30 Images in 30 Days

30 IMAGES IN 30 DAYS

For Assessment 1 in Image Design and Production we have been challenged with making one image every day for six weeks. The purpose of this exercise is to explore different analog mediums, techniques and styles which we will then bring into the digital sphere. Whilst undergoing this guided exploration we will discover what we like and dislike, what mediums might be effective for what purpose, and hopefully, a little bit of personal style. As this unit is part of the Visual Communication major we also want to understand "what makes an image good?". We believe that a good image is an image that communicates well (Taboada, 2023).

WEEK 1

INTRODUCTION. CONTOURS & SHADING.

1: Make Your Mark

HB & 2B graphite pencil, 0.8 fine line pen, Copic Ciao (flat nib), metallic watercolour pallette, metallic ink. A4 cartridge paper.

2: Observation Exercise 1: Line drawings

3: Observation Exercise 2: Drawing shapes

4. Observation Exercise 3: Combine shapes and lines

0.4 fine line pen, metallic watercolour pallette. A4 cartridge paper.

HB graphite pencil, 0.4 fine line pen, ink. A4 cartridge paper.

5: Observation Exercise 4: Drawing negative space

Ink, paintbrush. A4 cartridge paper.

This week we started off by trialling a few different mediums and experimenting with different ways of "mark making". I really enjoyed starting off with the contour portraits and contour line drawings of objects as the rapidity of the exercise helped me let go of being such a perfectionist. The contour exercises were a great warm up exercise and also a great introduction to "seeing" (or "observing"), which I found to be a recurring theme throughout the assessment. The purpose of a contour sketch is to identify and replicate the "essence" of your subject. This involves looking, and then identifying distinguishing or important features of the subject, for example, in my portrait of Erynn this was her curly hair and mark near her nose. I enjoyed the simplistic and cartoon-like illustrative value of the contour drawings. In contrast to that I found that by switching to just the "shading" of the subject without a contour line it gave the subject a much more sophisticated and artistic feel, without much effort. It was very surprising to me how combining the shading and the contour lines instantly made the images "pop". For these exercises I experimented with ink and watercolour for the first time. I absolutely loved using the ink as it creates such a richly pigmented image that is not without texture, however is very easy to use and clean. I also had not used watercolour in a very long time and had assumed I hate watercolour as I associate it with a very specific type of illustration that is not to my taste, however I found I also very much enjoyed using the watercolours, especially as the palette I purchased was metallic.

WEEK 2

IMAGE AS DOCUMENTATION

6-10: I Didn't Even Eat This Apple Because I Wasn't Hungry
(aka: a visual study of time)

HB & 2B graphite pencil, eraser. A5 cartridge paper.

In week two we were introduced to the concept that images play many different roles in our culture; in this week we learned about image as documentation. Image as documentation pertains to our need for accuracy and factual information to be communicated to us. Visually representing information is what adds meaning to pure data (Taboada, 2023). While obviously high resolution photography is now readily accessible, the created image still serves many purposes in the field of scientific illustration, infographics, maps, graphs, etc.

For my study of time, I chose to draw an apple in various stages of being eaten and rotting. In the workshop there was a big emphasis on "are you drawing what you see, or what you think you see?" which really helped with this exercise. I also feel that it was a perfect flow on from the contour and shading exercises of the previous week. While the contour exercise was great in capturing an "essence" quickly, image as documentation is all about portraying something accurately. If I tried to look at the apple and draw it as "thought" I saw it, I would always start with a line, but in reality there aren't really any "lines" in the things we see - just contrast between lighter and darker areas of light, which was honestly quite strange to realise.

