LEANDRO SENNA

Images from the Leandro Senna website.

These are typographic hand letterings drawn by Leandro Senna. These are part of the lyrics from Bob Dylan's Subterranean Homesick Blues, which he was inspired by, where there the musician himself holds up cards containing the lyrics of his song, so Senna wanted re-create this with his own hand lettering. These are two of sixty-six cards which were completed within a month. I have chosen to analyse his work, because I would like to use some text in his style.

From the video on his website, it seems like his medium was that of markers and fine liners, to achieve a variety of lines. The lettering ranges from simple to complex, but not too complex, so that the viewer can easily read it, which I like. He uses a range of lines, including the directional lines seen in the second picture, which have a geometric appearance. The one above however, is not as complex but it is still effective. In regards the process itself, the artist drew out the lettering in pencil first, so that mistakes can be erased, and when satisfied with the design, draws over it using a black fine liner or marker. Another noticeable trait is how the text is centre-aligned, and the attention has gone into the text, and not the background, which has effectively been left plain. If the background was decorated, along with the decorated text, would have been too overwhelming for the viewer to take in. The scale of the paper he used looks to approximately A3 size.

As mentioned before, the inspiration came from Bob Dylan song Subterranean Homesick Blues. Senna himself seems like quite the perfectionist, as "getting a letter wrong meant starting the page over". He also says that he "had a lot of fun doing this project", which stresses that it's important to enjoy the work, so that you will do it to the best of your ability.

I really like his work for it's simplistic and complex range, something that I feel was missing from the other artists that I have analysed. But then again, working with text allows you to do this and he is the only artist that I have looked at whose main exploration was that of text.

NIKI PILKINGTON

Images from Niki Pilkington's website 

These are two images from the 'Glorious Truths' series by Welsh artist Niki Pilkington. These mixed media pieces may have been for exhibition purposes at the 'Pick me up' exhibition in London. I have chosen to analyse her work because she uses more than one technique on a single piece and my preferred medium for drawing, which is what I would like to potentially do for my final outcome for the personal project.

After looking at her image, it looks like she has used a pencil, most likely a graphite pencil to draw the female subjects, and for the bottom picture, she may have used a pink biro, as well as coloured card for the crown and the paper chain. The drawings themselves may well have been from observation, which is whatI have been doing. There is minimal colour however, I feel that this is good because this could have been too overwhelming for the viewer. The scale of the work is unknown, but they probably are A3 size, so that the text is readable. There is a lot of shading, which adds depth to the face, so she may have used graphite pencils, as they have this quality. The typography is simplistic and easy to read, and fine liners and markers may have been used to write these.

I would probably consider this work to be a portrait, but the possible theme may be lifting people's spirits through surrealism. The text is that of motivational quotes, including 'free admittance to those who dream' and 'dance between the raindrops', emphasises the possible theme.

I do like the simplicity of the work, it hasn't been overdone with lots of colour, and the main subject has been placed in the centre, which allows the attention to be on her. What's more her drawings are detailed and rather delicate, especially from using graphite and pastel pencils, and I like this effect. So she would be a major influence in my final outcomes.

PAPER WEAVE EXPERIMENTS

Below are a series of paper weaving experiments.

This one is a standard over-and-under weave. I used brightly coloured paper strips such as yellow, green and bluee, against a black background to advance the colours. The strips were positioned differently, strapped through different slits.

This is an experiment in the style of Allison Diaz. Most of her collage works had the strips in a diagonal position, so I copied her style. it's simple but effective, so I quite like this experiment.

This is in the style of Greg Sand, with some accompanying text in the form of a quote, written in the style of Leandro Senna. This is a standard weaving, using the primary imagery from the earlier post. I thought that it would be a good idea to add in text, so that I can be certain as to where I would write the text, when producing the final outcome.

This experiment was influenced by Julie Cockburn's 'Enigma' and 'The Sage'. This one could have been better, as the paper strips behind the cut out weren't equal, one strip overlapped the other. However, like Cockburn's pieces, the emotion of the sitter is unknown, so in that respect, it is a success.

