Adobe Illustrator Motifs Design

I have been using Adobe Illustrator to create at least one motif design, I was resisting using any Photoshop to design, because I am rather a handmade person, but it is unavoidable, because nowadays it is an advantage to know how to use Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator. When I was at the digital workshop session, I was losing my temper over the learning process, but I have decided to book a one to one support session and continue to work on my technology skills.

My Adobe Illustrator motif design’s inspiration came from a book called The Secret Code by Priya Hemenway (2008).  This talks about ‘the mysterious formula that rules art, nature and science’, which in other words means the proportion of measurements. I thought it would be a good idea to use Adobe Illustrator to create some of the motif designs, because they are difficult to draw by hand, because precise measurement is needed. 

I have experimented with different shapes and positions on the Adobe Illustrator, the more I use it, the more I explore what I can do using this software, for example, changing the line design from thick to thin to create  movement, like a brushstroke effect.

With motif designs it is not about making a picture, but to have different combinations in order to create designs in the future. Therefore, I am using these shapes that I have created through the computer to link my hand made design together, because my handmade designs were more drawing based, where I think these computer designs would fit nicely in the background or maybe overlapping.

Motifs Designs - Drawings (Part 2)

Sketchbook Drawing - Pigeon



I thought of using blocks of colour as a background, because I tend to work on white sheets of paper, with black fine liners, therefore, it always ended up black and white. I thought of adopting Egon Schiele’s drawing style, having unfinished pieces. In this drawing I thought of using different colours that I have developed in my colour palette and painting them into blocks, however, while I was trying to create the white wash effect, the paint bled and overlapped with the other colour, it was rather accidental in the process. I have a collection of found objects and I used the cork to create mark making.

 

Sketchbook Drawing - Tiger

 

I adopted a tiger through WWF, it is named Kamrita. Therefore, I been receiving letters about tigers, inside those letters are photographs of tigers, bookmarks and information about tigers.

I thought of how I can relate these letters to my project, so I started drawing them by using the photographs I received as a research base and I am planning to draw a series of tigers, by studying their movements.

 

I thought of using paper cut outs for my motif designs. However, after a conversation with teaching staff, some suggestions were made. When I use paper cut outs, I lose the quality of my drawings, because most of my drawings contain movement. Therefore, I will be more experimental with my use of media. Another suggestion was that I have a habit of working from the corner and this means that my drawings/ designs have been cut off. In motif designs, it is best to have a drawing or design with a shape of its own. For example, the bird skeleton has a shape of its own and is not limited by the paper. I will be more considered with my future work and think about the scale that I will be working on.

Over the holiday, I have been collecting found natural objects, and I developed an interest in their shapes. I started to use line drawings to create a design.

I plan to work on black material, such as black paper, use white paint and a paint brush to work with in my next drawing, because this way I can work out the negative and positive, and it would be clearer while working on screen-printing. In screen printing, if I were to design a drawing on to white paper with black pen, the black area is where the colour would be transferred to while printing.

Motifs Designs - Drawings

I have always been interested in animals, but I have started to look at them from another perspective. For example, I started looking at the dead pigeons, because this subject was overlooked and I thought of how I can transfer the image into print design.

Sketchbook Drawing - Dead Pigeon

I like to work with fine-liner pens; because it creates a sketching effect, I do not enjoy drawing with pencils, because I hate the idea that it can be corrected by rubbing it off the paper. With a pen, once the mark is made, it cannot be undone. I start off by using continuous line drawing to roughly mark down the proportion with a pencil or a graphite stick, but I never use a rubber.

One issue that I have found with the 0.5mm fine-liner pen is that the line it creates is too fine, which makes it hard or even impossible for the print to be produced. I discovered that the safest way is to use 2.0mm or a bigger number.

I then started to look into pigeons’ skeletons and be experimental with my drawings.

 

Sketchbook Drawing - Pigeon Skeletons

Also, being experimental I have used straight lines only to draw a skeleton of a pigeon.

 

I have used the feathers that I have collected to create mark making on the paper and tea stains and Indian ink to draw them. I thought of developing this kind of work by looking into mark making and combining it with found objects.

Things I might explore: I have liked Jackson Pollock’s work, because it is full of energy.  I have also started to develop an interest in working with hair. Therefore, I plan to experiment with this direction. 

Data

I had an idea to document the life of a pigeon, from an egg, to a chick, to a fully grown pigeon and to a dead pigeon, but I couldn't make a connection between this idea and data until I thought of the population of pigeons in the UK.

