Assignment 5 feedback session

Overall Comments

You have been a thoughtful student and have demonstrated to me that you have the ability undertake a degree level piece of academic research.  Your drawing skills have developed but I think embarking on the degree will really speed that up and help you to commit more time to drawing. Importantly, your understanding of art and its possibilities for you as a maker has really developed. In particular, there is plenty of scope for you to continue to ask questions of drawing as it relates to sculptural practices. Best of luck with your future studies.

Assignment 5 Evaluation and Course Reflection

Assignment Suitability for submission

Demonstration of technical and Visual Skills

I like the submitted print and narrative images, and am starting to get an idea of how to approach work using the techniques indicated within the course. The quality of the self-portrait indicates how far I have to go in figure drawing, as this is probably the most significant area that needs improvement in the submitted works. I think I have many more hours of observational drawing ahead of me before I fully crack that. (As my tutor put it at one point “I’m still stuck in symbolism.” Clearly demonstrated by the nose in the attempted self-portrait.)

Assignment 5: Covering Letter

Dear Emma,

The following summarises the Assignment 5 submission:

Project 5.2: Narrative Evaluation and Reflection

The Images

Storyboard

Project 5.1: Print Evaluation and Reflection

The Images

Balance Print

Drawing for Sculpture

Whilst I was in Austria an opportunity arose to bid for a piece of “Public Art” sculptural work. They wanted a 1:5 design for a large piece. I proposed the delivery of a 4 section “log carving”. By that I mean deep relief sculptures created by carving into the log from the bark side. The design appears in a window within the log. I’ve done a number of smaller pieces in this style, which I was able to include photos of. I did, however, want to make sure the full idea of the design was clear.

Project 5.2: Photomontage

Context

I wanted at least one more figure in the Austrian WOMAD image, and being in Austria I didn’t have my full colour pastels and such with me. I decided, therefore, that this was an ideal opportunity to try out some digital drawing using the Wacom tablet I bought previously.  I’ve done some experiments with this, but have never really put in the time to learn to use it properly. As I was planning to combine it with the photomontage I decided to use Krita for the drawing.

Project 5.2: Photomontage

Reflecting on the assignment and my previous blog about sculptors’ use of photomontage I decided I really had to give it a go. I’m in Elbigenalp in Austria with the sun shining, so that has to be a good start for the landscape part.

Drapery styles

As part of a carving project I have been considering drapery, as well as for the drawing course. As well as the construction of drapery I’ve been examining the different styles and variation across time. The variation is significant, with the different styles seeming to go in long cycles across time.

Project 5.1: Monoprint

Started by inking up the plate with the Lino cut ink.

Project 5.2: Photomontage so far

I’m working on the production of a Photomontage that places an English Festival in Austria. I have pastel drawings of WOMAD’s Siam tent and some flags. To that I’ve added a pastel sketch of some figures and inserted the whole into an Austrian Landscape. I’m not fully happy with the figures, but like the tent and general effect.

Sculptors use of photomontage

During my research for Sculptor’s use of drawing I came across the implication that Henry Moore used the idea. This is implied, and to a degree shown, in this article:

“In 1937 and again in 1938 Moore famously photographed maquettes for two Reclining Figure sculptures very close to the lens, so as to make each diminutive object look enormous against the distant landscape … it is perhaps more likely that these photographs are not so much tests as they are declarations of triumph: they are demonstrations of his sense of the monumental. Rather like physically lifting objects from the ground and holding them close to himself, here Moore brings the maquette so close to the lens (and therefore the viewer) that its monumental scale is confirmed.” Rachel Wells, ‘Scale at Any Size: Henry Moore and Scaling Up’, in Henry Moore: Sculptural Process and Public Identity, Tate Research Publication, 2015, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/henry-moore/rachel-wells-scale-at-any-size-henry-moore-and-scaling-up-r1151302, accessed 05 October 2017.

Project 5.1: Testing the leaf print…

Despite my earlier post‘s statement that I wouldn’t bother, I decided to try to elicit some feedback on the print from the OCA forum here: https://discuss.oca-student.com/t/foundation-drawing-abstract-monotype-on-the-theme-of-balance/5846

Prunella Clough monoprint

First impressions

My eyes went first to the central block of monoprint, then wandered up to the attached watch and white sections above. No thoughts on meaning at this point. Subject might be a city scape, in which case the watch would be a clock.

Project 5.1: Found objects print

Started by setting up in a new location, much more suitable than our living room floor.

Next was by making a template and mixing up a couple of colours. Used kitchen towels to give them an interesting texture, with the print made in the second press. I made two copies for reasons that will be clear later…

Project 5.2: Storyboard

Starting to think through concerns, and play with ideas.

Project 5.2: Storyboarding Research

This is an area I didn’t expect to have to put so much research into, but as always when I think that I was wrong. The following documents some of the more interesting material I found:

• This article provides a quick introduction to storyboards and some of the “shot types”: http://www.biowars.com/blog/why-you-should-create-a-comic-book-storyboard/
• This article discusses the difference between comics and storyboards, and includes a range of interesting examples: http://www.printmag.com/design-inspiration/comics-and-storyboards /http://www.biowars.com/blog/why-you-should-create-a-comic-book-storyboard/