Eval.

OUIL405 STUDIO BREIF 1 EVALUATION - Boring Part
This project has spurred me into new terrain of practical and experimental research, I believe there is a long way to go but my work is now developing a certain quality from this project that feels to have informed my entire practise as opposed to have just been used to execute this one project. The journey I have taken in this project has been long, and started from climbing and drawing trees with a pencil crayon and 4am to producing vivid; engaging pieces of work based around executions and the human condition. I feel, my first hand research was somewhat lacking but that was mainly due to the fact of my chosen subject, I could not witness and execution and other such things, I did however visit H.M Prison in Armley, took photos and got a general feeling of the place which in the end turned out to be the turning point of my project and spurred on the body of work I have produced.
     The concepts research, informed my ideas in a way first hand research would of limited me, I feel i did extensive research into my chosen area and really dug deep in what I was going to create, I feel towards the end of the project I was almost consumed by the vast of of Ideals I had, and the very nature of my project lent itself to such. I feel the strongest part of my book, is the part that can't really be measured. Taking all the facts; images; feelings I had and making them into a piece of work that was in a work selfish, I was my take; and my feelings towards what I had learnt which drove my ambition to create this. This however is a double edged sword In that, in that the book is almost now a very personal extension of myself that gives it a very vague interpretation been that maybe to understand It you would of had to do the research I did, and I feel it could be too easily disregarded or even overlooked.
     The work I have done, I feel would not of been done without the most I put into researching illustrators, especially and to the end almost solely Ralph Steadman, His work; style; essence really fit hand in hand into how I wanted to work and what I wanted to make, It works so well for me because I knew how much I liked how he approached working but I didn't have to copy things to feel like i'd done something it was just taking bits and pieces that really helped me in this project. Again however there is the pitfall that I may have found something I liked and was happy with and stuck withit instead of tirelessly looking for even more things to inspire myself which can leave work looking almost one dimensional.
   I feel this project has been hard for me, Ive had lots of ups and down and lots of times where I was almost clueless as to what I was going to hard and how, but from the beginning to where I am now, Can't really be further apart, I know I've exhausted a-lot of avenues before I decided on where I've ended up but, resting on my laurels isn't going to help and re-examing my work is it clear there was more I could of done. In the end my book is shining example of what could of been, while creating a different feel to other books, and almost being what I wanted its still a million miles away from what I wanted, I feel the artwork sometimes got lot in itself or I got lost in teh artwork and sometimes needed to take a step back and really remember what I was trying to do, but a lot of that is down to time management I believe.

He who makes a best of himself...

My Finished Book.Made to have a very one of a kind; D.I.Y; almost occult feel to it, I wanted the front cover of my book and the feel, it's whole exterior to personify the artwork within as opposed to just encasing it.

Inserts from the Book (above)

Small exert of rejected pages for the book. Reasons:

• Artwork not up to scratch
• Not the right feel 
• Seems out of place due to: composition; colour; vibe
• Similar artwork that was better

Shitty practise book.

Practise Book:

• 10 minute idea of how the end result might fit together
• Analysing title/writing
• Checking best way to add the facts with the images
• Absolutely useless when getting an idea how the actual bind will work
• Could be more refined.

Handing writing practise:

• Series of different instruments for different effects
• Testing layout and composition on page
• Testing thickness and control of line
• Testing how tracing paper reacts to a lot of ink

Front Cover:

• Which media works best for black on paper
• Feel/Texture
• Control
• Coverage
• Works best with other media

Quieter Images:

• Generating a calm image in response to a fact e.g 'James High the 'Acid Bath Murderer' was hung August 10th 1949
• Repeated process until choosing final image

Final ideas and notes before end results

• Practice 'handwriting' for facts
• Think of using different stock for different pages
• Group certain paintings together
• Use 'calm' images to break up intenseness of the book
• Use tracing paper over top of paintings for the facts?
• Make a test book?
• Scan in all artwork incase something goes wrong
• Recreate Jurassic Park 

Recent.

These were in response to work that previously couldn't be used but now can be if I want too use them.

All the above are in response the facts i've provided myself, they're all my interpretation of how I see these facts and the underlying meaning and the human condition. 

The bottom two are a work in progress, Have discoverd it's more effective to do several 'backgrounds' first and let them dry so I can produce work quicker and if I try and add background too late it smudges all my previous work.

