Unit X | Final images

After playing with my images on photoshop over and over again, I have finally produced 2 images which I am happy to print for the exhibition.

During my experimentation, I decided that having 4 animals in one print was perhaps too much and looked too busy. Because of this, I changed my number to three and in order to create another poster I needed two more paintings to work with, so I painted the zebra and the macaw.

Working on both posters was quite difficult, as I needed to create the right combination of animals and in the right places. Eventually I did manage to come up with two designs I am happy with. I wanted my designs to be large scale, so I started with the biggest size available to me which is A0. I was prepared to go smaller if necessary however the A0 prints came out okay, there was no blurring. I am happy with my prints, but if I could have been specific with my paper I wouldn't have chosen matte as the colours did dull down a little. 

Yet I am very pleased with how my work looks and I am excited to put it up in the exhibition.

I wanted to see how my prints looked together get a general feel of how they are going to look in the exhibition, so I tried hanging them up in the studio. I was thinking about mounting them on boards as they might look better, but in the end I decided I prefer them hanging as paper. Also A0 boards would be extremely hard to carry to and from the exhibition, whereas with paper I have bought a tube to carry them in safely so that they don't get damaged. Overall I really like how my designs have turned out and I am very pleased with my work.

Unit X | Working in the Studio

During Unit X we have been able to work in the studio in a way which we never have before. We have always been entitled to putting our work up on the walls but it wasn't exactly instructed. However in drawing and film this is exactly what we have been told to do, and I have very much enjoyed having the experience. 

It is really nice to be able to see other people's work and how they are developing their ideas. I never realized how seeing how my peers are working could inspire me to work harder and show off my work. Normally our work is enclosed in a sketchbook which can be seen by our friends and who we choose to show it to. Having work up on the studio walls enables anyone and everyone to see our work develop. 

I like this way of working as when people walk by you can see their reactions to your wall, and a lot can be shown through facial expressions. When people have a positive response to my work it gives me more confidence. I have also had people come up to me and tell me they like my work, in fact I've received lots of really lovely comments. 

I also find it interesting to be able to see the difference between my wall at the start and at the end of the unit, and the journey it has gone through.

Unit X | Photoshop development

I have kept experimenting on photoshop this week, and I have now produced 4 final outcomes.

I really like the four images as individuals. I have completed what I intended to create, however as I am left with a lot more time before the exhibition I would also like to try including more than one animal in each collage. I plan to try layering the animals together, possibly with 3 or 4 in one image. If this ends up working and is successful, I might consider having one larger final piece rather than a collection of four.
Creating my images on photoshop has enabled me to have the distressed effect I have been experimenting with. Like Rauschenberg, I have made layers of different images and blended them together through editing opacities.



Unit X | Digital Experimentation

This week I have finally taken my work onto Photoshop.

As the acryllic image transfer technique can be unpredictable and might not always have the desired effect, I scanned separate image transfers into photoshop so I can edit them together. So far I have only been trying things out but I am happy with how it is going. Turning my images into brushes has made them incredibly easy to use. It is very useful to be able to delete anything that doesn't look right, move things around and start again. I am going to continue to use photoshop to hopefully come up with some final images. I plan to create 3-4 separate images each including one animal like Bryan Holland, but for the exhibition they will be shown as a collection.