Two Colour...

At top are original drawings divided into colours. I was really impatient with "registering" the paper and such, so approached it in a much more touch and go way.

Screen printing never goes perfect, but some of the imperfections make it look pretty damn cool. I really like the print onto some old paper from a book, really into found paper at the moment. Shame the print wasn't great.

I had fun though, as I always do. Hope to do more of this in the future.

Ghost Portraits Development and Final Piece

Development drawings and paper cuts for the Ghost Portraits project.

At the bottom is my final portrait.

Really enjoyed this project, creating images of such a great man.

Finally...

Final outcome for Ghost Narratives Project, 2 colour screen print. The background was created by haveing numerous colours on the screen before printing, hence the marble effect.

Happy with the outcome, but wish the actual print was a little more crisp, mustn't use as much ink next time!

Christmas Promotional Card

For Work Based Learning, a 16cm x16cm promotional card to hand out at Christmas Fairs, showboating our style and talents.

I had to do a moody Santa, it seemed the only reasonable explanation.

Creating using inks, watercolours and fineliner pens, i got really stuck into this one and enjoyed, especially all the line work in the beard. 

I wanted to add a few red or green specks on by flicking ink on it, but i was too scared to ruin the image. May print it off and experiment on the back up.

Not much information on this one as a hypothetical card, under the right eye is my initials and under the left the initials of a small clothing line I started with my friend Charley Roux, 

Devils Punch Bowl Clothing.

Check us out on our snappy website

 http://www.facebook.com/pages/Devils-Punch-Bowl-Clothing/149718325099805

Very happy with this, feel a definite need to start exploring more with colour.

I'm quite fond of how the overall work sheet looks at the end too. 

I've always liked the test brush marks on the page when using watercolours.

Catching You Up With Print Processses.

Finally got around to scanning in a few things from print processes.

To refresh your memory, here is the drawing i did from out of my window... 

...And here is the intaglio I printed from an etching into plastic. I much prefer this to the original drawing, it has a darker tone now due to the smudging and a little more depth. I'm glad i put some more dark by means of the sky, it feels a little more finished now.

Not so successful however was my lino. I had drawn the image with etching in mind, and knew that it would be hard to get the minute detail into a lino cut. I picked a small section and got to work, and did it in negative so i would have something different to the etching.

As you can see there is a lot less detail than in the cut, and a little too much ink got into the lines. next time I'll know to draw a simpler image...

Here is a very flattering image of my housemate Billie, which may or may not be changed into a two colour screen print. This is the second attempt as in the first the leather jacket was, frankly speaking, terrible. Most of her friends can tell instantly it's her, which may be a little concerning...

No one is spared though, not even myself. Below are some self portraits, which again may or may not become 2 colour screen prints. I got annoyed at not being able to draw realistically straight off the bat, i have to really get myself into the mindsight. So I drew myself grotesque and dripping with black ooze. I look a little like the Hulk...

More to come soon, will do more self portraits that will be better suited to dividing up between colours.

Back to the play school...

Woke up, started working, 10 hours later i am finished. I produced 3 intricate pieces today but this is by far my favourite. We have to illustrate the song "Song to the Siren" by Tim Buckley, well actually, we have to tell the story of what happened to the sailor after the song.

My story was that he tattooed himself aboard his ship with a needle and ink so the story of what he went through would one day be found.

There are some obvious symbols from the lyrics, plus more obscure tattoos, for example the Roman Numeral V on his right arm is there because the song is the fifth track on the album.

Coming up with all the seperate tattoos took a while, not to mention actually drawing them.

I've wanted to do a push pin model for quite a while now, so was glad I could use it in this. The only problem is is that we have to provide a digital version of our work, so we'll see how well he scans before he becomes the final piece.

I'm pretty proud of him.

And yes, I know he looks like something from South Park...

Here are the lyrics to the song...

On the floating, shipless oceans
I did all my best to smile
til your singing eyes and fingers
drew me loving into your eyes.
And you sang "Sail to me, sail to me;
Let me enfold you."
Here I am, here I am waiting to hold you.
Did I dream you dreamed about me?
Were you here when I was full sail?
Now my foolish boat is leaning, broken lovelorn on your rocks.
For you sang, "Touch me not, touch me not, come back tomorrow."
Oh my heart, oh my heart shies from the sorrow.
I'm as puzzled as a newborn child.
I'm as riddled as the tide.
Should I stand amid the breakers?
Or shall I lie with death my bride?
Hear me sing: "Swim to me, swim to me, let me enfold you."
"Here I am. Here I am, waiting to hold you."

Graphics, my old friend...

I have a ton of stuff to post on here, but quite frankly, I am feeling a little bit lazy. So will take pictures or scan in all my new work very soon.

