G.S.H

I've found out he's a black right activist; An author; Incredible musician; Moved to the Bronx at a young age; Influenced Hip hop as we know it today and many more things.

However he also has been in and out of jail; in and out of rehab for addiction to crack; still managed to create amazing work up until he passed.

 

It only seems right that when illustration and researching such a man that all I should listen to is his music.

G.S.H

This man is Gil Scot Heron, and I knew absolutely nothing about him, until now...


Wikipedia power:
Gilbert "Gil" Scott-Heron (April 1, 1949 – May 27, 2011)^[5] was an American soul and jazz poet,^[2][3] musician, and author, known primarily for his work as a spoken word performer in the 1970s and '80s. His collaborative efforts with musician Brian Jackson featured a musical fusion of jazz, blues, and soul, as well as lyrical content concerning social and political issues of the time, delivered in both rapping and melismatic vocal styles by Scott-Heron. His own term for himself was "bluesologist",^[4] which he defined as "a scientist who is concerned with the origin of the blues."^{[note 1][6]} His music, most notably on Pieces of a Man and Winter in America in the early 1970s, influenced and helped engender later African-American music genres such as hip hop and neo soul.
Besides influencing contemporary musicians, Scott-Heron remained active until his death, and in 2010 released his first new album in 16 years, entitled I'm New Here. A memoir he had been working on for years up to the time of his death, The Last Holiday, was also published, posthumously in January 2012.^[7][8]
His recording work received much critical acclaim, especially one of his best-known compositions "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised". His poetic style has influenced every generation of hip hop.^[9]

This is the best brief summary I could give anyone about Gil Scot Heron.
He's much more than this though and I'm really happy that I got him now, He's very influential and has written and recorded some incredible pieces of music.

New breif

OUIL406 SB3

 

In a nutshell., get a person; research a person produce illustrations based on what you find out about said person.

Person of note: Gil Scot Heron (sorry who?)

Vis. L Eval.

Eval.

1. Which practical skills and methodologies have you developed within this module and how effectively do you think you are employing them within your own practice?

The main aspects I firstly took was much me dedicated approach to line and the weight of it. I think that's more than evident in my work from the start but looking back you can see the development of it and how the usage has adapted to alternative aspects of work. Also from the offset, from our first lesson in vis. l I really enjoyed getting into the habit of drawing something over and over a little different. Like going back to my sketchbook and producing 4 pages of weird bat people, or 8 pages of nothing but octopus tentacles with different tools and media again I think this employs continently in work; I rarely if ever can draw something once. There's too much potential in illustration to do something once.

2. Which principles/ theories of image making have you found most valuable during this module and how effectively do you think you are employing these within your own practice?

It's quite hard to choose one theory, it might sound bad but they've all blended into practise and un-concious thought of making pictures; I know visual language has taught me these things but from drilling it in; it all just happens now. The shining beacon for me however would have to be depth of field within composition. If it was just adding a simple horizon line behind a figure or if it's placing 8  shapes around each other in a complimentary manor. Composition and depth of field will constantly be an on going battle of what works and how I want it to work.

3. What strengths can you identify within your Visual Language submission you capitalise on these?

My biggest assets in this submission; in my opinion is the enjoyment I get from repeating ideas; the speed I put them out and the loose identity my work has. Now my work has always been loose for the most part and I've always been able to work quick but now because of this module I can use it to potential. I'm no longer scribbling on a page to make it look like I'm doing a lot of work. I'm making quick; important decisions to create more possibles for myself.

4. What areas for development can you identify within your Visual Language submission and how will you address these in the future?

Lots, lots of areas for development but I'd write too much. Time taken on pieces; I sometimes really on the speed I work and then don't usually spend more than an hour or so on the final resolution which is sometimes OK but I need to remember to mix it up and sometimes spend a lot longer on something and surprise myself. Remember other skills, for example; I tend to always go to use ink, it's what I know works well with me. Then I'll remember how much I love collage when I've finished something and I'll get annoyed at what could have been. Passion and drive; some days I don't want to get out of bed. Never mind create something, I need to remind myself why I'm here and why I love it. 

5. In what way has this module informed how you de-construct and analyse artwork (whether your own or that of contemporary practitioners?

It has allowed me to look past the image and see what thought and process has gone into creating a piece of art which in turn opens your mind on how you can  do something similar; something better. From creating line of sight to learning about value and colour. All equally important. I wouldn't understand it if It wasn't for the tasks set to understand handouts. By employing the tactics it helps you when seeing it others work and your own.

6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas:

5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor

Attendance:  4

Punctuality:   5

Motivation:    3

Commitment:  3

Quantity of work produced: 4

Quality of work produced: 3

Contribution: 3

Peace.

Vis L.

Colour

Transport.

MATT, FRED:

LOOK AT THIS, I MADE A VECTOR WITHOUT YOU EVEN ASKING!?

Vis language.

Transport.
-Line of sign / Depth of field
-Monochrome
-Any dimensions

Trains:

Drew some trains, new trains; ol' trains just in whatever pen I had on me at the time. It was basically because I like getting trains, I like traveling but I'm not a fan of every time I go to make the same journey It seems more expensive than the last. So one of the final image ideas is some crazy drunk dude hanging out a train holdin' a head. I dunno, it's funny.

