Alice Healey

Hello, my name is Alice Healey. I currently study Illustration at the University of Northampton. My style is directed towards many diverse themes, working principally in acrylics and watercolour. Illustration allows me to have the freedom to develop my love of colour and detail into large scale paintings, which reflect my diversity and unique style. I see this blog as a place to collect and reflect on incidences, artefacts and the work of creative practitioners, as well as documenting my own creative process.

[alicehealey]

This is my final installation set up in my garage ready for assessment. This environment does not compliment my installation at all, however as I cannot transport my installation into uni until the 2nd June this shall have to do for now. I am extremely happy and excited about finishing this installation and I feel that the final outcome represents me as an abstract and colourful muralist. I am really excited about seeing my installation within an exhibition environment, as I feel that the lighting and rooms shall make my installation stand out more, creating a dramatic, atmospheric effect as soon as you walk into the room.

[alicehealey]

This photograph shows all aspects of my installation, from the mural itself, to the floor that holds the reflection of my city, then finally my light boxes that will stand behind the installation. My original plan for my final major project was to create an atmospheric experience for the viewer that will draw people into my abstract city. I wanted to incorporate abstraction, colour, light and architecture into this installation to create a dream- like atmosphere that engages with the viewers imagination. I feel that this final colour combination I have chosen compliments this dream- like atmosphere I am trying to create. The warm colours hold connotations that could be interpreted in a variety of ways, depending on a persons background and social standing. For example red, holds connotations of love, romance and passion, however this could also be interpreted as danger, anger and fear. Leaving my installation open to interpretation allows the viewer to interpret their own personal experience.

[alicehealey]

After drawing up my design onto the boards, I began to paint my installation using a very simple but effective technique that a skilled professional once taught me. This saved me a lot of time, allowing me to achieve a solid straight line. I found painting my installation a lot easier than I did drawing it up, however it felt like a great achievement drawing up a technical architectural drawing to this scale. I am excited to see the final installation come together, however I feel that I may face challenges along the way when it comes to applying the acetate onto the installation.

[alicehealey]

I was then told that my work did not speak for itself, therefore I added titles at the top of each painting to highlight what I am trying to portray. 

[alicehealey]

As part of my DNAD competition it was suggested that I used my paintings to create a gif that highlights me as an illustrator. 

[alicehealey]

Where do I begin? Building this installation has been an expensive and time consuming project, however I feel that the finish result shall defiantly be worth it.

After ordering the boards from Wickes I had to prime them with acrylic wood primer, this meant that the boards would hold the acrylic paint I used better allowing it to stick to the board. After 3 coats of paint I was then able to begin drawing up my installation. 

This was extremely difficult as the scale of the drawing meant that I had to be extremely careful with the straight edge I was using, making sure I did not knock it out of place. Measuring the whole installation out using a small ruler was also challenging as I did not have the appropriate equipment. I however managed with the equipment I had and was able to draw the whole image out perfectly. 

I then had to move onto cutting out the holes in which the light boxes would go. I decided on the areas I wanted cutting out and cut them out using a jigsaw. 

It was really exciting to see the installation gradually coming together, step by step. 

[alicehealey]

As part of my degree show I shall be selling postcards, stickers and prints of my work. I have recently had these two images professionally printed, giving me 10 prints of each design to sell at the student shop in the exhibition. I am really happy with the quality of the prints and I am excited to see if I can manage to sell any prints. 

The overall feel to my exhibition shall tie in well with the promotional material I have recently purchased and I feel that these prints relate significantly well with my painted installation. 

[alicehealey]

As part of my exhibition my work shall be documented in a catalogue that is designed to showcase both illustration and graphic design students work. I had the choice to choose 3 illustrations that best presents my strengths as an illustrator. 

I decided on these 3 illustrations as the present my abstract, colourful and bold illustrations in there best light. I am really happy with the way the catalogue will look and I am excited to see my work printed in a document that people can keep for life. 

[alicehealey]

This is my final installation plan with the top one drawn to scale. My final exhibition shall consist of this painted installation on two boards with a board on the floor in which I shall paint on in order to create a walk in experience for the viewer. I plan to have two shelves either side which shall hold my business cards on one and my concertina sketchbook on the other. 

I am excited to begin to build this and I shall document my creative process as I go. 

