Sam Love

2nd year printmaking online folio

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CoGC HND 2 Printmaking

Blog link for my new brief 

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Collage

Using one of my collages, i digitally manipulated the image to form a glitched effect. I made sure to keep the key colours (from the eye balls) as part of the effect. I enjoyed this as it added more to the piece

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COLLAGES

these are some other examples of the various combinations of the cutouts. I liked these as they show a progression and the ideas I had come up with

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COLLAGES

Following inspiration from Höch, I utilised current newspapers to make my collages. In doing this, I found many different elements that I liked and cut them out. I also used some scrap experiments from the past in the form of rolled ink and watercolour.

After doing this, it was very easy to find many compositions that I thought would work as I hadn’t dedicated myself to sticking anything down

Inspired again by Höch, I came up with some scenes that played on current affairs such as the royal family and the virus.

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COLLAGES - Hannah Höch

Höch was a German Dada inspired artist who was mostly known for her politically influenced collages and was thought of as one of the most well known photomontage artists.

Her collages/photomontages feature various cut outs from newspapers and magazines of the time period and are composed into various figures/scenes.

I am inspired by these two collages as she has a good eye for matching different components so that they fit well together. They also appear simplistic but effective at getting a message across to the viewer

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Evaluation - remediation 

This brief required me to create two identical multi-layer prints and zine focusing on the idea of ‘beauty in the mundane’. As classes were mainly online, a lot of time was spent having digital calls with my lecturer who taught and encouraged me to do very quick gestural studies of objects easily at my disposition. As well as this i decided to take more of a practical and personal approach in finding inspiration around my current area and the city centre to photograph and take rubbings of organic objects and manmade structures (this includes trees, buildings, grids on the pavement ect.) This proved to be very useful as I was able to focus my inspiration into two categories - organic and man-made. The calls were also beneficial as I am now able to create very quick gestural studies that can be further developed. 

Mind-maps and concept boards were also created. This helped greatly in narrowing down ideas to the one concept - rope. To create these concept boards, I utilised the techniques I had learned prior on the calls and walks and incorporated these into the board. This helped in giving me a better understanding of how I wanted to progress with this subject matter as I had created various small studies focusing on the shape of the rope.

Creating developmental studies proved to be challenging, frustrating and time consuming. As my work progressed, I found myself too focused on a final print concept which blinded me to other avenues of development. To combat this, I decided to take a step backwards and create some more experimental studies using various materials such as conte, ink and brush pens. This was a good idea as I was able to create many more samples that were different to my original idea. I also wanted to push myself out of my comfort zone and really focused on digitally manipulating some of my studies using photoshop and illustration software (mobile apps albeit). This proved very useful but time consuming however it was a good idea as I was able to look into different compositions and styles for a final print that differed from my original intended concept.

One of the few issues I faced (aside from getting myself stuck into a final idea) was creating the prints themselves. Due to the nature of all the smaller pieces I created, it was proving difficult to find a composition that worked with my chosen method (screenprinting). As I initially created monoprints in my experiments, I was eager to include this method into my final prints as it worked well in my collages but I had to change this idea as it did not translate very well once printed. I therefore ended the monoprint idea and used solely screen printing methods thus creating the final prints. I feel that by using screen printing, I was able to create multiple prints very quickly as I could print many of one layer before cycling through the next. My prints also ended up looking more finalised and cohesive when I focused on using one print method which I liked.  By doing this however, I had to rearrange and expose more screens which took up a lot of valuable workshop time and caused a lot of stress as other classmates were doing similar tasks. In the future I'll have to consider and plan better courses of action such as better time management and processes if I'm using screen printing. 

Another struggle was creating my zine. As I had never created one before I decided to glue and stick different components together that features examples of developmental and experimental studies however it ended up coming out bulky and messy looking. To combat and change this, I decided to fully digitalise my zine using softwares available to me (canva) and included many more of the digital experiments I had created. This turned out much cleaner looking and looked more cohesive. Looking back I'm glad that I pushed myself to create digital manipulations and studies as I now have a better understanding of how to utilise digital softwares. I feel that if I hadn't taken a step back and created more digital studies then it would have been much more difficult. 

Overall this brief and concept of finding beauty in the mundane brought out some good aspects and bad aspects; in that I've learned not to get ahead of myself too early on when presented with a brief, and to push myself to think outside the box and try new things that would otherwise be a daunting process to develop or a subject that I wouldn't think twice about using.

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Statement of intent - remediation

The purpose of the brief given is to explore beauty in the mundane. This means finding objects/subject matter that is commonly found in everyday life and turning it into art. Referring to this, I must create and develop concepts and studies that can be then turned into two finalised multi - layer prints that contain at least two colours as well as a Zine to showcase the work made. 

I have interpreted this brief as finding objects that are either organic (food, wood, plants and other organic matter) or objects that are man-made (architecture, fencing and household objects) that I can draw inspiration from. Due to the current ongoing pandemic, there are added limitations. This means I will have to focus on finding things in my household and the nearby surrounding area that can be accessed on foot. To add to this, Studio spaces and print facilities have limited access so I will have to cater to this by doing most of the experimental studies and developments at home so I can focus on producing prints when I can gain access to print facilities. Digital software is also a limitation so I will also have to try and find systems and applications that I can use outside the classroom. Another limitation I will face is I will be doing a majority of the work from home, this will mean II will have to prepare a space to create experimental/developmental studies that won't interfere with the rest of my household. This may prove to be an issue as I live in a small flat but this is something I will work around. Taking these limitations into consideration, I hope to be able to produce studies and prints that are of a good quality.

