Guest Artist Lecture: Jonathan Lindley

I was particularly excited for this guest lecture as Jonathan Lindley is a previous Graphic Design graduate from the University of Huddersfield.

Lindley works mainly in animation, music and video. Even though his degree suggests a more 2-D way of working, I really enjoyed his 3-D animations. 

Lightening Bolt: http://www.jonathanlindley.co.uk/lightning-bolt/

Screenshots from Animation 'Lightening Bolt'

The first animation Lindley showed was 'Lightening Bolt', a stop motion made from around 3000 photographs, all made from cardboard. The amount of skill and technique used to make this short animation is just simply compelling. I also love the bright use of colour which has been used as it makes the animation fun and lively, emphasising the detail and effort which has been put in to create each frame.

After seeing the rest of Lindley's lecture, it soon became apparent that he has a very unique style which consists of very fast-paced graphic animation. He appeared very passionate about his work and doing something you love rather than settling for anything less satisfying. 

"If you ever stray from your work

 just crack on and do it" - Jonathan Lindley

Lindley also went on to talk about his final year at the University of Huddersfield. He advised us to email companies which interest us and explained how in his final year he took a risk and that is the point where he began to create animations- his first ever animation was a flip book which he started in his third year at University.

"Do something you can see yourself doing in future" - Jonathan Lindley

Overall, I enjoyed Lindley's presentation and it definitely made me more confident about getting my own work into the real world and realising there are many opportunities out there! I think I need to start contacting companies which I may want to work for in future and see what options are available. It was particularly nice to have a graduate from the University speak to us as it makes a dream seem like more of a reality!

More of Jonathon Lindley's work can be found on his website: http://www.jonathanlindley.co.uk/ 

Illustration Tutorial 10.10.13

Group tutorial with Ian Massey.

In my first tutorial I presented my initial primary source photographs and expressed my initial idea to create my own narratives from the numbers I found in the environment. Also, i could use the idea of association to help me look at new ways of interpreting numbers to aid me in making new illustrations with various narratives .

I gained positive feedback and suggestions from my peers. One idea was to perhaps look at historical sites which contain numbers and create illustrations based on the true story behind the dates and names. Another was use numbers as information and out of context to create new narratives.

After the tutorial I felt more positive about continuing in the direction I was heading. My person target is to continue taking primary source photography of numbers in the surroundings and look into number association to see what imagery I can create.

Illustration Weekly Briefing 8.10.13

Lecturer: Ian Massey

Storyboard method by Uri Shukevitz

The main focus of this weeks briefing was visual narratives, sketchbooks, storyboards and gaining better knowledge of the illustration industry.

We were introduced to a variety of storyboards by several illustrators who used their own style to convey their ideas. I particularly enjoyed the notational drawing technique used by Uri Shukevitz, who quickly sketched out his ideas in a storyboard layout using basic shapes to create each separate composition. This made me realise that the initial ideas of a concept do not need to be perfect and act as a starting point for further development and detail. His storyboard also includes annotation which marks down the main ideas which is effective for noting down initial thoughts which are subject to change.

Furthermore, I was inspired by Ed Fella's sketchbook collages (http://www.edfella.com/collagesketchbooks.html). He uses found images, typography and mixed media collage in his sketchbooks to convey his thoughts and ideas. This is a quick and effective method for noting down ideas which has inspired me to add an element of collage in my on process of documentation.

Another illustrator's sketchbook that inspired was the works of Oliver Jeffers:

I love Jeffers' use of mixed media collage and found objects he incorporates into his work. There is a sense of delicacy in his sketchbook works which feel to me as though they are finished pieces in themselves. I think this kind of approach would enhance my own personal work.

After being shown a variety of illustrator sketchbooks and documentation methods, I feel this helped me a great deal when thinking about how to present work in my own sketchbooks. I will try to make my ideas more visual when documenting them and think about how it could be presented in an illustrative way.





   

Primary Source Photography and Studies

As a starting point to get my ideas rolling, I went out and took some of my own primary source photography. My main focus was to find numbers ideally in unconventional places, but out in the environment mainly outdoors but some indoors. The aim of doing this was to capture the placement of numbers in real life in comparison to the directors placement of numbers in the film 'Drowning by Numbers'.

A few of my primary source photographs:

 

After taking some photos within the environment I soon realised that numbers were a large part of society and was able to capture a variety of numbers in different settings.Many of the numbers were situated in obvious contexts, though some of them were more obscure. From this I had the idea of creating my own narratives from the numbers so I produced some charcoal studies and then put them in sequential order to see if a narrative could be created.

