Study Task 6: Interdisciplinary

Playing the Violin

This year I made the decision to learn how to play the violin. It has been a life-long dream to be able to do so but, as I have very little sight, I was always worried about not being able to read sheet music. It was a silly hang-up to have as I create my drawings with only 8% vision in one eye and this year I realised I was just making excuses for fear of more trials and tribulations. However, living in a new city with only a few friends left from the Access course who moved onto LCA, I found that since the started of the degree course I have only been focusing on my Guide Dog and her personal care (grooming, playing, walking, free runs) and my module work. Not good! I needed something else in my life to ensure that I didn't burn out my visual creativity! With my grandad passing away in the summer, a good sum of money meant I was able to research properly into YouTube videos, website reviews and music shops to find a good model that works best for me - looking beyond a standard student grade model that would squeak, produce a flat sound with no personality or individuality and eventually need to be upgraded in the future.

Such exhaustive research links very much with the researching process I found I had enjoyed during the Visual Narratives module. I was able to go beyond just going to Amazon and searching for a violin (though that was a good starting point) just as I was able to go beyond visiting the library or websites for convenience sake when making my picture book. Visting music shops in Leeds and talking with professional musicians, playing on second-hand models, reaching out to a violin tutor on YouTube who posts regular reviews and demonstrations and contacting a manufacturer all meant I had a range of options to choose from and exemplified my problem solving skills quite nicely!
 Now that I have my violin, a beautiful Fiddlerman Artist Violin made from maple and spruce and fitted with ebony accents, mother of pearl inlays and a carbon fibre bow, and researched a local violin tutor in Leeds - I am truly well on my way to realising one of my life-long dreams. It was finding that confidence and (monetary) support that catapulted this, just as with the brave decision to go back into education and get my art degree.

In my illustrative outcomes it takes iteration and roughs for a foundation to be built on which to develop a deeper understanding of a motif to perfect an outcome... much like with the violin. Practice and experimentation allows for a 'motif' of notes to be understood enough so that it can be made individual and interesting. That process of repetition allows me to think things over in my mind, have some time to myself and make sense of things happening in my life at the moment allowing for personal development. Translating sheet music to sound interplays with the ability to translate a thought in the mind's eye as a physical interpretation on the page of a sketchbook and I play by ear by following what my tutor plays to make this work for me. It is difficult, as is creating illustrations, but it's a challenge I feel I get a lot of benefit from and something I hope continues to strengthen my personal life and my practice as an illustrator - reassuring me to not give up, keep trying and experimenting and finding new ways to approach a piece, or a brief, in my work.

Contextual Research: Visual Communication

Raphaël Garnier

Raphaël Garnier was suggested to me by my tutor and is someone who was previously mentioned in a Visual Language presentation. His weird and wonderful shapes and forms express narrative, perhaps thoughts of a new or alien ecosystem. Visual language of mark-making at varying frequencies is used to convey texture, surface area, pattern and material - which is quite free form and illustrative that also has a graphic design edge to it. Garnier works in textile design which can be seen in his use of pattern, mark making and simplicity - possibly informed by composing textile patterns and the properties of thread, yarn or wool?

Garnier likes to explore worlds that don't exist yet and continues experimentation with string and rope-like forms, exhausting combinations, referencing DNA - an ongoing symbol woven through many of his works. Garnier likes the process of turning an illustration into something more three-dimensional like a ceramic piece - something I am considering doing in this project. Using black and white unifies his work, identifying links between them just like the rope. In an interview I read previously, he mentioned Stereotonomy and the art of cutting down volumes for assembly. Is this what he also refers to in his work? Cross sections of natural volumes? Interesting and something to consider... I could look into cross-sections of Zaha Hadid's buildings, perhaps.

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Victor Vasarely

Victor Vasarely was highly regarded as the Grandfather and leader of the Op-Art (Optical Illusion Art) movement. His work can be described as geometric abstract art using very limited forms and colours of varying spacing and frequencies, working primarily in acrylic on canvas. I first discovered Varasely and Op-Art on a PPP visit to Leeds University's open gallery and fell in love with the high contrast, simplification and grand scale of his work.

These are some of my favourite pieces of his. The first, especially, reminds me of blueprints and schematics of architectural propositions and this is something I could try to recreate in illustrator? The aesthetic of white lines of varying widths and heights against a black background is different to anything I have ever liked or attempted to make - and shows the departure of my previous thinking and responses to illustration, influenced by Visual Language and Visual Narratives. The first painting, especially, would work so well if it was incorporated somehow into my final piece. Could I overlay illustrator lines onto more organic drawings? collages? Do I want to try acrylic on paper or canvas or stick with digital for a more accurate representation?

