Group Communication

We have been keeping in contact as a group through social media, we haven't been meeting up as much as the beginning as we all seem to have separated off onto our own work path. Our group really get on and work very well together, in the first couple of weeks we were meeting up a lot to discuss and brainstorm ideas. It took us a while to come up with our final idea but we all contributed to it and went together to pick our items. After choosing our idea and items we all decided to create our own individual projects from them. Our main source of communication is through a private Facebook group. Twitter didn't seem to be working well for us as a few members of the group were finding it hard to grasp and keep on top of their account. The Facebook group is useful for any questions we have or when were are generally stuck. It is there to act as a support and organisations but also for group discussions when we haven't been able to meet up. We are all keeping updated on each others work through our blogs which we regularly check. Due to the fact we don't have twitter we decided to make our project available to the public through Facebook. We have created a Facebook page which people can like it's called 'Project Mex'. We have all been posting pictures of our progress on there and we will use it to promote our exhibition.

Private Facebook Group

Our project Facebook page

Facebook page feed

Colour palette ideas.

Today I began looking at concept of colour. My drawings have all been black and white so have been working with colour after looking at how Stuart Patience combines his drawings with colour. I want a lot of colour so I'm going to start experimenting with layering in photoshop to create a series of digital illustrations or prints. There is a key colour palette that runs parallel with both of my objects which is why I chose them. The colours in both are very soft and pastel like.

Nursey Book

Wind Up toy

Stuart Patience.

 

I was looking through an Illustration book and I came across the work of Stuart Patience. He is an illustration and animation graduate from Kingston University. He is a freelance illustrator and works on a lot of projects and exhibitions. I was drawn to his work as it ranges from highly detailed technical drawings to simplified abstractions that focus on colour and pattern something I'm hoping to combine in mine. He is influenced by scientific and mathematical drawings, architectural structures and natural forms. In this unit X project I have been inspired by natural forms such as human and animal figures but also structural mechanisms.

How wind up toys work.

A wind up toy works by using gears. These gears allow them to harness power and transfer it to move a specific way. When the toy is wound up, this allows a crank to initiate another mechanical process, making the toy move. I have taken apart some wind up toys and and some clocks as they have similar mechanisms and have drawn from them.  I'm going to start combining these drawing with my previous drawings of animals.

Tutorial

Today, we had to present our work as a group. We all had to put up our work and objects and talk individually about what we had been up to and where we were going to take our work further. I talked about my drawings and my artist influence Raqib Shaw, I also talked about how I was going to further my work and the idea of combining and layering my drawings of the toys and text. I also explained how I was going to start looking at the history of the wind up toy but also at the way its made and the mechanisms of it. The tutors seemed to be happy with the work I had created, they suggested I make a stop motion film or 3D object to bring my work to life.  This does sounds good but I have no experience in either of these techniques so I am finding it difficult to see how I would create these to a good standard. The presentation was very helpful as I was able to explain my concept in front of a group of people clearly and was able to receive good feedback from this. It was also interesting to not only see the rest of my groups work explained but also works of other groups.

Donnie Darko

Since I bought the little rabbit form the junk shop I haven't been able to put my finger on what it reminded me of! But it suddenly came to me, Frank the scary rabbit from the film Donnie Darko. People have kept on telling me that the wind up rabbit I bought is creepy, I didn't see it but since I made the link back to Donnie Darko I have started to see it very often. I think its the expression on it's face! The silent calm, knowing look. Donnie Darko is one of my favourite films, but only till recently, I have always been terrified of it as I watched it when I was too young and frightened myself to death.

History of Wind Up toys.

Today I decided to research into the history of wind up toys to see if I could find anything interesting that I could expand and build my project from. Wind up toys date back in history to the fifteenth century . Karel Grod a german inventor, created some of the first toys. Wind up toys were initially for royalty and were much more elaborate, with a very complex system of gears and springs. 

The earliest mechanical toys were typically made for affluent European aristocrats. In the 19th century, increasingly affordable version of these toys were made by makers like Lucien Bontemps in Paris. Bontemps' wind up character dolls typically performed movement to the tinkling of music boxes. 

By late 1800s , simpler wind up models made from painted tin were created just for children. To make products more cheaply, manufacturers used materials like cardboard, composition and tin instead of expensive porcelain or wax.

Victorian toys reflected the social and political climate, in which they were made. Circus - themed toys were also common, aerobatic clowns who appeared to walk on their hands or suited rabbits playing drums. 

Companies like Strauss, developed wind up designs in tin to compete wit international imports. As toy trends evolved during the 1940s and '50s, wind up designs reflected new childhood favourites from Disney characters to cowboy figurines to robots. The use of plastics and other synthetic materials following World War II resulted in a decline of win up toy production.

Drawing Development.

I have started drawing from observation, I was working with fineliner drawing the animals in very accurate detail. Similar to the way Raqib Shaw works. As text is very key in the nursery rhyme book I decided to play around with scale and placement. I decided to draw animals that have been humanised thus also relating back to the animals that are drawn with clothes on in Shaw's work. I have been trying to combine the drawing and text together. Im going to research further into the idea of wind up toys mechanisms, photographing and drawing from them. I am hoping to then combine my drawings of the humanised animals with the machinery and text, layering them to create an almost three dimensional print.