I am generally pleased with my quick charcoal sketches however I struggle to find any sense of narrative from the sequence of imagery.In this sense, the numbers make the sketches into a complete set which is similar to how the numbers create their own narrative in 'Drowning by Numbers'. Also, the way the images are cropped brings the numbers out of context and allows the viewer to interpret them in their own way, creating their own possible contexts.

As a focus for development, I will explore artists who deal with similar compositions and work with numbers in their work, in order to gain inspiration and find my own personal direction with my project.

Initial Thoughts and Ideas of 'Drowning by Numbers' (1988)

After watching the film 'Drowning by Numbers' (1988), I quickly noted down the main aspects of the films which caught my attention in mind map form. Complete with illustrations and screenshots, I felt that this way of organising my thoughts worked well. 

The main aspects which stuck in my mind when watching the film were: the sequential order but random placement of numbers throughout the film, the various games which were invented and played, and also the relationship between sex and death. In particular, I was intrigued by the game 'Dawn Card-Castles' and the idea that certain playing cards and numbers could affect the way you dream. This caused me to think that perhaps I could create my own ideas about how each playing card could cause a variety of dreams.

Moreover, I loved the general placement of numbers throughout the film which created its own narrative. This caused me to start thinking about how I could interpret this in my own way.

Guest Artist Lecture: Ryan Gander

I was very excited to see some of London-based conceptual artist, Gander's personal work in this lecture, however I soon realised as a member of the audience, the artist was filming the lecture as a piece of performance art so I became part of his work! This was an interesting and new concept to me as the filming was not consented by the audience and I was not sure how the film would be presented. Regardless I did not feel less comfortable knowing this.

Symbol used on band poster/ album cover

Several aspects of Gander's lecture intrigued me including his discussion of the symbol 'X' and how it could be viewed as a sign of censorship. He also spoke about how 'the xx' band poster was first released publicly without the knowledge that the symbol represented the band. This concept was interesting as it explored the idea of not only censorship, but also how symbols can be interpreted in different ways by the public and how they become 'hungry' for more information when it is purposely withdrawn from their knowledge.

Gander also mentioned the idea of associations and how each memory or thought can trigger another completely different one. A good example Gander later gave was the 'create your own adventure' books where the readers choice of path led to another section of the book, which then created varied stories depending on the choices of the readers. This gave me an idea to look into the number element in 'Drowning by Numbers' and think of how they may associate with certain narratives/ memories and thought triggers.

Overall, I felt a little disappointed by Ryan Gander's personal input into the lecture. He mainly spoke about other outside influences and didn't show any of his own artistic work. Therefore, I left feeling I still knew little to nothing about the artist himself and was left wanting to know more. Even the work he did show as his own I later found out that some of the things he spoke about were false, and so decided that as an artist, he could not influence or inspire me and felt confused about whether the knowledge I gained was authentic.

To view some of Ryan Gander's personal work visit http://www.lissongallery.com/artists/ryan-gander/

Illustration Weekly Briefly 1.10.13

Lecturer: Ian Massey

The main focus of this lecture was Denotation and Connotation which are keys parts of Semiotics (click link for previous first year blog post on semiotics)

In basic terms, Denotation is what we are seeing, therefore the actual description of something. Whilst Connotation is what is being suggested by the image and different interpretative meanings.

As an example I looked at a trailer of Delicatessen (1991):

Having seen the trailer before watching the entire film, the context behind the scenes I viewed were completely unknown and open to interpretation. After initially watching the trailer I managed to note down some key points of denotation which stick out in my mind:

Denotation notes:

- Two people bouncing on bed, man and woman; man wearing jumper with elephants on and woman in dress.

- Man looking around

- Man in apron sharpening knife

- Woman beating rug, looks up towards ceiling

- Man and woman playing instruments, cello and unknown instrument

- Snails spinning on vinyl record and on dolls head

Once I noted down the description of several scenes in the trailer, I then attempted to connote some of the imagery and come up with some possible interpretive responses:

Connotation:

- The two people bouncing on the bed could be romantically involved which is suggested by the rhythmic sound and pace of the bed springs; it is almost like they want someone to assume their romantic encounter. On the other hand, the couple are not physically touching, implying that they are not close to one another and therefore do not have any romantic involvement with one another.

- The man looking around appears as though he is fearful of something or someone. He may be hiding and trying to listen out for someone. The dark tones and shadows reflect this fearful mood.

- The man sharpening a knife appears to be a butcher, though the angle of the shot makes him look large as he fills the screen. He seems intimidating, implying a strong perhaps dark character. Also, his identity is kept hidden leaving more mystery behind the character and insinuating that there is more to him than meet the eye.