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Hannah Duncan

Hannah Duncan is a BA (Hons) Jewellery Design student who is inspired by both architecture and design. She is particularly drawn to linear patterns, geometric shapes and contrasting surfaces in the natural environment. She works with brass, copper, enamels and fragmented surfaces, creating textures, patterns and atmosphere of the coast - immersing wearers and viewers in memories and the experience of an unreachable environment. She finds inspiration in beaches and coasts, telephone pylons, shadows and distorted reflections.

I am fascinated by Hannah's responses to the natural world around us, much like Zaha Hadid did with her practice, looking to organic forms and shapes as well as fragmentation and how that can effect a surface. In particular I really like these pieces of jewellery (a necklace and an earring) using acetate, and how that can be reflected onto a wall to create shadows and different perspectives - all by interacting with an object. Her work reminds me of Zaha Hadid's use of faceted triangles. Acetate is an interesting medium to use... it works especially well with the black, printed areas. I used acetate for the front cover of my Pearly Kings and Queens picture book and was happy with the results. Is acetate something to consider for my final pieces?

Study Task 5: Exhibit

Geta Brãtescu at Tate Liverpool

I recently visited the Liverpool Tate and had a lovely day out with my mum and my Guide Dog! For context, we regularly go out to exhibitions together so that my Guide Dog can assist me around the exhibition space for a good sense of mobility and my mum can provide audio feedback, if a venue isn't as accessible as it can be, for a good sense of accessibility. This allows me to have the same experience as a sighted visitor. I trust her descriptions, judgements and directions enough to forms opinions from them and take photos on my iPad (with permission!) so that I can zoom in as much as possible to gain a clearer understanding of the piece being presented.

The first thing I noticed was the location, at Albert Dock, and how the gallery was a big part of the infrastructure surrounded by shops and cafes. As it had been quite a long drive, my mum and I went for something to eat first at a fish and chips restaurant on the dock which had a friendly atmosphere and the chips and peas were delicious! As well as the fish and chips restaurant, there was a coffee shop, a gift shop selling crystals and stones and a thrift shop selling unique and affordable jewellery pieces, scarves and gloves. It was like stepping back in time to the 1950s or 60s and I really enjoyed having that added dimension to my visit!

The gallery space inside Tate Liverpool was open and generous in space and capacity - meaning no one would be walking into me or my dog. Hurrah! I enjoy spaces where there are no obstacles of people or objects allowing me enough room to feel comfortable, get my bearings and allow myself to be seen with my service dog for minimal distraction and interruption. The Geta Brãtescu exhibition really appealed to me in the sheer volume of processes and techniques used throughout her career - from collage to performance, installations to paintings to textiles. She has a very experimental approach to her practice, looking beyond perfection and representation, focusing on the process and the skills learned. This appeals to me as a creative wanting to break away from accuracy and detail (which I trained myself to do so I wouldn't be seen as a 'crap' artist!) and instead adopt a more loose and playful approach to spotlight my individual and personal lens.

The piece that particularly stood out to me was Women (2007, tempera on paper) which comprised of a multitude of small drawings executed by the artist with her eyes closed, repeating the same form of woman's body recalled from memory. As someone with a severe visual impairment, a sighted artist drawing with their eyes closed appeals to me greatly - relying on the 'mind's eye' and past experience rather than factual perception from reference. She is 'interested in the tension between chance and the memory of forms that exists when drawing with the eyes closed, suggesting that without the 'freedom of the eye' the hand can better explore the 'freedom of the muscles' instead. The process of iteration and repetition interests me greatly and synthesises a lot with what I have discovered this year on my degree course. That constant repetition allows for variables and visual interest as well as deeper understanding of movement.

I was very impressed with the accessibility at Tate Liverpool, providing a Braille booklet and large print upon request, with the staff allowing me to take a photograph for my personal blog to better understand in my own time. I would most certainly visit again to see the next featured exhibition and have another fun day out with my family.

Contextual Research: Reportage and Observational Illustrators

Cat O'Neill

I love the way Cat has used mark making and pattern in her observational work to be descriptive of forms' textures and contours. A thick brush with ink to describe the tilled fields, allowing the ink to scrape across and get drier in the background showing the sense of depth and distance, is such a clever and minimal way to achieve it. The flow of the land is easy to see because of how the brush has been moved from left to right and those contours show where land is raised and bathes in sunlight. The swirling mountains are particularly nice too, where our eye is lead towards, and there is evident description of their flowing shape. Such a minimal but powerful piece of illustration. I also love the mark making for the trees and how movement and motion have been implied in the direction of the flicked strokes. Using minimal ink pens is something I have discovered enjoying earlier in the visual language sessions and combining that with mark making is what I hope to experiment with tomorrow.

