Exploration and Play Act 3

Crescendo

The final and third section of the ‘Experimentation and Play’  of this project was entitled Act 3: Crescendo. This is where the project builds to a summit. I needed to find a way to combine the previous two outcomes as well as a 100 word extract selected during act 2 in preparation. The outcome will take one of four formats: An A2 digitally printed and processed poster, A 6 illustration narrative, in the form of an art book, zine or a set of images, A ‘global protest’ guerilla marketing campaign or Another negotiated and realistic outcome.  The next two weeks will be working towards presenting a concept as well as roughs in a group critique.

My personal aims for this project were:

• Create an outcome that is beautifully finished and presented

• Explore a technique that I haven’t used before

• Investigate something that I have a personal interest in

• Independently and effectively manage my time

Act 3: Politicisation Workshop

‘Behind every beautiful thing there was something tragic’ Wilde, O. The Picture of Dorian Gray. 1890

To begin Act 3 we worked with the quotes we chose during Act 2 and displayed them by creating posters. In our group we decided to use our film to show the concept of how as people we always carry our opinions and thoughts with us at all times and if intentionally or not they affect the way we are seen, think and the way we behave. I really enjoyed making this film and feel that it portrayed our ideas well in both a creative and physical way. By literally holding our opinions wherever we went they changed the way we moved and performed tasks.

Going forward I must consider these ideas and reflect on how my opinions and beliefs affect how I create and perceive work as well as how others opinions and beliefs will make them perceive mine.

Act 3: Idea Development

The Lady and the Unicorn:À mon seul désir

Developing from my quote I decided to look into things I find beautiful. Something that I have always looked at for inspiration has been medieval tapestry. I love the style, the colours and how a whole narrative can be shown in just one image. One in particular that I have always adored is The Lady and the Unicorn: À mon seul désir, a french tapestry from the middle ages. It is one of a series of six, the other five of the series have been commonly interpreted as each of the five senses but this one’s meing is obscure and not many can agree on its intended message. Some believe it is meant to be love or understanding others that it is a meditation on earthly pleasures. This uncertainty surrounding the meaning of the piece excites me and allows my imagination to roam, I want to develop my own narrative from this piece and create my own character.

As inspiration as to how to develop my work further I looked back to Act 1 and chose to develop from one of my favourite piece that I developed – a textural experimentation inspired by the word ‘tudor’. At first I wasn’t sure how much of this I wished to take forward… weather I wanted to  take the technique further or just move forward with the word.

Holbein’s portrait of Jane Seymour, Queen of England

To start, I decided to first research tudor portraiture – specifically those by Hans Holbein the Younger.

His portrait of Jane Seymour really resonated with me. She reminded me so much of the main figure in the tapestry. I decided that going forward I wished to reimagine the character present in the tapestry as tudor gentry. A high-class noble lady… someone  who is beautiful and graceful but also someone who has dark desires and intentions, relating to my quote… ‘behind every beautiful thing there was something tragic.’

Act 3: Character Development

Character design development sketches, looking into period fashion, makeup and beauty standards

Final Character Design

Act 3: Group Critique

During the critique I was given much interesting feedback. Many of them suggested to experiment further with different materials. As this was something I was planning on doing already getting this feedback only made me more motivated to do so. However, even though I received much useful feedback in aspects such as how I could improve the layout and display of my work in next presentations. I also felt that some of the feedback I got on my work was either based on personal style preferences or quite vague… for instance: ‘quality of drawing could be improved’ or ‘needs more detail’, although I am fine receiving critiques such as these I do wish that they person writing them would be more specific and give examples of what they mean.

Act 3: Lino Experimentation

Following feedback from the group critique as well as the motivation of my personal aims for this project I decided to experiment with Lino printing to create imagery. I love the very strong lines created using this effect. As well as the variety of line and shape that can be created using different tools. I think it would be really interesting to see how far I could take this technique. Out of the four outcome choices available to me I had decided that the six illustration narrative would be best to visualise my concept. I want to create a short story showing my character’s dark ambition. The actual process of carving the lino was really fun, I found it a little challenging as once a line was made in the lino it could not be undone. However, this made me even more careful with my linework, making sure to make a perfect cut each and every time. This practice was really important, it allowed me to practice using line weight and get familiar with the tools I will be using to create my final outcome.

Act 3: Narrative Development

I was struck with creative block  whilst trying to come up with the narrative for my final outcome.  I was finding it difficult because I was a little overwhelmed by the sheer amount of different aspects the piece has in it and I wasn’t sure how to show the ruthless nature of my character without falling into cliches. This is when I decided to just focus on the main aspects that interested me, be it big or small. These were the two main figures and the small rabbits in the background. For me, rabbits symbolise fragility, gentle-ness and are kind. I thought that if she were shown killing something that represents these qualities it could show how she is the exact opposite of them.

Act 3: Storyboard

Act 3: Test Prints

• Wrong Order

• Uneven Pressure

• Adding detail using cotton bud

Act 3: Final Outcome Process

• Inking up the Linos

• placing the Linos

• test print

• prints

• measuring in preparation for the folds

• folding on the guillotine

• creating the belly bands using scraps

Act 3: Final Outcomes

The project ‘Experimentation and Play’ gave me many opportunities to experiment with new and exciting techniques as well as challenge myself by stepping outside my comfort zones to discover new ways of creating imagery. Throughout each two week project I did my best to really push myself to create the best most exciting work that I could, I believe that this effort has paid off.

My final outcome for Act 3 is something I am very proud of, not only is it my first time making a completed and folded comic but it is also my first time using printing methods to produce a final outcome. I think that the imagery and colours have come together is so beautiful and really successful. Looking at the same story but with a different coloured background is really interesting. The way such a simple change can make such a massive difference to the atmosphere the images create. The blue is calmer, like she is a calculated and cold killer while the red accentuates the violence in the imagery. Personally, I prefer the red. The aggressive and intense feeling it creates is perfect and is what I was visualising for this outcome to have.

I also believe this outcome is successful because of how it was successfully able to combine all three tasks: My automatic writing task from act 1, the comic making from Act 2 and my quote ‘Behind every beautiful thing that ever existed there was something tragic.’ from Act 3.

To conclude, after really pushing myself to break my creative habits I was able to produces 3 different outcomes that I am really proud of and that all compliment and build off each other. This project has been a great learning experience and an amazing opportunity for discovery.