JULIE COCKBURN

Images from the 're-title' website.

These are the works of London based artist, Julie Cockburn. The left piece is called 'Enigma'while the one on the right is called 'The Sage'. According to 're-title' website, these were made for exhibition purposes for the 'Conversations' exhibition in London. Her use of manipulation on these photos has inspired me to analyse and experiment in her style for my personal project.

As mentioned before, Cockburn has manipulated these photos to her liking, producing this end result. Judging from their attire, the subjects look like students who have just graduated, as their cloaks are similar to the one that graduation students wear. Her exact method is unknown, but after examining the work, she may have cut out the face, and using the same using a copy of the same picture, cut it into strips, and placed the original cut out photo against the strips, producing these results. As you can see, these photos are in black and white, suggesting that they were probably taken with an old camera some years back. This can create a nostalgic effect, and can be quite dramatic as well. The shape of the strips take on an oval size, and they seem to come in pairs. The scale of her work is also unknown, but it may have been quite large, possibly A4 size or larger. If the piece was small, it may have caused more confusion from the viewer, as the message wouldn't have been conveyed as effectively.

One of the titles of the work is ' Enigma', which is further emphasised by the grave manipulation of the photo, as we, the viewers do not know the emotions or body language of the subject. She may have been a graduate, who was very nervous on receiving her graduation certificates, or very happy to have made through the academic year. The same could be said for the subject on the right. But judging from his eyes, he may be feeling some negativity, maybe he thought he didn't deserve to graduate, or he didn't get the qualifications he wanted. Although these two pieces are enigmatic, they do allow the viewer to conjure up their own stories.

I chose to look at these pieces of work for its manipulation technique-the method is just as enigmatic as the subjects, but it allowed me to try out a possible technique that may have been used for her own work. I thought that it would be a good method to try out because it could convey the complexity of the human emotions, particularly loneliness, my main focus. What I do like about it, is the simplicity of the technique, and how it was able to be effective pieces of work. 

ASSESSMENT GRID

This is my assessment grid, which is used to track my progress and see if I'm meeting the assessment criteria by doing the tasks that are required of me to do.

PAPER CUTS FROM PRIMARY IMAGERY

This is a semi-paper cut using the earlier study from primary imagery. Again, fine liners were used for the lines, and some areas of the portrait were cut out. The lines were generally in the style of Lizzie Mary Cullen's work, particularly the psychogeographies series. In the hair, I have used continuous lines to convey the hair textures as realistically as possible. In other areas, including the the coat, I used zig-zag lines, and cross-hatched in the eyes. 

In this experiment, I've taken it a bit further. The majority of the hair has been cut, leaving room to add more continuous lines for the hair. In other areas, such as the coat, I used cross-hatched lines, and directional lines, and even drew a pattern of vertical and horizontal lines. This is one way of bringing depth to the paper cut, as it combines two techniques.

Using the same image a third time. Instead of drawing the lines, i used coloured card as a backdrop. Bright colours like yellow, green and orange were used. The colours do add some depth to the paper cut.

Another paper cut, a different image to work from. Once again, the coloured paper was the backdrop in the exposed areas, using the same bright colours. 

This time working from another picture. With this, I used two different types of paper, the right being ordinary printing paper, and the left being sugar paper, which gives a rather distorted look. The backdrop was tissue paper instead of the coloured card this time.

ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PRIMARY IMAGERY

These are some sketches done from primary photos (photos that I have taken myself) of a classmate. I chose to have them looking troubled and deep in thought, as this matches my theme for the personal project. The medium used were fine liners of different thickness and size as well as markers. Although fine liner is a good medium for sharp and crisp lines, it does have limited properties (and you can't rub out a mistake like you can with pencils).

Studies of eyes from fine liner. Here I have made sure to use different marks, including cross-hatching, dynamic lines and circular lines. The fine liners used are of different thickness for different lines.

