Shadow Puppets

Just a short post to show development with technique and confidence entering the Final Major Project. Although the photographs above are pretty bad and the actual paintings are still in progress my ability to illustrate shadow and detail with watercolour paints has progressed over the past year.

Final Major Project Part One: S. E. Hinton

"The original teenage rebel story" by S. E. Hinton, The Outsiders, is a fictional story that focuses on two rival groups of young adults divided by their socioeconomic status. Set in Tulsa, Oklahoma (although never actually stated in the book) and written by Hinton when she was 16 herself, the book is intended for teenagers of the same age who can relate to different elements of the story. Struggle between class and 'coming of age' are two main divides within the story, with loyalty, honor and friendship being under-pining themes. Penguin and Puffin's most recent competition brief was to re-design the entire cover for the Puffin Teenage publication of The Outsiders; front, back and spine. The story was a favourite of mine from school as the characters were accessible, the book contained such strong imagery and the story had that rebellious escapism portraying gang culture and under-age smoking.

I wanted to focus on symbols that represent scenes or themes within the story; such as switchblades, cars, the greaser hairstyle and matches along with the recurring motifs of eyes and use of literature.

Edits from sketchbook.

Sense of place was particularly important for this project as I've never set foot in America let alone witnessed the landscapes and culture of Oklahoma, I had to find enough visual and written material to enable a make-shift experience. In order to test colour schemes, texture and background I needed to connect as closely as possible to the place and the theme.

Test image for background image, colour scheme and over-lay drawing.

I lend towards characters, animals and objects rather than landscapes or abstract work so it was difficult to focus on working on the background without any idea of how I would tie the foreground together but the ethos of producing as much quality work as possible without the focus of the end result did work in my favour. Not only did i end up with two full sketchbooks but the backgrounds I produced actually work a whole lot better separately and combined than when I work on a piece as a whole.

Experimental background in progress.

I'll make sure to create another post at the end of the year with updates from this project, final piece and extra sketchbook work focused on the foreground. Keep your eyes peeled.

Pen For Hire.

My business cards arrived! It feels very strange to have a business card promoting myself, but I'm really happy with how they turned out. I used two drawings from my portfolio that reflect my strongest technique and work well as stand alone images, the crow in particular has returned much positive feedback already. I wanted to keep them as simple as possible, so minimal information, plain backgrounds and an easy to read typeface. When it came to describing my skills I opted for 'Pen For Hire' in place of 'Illustrator' as I didn't want to box myself within that particular field. I'm still experimenting with context and like to think I have a variety of skills to take on a multitude of projects.

Beyond The Book; On the Wall.

'Turning Point' Lino print, hand mounted and framed.

Toward the end of Beyond the Book we were given the opportunity to prepare our work as a semi-professional show, taking into consideration selection, presentation and limitations of space. Personally I think this was a great idea and should be done for every project assessment. It allows you to see you work from another angle and consider elements of the development prior to the final result, more critically. Presentation is everything and I found choosing suitable frames to reflect my work and myself, much more difficult than I thought possible. Even after deciding on frames, mounts, wall fixtures and additional shelving there was the wall plan, the summary, mounted name plaque and then actually deciding which work was good enough to exhibit, far more than I originally planned for. And of course you have to account for everything than will inevitably go wrong. Which in this case, was almost all of it.

'Four Sharp Knocks: A Visual Interpretation of The Outsider.' by Charlie Heselton.

Close up image of supporting material, shelved underneath frames.

Entitled, Four Sharp Knocks (based around the line; 'And it was like giving four sharp knocks at the door or unhappiness.' right at the end of chapter 6, part 1.), I decided to use a series of lino prints as the main focus of the show that reflected this chapter. My sketchbook, supporting material and film negatives are shelved just underneath (as shown in the photograph above) and the laser-cut key-rings relative to the theme are pinned just to the right of the central image to restore balance from the shelf.

In The Outsider, Mersualt acknowledges that the action of shooting the arab will cause him to feel unhappiness yet the clinical symbolism of attaching his emotions to a solid object like a door, instead of describing them. Throughout the entire scene he focuses on tangible, physically felt senses e.g what he can feel, see, rather than emotion. For example, he can describe the murder weapon in surprising detail but cannot portray remorse or regret at the fact that he has killed another human being.