I found this exercise very challenging and struggled with the graphite pencils at first, but with lots of experimenting I feel I got the hang of it by the end. I would use the HB pencil to begin with as it was lighter and softer and would get a flat edge quickly. I would then use this to softly begin shading and finding edges in the drawing, I couldn't quite figure out what to do with the 2B at first because I already thought I had a lot of contrast. By the third drawing, I realised I actually needed a lot more contrast. I couldn't seem to get enough darkness with the HB so I went back over with the 2B which worked much better. I also found the 2B was great if you made it very sharp and then used it for fine lines that helped the image pop and look more realistic. After doing the majority of the images I went back and smudged the graphite with my fingers which gave it a better texture and less visible line strokes, and then used the edge of an eraser for highlights. I certainly don't think that realistic depiction is my forte, nor do I personally find much value in it, because as Paul Klee said "art does not reproduce what we see; rather, it makes us see", but it was still a satisfying exercise none the less.

WEEK 3

IMAGE AS STORYTELLING

11-15: Comic Strip: Different Memories of the Same Thing

0.4 & 0.8 fine line pen, fine line sharpie. A3 cartridge paper.

This week was both very fun and very challenging especially since I have never studied how to, or been able to confidently draw the human figure. I was concerned about this because I knew I wanted to do a comic strip for this week, and I knew exactly what story I wanted to tell, however I knew it would involve people. In order to achieve my comic strip I took inspiration from other popular (mainly web) comics that were very simple artistically, however still managed to communicate very effectively, such as xkcd (pictured below), Cyanide & Happiness and Dilbert.

Figure 1: Imposter Syndrome
[Comic Strip] by Munroe, Randall. (https://xkcd.com/1954/)

I also took inspiration from the below Calvin & Hobbes comic in having one of my panels different to the others for emphasis. It was interesting to try and fit a complete story within a five panel comic and to distill it into its core elements as advised within the lecture: setting, characters, plot and three act structure (beginning, middle and end, or set up, confrontation and resolution) (Taboada, 2023). I'm enjoying beginning to think about how stories are structured as I have always enjoyed writing, and am learning similar concepts in my other unit Interactive Narrative Design. I have always found the intrinsic nature of storytelling in human culture to be fascinating. As we know from primitive cave paintings, humans have been telling stories visually for a very long time.

Figure 2: "If You Could Wish For Anything"
[Comic Strip] by Watterson, Bill (https://xkcd.com/1954/)

This week Chris, my tutor, gave me a roll of baking paper as he had been advising us that it's a great way to quickly iterate for design work. I tried it out because I was terrified of beginning my comic strip as I had no idea what direction to go in, but as I used the baking paper I found the change between iterations 1 and 3 to be extremely fast and bring about a drastic increase in quality. The baking paper makes it very easy to trace over and iterate on your design, while the fact that it feels like "scrap" paper is a great combatant against the fear of starting and perfectionism. I genuinely think it would have taken me hours longer to get to a point I was happy with without the baking paper and this is defintely something I will always have in my design arsenal for future use. My comic was mainly drawn using a 0.4 Artline pen, which I liked using as the felt-tip had some resistance against the page and made me feel like I had more control. To fill in some of the larger areas of black to add contrast I used either a 0.8 pen, or a fine line sharpie. I was very happy with how my first three panels turned out as they were simple and clean and had a large focus on composition to help tell the story (e.g. my Dad looming over my brother and I), however I do feel as if I missed the mark in the last two panels as you cannot see as clearly what is happening, and the inclusion of the wood grain was unnecessary and distracted from the plot. I also think I should have done something to demarcate the final two panels more as it is hard to see where one starts and the other ends. However, overall I am happy with my comic strip.

WEEK 4

IMAGE AS PERSUASION

16: Poster Idea 1

17: Poster Idea 2

18: Poster Idea 3

0.4 fine line pen. A5 cartridge paper.

19: Final Poster Version 1

20: Final Poster Version 2: Collage

19. Soft pastel, authentic Apple sticker, setting spray. A3 card (black).
20. Miscellaneous fabric, scissors, PVA glue, fine line sharpie. A4 cartridge paper.

