I've decided to set up a seperate blog to showcase my work as anyone who wants to see it has to trawl through paragraphs of my ramblings to get to any imagery.
http://jamesmportfolio.blogspot.com
Sunday, 22 March 2009
Wednesday, 18 March 2009
Printing, Deadline and Stuff.
OK, so I thought I had a lot longer on this project than I do, the layout for the article has to be finished by next week for our crit and to get the most out of it, so do the illustrations (or at least some roughs) I really thought I had alot longer to research and experiment (which is a shame) but I really need to have made my mind up about the angle or point that I am trying to convey about Christian Schwartz and his interview by the end of today so that I can narrow my research down to only properly relevant stuff and quickly formulate some more focused ideas on how I will communicate this visually. I also have PPRD to consider as the deadline is on Monday as well as the mini website for flash and the live brief for sorted surf shop.
Because of the sheer amount of stuff I have to do I will need to plan my week so I'm going to write up a little timeplan on here (it's obviously not interesting to anyone else but somehow I feel that by writing up on here it is more official and will mean there's a better chance of me keeping to it.)
Tonight: Ideas and decide on the point I am making with magazine project to focus tomorrow's work
Thursday:Illustration ideas, experimentation, development (create visualised ideas to choose from).
Friday:Research into layouts (get book on layouts out of the library) layout Ideas.
Saturday:Illustration for CV.
Sunday:Go home? If yes take time to think about decisions on ideas.If no, further development. sort PPRD stuff for deadline tomorrow.
Monday:PPRD deadline, sort website.
Tuesday:Roughs of illustrations and layout made up on InDesign.
Wednesday:Crit, take into account feedback before pushing on with final designs.
Today we had a tutorial on print specifications which was quite technical and dry but nonetheless essential knowledge for me to possess as a visual communicator and will serve me well during my work placement at crossprint at home on the Isle Of Wight.
I learnt about various aspects of the printing process, including:
The process of imposition or the rearranging of pages so that they can be printed on both sides and subsequently folded so that the pages are ordered correctly. This allows for better paper economy and easier binding.
Print specifications, which include:
- The T.P.S (trimmed page size).
-Bleed.
-Extent (number of pages).
-Print spec; describes the colours needed, for example 4 back 1 (four colours one side and one on the other).
-Binding.
-Cover/jacket type and cover/jacket spec.
-Endpaper spec.
-Illustration spec.
-Price.
-Rights.
Signatures, which are a individual groups of pages folded together in one kind of, mini-booklet, in multiples of four that make up a book or magazine.
I'm sure there's some stuff I've left off but that's all I can remember at the moment.
Though I have alot on my plate at the moment, I went to visit my housemate and friend in Southampton intensive care unit after an accident which resulted in a head injury that has put him in a critical (but stable) condition. Seeing such a vibrant, enthusiastic person in that condition puts perspective on things and reminds me of the relevative importance of what I am doing and makes it seem really narcissistic to complain about my current workload.
Because of the sheer amount of stuff I have to do I will need to plan my week so I'm going to write up a little timeplan on here (it's obviously not interesting to anyone else but somehow I feel that by writing up on here it is more official and will mean there's a better chance of me keeping to it.)
Tonight: Ideas and decide on the point I am making with magazine project to focus tomorrow's work
Thursday:Illustration ideas, experimentation, development (create visualised ideas to choose from).
Friday:Research into layouts (get book on layouts out of the library) layout Ideas.
Saturday:Illustration for CV.
Sunday:Go home? If yes take time to think about decisions on ideas.If no, further development. sort PPRD stuff for deadline tomorrow.
Monday:PPRD deadline, sort website.
Tuesday:Roughs of illustrations and layout made up on InDesign.
Wednesday:Crit, take into account feedback before pushing on with final designs.
Today we had a tutorial on print specifications which was quite technical and dry but nonetheless essential knowledge for me to possess as a visual communicator and will serve me well during my work placement at crossprint at home on the Isle Of Wight.
I learnt about various aspects of the printing process, including:
The process of imposition or the rearranging of pages so that they can be printed on both sides and subsequently folded so that the pages are ordered correctly. This allows for better paper economy and easier binding.
Print specifications, which include:
- The T.P.S (trimmed page size).
-Bleed.
-Extent (number of pages).