• Do more
• More refinement
• More analysis
• Don't get lost in making 'weird' artwork, really think what it means to you

Crit.

Peer Crit.

Partners; Crit two other peoples work; 20minutes(Give or take) Each
Self Crit.
Art still in early stages; Still finding my feet; Try more media, thinking about collaging somethings; Own interpritation of facts is going to be clear enough, egotistical? Will it make sense? Is it interesting enough, Work harder.

Concept change too frequently

Want to do an a5 hardback book, time?, Just starting finished artwork, cutting it close, Too reliant on that I work fast, Might weird people out..good?

Action plan: Draw.Draw.Draw.Draw.Draw.Draw.Draw.Draw.Draw.Draw.Draw.Draw.Draw.Draw.Draw.Draw.Draw.Draw.Draw.Draw.Draw.Draw.Draw.Draw.Draw.Draw.Draw.Draw.Draw.Draw.Draw.Draw.Draw.Draw.Draw.Draw.Draw.Draw.Draw.Draw.Draw....breathe....Paint.Paint.Paint.Paint.Paint.Paint.Paint.Paint.Paint.Paint.Paint.Paint.Paint.Paint.Paint.Paint.Paint.Paint.Paint.Paint.Paint.Paint.Paint.Paint.Paint.Paint.Paint.Paint.Paint.Paint.Paint.Paint.Paint.Paint.Paint.Paint.Paint.Paint.Paint.Paint.Paint.Paint.........Repeat.

Feedback:

1.

• Refine the facts more, reword them to sound more proffestional or get more
• Binding? Dark Theme Suggests something robust; leather bound? Still think about keeping it low-fi a d.i.y job.
• Don't do concertina
• A5 Good size
• Get more facts
• sketch more skamps and Ideas
• Make more book tests
• Draw buddy 

2.

• Try finding a new media for variety
• Have you thought about how you're going to bind it, how many pages?
• Is it going to be analogue or digital?
• Experiment more

MORE!?!!

Took this book from the Library 'GONZO THE ART - Ralph Steadman' an old favourite of mine, I completely forgot about him and if I'm trying to convey the human condition wtih crazy illustrations I believe Ralph Steadman is the best place I can go.

Results:

After reviewing the book even slightly these were my first two responses to the fact 'In the Ottoman Empire executioners were seen as dammed people, having separate; unmarked graves from the public'

PROBLEM!

I've been wanting my book to be a5 so i've been working in my sketchbook but it was brought to my attention that the way I work; the amount I produce; and using scraps of paper; working in sketchbook isn't the best option for me because any of these could of been 'the one' but since it's not to scale and can't be ripped out can't be used...

PROBLEM SOLVED:

Measured and cut out a sketchbooks work of a5(ish) paper so i can keep working at this pace and any of them could be used 

Idea beginnings.

• Focusing on the mystery of the headsmen hoods
• Evil looking
• My own perception is that it would take a tole on some 'what we've seen, kills us'
• Almost Viewed as monsters

To do:

1. Find a more meaningful approach not just lots of the same thing, looks boring in comparison to whats been illustrated

Tutor feedback and a new idea.

After speaking to Matt it was decided that:

• I should look at exections as whole not just at Armely
• Find more interesting research to really get involved in.

Now Im interested. I found out a lot of disturbing yet interesting facts on the culture of hangmen, interesting stories from across history and much more I decided to go back to Matt with my new found ideas

New Plan:

• Choose 16 facts
• Illustration them how I perceive them
• Look past the facts and what they could mean
• Look at the human condition and not just trying to make this look 'cool'

EDIT

Here my page of the most interesting facts i've found and here's my list of the 16 best/best illustration potential :

• An executioner was entitled to the condemned clothes and anything in their pockets.
• Wealthier benefactors tended to tip their hangmen
• Henry Pierrepoint was sacked from being drunk on the job
• Albert Pierrepoint executed over 450 people in his career 
• Joseph Myers tried to avoid hanging by slitting his throat, he was saved by the prison surgeon; then hung.
• Henry Allen, Britain's last hangman liked to be dressed for the occasion, bow-tie and all
• Hangmen kept a bottle of whiskey to calm the nerve of the condemned 
• In the Ottoman Empire executioners were seen as dammed, and had separate/unmarked graves from the public.
• Henry Kirk was turned down as a hangman for having a 'morbid obsession with the profession'
• Albert Pierrepoint saw graves being dug for nazi criminals he was about to hang and saw it as 'unseemly'
• If the drop of the rope was too long it could take a prisoners head off
• Albert Pierrepoint retired at 72 after he accidentally almost hung his assistant
• James Berry, convinced he killed innocent men gave up being an executioner and turned to serve god
• Most headsman executioners were close knit members of the community but had to keep their identity secret
• Headsman' and Hangmen had to beware after the execution from attack from the criminals friends and family
• Henry Pierrepoint liked to keep notes on the condition of the criminals necks

