looking at project resolutions in relations to printed pictures proposal

assuming i would use brusho on my prints - after testing this out more times and discovering other more effectual ways to add colour i realised this was not the best technique.

forming the shape of a question mark with the composition of my prints - after talking with fred, i realised i was overwhelming myself with ideas and concepts so i decided to reel my ideas back in making them more simple, creating nonsense scenes out of 2 or 3 motifs as this is all that was needed to communication my nonsense concept, i feel by keeping them simple also doesn't overwhelm the viewer in trying to figure them out, though they are nonsense puzzling scenes, i like how they can be just enjoyed as a image rather than a question that needs working out, which is what the question mark was insinuating.

using darker colours to connote the darker feelings- because i have only used 2 motifs per print, i have only used 2 colours to colour the prints, and therefore i did not want to use one of the colours up on a dark colour when the majority of my print will be black anyway, and therefore any other dark colour will not give me the vivid print i want.

compostiton and designs of prints.

though i like the placement of the boat in combination with the peanuts to give the impression of a river of peanuts, looking at this design after printing and from feedback i have received i think i should of experimented with composition or added another object to fill some of the negative space at the top of the print, which in some ways makes the etching seem quite lost on the page. above (right) i have experimented with added another object (a ruler to represent Carroll maths career) to see if this would make the plate more effective. i do like how this design sets more of a frame around the etching but does not take up too much negative space and therefore does not over complicate and
overcrowd the etch.

experimenting with added more things to other plates to see if it would of improved my print. 

i have added keys to look like rain - though this adds to the nonsense aspect of the print, i think my original print composition is better as it fills the page up and the etchings themselves hold enough etching detail and therefore i feel more would over complicate/ distract from the detail in the existing design. 

once i had printed this print i was not happy with the results. i think because the girl is a silhouette and because the hat is obviously a block colour with not much detail to add, the print lacked precise, specific etched lines to hold a focus. so to the right i have experimented with adding rugby balls (symbolise lewis Carroll's time at rugby school) which would of made the print more busy, and fill some of the space. however, i dont think this composition is the best, i feel i would need to find objects to add that have more intricate details. 

choosing music

Beethoven - though Beethoven music was slightly before the time of lewis carol, i think this piece of music suits the rythme of my animation well and is in keeping with the theme and time period. 

i chose a short section of the 14 minute long piece which i felt best fit into my animation. i like the way the music takes you on a journal which gets faster which creates excitement, i like the way it makes the animation have a difined beginning, middle and end with the changes in the rhythm.  i also feel this piece of music is more light-hearted then the other pieces of music i have experimented with as it is played with higher keys/octaves.  

problems with after effect/ adding audio

because my animation has a number of image sequences and layers, i felt it was already running quite slow and had crashed a far few times, so when i added the audio to the composition this slowed after effects down even more, making it very difficult for me to see if the audio i had chosen was right. after playing it a few times, annoyingly my composition kept disappearing, meaning i could not edit any of the images sequences anymore, therefore i had to render the animation each time (30 mins each time) to see if it was working and the animation and audio worked together. 

because of the crash, it meant i had to redo, several times the minor changes i had made tertian image sequences such as adding the book sequence in again after correcting the text, and making sure it was positions correctly. 

i had also spent time adding all the image sewuwnces in again at the end of the animation at certain times to make sure the animation ended as one big collage of images to communicate all the imaginative thoughts that go through lewis carrolls head. 

H.M.S. Pinafore: When I Was a Lad

i think this sound track would have been perfect for my documentary as the beat it very quick and jumpy. however i am really annoyed it has lyrics to the piece! as i think the lyrics with take a focus in the animation and may narrate it with a wrong concept.

Underworld - Caliban's Dream (London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony)

i asked my friend who studied music at alevel is she knew of any music that was dreamy/magical and uplifting, she suggested the 2012 olympic opening music, she said that is was a piece writing to go through history and that it builds up a excitement.
though i think this piece of music is a really nice and uplifting, i think it lacks the magical, questioning element i want it to have to emphasise the idea that lewis carrolls life was still a mystery.

comp with sound from rebecca williamson on Vimeo.

i have edited the last 20 pages of the book sequence to correct the spelling mistake of 'february' though this was very time consuming and meant i had alter the rotation, scale and positioning of the new book sequence to match up the last one, i did not want to leave the mistake in as this would not suffice for a professional documentary advert.

music choice: i like this piece of music because of the powerful use of crescendo, making the viewer feel excited as to whats about to come. i also like the fact the tempo changes making parts of the animation more important than others. i like how it also is quite a mysterious piece of music, which is what i wanted to describe lewis carrolls 'questionable' life.

however, i feel the octave is slightly to low, which gives more of a scary dark atmposhere when i really want a light, bouncy sound track to describe he's colourful imagination.

looking at music choices.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-MLXSJ4Hu0

music to build tension/climax

Anna Karenina Soundtrack - 01 - Overture - Dario Marianelli

victorian piece - like the jumpiness of the music, however i won't a piece that will exaggerate the main bits in my animation intend of one that keeps the same mood throughout.

