21/12/2011

I have been teaching myself how to use Photoshop over the last few months, which has been a bit of a struggle....but I am finally getting to grips with the basics.

For my software module I have to produce three different CD covers for an unsigned band called 'The Silent' using the Adobe suite. Here are the final three covers:

A Motion to Stop

I thought it might be about time to put up some work from my first term at Uni. I am just getting used to the constant flow of work and balancing all my modules! With one week left until the Christmas holidays the daunting deadlines are drawing closer, fingers crossed.....

The following work is for my Animation module. We have to plan and produce a stop motion animation using one character to act out a simple story. My character is called Hector Bones, and is, of course, a skeleton man. I have been playing around with the different software used in animation and am now in the process of making my character. It has been so interesting to learn about all the different stages of development and processes it takes to produce a stop motion animation. I am really looking forward to seeing my final edited film! 

This is an animation by the wonderful Kirsten Lepore, an animator whose work I have followed for quite a while:

This is an armature test for my animation: 

06.09.2011

So I haven't been on here in a while! Thought it might be about time for an update...
I've been doing lots of little sketches, doodles and drawings recently, mainly of birds, trying to get back into the swing of things before I start my Illustration course at London Met at the end of the month. I'm going to transfer some of these onto fabric so I can experiment with stitch and embellishment, it has been a long time since i've used a sewing machine!

I See a Seashell

I recently went to Kettle's Yard art gallery to see a fundraising exhibition called 'Artists for Kettle Yard'. It has been set up in aid of raising money for the gallery, with all works being either sold or put into auction. 

The artists exhibiting are all well known and most have previously had work at the gallery. Damien Hirst, Antony Gormley, Bridget Riley, Callum Innes, and Helena Almeida are just a few of those famous artists. 

I was particulary impressed by an oil painting of a giant wave by Maggi Hambling, which I found to be quite significant to the recent tsunami in Japan. A beautiful portrayal of such a destructive and devestating natural event, showing the force and motion of the sea. 

http://www.kettlesyard.co.uk/exhibitions/artists.html

Hazy

Katsutoshi Yuasa is a Japanese Print maker, whose current exhibition was reviewed in the Guardian. Her work specifically focuses on woodcuts, which are sometimes eight feet high. She bases each of her prints on photographs of blooming gardens and woodlands, creating a wonderfully dreamy mirage.

I Spy

Up in the Woods

I have always been envious of anyone who can make collages look good, I have tried and failed, but admire those who can. Javier Pinon is one of those, with his animal themed collages, which remind me of my childhood love for the film 'Watership Down' (but a bit darker of course...)

http://www.javierpinon.com/homepage.html

A Blob

I came across the work of an American artist - Kim Manfredi.
Her work focuses on natural forms, with blobs of coloured oils merging into one another creating a controlled mess of texture and pattern.  
'Through immersing, sagging, burning and blowing I move into an experience of painting that expresses the ever-changing process of existence.'

http://www.kimmanfredi.com/index.php

The Twilight Hour

A few days ago I visited the V&A where I saw an exhibition called 'Twilight - photography in the magic hour'. I was drawn to the work of Bill Henson, whose photos have a unique sense of light and movement. There is a haunting feeling to his work, he captures young people on the way to adulthood, showing a dark and vunerable side to growing up.


'Now as the light from a row of TV screens blends with the last rays of the sun, both play over a face staring into a shop window, and as the sound of the mall dies away, imagine as that face curves off into shadow. Turn ever so slightly, a single camera movement brings the distant lights of a freeway into view, blinking through the darkening forest. And the sun goes down behind the mountains.'Bill Henson