Typography.

I have been experimenting with typography, combining text with my illustrations. Here are a few illustrators who use typography in different ways. Steadman's work is very graphic like, it is very messy and a contrasting approach to Maricor's work which is fluid and detailed.

Ralph Steadman 

Maricor/Maricar 

Raqib Shaw.

'Raqib Shaw is an Indian-born, London-based artist who shot to fame in the international art world at the age of just 33. His opulent paintings and sculptures evoke the work of Old Masters such as Holbein and Bosch in their treatment of often unsettling subjects. But they also reflect the ornate style of Persian miniatures and Kashmiri and Japanese textiles. Beneath their beautiful jewel-like surface is a collection of dark and violent images inspired by ancient myths and religious tales from both East and Western tradition.'

My friend from home was up in Manchester this weekend, she does Illustration in Bournemouth so we decided to visit Manchester Art Gallery for the Raqib Shaw exhibition. I was pleasantly surprised by Shaw's work, the illustrations of the animals are extremely detailed , Shaw uses a range of drawing techniques such as simple pencil and 3D enamel and acrylic painting. Shaw also uses  glitter and Rhinestones to add to the royal feel of the compositions.  I also liked the way the compositions were displayed, the simplicity of it works well, I think I will try and incorporate this in my own work. His works are very busy which is how I like to work with lots of colour. One of his works also had a similar colour palette to my items, so I think I will look closer at the way he arranges the colours.  Shaw also created an instillation something which I am hoping to do in my project. His collection of works which came from the same starting point are displayed in the same space in a particular way, they are all different but work together due to the starting point. This is what Im hoping our group can do with Unit X.

Manchester Print Fair

I went to a print fair today in 2022NQ in the Northern Quarter. There were graduates of textiles, illustration and graphic design selling their work . It was very inspiring as most of the works heavily included drawing. There was also a range of techniques, digital and hand drawn prints printed onto a range of backgrounds.

£1.75

Today we had a tutorial, we got to explain our idea to our tutors who seemed to like it. We were asked to show what we had done over easter. None of our group had done much as we had only recently got our concept and we had been putting off going to the Junk shop to buy our items, as our group hadn't been able to meet up all together. After speaking to Hannah we decided that we needed to get our project kickstarted, so half of our group went to Empire Exchange to see what we could get for £1.75/£17.50. Chelsey and I have decided to collaborate and so decided we would get a range of similar items to create our project from. We decided to get 4 items which came to £17.50. We bought a wind up rabbit, a vintage nursery rhyme book, a magic roundabout kaleidoscope and a china plate. We liked the fact that all of our items have a distinctive colour palette we can build on and all are related due to being children's toys. I am going to take my project further by drawing and using photography before I explore and experiment in the print room. I am a also going to research into Children's toys from the 60s and 70s.

Tamzin decided to buy a comic which she is going to research and build her project from. Jordan bought an old football programme, he has decided to research into rivalry in football and he is going to create a documentary on his findings. Hannah bough a figurine which she is going to further research into and photograph it in 175 different places.

Final Concept.

We were trying to come up with ideas for a concept that allows us to create a range of outcomes for an exhibition ie print, instillations, drawings, paintings or films. We wanted 175 to be our starting point, so we came up with the idea of going to a junk/vintage shop and buying a range of items for the price of £1.75. From these items we would then research them and create a series of works from them such as observational drawings and paintings which could then lead to a range of prints , we could photograph them and create instillations from them. We are also going to film our journey and experience of going to the shop and buying the items. We are hoping to have an exhibition as an outcome with a range of works either individually or collaboratively produced based on the items we bought with £1.75.

Unit X Concept Brainstorm.

After we all presented our posters and concepts we talked through them as a group, we brainstormed our favourite which was the idea of culture. We began to look at culture closer to home, Manchester is a very large city with numerous mini communities and religions.  There is also a lot of history in the city with a lot of business and industry. With a large city comes a lot of poverty, since moving from Cardiff to Manchester, a major thing I noticed was the amount of homeless people living rough on the streets. The idea of talking to the homeless and filming them and their story was thrown into the mix but after further discussion we decided that this idea was too closed and also very risky. We wanted an idea that was open and we could create numerous outcomes from. We were also finding it hard to relate the homeless idea back to the number 175.
We are going to go home tonight and think more thoroughly about ideas and come back to brainstorm them with the group tomorrow.

Poster

I decided to do my poster on the fact that the Flatiron building in New York is on 175th Avenue in Manhattan.  It is considered a groundbreaking skyscraper. I have a keen interest in architecture so I wanted to look at this further but also relate it to the local area. I decided to look at addresses around Manchester. I looked for a range of buildings that were number 175, I found a wide variety from tall, old hotels to small terraced houses.
We had to present our posters and give a small presentation on it.