Today I started designing a flyer for a local bar/cafe called Ride today for one of my Adobe workshops. Recently I have been really inspired by a lot of album covers, and graphic design in general. 

As geeky as it sounds I miss using composition and typography so was quite excited to get my teeth sunk into it.

I had some good ideas already, I recently got into this band called The Soft Moon and was blown away by their album artwork.

I love the distressed effect on the colours, and the simplicity of the piece.

It reminded me of Kandinsky, who I learnt about in my A levels, and so I started producing this...

I'd rather you call it a homage than a copy, but all ideas are taken from somewhere!

I had real fun using the software, which is something i've never said before, it gave me real incentive to study and learn how to utilise the Adobe software after 4 years of avoiding it.

My lecturer Andy said it reminded him of Russian Constructivism.

Not finished yet, I would like to draw a simple line drawing of the club and have it sideways in the blank areas.

More coming soon.

Foil and Flock

Here are some of my outcomes from the flock and foil print workshop we had. Am a big fan of the flock on material piece below. Unfortunately some of the prints created using metallic binder and foil haven't been uploaded as I couldn't get a picture of them as the flash just reflected. I didn't get as crisp of an outcome as I would have liked, some parts of the foil didn't stick to the glue. I feel these imperfections wouldn't have bothered me if the original image wasn't so detail driven.

At the very bottom is an Illustration taken from a photo that I will be using for the etching and lino printing workshop. I wasn't hugely inspired by drawing the landscape, so I tried to focus on detail again, getting in every pipe and window i could see. I also altered the perception a little as well so it sat in with the style of my other printed pieces. Not sure whether to add more detail to it or whether this will over do it. 

Hope you enjoy.

Long time, no blog.

A few experiments for our new project "Ghost Portraits". We were given a list of famous people who died in tragic or peculiar ways. We then have the hard task of illustrating that person as a ghost and communicating how they died. I chose Jeff Buckley as i am a huge fan of his, and squealed a little when I found him on the list. Some are better than others, but I am enjoying toying around witht eh idea of negative space, the lack of eyes gives that ghostly feel, and the darkness of the figure is quite foreboding.

Get a new style...

Finished my design for flock and floral, blacked out some areas and made the lines bolder to make it more striking once printed. I'm very happy with how this turned out but wish i had given a little more thought to how the image would look after the print process, I would have perhaps done something using a lot of negative space, or something more abstract.


Then I completed my ghost tag, we had to make up a ghost and the story behind it. Apologies for the blurry text on the back.
Very happy with the different textures and thickness of lines in this small piece. find myself getting a little obsessed with the lines that are in his mouth and in the background. Not sure where i got the inspiration for it actually.

I thought I'd answer another of the questions on the Work Based Learning Brief today, so here goes.

What skills do you already have?

In terms of personal skills I feel I am very confident when it comes to communicating with people and getting my ideas across. I can speak about my own work well in front of tutors and peers and show people easily how the design process worked for me, from initial ideas, research to the final outcome.

I am passionate about things that I am proud of. If i feel I have produced a good piece of work I will be able to clearly tell you why I feel it is effective.

When it comes to personal time management I find i can easily motivate myself, and like to finish things earlier before deadline so I can reflect and improve on these things. More so recently, I have also tried to go up and beyond with my work level, rather than just delivering what is required of me.

I feel I have a good attitude towards working, and also with giving advice and constructive criticism and receiving it myself.

I think I am good at negotiating also, especially when designing things for clients. This is helped by having a healthy level of assertiveness also.

50 words essays and how hard they are.

The Married Couple by Maaike Schoorel
Oil on canvas
dutchartevents.com








This painting is, sadly for you, impossible to gague from a mere picture. It truly is a testament to galleries and how they can expand your knowledge and mind, by having the raw, full piece as it was intended right in front of you, begging and imploring you to study it.


Most will ignore this as simply a black background with white shapes on, but for me there lies a story of a couple trapped in a marriage they can no longer escape, due to tradition, fragility, dependence and reputation.
If you can visit the British Art Show at Plymouth Museum and have a good look at this painting, and make out these figures full of life and stories, created with a few swift strokes of the brush.


We were asked in Contextual Studies to respond with a 50 word essay on this piece.
Here is my entirely bitter and cynical response...

The Married Couple by Maaike Schoorel is a haunting, devastatingly dark portrait of a wife gripping her husband. A harrowing reflection on the man-made prison of marriage, where love once bloomed there is now only contentment with mundanity and routine as they fade, trapped, into old age and eventually death.

Some light reading for you there.

One more thing...

As well as the book I drew the picture of the telivision trying to reach his remote, whilst the phone and ipod laugh on. It's not quite finished yet, and it needs a fair bit of changing before it will produce a good flock/foil print in 2 weeks time.

And here are my low-fi photocopy prints of my raven skull drawing. These were the best ones, whilst the others were a bit of a shambles.