Over this semester of uni I have been working towards my Honours Project, I decided to write a brief focused on one of my passions; which is video gaming. I have been an avid gaming since I first played on my older brothers PlayStation One in the mid 90's. I originally intended on creating a body of work that covered all aspects of gaming, from consoles to handhelds, Sony to Sega. However I soon made the decision to create my work aimed on handheld gaming past and present (Nintendo).
After weeks of research and countless illustrations of handhelds I started to piece together an illustrated timeline of the Nintendo handheld history, Gameboy 1989 - 2DS 2013 (WIP here).
With my timeline being successful I then had to consider displaying my work for my end of year Degree Show, which leads me to the vinyl installation. I had previously experimented with some vinyl window designs during this project with some success, I put up a simple image of a Gameboy just to see how well it would work. (see here)
With the first vinyl Gameboy design being successful and some encouragement from my tutors, I felt confident enough to produce something a little more elaborate. I sketched up some quick designs and grabbed my vinyl, eager to start.
My Process
With only a limited amount of knowledge for creating vinyl installations I am very much new to this medium, with only a handful of previous attempts I still felt comfortable with this challenge.
The way which I created this image was to apply the vinyl sheet directly onto the window first then cut into the vinyl whilst it was applied. I could have got my design laser cut first or hand cut the design and then applied it to the window but these methods seemed costly, time consuming, and quite tricky.
Applying vinyl to a clean window is vital, as any dust/dirt on the window will cause bubbles and prevent the vinyl sticking to the window properly. There is a small learning curve for applying vinyl to windows successfully with minimum bubbles, It’s very difficult to eliminate all air bubbles but most can be smoothed out with a piece of plastic or cloth, My bank card did the job.
With my vinyl smooth and ready on the window it was time to add my design, which is harder than it sounds. The best method which I found for this is free handing directly onto the vinyl with a red whiteboard marker, It can be hard to see and does rub off easily if touched, I had to redraw parts of my design quite a lot due to accidental smudging. The main positive is that the whiteboard marker can be cleaned off after the vinyl has been cut.
With the vinyl applied and my design drawn on, I proceeded to cut away the largest chunks of my design with a craft knife, taking care not to scratch the window with unnecessary force, the vinyl cuts quite easily so not much pressure is needed. I found it helpful to remove sections as I cut, this helps to visualise the design better.
Once I had finished cutting my work and peeled off the unwanted vinyl from the window I carefully cleaned off the remaining red whiteboard marker with a dry tissue, I wouldn’t recommend using a wet cloth as this could ruin your work.
I managed to create the main image within 3 hours start to finish, I then added the Gameboy and the 2DS the next day on the narrow windows, following the same process.
I couldn't be happier with the end results and no doubt I will continue to create more work like this in the future.
My Process
With only a limited amount of knowledge for creating vinyl installations I am very much new to this medium, with only a handful of previous attempts I still felt comfortable with this challenge.
The way which I created this image was to apply the vinyl sheet directly onto the window first then cut into the vinyl whilst it was applied. I could have got my design laser cut first or hand cut the design and then applied it to the window but these methods seemed costly, time consuming, and quite tricky.
Applying vinyl to a clean window is vital, as any dust/dirt on the window will cause bubbles and prevent the vinyl sticking to the window properly. There is a small learning curve for applying vinyl to windows successfully with minimum bubbles, It’s very difficult to eliminate all air bubbles but most can be smoothed out with a piece of plastic or cloth, My bank card did the job.
With my vinyl smooth and ready on the window it was time to add my design, which is harder than it sounds. The best method which I found for this is free handing directly onto the vinyl with a red whiteboard marker, It can be hard to see and does rub off easily if touched, I had to redraw parts of my design quite a lot due to accidental smudging. The main positive is that the whiteboard marker can be cleaned off after the vinyl has been cut.
With the vinyl applied and my design drawn on, I proceeded to cut away the largest chunks of my design with a craft knife, taking care not to scratch the window with unnecessary force, the vinyl cuts quite easily so not much pressure is needed. I found it helpful to remove sections as I cut, this helps to visualise the design better.
Once I had finished cutting my work and peeled off the unwanted vinyl from the window I carefully cleaned off the remaining red whiteboard marker with a dry tissue, I wouldn’t recommend using a wet cloth as this could ruin your work.
I managed to create the main image within 3 hours start to finish, I then added the Gameboy and the 2DS the next day on the narrow windows, following the same process.
I couldn't be happier with the end results and no doubt I will continue to create more work like this in the future.
Thanks for looking!