Another two sketches from primary imagery, but this time using graphite pencils. Graphite is a good medium to use, as it allows you to do things you can't do with fine liners, such as smudging to add definition, however this can be a disadvantage at the same time. In this study, I have used more detail, which can be seen in the hair. As you can see in the hair, there are light and dark to tones, where I have applied pressure on the pencil in the different areas to add definition to the hair. The lines made are continuous and sinuous, which I personally think conveys the hair realistically. The close-up study on the right has had the same pressure applied to it, except that the marks on the hair are straighter and more dynamic than the hair on the left hand study. The  pencil marks in the eyes are noticeably different too- pressure has been applied which becomes less towards the left sides of the pupils, using short and quick lines to achieve this.

I think that graphite would be a good material to add dramatic effects to the study, which I think would be good for my theme of loneliness.

PRIMARY IMAGES

These are the primary images (pictures I took myself) that I will be working from. I will use them experiments such as illustrations, paper cuts and collages.

I asked the subjects to look forlorn and troubled- something was bothering them.

Close-ups of subject. A good sign of  human emotions is through the eyes, so I thought that a close-up of this area would be a good idea to study from.

Another close up of the eyes.

Another subject deep in thought.

ELABORATE PAPER CUTTING MOODBOARD

ONE: Elaborate paper cutting by Han Jing TWO: Papercut with a message THREE: Very elaborate floral paper cut FOUR: Mythical paper cut  FIVE: A crest like paper cut  SIX: A paper cutting of a peacock SEVEN:A paper cut by Raymond Tuomey EIGHT: Chinese paper cut NINE: A simple paper cut by Hans Christian Andersen TEN: Flowers and vase pair cut ELEVEN: Paper cut message by Rob Ryan TWELVE:  Julene Harrison message paper cut THIRTEEN: Hino Aoyama meticulous paper cut

PROJECT BRIEF

This is my brief for this personal project. This outlines what I am creating, the theme behind my outcome and who the client is. As mentioned before, there has to be a link between this project and the CD project, and this is mentioned in the middle grey box. Also some artists that I will be looking at for inspiration, including Lizzie Mary Cullen, Julene Harrison and Leandro Senna.

MOODBOARD OF ILLUSTRATIONS

ONE: Black and white hand lettering TWO: Patterned illustration THREE: A piece by artists Anton Abo and Ooli Mos FOUR:  Fine liner 'Crazy world we live in' FIVE: A hand drawn portrait used with fine liners, markers and brushes SIX: Lyrics from fine liner  SEVEN: EIGHT:  Hand drawing of a high heel shoe NINE: Super detailed illustration TEN: Song lyrics by fine liner ELEVEN: Fine liner lyrics TWELVE: Fine liner lyrics THIRTEEN: FOURTEEN: Fineliner drawing of a kaleidoscope

This is my mood board of illustrations, particularly fine liner drawings. These were from different sources, including Leandro Senna and Ugo Guttoni. When making this mood board, I made sure to only include black and white drawings.

LIZZIE MARY CULLEN

Image from the Lizzie Mary Cullen website

This is 'Trafalgar Square' illustrated by British artist Lizzie Mary Cullen. It is one of mary drawings of the 'London Psychogeographies' series most likely created for exhibition purposes. Cullen, who was born in Scotland has done award-winning illustrations for clients such as the Independent newspaper, BBC and MTV. This, along with other drawings of the series is a depiction of a famous attraction spots in London, this one being of the world famous Trafalgar Square. The reason for analysing this piece is because it will inspire my outcomes of a series of posters, some of which will be illustrated in this style.

According to her official website, Cullen expresses London as "an expressive urban maze whose sensuous, dark and mythical history is echoed throughout the city" and may have been the main source of inspiration for this series.The purpose for creating these psychogeographies was to "combine reality with my (her) own interpretations of space", which explains why the buildings and the surroundings are the way that they are- disproportionate and not quite up to scale. From this, the possible theme may be that of London, or a psychedelic London, as it bears some resemblance to psychedelic hallucinations. She has used a range of repetitve textures throughout the piece to convey some sense of realism, as seen with the road and the pavement.  When using radiographers and fine liners and Unicorn hide paper, she may have achieved this using short and long marks with these, as well as using long and wavy lines for the sky, and a few hints of cross-hatching, which is obviously her style. Had she not used well-known building such as the neon signs of Sanyo, TDK and Fosters, or even provided the title, the illustration would have been difficult for the audience to identify.

