Final Major Project 

LANGUAGE

The final major project is the last project I have been set to complete in my Art Foundation course at Chesterfield College. I can't believe how fast it has come around and now's my chance to show off all the skills I have learnt in the past few months of my time here! 

In this project I plan to explore language from different countries including phrases, proverbs, myths, sayings and single words native to that culture. I am then going to infuse my work with influences from these cultures through the use of patterns, colours and creative techniques to produce a set of visually stimulating images which will look effective when displayed as a whole. I will also explore the art of displaying information alongside my images and words inspired by the work of artists such as David McCandles. I will find the research for this project from books, magazines and the internet as well as trying to submerse myself in the different cultures by sourcing and finding foreign language in as many places as I can including on food packaging, in museums such as the V&A and on public signs.

I am keen to explore and utilise a diverse range of interesting processes sourced from a number of different cultures from around the globe to increase the versatility of my project.

I am going to try to use a variety of different media and materials such as painting, drawing, photography and Photoshop to explore my project in as much depth as possible.

The first element of Language I have been exploring is Kanji, Chinese characters used in the Japanese language. 

Kanji Characters

Kanji is an interesting letter form which is over 4,000 years old that is said to have originated from Chinese monks burning the shells of turtles to interpret messages from the Gods. This is why some Kanji symbols draw a similar resemblance to the objects and meanings behind the words. 

I have been experimenting by copying the characters from Japanese food packaging and then making them into patterns using Photoshop. 

Previous pattern repeated multiple times - looks too uniform, needs to be more random. Add colours and shapes

Same characters altering the rotation of the symbols and changing the colour palette to make it more vibrant. 

Same pattern repeated multiple times.

I have also been exploring the work of various Chinese and Japanese Graphic Designers including Tun Ho. His work incorporates a beautiful mix of Graphic Design, Typography and Illustration and was a perfect example of the kind of work I wanted to explore within this project. 

Tun Ho 'Chinese Sayings'
Left:＜事半功倍＞ Less effort, much prosperity.
Right:＜天天向上＞Improve yourself everyday.

I had a go at using a similar Approach for the Japanese saying < 愚公山を移す > which translates to 'faith can move mountains'. I used a mix of hand rendered type for the lettering and then used my own drawings of mountains and the Jnana Mudra hand symbol from Budhism to layer behind the saying. 

faith can move mountains < 愚公山を移す >

I then adapted the piece further by replicating the saying and pattern using mono prints and then working into the prints by drawing over the top in a variety of different media.

I also explored the Chinese colour palette by making a page of Chinese Colour Swatches. 

LONDON VISIT

On a trip down to London with college we got the opportunity to visit as many galleries as possible to find inspiration for our final major projects and fuel our creativity. I decided to go to the Saatchi Gallery and the V&A to look for artists and object related to Language. 

At the Saatchi Gallery I hapened to come across the artist Eddie Ilunga Kamuanga whose work features a whole range of different patterns using letters and languages from other countries. His paintings are influenced by a rich visual world full of vibrant patterns, textures and different cultures which is perfectly illustrated throughout his work. I love how he uses a lot of different imagery combined including circuit boards, colourful head-scarves and retro prints.

Eddy Ilunga Kamuanga

Elongated Head, 2014

Acrylic on Canvas, 150x120cm

At the V&A Museum there were a number of rooms displaying art, books and pottery from different Asian countries including China, Japan and India. There were also many examples of language used decoratively and as patterns.

CHINA TOWN

To gather some more research for my project I decided to pay a visit to China Town in Manchester. I had a look around the gift shops, went into a Chinese supermarket and took pictures/ drew the streets and buildings as well as collect some interesting souvenirs like a Chinese newspaper and cards from the gift shop. For my project I plan on exploring Chinese patterns so the visit was a highly valuable experience for me and I managed to gather a range of useful research. 

Chinese Arch, Faulkner Street, Manchester

Chinese Supermarket

View down the street, China Town

Inside a gift shop

 maneki-neko (lucky cats)

another view from the street

UNTRANSLATABLE WORDS 

After doing a lot of research into the characters within the Chinese and Japanese languages I wanted to look more into the actual language side of things by looking at words, sayings and phrases. One thing that sparked my interest was untranslatable words within these languages such as Aoye (to pull an all nighter / 'burning the midnight oil') or Natsukashi ( a small thing that takes you suddenly back to fond memories not with a longing for what's past but with an appreciation of the good times). I explored these sayings by writing mind maps to possible imagery which could relate to these words and then drawing objects from observation whoch also related to the definitions.

To  develop my work and make it a bit more stylised I researched various graphic designers and illustrators which I found inspiring and tried to replicate their style in my own work. 

