NMP - Life and Death - Evaluation
Starting this final and incredibly important project threw me a little. Strangely for me, I struggled with the freedom to pick whatever subject I wanted. Originally and very briefly basing my project on Mexico, I found this felt too limiting for me, and so I expanded the idea to America. Again, being too similar to a previous project, I looked more in detail to a subject that is relevant to how I draw, but could include elements from America and other things that I also love. This is when I finally came up with the Life and Death theme.
Having a solid theme to work towards with my project then gave me a lot more confidence and the ability to start getting some real ideas down. The theme of life and death sprung a lot of ideas to mind, but didn't feel too broad. There were plenty of artists that I knew of to look at and turn to for inspiration and motivation. I found the idea fascinating that the subject was effectively 2 opposites, but I also had the ability and opportunity to illustrate them in a way where they might not be so easy to tell apart.
Ideas started flowing quickly which resulted in me creating 2 compositions. 1 for life, and 1 for death. Pieced together with imagery that I related to both subjects, in the style of tattoo flash. Influenced by my research, I decided to illustrate these pieces all black and white. No stippling or fine line detailing involved. This paid out later in the screen printing process, which I thoroughly enjoyed and I am really happy with how my prints came out. Again they are opposites, but they are kind of similar which I really like.
Furthering this and wanting to show a range of my different types of work, I started researching and looking at paintings by my favourite artists. I had always wanted to draw a Rock of Ages composition before, something that many tattoo artists replicate, and so this ended up becoming my main focus for the painting. As a lot of my work is very much black and white, I think this adds a bit of colour and range to the body of work that I have produced for this project.
The next pieces I drew are my personal favourites for this project. For a while now I have been feeling like I want to up the game and take what I do a step further. After looking at Usugrow's more simple work, I realised that I should have a go at stripping my work down to the basics. The aim was that I would draw something not too complicated, but really think about, and consider every line and detail. The two pieces, the skull and dagger (death) - and the hand holding the rose (life) are the illustrations I made from this. Both signify their individual side, but they both overlap, for example the skull could intact signify life (as Usugrow explains they do in his own work) - and the stem of the rose turns into a chain, something that doesn't represent life so well.
The final piece to the body of work was a developed typeface. I wanted to include some typography as another very different style of working, and yet another addition to the range of work I have. Although not signifying Life or Death, I think the style of the lettering has a slightly gothic feeling, and that it relates in its own way. It was developed from a sketch in my book in which I thought the main shapes looked like apple cores. So I named the font 'Applecore'.
Overall I have really enjoyed this project. It has been great to have the freedom to pick a project. For me it has been an experience where I have had the time to increase the quality of what I do. I have been able to achieve more than just a 1 colour screen print, something I haven't done before. I have developed a proper hand drawn font that I like, and I have taken a step further in my own illustration. For me, it is important that I continue to get better every time I draw, and this has been a huge step for me. This project has given me the opportunity to show the kind of artist that I want to be in the future.
If I were to go back and do anything, it would be to be more open minded at the start of the project. I spent too long getting frustrated trying to find a set subject, when I probably should have been drawing any ideas to help me find what I was looking for. But i got there in the end!