Mastheads and Logos

Written Personal Investigation. Last leg!

Now that you have completed most of your investigation, it is time to reflect, self-assess and round up all of your loose ends.

To help you with analysis of your chosen artefacts, there is a central Analysis Help sheet HERE that collects together all of the methods for deconstructing and explaining formal elements among other helpful things. Remeber, at least 5 artefacts should be given close examination. 

A simple 'Ways Of Looking' sheet is HERE for personal interpretation, context and analysis

The structure of your investigation is summed up in THIS document.

To aid you with your own self-assessment in terms of content, you can use the Personal Investigation Checklist HERE.

You will also formulate a conclusion, to sum up your argument or tie up your findings.

Spellcheck and read back through. You'll be amazed at some of your most obvious mistakes.

Lastly, you will need to present either in your sketchbook or on your Google presentation. 

Hand in date: Monday 20th of November.

1500 - 2250 words of Personal Investigation

Now that you have completed half of your investigation, it is time to research and write the next 750 words.

You will have found that you have completed most of your writing so far utilising mainly lower level thinking skills - knowledge, comprehension and application. It is now time to evidence the higher levels of synthesis, analysis and evaluation.

Remember that further explanations for writing with Bloom's Taxonomy are available HERE

To help you with analysis of your chosen artefacts, there is a central Analysis Help sheet HERE that collects together all of the methods for deconstructing and explaining formal elements among other helpful things. Remeber, at least 5 artefacts should be given close examination.

The structure of your investigation is summed up in THIS document.

To aid you with your own self-assessment in terms of content, you can use the Personal Investigation Checklist HERE.

Your final 2250 - 3000 words will also feature synthesis, analysis and evaluation in some form. You will also formulate a lengthy conclusion to sum up your argument or tie up your findings.

Hand in date: Monday 6th of November.

Youtube Sketchbooks Playlist

Mark making - Design for Music

Personal Investigation Focus

Now that you have researched into many areas connected with your project, you must now come up with a well-constructed title, hypothesis or question to focus your writing.

Task: In your notebook, write your title and bullet point 6 varied and interesting pieces within your focus that you could begin to write about.

Examples of titles:
Learning through looking - How pictures, illustrations and colour help develop a child’s visual vocabulary

From paper to pixel and back - The changing face of illustration within children's books
Photos, ham, cardboard and stitching
How to Look At Bad Pictures - A Trawl Through The Underbelly of Independent Comic Art
Bad news in books - Exploring difficult situations in children’s books
The Nature of Imagery - How visual language within Illustration is used to bring text to life

The Unearthing of underground comics - Digging deep into the changing times of illustration within small press
Woof! Woof! An exploration into the typography (and habits) of Eric Gill and other notable British Typographers"
Good Vibrations! - Charting the birth, rise and influence of the Psychedelic gig poster"
Primitive parts - An exploration of the naive and untutored within Comics, Illustration and graphic design"

Deadline (together with 10 research pages) start of lesson, Friday 17th of June.

Analysis

Examples

Personal Investigation Research Pages

Objective
To begin Comp 1.2
To choose a focus of your personal investigation.

Task
Create 10 research pages.
The pages will be linked to something that you have looked at or attempted during comp 1.1. Thi n of it as a continuation of 1.1 into just a big comp 1 portfolio.

Before you attempt these pages you must read articles about your subject to gain an understanding. You should be able to discuss the wider context of your page. Your pages should be full, brimming with interest communicate your fascination with the subject.

E.G. if your page is about Photomontage, you should be able to discuss:

• the main practitioners, 
• key pieces,
• contemporary practitioners, 
• historical elements 
• attempt an example or two. 

Please, please utilise some of the notes that you have completed during the beginning part of the course. You read them for this task.

Deadline
Monday 19th of June 


The pages in the presentation above are great for the following reasons:

• they relate to the first project as the student came across the elements during case studies and analysis
• Beth discusses Beatrice Alemagna's work process rather than just historical events
• there is a mixture of drawn, printed examples and written note taking
• layout is busy and shows a 'working out' thought process
• the consecutive pages have a flow to them. e.g Beth's Beatrice Alemagna page discusses mixed media. She then goes on to do a page on mixed media and photomontage. This could then lead in many directions - Dadaism, album cover design, Hockney joiners etc.

Anatomy of an illustrated book

Case study 2 and 3

Michael's fine example


Antonia's fine example



Heather's fine example...

Objectives
To further your understanding of graphic communication practitioners

Task
Using the web, research and present a case study about a designer/illustrator/photographer of your choice. 
Choose somebody who you could possibly be influenced by when you come to create your own illustrations.
There is a good list next to my door. Or look on THIS pinboard I lovingly created.

