SeminarBlog

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CHS- Comics & Visual Narratives

A subject that was heavily anticipated for the lecture. This may be derived from the fact that it is safe to assume, the majority of people who entered this course was heavily influenced by this medium and are still passionate about it. The excitement for such a talk could be felt as the atmosphere and participation of the topic was definitely more prevalent in a positive way.

I was definitely engaged in the type of topics that was going to be discussed. As I may not have much experience with comics, due to the lack of its availability in my own country, the influences it had on other genres and mediums such as shows on the television was ever so noticeable.

We delved first into the form of a comic, or graphic novel; this included the composition of panels, sequences ( a call back to the Friday sessions) and narrative it was trying to convey. The existence of flowing time through still images was one of the ways to incorporate all these sub-topics. How tone and colour could represent changing time, or panel arrangements to quicken or slow the moment that was happening. Readers playing the part as to how the pace of the story moved as well. After we had delved some what deep into what is a comic, or what made a comic, a comic. We then tried to find the origins or the influences into what it is today now.

Three major examples that were given were, African comics, South East Asian comics such as Manhwa (Korean and Chinese)and Manga (Japanese), and UK/ Eastern European comics. As the definition of comics is still fairly vague and its relation could be connected to that of cave drawings, more requirements as to what could be considered a comic would be laid out, one of these key features is that a comic should be a printed medium. From this, the sprawl to find which region created the first comic began and numerous examples started to pop up.

First example that was brought up was the ‘Franco’, essentially girls magazine, French caricature that would appear as newspaper comics, one of which is particularly famous being Tintin. As these were originally just loose pieces of stories on newspapers, companies that owned the comics decided to start compiling these series and put them together into a book format which is what we see above.

Secondly, Japanese ‘Manga’, manga which by definition could be translated to whimsical pictures which is related to drawings made by Hokusai.

As much as comics appealed to me, reading was something I was am still not interested in, which is probably the reason why I don’t know how to sign a Tennant application form until now. I’m probably screwed for next year.

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Everyday Connections- Pt3

At this point I’m just not sure what the continued purpose is of this activity, however, this week we were asked to create our final pairs. There was great emphasis not he editing process which would be carried over the task of Adaptation and interpretation.

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CHS - Information Design & Scientific Illustration

This lecture was specifically a subject I was more familiar with, finally, and was keen on learning the specifics and purpose in this field. It was more grounded, and this subject was the introduction to illustration for me, so it was something I was keen on.

Firstly, the lecture was very dry and straight to the point, something I'm more accustomed to compared to the lessons prior due to the way classes were handled in my previous education. Terminologies and reasoning was what kept the lecture intriguing as it showed the extent and specification which was required for this type of work. Illustrations within Information Design can mostly be found in textbooks or records; mainly used before the days of photography but now used within education in order to cater specific information. I loved seeing illustrations imitate reality, photo-realistic images. Which is something I understand that illustration here may not strive towards, but it always left me in wave to some extent, because we know it is not a photograph.

The precision and knowledge required to recreate each image I feel is a feat on its own and the psychology behind the reasonings of this necessity at the time is something I definitely took back. The purpose of information design is to be able to convey, communicate the information required to another person to understand. As information is perceived differently by each person, being able to guide the viewer’s attention is one way of escorting your definition of the information into their mind in a manner that is simple and understandable. An example that could demonstrate this is the double helix by James Watson and Francis Crick.

This image demonstrates the intricacy of their discoveries, in depth, and exists within the 3d space. However, it is not effective in explaining this information for someone who has not spent time within this field of study. To them it could just look like a structure, as architecturally it does resemble much and the way someone would view it would differ as it exists within that 3d space, height and angle would play a factor as to how one would perceive their discovery or interpretation of it.

Now this is the double helix people more often or not are more familiar with. This simplistic design simplifies the complications of the 3d model and places it within a 2d world. This was believed to have been done by one of the wives of James Watson or Francis Crick and by stripping down the information to its bare essentials or the information that they want to convey at the fore front, this creates a sort of bridge between communication for people trying to understand it. As if restricting the 3d aspect and placing it within. a level field of a 2d world, basically levelling the field of understanding for everyone.

If we go further back, these sorts of design aspects have been used in other fields such as botanical research. Back then, before cameras, a scientist would enlist an artist to follow them and record the plants that they would discover during an expedition. They would be required to have acute precision from the colour gradients and even the grain of its bulb, they are to recreate the plant they saw within the environment completely. This was so that the plant could be easily identifiable and by looking at the illustration, would be able to understand the context that the plant would be in such as its environment. Key characteristics can definitely give away features as colour plays an important role of the plants and being able to regenerate an image of the plant requires the extensive knowledge of the subject in particular.

