her works are really effective down to the simple yet professional finish they have. She again starts off by drawing city architecture and then applying colour digitally. Her drawings are a lot more accurate than other artists I have looked at as she keeps them to a good scale. She is also selective about her colour choice, often only including two main primary colours and then using shades of grey on the rest of the illustration.
Julia Rothman
Julia Rothman has a similar style to Claire Rollet in the fact that she uses the same process and limited colours in her works. However, her building illustrations can be more like James Gulliver Hancock's because of the simplified features like doors and windows on them. Rothman also illustrates objects and then makes them into patterns. I combined some drawing of buildings and other New York related items (hot dog stalls, Converse shoes) I had done in her style into a pattern image. I did this by scanning in the hand drawings, adding colour on Photoshop and then placing them together as a new pattern. I looked at my design on a range of museum gift shop products then decided to put in on a phone case and package it.
Monday, 3 November 2014
Brief
I was quite happy when I received the brief of East Coast Metropolis. I personally like and am interested by the culture over there and it seemed that I would be able to explore a range of it from architecture to the people. I had worked with buildings and people before and so I thought I could develop my skills further with this unit. As I do art, I was excited about promoting the exhibition. I first looked at a range of cities along each American coast. On the west, Los Angeles and San Francisco were recognisable where as New York and Miami stood out on the east. I decided to focus mostly on New York because of the ironic parts of the city, from yellow taxi cabs to landmarks such as the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building. I also felt more knowledgeable on New York as I listen to music and have looked at artwork from there. My first idea was that I'd look at each part of the NYC's culture, i.e entertainment, architecture and produce graphical work for it. The outcomes would be either promotion for the exhibition or products to be sold at the gift shop such as mugs, clothes and stationary. After some research into New York museums, it seemed they were selling electronical items as well from headphones to phone & tablet cases and sleeves. A lot of these would require packaging in order to give them a professional finish. I thought about the ways in which I could promote the exhibition, I would need to create a logo, a name for the exhibition as well as styling it with a colour theme, I could work with current museum logos but personalize them with work I was doing.
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