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Nina Cosford
I've selected 3 of my favourite observational drawings from Nina that each focus on a different element - shape and colour, line and texture. In the first illustration, Nina has used basic shapes and forms to describe the skyscrapers and architecture in New York in a very simple and free-form way. Variation in thicker and thinner lines convey the windows and ridges on the side of the buildings. These few simple components, used in a very primary way, still communicate Modernist skyscrapers - with the addition of a bright yellow taxi, angled backwards to represent speed and motion,  connects with the audience to automatically allude to New York. Her second observational piece provides more perspective and exploration of line quality; thicker lines outlining meeting points between objects - where the underneath of the roof meets the bricks of the house, or the edges of the brick wall of the fence end to meet the gate. A few marks and patterns are used to describe different trees and plants, different surface areas and textures. Simple, lots of white space, but very charming. It is a little over-worked I think, and some of the background trees could have been omitted in my opinion. The third drawing shows the texture, light and shadow of the mountains really nicely through the use of a fine, cross-hatched pencil. More pressure is applied to show peaks and the lighter areas show the angles and ridges. The ramblers at the front of the composition are sketched in pen to make the darker and closer to the viewer. Nina's simple use of line, shape and texture is something I want to employ during tomorrow's session.

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Ahead of the York trip tomorrow, I wanted to look at some other illustrators' reportage and observational drawings on location to give me some inspiration. I want to identify what has made their work a success; is it their ability to adopt good line quality? Pattern, texture and mark making? Shape and form? Colour?

Words of Wisdom by Paul Rand

"I haven’t changed my mind about modernism from the first day I ever did it…. It means integrity; it means honesty; it means the absence of sentimentality and the absence of nostalgia; it means simplicity; it means clarity. That’s what modernism means to me…"

"The visual message which professes to be profound or elegant often boomerangs as mere pretension; and the frame of mind that looks at humor as trivial and flighty mistakes the shadow for the substance. In short, the notion that the humorous approach to visual communication is undignified or belittling is sheer nonsense."

"Simplicity is not the goal. It is the by-product of a good idea and modest expectations.

Don't try to be original. Just try to be good."

"Design is everything... Everything!"

"Design is so simple, that's why it's so complicated."

"Good design adds value of some kind, gives meaning, and, not incidentally, can be sheer pleasure to behold; it respects the viewer’s sensibilities and rewards the entrepreneur."

"Innovation leads one to see the new in the old and distinguishes the ingenious from the ingenuous."

"Art is an idea that has found its perfect form."

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Reflection
I recently came across these inspiring and interesting quotes by Paul Rand on his official website while contextually researching for Visual Communication. I am a fan of Rand's work as a graphic designer using simple shapes and colour as vectors; and these quotes were a nice surprise to find in my research. I feel these sound bytes have a connecting power and are really inspiring to me; they will stay in my mind while completing the rest of the year. Simplicity, clarity, streamlining, innovation, ingenious, perfect form... all things to consider in my final modules.

Contextual Research: Vector Illustrators

Anna Kövecses

Anna is one of my favourite vector illustrators as I love the simplicity of the work she makes. Her colour palettes use muted backgrounds matched against brighter, more saturated values evoking a feeling of nostalgia and harking back to children's picture books from the 60's, '70s and '80s - which used expanses of flashy colour against muted creams and greys with a musty book smell to match! She uses very rotund shapes with very little use of angles, and no stroke outlines, to give a friendly approach and tone of voice with effortless simplicity of reduced forms.

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Susie Hammer

Susie Hammer is very playful with her shapes and proportions, and the way she arranges the shapes gives a quirky disjointedness and altogether imperfectness that works in such a naive and charming way. I love her use of colour and pattern to add a sense of fun and sillyness to her characters. Her colour palettes tend to be quite pastel-based with a mid-saturation level; not too garish but not too watery at the same time. The unconventional proportions and forms placed at odd angles provide a quirky aesthetic - and again, this illustrator uses very rounded vectors with no strokes to give an appealing and softer approach.

Visit: The Stanley and Audrey Burton Gallery

Today I visited the newest exhibition at the Stanley and Audrey Burton Gallery at the University of Leeds and wanted to document my thoughts, feelings and experiences...