The contents of the case study could include the following. 
n.b. Tasks get harder as you go down the list. If you are after an A*, get to the end.

1. Biography  
Include a few images from the designer's back catalogue and some interesting historical information. (Read, digest and then write your findings. Do not copy and paste information from the web.)
2. Characteristics
Take a number of typical examples and bullet point why they are characteristic of the designer.
3. Context
Consider the context. What other designers are working at the same time? Include a range of illustrator's work
4. Influences
Research to find out who the designer has been influenced by. To do this you may need to read an interview wit the illustrator. 
Just Google "Interview with [illustrator's name]"
5. Working in their style
Using photos or drawings that you created yourself or images from the web, copy or emulate the style of the designer that you are researching and create a version or your own.

Checklist for assessment
Relevant images, in-depth research your own words (no copy and paste), accurate emulation.

Time needed

5 hours each

Deadline

First lesson back after Easter.

End of Comp 1.1 Dates

Scamping and refining

Objective
To work through your initial ideas in an uninhibited fashion. Working in pen means that you can work quickly and not worry about making mistakes. Consider the fact that one of the ideas that you will make will eventually make it through to be a final design. Get all of your ideas no paper now, however strange.

These are are diagrams rather than drawings.

Task
Using a pen, draw out your ideas over a couple of sketchbook spreads. 

Firstly, pour all of your ideas out. Then, if you like one in particular, develop that one for a few scamps until you have a better, more refined version.

Presentation
Photograph and post to your blog.

You may colour them if you wish, but do it loosely and don't spend too much time on it.

Checklist for assessment
Loads and loads of different ideas being explored and refined.

Time needed

3 hrs

Deadline

Wednesday 5th of April

Independent study - Photos of Subject Matter / Contact Sheet

Objective
To gather primary research for your story illustrations.

Task 
Consider the subject matter of your chosen book and take a wealth of relevant photos.
Use your imagination. The best marks will go to those that consider elements of the book that require some thought and planning. Set up a scenario.
For example - if a character in your story is in the army, it would be beneficial to your studies if you took a set of images of somebody dressed as a soldier doing 

Presentation 
Bring them to Monday's lesson, 7th Mar. 
We will then create a contact sheet and annotate the images.

Checklist for assessment 
50+ interesting images, lots of different angles and a variety of subject matter examples.

Time needed 
2.5 hrs

Deadline

Start of lesson Wed 12 April.

Independent study - Sequential Art (your story in panels)

Objective

To practice another method of communicating your ideas

To understand the differences of using a monochromatic and/or limited palette.

To potentially complete an idea for the cover or page illustrations.

Task 

Take a scene from your story and tell the story using panels

Draft out at least 9 panels.
You may use any process you see fit. Look on Pinterest or through my presentation and pick a process that you fancy attempting. 
You can be creative or straight down the line with this. 

What is presented

Research - other's work, any case study info you wish to include
Drafting and roughing out your ideas
Fina piece with WIP

Time needed?

10 hrs of class + 10 hrs of independent study = 20 hrs.

Deadline
29 March 

Hand in date

Hand in date for all work is the end of the lesson, Tues 21st of March.

Please ensure that you have presented the following:

Class story illustration tasks
Annotated story
Research for story (pinboards, photos)
Aspect to Aspect inking (and set of Photos)
3 x inking sheets, final photoshop image (extra marks for placing it in your InDesign template)
Typography
Rationale (relate to final design)
Research for typography (mood board)
Drafting (notebook scamping)
Sketchbook development (colour or texture ideas, or placed on examples)
Final type design(s)

Acrylic painting
Drawing of subject / exciting sketchbook (8 pages)
Scamping existing work
Keith Negley copy (inc work in progress)
Keith Negley emulation, scamping, drafting (inc work in progress)

Independent study tasks
Contour line drawing of location
Character photofit
Cubomania
Collaging silhouettes
Table top
Work in the style of the best 2016
Map
Model and Photography
Photomontage
Recycle your work
Case study

Further reading tasks
Hollis up to chapter 19
Articles: Books without words
Why I love comics
We don’t serve your type
The lure of illustrated children’s books
Readability vs Legibility
Craft is the enemy
Grayson Perry - Are computers killing off craft?
An Interview with Mark Hearld
Interview: Jacqueline Wilson and Nick Sharratt
The Serif of Liverpool
Creatives, designers and drugs
Chris Haughton on Beatrice Alemagna
Psychedelic and Rock Graphics
British psychedelics / Magazine and Album design
Push Pin Studio
Eclectic experiments

Emulating the style and process of Keith Negley

Objective
To improve your mixed media and digital skills
To provide a new, creative method of making ideas.
To further develop your ideas in relation to your story

Task
Create your own 'Keith Negley'.
Choose a character of scene from your story.
Scamp out some ideas as to how you will illustrate the scene.
Draft out a drawing with the same detail as the previous task - try to get it 'Keithey'
Scan into Illustrator and away you go!
Please ensure that you take screenshots as you go...