Even when setting aside the useful functionalities of these illustrations, it can be said that we as people are attracted to images naturally. Studies have shown that there even is a possibility of images pre-dating writing, one such example being cave drawings. Information that is carried across to the viewer simply through images. Some might even say information is more effectively carried through using that method. Which brings us to the next segment of the lecture. Effective communication within Information Design. As the importance of this topic is being able to convey one’s information or intent to one another as accurately as possible, words can be seen as the genera method of doing so. But is it the most effective way? Words bring forth their own challenges of communication, one common one being the language barrier. A person of different native tongue would be unable to read the instructions in a manual without having an extensive grasp of the language; as even if they are able to communicate in a conversation, being able to fully cope and digest information written can be a different ball game. Pictures on the other hand, can be said to be universal, one example of this are pictograms. These signs enable people who don’t understand the same languages to be able to understand what they represent, mainly seen in public spaces. A sign representing the toilet is arguably universal as everyone knows what it is, and people know where to find it once they see the sign. However, the bias of images being more welcoming to people has not been fully tested and would need extensive recordings, but the fact that images in this context have more power over conveying information effectively over words would bring forth the question of if image based text are more effective? One such example which can be seen being hieroglyphs.

Lastly we explore the possibilities of medical illustration. Within the field of biology or just sciences in general, it can be said to rely on images to effectively communicate its purpose. With 3d sculpting and rendering becoming more advanced, illustration may not be used as much within the field of medicine, but the act of graphic design goes a long way to help the information design aspect. Being able to compose images in a manner that would be the easiest to digest the information and as aforementioned bringing out the most important pieces of text or image to the forefront in order to show the hierarchy of importance. Most famous for using illustrations within he medical field is Leornado Da Vinci who has used several graphs using recordings of his drawings in order to better understand the subject, much like botanical recordings, being able to regenerate the object in front of you in image form is an accomplishing feat of its own that requires the depth of knowledge in the subject matter. Even though this is similar to the first segment of the lecture, it is to give context as to the importance of these illustrations. Medical research back then would barely exist especially for the human anatomy due to religious restrictions not allowing doctors to direct bodies and record findings of the human form. Once this restriction had been passed, medicine has been able to be more effective as its effect on the bodies were more accurate and recorded.

In conclusion, Information Design in a way is seen as a way to bridge the gap between knowledge as the purpose of science was discovery. In an age where information is ever prevalent, the need to surmise and guide the audience to more important, necessary information could be said to be of more importance than allowing useless information to be picked up instead and in a way wasting the time of those learning.

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Everyday Connections- Pt2

Sad to say, the session just continued with the same activities but with just more images. It was recommended that we at least doubled the images that we took in order to create more combinations.

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CHS - Sensory Art

Now that we’ve moved past some of the sessions focusing on periods of art, art history, this session was set on a type of medium, a brief of sorts in preparation for a essay due on March. In my opinion, I found this topic to be slightly more interesting that the ones prior as it dealt with a subject that had forms of interactive arts intertwined with it. Which also brings forth the question of what can be considered interactive art? If so, to what degree are we interacting with the piece? (is what gathered from this lecture at least).

in a simpler form, the lecture was divided appropriately into its different topics, much like the different sense such as, touch, sight, smell, sound and taste.

Firstly, we began with touch, the examples ranged from textures on paintings such as dried paint, but also extended to works that relied on the sense of touch instead. It could just be a rectangular piece of cloth or even a solid, not being for the aesthetics but for the sensation. 

Furthermore, we moved onto ocular centrism, an extremely fancy way of saying sensory visuals. This was the main topic of the lecture which incorporated the other sensations as since it was based on illustrations, the purpose of sensory visuals was to try and evoke all the senses. One example that was very evident of this was works made by Jan Svankmajor.

His animated short films were abstract but kept the theme of a relatable topic. The way props were made and interacted gave goosebumps to the audience in a way, but why? This could be argued that objects that are handmade have this sense of relation that we as viewers are able to identify with. In a sense, reliability to one’s self further immerses the viewer in the essence of the work and creates the sensation that viewer experiences from what the subject they see experiences. Another factor is what the object is. More often than not, interacted pieces shown are mostly characters figured after our own anatomy. This echoes the aforementioned relation of sensation because, what is more relatable than an actual person, or at least a figure based on our own.

