Evaluation
Initially my research began with creating a mind map of potential outcome ideas alongside different media I could use, as well as that I was looking at different illustrators and their styles, I knew that I wanted to involve portraiture in my final outcome. I always had a strong interest in history, I kept many historical books at home, played historical games and originally I wanted to go into art history. From this, I thought doing an outcome based around this would be enjoyable and a good insight to history for potential viewers. In my statement of Intent, I expressed that I was looking into historical leaders, such as Julius Caesar, Bismarck and Queen Elizabeth I etc. I kept that idea throughout the project but twisted it ever so slightly, looking through my books of war and leadership in countries like Italy, I realised that mostly people in authority were men. There were iconic women in history, from Annie Oakley to Queen Elizabeth I, but the vocal point was mostly men, asking my teachers and friends for an opinion I realised that they didn’t even know some of the female leaders/icons. So, instead of creating pieces about unknown iconic women from history, I decided to put a twist on famous leaders we already know, this allowed me to be more open with gender, and race depending on their country and time.
Different techniques and media I used were: Digital, Collage, Stitching, 3D, Painting and Photography… I mostly stuck with Digital and Photography throughout the process, I used collage and stitching etc. when I was looking into experimentation. Even though I didn’t continue with these processes, I enjoyed them and I was happy with the outcomes, my favourite technique early stage that I used was stitching Julius Caesar, it was time consuming – I never finished it completely, but I didn’t need to fully stitch the portrait for it to be recognisable. Another reason I liked this process was the texture of it, the amount of layers of thread made it 3D, you could feel were the eyes would be as there would be more detail in those areas..
In my Statement of Intent I explained that I wanted my outcome to either be A3/A2 printed portraits, or binding the portraits together in a book… As the project progressed I realised the idea of having printed portraits wasn’t achievable as I didn’t have a printer at home. But, I had programs like Photoshop, midway of the project I came across the thought of Graphic Burger and how I could display my work via a digital book. My plan from there was to create multiple portraits of leaders, then display them through an installed magazine template. The first portrait I did was of my friend Shaz, and I would estimate that it took over 3 days – A week to complete, they are very time consuming as I hope for the outcome to look quite realistic but almost painterly too. Therefore, most of my time throughout this project went into Digital and Photography.
Artists I looked at throughout the project related to Illustration, Stitching, Photography etc. One of the first artists I responded to was Underwerket, she was an illustrator who took drawn images and combined it with collage. I used this mostly for experimentation, as I was set on the idea of creating a digital piece. Jirka Väätäinen was a big influence for my work, he does illustration and graphic design, his work was very clean and it was consistent throughout his theme. I wanted my work to be quite consistent, so I put most of my detail into the figure/face instead of apparel etc.
I had a few ideas that I’d considered, such as stitching into digital portraits, but due to quarantine I was not able to see that through… In college I had printed out portraits I had done, I used paint to dry the image onto felt/cardboard/linen, and then once dry, I rubbed off to reveal the image pressed onto the material. I did not get any further than that, but my plan was to stitch a pattern around the circle, inspired by the artist Aline Brant.
Every week I had a plan to stick to a portrait, as I knew it would be time consuming, I would spend 1-2 week(s) researching about them and beginning creating their piece. I made certain twists depending on time era and country, but overall I was looking to creating a gender swap on whatever leader I was aiming for. Overall, I managed time quite well on creating the outcomes, the only piece that took longer than expected was Wu Zetian (Wang Zetian), and that is purely because I didn’t enjoy the process of making it. I got stuck on the idea that it looked wrong and put off continuing it for a while. This final project has improved my skills with digital work and from that I will continue practicing digital portraits.
Looking back at my Statement of Intent, I am more than happy with the outcome I have created, I didn’t want to stray away from history and portraiture, and although I had to change some details throughout the project, my overall theme is still there. The vision I had in my head was definitely close to my outcome, although the original plan was for it to be something you can hold and touch. A small detail I included in my Statement of Intent is that I would keep their story alive, working through the project I thought that would be expressed purely through my portraits, but as I involved graphic burger, I looked into creating an information page, which was a lot of fun to make.
Within my portraits, there was a few things I could have done to visually improve them, they weren’t hyper realistic, and for the face and body, I was going for that kind of theme. If I had more time I would have looked further into shading in smaller areas. The eyes, mouth and nose I used a smaller brush to create stronger details, though throughout the face there aren’t key details you can look at, aside pores, moles, or birthmarks. To further the detail on the face, I could have looked into different brushes that use a rough texture, and where the light may possibly hit, I could have used subtle strokes of white or yellow. As for the overall piece, the apparel wasn’t to the same standard as the body, but as I had previously stated, I did that purely so the viewer could focus more on the body. If I had spent time in college creating the final outcome, my piece most likely would have involved sewing - hand sewing and machine. If I were to do this again, I would look at continuing with sewing upon the prints I did of my digital art.
I’m satisfied that I have done digital art twice throughout my time in college, as It has helped me improve and widen my knowledge within that spectrum. In the future, I wish to get into concept art, which requires multiple skills, mostly digital, 3D design on pc etc.
My final outcome is 4 spreads of a magazine, showcasing: Alexandra the Great, Wang Zetian, King Elijah I and Julia Caesar. Four portraits accompanied with an explanation of their time era, name and region. For my portrait reference photos, I used photography I took of my friends and models from Pinterest, I wasn’t thinking of primary/secondary research, I was thinking purely based off of the person I was re-imagining. For example: 1533 England, no African-American Kings or men in high authority. Or 100 BC, in Roman History, there is iconic female figures, but most people have only heard of strong male figures like Julius Caesar or Augustus Caesar. It is known that Julius Caesar had a daughter named Julia, but she is not as well-known as his son. For the viewer, this would be eye opening to re-imagine these leaders in a different light, to see them in a time era where it wouldn’t be politically correct. If I had more time to complete this project, it would have involved more of a physical aspect, as I had previously explained. Overall I am satisfied with my outcome and I think it represents a good image for history. Doing 4 detailed portraits within a few months I found quite difficult, but it was great to plan and push myself to get it done. I’m hoping from my portraits that it projects an important statement that it depends on their leadership, not their physical form.