Expected time5 hrs

Deadline
TBC

Colour

Independent study - Case Study I

Rachel's fine example...

Objectives
To further your understanding of graphic communication practitioners

Task
Using the web, research and present a case study about a designer/illustrator/photographer of your choice. 
Choose somebody who you could possibly be influenced by when you come to create your own illustrations.
There is a good list next to my door. Or look on THIS pinboard I lovingly created.

The contents of the case study could include the following. 
n.b. Tasks get harder as you go down the list. If you are after an A*, get to the end.

1. Biography  
Include a few images from the designer's back catalogue and some interesting historical information. (Read, digest and then write your findings. Do not copy and paste information from the web.)
2. Characteristics
Take a number of typical examples and bullet point why they are characteristic of the designer.
3. Context
Consider the context. What other designers are working at the same time? Include a range of illustrator's work
4. Influences
Research to find out who the designer has been influenced by. To do this you may need to read an interview wit the illustrator. 
Just Google "Interview with [illustrator's name]"
5. Working in their style
Using photos or drawings that you created yourself or images from the web, copy or emulate the style of the designer that you are researching and create a version or your own.

Checklist for assessment
Relevant images, in-depth research your own words (no copy and paste), accurate emulation.

Time needed

5 hours

Deadline

Before lesson, Wednesday the 15th March 2017

Design Principles

What makes a Keith Negley?

Keith Negley

There is so much incredible work being produced all over the place at the moment. One of the most interesting practitioners is Keith Negley. His portfolio is HERE.
I thought it would be a good idea to look at his process and copy/emulate his style. There are numerous reasons for this: he uses a combination of Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop, his illustration style is relatively simple and he imagines his subjects in a fun and unrealistic manner

Objective
To improve your mixed media and digital skills 
To proved a new, creative method of creating ideas.
To further develop your ideas in relation to your story

Task

Copy a Keith Negley piece from Tough Guys.

To get started, scrub though my example above!

• quickly but exactly, draw out the design - no rulers and spend no more that 10 mins. 
• scan or photograph it
• make 2 new A3 docs in Illustrator 
• Place your drawing on one
• Place the original on the other
• using the pen and shape tools tool

Etc :)

Expected time

4 hrs

Deadline

TBC

Pen Tool and Pathfinder

Pen tool exercises are HERE
Pathfinder help HERE
Bezier Game HERE

Illustration Videos

If they don't play well online, they deffo play better here:

Recycle your work - Independent study

Objective
To improve your mixed media and digital skills 
To proved a new, creative method of creating ideas.
To further develop your ideas in relation to your story

Task

Either scan or photocopy various pages from your sketchbook or presentation.

Using Photohotosshop or scissors and glue, recombine your pages into new images and ideas. 

Look to the presentation for inspiration.

In Photoshop, layer your pages over each other and set the blending mode to multiply - or experiment with other modes.

These could be finished artefacts or page backgrounds to create new work upon. 

Expected time

2 hrs

Deadline

The start of the lesson, Friday 17th Feb.

Photomontage - Independent study

Objective
To improve your photoshop and mixed-media skills
To further develop your ideas in relation to your story
To make paged and pages of sketchbook ideas

Task

You are to make 4+ examples of photomontage that relate to your story.

You may use analogue (photos, glue and scissors) or digital (Photoshop).

Start by gathering a collection of elements from your story. Maybe increase the amount of subject matter your have on your pinboards. 

Look at the examples within the presentation above. The finished images look best when the juxtaposition is startling or jolting.

Think creatively - we are just making interesting ideas and images. 

Expected time

2 hrs

Deadline

The start of the lesson, Friday 10th Feb.

Scamping existing work.

Objective

To get you to work fast prior to scamping your own work.
To further understand the part white space and layout plays in a graphic artefact.

To become aware of how designers balance elements on a page.

Task
Gather a range of similar artefacts. By 'similar artefacts' we mean book covers and internal book illustrations. This can be via Pinterest, Google or your own examples. 

Draw them in your sketchbook. NO rulers.
(It is customary for students to go for the more simple illustrations as this will be somewhat easier. Unfortunately, if you do this, you will undoubtedly end up with boring pages. Don't go for easy.)