The information dumped on to us was definitely interesting, there were many things I found to be intriguing from this session, many terminologies that properly summed up the type of sensory interactions one felt. On that note, the sensory could also be said to follow a certain level of importance. Sensory has been traced back to historical times, the hierarchy of sensory at least, which differ from culture to culture. One mention of an Indian philosophy is the inclusion of a different five senses instead, this being related more to the spiritual side of the senses, with the inclusivity of ‘mind’ and ‘spirit’. Now this information could also play a part as to why some pieces of art during the time had certain themes placed in it, such as a third eye; more commonly representing the ‘mind’ aspect. Reason as to why this is brought up is because, it was to illustrate that senses have different effect on people. Some people have certain themes which they can relate to and some not. The inclusion of a spiritual aspect to a piece may not cater to everyone and something such as sight and hearing could be different for others. This creates a varied level of interaction as to how immersed one person can be when approaching this sort of mediums. A balance needed, perhaps appropriate for each person that goes in to the work may be required in order for someone to have the same level of immersive experience as the other.

All in all, this concept was extremely confusing to digest but can be seen as a way art and illustration is trying to find a way to connect to others more than other mediums. I believe this may be due to the ‘identity crisis’ illustration had during the period when album covers and photography have become more popular and the demand for more literal interpretations or illustrations has declined due to the availability and accessibility of photographs.

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Everyday Connections- Pt1

In continuity of recording the everyday life, this Friday session planned to stretched that idea to create a relation of an individual image to create a story when placed alongside other images. Needless to say, it was fairly hard to stay awake.

We were first asked to take roughly 25 pictures and create pairs, then three’s then fives; very exhilarating. Before the adrenaline kicked in, I tried best to create as many pairs as I could, and try my best to understand the purpose of this brief, session. Apparently, it was to help the subsequent tasks ahead such as storyboarding, which was major key point to the activity in the weeks ahead. Thankfully, the brief was up online and I came prepared with extra images to keep myself busy or entertained as we were all given a set amount of time to create as many groups of images we could. With more images, there were combinations which could made, whether they made sense or were just aesthetically pleasing, anything that could keep my mind of the watch would be very beneficial. However, we were suddenly asked to, my hands were sweating, switch images with someone. 

It was not hard to believe many people would take the project wholeheartedly as it felt fairly pointless. So when images were swapped, there was definitely a lower amount of images, which means the limit of combinations was lower as well. This really put imagination to the forefront as trying to create all the possible combinations was the only way to stretch it to the time limit; because if  I just sat there and wondered about them slowly, supervisors would definitely come over and ask to hurry. Thankfully, it was apparent to them it was difficult to create as many combinations possible with the images I had. On the other hand, images taken from someone else’s perspective became intriguing to me. These were images that were new to me and thus new combinations were still created during the process. I dug deep into the activity to take as much as I could in the final few activities of the session. Stories made from another image, as if creating a world from materials belonging to someone, re-arranging their world in a way. I was almost possibly sure, this was just my optimism kicking in to find a purpose for the activity and trying to get something out of it.

Soon, we were underway with the final activity, everyone was quiet, excitement was in the air definitely. This final task was to merge the images we had with the person we swapped with, and create pairs from both piles of images. This opened up a larger room of possibilities but I felt it also decreased the motivation of several others. It felt just like the activities prior, but with more stuff. I am not sure if I took in everything I could because of the attitude I had towards the project, as I tried best to keep an optimistic mindset; but I do feel like the time spent on this project could have been used for the tasks briefed to us recently during the week.

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Term 2  CHS - Reportage Illustrations

Straight after the Christmas break, albeit me missing the first session, we were supposedly tasked to create some Reportage Illustrations of Kingston. There was an encouragement to have an accompaniment of sound in order to capture the atmosphere of the place; but due to my lack of social interaction, going out and recording pieces seemed alien to me. Instead, I decided just to do location drawings and used colour to try and evoke the atmosphere at the certain time, by avoiding colours often used in literal interpretation such as a ‘blue sky’ and ‘green grass’. I’m pretty sure I’m much edgier than that, so, ‘red sky’ and ‘black grass’ seemed more appealing at the time, still does in my opinion, but clarity and intent became an issue. Silhouettes of the background and the people had to be distinct, so perhaps greys would play in much better, lighting could still be interpreted differently and much easily if I just stuck to using the more commonly related colour for light such as yellow.

When examples of works were shown, there seemed to be an interest in recording the snippets of conversations from passer-by and this intrigued me due to the ambiguous nature of such topics, reminding much of something like collage, random pieces of information extrapolated from creating an image or work from other pieces. I was definitely surprised by the results, but I was not too keen on this type of project unless it was for more of a literal interpretation or study of sort.