Graphic Designers I researched: Delores Oliver, Belen Saralegui 

Illustrators I researched: Lucinda Rogers, Christophe Louise Quibe, Paolina Alexadra Russo

Experimental drawing in the style of Paolina Alexandra Russo, relating to the word Natsukashi because I can imagine her walking around a festival which brings me back to fond memories. 

Mixing Christophe Louise Quib style illustration with style of an unknown graphic designer I found (stuck in my sketchbook)  illustrating the Chinese word 'Aoye' which means burning the midnight oil which I associate with staying up all night partying. 

ILLUSTRATOR 

27/04/2015

Today I had a go at using Adobe Illustrator for the first time to transform a line drawing image into a vector. For a first attempt I think it went pretty well! I'll be sure to use illustator in this project more often. 

Original image in sketchbook - Continuous line drawing of imagery relating to 'yoko meshi' meaning: the peculiar stress of speaking a foreign language.

Vector Drawing done in Illustrator

I then looked at the work of Jet Bergmans who does overlapped mixed media illustrations on interesting black backgrounds. I thought it would create some unusual imagery to try this technique out for myself. I first did some in my sketchbook and then some more on a larger scale using stretched paper. At first it was difficult finding media to use over the black ground which wouldn't sink in or not show against the dark colour but I soon discovered a white pencil, pastels, chalk and oil pastels worked very well for this sort of drawing especially on a large scale because it gave a lot of freedom and flow and it made you not worry about messing up or going wrong. 

Own work in the style of Jet Bergman

NEW DIRECTION 

At this point in my project I was starting to feel a bit uninspired and needed a new path to take to keep my ideas flowing and the creative process fresh and moving. I decided to move away from the Chinese and Japanese language ( my project is on language after all and not just chinese/japanese) so I decided to look into Greek. 

To kick start this new direction and gather some potential imagery I visited Chatsworth House's amazing sculpture gallery which features a vast array of marble sculptures with many inspired by Greek mythology and Greek Gods such as Achilles. 

Busts at Chatsworth House

From doing this I got a glimpse into the interesting shapes which were to be found on the outlines of the sculptures silhouettes. 

Silhouettes of Sculptures

BUT after talking to my tutor I realised I was veering off topic again and I needed to look more into the Greek Language side of things and not just Greek mythology and sculptures, 

So where better place to start than the untranslatable words of the Greek language? I found a lot a beautiful words but my favourite was Meraki meaning '(n.) the soul, creativity, or love put into something; the essence of yourself that is put into your work.'

After researching a tonne of interesting greek inspired artists, graphic designers and typographers I looked into different ways of writing the word in different Greek fonts. 

Experimenting with Greek Fonts and the word Meraki

I also looked into different Greek patterns and various greek colour pallettes.

In an attempt to mix the imagery of the greek sculptures I collected with the greek language I had researched I decided to combine all these elements together using the words, patterns, colours, sayings and the outlines of the sculptures to create some interesting imagery. Since the start of the year I had also amassed a large amount of photography from various galleries I had visited including the Louvre, Paris, the Walker Gallery, Liverpool and Chatsworth House. I used these images to find interesting outlines to use in my images. 

After feeling that I had thoroughly looked into the greek language I decided I really liked the concept that I had created but needed to go back and incorporate other languages using the same technique of exploring their untranslatable words, looking at patterns relating to that culture and combining these elements within relevant silhouettes for that word. 

The next language I looked at was Arabic, I explored information about their language, artists and designers and patterns found within their culture. 

I then used the same format but going back to the Chinese language using this same formula instead. 

I decided to develop this concept further and use it as the basis for my final piece incorporating an untranslatable word from each of the three languages I explored, a pattern and the definition.

FINAL PIECE 

GREEK // Meraki // Greek Key // Meraki Definition: The essence of yourself that you put into your work, 

Silhouette: Dancing, Singing, Drawing, Cooking.

CHINESE// Aoye // Floral Chinese Pattern // Aoye Definition: To burn the midnight oil or to pull an all nighter. 

Silhouette: Singing, Pillow Fights, Dancing.

ARABIC // Kef // Moroccan Tile Pattern // Kef Definition: Anything that produces a state of tranquil pleasure. 

Silhouette: Drawing, Reading, Drinking Tea.

All Presented as a group of overlapping silhouettes.

ALSO: Jet Bergman Style mixed media drawing focussing on the Greek Word Meraki. 

Jet Bergman colour palette of 1 outline representing each word with matching pattern from that language. 

Declare a National Holiday

Stamps and Leaflet Design - Vis. Com.