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ZINE - remediation

After creating a handmade zine, I decided to work digitally. I decided this time to focus on more of the digital elements I have created but still utilised the hand drawn studies. In creating this, I decided to make an 8 page zine that tells a story from concept to final print covering the creating process inbetween. As I had done a lot of writing on the last zine created, I decided that maybe less was more so I only added a few notes to help continue the story. For the front and back pages, I have used a scaled up version of the final print. I chose to do this as I was inspired by my previous zine with how the rope shapes flowed across several pages.

While it was a bit difficult laying out the different elements, I am quite happy with the end result.

I have added an extra sample of the finished zine with the page overlay on top to show how each page would look once printed and folded (this also explains why there is a note typed upside down as it will be right side up once folded)

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ROPE DEVELOPMENT- remediation

After creating a few digital manipulations, I decided to go back to handmade studies. As I was still focusing on compositions, i utilitied previous cutout methods. This time, I used tracing paper and black paper so that I wasn’t focusing on colour. I decided to use tracing paper as it was clear to see where each piece would overlap another. I made several arrangements- some over lapping and some not. I found this to be very helpful with viewing the piece as a whole.

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ROPE DEVELOPMENT- remediation

I wanted to experiment more with different layers and compositions. For this, I uploaded a brush pen study into a photoshop app (mobile). First, I turned these simple line drawings into cutouts and played around with different hues. I will also experiment with different colour schemes and compositions using this shape as I have previously experimented with. In this digital manipulation, I took inspiration from the natural curves of the rope and arranged the digital study in a rounded form so that each piece fit underneath each other. I liked this as I was able to find another compositions that worked however I would also like to experiment more to find something that would help tie the piece all together.

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ROPE DEVELOPMENT - remediation

After creating past experiments using collages/cutouts and monoprints, I decided to further explore different compositions using these shapes. To do this, I digitally manipulated some of the cutout shapes I have created and started to figure out how to put them together. In some past digital studies and with the collages, I used some layering techniques. With these shapes, I played around with different colours and opacities that I could use in different print layers. I also had to find a balance of tying all the elements together without making the pieces look too jumbled together and messy. After starting using digital techniques, I have grown fond of being able to slightly adjust the different components to find a composition that worked for me.

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ROPE DEVELOPMENT - remediation

In these digital studies, I put one of the prior brush pen studies into an illustration app and used it as a reference to create a quick fire sample of the shape using the tools on the app. From here; I experimented with different compositions by manipulating the shapes and colours. I liked doing this as is gave me a small insight of how I could turn these shapes into prints. I enjoyed working this way as it was outside my comfort zone and I was able to arrange them to see how the different pieces fit together. My next step would be to create different rope shapes for newer improved compositions

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ROPE DEVELOPMENT- remediation

For these studies, I tried to steer away from the knotted shapes (minus the first sample) using a thick brush pen. I decided to do this as I wanted to explore again the unraveled rope and it’s rounded shapes. I added in some of the twisted fibre lines to add more detail into these simple studies. I like these studies as they are simple but still hold the information needed for it to be seen as rope.

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ROPE DEVELOPMENT- remediation

To put into practice some digital work, I created these very simple shapes of the rope using acrylic paint and dry brush. while they look messy, I done this to create some brush stroked texture. After doing this, I put these images into photoshop (mobile app) and played around with different blend modes, opacities and colours. I didn’t like the first study which shows the twists of the fibres but the second more simplistic shape worked well. I done this to further research how these shapes can be layered upon each other. Although I am not fond on the final result, this pushes me to explore further avenues with the shapes and with digital experiments.

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ROPE DEVELOPMENT- remediation

In these samples, I further explored more of the shape of the rope. In doing so, I took reference from my single line drawing and used black ink at a vertical angle to create some interesting texture and marks on the page. I really liked this as it focused more on working quickly with the materials (as to avoid unnecessary dripping). I was also able to create some very organic and almost blocky shapes which contradicts the natural rounded form that rope gives. I created one of these samples over a ground of conté to see how it would react on the paper. The conté allowed the ink to stick more to the paper allowing for denser shapes to form and the ink flowed and spread

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ROPE DEVELOPMENT- remediation

To develop some more ideas, I took my initial studies and simplified them further using fine liner pens and acrylic paint. I focused more on the shapes and knotted fibres of the rope by limiting myself on how much time I would take creating these studies. The first shows some colour while the second is a single line drawing to explore another method of creating marks. I felt as though the paint study looked too rough around the edges as I was working fast however the single line sample focused more on the shape of the rope which is what I was wanting

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ROPE DEVELOPMENT - remediation

To add further development into the rope concept, I went backwards and created some more studies this time focusing on how the rope can be tied and manipulated into knots, I created these intitial ideas out of conté to further explore and develop. While working backwards isn’t always the fastest method, I feel as though I am able to produce more ideas from another starting point.