These were some of the pieces I made for the reportage.

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Storytelling (I ran out of synonyms) W3

The final session, we were tasked with writing at least a two page story incorporating all the methods we have learned from the past sessions. Our final task for this set of Friday sessions before the Christmas break, the criteria being, something suspenseful, or entertaining at least. From past works, I’ve mostly written descriptive essays, none of which could be classified as a narrative due to the lack of dialogues, this mostly being due to the type of writing I had practiced. I was definitely more keen to try and adapt the atmospheric tone of a descriptive to a dialogue driven narrative, whilst exploring a new setting I was unfamiliar with. Firstly, I sifted through some previous writings from these sessions to explore what I hadn’t done, I noticed that there were particular subjects I tend to stick close to, settings especially. those being train stations and a street night setting. Most of the stories from these derive from what the character was experiencing at the moment only having some instances of outer interferences play a part close to the end, as the story was mostly descriptive, it dealt more with what they were thinking and felt instead of playing of interactions between other characters as I have seen from other people’s work; which was something I wanted to replicate in my work. I began to first draft a story about dancing, definitely a field I was not knowledgeable in the slightest, but it sounded refreshing to do. There were a bunch of dance lingo which I had to pick up on and inevitably a type of dance story I would want to write. An influence on the decision to write such a story also stemmed from a novel I had read about competitive ballroom dancing and decided to have my own take of it, I was ready to embrace this brand new field, 100% I was ready.

It did not take long before I gave up. Some draft sentences in order to create the adrenaline and haste of the writing caused some, what I felt to be, inconsistencies with the pace of the story, mostly because I wanted to capture the rhythmic pace of the type of dance the protagonist would be going through. However, this would have caused the story to be twice or even thrice the amount that would be written for a two page story task; definitely not a thing I would want people to sit through as there are other people who would be writing stories as well. I was afraid of not being able to create something impactful within the two page limit and reclined into my comfort zone. However, I had never written a fantastical setting before, I finally came upon the decision of a dystopian story based on a train, at night; wow what a surprise. The story was something I could easily write up due to the tone being very similar to what I’ve written in the past, though I knew I wouldn’t be learning anything knew from this experience. As I wrote the story, dialogue became secondary and then even non-existent, only the voice of the protagonist in his head. I felt the story became extremely draggy even when I managed to contain it within two pages as it was very dense, full of detail. Events were even unclear as to what was happening as I believe the issue lied in me trying to build a world around the character when what I should’ve done is allowed the character to interact with the world to build it.

As I presented the story on the day itself, the response was fairly what I expected. The character was to flushed out at all, the world was detailed at the same time felt dead because there was almost nothing to interact with it, just stray descriptions that mentioned their existence for the moment that was required. The direction I should have taken is to strip down the details and replace them with dialogue, something I wanted desperately to try. The setting was very much inspired by other dystopian films and novels such as Blade Runner, which could be another reason as to why there were unnecessary descriptions because it was just extra fluff for the story, and aesthetics choice without any reason.

In conclusion, I would need to better commit myself to an idea and follow through. Be more experimental in the field that I want to explore instead of continuously going back to a comfort zone.

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Observations at Tate CHS

Apart from the screaming kids, it was great. My first experience going into Tate was just shock, awe. I thought half the building was an office like most cases of museums/ exhibitions in my country, but nope, this entire building was practically dedicated to showcasing over decades of works, an literal archive of artwork. I was practically drooling at this point.

Having the privilege to see original works that have been preserved is something I find extraordinary as the more I think about it, the harder it is to wonder how some fragile mediums were recovered. Even the thought process of the artists from back then were far more extravagant as they had to overcome the limitations of their mediums or to explore the unexplored within their fields/ stretching their work to stand out in a saturated field of portraits or similar works. However, we did not arrive just to look at the works, we were given task as well, this time we had to select at least 1 work to observe and record closely, alongside drafts and composition of other works.

At the time of the trip, I was still very interested in the choreography of movements such as dancing and skating. Luckily for me, there was a sculpture of a dancer that was unbelievably well sculpted for the time, it was immensely evocative of the muscles, the pose of the mere sculpture just seemed to portray the strenuous tension of a live dancer. The figure was that of a young ballet dancer casted in bronze/ alloy which was said to be originally done in wax.

