Though It feels like we have been doing this project for a long time, looking back it is surprising to see how much I have learnt in this time, especially on the animation front. Before this project I had never used any of the programs or thought in terms of moving image, though I still have a lot to learn I have grasped the basics of after effects, learning how to insert image sequences, changing their scale, rotation and creating key frames. One problem that I faced with my animation was the layering of image sequences to blend in with the background, so I have spent a lot of time experimenting with how to overlay these layers using masks and filters to make it flow as smoothly as possible. At times I have found these processes very frustrating due to my lack of knowledge, which meant simple procedures would take me a lot longer to do and understand.
I have also learnt how to use dragon frame to capture a stop motion sequence. This has made me think about my work in a completely different way, the process made me focus on each stage in creating an image and capturing these stages to tell the story.
Though I have done dry point in the past, I was not aware of the many ways I could stylize the process, ie adding coloured inks, printing onto textured paper, using different etching tools to achieve different widths and textures of lines. by using different tools I have managed to create thicker lines, allowing me to develop on the drawing style I have previously been working on but through etching.
line technique i have recently been experimenting with.
From researching into the theme of nonsense, and being inspired by objects, which transform into other objects through imagination, the process of stop motion has allowed me to develop this concept by visually showing the transformation.
As well as using physical objects, I have also used collage to layer up 2d objects to help create these nonsense scenes.
To achieve the un-tangible I wanted to use colour to symbolize imagination, fun, and a wondrous feeling to my prints and animation. I experimented with way of applying this colour to my prints with splashing vivid brusho onto the prints in the hope this would represent bursts of imagination.
Though I didn’t use this technique in my final prints, I took this technique into my animation by scanning in paint splashes and adding them to parts of my animation with the imaginative transition and also to parts that lacked attention.
I think my project has benefited from the research I carried out at the start of the module, I aimed to subtly communicate this research in my print and animation through the theme of nonsense, using a number of aspects in Carroll’s life which people perhaps would not have known about him to make my work more interesting and controversial. I wanted my work to differ from other bodies of work, which are often about his literature work/alice In wonderland.
Though I ended up using the regular dry point printing plate, I’m glad I experimented with a number of different transparent plates, as it allowed me to see how much more effective my prints were when I printed from the opaque plates. I think one of my strengths was learning where I was wasting my time and where I should persevere, e.g.- printing onto the partially transparent green plate, I did a test etch instead of spending time on a detailed final etch to see if the plate would print, I learnt from my mistake at the beginning of the my printing process where I etched each design onto the transparent thick plate to later realize the prints from these where not successful. Even though this procedure took up a lot of development time, In the future, if I were to come back to dry point etching, I will know what type of properties to look for in a printing plate.
green plate and print from it.
One of my main weaknesses during this project was not thinking realistically in what I planned to achieve in both my animation and prints, this inevitably made me very critical of what I had produced in the time given verses my expectations. However it is good to know that I can revisit ideas in the future.
Also, because I have never done animation before, or a great deal of etching, I compare my work to a professional standard/ peers, instead of remembering that I am a beginner and these processes can take years to grasp.
If I were to do this project again I would spend more time developing my design ideas for my prints, considering composition and detail. I found when printing my prints, because of the objects I had collaged, some prints lacked objects with detail.
detailed print less detailed print as objects used didn't require detail
This then made the quality of my work look inconsistent.
