10.04.2010

O

Oil in Water from Shawn Knol on Vimeo.

I have pinched this but its lovely, It was mentioned that Knol wished he had had a video camera instead of using a camera with a time laps, as the oil moves around the water in beautiful and unusual ways. This also applies to inks as I have learnt from my own previous experiments.

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10.03.2010

Some Illustrators + Artists

Gordon Wiebe
gordonwiebe.com

He uses mixed media and texture to create depth in his imagery. Most importantly he has created this recurring 'character' which the rest of the image then leans on and bounces off,(this is a good starting pint for a style). The colours and textures are reflected in the focal imagery, his work is very imaginative and conceptual but still keeping it familiarity with its audience by over embellishing and distorting recognisable objects, features, body parts, surroundings, and other every day things, as well as the backgrounds, weather it is from bits of collage or flat/textured colour. Paint and washes seem to make up the majority of his background work, keeping your eye on the parts of the image he wants.
I have chosen this artist because his mixed media approach caught my eye, coupled with his imaginative forms this artist uses, this is a technique that could be useful to me, to make my images more dynamic, and helping me finally find a 'style'.




Sander Sarioglu

Loving his black and white work from his sketch books, he sketches allot always having images on the go. Take note of how he uses line in this image to create texture along with different shades and tones, I'm assuming also sometimes with different media.



I love the juxtaposition of the texture and the detail in this image, allot of his more figurative imagery is sometimes out of proportion with the rest of the body but this seems to add a dynamism to the images and creating more excitement throughout the and keeping the main subject the object of you attention.
Through his portfolio a great skill can be found and intertwined with the experimental use of line, soft use of colour and examined use of texture the body of work is very accomplished. This mix of precision and 'mess' (how ever considered it may be) is what I would like to achieve with my style.
Points to consider:
- Drawing ALLOT more
- Experiment more
- Be more considerate of the colours/techniques I like

Kristina Collantes
kristinacollantes.com
This is something I should defiantly do everyday! Kristina Collantes is doing this as a small project for herself.


Kristina uses her drawing skills alone to create imagery but also uses more technical and bold techniques when it is called for. I think her style lends its self well to each way and her use of colour and form within the digital imagery is very sharp and considered.




I like it. And there is some crazy and highly detailed pieces of her work which are amazingly interesting.


Redsilas


I like the way he uses black forms and adds in the detail, and uses very organic forms, sometimes coupling this with very straight lines and edges, his 'Handwriting' and typography is very organic, natural and flowing and this compliments the organic forms as well as the more ridged images.
He also uses and researches new techniques he has never tried and works them into his style rather than straying away from it, this adds to his imagery in different ways depending on the use, for example using
ACSII Art to create a gun shape for a review of Jane O'Connor's "Dangerous Admissions, Secrets of a Closet Sleuth" about a copy editor caught up in a murder. He began simply with his desired shape and question marks this soon evolved and gained letter and accompanying imagery, drafts were drawn and the final image completed.




I love all that's going on in this image and the different marks and yet it does not look to cluttered of confused.


.SIMPLE and WELL THOUGHT THROUGH COMPOSITION.


Using the space and creating a map for the eye.

Geninne D Zlatkis
geninne.com
This is her inspiration Board I need to do this also, i think it will be a really good way of seeing all the things i like and seeing seeing how they gel together.
The cloth calender is a great idea and id love to make one!

Inspiration Wall

She is also very artsy and seems to be interested in the crafts that I like too.
'Inspiration comes of working every day' -Charles Baudelaire
You can get a free embroidery pattern on her site too! I'm jealous of everything this woman has and does a little bit too animally but the range of things she produces and the way and where she works seems ubber perfect - something to aim for I think, not the style but the life style and the happiness.
Some time should be spent drooling over this woman's blog and also contact her if you think you have the balls!

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- ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY -



I have recently subscribed to Illustration Friday on the recommendation of my lovely friend Sarah Hilton (sarahhiltonillustration.blogspot.com).
Illustration Friday is my new tool to help me create this illusive style and have fun again! Its a weekly illustration challenge, where the topic is set by the subscribers, you can link your image to your blog one posted on the site. I have chosen not to participate in the full on posting onto the website straight away. I'm going to use the topics to do mini projects to home skills and techniques I like rather than concentrating on a final image, if one appears at the end of it then its just a BLOGGY-BONUS!
The site is also great for looking at other artists, with its range of categories there's something for everyone.