When recording the image, I tried to use light to show the reflective nature of the sculpture at the same time, trying to find the contours of the muscles which show the most tension at the back. I was still finding it difficult to evoke the same tension you could feel as a viewer when looking at the image. The composition of the sculpture within the space of the room also helped give the figure an atmosphere of performance. It was centred in the room and the light casted on to the face of the sculpture, much like a stage setting. The people that viewed it stood around the front of it whereas the back was not casted by the light to show the focus of the viewer should be the front. Spacing of the figure was placed in front of a painting which also helped to shepherd people away from the back as they would be viewing the painting instead. I jotted down and painted the silhouettes of the on coming viewers to try and at least get the sensation of a performer down.

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Storytelling (peppery) W2

As I'm running out of synonyms for spicy, the session here is a continuation on dissecting what a writing is about, into their core subjects. On this episode, we explored more on the hook of a story rather than the emotive language of the last session. Creating scenes that are intricately written in a manner of words. Basically less words, bigger impact. In a way, writing detailed scenes would drag on the reader and there would be no catch, this factor varies as to what tone of story you are trying to set but the general consensus is an opening scene that is digestible and impactful allowing the readers to sink their teeth into easily. Easier said than done, I suck at cooking.

The activity for today was in only 3 sentences, introduce the world and the character/ create an intro that is a good hook. Rules for the sentences were general but the use of complex sentences or semi colons was not recommended, ie: story would drag. This and the fact that there was a number of people to read their spin on an intro. Once placed into groups, we began to from sentences. We first set the scene we wanted to create then each of us individually created linking sentences ie: one person does the first sentence then the other the second etc. The sentence seemed to flow fairly well and I was surprised and tried to edit them but there was a disconnect to my sentence  than to both of the others. I tried to arrange them accordingly to fit mine but it did not work flashbacks to the first research recording project. Again I approached the work not as a group but as an individual task. When the work was being checked on I found my sentence was not required and was better off with the editing done prior to me doing it. This mistake helped me realise the requirements/ necessity of a sentence and the understanding of editing out. Sometimes maybe, the best work would be not having everything. I was quite shocked because I was quite prideful in the sentence but this made me take a step back to think first about how to approach something and if it really is worth it to adjust a work just to have mine fit in. After some time pondering, the answer was no. The work would not have been mine had I worked more with the group, it would have became the group’s work. This cheesy story helped me learn more to working in a group than alone, not to mention some peppery opening scenes.

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Study Skills CHS (Witch & Mods) P2

After the extensive lecture on the representation of witches, the tone of this lecture was a huge shift on how to approach a subject, it was more of fragmented bits thrown together, facts from the youth culture, bits of them then elaborated on. It was not a string of information that flowed into one another.

This approach was definitely more digestible for specific information but the connections as to the groups had to be made quickly as the lecture would delve into the rockers and teddy girls and boys as well. Beyond that factor, learning the intricacies of such a sophisticated youth culture was definitely something I was curious of. The extent that these Mods go into the minute detail, from cuff measurements to how it’s cut and the authenticity of the brand and how they obtained the item. They could be said to be stylish in every form that is presentable, their pose, objects they owned and the way they spoke; an artificial way of life that seemed to embed itself to the very nature of the person, which then formed a collective group, creating as if, their own tribe. I see what they’re doing with these lectures. Moreover, learning about the development and origins of certain aspects of culture has without a doubt created a sense of curiosity on analysing how something came to be, more so than I normally would. The fact that different natures would be collectively formed into one outer representation is intriguing, people whose similarities would only be their background, banding together to form a movement is something common in history but very often is overlooked on the individuals that had participated; a person that would have to live both lives, they are commonly seen only for their life in the participating group.

Information of the lives of the Mods outside their lives is not looked into more because it could be said to be fairly boring. These were kids who were exempt from having to train in the army in WW2 as it had ended, low income and now a lot of free time. This which then culminated a certain desire in these (most often) boys and girls (teddy girls) to live a so called fantasy life. Weekends they would dress up and go out into the night, on the weekdays they would mostly remain on their daily jobs in order to afford such a living of lavish clothes, cigarettes and scooters.

On another note, the concept of having to procure the items at specific areas, hidden or out in the open brought forth a beguiling thought, The fact that these items had limited stocks and could only be bought in such places that cater specifically to an audience, does this mean this was when exclusive marketing for clothes might have first started. Reason for this is because Mods also take into the consideration as to the difficulty to attain such clothings which may have created the atmosphere as to why branding is such an important feature. Their culture, formed by the influence of western media (majority from America) has made then want to feel closer, belong to such groups that they wear the brands with pride in order to be seen as relating to such a group.

