Tuesday, 30 September 2014

2D plane sculptures - paper maquettes

So yesterday we made some paper maquettes for sculptures, I tried out the slot method by cutting out paper pieces to make a human figure, and cutting slots in them so they would fit together. I even made joints so that I could make the maquette move if necessary, however this didn't exactly go to plan as the paper was very fragile, meaning my little maquette man fell apart easily. There was no glue involved because obviously if the sculptures were made from metal then the parts would be soldered together.

Friday, 26 September 2014

Health & Safety Equipment - What my posters need to promote!

PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) is something my posters need to promote, to protect the workers if anything should go wrong with machinery etc.

So basically we're talking about hard hats, goggles, overalls, gloves, boots, Hi-Viz jackets. Easy peasy!

Thursday, 25 September 2014

Painting Matt's foot in the style of Boo Ritson!

 

So Matt suggested I paint his foot after I'd painted Jordan's arm...so I accepted, afterall, a volunteer is a volunteer! I only gave his foot one coat rather than a coat of white emulsion and then 'skin colour', but I painted it a rather pink shade of 'skin colour', and painted Matt's toenails an orangey yellow colour! It was pretty easy to wash the paint off because it was quite thick and also it hasn't fully dried so it came off easily with running water in the sink :) enjoy the pictures, more next week hopefully!


More Pictures & Details of Jordan's Arm Painted in Boo Ritson Style

As promised, here are the other pictures of Jordan's arm that I painted in the style of Boo Ritson (see older posts for details of this artist and other pictures!). I made Jordan's arm look feminine by painting a makeshift bracelet on and some nail varnish, and as I've presiously said, Jordan felt like it wasn't his arm anymore, like he'd become this character that I was painting on to him. This gave me more of an insight into why Boo Ritson does what she does, creating characters on top of 'human canvases' if you like :) I really loke her work, and now I'm getting a little deeper into her reasoning behind it, I'm just loving it more, thinking how I could incorporate this into my abstraction of the human form project. For example, people abstract thiemselves by putting make up on, to conceal impurities or things they wish to hide. I adapt the technique that Boo Ritson uses and create my own human sculptures where I am concealing / displaying the things they wish to hide- maybe a body confidence theme? Or at least something along those lines...There's plenty of research to be done, that's for sure! Anyway, enjoy these bizarre images! (The makeshift bracelet was some scrunched up masking tape that I painted, just to let you know, so that's why it looks a bit, well, crap, quite frankly!) Oh and finally, the images aren't in any sort of order - sorry! It's kind awkward to rearrange the images on blogger -.- but yeah..enjoy!

Wednesday, 24 September 2014

Designs for health and safety posters

Here are some screenshots of the designs I've got so far! I've gone for a sort of traffic light theme, the red and amber/orange are things you shouldn't do, and the green is something you must do!

This one is trying to discourage swearing in the workplace, as this can be offensive and often distracting for collegues. The main 'pushing point' of this poster is that children will usually copy swear words from adults and this could postentially corrupt them for future development (bit extreme, I know, but if it gets the point across...). The red background grabs the target audience's (TA's) attention and the image draws the eye in. I won't be able to use this image on my final designs as it's not my image and therefore is probably copyrighted, but I used it to illustrate my point in these designs and give me a better idea of what the poster could look like. I would hope to get a similar image, or possibly of a mother covering her childs ears, something along those lines, for my final design. I used only three colours so not to confuse / dazzle the TA, adding a simple yet effective border to make the poster stand out even more. I coloured parts of the text white or black to make them stand out from the rest of the sentence, to emphasize these specific words. The black and white text stands out from the background, although it might be a good idea to make the fact part of the text a little bigger as from a distance it might not be easily readable. Having said that, that part of the text is not what is meant to grab the reader, that is just there to reinforce the point of the poster. The text font is Helvetica, which is purposefully easy to read, not fancy, just very simple. The weight of the text is not too heavy so it is hard to read, but it isn't to light either, it's about right so it looks sharp and snappy. The layout of the poster is good I think, because there's not too much going on, the poster isn't too full, nor too empty. I think there is a good balance between the amount of text and amout of image, after all, its an informative poster, but the picture illustrates the point. The colours are all very sharp and they contrast so everything is easy to see. I think this poster could engage the reader in 2-3 seconds and is interesting enough to keep their attention.

Overall, I think this is a strong design, but could easily be strengthened further by changing the imagery and making the small text a little bigger. I have already changed the text at the top from black to white as I think this looks better and makes the text 'pop'.

This design is to discourage spitting in the workplace. I have kept the same tagline as the above design, and the same layout...and also the same general theme of it being childish. Again, I cannot use this image in my final design but I hope to get an image that is similar - of a child spitting. There is a fact about spitting, which is rather extreme but if it illustrates the point..! During the design process I changed the background to a brighter, more orange shade rather thatn the yellowy amber colour it was, in order for it to stand out more. The line at the bottom of the poster is related to the general theme of spitting and the fact above it, so is very relavent and again, reinforces the point of not spitting.
Because of the similarities between these first two posters, my analysis of this poster is very similar when it comes to layout, clarity of visual communication and attention to detail, so please see above analysis!

The overall aesthetic value of this poster is pretty good. It stands out, delivers the information needed in a simple yet effective and easy to read format. It's bright and the colours contrast to make them easily readable. There is a good text / image balance, not too much of either one. Grabs the readers attention, snappy, informative, bold. Spot on.

