Plan for final outcome.

After having created sketchbook work for preparation for my final outcome, I have decided that I am going to be creating a triptych of framed photos that have been worked on top of to illustrate the idea of animals and humans being similar to one another.


Artist influence for the piece:

• Vince Low - I am using influence from his work through the expressive line in the animal drawings that I am going to involve in my work; I loved his use of chaotic lines to create a highly expressive piece.
• Agnus Cecile - After looking at Ceciles work, I was fascinated by her use of expressive marks and colour to convey a certain mood or emotion when thinking of the piece. I am going to use colours and marks that help express the nature of the animal successfully. For example, in the first composition, I am going to use red and harsh marks as I think it represents the ferocity of the lion fairly well.
• Flora Borsi - As I have a similar concept to Borsi, I can relate to her work better than the others and I am using a similar layout in each composition as well as same colour schemes in each individual piece to show the common ground between animals and humans.
• Andy Gotts - The inspiration that I got from his work was the use of unique facial expressions and this is what I will use to my advantage; my subject will have a similar facial expression to the animal that I am trying to show in each piece.

Equipment/materials that I will need:

• Printed photos of subject with animal drawings on top (edited through photoshop)
• String (to connect the pieces together)
• 3 photo frames (A4)
• Acrylic paint (Red, yellow, blue, white and black)
• Ink (Red and Blue)
• PVA glue
• Paintbrushes
• Bubblewrap (for texture)
• Cotton wool (for texture)
• Cling film (for texture)
• Cardboard (for texture)
• Fibreboard (for texture)
• Coloured thread/string (yellow, green, orange - for texture)
• Bright tissue paper (for texture)

Final Outcome plan change
After creating the butterfly piece, I began to think that I was becoming a bit too disrespectful of the photos, meaning I had to be more subtle. As I like working with photography, I am planning to create a series of photos in the studio that has the model positioned in the centre of the shot (for balance) and then placing some acetate sheets in front of the models face to slightly disrupt the photo. I will be placing the butterfly illustration on top of this.

Using sellotape transferral for my photos

Rather than using acetate to work on top of and behind my photos, I wanted to use the sellotape transferral method for them as I think that this shows more skill and it allows me to make certain areas of the piece translucent when compared to more opaque areas.

Step by step of process:

My first step was to place sellotape over the photo so that each strip is layered slightly over one another, however I had to try and get the sellotape as flat as possible so that there were as little air bubbles as possible.

After the previous step, I dampened the scouring side of the sponge with Luke warm water and then in a circular motion I started to scrub the paper off of the sellotape as this would leave the ink on the sellotape and then create an acetate like piece.

The step of scrubbing the paper away can be repeated with multiple sellotape photos in different ways, especially if you just wanted to only make some areas of the photo translucent. The translucent parts can be seen when held up at the light. 

I am going to use these sellotape transferrals so that I can create marks on top of and behind them to see which provides me with the best outcomes. If I end up wanting to go down the hand made piece route rather than the digital route then this will be the technique that I use.

UPDATE (21-11-17)
I have created a couple of experiments with the use of these sellotape transfers however, I don't like them as they block out too much of the marks that I want to show and the use of the sellotape leads to the photo becoming slightly dirty. I placed the photo over some marks yet I don't think this worked as well as it did when I was applying marks over the image itself rather than underneath it.

Past students work that I am inspired by:

After having talked to my teacher regarding my work, he pointed me towards a body of work that a previous student had created from their time in A Levels as he though that it would link well with my work. These are a couple of compositions from their body of work:

My favourite aspect of these pieces are the fact that the artist has managed to manipulate the photos in a unique way that contribute towards the overall piece and atmosphere. I really like the subtle marks that are added to the photo and how they can affect the mood of the piece. For instance I like the drips on the portrait of the boy as this makes me think of their emotions being drowned out and becoming a puddle of feelings instead. Also as the photo is quite dark, I think that they have been very creative and smart by using dark colours as this benefits the subtlety of the composition.

After looking at these pieces, I think that I need to work into the photos more in a way that I can use marks and colour to benefit the piece. I will start off by using a photo multiple times and creating a variety of different marks and tactile experiments on them to see what looks best with the photo itself.

Experimenting with marks and materials

After having done my colour experiments with red and experimenting with the different types of marks that I could create to evoke mood and atmosphere, I went on to use these marks and combine them with different materials to increase and develop textures in my work. As the colours that I was using in these experiments are based on the colour red and the harmonious colours that go along with it, I think that when comparing the work to an animal, it would be one of a nature that is fierce and quite brutal. For instance, a lion. Some of the marks that were created on the materials were inspired by the work of Agnus Cecile due to her unique textures and marks that she is able to create with her mediums.

1 - When creating this experiment, I was able to show a gradual change in colour as it went from yellow to red to black as I used a sponge to delicately overlay each colour. I used a wood similar to chipboard as I though that this would give a rough texture and would link well to the mood and colours that I was using in the piece. I like the rough texture that is created when the paint hits the surface.
2 - I also like these marks that are created on this surface as they represent the fierceness that I wanted to show in the piece as I will most likely end up pairing these marks with a lion. I like how I have almost fragmented the composition by only applying the marks to the chipboard that I used and I think this would work well when placed onto a photo.

