studio brief 4 - final outcomes and reflective report

final outcomes


collection / portfolio of work
https://lp26164118a6.myportfolio.com/work

(music embedded at the bottom of each page - press play and browse for immersive experience!)

reflective report
Looking back at my body of work for FMP is a positive experience - this module pushed me out of my comfort zone and encouraged me to develop new ways of working and making. 
I've learnt I enjoy work that is research based, that requires learning through reading and drawing - and that that's the way in which I produce my best work.

Initially the idea was to create a body of work that felt eclectic and energetic - that explored the possibilities of where illustration can exist beyond it's usual 2D flat image format. The intention to do so was there throughout the project and I'm happy I tried that with printing bandana designs on fabric (even though they came out too faded!) and making the j-card designs was also exciting and new for me. Having to work from home limited some of the grander ideas I had of screen printing on fabric and exhibiting the work in an installation format but I don't feel that any of those things took away from the learning that has occurred during this project. I've learnt a lot about my personal process and flow - and these were things I wasn't confident about prior to FMP. I know how I approach research based briefs now and how to apply those skills to other projects and that's really valuable. I've developed a tone of voice that feels refreshing and authentic to me; I was disengaged and uninterested in the work I was producing - it felt forced and flat but this feels very much alive because I've learned to embrace the immediacy, the energy, and intuition with which I naturally make images. :)

I'm definitely interested in continuing to make work about music and for music and can see this being profitable for me in the future. Other than that, I'm excited about exploring more personal narratives now that I'm more comfortable with the processes I've developed and the tone of voice of my work!

Contemporary Illustration research hasn't been at the forefront of this project for me - the initial research I did for my project proposal was important in helping me situate where I wanted my practice to be and that was really important because it widened my pre-existing ideas about where illustration could exist. However, I made a conscious effort to disconnect from the discipline at large and from other people's work because I was really trying to find my own flow which I really feel can be muddled by trends in style that come with illustration - and that was one of the things that was frustrating me also to begin with. I found research useful when I needed an insight in practical terms - so when making my website, it was useful to see how other illustrators and designers put together their own bodies of work but I didn't feel the need to constantly look at what other creatives were doing, and I think that was really positive for me.

This project went quite smoothly for me which is such a contrast to 2nd year and especially the first term of this academic year - the only problems I can think came up were just my being conscious of repetition within my practice and wanting to keep things fresh and different in each mini brief. Prior to FMP, with uni briefs I felt the same as I did in previous terms - disengaged and unsure of how to tackle them. However I really feel that if I went back to them now I would feel a lot more confident approaching them because I've gained a better understanding of my ways of working.


Looking ahead, I'm excited about exploring my practice further over summer and beyond - I'm really happy with the body of work I have produced and excited to see it translate over to different self-directed briefs and potential commissions. I think now that I know I can respond well to a music brief it'll be interesting to push the content itself in different directions and seeing what happens. I think that it's really positive that I've made my space within illustration when before it felt like I was trying to fit into already existing ones that didn't quite feel right - and I think that's what's made this fun for me again; ideally, i want to be doing things that feel fresh and engaged and I don't want to be doing what everyone else is doing; I want to be learning and moving forward and I see that being possible because even within this project I wasn't really allowing myself to be stagnant - i wanted every mini brief to have its own tone of voice and energy and I feel like i've accomplished that. here's to more hopefully happy making! :)

physical things!

black star last bits

where i left off last on the black star project was working on collage posters using the same process i used on the interim fakeflyer brief - using different bits i've collected over the course of this brief to make a selection of posters; moving away from zines that i'm naturally drawn to making.

i'm really happy with how these have turned out - i like how layered and energetic they feel; there's enough clues to the album embedded in the type in a way that it still requires some decoding and looking and reading and figuring out which i like. they also have this lofi look about them which i wanted - i feel like my work really does flourish in immediacy and intuition and trial and error - if i sat down to design a poster i don't think it would be as successful as collaging already existing drawings and type in the way that i do so that's a nice thing to know about the way i work to take forward. :)

FMP sketchbook

poetry book - 6 memos

in between fmp work i decided to work on a book with poetry i've been collecting over the past couple of months - it's been a nice interlude to my music based work and important to touch back to six memos and my personal practice at large with the new insight i've gained from FMP about my process and aesthetic qualities.

i came up with the concept a while ago, had a title in mind and of course all the written work for it but it was fun to bring it all together visually using a combination of type, images and drawings; and seeing how those combinations i've developed through my final major project can translate onto future work under different themes.

the sun, the moon and the tides of the sea / dad, mum and me
poetry book playing with the juxtaposition between the dreamy and romanticised charm of childhood pictures and strange AM feelings about dad, mum and myself / with a special love for the moon and her comforting energy




i'm really happy with this outcome - i feel like it really sets the tone for how my practice will evolve over time beyond my current big project. i'm really happy doing work in response to music and that will continue as i move beyond this degree but that will maybe sit on the commercial side of things for me as well as the personal - as i can see how that can be profitable for me in terms of working for clients etc. but the part of my work that's sentimental is important to me also and i let that go to focus on new processes and find joy in my work again but now that i have it's exciting to bring it back.

quarantine has made me write again also and i already have words and poems that could turn into mini projects which is fun and will keep me busy and keep me exploring my practice in this direction :)

interim reflective blogpost 28/04/2020

looking back at the work i've done for this project, i feel as though i've accomplished in part the idea of creating a collection and body of work in response to albums that you can hold and flick though and touch - i've made more zines than ever before and it's nice to see them all existing as a collection and response to such rich subject matter.
initially, the goal was to have a variety of objects (zines, fabric pieces, cassette tapes, posters etc) within an exhibition space and that direction has had to change - that space is going to have to exist online and from here onwards it's going to be about attempting to recreate that immersiveness within a website and these last couple of weeks until deadline are going to be me working towards making that happen. would be nice to get some music in there as well to further contextualise my responses - the practicalities of it is something i need to start thinking about for sure.