I would definitely like to run my own underground society. Obviously not in such a sinister way as the previous sentence, but the idea of exclusivity is exciting and makes me wonder about illustrating such a life, recording the specifics of Mods, would I be recording sleeve measurements? Tailor made clothing? Scooter brand research (that has to be Italian or you’re not a real Mod). A point in which I will take without a doubt is the minute way of analysis the Mods took when it came to accessing who belonged and who didn’t in their group.

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Week 2 - Touching Film

Isle of Dogs - Sushi Scene

We chose this scene because it had evoked a tactile sense which seemed very realistic and simple to relate to things we saw everyday. The craft of the objects were intricate and the set design as well as the image composition allowed us as the viewer to identify the displayed object clearly and implied the sense of texture effectively.

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Study Skills CHS (Witch & Mods) P1

Probably the proudest title I have. This session for the talks, we were sent to independently select a lecture that intrigued us and listen to it, trying to list down the notes and defining the different groups which would help in the Urban Tribes project. Now the real challenge was finding the rooms. I’m just going to say that I’ve disrupted at least 2 other lectures before finding mine.

The first attended lecture was about the Witch, or what it represented; how people would identify or categorise one. We would direct what distinguished a witch, was it physical imperfections like skin discolouring? Their voice, shrill? Or was it physical implications like tattoos, or perhaps social status and gender? Woman, single/widow, poor. As we continued to the introduction of this topic, the most basic features that were brought up were mostly from films like the Wizard of Oz, or children’s storybooks that portrayed Witches with green skin, pointed noses, mole, and a shrill laughter; not to mention that sick broom. Why were the witches portrayed like that, amongst the several questions I had, the one question that was difficult and not really answered was Why were they women?. Other than that, we began the discussion of the representation of witches and their portrayals by delving into the question of skin colour? The most notable example being the film aforementioned, ‘Wizard of Oz’. The colour green as the lecturer mentioned was a choice made by the costume designer, the choice of which cannot be clearly pin-pointed but when questioning the decision, could be narrowed down the concept of evocation. The colour green would mean several different things to a person, nature, greed and maybe even sickness; the colour of vomit? As a choice from a designer, deciding this colour to be paired up with the skin could be said to be an extremely effective method, the character would evoke a sickly nature and imply a menacing attitude without even having the character speak. This decision however, could be argued to not have answered the question effectively as it was simply just a matter of guessing the thought of the designer. As we trace further back, to what could have let to the thought pathology of the designer, we arrived at a certain tribal deity. A forest spirit. This belief was said to be found in Africa and from the stone sculptures displaying the form of the deity, showed the colourisation of skin to be green. As it was a spirit, this concept heavily implied a sense of magic which is connected to the concept of witchcraft. As far answering the skin complexion this was the furthest.

In regards to the gender role, we traced back to the original inception of the idea of the witch, this being around the time of Salem in the medieval ages. Witches then were already described to be women and have an affinity with animals that surrounded them alongside being illustrated in a manner where physical implications such as being old, or having the mannerisms of it. What’s interesting to me here is the fact that illustrations were being used as early as this time period to identify people, which kind of amazes me at how long the tradition of drawing has been used (even though it dates back even further to cavemen drawings). Strangely enough, these witches, or where they were found, were mostly within rural areas, which could be a nod to the affinity to animals whereas most of the inhabitants in rural areas were farmers. Also important to note is that during this time period and further up until a certain point, it was a predominantly male controlled period; a piece of information that could be used as reasoning as to why the witches were represented as female. Answering another question of the broom was that women at the time were usually housewives. The thought of seeing a woman survive on her own without the support of a man could be seen as uncommon and would later be used as reasoning as to why the witches identified were widows/ single. By piecing together these bits of information we could slowly realise the unfair identification of the witch and how they were portrayed. It could be said it was fairly common for a woman in the rural side to be accused to being a witch and be burned for just being a single, poor woman. The odds of a woman being rich by working independently was practically nil. Even worse, the women that were accused had unfair trials to determine if they were really a witch, some that by default is a lose lose scenario for the woman ie; we tie a heavy object to her and if she sinks and dies, she’s normal, but if she miraculously floats up to try and gasp for air, she’s a witch. Sooner or later, these techniques were later abolished as common sense finally kicked in and slowly the tribulations were slowing down, or as it was recorded to be.

Finally, in terms of the representation of the witch, the meaning has changed drastically through the ages. As it could be seen that the witch was just a withered woman with imperfections, artists, particularly painters had begun illustrating them in a more sexualised manner. They had clear skin but more often than not, in the nude, as it was deemed inappropriate at the time for a person to be nude in an image. An interest in these images which I discerned could be linked to the concept of the Male Gaze and femme fatale. The nature to tempt the viewer into a dire situation is definitely a relationship in the sinister side of the witch’s character and the sexualisation was continued to be used in paintings. Now shifting into the modern age, the witch is generally used as a symbol of empowerment of women. Greatly suggested by the movement of the suffragettes that helped cement the idea of the opposing females being villainized by males to fight for their rights, an image that is burned into the idea of a rebellious woman fighting for their rights, as if trying to reclaim the years of Salem is a powerful thought I feel.

