Interesting Illustrative Portraiture

Jon Burgerman- 'Tumblr Girls'

After the 'Bigheads' session with Jon Burgerman, I took a particular interest into his project entitled 'Portraits of Tumblr Girls'. The idea was situated around the simple idea of illustrating pictures of girls on tumblr in an abstract fashion, whether this be a 'selfie' or just an ordinary portrait photograph.

The thing that stands out to me the most in this series of portraits is the use of flamboyant colour and variety of marks made to create a more playful and abstract feel.

The marks look as if they have been made relatively quickly; the short amount of time invested into each portrait could represent the vast quantity of female internet users, investing time into their appearances to gain popularity and attention from other internet users. I also feel as if the bright, clashing colours portray the idea that this group of internet users need to go out of their way to be noticed by others in an attempt to feel striking and beautiful.

In conclusion, I feel that the way in which these portraits have been created is a reflection upon the attitudes of young female internet users in todays society. The heavy involvement with social media has an imminent affect on self confidence levels and strive for attention to feel beautiful, and accepted through something as easily accessible as the internet. Burgerman has focused here on quantity, as opposed to intricate quality of each portrait, which speaks volumes in accordance with the number of young women engaging in this level of activity.

How does this impact on my practice?

When making work, I should take into consideration the mindset and attitude of Amy Johnson; fearless, gutsy, determination and strive for adventure. The time, patience and craft she put into her career resulted in great success and high personal achievement, which is something that I want to portray in my final pieces.

Tetley Exhibition

Over the weekend I went to have a look at the Tetley gallery, and there was an exhibition presenting all of the artwork that has been used to represent the brand.

I took as many photographs as I could before I read the sign saying NO PHOTOS ALLOWED...

I was interested in how each artist interpreted the task of promoting the brand, but most importantly how they produced work in a variety of different sizes, from A3 to a tiny pin badge, all incorporating the same theme.

This is something I should take on board when producing my work, how will the size of the canvas affect the message that I want to get across?

Persons of Note- Ideas and Crit

Knowledge and Understanding

Visually exploring elements relating to Amy Johnson that could be speculated further:

Portraiture

Understanding her stance and presence through the way she presents herself; her clothing, expression and attitude.

Maps, Planes and Other objects

A visual representation of achievement showing the machinery she operated, the distance in which she travelled and the rewards she received.

First Rough Sketches for Final Piece Ideas

Initial ideas for...

Poster

• Deconstructing the parts of a plane and laying them out over the poster
• Laying out Johnson's flight suit

Postcards

• Maps of flight routes, with the possibility of quotes from Johnson overlaying these

Stamps

• Close ups of flight gear/parts of the planes
• Patterns of flight related objects

Crit

My initial drawings are very open-minded without displaying too much complexity (with the fear of over complicating things like in the last brief)

Reflection

From the crit, I have realised that I need to carry out wider research, and of course simplify my ideas without creating too much work for myself resulting in an end piece which hasn't fulfilled its potential.

I think the most important issue raised is that a certain level of feeling needs to come across to the viewer; as the poster needs to appeal to a wider audience as opposed to a niche group, for example those only interested in 1930's planes. The spirit of adventure is something that is both captivating and inspiring; if I focus on this in further research and drawings, my finished images will be uplifting, informative and aesthetically pleasing.

Persons of Note- Initial Stages

My three persons of note:

• Oliver Postgate
• Prince Buster
• Amy Johnson

Knowledge and Understanding:

Most interesting points about Oliver Postgate:

• His imprisonment in the 1940's for refusing to go to war
• Collaboration with Peter Firmin and development and success of 'Small films'
• Imagination and communication with a young audience

How could I develop this further?

• Make a series of work based on the success of his creations, although I am not entirely keen on producing illustrated work on something that has already been created by an individual.

Most interesting points about Prince Buster:

• Success in the music industry from a young age
• Number of records produced

How could I develop this further?