In Week 4 we learned about image as persuation. Manuela advised that as humans we are naturally born as sophisticated persuaders as a matter of survival and that on a daily basis we are constantly navigating the field between being the persuader and being the persuaded (Taboada, 2023). While image as persuasion is most commonly associated with advertising and marketing, it is also used to persuade opinions culturally and politically. This week we explored a multi-media approach to poster making to communicate and persuade on environmental issues with a focus on composition.

For my three poster thumbnails, compositionally I wanted to experiment with scale, contrast and repetition. I really like visual work that is minimalistic, so I wanted to see if I could replicate this style. My first full sized poster I did free hand with a white soft pastel and genuine Apple sticker on black A3 card. I actually really like how this turned out. I like the scale and the contrast, however I think it would have been better with a brighter white line that didn't show so much texture. In this poster I attempted to incorporate some of the colour theory we had discussed in class to portray the message as emotive despite being so simple. To create this effect I left the majority of the poster black, with just a small amount of white. Black (or, the absence of light) has many connotations in Western society such as death, grief or evil, which in this instance I wanted to contrast with the white which is the identifiable brand colour of Apple (Madden, T. J et al, 2000). That is a primarily Western interpretation, however the concept still stands in the East as white is the colour that symbolises death in some of those cultures (Madden, T. J et al, 2000). I do feel as if the message (mass consumerism being bad/sweatshop deaths) is self explanatory and gets across without any text.

In contrast I think my second poster, which was done with found fabrics as a collage, is interetersting however I do not believe it succeeds as a "persuasive image". The composition is a reference to "The Great Wave" (Hokusai, 1831), which I enjoy, however the actual message is not clear and definitely could be imporoved by the addition of some text, or a different choice of fabrics. I feel that this collage would have been more successful if the water was made up of images of jeans from magazines as I had originally intended, rather than a fabric actually depicting water. I think I lost some of the irony in that decision. In terms of my future as a designer, I just don't think I'm very good at "selling" things that I don't genuinely have passion or belief in, I cannot really see a future career for myself here. But I can certainly see a benefit to improving in persuasion as a skill when I think of applying it to things I do care about.

Figure 3: 「富嶽三十六景　神奈川沖浪裏」Kanagawa oki nami ura (Under the Wave off Kanagawa)
[Woodblock Print]. Hokusai, K.

WEEK 5

IMAGE AS COMMENTARY

21: Poster thumbnails

0.4 fine line pen. A3 cartridge paper.

22. Pencil / pen sketch of chosen image

0.4 fine line pen, HB graphite pencil. Baking paper.

I was sick for this workshop, but I caught up on it the week after when we were luckily still doing lino printing. I actually did not realise that we would be primarily using analog methods for the start of this unit and I got so excited when I realised we would be able to use the printmaking facilities in the room. I hadn't done lino since high school art class (a very long time ago), but I always remembered it very fondly. I love the tactile nature of it, and the final product feels so perfect and complete purely because it's a print. I did not know that you could use graphite pencil on tracing paper and then trace it again with the graphite face down on the lino in order to instantly transfer it. It's such a great time saving tip.

23. Lino prints of the image (one colour)

Black printing ink, print making machine. A4 cartridge paper.

My first and only lino print of my frog design did not turn out very well. I really wanted it to be completely flush with black ink and create a solid black background with the white frog popping out. I didn't have time to experiment more with this linocut unfortunately. It seems I either did not have enough ink, or did not have enough padding for the printmaking machine for it to press the print down completely. Regardless, I still really enjoyed my first attempt at working with lino.

24. Digital explorations of the lino print

Adobe Photoshop. Lasso tool, rectangle tool, fill tool, gradient tool, transparency, style filter, layers

First I just cleaned up the lino print as if it had printed perfectly, then I cut it out, which I really liked the look of (stamp-esque). After that I experimented with some transparency and coloured backgrounds, gradients and style filters, none of which I really liked that much (apart from the dark green one). I decided to create a flat background matching the original colour of the paper for a cleaner feel and then just experiment with composition, repetition and scale in monochrome which I liked much better. Although I really enjoy the white lines on black background I can see why for digital use it would be best to have the linoprint the other way around (black lines and white background) so that the lines themselves are easier to manipulate. I am not experienced with photoshop at all however so I imagine the results would be better if you either knew how to use it better, or had a clearer vision.