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BACK



After finishing my degree a long while ago, Iv decided to pick up my blog again! To track my own progress and get back into my creative process fully! Wish me luck....



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5.08.2009

Practitioners

Damien Gascoigne & Otto Dettmer



Otto Dettmer





Damian Gascoigne


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In this report I will be comparing and contrasting the practices, issues, markets and process of Damian Gascoigne and Otto Dettmer using information from lectures I have attended at Stockport college in 2009 by both practitioners. I aim to find out if any of these points relate to me and (if yes) how could I apply them to my own practices.
Otto Dettmer and Damian Gascoigne don’t really swim in the same circles, although Damien started out as an illustrator after studying a fine art degree he slowly gravitated towards animation. Damien’s fine art training is apparent in his drawings and composition.
After studying an MA at Kingston University, in 1996 Otto found screen-printing and began to experiment with this process, due to the time restraints on commissions (i.e. The Guardian, weekly commission) he sometimes has to sacrifice the screen printed process and create the same look on Photoshop.


Example of Otto's Photoshop instead of Screen Print imagery

Damien’s sense of humour and his work are usually quite personal; I had had the pleasure of meeting Damien after the lecture in studio. He’s a really nice guy, I was a little bit scared of speaking to him at first but I was at ease straight away because of his friendly, honest and humorous demeanour.

In contrast Otto Dettmer seems to encompass and orah of a ‘lateral thinking’ German illustrator, his determined, professional and efficient nature is coupled well with his artistic approach to promotion and personal projects. Creating narratives and experimenting with his process and style are the beginning of what can become his mail outs to art directors to promote himself. On the other hand Damien Gascoigne relies on ‘free pitching’ for allot of his commissions, He explained in his lecture (‘Stockporticus Talk 2009, 110 years in animation’), that he had pitched for 8 jobs the year before and only got one commission from them. It was the quality of his work, I think his work is produced very well and shows strong concept, he went on to say that it wasn’t what ‘they’ were looking for at the time. The big problem with this method of commissioning is the time and effort that can be wasted on a ‘free pitch’ with no commission at the end. In some cases individuals/studio’s will not even be considered for the job if they don’t agree to do a ‘free pitch’. The issue of free pitching has been discussed many times, with the majority arguing against ‘free pitching’. Damien’s free pitching experiences nearly made him give up, but around Christmas time he landed a commission and this spurred him on.




Damian Gascoigne pitching




Otto Dettmer's sheet mail outs, consisting of his work for The Guardian, Screen printed

Otto and Damien’s market is quite different, with Damien pitching for moving image firstly; secondly he pitches mainly to advertising companies. Otto on the other hand is quite an established illustrator and work now, usually comes to him, but when he started out he travelled to London around 3 – 4 times a week for interviews with art directors. In a similar way to the free pitching, no jobs were guaranteed but this set him well on his way to getting his first printed job. Getting his work out there and getting attention, this would ultimately lead to some regular weekly/monthly commissions, this could help cover some studio/living costs. Where as the amount of work put into a portfolio is alloy it is over a period of time usually with no time restraint or financial commitment, but a specified brief with a target audience/market can be very consuming and must be very disheartening.

The way Otto promotes himself and more to the point the way he promoted himself in the beginning really interests me. Travelling to London and being in the place where the art directors are and interacting with it and them would give me a much better understanding of the market place/ people / design trends/ technology than id I promoted my self in a less physical way only, like only using websites and emails and not combining the two.

Otto generated cash by illustrating for European financial magazines; this gave him a steady source of income and has now built up a mass of stock illustration. Business smarts!

AOI INFORMATION.

COPYRIGHT

Copyright is an area, which is governed by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988. When you create a collage, painting, drawing, diagram, map, chart, plan, engraving, etching, lithograph, woodcut or similar work, you have created an artistic work and that is protected by copyright, provided that your illustrations fall into any one of these categories. You, as creator of that illustration, own the copyright, which subsists in it. There is one exception to this general rule. If you are an employee and your job requires you to create illustrations, then usually your employer will own the copyright in these works. There are no registration requirements. There is no requirement to use the sign © but it will help the public to realise that your illustration is protected by copyright.

If you own copyright, you are the only person who has the right to make copies of your illustrations. If someone else makes a copy without your permission, they are infringing your copyright.

You can give permission to individuals or companies to reproduce your illustration, which is known commonly in the illustration trade as granting a licence. Your license should be in writing and should set out the use that can be made of your illustration and any restriction you wish to place on the use. You can grant licences for different uses.