Mersualt also eludes to his weakness to the weather and unpredictable surroundings, and remarks that if the sun hadn't been so hot, maybe the murder wouldn't have happened. The way that the beach is described in this chapter is extremely vivid which is why the series of four lino cuts are printed in yellow, orange, red and black, the portray the blinding hot sun.

In accordance with moral nihilism; killing someone, for whatever reason, is not inherently right or wrong. My focus on the beach scene illustrates how the 'turning point of the book' is only central in relation to human morality. I wanted to portray my work in a sequence; linear and almost repetitive, to reflect the regimented mentality of Mersault (focal character) and project his descent through the subtle variations of a singular symbol.

My opinion of my 'miniature exhibition' has changed drastically over the course of the last week. To begin with I was happy with what I had produced and how it was hung, in hindsight feeling proud was a confidence boost and although after receiving feedback and looking at my work through much more critical eyes changed my feelings on this body of work, I've tried to not let it affect my confidence. Looking at your own work through rose-tinted glasses can be dangerous and even though I remain pleased at the presentation and framing of my pieces I realise that the work presented was subsequently not as high quality as it should be, especially as the focus. Not only that but I didn't consider variation when selecting pieces, I wanted the series to be shown as a repetition but the central image looked far too similar and the surrounding material lacked aesthetic 'oomph'.

Another important lesson I learned the hard way was to do with hand-cutting your own window mounts. I learnt this lesson about an hour before the show was meant to be complete, I was lying on the studio floor brandishing a craft knife and a mounting tool, I was not smiling. There's a knack to it that I just do not have, one to be left to the professionals. It was an eye-opening experience however and in my defense it could have gone a lot worse.

Fish Are Friends, Not Food.

  
Fishtank: 'Music' Brief Submission.

'Fishtank Cover Design' Biro, 2012.

So briefly, last year me and a recent Stockport College graduate Jadine collaborated when the opportunity arose to submit a design to the Fishtank installation, ran by a collaborative group called Music. Agreeing on a piece of music, Brand New's 'The Quiet Thing's That No-One Ever Knows' we began to formulate designs, delegate the workload and focus on suitable materials.

Brand New Fishtank: Alternative designs.

One of the most difficult obstacles to overcome was the mock up of potential designs. As the end result would be so large, proportion and detail were two big considerations. To visualise the positive and negative space appropriately we painted the chosen design (photograph above, top split) onto a window with glass-friendly watercolour paint.

Fishtank Design on our living room window. Complete with miniature installation props.

Love letter origami crane.

Unfortunately after submitting our design (and ruining our living room window) we didn't hear back from Music as they were in the process of moving their house-sized glass tank between buildings. I'm not one for holding grudges, so maybe next year?

One year later...

Me and my companion Daniel have decided to have a go this time around. Deciding on a feline theme, we chose Love Cats by The Cure. It's incredibly catchy and will no doubt allow us to anthropomorphisise a whole cast of catty characters. After some rough sketches have been expanded on, the next step will be figuring out how to project a rolling narrative across the glass.

Age UK

Historical Buildings: Whitehill Day Care Centre

Age UK Stockport is a registered charity focusing their funds and efforts of local staff for the benefit of people within the Borough of Stockport. Helping older people to have more control over their lives, realise their value within a community and become more involved in activities are just a few of Age UK’s aims.

All the people I’ve met in conjunction with Age UK Stockport have been incredibly caring, responsive and positive people with a passion for equality. The strive to level the gap between the young and the old, educating the general public of both mental and physical health problems that can arise as we get older and how to deal with it. We were lucky enough to visit Whitehill Daycare centre to meet some of the weekly visitors and a handful of the carers who helped to introduce us to all the wonderful people who attend the sessions there. The atmosphere was so relaxed in the centre and the majority of the ladies and gents were more than happy to speak to us, even if they just wanted us to read the paper with them! The people we spoke to all had different levels of Dementia which was a real eye-opener to me. I spoke to a lady called Norma who struggled badly with her short term memory but could tell me far flung memories about her first house and her love for Cheadle.

Empathy and compassion together, are the key to making a difference and all in all I found the experience extremely rewarding and can see exactly why people want to be involved with this charity.

'Stockport's Shire' Mixed media and digital editing. 21 x 29.7cm.