I managed to find a chart showing the population of pigeons from 1994-2003 . I drew a dead pigeon and then I used tracing paper and drew the population chart so that it overlapped the drawing of the pigeon.

I think the line worked well with the angle of the body, and the tracing paper gave an effect to soften the tone of the drawing.

The idea of pigeons, was from taking a walk in Withwroth park. I always seem to see a dead body of a pigeon in the park. I thought this data is something that not many people have thought about, because pigeons are all over the city and they are common. I guess no one would bother if a few of them died. I feel like I want to look at the things that other people overlooked. 

I found this quote from The World According to Karl: The Wit and Wisdom of Karl Lagerfeld, 

"I hate the idea of lumbering people with whatever's left. When it's over, it's over. I'm against memory. There comes a time when you have to pack it in. I admire the animals in the wild. When they die you don't see them again. "( Mauriès, P and Napias, J-C (2013) 158)

I also like to move forward and think memory can become baggage, but I don't want to overlook things that are meaningful in life. 

It fascinates me to think about who might be interested enough to collect data about pigeon populations. 

 

Mauriès, P and Napias, J-C (2013) (The world According to Karl) London :Thames and Hudson. 

100 meter line

I admire Candy Jernigan's work, she is known as a found object artist.
 

My first idea to represent 100 meter line was to go to Whitworth park and use a 100 meter long string to tie two trees together and fill the space in between with the lines.

However, I know there is no such thing as original, because there's always some artist somewhere who has done similar things, but still, I would like something that came from my own idea and to know that I wasn't just adopting another artist's approach without being interested in their work.  

 

I used found objects, I collected twigs, and later I selected 3 out of a bunch, and I hammered one on the wall, and used a roll of thread to tie the 2 together, to create a sense of flowing, the shadows reflected the threads and the twigs, I know the thread did not create 100 meter length, but I was looking at how the light and shadow, positive and negative space multiplied the line. 

           


 

 

 

 

Later on, I was looking at Candy Jernigan's work and I like how she uses different ways to represent her found objects, through collage and drawings.

I have taken this idea from her on board, it happened accidentally. My dog chewed up the twigs I found at the park, and she also chewed up my Embroidery wooden hoop in to many pieces. I used those wooden pieces and placed them in five orderly lines, and another piece at the other side of the paper. I then started to draw them, drawing the found objects, within the found objects themselves.

 

Sampling - Print

The task was to peel off the vinyl and use it to draw a continuous line drawing, in the process the vinyl might snap, it might stick togther taking two lines or more.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=726415747368699&l=4095143104314127170

(See the link for video of the process)

Working in a team of six, we decided to give one another a role to do. So, someone filmed the process and someone did the peeling and we all did something. Working in a team, showed that we all have different ways of thinking. I jumped in and went ahead and started peeling. Thinking about it afterward, I realised I acted without discussion with my team members, which might have made them feel left out. Having roles worked well, once we decided what we were doing. I felt like I learnt how to communicate a bit more clearly with others and to compromise.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=726418410701766&l=489980301429716867

(See the link for video of the process)

For example, I suggested to use the positive space and negative space of the vinyl and wall, then another member of the team was more interested in 3D, and at the end, our ideas combined togther.

 

 

Mapping the City

I have decided to document my journey from Manchester to Breadbury.
In order to get to Breadbury, I will need to walk to Piccadilly train station then get the train to Breadbury.

People mention that I describe a lot, so I descibe what I saw, heard and sensed.

As a starting point, I have written down a list of items I carried with me.

I have also used photography to record my surroundings.

 

 

Instead of taking photographs from usual angles, I started to think about seeing things differently, for example, taking photographs from below, because I took Fiona, my dog with me on the journey, I thought it would be interesting to adopt her point of view, therefore, I have used black and white images.

 

Later on, I have used my images as a template and worked on them with black ink, I drew a list of objects, in the order that I walked past them, and I have placed them on a piece of paper, thinking about the composition to represent my journey.

 

 

 

I have also tried to draw straight lines while on the train to recreate the movement changes on the train.

 

Thrying to push the idea of mapping the city further, I plan to collect found objects to create a collage, so I can relate this idea to collecting data.

 

I can also use the found objects as a drawing tool and use it to record my movements on a piece of paper.

 

I plan to look at related artist, Candy Jernigan for inspirations of found object in order to push my ideas further.