3 - I don't really like this use of cardboard with the marks as it creates certain patterned marks that I don't think work well when compared to the mood and atmosphere that the colours evoke. Additionally, I don't really like the marks that I have created as it appears more like block colour than actual expressive marks.
4 - On the other hand, I do like these marks as they are quite subtle and would work well on a photo as it won't distract the viewer too much from looking at the main focus of the piece, that will be the human and animal aspect of the composition.  I do think that these marks work well with the cardboard when compared to the chipboard as the marks come out smoother on the cardboard.

With both of these experiments, I believe that the marks will suit the ferocity of the animal I will choose, however I think that they overpower the materials used and therefore will definitely overpower the portrait and animal drawing that is created. I believe that the variety of colours in experiment no. 5 is much better than those in no. 6 due to the range of harmonious colours that go with red. However, I do also like the subtlety of the marks in no. 6 as the colours blend well together, even through the use of dry brush.

7 - Overall, I really like this experiment as I used the marks that I have previously liked working with. As the base layer, I used a sponge to gradually blend yellow into red and red into black; this also created a fairly rough texture. I then used the edges of a piece of cardboard to create the angular, linear marks in the wet paint. Whilst this was drying, I used the same technique on the chipboard and then broke it apart so that I could glue each fragment, like experiment 2, onto the first created marks. The marks on the chipboard came out a lot darker du etc the brown colour it originally had. This composition was made with the combination of the marks and layout from my favourite techniques from the previous experiments. I believe that this shows development. One thing that I wish I could have done to better this composition was make the blend between yellow and red more subtle.

Experimenting with colour and marks.

Recently, I have been experimenting with colour and marks and how they can imply different moods, emotions and concepts as I want my aspects in my end product to all link together and make sense as to why I chose those colours and marks. At the moment, I am just getting used to the different types of marks I can create and the meanings that they express. The following is my initial experiments with colour and marks.

1 - To create these marks, I used a dry brush to make the rough texture and then I used a the edge of a piece of cardboard to create harsher marks that appear to have fairly crisp and sharp edges. however, I wish that I would have added more layers to the experiment to enhance the depth within the piece which is something that I am going to try in my next experiments.
2 - This was created with a very dry brush and a lot of layers as to build form, I had to deepen the colour when compared to the outer edges of the experiment. These marks almost represent a fur texture which would be useful when attempting to paint an animal or a response to an animal in the future.

3 - In order to create these marks I splatted the page with different shades of red and then left them to dry for a little while and then used a dry brush to spread the left over wet paint. The rough texture of this piece would work well when comparing it to a piece maybe about anger or if I was linking it to a piece with an animal I would choose one that is commonly known as fierce e.g. a lion.
4 - The more curvaceous marks of this experiment leads to a more delicate atmosphere when compared to some of my other experiments. I used a slightly wet brush to create these marks as they appear more fluid and smooth when compared to the experiments with a dry brush.
5 - These marks are created by using a lot of paint on a slightly wet brush due to the more block areas of colour and I really like them as they stand out on the page more than some of the others do. However, they would probably only be good to use in a piece that are more linear and patterned, and as I am not doing this, I don't think I will use them in the future.
6 - When creating these more fluid marks I used a long soft textured brush to create the more curvaceous marks. I like the blends of the different tones of red.

7 - To create these drips of watered down acrylic, I combined water and acrylic together to create a more viscous medium that would be able to run down the page freely. Although I had controlled the areas where the drips had started out, I like how the direction of the drips has slightly changed as it made its way down the page. These marks would work better in a piece that was maybe depicting something that is fragile and/or delicate.
8 - I am fascinated by the types of marks that this specific brush had created as the stripy effect is quite fierce and sinister even. I was able to layer the brushstrokes to show contrast in tone of the colour red and build depth in the experiment.
9 - These are marks that have been created by a sponge piece that is covered in paint that has been smudged slightly onto the page. I don't really like these marks as they aren't very exciting.
10 - I prefer these marks when compared to experiment no. 9 as they give a more interesting texture and may work well as a background for my photos. I especially like how the black has started to mix with the red to create a variety of tones of the same colour.
11 - These marks were more fun to create than some of the others and I like how the black and red have infused to almost create a smoky effect. In order to create these marks I splatted heavy amounts of the acrylic paint onto the page and used a straw to help disperse the medium. From the moment that the black and red acrylic meets each other, they blend together and this is what causes the smoky effect. The marks created are quite smooth and would work quite well with a piece that illustrated something fragile and delicate. However if I were going to do this then I would use a softer colour such as blue.

12 - This multimedia piece was created through the use of acrylic paint, oil pastel and red sharpie. I layered these marks to build depth however I think that I need more layers for this to become apparent. The bottom layer was created by splatting marks onto the page and then drying them so that I could then spread the leftover wet ink with a dry brush. By doing this I was left with a harder outer shell of acrylic that adds texture to the piece. I then used a slightly wetter brush with red and white acrylic paint to blend colours and make the experiment more subtle. however, I don't think that it was subtle enough for the work that I want to create. The red sharpie was used as I like Vince Lows use of expressive line.
13 - I much prefer this piece to the one on the page before as the marks are much more expressive and the increased level of white in the piece adds more subtlety. If I was going to improve the piece I would have used more dry mark making with acrylic and a dry paint brush. I like that I have used a lot of layers in the experiment as Agnus Cecile does this in her work too and this is something I was most influenced by. To increase subtlety I could have used different tints of red such as pinks to add a more gradual change in colour.