Alice in Wonderland Soundtrack-Alice's Theme

i think this track really suit my animation as it gives a sense of wonder and mystery, however i feel this may be to obvious of a sound track as it was designated for the film alice and wonderland and therefore might the story of my animation be read to narrate lewis carroll and he's links to alice in wonderland rather than he's general life and career.

assesment briefing

all sumbissions typed- not hand written.
print off module submission label sheet.

review aims

name
level:5
module code:OUIL504
module title: illustration:process and production.

LAST POSould be how it was, because everything would be how it wasn't

LAST POST ON BLOG(and on pop blog), AND A PRINTED VERSION
then project proposals
then final print responces
then animation
then selected pieces of visual journal on a issue page
need to embed animation as a vimeo

added drawings from my print pictures prints to make a stronger connection to both briefs.

duplicating image sequences are bringing them all together at the end, a conclusion of the animation. 

this also concentrates on the idea of collaging up images to create a nonsense scene.
now i have added the splashes of colour, i think the problem of seeing the each image sequence as a slightly lighter colour against the plan background has become less obvious.  

need to edit :-

ending frame needs to end with no image sequences on apart from book. OR all the image sequences on, rather than just a few random ones.

26 seconds in- need to move the pocket watch image sequence back a bit so it doesn't overlap the biscuit image sequence. 

creating background colour for animation

ideally, i would of loved to of shown the motion of the splashes of colour being added to parts of the animation, as i think this would emphasise the burst of imagination that lewis carroll had, however i could not think of a way i could capture this motion,  mike suggested creating the splashes manually  before hand, scanning them into the computer and try to use after effects manipulate them to give the impression the colour is bursting out/ appearing. 

take to mike

taking about adding colour -
mike suggested scanning textures/colours in and having them apear in areas just to add to the animation. thinks i should keep it hand rendered as this is in keeping with the rest of my animation, to do it digitally would look out of place and would not suit the era of 'lewis carroll' either.

ways to increase attention span of animation-
creating more stop motion sequences using dragon frame, but if not enough time, duplicate existing image sequences and adding them in in other parts of animation- could play around with making the time scale of them different by using time stretch tool.

too dull?

to make my animation less boring i duplicated animation sequences, though i think this has improved it, i feel it still lacks the 'fun' factor i feel it needs to describe imagination, like my prints i thought adding colour would represent the 'explosion' and magical ways of his imagination, maybe this is something i could add to my animations to hopefully do the same.

i really like the idea of colour being splashed onto the composition but I'm stuggleing to think of a way i could do this.

i plan to speak to mike about this idea and see if he thinks there is a way i could do something along these lines. 

printing with chosen printing technique to add colour.

ending with a nonsense collage.

going back to my initial idea of creating a animation that starts off with visually showing one imaginative thought and gradually building up several to end with a scene of many imaginations happening at the same time, i thought i could maybe play around with doing this at the end of my animation, taking all the stop motion image sequences and images i have added throughout my animation and bringing them all back in one by one at the end to end with one big collage of imaginative thoughts representing lewis Carroll's non stop, vivid imagination and creating a stronger link to my print ideas of building up a nonsense collage/scene.
i think this will also be a visual way to conclude the animation.

full animation

ani ful from rebecca williamson on Vimeo.

this is my least favourite print. originally i had 5 prints but felt 6 would give me a even number of prints and therefore look better as a set. i also wanted to create a design where i could include the pocket watch as i thought this would be a effective etch as i would be able to use more detail with my design there creating a more interesting intricate etch, showing more skill, taking advantage of the techniques possibilities. however i feel i have let this print down with the second object, because it is a simpler shape and does not hold detail in its design, the 2 images clash rather than flow. also i used cross hatch to fill in the block colour on the toy, i think this looks very messy/grainy and also the colours i have used on these parts (purple and turquoise) are too dark to make start out against the black. 

asking about the mark scheme
tip: to create a post titled with each criteria so i know myself what i have coverered and i can describe that in the post.


collage image together , taken them into line drawings , etching them, adding colour. -

ink plate with different coloured inks instead of adding colour brusho after.