When I first saw the illustration, I found it hard to identify the city until I saw the title. When I saw it, I tried to look for buildings that are found in Trafalgar Square and then it made much more sense.

As previously stated, I would like to use her style in some of my philosophical posters for my personal project. She uses repetitive patterns frequently in her work, which I want to use as this technique links back to the CD project, where I used repetitive patterns for the surface designs. In a way, there is some resemblance with Billie Jean's illustrations which are also monochromatic, and have some sense of realism in them but she don't use any repetitive patterns and her illustrations don't quite fill up the page like Cullen's. But in general, I do hold her work in high regard, because of the effort that she puts in each of them.

JULENE HARRISON

Julene Harrison is a British artist who specialises in paper cutting and illustration. According to her official website, Harrison was originally a textile designer and had decided to do paper cutting only a few years ago. This is an example of her paper cutting work called 'The Best Thing in Life Aren't Things' and was made in 2011 for private commission purposes. It was most likely made for a private client, hence the text at the very bottom of the piece 'Emma & Ian Forever Together'. I have chosen to analyse this piece because it is a style that I would like to imitate for my series of posters for my personal project.

Her background in textiles has certainly been a major influence in her paper cutting art, as she may have worked with patterned textiles which inspired her, and continues to incorporate these designs in her current work. As you can see, she has used a white ground, which may have been a strong card for the sturdiness, which is good for laying it against a dark background, like she has done. For the cutting itself, she has used a cutting knife to achieve those precise cutouts and lines. If she had used scissors, the design would not have been as convincing and engaging. The long and continuous lines may have been a result of making a long cut out of the paper, without lifting the knife off of the page, whilst other lines, such as the sun rays at the top, or the bridge on the right hand side look like dynamic and quick cuts. It's also important to create bridges between the paper so as not to ruin the effect, and Harrison has clearly used bridges to connect the design to the surrounding border. The scale of the piece is unknown but it would be safe to assume that is is A4 size (297x210mm), as this is the conventional size for paper cut pieces. In addition, cutting with a larger size paper would be time consuming, and probably wouldn't contribute to the quality of the design. Around the text, there are images of various objects including an old Volkswagen car, a convertible, a tent and the UK flag. These objects may be personal for the clients, aspects of that are important to their identity.

When I first saw the piece, I was amazed at the precision of her cuttings, and how they resemble real objects really well. She just makes it look very easy. I thought that the border is a nice touch as it ties the whole design together.As I stated before, I want to copy this style and technique for a poster with loneliness as the theme for my personal project. When I make it, I wanted to use the same sinuous lines and precise cuts that she uses, as well as the uppercase bold typeface that she places in the centre. However, when I come to produce it I may or may not have the text in the centre.

MINDMAP OF INSPIRATIONS

This is my mind map of ideas for this new Personal project. Some of these ideas include making a poster of quotes of influential musicians, or a t-shirt with direct and honest messages. At this point, I don't know exactly which idea I will take forward, but for now I have come up with a few, so I can pick the one I want to work with at a later stage.

MOODBOARD

One: A paper weave with painted strips Two: A multi-coloured paper weave Three: Another paper weave with fabric strips Four: Multi-coloured weave Five: A Julene Harrison paper cut piece 'A Californian Honeymoon'. Six:Papercut by Julene Harrison 'The Mostly true story of Jack

Seven: A star book of Frieda Kahlo  Eight: A Chinese paper cut by Han Jing Nine: A circle flip book Ten: A single layer star book Eleven: A squash book of memories  Twelve: An alphabetic concertina. 

INITIAL IDEAS

These are my initial ideas for the new personal project.