You can effectively sell your copyright, which means that you have no further right of reproduction in your work. This is known as an assignment but will only be effective if you put it in writing.

If your illustration is reproduced without your permission, you are entitled to damages; perhaps an injunction to stop the infringement and on occasion the infringing copies delivered to you.

Your copyright in your illustration is an economic right. It is different from ownership of the illustration itself. You may still grant a licence or give an assignment of copyright in your illustration whilst owning the original piece. Likewise, you may sell the original illustration without giving permission for it to be reproduced.
(http://www.theaoi.com/Mambo/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=18&Itemid=33)

In comparison Damien Gascoigne uses teaching as his regular income and from what I could gather his own entertainment. He has a close working relation ship with his students, this is one of the things that most stood out to me about Damien, he interacts with his surroundings, watches and learns, steering you in the right direction. Helping you uses your strengths and in some cases this works in his favour as he is currently collaborating with an X-student (for his 3D skills) on an animation called ‘Muzo Soup’. Coming from an illustration background he was like Otto, a freelance illustrator for a while but now prefers to work with a group/ ‘team’ of people with different skills and ideas. Damien’s love for hand draw animation has unfortunately clouded his mind to 3D animation and its potential, I think this may have inhibited him a little, but realising the he utilises the skills of his colleges as they do his…like a big moving image making machine working in correlation with each other to produce the best possible out come… This idea of working in a studio or in a ‘team’ interests me a lot and is defiantly something I would like and will have to do to further myself as a practitioner. Waaaaaaay at the other end of ‘The Spectrum of Collaborations’ Otto prefers to work alone as he finds that sometimes “jealousy” can be an issue when working with other people.

Damien Gascoigne is influenced mostly by his surroundings and day to day life, always taking photographs, doodling, sketching, finding faces and shapes in objects, spill and hills ;) Using this research as a starting point for funny and interesting work, weather it’s an exhibition or a commission. In one way these practitioners are similar in that they both create narratives for their work personal, promotional and commissions. I think working from a strong concept and expanding and experimenting on it is the best way to keep interested and motivated with a personal project. But obviously what they produce is very different.
Damien now mainly concentrating on animation creates moving image from his drawings/photographs of characters and places, these things together suck you into their world, weather it is the way he projects it, edits it or designs it, he has a unique way of setting a scene and creating a feeling and flow throughout an animation. Where as Otto creates, prints and collects images and then he will juxtapose them to create strange creatures, people, landscapes and then simply
Pin them up next to each other and let the images create the story.


Damian Gascoigne - How to get rid of information - Animation

"A tired man is drawn into an escalating battle with hypnotic projections, intent on depriving him of sleep. As he struggles to turn them off, they multiply, carving up his bedroom and pushing him towards despair. In moments of sleep, relief is found as he dreams about the forgotten ice trade."


Both practitioners approach their concept in different way too, Otto finds it easier to screen print his work, his method of using block colours and strong bold shapes work well with the printing process. The shape flat colour combined with photography to create diverse, strong images. His promotional and personal work goes in a very futuristic, sycodelic pink, blue, yellow and more conceptual direction; where as his more commercial work is straight to the point and communicates quickly. It is clear that his personal work allows him to expand on his ideas and build on his style and process. Otto’s personal work sometimes comes into play within his commercial work.






Otto Dettmer - The Return of the Cray Fish - Screen Printed Book


A giant crayfish attacks the City of London (created before the financial crisis occurred !)


Then we have Damien creating hand drawn and 3D computer generated moving image. It is clear within Damien’s work that he can change and adapt his style to a certain brief/ project. But unlike Otto this is probably more a spontaneous decision for Damien. This interreges me, I have a changing style but I think it defiantly changes too often. Fighting the urge to change the way I am working is hard? but I think it may be the amount of variety in processes that I ‘allow’ myself to explore at any one time. I should limit myself 2 or 3 processes during a project, thus giving me that chance to change to something else if I feel like it but building my technique and skill as I go along. Like Otto found screen-printing and them adapted the process and used Photoshop to get over the hurdle of time restriction.




Otto Dettmer - MOMBO MOVIES - FIRE
Flick book - Animated



OTTO DETTMER

• Photocopiers
• Old printers
• Two tone printers
• Silk screen
• Photoshop
• Illustrator
• Photography

I have always enjoyed printing processes and I would like to experiment more with print. I some of the processes quite well, but I have not really experimented with a lot of composition, texture or layers (colour).

