Tuesday 11 February 2014

Photos

After flicking through Misoslav Sasek's book this is London I went in search of pictures of New York throughout history and found this really awesome article about some newly discovered photographs. Some are quite unnerving, others, like pictures of signs, more charming. Great reference material too.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2134408/Never-seen-photos-100-years-ago-tell-vivid-story-gritty-New-York-City.html 

Man with newspaper
"The headline of the newspaper the man in this May 18, 1940 photo reads: 'Nazi Army Now 75 Miles From Paris.'"

Grand Central Termina

Brooklyn Bridge

Monday 3 February 2014

Task 4

10 Things I've learnt about myself as an individual
1. I leave everything to the last possible opportunity before I do it, which kinda works, but its very stressful
2. It's very important that I have at least three kinds of cheese at any given point. (currently stocking mozzarella, halloumi, lake district chedder, stilton, brie, philadelphia and camembert)
3. I will do anything, even work, to avoid domestic obligations (mostly cleaning things, like dishes and clothes and my flat)
4. I've taken to doodling more frequently and freely than before, I now doodle straight into pen rather than sketching things out which I find more enjoyable as theres less pressure and I learn from errors I can't erase.

5. I can plan my time effectively but I can't stick to the plan. There's always something much easier I could do like sitting down.
6. My priorities go as such 1. Faffing about and wasting time, 2. Doing work, 3. Going outside/being social. 4. Everything else, 5. Cleaning, tidying, cooking, food shopping, household chores.
7. If the task is important and engrossing enough I can stay awake indefinitely. Excluing 'all nighters' the worst its been this year is 7am, it didnt feel good.
8. I struggle to up keep things like using my diary for longer than a few weeks. Being organised is a fun novelty for a while and then I revert back to my stagnant confused self.
9. I can't stop losing my college swipe card. I think I've lost it about four times now, but usually found it days later.
10. I struggle at self reflection tasks. Ahahahah so meta.

10 Things I've learnt about myself as an illustrator
1. I often lack the patience to redraft when something appears finished. I find it a little soul destroying, this is probably just weakness.
2. I can manage to do a complete narrative in a comic, as apposed to the strips I'm used to. I like both, strips are easier, stories are more involving.
3. My linework can get sloppy, especially when rushed, and should be refined. Although I do rely too heavily on black lines when drawing. I should try working with shape and whatnot.
4. I think I solve problems in terms of comics, most of the time my initial solution is sequential, its sometimes a struggle to condense it into one image to fit a brief.
5. With comics I work better on larger paper to be scaled down, it makes it easier to draw compliacted panels and when shrunk down they look neater
6. I've come to rely quite heavily on digitally enhancing my work, its very useful and means i can make errors in the drawing process and it doesnt matter. In the last brief I used photoshop to duplicate parts and save me time drawing them again.

7. I need to learn more about graphic design to help the technical side of my image making. I struggle with drawing fonts sometimes, and choosing the best arrangement of elements
8. Fortunately all of my interests have ended up being relevant to my practice.. drawing, watching cartoons and reading comics. Hazar.
9. At the minute comics is my preferred medium, which I am happy with, but it could change. Early days...
10. I get very bored and despondent if my work isn't amusing to me or anyone else. I feel the purpose of my work should be to entertain and if it's not or that doesnt relate to the brief I struggle to engage with the work.