NEW PROJECT

From now on, I will posting blog post on the new project, the PERSONAL PROJECT. So keep a look out! 

This project will have some sort of link to the CD project, whether it be through techniques used, the subject matter etc.

Hopefully it will be a good one!

MY FINAL PACKAGING

These are my final CD packages! The top image is the package where the Cd ROM will be, and the image below is for the inlay containing the lyrics to the song.

It has not been plain sailing, but I got there in the end. 

The inlay package open containing inlay

CD packaging with CD ROM inside. There's also the QR code on the bottom of the CD, which I posted earlier.

Because I finished early, I managed to complete an extension task- creating a t-shirt design. I used one of my earlier artwork developments, and via heat transfer, managed to put the design on to the top.

Back of top- The Will Smith logo.

FINAL EVALUATION

For this project, I had to create a CD packaging, surface designs and a logo for an existing artist and song. To come up with some ideas, I created a mind map of my favourite songs and artists. I finally chose to go with 'Summertime' by Will Smith because it had a summer theme to it, but at the time, my decision wasn't definite.
Next, was the creative process, which involved various experiments of techniques that are commonly used on CD covers, including screen printing, stencil work, typography posters, vector images, which were created either by hand, Illustrator or Photoshop. Later on, I used other techniques which were mostly created by hand, like drawing the artist and taking photos of objects that were mentioned in the lyrics, sketching these objects.
After this, I was finally sure that I was going to go along with 'Summertime', so I began to create various logos that I could use throughout the project. I used many mediums, such as pastels, charcoal, Indian ink and paint even on Photoshop. I finally chose to work with this logo, because the letters were of different sizes, and this was typical of at the time the record was made. The colours were bold and this goes well with the summer theme. Next, on to the packaging. I began creating a moodboard, of surface designs, other existing packages, the lyrics and my final logo to be included on the packaging. This lead to experiments of potential packaging using different materials, including recycled packaging, fabric, magazine pages, envelopes etc. This lead to bookbinding experiments, for the little booklet that is usually included inside of a CD package, so I tried out stapling and sewing, and then onto the surface artwork, which was mostly techniques used in Photoshop, including the grunge texture, the personal wallpaper and the seamless repeating pattern. From this point on, the focus of the project was to narrow it down to doing experiments relevant to my own individual project. This would later help me in my own self driven experiments- experiments which I thought are relevant to my chosen song such as my bold repeated patterns created on COLOURLovers.com, vector images created from my own photographs etc. On to the packaging, I started to create some protoypes which could potentially be used in my final outcome, and I eventually chose the 'Wowspiral' originally created by the company 'Wewow'. I thought this packaging was clever and economical, especially as only one piece of card was needed, and the circular clasp made when closed looked quite nice. And my final surface design for the CD package was a combination of  vector images of Will Smith, a pair of sunglasses and a pair of Converse trainers as aspects mentioned in the lyrics, and the use of the typographic defined brush, all created in Photoshop. But, I came to realise that I had to create another surface design to go on the inside of the packaging, so I created on using the same program, but instead i used the Gradient tool, using bold colours such as green, yellow and orange, as well as the tracklisting. If I had used the same design for the exterior, then the customer would be too overwhelmed with the design. Next, I would need to create the same packaging for the inlay, which I decided was going to be lyrics for the song, that the customer could sing along to. So, I created an exterior and interior surface design using the repeated patterns from COLOURLovers.com, and the Gradient tool from Photoshop. My main influence for this was from Gillian Blease's repeated pattern, which had the bold and vibrant colours, as well as geometric patterns that would have been popular during the 90s. I thought it would've been a good idea to have two different surface patterns for the two packages so that anyone could tell the difference.
Overall, I thought that the project was success, because I knew exactly what I was doing and how I was going to assemble the whole package. When I tried assembling the Wowspiral for the first time, it didn't come together the way that I wanted it to, but after practising it for a while, it managed to assemble it successfully, especially with the circular clasp. However, as with anything, there are some things I could have added to make it better. One of them being that I could have a different colour on the CD package exterior instead of using black. Also, the circular clasp on the CD package didn't work out as well as I had wanted it to, the inlay package turned out to be a bit better.
I found the project generally pleasant. I quite like packaging so it was fairly easy to come up with ideas and create. The project did show me some new techniques, especially when it came to surface artwork designs, one of them being the opportunity to make your own patterns at COLOURLovers.com, the grunge texture experiment, and the vector images experiments. As I mentioned before, I like creating packaging, so I wouldn't mind doing a similar project again for the next PERSONAL PROJECT.