25. Final version

Adobe Photoshop.

I like this final version of the poster. It's extremely simplistic but I like the way it is balanced compositionally and how all of the elements continue to refer back to each other. The head and arms of the frog point towards each other drawing the eye between them diagonally, while the white distorted circle at the centre creates a sense of weight and centres the composition, the roundness of the shape making the eye then move clockwise around the page again. I used the shape tool to create a simple white cirlce and then the "grain" filter in Photoshop to make it fit in more with the texture of the frog print. I would love to learn how to use photoshop more so that I know what tools to use to add to a composition like this in future.

WEEK 7

IMAGE AS IDENTITY

26: Self-portrait - Black & White

Black printing ink, lino, zig-zag scissors, print making machine. A4 cartridge paper.

27: Self-portrait - Black + 1 Colour

Black, red, turquoise printing ink, lino, print making machine. A4 cartridge paper.

28: Self-portrait - Black + 2 Colours

Black, red, turquoise, green printing ink, lino, print making machine. A4 cartridge paper.

29: Digital Portrait Black & White

30: Digital Portrait Colour

Adobe Photoshop.

I absolutely loved the final week of this assessment as I got to play around with lino cutting and printing properly. I had been waiting all semester for this. This week we were looking at image as identity. I did not want to portray my "identity" via my features, because I do not feel that they really represent anything about me, so I chose to use the word "soft" and black, red, turquoise and green ink. I have always loved using bold text in my work and the interplay between it being completely obvious and yet somehow mysterious at the same time. I loved that Manuela made a distinction between "identity" and "image" in the lecture. Identity is at the core of who we are, it is our essence, the real thing, "what is", whereas "image" is something different to that. "Image" is more to do with perception, it is what other people see of us, or the image that we want to project (Taboada, 2023). We may not be able to change our real identity, but we certainly (especially if you have a degree of privilidge) have a some control over your image (for example in the clothes that you wear and we want people to percieve us). We cannot control how people perceive us but we can control what we project, which is a part of our "narrative" in social science terms (Taboada, 2023). We are made up of many different social narratives, for example one may be "woman" and another is our personal narrative that is made up of our own particular experiences. These stories of course are not just written or verbal, but often visual stories. Constructing these stories therefore, and either supporting or rejecting the status quo is a huge part of what designers do (Taboada, 2023). Something that has been reinforced many times during my design degree is that whether you know it or not, and are intentional or not, your work will make a statement, and it is your responsibility to know what that is and whether you believe in it or not.

After much experimentation with different amounts of time rolling the ink onto the rollers, and how much pressure to apply I became more confident in how to achieve a full ink pressing, or a softer faded one for different effects. I then used an already cut flower print in different colours to add another dimension to my portrait. I loved experimenting with mixing the different colours and was very pleased with my blue and green print as it finally achieved the gradient effect I wanted. I also experimented with some monoprints to get different textural backgrounds. I did not make any separate prints so that I could scan them and then layer them digitally, but I can understand now why that would have been a really useful thing to do. For my digital explorations I had to cut the flowers out from the already combined print and then copy and layer them. I really enjoyed how much control I had over where each element sat on the page, and being able to free transform them while still getting the beautiful texture of the ink, paper and print.

I can't stop thinking about the video we watched of Eric Carle who created The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Waterstones, 2009). His process and his warmth. He would paint these beautiful, gigantic swathes in guache and then cut shapes from them in order to create the caterpillar and food in his children's book. That's how he got such beautiful textures, and it's this same technique that I would love to use moving forward in my practice. I don't really like working completely digitally but I love how you can use the digital tools to transform the analogue work so that it is so much easier to work with but just as beautiful. I ended up buying a copy of The Very Hungry Caterpillar after that workshop because I was so inspired by him.

