EXPERIMENTATION - TAURUS.

This is a quick digital collage I created for the star sign Taurus. I've always enjoyed working with fashion images/photography and I feel I produce the best work this way. I'd mentioned in my previous reflection that instead of illustrating the text from horoscopes I wanted to do the star signs themselves. To make this more interesting I've been looking into the various descriptions for each star sign in terms of traits a person might have or qualities of their personality. This will act like a 'mini brief' for each sign so that I have something to work from. The reason I didn't want to illustrate the text is because I wanted to try something that hasn't been done before but to also keep the images connected with the 'true' meaning. 

I want each image to reflect the star sign but it's theme will link to a particular aspect of their description. One of the words that had stuck out in regards to Taurus was 'sensuous' so I decided to take this as the theme to base it on. The photographs are a variety of scans from magazines and some that I have in my own collection of images. I wanted this to look romantic and I feel like I managed to achieve this quite well with the particular images that I chose. Pinks and reds are usually connected with love and romance hence the use of the pink flower, I also wanted the women to have red hair too to maintain the colour associations people have with the word 'sensuous' . I felt like the woman should have been coming out of the flower, like an explosion of love and lust. This is furthermore shown with the male hands coming out through the flower, holding onto the woman's breasts. The placement of the bulls horns behind the woman's head show that this is the Taurus star sign but keep it subtle and not as in-your-face as a lot of today's horoscope illustrations. 

This is still very much a working progress so the images I'll be sharing are starting points to then refine and change into finals. 

REFLECTION - 28.10.2013.

I've been thinking a lot about what aspect of the horoscopes I wanted to illustrate, the star signs themselves or the writings? And I've come to the conclusion that I shall focus on the star signs individually rather than the text, since that might make them too complicated and busy for a magazine layout, so by keeping it just to the star signs they are clear and straight to the point. 

I have also had a hard time trying to make my collages by hand since I felt like it wasn't working very well for this particular idea. My images just weren't coming out as I had planed them too so I decided to make the decision of using the computer to make them digitally. I used digital collage for my project last year and really enjoyed working with it since it allows me to create images quickly but also really play around with scale and composition, something that I want to keep pushing. I still love hand rendered collage but I've also found that I'm a lot happier working with digital means when my time schedule is very short and I find that I can generate ideas more easily without the stress of staring at cut up bits of paper. I feel like this is the right route for me to go down with in regards to my work for BA7.  

CONSTELLATIONS.

Busch, Georg: Die andere beschreibung von dem cometen/... 1572. Erfurt, Germany, (1573).

John Flamsteed: Atlas Coelestis, London, (1781).

Anonymous old German manuscript: (circa1450).

Theodorus Maius: Kurtzer bericht von dem Strobelstern Oder Cometen Magdeburg, (1607).

I've been looking into old drawings of constellations and came across some interesting images. A lot of them consisted of drawings of the gods or star signs which then had the mathematical diagrams of the night sky mapped out over them. I'd like to apply this to my own work and consider mixing together old drawings and maps alongside current images. This will be a good way to combine the old, magical side of star signs but keeping it up to date with modern photography that will still appeal to fashion magazines. 

VISIONAIRE.

In my review yesterday someone mentioned to look at Visionaire Magazine and I'm so grateful! It is a an album that covers fashion, photography and art produced in a number of limited editions. It's devoted to visual expression has a huge catalogue of contributors from Tim Burton, Mario Testino, Louis Vuitton, Sarah Lucas and hundreds more. Each issue has a different theme and format which the chosen artists can produce their own interpretation of it. 

They had many issues that covered themes such as fantasy, religion and heaven. The imagery created for each issue is beautiful and they all have a mythical air to them which I felt linked in well with star signs, even if that wasn't the theme. It's given me a lot of ideas in terms of how I can push my work so that it's as visually rich and otherworldly as possible. 

REFLECTION - 23.10.2013.

Yesterday we had our first group tutorial with Chris which went really well! I usually feel like I get more negative criticism from group tutorials, rather than constructive, but everyone had made some very useful points that have given me a lot to think about in regards to my work.  

It was really nice to speak to everyone about what I've been looking into and how I'd like to apply it to publications. I feel a lot more level headed about what I'm doing and what else I can explore to expand my ideas. I thought that I would write down the main points that I thought were helpful and will help my work progress forward: 

• Push interpretation of the images - don't feel you should conform to what is 'out' there.
• Magical = good. 
• Will it be all 12 signs or a selection. 
• If someone is going to have a bad day will it affect the illustration?
• Will they be of the sign or what is predicted?
• Graphs/ charts/ mathematical drawings? 
• Digital experimentation? 
• Historical superstition, myths and beliefs. 
• Compare and contrast your work to other work in the field - will show development, understanding and problem solving skills. 
• Powerful but simple shapes and images?

PIERRE ET GILES.

I came across these images by French artists Pierre et Giles and thought they linked in well with the idea of star signs. Their work is influenced by art history, popular culture, religion and lots more. They create all of theirs sets and costumes, take the photographs and then hand paint them with acrylic paints. I've never seen anything like this before and what drew me to their work was the ethereal, magical feel of their images. I'd like my collages to have a heavy, rich look to them but still maintaining the mystical side to them. 

ILLUSTRATED APE MAGAZINE.

Trina Dalziel. 

Selina Cassidy. 

Julie Verhoeven. 

These are some images from The Illustrated Ape magazine which Glynn had mentioned to look at yesterday. I couldn't find too many images of the actual page spreads but maybe the library has the magazine in their archives so the ones shown I picked due to their layout and colour. 

I think the layout of a magazine spread or page is so important as an illustrator since you have to make sure that everything is balanced, your illustrations need to compliment the writing but also make sure that they aren't taking up too much or too little space. I thought I'd write some quick and short points to highlight what I like about each image: 

Trina Dalziel: 

• I like the limited use of colour palette by only using white, black and red. Gives the page a strong and loud voice. 
• I've never seen a concertina style layout before and it connects her images like a story. It's also aesthetically interesting since it gives it a slight 3 dimensional feel, as if its coming out from the page. 
• I also liked the mixture of drawings styles since they seem to bounce off each other well. 

Selina Cassidy: 

• This was my favourite layout from all the images. I like her use of space around the text by keeping her images in the corners of the pages. 
• Again the mixture of medias work well since they compliment each other through her choice of colours. 
•  The tidy, uniform look of the text keeps it from becoming overwhelming since there is quite a bit of writing, this could have taken away from the illustrations but instead keeps the balance. 

Julie Verhoeven: 

• Use of one side of the spread for her image makes it more dramatic.
• I like the mix of fine lines, block colour and brush strokes. 
• the text is almost the same length of the illustration and I like the contrast of the two next to each other.