limitation of print process

thought there was a number of reasons why i wanted to do dry point other than copper plate etching, there is a huge benefit to copper etching in that you can reuse and print the plate as many times as you want after the long process of making the plate. this is something i wish i had considered more when choosing what print process to use, as i have found my at a loss end as i have printed my plates too many times trying to develop a style/technique i want my finals to print like and the etched lines on the plate have been clogged up with ink, this is something that would not happen with copper plate etching as the acid eats away at the wax.

because i now have to pick from my experiment prints for my final resolutions, i am glad that i used high quality stock for all of the prints.

ways of adding colour

because i found using watercolours/brusho quite risky when adding colour to my prints (as i could easily ruin them after i have spend time taken them through the printing process.)i found watercolour pens which would allow me to create the same/a simular effect as water colours themselves, but would also allow me to have more control over adding the medium- much like the control i get with a pencil.

asking print technician (lyndon) about ways to add colour 
adding the initial black ink removing the excess ink, then adding blocks of coloured ink with a roller or just a cardboard square into random areas so when i take it through the press the etch will show through the blocks of colour.

i did a quick experiment of this, unfortunately it did not come out as well as i had hoped, however i feel if i spend more time in decided where to apply the block of colours and how i apply it (with rollers or cardboard square) it may have come out better. as i applied little ink quickly with a cardboard square, the ink was heavy in some places and light in others, there was also gaps with no paint which looked random and not thoughtout. i think the colours are too bold on the print aswell.

using textures - could potentially addpaint to something textured such as think pieces of wood, printing these first on the paper then printing my etch onto the same paper. 

when i took the textured material with paint on through the press, i was suprsed to see that them textured engaved themselves into the paper swell as the ink, this made me think that i could perhaps with textures related to lewis carroll on my paper to create a stronger concept. - i.e victorian wallpaper, bark textures(to represent nature/ alice in wonderland) etc.

first print printing straight onto the paper with the textured paint on- i feel the paint is too overpowering on this print, and just looks like its not meant to be there, like i have accidentally smudged paint over my print. however i like (When you look close to the print) the textures have engraved into the paper adding a extra dimension and depth to the print. 

printing the plate again when the paint has transfered onto the plate from the paper-i prefer the subtleness of the colour on this print, though it still looks a bit random, the only problem with this print it that you loose the texture that was on the initial print. 

engraving textured wall paper into paper. 

this is what my paper looked like after taking it through the press with the wallpaper. 

lyndon suggested, because i only won't to apply a small amount of colour, i could apply it using cotton buds in chosen areas.

like the prints that i added the paint (brusho) to by hand after printing them, i think process leaves a simular result- think it looks messy and to bold next to the etched print. 

the subtler the colour i think the better, however i think the application of the colour could be better- maybe less  colour in more of a thin line effect rather than blocks. 

looking at background music to fit with my animation

victorian music
to keep in tone with the era of lewis carol and the rest of my animation, i thought a victorian sound track would work well in the background. however these i have found dont seem to have a varied tempo so therefore does not build up a lot of excitement.

found a peanut
- nursery rhyme by lewis carroll 
however i dont want there to be words in the music as i want it to be a background sound which will not distract from the animation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYrxwoGVjiw&list=PLp2WAqt5m6Pzf0n6ht3RbEPyMOe59yUkD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbX0fJW-k6c&list=PL003D06321D4B04E3&index=2

one thing i do like about this technique of adding colour through print is that the effect it gives is one that would be difficult to achieve by hand. 

Kavo

Hanoch piven

creating recognisable portraits with nonsense,yet relatable to the person objects. e.g steven hawkins- brains and lightbulb to describe he's cleverness. 

i will use a simular method when creating m print collages, using objects that are related to lewis carroll but in a nonsense way. 

Raphael Vicenza

looking at artist who collage/combine drawing together.
here raphael vicenza has combined text and small illustrations with a figure to create a narrative/concept. though my ideas for my prints dont necessarily show a concept (other than non scene) its interesting to see how combining different images/illustrations effect how a illustration comes across i.e without the smaller illustrations and the writing the concept would not be clear. it also makes it more visually interesting to look at as there is more going on - something i want to achieve in my own prints. 

first prints from opaque plate and playing around with ways to add colour

limitations and frustrations i have had so far with the dry point process

because i was limited to just using lines, it was hard to try and make my drawings in a tone of voice as there was limited ways i could make them different to any other etch.
that is one of there reason i wanted to experiment with adding colour to them to make them a bit different.
i have used the technique of using multiply lines with different width to create depth instead of cross hatching, much like the drawing technique i have started to use :-

however i struggled to do this when it came to large areas i needed to fill in, i felt it looked a but bare and it was did not communicate the idea of a block colour shadow area very well e.g- the umbrella on this print is meant to be solid black, which i tried to communicate using multiple lines, however it just looks like a pattern instead of a block colour. 