To be honest, I was quite dismissive of Prince Buster, due to the fact that I had very little interest in him (nothing personal) and couldn't really see how I could develop pieces of illustration around him as a person when I don't have much to be inspired by.

Most interesting points about Amy Johnson:

• Her 'Gutsy' attitude towards life
• Strive and spirit for adventure
• The amount she achieved in her short life

How could I develop this further?

I saw Amy Johnson as the person of note with having the most potential to explore creatively. As the person I admired the most out of the three choices, I see a lot of scope in finding out more about her life and related elements through further research and development. 

Visual Language- End of Module Self Evaluation

1.  Which practical skills and methodologies have you developed within this module and how effectively do you think you are employing them within your own practice?
Visual language has enabled me to become aware of the building blocks within image making, and how to apply them to my own practice. It has allowed me to enhance my basic drawing skills, getting to the route of what every line, shape, colour etc. actually means, and how I intend to get a message across to the viewer. I have had to learnt to produce finished pieces in restricted periods of time, increasing my level of focus as well as being increasingly aware of my intentions of outcomes. Each week that we have learnt something new, I have attempted to apply it to my methods of image making across all modules, with a higher emphasis on the experimentation and learning element rather than producing a perfect and pristine finished image.
2. Which principles/ theories of image making have you found most valuable during this module and how effectively do you think you are employing these within your own practice?
I have found that the four elements of composition; frame, depth, line of sight and value have been the most valuable in informing my practice. Whenever I try to create images now, I always consider what it is I want to communicate to my audience in terms of the message, importance and significance of each element included in the image.  An example of this would be the way I have tried really hard to create strong, distinctive and recognisable images during the ‘Greetings From…’ brief in the Visual Narratives module. Through planning the content and layout of my images, I was able to inform my audience of which city the postcard was based on purely using visual elements with clear composition.
3. What strengths can you identify within your Visual Language submission you capitalise on these?
Visual Language has been one big learning curve for me; I have focused more on the learning process and how to apply the knowledge I have gained in constructing images, as opposed to focusing on producing an amazing final image that people would immediately purchase and hang on their walls etc. On the other hand, I have often felt deflated with the finished images I have produced as I have the tendancy to compare them to other people’s in my class. My biggest strength has been identifying my weaknesses at the end of each week and setting myself challenges for the next task to improve my outcomes and invest more time into the explorative and experimental process.
4. What areas for development can you identify within your Visual Language submission and how will you address these in the future?
I definitely have some areas for improvement. In general, I think that I need to be a lot more speculative and embrace each task with greater enthusiasm and drive. Admittedly in earlier tasks during studio brief one, I tended to focus more on my other modules, and neglect visual language, which definitely reflected within my work. In the future, I will plan my time more carefully in investing more time and care into tasks, make better use of the library and take out books related to the specific subject, and research into practitioners further. Just in general, go above and beyond what the brief states.
5. In what way has this module informed how you deconstruct and analyse artwork (whether your own or that of contemporary practitioners)? Since Visual Language started, I have began to look at images in much greater depth, and almost ‘dissect them’. I have noticed that I have a less ‘passive’ attitude to the subjects in images; rather than thinking ‘that is a pretty picture’, I spend more time analysing WHY I think that picture is pretty. I view each element and ask myself ‘which is the most important?’ which is often dependant on size and colour against the other elements in the picture. Looking further into the composition, line of sight, depth and value become more important too, and towards the end I feel more confident in reading and interpreting what it is the artist is trying to say. Although this process is fairly new to me, I have started and will continue to use this in my own process of image making by investing more time into planning and producing rough sketches and a list of intentions that I want to achieve.
6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas: (please indicate using an ‘x’)  5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor
	1	2	3	4	5
Attendance	x
Punctuality	x
Motivation		x
Commitment		x
Quantity of work produced			x
Quality of work produced			x
Contribution to the group	x