Upon arrival I have to admit that I had absolutely no idea what this exhibition was about - and I still do not have a clue! I kept hoping to hear someone mention something about a featured artist or a certain theme or idea that sparked the culmination of these pieces together in one place, but there was nothing. I imagine that there would have been some sort of description printed on the wall regarding the relevance of the chosen work and plethora of artists and designers but, as a severely visually impaired person, who knows what it said? And where? Access to information was entirely inaccessible. Both leaflets and booklets were in small print and had to be purchased before they could be read and labels next to the work were even smaller... What on Earth was I even looking at?

There appeared to be a diverse extent of work across three rooms, from paintings to sculptures and books behind glass cabinets, but what linked them all together? Why were these pieces selected? I asked someone on the desk for some assistance and, after a lengthy phone call with her manager, large print was printed out on request. However, Braille and audio - the formats I can understand independently - was not available and the lady, who had just started working there, said she felt entirely embarrassed and apologised. Hopefully something will be put in place for the future and I have catapulted the winds of change.

These paintings by Victor Varasely stood out to me immediately because of their sheer size and the immediacy and definition of black and white. After a discussion with my tutor, who helps me to identify the artist from the minuscule labels, Op Art had instantly piqued my interest. What was it? When did this movement begin? What prompted it? Is it purely to play on optical illusions? Do you need a certain level of vision to be able to be 'tricked' into seeing imagery? How does it work? Is it still a movement prevalent today? Who were / are the key practitioners? Are there any theories at play or is it purely decorative?

It seems very '60s to me and I love the simplicity of it. The relationship between the shapes and colours. The perfection of line and curve. The boldness and stark different of black and white or a limited colour palette of green, red, black and white. Inspired by Notan? Balance? Could be replicated in illustrator. I need to research more! This is exciting! Transformative moment! How can this feed into and inspire my practice?

Google Doodle: Carmen Miranda's 108th Birthday

Today's Google Doodle celebrates Carmen Miranda's 108th birthday and I absolutely love the composition and aesthetics of this illustration - so much that I wanted to document a few thoughts on my blog! The bright colours, subtle textures in the brush strokes and soft, round shapes have a friendly and inviting tone of voice and the character design is truly charming. The symmetrical composition and framing gives a sense of balance and harmony, and the glowing light around Carmen's character draws the audience immediately to the centre. There is a big evocation of nature with the headrests being reminiscent of flower petals and leaves and it leaves me with an appreciation of mother nature and a fresh outlook and approach to my day.

Visiting Lecturer: Kristyna Baczyski

• Always liked drawing but now an illustrator in a world of wolves!

• Dropped out of A levels did art foundation then Beckett. Multidisciplinary degree comprising of graphic art, photography, typography and illustration. Loved making animations of weird things.

• Year after graduation was difficult but shaped her practice. Interim period of no one there and no one interested. "How do I make my work?"

• Thought Bubble - this amount of time to fill a table of stuff was exciting

• Makes things herself that helps her connect directly to her audience. Shop and working go hand-in-hand; client see the stuff she is making, they as her to make stuff which she loves

• Uses a combination of an iMac, Wacom tablet, risograph and sketchbook. She loves her world of making and scanning and sending off to clients

• Sketchbook - loves drawing for herself and isn't restricted. Works with different materials, stream of consciousness, measured. Shapes and colours. Obsessive with sketchbook, variations, project itself and becomes a zine and sell it.

• Feeds into her work and becomes her work because it is published. Or taps into it for themes. Or characters. Maybe make characters from them. Elect characters, navigate something.

• Local job at first, ripples go out and something echoes back. Leeds - northern - U.K. - international.

Timeline of work Kristyna has created:

• Picture house 100th birthday tote bag

• Leeds college of music: be nice, do a good job and you will get more jobs from the same client!

• White noise - motorcycle character, breaking through fabric of space

• Friends of Ham - family are from Ukraine and her work has those folklore and those sci fi elements.

• Leeds train station public installation with Leeds artists and designers - pretty cheap to live here, extra room in house, not vast amount of rent, creative and nurturing. Drystone walls and nature close by

• Gosh comics - retailer and publisher. Poster series of their 20th anniversary, nice to be regarded with other illustrators

• Metro newspaper ad piece. Fold out piece, weird characters, busy city scene

• Gateshead big posters used on printed material and on the metro and a big welcome mat. Modular so can be reformatted
• Worked as a greeting cards designer for a few years after graduating

• Design learning curve of illustration came after graduating

• Pad file so clients can move things around

• Beers in London published into a book. Made a fictional label. Citragalaxy hop. Fictionalised this and build the story of a special edition beer. Grain landed on a meteorite And created an abundance of beer

• Thought bubble - Beatrix potter - book cover for catalogue. One job is seen by the right person and links in a chain - forged by you alone in a studio - or forged by working with other people

• Chipotle Mexican restaurant - packaging. On the back of making comics about feelings. Cultivating thought. She put together lots of stories that would take 1 or 2 minutes to read while waiting for food to cool down

• Worked with a writer really beautiful thing to be proud of

• Etsy store - done a few jobs for them. Email sent out when making a shop and selling first order. Designer mentality.