though i wasn't pleased with the etching technique on the umbrella i tried the technique of cross hatching to fill in a block space on this print below (girl on swing), and i think my multiple line technique works better. :-

general frustration of the etching process: beucase i prefer to work with detail and like having the control of a pencil or a pen, it took some getting used to to work with a different tool where i lost some of this control. it was frustrating how the tool could easily go off track causes unwanted lines which obviously can't be erased like a pencil mark.

the limitations of just using traditional printing methods and not being able to improve the prints does add pressure in creating a effective professional print. 

plates: 

another reason i chose drypoint etching was because i was intrigued/interesting in being able to etch into anything that is thiner than a 2p piece, i therefore thought this would be ideal to find a transparent plate where i could see the image through the plate, allowing me to trace and follow are more direct path, instead of making it up as i go along, something i have never liked to do as i find mistakes easily happen. 

however it was harder than i though to find a plate suitable enough for the drypoint process. 

problems with the transparent plates i experimented with: - 

• too thick which meant the late buckled under the pressure of the plate coursing lines thought the paper i was printing onto and damaging the plate to use again. 
• the suface was not smooth enough which made it difficult to wipe off the excess ink, resorting to having to use oil to loosen it up which also got rid of the ink that i wanted to remain on the plait. 

i then found another type of plastic which you could see though but was not 100% transparent. however this plate had a grain on the surface which the ink stuck to making it even more difficult to remove the excess ink 

assertate plate: i then went to another extreme and used assertate as a transparent plate- however beucase of the thiness of the plate i had to be very carefull when etching into it as i could easily etch though it, therefore some lines i created where not deep enough and did not show up when i printed from it. also because assotate is a softish material it was very hard to etch into.

SO i have ended up using the standard drypoint plates to ensure that each stage of the print process will work properly and therefore the prints will be to the best quality they can be. however this is slightly frustrating as i feel i have wasted alot of time trying out different plates when i could have stuck with the original plates and had that time to improve the quality of my actual etchings. 

experimenting changing illustrative technique completely.

with this idea, i have concentrated more on technique than concept/scenario with a detailed pencil drawing - perhaps more in my comfort zone. i have added subtle pastel watercolours to link with propercorns colour schemes and to connote a uplifting light mood. 

focusing on the word 'proper' from propercorns slogan, 'popcorn done properly' i have used the hand gesture which is commonly known to communicate something being perfect. 

playing around with hues on photoshop. 

below i have Added the design to poster layout with logos. i have also added the product so the customer knows what product i am advertising!

incorporating continuous line to show surface level.

i have stuck with the same drawing technique as my previous idea which i think has worked better due to the simpler design. 

adding bursts of colour by hand instead of digitally. i have chosen the colours blue and orange as they are complimentary colour and will hopefully therefore make the design more atheistically pleasing, drawing customers in. 

using surface line to spell out my additional tag line to emphasis my concept of everyday scenarios propercorn demographic find themselves in done properly with the propercorn snack. tying the design and the infomation together. 

after adding the illustration to the poster format, i don't think the burst of colours are bold enough which doesn't make the design eye catching which is a must when advertising. 

using collage instead. 

using collage i feel creates a stronger contrast between the line drawing and the collage therefore making it a bolder illustration. to make it stand out further from the background colour i have also make the line drawing background white. 

using a richer colour again to make it bolder. this is also the same colour as one of the propercorn packets - a colour which will already be recognised with the brand, adding to their current brand identity. 

adding more image sequences - to fill in the parts of the animation which i felt were a bit long winded  (girl growing rabbit ears) i created another image sequence using dragon frame. for inspiration of what i could include to link to lewis carroll, i went back to my visual journal and reminded myself of the work i did on the biscuits, i thought this concept would be good to show in my animation documenting lewis carroll as i will use it to represent he's apparent negative association with food, and how it also links with he's literature work (alice in wonderland) where food alters the appearance of characters.  to make sure the biscuit illustrations are understood properly, i have incorporated text next to them 'eat me' as this is a common theme in alice and wonderland, one which fans of his work will be familiar with. 

da da collages

simplicity and composition

Jenifer madden 

i really how this illustrators work is simple, i also like the idea of including a line across the composition to reduce the vast negative space but is also used as part of the illustration, such as to show a surface level.