-Print spec; describes the colours needed, for example 4 back 1 (four colours one side and one on the other).
-Binding.
-Cover/jacket type and cover/jacket spec.
-Endpaper spec.
-Illustration spec.
-Price.
-Rights.
Signatures, which are a individual groups of pages folded together in one kind of, mini-booklet, in multiples of four that make up a book or magazine.
I'm sure there's some stuff I've left off but that's all I can remember at the moment.
Though I have alot on my plate at the moment, I went to visit my housemate and friend in Southampton intensive care unit after an accident which resulted in a head injury that has put him in a critical (but stable) condition. Seeing such a vibrant, enthusiastic person in that condition puts perspective on things and reminds me of the relevative importance of what I am doing and makes it seem really narcissistic to complain about my current workload.
Monday, 9 March 2009
Magazine Project
On recieving our brief for the magazine project today I was buoyed by the fact that there is an emphasis on illustration as well as typographic design. Although it is inevitable that a large proportion of the work I do as a visual communicator will, at some stage, involve a computer, after 10 hour stints in front of a screen for flash, it is refreshing to have the opportunity to do some hand rendered stuff. The main outcome of the new brief is a four page illustrated magazine spread of a transcribed interview of a type designer on Typeradio.com. As I said in my last post I want to break out of my rigid routine of combing the internet for illustrators and writing at length about their work for my research as I don't think it is conducive to the creation of innovative, laterally thought out work. I will instead, make my first port of call the library to take out relevant books and any films which link in to the subject and use the internet as a backup resource. Also after not really doing much drawing for a while I want to make sure my drawing does not atrophy any further (I'm pretty sure it will have suffered for my lack of practice for a while) and instead of merely creating one illustration for my final piece I will try and illustrate and experiment visually with all my ideas. I hope this is not just the initial burst of enthusiasm that comes with a new brief and that I fulfil these aims and am still this optimistic by the next time I update this blog.....
Thursday, 5 March 2009
Flash+planning
After handing in our Flash animation projects yesterday I need to shift my focus onto the remaining course units and other self initiated projects and live briefs I intend to do. I have to begin to think about the upcoming magazine project, the 5 page website for the ABC qualification, securing my placement, creating a designed CV and doing a class project to try and get a third year for vis-com.
After two successive projects in which I felt played it a bit safe in creating my final images I feel I could push my work by taking a more experimental approach involving more risk-taking and lateral thought.
Deciding to adopt a more adventurous way of working was partly influenced by a timely blog post by one of today's most successful illustrators David Foldvari who fervently rails against the process of students referencing and researching contemporary illustrator's work as it homogenises the output of the student. This struck a chord with me as I know I probably focus on other people's work too much which, inevitably cause me to voluntarily or involuntarily produce similar work. I will therefore make a point of, in future projects, increasing my breadth of research to more diverse material than just other vis com.
As I mentioned earlier in this post I have just finished my flash project. The brief dictated that we had to communicate a statistic. I chose to create an animation based on the story of Roy Sullivan, a park ranger in America who was struck by lightning seven times and the odds of this happening. Although I don't think the final piece was the best example of my work I think the emphasis in this project was more on learning new skills on a new piece of software and creating something which met the brief and feel that I have done this and can now build upon what I have learnt. I will embed the animation on this page as soon as I find out how!
After two successive projects in which I felt played it a bit safe in creating my final images I feel I could push my work by taking a more experimental approach involving more risk-taking and lateral thought.
Deciding to adopt a more adventurous way of working was partly influenced by a timely blog post by one of today's most successful illustrators David Foldvari who fervently rails against the process of students referencing and researching contemporary illustrator's work as it homogenises the output of the student. This struck a chord with me as I know I probably focus on other people's work too much which, inevitably cause me to voluntarily or involuntarily produce similar work. I will therefore make a point of, in future projects, increasing my breadth of research to more diverse material than just other vis com.
As I mentioned earlier in this post I have just finished my flash project. The brief dictated that we had to communicate a statistic. I chose to create an animation based on the story of Roy Sullivan, a park ranger in America who was struck by lightning seven times and the odds of this happening. Although I don't think the final piece was the best example of my work I think the emphasis in this project was more on learning new skills on a new piece of software and creating something which met the brief and feel that I have done this and can now build upon what I have learnt. I will embed the animation on this page as soon as I find out how!
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