• Set of stickers. Weird physical stickers with badass animals. The suburban crooks

• First job was with hallmark, hated the job as she wanted to be an illustrator. So it was great to be asked to do 7 or 8 designs for hallmark US

• Sample cupboard of stuff from the US, loved looking at it then ask to contribute

• Making stuff for yourself has its advantages

• Science tech engineering, she likes those microscopic galactic stuff with story through it

•Sci-fi, being an introvert, comics is for her. She just likes sitting, making and drawing

• Labours over her work. 24 hour comic page in an hour, 24 pages. 6 other artists in a room each of them making a 24 hour comics! Blur of activity. Sent to printers, made an edition to sell.

• Nominated for best short award

• Hand me down - an object having a cyclical story

Fanfare legit book with ribbon bookmark

• Nominated for a Canadian award

• Being braver to share stories about herself and share that after the buzz of the 24 hour comics

• Every year she makes a published edition

• Toronto vessel - autobiographical, steer your life how you want and breaking free escaping

• Debut, memorable, giving a deadline, new comic to debut. Half personal half fictional

• Sequential and TCAF - do a comic about Toronto or Ontario. Golden Horseshoe tall tell fake folktale

• Jobs lead into jobs

• Birmingham library pavilion workshops lead to working with the royal Shakespeare theatre having a season of events - blending of gender roles - creating characters who could interchange

• Hall full of tall wooden mystical creature things

• Comics for other people. Street press comic, won dury award at the Belgrave.

• Bimba - witch house - tapping into Russian Ukrainian - Baba Yaga - flies around in a pestle and mortar. Story about that.

• Empowering to self publish.

• Raw comics

• Comics anthology - trying out weird stuff.

• Keep making work, let the journey be organic, Twitter and Tumblr can be toxic ... sharing comics and zines, trading in her bag, sending in the mail, making friends, respect for other artists, supporting artists.

Reflection
Krystina has inspired me so much with her positive and quirky personality and her passion for creating images. She is a hard worker and I respect her grafting and crafting to create work that she loves. I want to be able to be so driven during the hardships and the misfortunes that happen with life and to just keep creating no matter what. It is something I'm trying to juggle with when having a 26kg Labrador who just wants to play all the time. When I'm at home, I can put Tami with my mum or my dad - but in the studio flat it is just one big room with us two in it and I can't always avoid her wanting to play or wanting to cuddle and stopping me from creating. Other times I am just some exhausted from life. I need to be more like super-dude Krystina!

Book Review: Chimidyue - A Folktale of the Amazon Rainforest

Reflections

• I immediately love the vivid colours, simple shapes and forms and use of light and dark to show
whether Chimidyue is in the rainforest or outside it. A simple but effective visual device!

• The book has a hand-made, crafted, papercut aesthetic though it has been illustrated digitally.
• The line patterns give the illustrations a certain charm and texture - almost alluding to hand-sewn
felt elements again showing craft and a feeling of family, something made and handed down just like this folktale story itself.

• Repeated motifs of butterflies, flowers, leaves, trees and branches on each page encompasses a sense of continuity,
flow and togetherness of the book as a whole.

• Each page is a surprise with its viewpoints and composition. Makes turning the page fun!
• Each page spread has been used to it's full potential, but without feeling cluttered.
• The text is either placed above or below the illustrations to make it easy to read and so as not to interrupt the visual storytelling.
• The chosen font is large, rounded and bold for readability.
• Pronunciations (Chim-ID-yoo-a) as well as other terms relevant to the story are explained at the back giving an educational angle.
• This is a charming story with a cultural aspect that is entertaining and interesting; important in today's political landscape. Our differences should be accepted, embraced and celebrated and I'm glad that an obscure fairytale from a different country is featured in a children's book to help children learn about other traditions and folklore as well as their own.

How is this relevant to my work?
I have started to play more with simple shapes and colours in my own practice as seen in my Visual Skills, Visual Narratives and Visual Language work. I have really experimented with and adopted this mode of image making as it is something I respond positively to and enjoy the aesthetics of. Simplify to amplify! Having just completed my own picture book, titled The Pearly Kings and Queens, and learning more about composition in Visual Language, I now look at children's books in a different way - is the composition and framing interesting? Is it fun to turn each page and expect something different? Is there a sense of depth and viewpoint? I can start to pick these apart and use them in my practice.