Inspiration from Sallis Benney Theatre Wednesday Professional Practice Lectures

After seeing Lizzie Finn’s presentation in the Sallis Benney Theatre, I was inspired by the original way of working she had. I think when most people think of ‘illustration’ they can very quickly and easily refine it to just drawing, with a pen or a pencil. When really the spectrum of what you can do with illustration is so large.

I’ve always had a particular interest in collage and like to use collage when it comes to my own work, but I have never really thought to try it with textiles.

I found it really interesting how Lizzie incorporated the 2 subjects together, and love her use of stitch for lines.

I think another reason I loved Lizzie’s work was a similarity in subject matter/ I can see that she uses a lot of lines and also a lot of shapes where I also like to work in a linear and abstract way.

In a recent project, looking at composition and cropping, I used Lizzie as a reference where I both explored abstract shapes and marks, linear drawn things but I also had to use a form of ‘processed typography.’

I wasn’t sure if hand stitch counted for a type of ‘processed’ typography but I decided to play about with a needle some thread and some paper to create words.

Another thing I liked about stitching drawings/lines/words into paper, was not only the effect it made on the upper side, but also what was left at the bottom, almost the little scraps and the mess, where this sometimes actually created a more interesting composition than the clean cut one.

 I visited this exhibition at the V&A, initially as part of cultural and critical studies module, but it was an extremely large exhibition with lots to offer. The show takes you on a trip between 1966 and 1970, five years which defined significance and have impacted our present and our future.

I learnt a lot from it and found out various things which engaged me in the decade of 1960s. A large theme throughout was the message of freedom, and the summer of love (1967) amongst this was an era of new technologies, as well as experimentation of drugs as a source of creative inspiration sparked and opened doors to new ways of making art.

Within the exciting themes and the likes of LSD, Twiggy, The Beatles, David Bowie, Woodstock 1969 and Barbarella, for me the style and work of Andy Warhol stood out significantly as an area of interest. Andy Warhol was a painter, film-maker and author and most importantly a leading figure in the Pop Art movement. Something I noticed and learnt from the exhibition was that consumerism and advertisement was something of growth at the time. In the 1960s, Warhol began to experiment with such advertisements, such as famously known Campbell’s soup tins and Coca Cola bottles. The 1960s was also a generation of many stars, such as The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie, Twiggy, where Warhol started to produce portrait pop arts, where he painted the likes of Muhammad Ali, John Lennon, Marilyn Monroe, Twiggy which are all iconic. When researching more about Warhol and these type of images, I found out that he used photographic silkscreen to produce them, which is a process I have not used myself before. On Warhol’s website it says that this method of printing creates a very precise and defined imagine which can also allow the artist to mass produce a large number of prints with relevant ease. This again interests me as it ties in with and relates back to the exhibition where consumerism and mass production were new things of the genre. Warhol adopted the methods of mass production to make images of movie stars that were themselves mass-produced. Warhol depicted these universally recognized things, such as the Campbell’s cans or Marilyn Monroe as mass produced items, within a fine art context. By creating paintings or sculptures of mass culture objects and media stars, the Pop art movement aimed to blur the boundaries between “high” art and “low” culture.

After seeing ‘Sign Writing Jack’ at a professional practice lecture on a Wednesday, I was quite interested to further research and look into more images of his work. Before the lecture, I had no idea really who Jack Hollands was, and was amazed by his age and what it is he does for a living. Whenever I imagine branding and signage these days I think of it to be very graphic and often made using computer software, however I was inspired by Jack’s extremely traditional and skilful ways of sign making. I had never really appreciated gold leaf signage before, as even though it is probably becoming less apparent, it is still definitely used as signage in shops and businesses around me all the time, especially in the likes of huge cities like London, with older and traditional and more upmarket buildings.

I was quite surprised that Jack had originally studied a graphics type degree, as I saw the type of signage he does now as much more practical and definitely more traditional art style based – much less computers. He taught us through the process of how he creates each signage, and I was surprised at how complex and long it was, a large amount of teaching, experience and skill has to go into this. I think that his work is impressive and looks fantastic, and although it is something I may never try, it is something I do want to archive.

‘Let there be light’ was a photography project set to us, in both groups and on a personal scale.

I had not really done much kind of photography before this, other than taking my own photos for research or for resources for my own drawings and work. This project included a photography induction which I found extremely interesting and useful, the things that were taught were things that I did not know anything about before.

It was also beneficial for me as I learnt all about the different types of photo studies available and the camera equipment available to hire for any future use.

The aim of the project was to begin to understand the impact of light in image generation. As a group, we decided to tackle this by bringing in a variety of objects to work with against the light. As a theme, we decided upon liquids and iridescent materials and between the group some of the objects we had included water, iridescent and shiny paper, different coloured and shiny threads, light bulbs, bubble formation (washing up liquid), amethysts, plastic surfaces. etc

We worked together to produce light sources from different angles and with different effects. We took photos together and also individually, using our own cameras and compiled them all together at the end to view and pick our best images.

I think if I had more experience or knowledge in the field of photography before, then my images maybe could have been more successful, however for a first try I was quite happy with them. It was nice to also work as a group because it bought together lots of ideas and we were very experimental in our approach, where we used lots of different materials we might not usually use. I think to improve, this would just be more camera experience, and to carrying on being brave and experimental.

I have always had a particular interest and love for the design of the London Tube Map, by Harry Beck, 1933. As I have been travelling back and forth between London, I have used the tube map and the tube itself many times over the last few weeks, and as well as my love for its iconic design (which is why I have included it in my archives) it ties in nicely with this current project 1.

As part of my project, I decided to use the tube map, or maps of London and Brighton as a base or background for my work, by drawing on top of them. I think with bold black lines this is successful, as it can be seen above all the colour and things going on underneath.

I tried this out in my sketchbook, and also looked at a few artists who had used maps as a basis in their works (e.g. Ed Fairburn) and I thought this was something I was going to take further/onto a larger scale, however I wanted to remove a large amount of colour from my project to make it less childish and to make more of a point of the architecture.

I definitely grew to create an expressive style and found the materials which worked best for me, charcoal, graphite and pen with collage and so I started to come out of the sketchbook but also tried paint. I really like the effect of the multimedia so decided on my favourite buildings and elements from the project, and also did some more research into London architecture (again touched upon in my archives) and created a rough composition in pencil on my page. From here, I worked loosely and with an open mind, and started to layer on materials. I used colour still as I wanted to keep the ‘vibrance’ factor of the cities but I narrowed down the palette in situ.

I have included a blog post where I have posted some of my drawings and outcomes for this project.

I started off by creating some small sketches and small images which I have put in my sketchbook which I have created whilst on the train or in the car during travelling. They are mainly images I have seen on my travels, where I have either taken photographs or I am just sketching from memory.

This brings me onto artists, where I decided to initially research artists who also use the idea of journey or landscape, or architecture in their work. These can be seen in my sketchbook, where I have included the works of Martin John Calanan, Olivier Kugler, Ed Fairborn, Vahram Muratyan, David Hockney and Stephen Wiltshire.

However, between these, I had a particular interest in Olivier Kugler’s work, where I loved his style of working, and also his subject matter.

Olivier Kuglier records journeys of which he has travelled, where he draws on location but also from reference from photos taken on travels. He has a very illustrative way of working which I admire, and his work again stays relevant where he has a common use of buildings and architecture in his work. He also uses and adds text to his work, which is something I could consider.

Another interesting and again relevant artist for my project, is Stephen Wiltshire. Stephen Wiltshire has a body of work where he creates landscapes from memory, mainly cityscapes. Although I have taken many photos across my journeys which I will include in a blog post, I have also observed many things which I have then picked up again and drawn from memory, possibly making them more abstract than they really are.

Something I noticed whilst travelling between the two cities, was the vibrance, and the busyness and the chaos in both. I wanted to show this in my work, by keeping it colourful and busy, and I particularly like this quote by Wiltshire which ties in nicely: “The most intriguing qualities of an exciting city must have chaos and order at the same time, the avenues and squares, skyscrapers as well as traffic jams, the chaotic rush hour and people.”

I have included some examples of their work at the beginning of this post.

Whilst researching into my project, and talking to fellow members on my course about what it was they were doing, a friend from my seminar group suggested to look at the book ‘Paris VS New York’ by Vahram Muratyan.

I had not heard of this before, but absolutely loved it at first glance. Vahram Muratyan is a graphic designer, who created an online travel journey of his excursions to Paris and New York, which became one of the most buzzed about sites on the internet. Mauritian now presents his works in the book ‘Paris versus New York’ which shows the contrast between the two cities in an aesthetically pleasing but also witty way.

Although I was not directly comparing the two cities, and trying to find differences between them, I did notice many similarities and differences between the two. And like Muratyan I was visiting the two different places. Although the two destinations of Paris and New York would have far more noticeable cultural differences than the likes of London and Brighton, I found this book inspiring and would definitely recommend it to others.

Photos from the original book ‘Paris VS New York’ by Vahram Muratyan.

Since a young age, I have always had a particular interest and love for the design of the London Tube Map, by Harry Beck, 1933. As I have been travelling back and forth between London over the past few weeks, I have used the tube map and the tube itself many times over the last few weeks which has re sparked my love for its iconic design and made it relevant.

A bit about the London Underground map and its creator: Harry Beck was originally an electrical draughtsman, come graphic designer who produced the simplistic but beautiful design all the way back in 1933, where it is now recognised across the world and the style has been copied/used/inspired by the likes of many countries. The map doesn’t emphasis accuracy in location and geographical distance between stations on the map, but instead Beck based the design on circuit diagrams he drew when he was an electrical draughtsman.

The reason I love this iconic design so much, is although it is so simple, clear and practical and is used by thousands of people in every day life, to me it is also a piece of artwork. It can be called simplistic in terms of use, but really when I look at it I think it is extremely detailed and dynamic, where an extreme amount of thought has been put into the layout and positioning of the train lines and the names of each station.

I think that the use of different colours for each train line in itself just makes the design colourful and fun and cheery, like in my eyes I don’t view it in a negative and boring way in which I might with a different kind of map, I don’t see it as a chore to use or work with or look at, but instead a piece of artwork and design (which it is.)

The starting point and theme for my project was: JOURNEY

As I was to travel back and forth between Brighton and London over the project period, I decided to document some of my journeys and experiences through observation and drawing. I wanted to maybe show some of the similarities and differences between the 2 vibrant cities.

I have always had a particular interest for the art of architecture and shown a personal enjoyment of including buildings in my illustrations. The brief was very broad and so I decided to just focus on something that I enjoyed. This subject matter also fitted in nicely with my idea of ‘journey’ because architecture is something which is all around us, and a lot of it I saw on my travels.

I started by taking some quick snaps as I walked through, and past places, to refer back to on my phone when sketching. I used the (boring) time of train journeys to my advantage and drew some small and quick sketches whilst on board.

I started to decide what it was I liked about my drawings, and what I thought was successful in my style. I started to combine some of my favourite images and shapes from my drawings together to create a combination of London and Brighton.

Later on in my blog I have included some of the artists I looked at during this project, and I think some of my drawings and their sketchy style definitely show influence and inspiration from looked at artist: Olivier Kugler. His work was also relevant to my project because he records journeys of which he has travelled, where he draws on location but also from reference of photos taken along travels.

I started to experiment more and because more expressive in my style, which I definitely think works well with the architecture and the ‘busyness’ I was trying to get across. I enjoyed working with more than 1 different type of material, which I thought also helped portray more textures/layers.

When looking at some artists who have referenced journey in their work, I found Ed Fairborn, who uses maps as a background to his work, so I began to experiment with maps, including the London tube map as a layer in my work.

Project 1 – ‘Drawing upon inspiration’

I interpreted this project by believing that drawing is doing what I love.

I decided that I had a particular interest in noticing that people draw in their spare time, or when they’re bored – such as doodles. I could see people ‘doodling’ all the time throughout my daily life at uni, whether they were supposed to be taking notes, or listening to someone else instead.

I think that a drawing really is anything practical made using some form of media, by anyone.

I decided to tackle this project by making it personal and tailoring it to myself, and also by making the subject matter something of which I love. Over the first few weeks of University, I had to travel between Brighton and London (home) due to external factors over the weekends. I decided to use this as a reason for my project. This also worked well for me, because I have a particular interest and ongoing love for the art of architecture.

So I decided, to look at the journey’s I made over the weeks, in both cities, Brighton and London and document the travels I made and what I saw on the way. A lot of this included buildings, and architecture which I saw, I decided and started to notice many similarities and differences between the 2 cities; Brighton which was a new city to me, and London, a city which I have known before.