RVJ

Reflection

When working in your RVJ a reflection and what you are doing and have done will always help you develop an idea. This is so because when you look at what you have already done you will see the positives and negatives, which you wont necessarily; see when creating the idea on the page. So by analysing your work you will know what to include in the next development stage and what not to include.

For example in my RVJ I’ve looked at a few ideas and evaluated, what I did was I drew one Idea down look for its pros and cons. This process allowed me to come up with a few different options I could do for a final piece.

This meant the images I have could all be used to create the final image as all had their positive points and all had there negative. This shows that experiment and reflection on those experiments is of grate important, so that you can see the good and the bad, and improve upon the last. Because there is next a perfect out come.

Language

In a RVJ the use of language is very important because throughout, you need to use different types to create artwork. Because a visual representation wont tell you in later days or others about your thought processes. This then leads on to the fact that as human beings we don’t have the greatest of memories, so and Idea you had a month ago might be lost. So by writing down your ideas you can let your mind move onto the next idea. This leads to your mind being clear so that when you have to tackle two different projects you haven’t go two different brief’s and designs running at the same time.

Also by writing down your thoughts you can process your idea and see different directions to go; so for instance with the fusion brief I didn’t think about my final outcome (mythical creature made from two animals such as the griffin) till I thought about science and how they fuse different elements together to create a new element. By writing down my thoughts I managed to find a suitable format for my picture, a playing card and this wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t write down my thoughts an artist I was looking at.

Itap – Visual Principles

Tone of voice

When constructing and image or a piece of writing you needs to establish what emotion you can to portray. As every visual we see are minds interpreted into an emotion so when you see and image of a girl blown up by Napalm will instantly made you pity and fearful of the girls life. However reading a passage from a romantic novel will make you feel passionate and loved. So by deciding what emotion you want to get through your work will determine how you image turns out.

For instance the images on book are very important, and need to portray the feeling and content of the book because having a man and woman arguing wont portray a romantic novel and neither will a man reading in a library portray a high action book.  

As an example the book cover for Sabriel by Garth nix is of the symbol used for casting spells (charter magic). The white background represents purity and innocents; this being because a girl aged around 17 takes over her fathers role as an abhorsen who puts the dead to sleep (the opposite of a necromancer).  Plus the fiery symbol represents the possible out come of the main villain in the story (fire, destruction, chaos and the end to all living things on earth).  So this cover represents the story very well and tells the audience what they can expect from it.

Visual hierarchy

When looking at an image there always has to be a place for the more important info or imagery and a place for the less important info/imagery. This is true for a photographer when they take or construct and image. In most pictures the thought of thirds is apparent, as there has to be something going on in each third of the image in both horizontal and vertical lines. This can also be said about posters as they on average have an image in the middle with the title at the top and subtext at the bottom with the actors, director and studio names. However this cannot be said for every poster for every film.

For example this poster has the Title at the top and a main image in the centre but then have put the subtext around the edge to frame it. They have also put the main actor’s name (Nicolas cage) in capitals because he is in the image and plays the main character. This might also be because by showing his name, it will portray the quality of the film. So when I comes to posters the most important info, little film title and a famous actor will be bold or at the top where it can be seen. Then all the other less info follows after in smaller text.

Bibliography

Google.co.uk, www.garthnix.com, The book Sabriel which I have I’m my position, http://www.smashingapps.com/2009/04/01/40-must-see-resources-and-inspirational-collections-for-designers-to-discover-the-best-of-the-web-in-march.html

Itap 2nd lecture

Through the ‘visual practice’ of observation, collecting, studying and exploring, illustration can contribute to a deeper understanding of the subject.

A Deeper understanding of a subject matter can only be found through research and experimentation. The two main research-starting points are secondary and primary. Secondary is where I would research images in the library or on the net, I may also see what other artists have done for the subject that I’m doing. With Primary I would go out and capture images that are relevant to the subject I’m studying or I would go out and do a questionnaire and find out what the audience wants, as they are the people who will be looking and understanding my work.

From these images I (and many other artists) I would experiment with different styles, mainly that of other artist that I researched in my secondary research. This would then develop my own style and bring about a new understanding and way of depicting the topic.

By looking at all of this it heightens my understanding of the subject, which means that I’ll be able to relay the intended idea and emotions onto the audience.

An understanding and knowledge of ‘an audience’ can enhance and focus the communication.

It is very important to understand your audience as these people are going to be the ones who critic your work, and are the ones who wont know you intended thoughts. So your have to find a way for your intended audience to understand and to appreciate your work for what you intended it for.

By just working for your self and producing a good piece of art may not work for your audience, this has happened to an graphic designer before who worked for Granada TV where he produced a piece of work which was award winning but for the client and the intended audience wasn’t successful at all. This just goes to show that if you don’t keep your intended audience in mind your piece wont sell.

Two Principles

Can recontextualized ideas be contemporary?

When a piece of art is made its not the artist ideals that is put upon the page but that of the era, because what is happening around and artist influences their out comes, their ideals and the meanings of their art. For instance the naked body back in the 1900 will be seen as sexual and shocking, how ever a naked body in the 20^th century is seen as empowering and the norm. So even though context in art might be the same from different era’s but the meaning behind the art will be portrayed differently. For example the piece called discount soup can by banksy is a play on the art work done by Andy Warhol.

In Andy Warhol’s piece he was trying to portray the mass made object as apiece of art that everyone has and owns and to make high marketed art more trivial in the process. So there target of his artwork was that of the middle class who can afford expensive art works made by big names. What he also did that aimed it to the middle class was that he mass-produced his own art so that his art can become commonplace as well as the Campbell’s soup. Another area of his work that illustrated the mass market was the fact that he could reproduce his artwork for the masses because of the techniques used to make them (silk screen).

In Bansky’s art he’s basically copied the style of Andy Warhol and the subject, however he’s placed a very different meaning to the image. I think he’s trying to portray the fact that people have become cheap and colourless in are every day-to-day life. He’s done this by using a bland and cheap version of today’s tomato soup. By doing this he’s saying that presently people are only interested in their money and how much their getting for it, as the price and weight are highlighted on the image. The little tare in the corner of the can also illustrates that the quality of what we as a people today made isn’t as good as it once was, because this shows that in the hast of producing and shipping this product it was damaged and still on sale.

These images just go to show how artist who take another style and subject can turn it around to mean something so different. Andy Warhol’s image was headline news and portrays the public in a good light, Bansky’s was not headline news and portrays the public in a negative light.

Notions of Originality

In art industry there isn’t one picture that is original, originality to me is the bending and distorting of and idea and from forms around you. So you can’t be original when painting melting watches (Darli) as you’ve painted a watch that someone else has designed and has then taken a style from a previous version, and this chain can go on and on. Even recreating a tree is copying as mother nature as already designed that tree. The only way you can be original is in your thinking and naming of your creation.

This can be applied to Rachel Whiteread piece ‘untitled’ (free standing bed) by just giving the sculpture no name your giving the audience a choice of what it means to you. So to some it will mean nothing because it’s just a cast of a dirty old mattress. To others this could mean a lot more as when you look at the mattress which looks old but because it worn it must be a good and comfortable place to sleep. However as it’s a plaster cast it’s hard and cold and cant age past the time it was cast. By casting it she’s preserving the mattress and the history along with it as each bump or lump could hold meaning to the owner, thus making the mattress an object of history and meaning.

So a cast mattress on it own is just a mattress, but by her choosing to give it no name she’s allowed the piece to have its own meaning to each person that views it. Thus giving it a multitude of meanings, emotion and opinions for each person that views it.

Flickr

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