P2- Mods

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Storytelling (extra spicy) W1

After my trainwreck of Urban Tribes, I was ready to start recording a different variant for this module, this time it was in the form of stories, words, something I could not read for several years of my life. Fantastic.

The session was extremely charismatic thanks to the speaker whose name I forgot just like the other 4 students I was sitting amongst. Discussions for this week was based solely on introductory methods and getting the feel of writing, how do we hook the reader? This was perfect because my attention span of a fly made it perfect for me to test if my writing were any good. It was not. At least what I felt it was. Various examples from several students were thought provoking, using onomatopoeia to draw in the readers immediately, starting with dialogue, setting the scene, or just jumping into a character introduction, these methods I gathered from listening to the stories that were read aloud.

Once the activity for a short story started, I was assigned with a word that would be based on what the story would be about alongside those around me, forming a group. The word was, tomato sauce sachet. This is when I knew the course kicked into full gear. I was reluctant to create a story that personified the sachet as I thought that was what many others would do. So I took that thought pattern an stretched it as far as I could think, make it unexpected. With this in mine, I created a thief scene, that would hopefully subvert the attention of those listening, needless to say I could do that just by simply talking. This exercise managed to get us warmed up on what we should be describing, what should we as the readers be aware of if this were written; background, surroundings, sensations, we had to set the scene. Needless to say my work was flawless, and then proceeded to be burned down by my own questioning as to whether it was plausible for the scene to happen.

Much to my understanding, other groups did personify their works but they managed to create an emotive language for each of the selected objects. They gaged the readers in an empathetic fashion with rhetorical questions and further pushed the listeners to question as to what objects they could be before finally revealing themselves at the end. This came across as a surprise to me as I was invested in those characters, they felt alive and had a voice, I was more than expecting to be bored by similar ideas being pasted across several works just redesigned to fit the specific item assigned to them. Moreover, I would say the impression and depth of field of a character was something I will take in mine when tackling a similar task like this again as it would create a sense of immersion, creating questions for the listener to ask themselves as to the situation, location and even the stakes at hand of not knowing beyond the limiting field of vision.

All in all, the activity gave me a grasp of what is to be expected for the tasks ahead and to continue focusing on the structure and composition of the works to make it digestible for the reader.

[seminarblogzac]

Art Nouveau ( and some modernism)

Definitely a movement I followed with minimal knowledge before the lecture, mostly because of the eclectic illustrations that were stimulating to the eye. These pieces are beautifully drawn in detail and have a stylistic approach in all manner of the image to even the frame itself. Art Nouveau could be defined as art for the sake of art, basically the opposite philosophy of bauhaus which was function before form; something had to work to allow it to have such a form, whereas Art Nouveau trampled on that idea and was only interested in creating the works that were arguably appealing to the viewer.

Alphonse Mucha, Job poster

One of the most known artist from this movement is Alphonse Mucha who had an extensive collection of works that were within the realms of advertising. His works were commercial yet still held in high regard, quite the opposite to most works at the time, commercial = not so revered. The idea of commercialism in art and the intertwining of how illustration could be used in marketing was very intriguing as it is one of the only plausible ways an artist could live at the time. The fact that Alphonse Mucha managed to reach such a feat and have such an impact on the illustrations in products was just inspiring to me.

On the other hand, we began to look at the forms Art Nouveau took on the architectural side, much which was reminiscent of Post Modernism, though this time they decided to stick to one style instead of pasting all of them together, good call. This created architectural structures that had beautiful curves and lines that flowed throughout its entire design and creating intricate details amongst some of the most obscure things within a structure, like a handrail. In all fairness, I would probably do the same if I could. In contrast, buildings from the movement of Modernism were shown and the differences were like night and day. On one side there is the streamline designs that melded into one minimalist furniture after another, and on the other, a large array of colours and patterns plastered onto sides of the walls that regurgitated lines which intertwined into one another. There was a definite charm to the ideology of Art Nouveau which I can feel myself sympathise with, but the structural methodology of Modernisms buildings as a whole was just much more digestible to the eye.