[alicehealey]

Before I finalised the design for my installation, I wanted to do some last minute colour studies, this would either confirm my original idea of using the warm colour study or open my eyes to a much more effective colour combination. 

I scanned my original painting into the computer and began to alter the colours in Photoshop. This allowed me to easily experiment with a variety of colours, especially colours that I would have not thought of before. 

Although all of these colour studies work well I still feel that the warm colour study creates the effect I want to create with my installation. I want to create an atmospheric, dream like and bold installation that I think the warm colours would compliment this well. I therefore finalise the design I shall use for my abstract city installation as the warm colour combination. 

[alicehealey]

Today I have been concentrating on finalising my exhibition plan for my final degree show. I have decided on the measurements and the layout that I want my show to look like and I have began to draw up ideas in Photoshop. 

I began by drawing out the basic layout, using 3 boards along the back and one on each side. I then continued to develop ideas and then progressed to drawing up my final design.

After I finalised the layout I then started to work out measurements that shall help me order materials and work on a final composition for my final show.  

[alicehealey]

Creative conscience:

I really struggled to get motivated when it came to this competition. They only idea I had was the general subject matter which was to highlight the social divide within the classes.  I was really stuck with an idea until someone suggested watching Grayson Perry's, In the best possible taste documentary. After watching this I was filled full of inspiration, brain storming all the points highlighted in the documentary enabling me to use them in my final design. 

The idea I had was to build the varied principles and lifestyles of the different cultures on a hill, showing how the working class is gradually working its way up the hill slowly overpopulating the middle classes and upper classes. 

After sketching out the final design I decided to paint it using gouache as you can achieve vibrant colours however adding tone and detail to the image. Overall I am really happy with this competition piece as it is colourful, interesting and presents the points I am trying to achieve. If I had more time to develop this painting I would have worked harder on the composition to make the image tighter and more to the point. 

[alicehealey]

In order to build a strong portfolio that highlights my skills as an illustrator, I decided to concentrate on creating illustrations that will support my other work in my portfolio. 

I used my own photograph taken in Paris to created this drawing using pencil crayons and ink on paper. I decided on using flat warm colours because in my FMP I have been experimenting a lot with warm colours and I really like the effect they have on my work. 

I now need to scan this image into the computer and make it into a finished illustration that I shall put into my portfolio. 

[alicehealey]

I have recently been concentrating on building up a strong portfolio that shall be ready for when I finish Uni, which I shall take when I go to contact clients. 

I have been re- editing previous paintings that I felt complemented my style and that would aid in building a successful portfolio. These 3 examples were created in my first year of my degree for a stamp design brief that had to relate to the city of Liverpool. 

I was really happy with these outcomes however as I have developed into a stronger illustrator over the past 2 years I began to see faults and things that I wanted to change in the painting, enabling me to touch them up and make them stronger. 

I shall use these 3 images to add to my portfolio and I hope to continue to building up my portfolio with more self initiated illustrations. 

[alicehealey]

The composition in this study is poor as I failed to leave space at the bottom of the image, therefore I should have left enough room to define the bottom of the building. 

I however carried on developing this composition as I wanted to create another colour study to aid me in my colour theory research. I therefore traced the image onto A1 paper and decided on thee colour study, green, red, yellow and blue. 

Overall I feel that this study taught me to not rush my designs as I feel that this composition would have worked well if I had executed it right. I plan to re- create this composition again, however developing into into a city and not just a painting. 

[alicehealey]

Here is another example of developing my composition in preparation for my degree show. As before I have used line and shapes to create this abstract city, concentrating on bringing depth to the image. 

After recently creating colour studies using warm colours I decided to use cool colours to create this colour study. I am happy with the final outcome of this painting, however I am not sure about this colour study as I feel it makes the image appear flat and doesn't complement the composition. 

I shall therefore keep this in mind when it comes to finalising my final colour study and I shall take my time to analyse each study to find the most appropriate one for the composition that I shall select. 

[alicehealey]

Before I can finalise the design I shall be using as part of my final show, I wanted to continue to develop compositions that shall give me more choice to choose from. 

I have continued to create an abstract city by using lines and architectural shapes. I have developed this composition into a futuristic and abstract city that uses simple shapes that creating depth to the image. 

I have then traced the A1 pencil drawing onto another piece of A1 paper to create another colour study, using cobalt blue, orange, pink and yellow. I feel that these colours do work well together, however I feel that the blue is overpowered by too many warm colours.