RETSU TAKAHASHI

 Today i found this american Artist Retsu Takahashi whilst searching for artists who use a lot of line in their work. Retsu draws a lot of architecture with amazing detail. Its nice to see that his images are so rich without the use of colour. also love the amount of depth and perspective he can capture in his drawings. From looking at his work i will definitely take note of his techniques

Love the amount of depth in this image

such great detail in this, really great perspective.

selected colour in this works really.

POP!

The Bar Pop in Southampton approached me few months back and asked for our illustration group to do some artwork in their venue. The manager Barry wants a lot of artwork, its a perfect link for our course, in return for doing free work we get exposure and a chance to use the bar as an exhibition space. Our tutor Jonny Hannah is fully on board, which is amazing. 

Stage1 Prepping Tables. 

This morning we started by preparing tables. There are 10 in total, 4 large and the rest smaller. We got sanding and base coating today! ready for next Sunday when we will have some stencil designs ready for applying.

Jonny sanding

sanding...

...and more sanding!

Painting!

Doughnut time!

FMP UPDATE

YEP, its probably about time i update what is actually going on with my FMP. These last few weeks have been a real struggle, with dips in inspiration, and consequently motivation, but now im on track with an idea that i aim to see through!

My time in the print room was a push i the right direction in terms of finding an amazing medium to work with, And Ive come up with an idea that i think will complement the method nicely. Machines and mechanisms have been predominant in the work i currently do, so i want to try and produce a body of work that will sum up that area of my illustration. I had chats with Derick who suggested some people and things to get some inspiration from, Jean Tinguely was one. Although sculpture really isn't my sort of thing, the dense and complicated structures jean creates fascinated me! It gave me some ideas towards a way i could draw machines, with high density and complex shapes.

Jean Tenguely

Ive done alot of sketchbook work, exploring moving and interjoining parts. In light of Jeans work i even raided the skips at uni and found lots of mechanical bits and bobs, and have done studies from them.

scrap bin loot!

i love this fan.

My original idea was to create a series of machines that represent the 4 elements, Earth, wind, water, and fire. The basis behind this was to reinvent something that is so naturally pure into a complete opposite, a man made structure.  Here is the first image i created, (and also used in my FMP poster), it represents the Wind element, I did this by incorporating huge turbines.   

its extremely detailed, and i think i got the right level of dense line work to create an interesting image that i am very pleased with. The image above is actually an A1 screen print, the original is in on A3 and is drawn completely free hand with fine liners. Yep!  

Here is the screen. I got the image blown up and printed on A1 tracing paper and then exposed it to the screen, the printing didn't come out so great and the black line wasn't particularity strong, so the negative image didn't come out as detailed as the original.  

I also added 3 layers of color to sit behind the black outlines, as you can see above i did this by laying acetate over a print and blocking out the colored areas. For the colors themselves i was very experimental, I chose some very bright pink purple and greens, which i think gives it a very 1980's feel, which i really like. 

(NOTE) A member of fine art organised an arts fundraiser on Monday, the theme was "Visions of the Future". They saw my work in the studio and asked me if they could exhibit these prints. i said yes of course! and they received a great response, even enquirers about sales - good times!

my work being displayed at the event

and the black and white one...

 

update baby

Self promo crit.
just as i feared... there was a bin, 2 bins in fact! but one was a friendly head witch was for the all the good stuff, the other was a standard bin where all the unlucky promos were to be placed. 

There's the pile of posted self promo's and the good and bad bins.

Heres the package i put together, it got in the good bin! they generally liked what i did, they just had issues with the production values, as it was all printed on cheapish paper and the folding was a bit dodgy. things to defo think about when sending out some final self promotions in the future.

A stamp fits nicely into on the corner there.

Had some little stickers to seal it and stop it opening in the post.

contact card

poster folds out.

lots of em!

SELF PROMO PACKAGE BOOOOM!

sooo ive recently completed my self promotion project, sent it in the mail yesterday. It consists on a mini dv tape case filled with a poster and a contact card, pretty basic idea but it could be  effective and different enough to catch peoples eye if it came through their postbox.
Heres the poster, which folds into the case, ill upload the case later as my iphone has no juice!

MINI POSTER SIDE 1...crazy assed machine

MINI POSTER SIDE 2 doodle book stuff

Ive sent this to my tutor though the wonders of The Royal Mail, and its being critiqued along with the other class mates on thursday. Apparently theres some lead designer coming in, (as he gets tonnes of these through the post everyday from budding illustrators) to come and lay his JUDGMENT on what weve done... I hear theres a bin involved, i'm scared...

WEB PRESENTS

Open publication - Free publishing - More tarquin

Just in the middle of a web presents lecture with Chris, its lunch time (ive had a chicken caesar wrap and a Eat Natual almonds and apricots bar, check me out!) Chris  has just told us about Issuu.com...where you can complile your work into an awesome  ineractive online book, amazing for websites. Heres a mega quick one i knocked up, with no pertictlar order or sturcture, ill post my final outcomes later on today. 

MEGA UPDATE: FMP

Welllll! Our FMP (Final major project) was launched! Ahhh! Its time to get working! Its Been a very busy couple of weeks, so its about time for a mega update to generally tell ya’ll what ive been up to!  

JOHN NORRIS  WOOD

Theres that cheeky Mr Wood! doing his thang!

Wow, what a guy! This man is 81, and he’s a complete inspiration. We were lucky to get a lecture from John last week, where he talked us though the work of some of his favorite artists, who were also close friends of his. His talk was incredible; He burst into life and totally captivated me, adding comical impressions of his friend’s voices as he went. “ What would you think the postman would say?” haha! The work he showed us was impressive, especially considering the time period it was created most of it done by his pals Edward Bawden, Betty Swanic and Chris Cornford, just to name a few! His own work was brilliant as well; he loves drawing wild life, especially frogs!

FIG TAYLOR

I sure learnt a lot from Fig. she’s got loads of knowledge about compiling professional portfolios. I now have a decent sense of direction when it comes to putting mine together. She also spoke about the different areas popular commissions come from, such as books, magazines, web, ect.  She even shared her knowledge on  how to go about contacting potential clients. Overall a great help! 


Onwards with the FMP! so, ive slowly been raking my brains for strange and exciting ideas i can  formulate into a final plan of action! ive been keeping a sketchbook and doodling in it daily, writing notes and recording ideas and inspirations. No firm ideas have fallen into place as of yet, but something along the lines of machinery and inter-joining parts and mechanisms deeply interests me!

This past week i wanted to try something new, so ive been hitting up the print room! screen printing is something ive never got round to trying, and ive been completely sucked into the process! This week ive been spending 4-5 hours there everyday experimenting. Heres some cheeky pics of what ive been up to, learning the process was what was key here, so i drew up a very quick image to get started, and where better to start then with ducks!!

Print Room!

Quick 4 layers, ready to be exposed onto a screen

Layers compiled 

Final Outcome

I was very pleased with this outcome, being my first ever screen print! this rubbish scan doesn't do it justice as the colors are very vibrant, and the black lines crisp. Although its a lengthy process, its extremely satisfying and the results are worthwhile.  This could be a great process to concentrate on for my FMP and i has enough to  keep me engaged!