Pay close attention to the light and dark tones—allow your brain to 'threshold' the greys in to either light or dark tones. See my measly example above.
The images above are of magazines - not book covers, or CD Digipaks or Children's book covers but you get the gist.

Remember, you can to look at my PINBOARDS if you are struggling for examples...

Presentation
See my example above.

Checklist for assessment
20 examples.

Time needed
Three hours.

Deadline
Start of lesson, Friday 10th Feb 2017

Aaron Reiner - Process

Independent study - model and photography

Above is a random image I came across on Pinterest. What struck me was the juxtaposition between the simplified models within the real-life settings. 

Objective
To improve your model making and photography skills 
To further develop your ideas in relation to your story

Task

Think of an element or scene from your story. Create some simple models that can be placed in a real life situation. 

Place them and photograph them in situ. Present the images (b/w or colour) and the models.

Think creatively - we are just making interesting ideas and images. 

Expected time

2 hrs

Deadline

The start of the lesson, Friday 3rd Feb.

Drawings of subject / Exciting sketchbook design

Example of setting / character research from Youtube 

Objective

To draw, invent, draw, experiment, draw, enjoy and draw
To attempt new ways of recording your ideas and starting points
To liven up a drab sketchbook
To score marks for AO3 Reflective Recording

Task

• Print off colour and BW examples of setting, character and iconography related    to your story. Feel fee to include the examples from the inky task. Size? 4 to      an A4 sheet ish.
• Use 4 double pages, draw 2 or more per page.
• Using a variety of drawing/painting mediums, attempt to reproduce elements     of the research photographs.
• Ensure that your pages are bustling with ideas. 

You will be graded on

Your pages should be brimming with interesting drawings, marks, mediums and ideas.
This is a dual task, so your final presentation needs to evidence excellent, creative and exciting presentation alongside inventive drawing.

Time needed

7 hrs. 4 in class, 3 in study time.

Deadline
Start of lesson, Mon 30th of Jan

Independent study - Map

Objective
To introduce you to the wonderful world of maps.

Task
Consider your story environment. 
Create a map of the most important spaces and building within the narrative. 
Work in any medium you wish.
Look at the section on the presentation and be inspired. 

What to hand in:
Map

Deadline
Jan 27th

Antonia's Presentation

Here is a great example of how to produce a presentation. Your presentation should evidence that you have a creative mind, you're interested and investing the right amount of time.

Independent Study - Work in the style of the best of 2016

Look at the list of best Illustrators of 2016: 
http://illusion.scene360.com/illustration/102113/best-illustrators-2016/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=flipboard

Create a scene from your story in the style of one the illustrators from the article.
Add some information or about the style, materials or process. For this, you will have to look further afield and read either their blog or an interview.

Deadline: Friday 20th of Jan

Acrylic Character Study

Objective

To practice another process

To understand the differences of using a monochromatic and/or limited palette.

To potentially complete an idea for the cover or page illustrations.

Task 1

Take a character — or more than one — and research a similar looking model / portrait from the web. 

Print off a black and white version, A5 sized examples are fine.

Work on A3 cartridge paper

Your palette should consist of white and black. Use the sandwich boxes.

Using the 'general to specific' painting method, paint your portrait. 

Please don't attempt to get the detail from the start, don't draw it. 

Successful outcomes — for this method — rely upon layers of paint. These will come from you attempting and then restating.

Task 2

As above, but this time, using colour.

Your palette should consist of one red, blue and yellow with white. 

Presentation

Sketchbook and InDesign placement

Time needed

3 hrs each painting

Deadline

tbc

January 16th Hand in

Hand in date for all work is the end of the lesson, Mon 16th of January.
Please ensure that you have presented the following:

Annotated story
Research (pinboards, photos)
Aspect to Aspect inking
Set of Photos
3 x inking sheets, final photoshop image (extra marks for placing it in your InDesign template)
Typography
Rationale (relate to final design)
Research (mood board)
Drafting (notebook scamping)
Sketchbook development (colour or texture ideas, or placed on examples)
Final design(s) 
Independent study

Contour line drawing of location
Character photofit
Cubomania
Collaging silhouettes
Table top

Notes

Hollis up to chapter 10
Articles: Books without words
Why I love comics
We don’t serve your type
The lure of illustrated children’s books
Readability vs Legibility

Independent study - Table top

Objective
To improve your drawing and illustration skills 
To further develop your ideas in relation to your story

Task

Think of a character from your story. What would their table or desktop look like? Think creatively - we are just interested in a great sketchbook page. Work in you favourite process.

Expected time

2 hrs

Deadline

The start of the lesson, Friday 13th Jan.