Unit Title: Exploring Studio Practices
Briefing:
The third project is called Body and Experience it is all about moving out of the studio to different environments and situations in order to create reportage and journalists illustrations. By drawing street scenes to community events, search out for personal stories and record them to raise the profile of issues and experiences close to the community. Reportage illustration is a strategy for social and political engagement.
The objective for this brief is, to engage in a verity of methods of observational drawing and record the most effective key visual prompts, to practice the art of location drawing as a form or visual journalism or to create a narrative work.
The materials required for this project is a range of different materials of my choice such as charcoal, pencil, ink or brush. Suitable means of drawing outside on location. Phone and camera to record my outcome and experiences for presentation.
‘The power of reportage drawing is in the immediacy of the images that are created and the feeling of the illustrator’s presence on location. Comparable in some ways to photojournalism, reportage illustrators are acting as visual journalists, proactively creating narrative work about issues and subjects, translating what they witness into handmade imagery. There is evidence that illustrations connect to people in powerful ways whether they are drawings created while embedded with troops in Afghanistan, documenting during a courtroom trial or recreating the energy of the crowd at a rock concert’. Gary Embury and Mario Minichiello
Artist: Rachel Gannon illustration inspiration
What I like about Gannon’s illustrations is the feeling between colourful and black and white illustrations. In both, she uses the white space around very well. They are very experimental and on the spot. In her work, she is inspired by
Artist: Laura Oldfield ford ‘savage messiah’
Laura Oldfield Ford is a British artist, writer and psychogeographer. Her work in ballpoint pen acrylic paint and spray paint is politically motivated and focuses on the British Urban areas. The Gurdian has published her work in 2011 as the artist of the week, saying ”she focuses on areas haunted by an urban dispossessed” this is almost like the term Psychogerography which was invented in 1955 by the Marxist theorist Guy Debord. Inspired by the French nineteenth century poet and writer Charles Baudelaire’s concept of the flaneur- and urban wanderer ”Debord suggested playful and inventive ways of navigating the urban environment in order to examine its architecture and spaces.” (Tate Modern, 2019)
23th November 2019: Creating Etching as part of the Reportage project.
Reportage illustrations is usually quick illustrations from life about a certain subjects, they act as a visual narrative work translating what artists witnesses into handmade imagery.
By using the etching engraving pen, I decided to explore the London city by using this quick and rough technique of drawing with sharp pen that looks like a needle, on a cardboard surface. I have currently produced a series of 4 drawings, I still want to do at least 10-15 more of these. I think this technique allowed me to create this nostalgic atmosphere of London city, that I was going for.
Walking around London city, and engraving on a piece of cardboard very quickly and without thinking was something that I really enjoyed working in. My next step was scanning ready prints and adjusting them a little in photoshop with contrast and brightness. I am now thinking of adding colour to my prints.
For the first prints, the only mistake I have made was engraving the text in a normal way, not thinking that when I print it the text will be mirrored. This is something I will be thinking about when walking around London city, and engraving the text in a mirrored way, so it is visible when I print it.
outcomes of etchings prints
Final outcomes
Sketchbook: reportage drawings
Etching prints on ;collage prepared paper
Room view of my illustrations
Colourful Architecture Research
Photographer: Ramin Nasibov
Architect: Antoni Gaudi
http://jon-atkinson.com/Barcelona%20Gaudi.html
Broken Tiles around London: My photography
I was very inspired by the Trencadis style in Gaudi’s work, that I decided to research more about it. Trencar means Catalan, in other world ‘to break’ that is why it is trencadis meaning ‘breakable’
Gaudi and trencadis mosaic
Trencadis detail from Cast Batillo
My photography of broken tiles/ceramics
Photography taken by me, in Leytonstone Station underground of small ceramics pieces of art.
Why I have been inspired by the trencadis style/broken tiles and what is my topic?
The reportage illustration for me, was drawing buildings, architecture in London. To me, London is very gloomy and does not have a lot of colour in its architecture, not only the weather and mood of this country is often very depressing but you don’t often see a lot of colour. When I have travelled to Malta, a country where people
Reference:
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/p/psychogeography
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/feb/18/artist-week-laura-oldfield-ford
Despite my deepest thoughts 