New book proposal

The 'Armley Gaol -  What don't you know' idea started to run very dry very quickly so in light of further research into Armley Gaol and It's hangmen as well as hangman around at the time I believe I am going to do a pocket sized novelty book on 'How To Be A Hangman'

Through looking at the things that were getting auctioned off from old hangmen, I decided to draw 'What a hangman might need' along with other pages such as 'how to tie a hang-knot' and so forth.

EDIT:

Upon further analysis and much to my dismay, this project seemed like it would be fun however, turned out very much like the old one, It dries up quickly and one you begin drawing it, the illustration almost takes away from the novelty of the facts. More research is need.

Revised Research.

After looking further into Armelys history the execution proportion of it interesting me greatly. I started looking into the executions and the executioners at Armely Prison, one of the hangmen being Albert Pierrepoint, Britain's most prolific hangman and one of the executed being Charles Peace a very romanticised prisoner form that time. Looking deeper and deeper I found out that Pierrpoint is from a dynasty of executions in his family as well as some of his fathers execution gear has just been sold at auction.

Among his things were:

1. A very 'macarbe' diary, detailing the height; weight; age; drop used and even remarks on the condemd neck
2. A very worn tape measure
3. Small bottle of empty Whiskey
4. A bowtie 

Also Harry Allen, britains last hangmans had a auction of similar things including a bag containing:

1. a dairy, with opinons on the how the job at hand went.
2. Legal documents
3. A watch
4. A tape measure
5. A ruler
6. 4 bowties

Front page?

This image is a combination of things of the other pages, I think the red and black works well even if it is very cliche. I think though the combination of images and colour something like this would work well for the front cover. However, I'm running out of ideas and i'm still not sure what to do for all the other pages, I need to do more research.

Reviewed.

Tried a different approach to the same problem, using a fine liner a lot looser then again but using it a little neater. I like them but I don't think they add any more and take away any less than the coloured pencil did.

Current book proposal

Armley Gaol - What Don't You Know.

Series of illustrations on each page corresponding to an alarming fact about the prison.

Illicit drug use is very high.

Highest suicide rate across England and Wales.

Weaker prisoners need better protection.

• I like how the coloured pencil works
• I think the different colours correspond well to the different facts they're representing
• I like the way the pages are filled
• Needs a better way of communicating the facts
• Needs a more 'finished look'
• A lot of the objects are very similar or are hard to understand

Research

Notable information on Armley Gaol:

• Opened in 1847 costing £43,000
• Category B prison
• Used to have A 'Silent System' In operation, stopping prisoners talking to one another
• Between 1847 - 1861 94 executions were held at Armley
• 93 Men / 1 Woman
• Gallows Dismantled in 1965
• Armed Militia Escort to and from Prison
• Women's wing closed in 1925
• Highest Suicide rate in prisons in England and Wales 25 Inmates from 1994-2005
• Crown Court Study Revealed Prisons out there cell only 2 hours a day
• Hostile Staff
• Illicit drug use very high
• Inadequate Healthcare
• Food quality very poor
• Vulnerable prisoners need better protection

Experimenting

Using a different method of making line (pencil dipped in ink) I got something i started to enjoy a little more. The image on the right is more a abstract interpritation on what my perceptions of Armley Prison are but this seems like it's too big a jump.

I'm going to have to do more research.

Armley After visit.

Armley

After taking photos, I did studies from the photos I took and from images I found on the internet.

                                                         
Personally I don't like anything of these things, I don't think the quality of line compliments the structure of the building but it does give some of the feeling I'm going to try and get a across.

After Crit.

From the crit I went the way of dangerous things to do in Leeds and/Or Scary things to do in Leeds. And looking back through my notes I remembered hearing someone mentioning prision so I wanted that to be a avenue I took. First I wanted to look at prison tattoos but after some analysis, It's been one, alot. I wanted something more original. I did some research and it turns out there's a prison in Leeds so I decided to vist it with my photography friend: