Tell us about it

| Sophie Barnard Leary

The idea for the Tell us About it project was about Toxic relationships and love. It started with the idea when I went round to a friend’s house and she told me she had been on a date with a guy who had pulled out a Kinder egg and inside he was carrying drugs. They went on to have a relationship that ended really badly. He was not the person she thought he was. It was an image and story that stuck in my mind and wanted to explore. What do you keep in you kinder eggs? As a symbol for things we hide away, things that have happened to us.

  

Exploring symbolic ways I can express finding out someone is not who they seem. Hiding things.

Toxic love.

Why are people abusive? What is it that has happened to them in their lives? My therapist tells me it all comes from experiences we had during our childhood. We develop ways of coping with the world. Why do people have addictive personalities? Is it because of pain they have been through?

Trying to recall memories and trying to draw out the symbolic in them. I dated a man once who burnt a cigarette into my arm. We were drunk, he said it was an accident. I wasn’t so sure. He smoked 2 to 3 packs a day. He had been kicked out the house by his mum when he was 17. He had a lot of emotional issues and then he dumped me.

Cigarette love symbols. We feel calm when we smoke. He wanted his cigarettes more than he wanted me. Cigarettes are addictive just like lovers. But you are in love with something toxic, something that is not good for you.

I also dated a guy once who was addicted to the sweet fizzy Lucozade drink. He mixed He used to down a litre of it before having sex. He told me his mother never loved him. It always goes back to the mother.

 

Abstract pill packet interpretation.

 

Final Outcome for Tell us about it.

 

VINEGAR VALENTINES: Research

| Sophie Barnard Leary

Vinegar Valentines were a type of insulting valentine card. Illustrated with a caricature and an insulting poem. These were very popular during the Victorian era, as the anti spirit of Valentines day. The cards were sent to people they hated and wanted to mock. In Civil War Humor, Cameron C. Nickels wrote that vinegar valentines were “tasteless, even vulgar,” and were sent to “drunks, shrews, bachelors, old maids, dandies, flirts, and penny pinchers, and the like.” Will be interesting to look into the history of caricature.

The origin of the word ‘caricature’ comes from the Italian carico and caricare – to load, to exaggerate. Caricatures are portraits that distort and exaggerate certain features whilst retaining a likeness. They were created in the 16th century to ridicule public figures and politicians. James Gillray was an important caricaturist in the 18th century – made powerful moral statements and was able to communicate powerful messages. These images held a lot of power in a time where a vast majority of the population could not read or write.

Now we live in a different era so we have to be careful how we caricature people of certain groups. I need to think about cliches and how I can use humour to drive home a point. The first thought that came to mind was the cliche of girls who shop, like in the movie from the 90s Clueless and from the 00’s Mean girls.

VINEGAR VALENTINES

| Sophie Barnard Leary

I found this amazing book of vintage valentine graphics published by Taschen. The origins of Valentines day go back to pagan times. A feast of the flesh was celebrated to honour the goddess of love, Juno Februata,

Valentines day has grown to be one of America’s most commercial holidays. Would be interesting to link this with a ‘girls that shop till you drop’ cliche. The consumerist aspect of love. How can I incorporate this graphic style with my own?

Characters from Mean Girls and Clueless. The embody the ultimate cliche of the “shop till you drop” generation. This will be a fun starting point – what caricature methods will I use to exaggerate their features?

I had to start with some interpretations of gingham fabric. To build up some textures I might want to use. Using coloured pencil and pens to make different gingham designs.

Initial sketches for different symbols that are classic motifs. Girls obsessed with how they look – lipstick, makeup, mascara, etc.

obsessed with what they eat, how they look.

I was thinking about that they would be selfish aswell. In the movie mean girls they happily sleep with other girls boyfriends without caring about anyone else’s feelings.

This ended up being my final outcome. I was looking at imagery of Indian gods and thought that would be a great symbol to depict the obsession with shopping. The millennial girl does not have enough hands to keep track of everything she is doing.

Portfolio Review + Thoughts

| Sophie Barnard Leary

My portfolio review with Greg from Bic Active and the executive producer from Blink Ink was very successful. Greg gave me his email and was excited for me to keep in touch and show him more of my work as it developed. “You’ve got it” “I love the colour palette”. Blink Ink told me I had to mix up my source material. To look back in order to look forward. I want to start building contacts in the industry so I can invite them to our final degree show. He gave me some very good constructive feedback on my films and animations. He said I needed to learn how to slowly reveal the narrative. Tease the viewer and slowly reveal.

I was glad I went along to the portfolio review as it gave me a lot of confidence that I am on the right path.

I want to marry the glossy abstract digital world with the organic, the handrawn. I have been upgrading my equipment so I am able to work faster across different programmes.

To find new collaborators. To write a manifesto. What is the emotion? Narratives. Building an environment. What is it you are trying to say? How can different mediums/forms inform my artwork (Hannah Waldron w textiles) incorporating textile textures into her work. Short 5/10 second sequences.

 

Future Selves: BLINK INK

| Sophie Barnard Leary

Blink Ink is a production and talent company. They work across advertising, animation and create a lot of content for music videos. They mix up different film making styles with animation. I find this method so inspiring – it is a new artwork in its own right. I want to experiment like this with my own work by combining photography, footage and animation. Bart Yaters led the talk:

  • Look for new opportunities – through opportunities your art grows.
  • Look at other directors work
  • People have an emotional connection to craft – they love to see it.
  • Make sure you combine digital and hand craft skills.
  • Strike up relationships with people in companies that you like
  • Always think abut the emotion in your work – what is the emotion?
  • Bring people together to work on bigger projects.

The portfolio review was constructive I learnt a lot. Bart emphasised working on my narratives and streamlining my workflow to make it look less messy. He suggested I look at vintage Vogue magazines for reference. Look back to look forwards. When displaying my work on instagram or in a portfolio I need to show it in sets, as opposed to a random sequence of images. “It helps people to read your work”.

Future Selves: BIG ACTIVE

| Sophie Barnard Leary

BIG ACTIVE is an artist management and content creation company. They represent leading image makers. This talk was an eye opener into the business. I prepared a portfolio of work to show to them in order to get some feedback. He said he is always looking for someone who is doing things differently. He made some very interesting points about the medium of ‘instagram’ effecting how artists worked: There is less money because artists need to work faster and quicker to make short sequences that are going to capture peoples attention on such a saturated platform of moving image like instagram.

Advice:

  • You don’t need an agent – you can market yourself through your instagram page. Brands contact the artist directly.
  • Be true to yourself. Occupy your own space. Total individual.
  • Don’t compare yourself to other artists.
  • Mix up your references – look for new things before they become trendy.
  • Work as hard as you can – put in the hours. Success will come!

Below are some artists that BIG ACTIVE represent that are worth mentioning as they are very innovative:

Erik Winkowski

– A video artist who combines abstract paint, drawing and found footage. He treats video like collage: cutting up, drawing over and remixing scenes from every day life to create short compelling narratives. They have the spontaneity and vitality of painting. I love the way he mixes different media together to create these moving collages – this is something I need to explore with my own work. Combining photography, film and hand drawing.

 

Mat Maitland

Works with a lot of fashion houses to come up with promotional material for their collections. He creates surrealist pop images from stock photos. He didn’t have space or means to take photographs of the models so he uses stock imagery to collage with. This is a great example of how having limitations helps you to create new work. His highly textured collages and films are saturated with colour. These are perfect for fashion as they immediately capture your attention.

 

Robert Beatty

Robert Beatty is an artist and musician. He makes glowing artwork for record labels and designers. I really like his use of colour and the way he creates this surreal landscapes. Dries Van Noten asked Robert Beatty to design 3 motifs to be applied to AW 18/19 menswear. The result grew to include social media films and designs for 3D window sets. It’s important to create the objects in real life not just on the computer so can understand the world you are trying to inhabit or in this case the dream you are trying to sell.

Future Selves: Hannah Waldron

| Sophie Barnard Leary

I loved this talk with Hannah Waldron. She is an artist and designer based in the UK. Graphic and narrative led image making. She highlighted the importance of experimenting with different forms because they will feed into one another. She took up weaving and that led her to creating new ways of drawing. Incorporating textile textures into her work. She is interested in communicating something about a place through the use of textures. I can draw links here with my own work as I take a lot of inspiration from collecting vintage costume jewellery. The textures and materials feed into my drawings. How can new methods inform my artwork?

Advice:

  • Think Global
  • Apply for funding and awards – you never know who can help you with a project!
  • Submit to zines and exhibitions. They are always crying out for content!
  • Art directors are like cheerleaders – they will push you to do your best work.
  • Write Manifestos – think about – what are your values? what do you want to achieve?
  • Design nice PDF’s for your applications.

Future Selves: BUTT STUDIOS

Aside | | Sophie Barnard Leary

I loved this talk by Harry Butt. He is a graduate from Brighton who has his own studio. He is a designer/animator who makes abstract digital art. He has worked with NIKE, Chloe, Bandcamp and Timedance. It was great to see how he was applying his skills and creativity to various media. I found his vision really inspiring and made me realise new things I want to experiment with and where I would like my work to take me. He uses Cinema 4D to make his artwork. This programme opens you up to so much experimentation. Being a relatively new media it has so much scope. I did feel that it was very heavy on the digital art side and would be interesting to see it in combination using traditional methods of image making. Some advice:

  • Steal from other studios – study how they present their work, the layout, the content, etc.
  • Get in touch with Record Labels you like and get good at Cinema 4D.
  • Everything you discuss for a commission should be in writing.
  • When you pitch – answer the brief and include something extra.
  • Try and get commercial jobs during uni – this will serve you well when you leave.
  • Don’t be scared of going freelance.
  • Don’t panic – nobody really knows what they’re doing.
  • Jobs that are less well payed or jobs you do for free may give you more creative freedom – they are good to take because you don’t know where they will lead.
  • It is important to learn how to answer a brief and to present your ideas in a neat but exciting way.
  • Remember that commercial jobs/brands are selling products – so don’t get too emotionally invested in them.

Future Selves: Coding Workshop w Rifke Sadleir

| Sophie Barnard Leary

I attended a coding workshop hosted by Rifke Sadleir. She is a designer and developer and works @ Our Place. We were taught how to move objects across a screen and how to follow a pathway using different commands. Was really interesting and although I can’t see myself becoming a coder it opened up discussions about 3D digital art which I am very keen to experiment with. Coding is like learning a new language… learning some functions using the p5 language will help with after effects as the commands are quite similar.

Tips on learning to Code:

  • Processing – flexible software sketchbook and an easy language for learning how to code
  • Code Academy & Code School.

FUTURE SELVES POSTER

| Sophie Barnard Leary

            

Poster I came up with for the future selves Talks and workshop week. I was thinking about how we need to have hope and belief that are future isn’t something to be scared of. The super 8 ball is a fun symbol to illustrate this. How can we tell the future? Future selves week can help us shape our future.