This week I began by creating some potential colour palettes to base my surface designs on. I think that the purples and blues work well within the space theme, however I would like to work in some variation of primary colours which I feel are more suited to my target audience.
I also developed my line drawings to create my final motifs, and I experimented with whether I should use a black or white outline. Although I like the white outline against a black background, I think that I will use my marbling as a background or to colour the motifs, so they will look better outlined in black. My tutor suggested that I develop my line drawings further by using a looser technique, so I looked at the work of Conrado Almada, an illustrator I am influenced by, to develop this style. Although this produced a more expressive style, we agreed that for my surface designs the tighter line drawings would work better.
This week I also experimented with using spray paints for marbling which was a lot more effective and produced a more intense variety of colours. During the group critiques it was clear that my spray paint marbling worked much better, and people liked the collages that I had made with my nail varnish marbling, so they suggested I could try this digitally by scanning in the spray paint ones. I revisited my figurative drawing by photocopying pages from my research sketchbook and I experimented with using collage which I think worked well. I was also influenced by a mural I found in Newcastle between the BALTIC and the Sage buildings, which was created by children from schools in the North East and I thought it was helpful to see what objects they associated with the theme of space.
So far I think my project is going well as I have collected a range of different research sources which have influenced my project. I now need to scan in my hand drawn motifs so that I can colour them using Photoshop and compose my surface designs digitally. I also need to come up with a final list of pieces that I am going to design and make and incorporate this into my time plan. I think I am on target for this project as I have mainly stuck to my initial time plan, as well as revisiting my research pages. I have decided not to make the badges as I would rather focus on creating the notebooks, cards and invitations, and I can create the stickers using vinyl if I have time. So far I have mainly worked using hand-rendered methods and, while I have experimented a little with paper collage, the techniques I have used are mainly line work and pencil drawings. In the next few weeks I will develop my digital skills in colouring up my motifs and using Photoshop or Illustrator to create my surface patterns. I also need to become more organised and plan what motifs I will use, and what surface designs I will create. I also need to create a list of products to create and decide what kind of paper to use in my notebooks. I am happy with my progress so far and I feel that I will be able to stay on track and complete my project if I organise my time effectively and stick to my time plans.
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