 

I had an insightful conversation with one of the elderly ladies, Norma. She appeared very reserved, and was cautious of opening up to me at first so we read the local newspaper together and talked about the theatre and her home-town Cheadle. As she was born in Manchester and had lived her whole life in Cheadle she didn’t know a great deal about Stockport’s heritage or the buildings but she had such a strong passion for Cheadle and the general Borough of Stockport. She claimed all the citizens of Manchester to be ‘the pick of the bunch with a cracking sense of humour’ and confessed to me that she’s never had any desire to leave Manchester, if she had to move now she wouldn’t be able to do it. 

The conversation then moved on to where I came from, and as I told her ‘born and bred in Yorkshire’ a smile spread across her face as she replied with ‘What are you doing so far from The Shire!’. This was elating yet saddened me as we’d previously read a section of the paper about Sir Ian McKellen and his role as Gandalf (which lead to a short discussion about The Lord of the Rings) which she had promptly forgotten as her Dementia was in an advanced stage. 

But I wanted to hold onto this comment, so showed her the article once more, to which she laughed and said ‘Me and you are like the Hobbits, never wanting to stray from the Shire’. Cheadle is the safest place she knows, and she has no intention of leaving. 

The image above was ultimately inspired by my conversation with Norma, named 'Stockport's Shire' and incorporating all of the places, buildings and landmark. I used photography, paint, pen and digital editing to create a portrayal of Stockport as a Historical visual with all the iconic modern establishments that have been rejuvinated throughout the years.

'Stockport's Shire' In Progress.

Historical Buildings: Stockport Market

“Stockport has a rich and varied collection of heritage assets of local, regional and national importance which make a significant contribution to the current and future quality of life in the Borough.”

During our Historical walk around Stockport city centre we got to view some of the remaining listed buildings in the area and learnt about important structures such as Stockport Castle and lost tales about the Mersey. The experience was helpful in many ways; it allowed us to visualise the surroundings areas these buildings stood in, a greater feel of Stockport’s Heritage and first hand information from a knowledgeable guide.

Many of the ‘Locally Listed’ buildings in Stockport remain a fantastic source of local historical, architectural and special character interest, such as Stockport’s Central Library and Stockport Market.

'Stockport Market Place' Acrylic and Biro on Corregated Cardboard.

 Stockport Market is a iconic building visually and symbolically and although I wanted to represent that with bold colours and perspective I didn't want the repetitive panes to be overly geometric and precise. Personally I really enjoyed creating this piece, I felt more comfortable working with the pattern and repetition of the building not to mention the media. The previous piece was unusual for my working style and although the outcome was interesting I was completely out of my comfort zone working with collage. However, with both pieces I did test myself much more when it came to digitally editing them.


Stockport Canal: Marple Bridge

For the third image I was given a brief to create an image in the style of the Stockport Market painting based around refrence of Stockport Canal. I've always been interested in Canals and Canal Boats (I learnt how to drive and moor a Barge at a fairly young age) so thought this would be ideal. At first I struggled to find a decent quantity of reference for the canal in the heart of Stockport other than traditional photographs based around the viaduct, so I decided to search a little bit further afield in Compstall. Still within the metropolitan borough of Stockport, Compstall is home to Marple Bridge, a very idyllic little town hosting a particularly picturesque section of Stockport Canal.

'Marple Bridge Canal' Acrylic and Watercolour and Biro on Corregated Card.

As of now, all images have been submitted, accepted and potentially used early 2014 in an Age UK launch hosting all imagery in relation to Historical Buildings, Wartime and Sense of Place. I am proud to represent such a beneficial company and hope to volunteer my skills for their use in the future.

Four Sharp Knocks: Lino, Ain't It Lovely.

Lino print over oppositional photographic material.

 Ok, the picture above, was a second thought when experimenting with lino. In hindsight I now regret not delving deeper into using photographs as the foundation when printing, especially when adapting the actual lino cut to reveal or disguise elements of the photograph.

Daily Carry.

You do the math.

In regards to the process, I couldn't seem to get my head around the back-to-front preparation when cutting the design into the lino, at least not without spending a good half an hour studying incoherent doodles from the day before. Once I'd made enough initial copies to reassure myself nothing could go wrong, the repetitiveness of the printing procedure was actually cathartic. Using separate lino plates would have made more sense for my design as the colour palette had to remain limited because of the reductive technique in forming the image.

Although I spent a fair amount of time experimenting with lino, and would be happy to use it again maybe in conjunction with other media, I was disappointed with the resulting prints. They lacked the precision they needed to work together as a series.