Dog:

Drunk people seem to crop up in my work a lot but I think it's because I like playing with humour and drunk people are normally well funny. I own a lot of dogs but mine are all tiny so i wandered what it'd be like to ride a dog like you could a horse, so i drew some dogs.

Drinking:

This one's a little bit different I guess, I thought of transport as maybe not a vehicle but something that gets you from A to B, so i imaged a classy dude drinking into a bar and being almost transported into a more drunk version of himself. I can't get my head around how I'd make this work though. 

AND THE WINNER IS....

 It was going to be the bar dude but then I drew this dodgy looking dog and now we're mates so I'm using him.

All starts with a random splatter, this is a lil tester.

Final.

Finished Cards.

Wish you were here...

Hell.

Kiev Square.

Samarra.

Toronto.

Now I won't lie, I'm not at all happy with these. To me they look lifeless and even through everything I attempted they felt almost lifeless to create. Even though they may also not look top notch illustrator designs I am glad that I genuinely tried to make illustrator work with my practice and how I like to work and I felt i accomplished that to a degree. Now I could of just used live trace for all of to get my actual work in there but that's almost cheating and I figured I might as well try and learn a new skill instead of learning around it. Part of me would like to come back to illustrator some day, the other part of me wants to burn it to the ground. Maybe if my creative ego lets me I'll come back to it.

Breakthrough no.2

Needed help with Illustrator there was something about my work that wasn't really sitting with and I really couldn't figure it out. So i went to ask for help from the dude who'd been teaching us and I brought some of my actual normal paintings and O ye, he knew what to do.

He showed me this magic.

You see that?! You see what those are?! INK SPLATTERS! I didn't know but now I've learnt they're actual splatter brushes in illustrator that can can be randomised to a degree and give a bit more surprise to the work AND they can be edited into to make them your own!

Looks technical like this but basically you drop down from the brushes, Find artistic the into Ink splatters then It opens a whole load of them which you can just drag and drop onto your brush section THEN you can double click on them and edit them how you want, the direction, the splatter even the pressure (If you're using a stylus)

I have been educated.

Postcards update.

Hell.

Toronto.

Kiev Square.

Samarra.

The current postcards in all there glory...ish. Now It's apparent they're not finished but I'd like to think it's also apparent that I'm actually picking up illustrator and making it work for me. Maybe not how illustrator 'should' be used but I feel like I'm doing my best to put myself and my practice into it.

Hell.

I've been neglecting Hell, I saw it as almost a gimmick to the others and presumed it would be the easiest. It isn't, It's by far the hardest. The others have facts, have stories; actually exist and have some context, Hell does not, religious or not no one can say if it's real. DOES IT EVEN HAVE A SKYLINE?! 

I just went back to the drawing board and did some scamps, sketches and looked around the internet for some images.

Now Hell is the first 'city' i've started with the knowledge I can use Image Trace to help me out so, Once I got my head around It this one is now the most complete so far. I'm not sure If I can work into the others or if I may need to start them again.

Now I'm aware It's still ropey as hell (get it?!) but It's a better start than the rest and It's nice to see my actual designs go from paper to vector into the post card.

BREAKTHROUGH.

Something magical happened today.
I went on youtube for help on Illustrator and I've discovered a lovely feature called Image Trace.

Basically this means all those Ink drawings I've done aren't useless and I can actually put them into Illustrator, effectively Image Trace takes an image of your choosing and turns it into a Vector image, now I've been thinking 'Hey, I could just do this all by hand and scan it' but i've decided Illustrators here and i'm been shown how to use it so I'm going to incorporate both illustrator and my own Ink drawings. I need to open my mind to this. 

 

The power of image trace!

GAME CHANGER MAN, GAME CHANGER.

Neglecting.

May be apparent from my blog that I may be neglecting illustrator just a little bit; I'm scared of it. I've just started getting my head around photoshop and now this. Bad times. I have been doing little bits though so here's what I've got so far.

So as you can see, I suck at this. These look shite. However I am picking things up here and there, the inductions are helping a lot. I like the ropey lines a lot more than the crisp straight ones. I'm still looking for a new way to make it look like it's mine but that's a way off yet. Colouring wise I decided i'm almost layering lighter colours over others repeatedly by changing the opacity of the layers. I prefer it to block colours.

Samarra Cont.

Did some ink drawings based on the images I've found and drawn myself. I'm hoping doing these will give me some kind of leg to stand on in illustrator seen as I've at a loss.

Samarra.

Same as the others, scamps of the actual skyline; then scamps of the skyline with the presence of figures then onto finding the right figures.

For Samarra I've decided to focus on it's military presence, it's much easier to convey then a kidnapping for examples an almost emits the same quality I want. 
These sketches are all taken from actual photos taken in Samarra, not just from anywhere in the world or from my head.

, 

Kiev Sqaure

Kiev Square I feel the most involved with, I can't really explain why, It's just one of those topics that seem to fit into my practice and mindset well.

Again like Toronto, just doing a few quick scamps and the skyline and how I can make figures sit into it. Even though they're really quick, It gives me a good idea how I'm going to fit everything together.

Next, simply using google to look at rioters and choose one. From the Rob Ford figure in Toronto  I've realised the figure is just as important as the skyline in what I'm trying to say.

Rioters

Sketches:

After doing a few quick sketches of rioters I though looked menacing enough, I found one I really liked and decided I wanted to do a painting of it.

Drawn from an image of a rioter followed by a quote from another fellow rioter.

'I no longer fear anything'