DAMIEN GASCOIGNE

• Hand drawn animation
• 3D computer generated animation
• Treated live action
• Photoshop
• After Effects

Their techniques are quite different although Otto Dettmer has recently started to play around with some animated images. He is only starting out but he will add them to his website, to show another facet of his capabilities. Its probably not as accomplished as some of Damien’s (but he does have help) I think this is a good idea also carrying on learning how to use programs and keeping up with technology is important and that is another point Otto and Damien share. The reasoning behind Otto created the moving image is that he thinks the future of illustration lies within animated image, with the new technology coming thick and fast these days, this seems the logical step for illustration.



I chose these to practitioners because of their differences, their strength and their relevance to me. There are defiantly some points I will take from both practitioners.

• I think this is a good idea also carrying on learning how to use programs and keeping up with technology is important
• Exploring you process and technique’s, but limiting myself to 2- 3 processes
• This idea of working in a studio or in a ‘team’ interests me a lot and is defiantly something I would like and will have to do to further myself as a practitioner
• Influenced mostly by his surroundings and day to day life, always taking photographs, doodling, sketching, finding faces and shapes in objects, spill and hills
• The way Otto promotes himself and more to the point the way he promoted himself in the beginning really interests me. Travelling to London and being in the place where the art directors are and interacting



Otto Dettmer



Damian Gascoigne


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5.05.2009




With Post - its


Post It Note Sculpture and Strange Art

Never underestimate the power of simple office supplies. Post-It Notes come in many vibrant colors and provide everything from a building block for engaging sculptures to a collection of blank slates for interactive community art projects. Here are 16 projects that involve covering, cladding, sculpting and decorating with simply sticky pieces of paper.

Post It Noted Jaguar Art Prank.

Do you suppose the owner of this vehicle was entertained or furious when he came back to find his car plastered in bright pink, blue, purple and green sticky notes? It might not be high art but it certainly makes a pop impression Warhol may have admired.

Bright Vibrant Wall Post It Noted

It’s almost hard to look at this incredibly vibrant wall of notes without your vision swimming somewhat. The stark contrast between the wall and the rest of the room creates a surreal backdrop an otherwise ordinary space.

Donkey Kong Post It Note Art 2

There’s no reason that this kind of art needs to be limited to non-representational forms. In this case the artists playfully took advantage of multiple stories of glass frontage to create a nifty illusion recalling a classic video game that appears both day and night.

Famous People Post It Mural Art

If Donkey Kong, then why not Ray Charles and Elvis as well? Once you get started with this kind of art there really aren’t many limitations, particularly at a larger scale and from a distance. The outcome is predictable but the effect is nonetheless interesting.

Post It Note To Do List Mural

Post-It projects also don’t have to simply be interesting things to look at. In this case, passers by were encouraged to contribute to the wall by writing their to-do lists and leaving them in place for all to see - a kind of civic group exercise in sharing and organization.

Post It Note Wall Cover Art Tiles

Taking things a step further, each note can become a blank slate, a simple and small canvass that can be individualized at a limited scale and then begins to form accidental visual patterns when viewed from a distance.

Post It Covered Couch and Furniture

But why stop there? Why not just plaster everything in notes like Rebecca Murtaugh has done in the photograph above? She didn’t stop with the living room, either, but also covered her bedroom and various other furniture objects.

Post It Covered Office Prank

It may be a bit too much if your boss catches you, but you don’t necessarily have to stick to posting over your own furniture and spaces. Still, smothering an office with sticky notes is at least a good alternative to staring at the clock waiting for the day to end, right?


Post It Note Weird Window Clowns


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http://weburbanist.com/

Its a good site and worth a look..

"WebUrbanist blog collective writers are interested in all things urban - from urban design to subversive art and strange architecture. We scour the net to find neat new stuff to pack it into an article with relevant images and links, as exhaustive as we can manage within a single subject area. Our team is comprised of web designers, bloggers, architects and other curious urbanists."


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Veronica Ballart





Veronica Ballart I was first attracted to Veronica Ballart for her use of colour and her water line drawings, I could also see a slight comparison with her work and Julie Verhoeven's. Veronica Ballart is inspired by everyday life, music, play, trees, cups, traveling, human emotion, behaviour, etc, because of this she is able to create a rapour with the viewer, tapping into the individuals intimate moments and memories by using universal situations. Ballart's soft, blurred and watery colouring create a feminine and romantic style, Varld, Fashion Tale, Plaza and Demernas are some of the fashion magazines she has worked for. Her images always have a beautiful way of telling stories.


Julie Verhoeven








Veronica Ballart












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