as i wrap up the last brief from this project, i'm wanting to explore further the aesthetic qualities of the stuff i've already been doing - with more colour paper and colour ink now (which was somewhat restricting that aspect before) i'm hoping to see if the mood of the album can be further translated through those last final outcomes i make. i feel like the other two projects have very distinctive aesthetic qualities that reflect their respective albums so it'll be about making sure this last one starts to do the same thing now that i have more resources to make that happen.

the one criticism i maybe have for this last brief (black star) is that it's becoming repetitive but again i feel as though that was happening because of the lack of resources i have at home so hopefully i'll be able to give those images a refresh with a change in format (big collage) and in colours with paper and colour ink.

looking at my FMP as collection does make me happy - i started this project with a clear direction and intention and it has been an exciting research project for me that could definitely continue to evolve and exist beyond this course and beyond FMP. i really do feel like i've answered the brief i set to myself which was to learn about and dissect albums i really admire and to re- tell their stories through my own tone of voice as an image maker - initially, i think i wanted to have more of a wealth of albums but actually in practical terms looking at and responding to an album takes longer than i expected at the beginning.

questions for jamie
don't have any specific questions but would be nice to hear some feedback on my work as a collection - and whether you think i've answered the brief i set myself well? would be interesting to hear what it's like to experience the work from your perspective generally speaking

in terms of the website (you've sent me one already that i had a look at), but are there any other websites that you're aware of that are playing with this idea of immersiveness? so websites with image and audio? or just websites that are a collection of one project? just wanting some more inspiration for how mine could potentially look like.

thanks jamie! :)

black star - more drawings + another zine

zine
did some additional drawing and ended up making another zine just to have another object.
waiting on some paper and ink to arrive so i can work on the final outcome for this brief.

reached out to jamie and he agreed with the idea of pushing things beyond zine format; and suggested going large scale and maybe collaging different bits so that my text based and image based responses can coexist - he also suggested using this to create an immersive experience of the layered worlds that exist through my processes. so the idea is to use the wealth of imagery and text i created and to start thinking about how collaging and photocopying those bits together can become something bigger which is an idea i'm excited about!

gathering thoughts - rethinking direction

have been making responses to visual things relating to black star - i had a vague idea in my head of the themes behind the album already from a few listens and a few reads but i felt i was lacking intention in terms of being able to push forward and create well rounded outcomes in response.

the main idea behind black star is a joyful celebration of blackness - it's layered and political but it's also lighthearted and fun in its delivery; i've picked out some strong lyrics from various songs that i feel would be worth highlighting through my visual responses. with illmatic it was more about creating outcomes that were a visual representation of the research process that i really enjoyed and more about replicating the feeling and mood of the album through those responses.

however, with black star i feel it might be worth using the lyricism as a basis for the visual responses and using the drawings and bits i've been doing to work around those things.
i've just finished doing the fakeflyer brief and i think it might be interesting to use that same process to make some flyer/poster stuff that celebrates those words and collages the drawings i've been making for that added bit of context.
it also allows me to move away a little bit from making zines - which i love but have exhausted a little bit at this point. will try and get some colour ink as well and paper so i can push the visual qualities of my work a little bit. love the black but am also feeling restricted by the black.

some lyrics worth noting:
"Black people unite and let's all get down
We got to have what? we got to have that love"

"third eye vision, five-side dimension"

"Chasing stars with your eyes, playing games with your lives"

"knowledge of self is like life after death"

"Blasting holes in the night till she bled sunshine"

"Breathe in, inhale vapours from bright stars that shine
Breathe out, weed smoke trace the skyline"

"Hold your head when the beat drop"

"bein' a black man is demandin' 
The fire in my eyes and the flames need fannin' "

"I can feel the city breathing
Chest heaving, against the flesh of the evening"

"I'm black like the side of the moon you don't see"

"I asked him why we follow the law of the bluest eye"

"The wounds of slaves in cotton fields that never heal"

"We chasing after death just to call ourselves brave"

"Hiding like thieves in the night from life
Illusions of oasis making you look twice"

"Look in the skies for God
what you see besides the smog 
Is broken dreams flyin' away 
on the wings of the obscure"

some additional drawings i've made:

fakeflyersociety brief

FFSBRIEF0001
took a break from my project and got stuck into an online brief - gave myself one day to do it and it was essentially about designing a flyer for a fake event
they have different briefs going on but i thought i'd get going with a hip hop line up because it aligns with my project still but is then something new and different to get into.

i used the same processes i usually do which is combining type, drawing, and photography in an intuitive way - i didn't really plan for this or come up with a design concept from the beginning i worked with different bits and the overall composition happened through process as opposed to being predetermined which i prefer and feel has worked pretty well.

i used a couple images as reference for my drawings and type (see below) and used the photocopier to push those drawings further - adding images, then further doodles and additions to solidify the layout - i'll add some process images of photocopies and things below as well.


reference photos


process


i only have black ink at the moment which can be annoying but it's also a nice restriction to have as i do get to get too focused on colour - so really this was about design and process and having fun with drawing and black lines and shapes and then elevating that at the very end through colour stock. very happy with it!


moving forward
was also thinking that i could maybe use this in my mos def project because it has showed me that i can work with a flat, 1 image outcome using the same processes i like to use and this might be a nice route to go with that is different from making zines which i love but am used to.