Gaudi’s Casa Battle in Barcelona, Spain

House in Monterrey, Mexico

The spirit of such a dramatic shift into architecture of Art Nouveau is said to be from the artists rebelling again, much like the impressionists, and just wanted an area to vent out all this pent up creativity from conforming to the ideals of the public for so long. This brings forth a thought personally to me, if we were to have the methodology of looking at the structure as a whole and created a buildings/ piece that had the obscure details relate/ complement each other; definitely an interesting piece could be created, something I would definitely experiment on.

[seminarblogzac]

Urban Tribes (actual brief)

The transition to the actual task of Urban Tribes was, before actually getting the brief, pretty smooth, we managed to get an idea of what youth cultures that had existed and I was pretty confident about which group I would focus on. Sadly my relationships with the task briefs have been a string of error and this was no exception to the current one. 

The brief had asked us to focus on current tribes that we could observer and record, actual people we could see and touch, definitely not the strongest area of my life. Conversational skills may be important, however, mine end showing a thumbs up to a driver at a zebra crossing. We would have to immerse ourselves in the groups; not so much as joining but to gain an understanding and mannerisms of the groups. There were several examples shown on how to do such recordings from previous students who appeared to show some extensive examples on how to do so. Images, text, and even just a recording were used in such situations, almost like a reportage. Sadly, the brief was said there was a requirement of a minimum 4-5 drawn images of the Urban Tribe  we had selected; that meant my plan to just use photography was out the window. On the other hand, most of the recordings that were shown as an example did not display a close interaction of the group so from my understanding, as long as a reasoning is displayed as to why the tribes is in each location or their mannerisms are answered in the recording, this should be sufficient.

Other more contemporary examples were shown from professionals, examples of what existing tribes was what I was more concerned of. These contained cyclists, smokers and even shoppers, I was surprised to find the spectrum was fairly broad. I noticed many of the recordings were sketchy and just quick observational marks which gave me the impression that a lot of time would be required to record at least a desired quantity of work not even the quality. From previous works I was interested in creating images that were more on the fly, rather than some still images, capturing the gist as to what they were doing, movements, habits. The more I thought about it, the more difficult I found it to narrow it down to a specific group that would be ideal for this. Cyclists may be too quick, Market-goers may be too common and the list would go on. I would then try to distinguish more groups apart from others from understanding my definition of urban tribes in hopes that I actually understood the task.

definition: - A collective group of people undergoing similar activities, more commonly together or are part of a movement with distinguishable mannerisms and or attire.

With that one sole definition I was ready to fail.

[seminarblogzac]

Urban Tribes? Youth Tribes?

The first lecture leading us into another task to be given tomorrow entitled Urban Tribes, but we will be focusing on Youth cultures/ subcultures instead as a foundation. I was definitely more geared towards this project after having disappointed myself and many others in previous ones. This project featured groups and subcultures which I myself was already invested in before the lecture. The spectrum was broad but we started from the beginning where some would say the first noticeable recorded group of youth culture was after WW2.

Mods. These groups I took particular attention to as they were a group which I felt influenced the majority of the work I like to illustrate. Sleek and proper attire with clear attention to detail. They were very meticulous as to what they would wear, act and even listen to. As Maggie put it, ‘they were considered the class of the era’. What took me by surprise was the fact that these Mods were mostly not considered rich, they just dressed and acted that way on certain days of the week, mostly the weekend nights, away from work. Their influences were embedded in the West, America, Jazz, almost everything that was booming at the time. They had wholesalers dedicated to selling only authentic clothing that this group sought after. It’s as If they had built their very own eco system to thrive in, that very idea was so appealing to me, like an underground society, a concept of world building that had happened decades ago. This youth culture that only spawned after WW2 was because the teens no longer had to join the army anymore, and with time on their hands, the looked at the upperclass and began to mimic them but in the end, created their own culture from it. Though, through the years, other cultures were formed like the Rockers, seen as the antagonist to the Mods, but they didn't interest me as they felt almost the same, it was until we were introduced to the Punks that gave another vibe that was appealing, I would argue, more rebellious than the Rockers.

The very nature of the group was built on the idea to Rebel against the norms. From what was recorded, this group was formed more towards the idea of anti-fashion which then spawned the other ideologies which formed the Punks. Their designs could be seen as wild, crazy and overall absurd. Complete opposites to the Mods. Reason as to why I am more captivated by this group than the Rockers would be because of the colours and how their group functioned against the norm of fashion. The colours were bright, vivid and wild that caught attention of others. An aspect of which I hope to implement into my works.

From these groups I hope to be able to implement the intricate design aspects of the Mods but have the flair and wild colour usage of the Punks to further push my works.