CD DESIGN

This is my CD design of the Summertime CD. The gradient is that of green and yellow similar to the other gradients used on my packaging. The logo is in the background and has been made to have a fadey appearance from selecting 'Overlay' from the drop down menu under the Layers tab. Also, there is the QR code that I posted earlier, so that the customer can scan it using their smartphone.

MY QR CODE

This my QR code for this blog, which I most likely use for my final packaging.

QR code

SURFACES FOR SECOND PACKAGING

These are my designs for my second packaging which will be for containing the inlay. They both have repeated patterns, and the similar gradients

This will be used to go on the inside of the packaging. It's simple but effective, but I'm thinking of including some notes of appreciation, as if sent by the Smith himself. For this effect, I chose the option 'Soft Light' from the drop down menu under the Layers tab, which resulted in this.

This will be the exterior surface. I brought in the repeated pattern in Photoshop, and under the drop down menu in the 'Layers' tab, I chose the option 'Difference', resulting in this. It looks like the gradient is actually inside the headphones and rainbows as well. I'm also thinking of including some sort of message like 'Open up', or something on the lines of that.

PROTOTYPE OF FINAL PACKAGING

These are some shots of prototypes of my final CD and inlay packaging. Before making the final model, I wanted to be sure that it actually works, so I made these.

Side view of packaging when closed. This packaging would be used to hold the CD, but another separate one would be used for the inlay poster. Looks quite good, the circular clasps seems to work well, and the surface design is bold and colourful, which is good for the summer theme.

Front view of closed packaging. There are a few minor problems though. First of all, the artist's name can't be seen anywhere. So how would the customer know it's a Will Smith CD, or that it's 'Summertime'? I need to include a name somewhere on the flaps in a particular spot so that the name and the title of the song can be seen easily. Also, I need to include a bar code on it, as if it were being purchased at a shop.

Packaging opened. Looks a bit like a spider...

This is my second prototype. The white ring around it is supposed to be a makeshift spine, that is typically seen on CDs. When the time comes to assemble the real thing, it won't be anything as lousy as this, but similar. 

Maybe if I made the spine a bit thicker, it could work effectively. 

FINAL LYRICS INLAY

This is my true and final lyrics inlay. The background is vibrant with a yellow, green, orange and red gradient, with a repeated overlain pattern made from ColourLovers.com. The colour of the text is in black and the font used is 'a ripping yarn too'. which was the font used for the typographic brush. I did manage to fit all the lyrics of Summertime onto the page (and I jumped for joy!) 

The black font against the vibrant colours make it easier to read, and the size is also sufficient, so I'm really happy with it.

INLAY DEVELOPMENT

This was my first inlay design to be featured in my packaging. I intended to use the vector image of Will Smith that I created earlier, the typographic defined brush created in Photoshop and the lyrics of 'Summertime'. 

I really liked the image, it went well with the rest of my packaging. The only thing that was bad, was that I couldn't fit all the lyrics on. If I made the text smaller, it won't be seen very well, and the colour of the text, no matter what I changed it to, blended in too much with the background. 

This was originally going to be my final inlay. I used a repeated pattern made on ColourLovers.com, and the typography defined brush from Photoshop. I also used a different font than the top one called 'Apple Casual', in white which made it slightly readable against the black background, but the typographic brush renders it unreadable, so the customer would find it difficult to read (or sing along to). So next time, I will make another lyrics sheet, but maybe using a brighter more vibrant background, with black as the colour of the font. The only challenge is making all of the lyrics of Summertime fit onto the page.