REFLECTION

So far this has been one of the most enjoyable and inspirational units I have completed in my degree thus far. I have absolutely loved beginning with analogue arts techniques and I am excited to learn more about bringing them into the digital sphere. I was previously majoring in Industrial Design but I have since changed my major to Interaction Design, so this is actually a non-compulsory subject for me, however I can see myraid ways in which this will influence my practice as a designer moving forward. In Interaction Design it is all about bridging that gap between the physical and the digital, and this unit has given me so much inspriation for how I might do that in a stylistic sense. I have never been very confident in my artistic abilities, but this unit has given me much more confidence that I could incorporate some visual communication elements into my future work if I put the effort in. One of the most helpful lectures Manuela gave for me was on "Inspiration, Research & Copy" (Taboada, 2023). In this live lecture she went through the process of finding inspiration, then doing research to bring that inspiration to life and the process of "copying". Inspiration is to be found all around you at all times, and it is crucial to capture that inspiration in whatever way you see fit. Research is the part that brings reality to that inspiration in seeing how other's have achieved what you want to achieve, learning new techniques or learning how to draw specific things or use specific tools. Copying has always had its place as an tradition of learning, as long as you copy to learn, you can then make something your own. Inspiration often leads to research, and research often leads to more inspiration. It is this cycle that gives me the most confidence in approaching creative tasks in future. Thank you to Chris for being a great tutor and always getting to the point, giving us freedom to explore and create and inspiring us with confidence and good tunes.

REFERENCES

Hokusai, K. (1831) 「富嶽三十六景　神奈川沖浪裏」Kanagawa oki nami ura (Under the Wave off Kanagawa) [Woodblock Print]. Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo, Japan.

Madden, T. J., Hewett, K., & Roth, M. S. (2000). Managing Images in Different Cultures: A Cross-National Study of Color Meanings and Preferences. Journal of International Marketing, 8(4), 90–107.

https://doi.org/10.1509/jimk.8.4.90.19795

Munroe, R. (2013). Imposter Syndrome [Web Comic].

https://xkcd.com/1954/

Taboada, M. (2023). DVB102 - Image Design & Production: Introduction [Live Video Lecture]. Canvas.

https://canvas.qut.edu.au/courses/14373/pages/week-1-live-lecture-intro-to-unit?module_item_id=1437219

Taboada, M. (2023). DVB102 - Image Design & Production: Image as Documentation [Video Lecture]. Canvas.

https://canvas.qut.edu.au/courses/14373/pages/week-2-video-lecture-image-as-documentation?module_item_id=1437243

Taboada, M. (2023). DVB102 - Image Design & Production: Image as Identity [Live Video Lecture]. Zoom.

https://qut.zoom.us/j/82283393360?pwd=ZnZZNmpDVG5SNitld1dQbndRRnlydz09&from=addon#success

Taboada, M. (2023). DVB102 - Image Design & Production: Inspiration, Research and Copying [Live Video Lecture]. Zoom.

https://canvas.qut.edu.au/courses/14373/pages/week-3-live-lecture-inspiration-research-and-copying?module_item_id=1443383

Taboada, M. (2023). DVB102 - Image Design & Production: Image as Storytelling (What's In a Story) [Video Lecture]. Canvas.

https://canvas.qut.edu.au/courses/14373/pages/whats-in-a-story?module_item_id=1420447

Taboada, M. (2023). DVB102 - Image Design & Production: Images as Persuasion [Video Lecture]. Canvas.

https://canvas.qut.edu.au/courses/14373/pages/week-4-video-lecture-on-persuasion?module_item_id=1420471

Waterstones. (2009, February 28). Eric Carle - The Very Hungry Caterpillar
[Video]. YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvRcCKP5v6Q

Watterson, B. (2005). The Complete Calvin and Hobbes (1st ed.). Andrews McMeel Publishing

30 Images in 30 Days

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30 Images in 30 Days

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