In this project our task was to create a set of postage stamps and a leaflet to promote a National Holiday of our choice. I chose the theme of herbivore day after reading an eye opening article in the Guardian about how by 2050 everyone will have to have a mainly vegetarian diet. On this day everyone would be encouraged to go meat free for the day, raising awareness of the benefits a vegetarian diet can have on your body, health and also the environment. 
First I started off by brainstorming some ideas for my stamps and then went around the markets in Chesterfield and to Pets at Home to do observational drawings. 
I decided to focus on the idea of using 4 popular pets as characters on my stamps to make the campaign more relatable. However in a bid to try something different and more experimental I turned my observational drawing more 2 dimensional and angular using more geometirc lines and shapes, a risk that I believed paid off because it gave a potentially kitsch subject area a bit of edge and originality. 
As well as experimenting with character design I also explored hand rendered type using ink and developed a range of different catch phrases for the characters to say. 
I chose an orange and green colour palette because it was vibrant and eyecatching yet drew parallels with the fruit and vegetables theme, giving the campaign a more organic appearance. 
I also explored a range of media including making my own rubber stamps to create the pattern in the speech bubble and the bunting behind the animal's heads. I really enjoyed this activity because it was a quick, cheap and effective technique which added a more homemade feel and the stamps could be kept and used again for future projects or for my own personal use. 
Another craft I explored was origami which arose from the idea of the geometic animals. 
I decided to incorporate it into the project by using it as a feature of my leaflet, which could be folded to make a guineapig (one of the animals on the stamps). This I beleive made the campaign more exciting and interesting to children encouraging them to get involved and read the information inside. 
Overall I think the project outcomes were succesful and looked effective at a stamp sized scale. However I couldn't quite figure out how to succesfully incorporate the queen's head onto the stamp which is something I would need to work on and explore in more depth if I was to return to the project. I really enjoyed the processes involved in this project and it taught me to trust my gut insticnt and just run with any ideas I think have the potential to be good. 

Stamps for the 'National Holiday' project. Collge paper, Rubber Stamps, Pen and Ink. 

1 2 3

Visual Communications

In this 1 day project we were set to create a series of images around the theme of numbers.
We looked at typography and enhanced our observational drawing skills by exploring the different numbers on credit cards, bar codes and product packaging etc. 
I found it really interesting to discover all the different ways you can write/draw/read one number and it still be recognisable as that number. 
We also experimented with a lot of different media and grounds and scales.

This was my favourite double spread in my sketchbook from the day. I think the colour palette, mix of different scale numbers and the composition as a whole is effective and work really well together. 

COLLECT & CREATE

Visual Communication

For this one day project we were set the task to go around the college collecting inspiration from anything we could find including over heard conversations, the architecture, interiors and people watching. We had to explore our environment through quick observational drawings then develop these sketches into a series of images. 

This was a successful short project as it helped me to loosen up my creative style and to produce quick outcomes from my ideas whereas normally I take a lot of time over 1 idea and find myself being less productive as the process takes longer. 

We explored a variety of different processes including bypass printing, using found images, observational drawings and collage.

COLOUR & SHAPE

Visual Communication 

In this 1 week project we were set a brief to develop a series of different techniques and approaches to presenting an idea, focussing on colour and shape in a chosen theme such as 'snack time'. 

The week started off with a lot of observational drawings, focussing on people and objects related to snack time. I recently got braces and thought it would make a humorous set of images to use them as inspiration for the project. I decided to focus on this idea more and more as the week progressed because there were a lot of interesting shapes and colours I could manipulate into unique outcomes. I also did a lot of drawings while people watching in cafe environments like Costa Coffee and the train station in Chesterfield and Leeds. 
Some of the techniques I focussed on this week were cut paper drawings, bi-pass printing and collage and we also experimented with making colour swatches.   
I always find projects like this challenging at the start because I like having a definite idea I can work with. I also find it hard not to scrap pieces of work I'm not 100% happy with but I've stuck with it and I think the end products were effective. 

3 Drawings A Day

For the last 3 months I have been completing an ongoing project brief of doing at least 3 observational drawings a day. 

This exercise has greatly improved my observational drawing skills, making me more accurate and confident with the marks I make on the paper. 

We have been encouraged to explore a range of drawing techniques including blind drawing, continuous line drawings and overlapping multiple drawings on one page as well as experimenting with different scales, compositions, media and grounds.

One thing I learnt from this exercise was that doing little and often everyday can gradually but surely produce a mass of potential inspiration and ideas for future projects but the key is to keep on top of the simple task and not get lazy. 

I will definitely keep it up in the future!