 
This poster design has the same layout as the previous two designs, with a title, image, tagline, fact and finally, I supoose it's classed as another tagline...or maybe a final and definite point. This poster completes the traffic light theme, but being green, I thought it would be more appropriate to make it about something postive that workers SHOULD be doing, for example, focusing! If it was a positive colour but was telling the workers about something negavite that they shouldn't be doing, then this would be very confusing and a little misleading. So this is to promote somthing that the workers should be doing all the time, but also alerts them to what could happen if they don't focus. Maybe the factual text could be a little bigger on this design, but the bright colour really grabs your attention, and subconsciously gives you a positive feel for the information on there, making the workers more likely to follow the instructions / rules of the workplace. The other factors I'd need to analyse are pretty much the same as the previos two designs - text, layout etc, so refer to above. The overall aesthetic value of this poster design is good, it's bright and eye catching, illustrates it's point well, the text stands out and is easy to read. Fabulous!

Tuesday, 23 September 2014

Behaviour in the workplace research

Trying to focus my research now into what I can design my posters specifically about, so I'm thinking something more to do with human error rather than physical safety items such as hard hats, gloves etc.
Here are the things I'm going to look into in more detail:
Physical- Hard hats, Safety goggles, Steel cap boots, Hi-Vis jackets, Overalls, Gloves.
Behavioural- Running, Messing around, Spitting, Swearing, Stupidity, Carelessness, Focus, Awareness.

Here are a few funny pictures I found while researching swearing! Not the kind of thing I'm meant to be promoting...but they put a smile on my face!




Manifestos & DADA

"A manifesto is a published verbal declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party or government. A manifesto usually accepts a previously published opinion or public consensus and/or promotes a new idea with prescriptive notions for carrying out changes the author believes should be made. It often is political or artistic in nature, but may present an individual's life stance. Manifestos relating to religious belief are generally referred to as creeds."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manifesto

Dada Manifesto

by Tristan Tzara
23rd March 1918

The magic of a word – Dada – which has brought journalists to the gates of a world unforeseen, is of no importance to us.
To put out a manifesto you must want: ABC
to fulminate against 1, 2, 3
to fly into a rage and sharpen your wings to conquer and disseminate little abcs and big ABCs, to sign, shout, swear, to organize prose into a form of absolute and irrefutable evidence, to prove your non plus ultra and maintain that novelty resembles life just as the latest-appearance of some whore proves the essence of God. His existence was previously proved by the accordion, the landscape, the wheedling word. To impose your ABC is a natural thing - hence deplorable. Everybody does it in the form of crystalbluff-madonna, monetary system, pharmaceutical product, or a bare leg advertising the ardent sterile spring. The love of novelty is the cross of sympathy, demonstrates a naive je m'enfoutisme, it is a transitory, positive sign without a cause.
But this need itself is obsolete. In documenting art on the basis of the supreme simplicity: novelty, we are human and true for the sake of amusement, impulsive, vibrant to crucify boredom. At the crossroads of the lights, alert, attentively awaiting the years, in the forest. I write a manifesto and I want nothing, yet 1 say certain things, and in principle I am against manifestos, as I am also against principles (half-pints to measure the moral value of every phrase too too convenient; approximation was invented by the impressionists). I write this manifesto to show that people can perform contrary actions together while taking one fresh gulp of air; I am against action; for continuous contradiction, for affirmation too, I am neither for nor against and I do not explain because I hate common sense.
DADA - this is a word that throws up ideas so that they can be shot down; every bourgeois is a little playwright, who invents different subjects and who, instead of situating suitable characters on the level of his own intelligence, like chrysalises on chairs, tries to find causes or objects (according to whichever psychoanalytic method he practices) to give weight to his plot, a talking and self-defining story.
Every spectator is a plotter, if he tries to explain a word (to know!) From his padded refuge of serpentine complications, he allows his instincts to be manipulated. Whence the sorrows of conjugal life.
To be plain: The amusement of redbellies in the mills of empty skulls.

DADA DOES NOT MEAN ANYTHING

http://www.391.org/manifestos/1918-dada-manifesto-tristan-tzara.html

DADA Movement

Key Characteristics of Dada Art
  • Dada began in Zurich and became an international movement. Or non-movement, as it were.
  • Dada had only one rule: Never follow any known rules.
  • Dada was intended to provoke an emotional reaction from the viewer (typically shock or outrage). If its art failed to offend traditionalists, Dada writing -- particularly Tristan Tzara's manifestoes -- proved a fine, nose-thumbing Plan B.
  • Dada art is nonsensical to the point of whimsy. Almost all of the people who created it were ferociously serious, though.
  • Abstraction and Expressionism were the main influences on Dada, followed by Cubism and, to a lesser extent, Futurism.
  • There was no predominant medium in Dadaist art. All things from geometric tapestries to glass to plaster and wooden reliefs were fair game. It's worth noting, though, that assemblage, collage, photomontage and the use of ready made objects all gained wide acceptance due to their use in Dada art.
  • For something that supposedly meant nothing, Dada certainly created a lot of offshoots. In addition to spawning numerous literary journals, Dada influenced many concurrent trends in the visual arts (especially in the case of Constructivism). The best-known movement Dada was directly responsible for is Surrealism.
  • Dada self-destructed when it was in danger of becoming "acceptable".
http://arthistory.about.com/cs/arthistory10one/a/dada.htm

Painting Jordan's arm

So this week I painted Jordan's arm...and made it look like a female arm! Because, after all, female arms are more interesting because women wear bracelets and have painted nails and are just generally better :P Jordan said that while I was painting he started to feel like it wasn't even his arm anymore, which is exactly what I was trying to achieve! To put so much paint on that it creates a character on top of the person I'm working on! These are a few pictures from the process...but there are more pictures to come!