Final Major Project

When planning my Final Major Project, I initially spent some time deliberating over multiple potential ideas, each of a different nature. My only personal criteria to start with was that the project would either be entirely or mostly photographic, a decision I made by the end of the previous project due to positive feedback and advice on that side of the work. While narrowing down themes and ideas, dystopia and apocalyptic scenarios / environments arose as a possibility from considering working with the documentation of urban decay. I sought out a list of films, literature and games of the aforementioned genres looking for interesting ideas, one of which stood out in terms of premise for its supernatural basis: a novel entitled 'Black Easter' by James Blish. 

The book was written in 1968, the concept being the existence of God, magic, and supernatural forces in a modern-day world. In the story, an arms-dealer with a sociopathic obsession for chaos and the desire for infamy seeks the help of a black magician to orchestrate a day of global terror. His intention is to summon all of Hell's demons to Earth to wreak havoc for a single day, on the understanding that he himself will be safe, and that the demons must return as specified. The demons are summoned and reign freely, with seemingly-inexplicable destruction occurring around the world as the dark force invisibly fulfils its purpose. However, as the time comes for Hell's creatures to return, the commands of their summoner are ignored and they refuse to co-operate- divine laws no longer bind them, for they announce that God is dead. 

Holden & Sons Lecture

Last Tuesday's lecture was presented by Peter Holden, founder of creative marketing company Holden & Sons (http://www.holdenandsons.com/). He talked about the nature and history of H&S, particularly emphasising the personal family-business approach which he believes to be important- he showed how their website reflects this, with a section for introducing each member of the team and their skills and interests. After showing examples of their work (adverts produced for various purposes), he began to explain his ideas and values behind it all- In a similar vein to the message of Robert Urquhart, he stated how innovation does not come from focus on one area. He pointed out that many significant developments and ideas in certain areas are often brought about by people in others. He described having ideas as seeing the same thing others see and thinking something different, an idea that applies well in particular to photography. A suggestion of his that's also quite relevant to me is to not "kill ideas too soon"- to try to investigate all possibilities, which is sometimes something I could probably benefit from trying harder with. Other ideas and advice of his I felt worth writing down:

• "Be distinctive"- Peter explained how "people buy people", and that the way you present yourself (from as literally as the way you dress to how you act) is important in being memorable and making an impression.
• "Be inquisitive"- "Learn to love questions, not answers". Maintaining interest is key to maintaining drive and motivation, as well as for generating ideas.
• "Be clever- don't be TOO clever"- Creativity and innovation are good, but don't go 'over people's heads'. 
• "STEAL! It's not where you take things from, it's where you take them to"- this idea reflects the notion that no one can truly be original now, but that's fine; take ideas and improve them.

The lecture was definitely insightful and further re-enforced ideas proposed by previous speakers from another perspective.

Robert Urquhart Lecture

Recently, Creative Communicator and University of the Arts London lecturer Robert Urquhart presented a lecture in college. Robert is a master of multi-specialism, working as a writer, editor, reporter, curator and lecturer. His talk was interesting for the fact that it centred on this multi-faceted approach to the creative industry, encouraging us to consider a similarly versatile path. He said jokingly about how he had "worked with everything apart from opera" and spoke about the benefits of proficiency in various fields, instructing us to always "try new things" and "do more than you are told to do" in terms of what we learn. He explained that in addition to potentially making the difference that results in you being hired over another for a job, this approach also helps in that "life is impossible to predict", and therefore an array of skills you may not usually need could later prove useful. The latter point I particularly identified with, having changed from an unrelated career path to art in a last minute manner, and then further realising my greater ability in photography after undertaking illustration. Robert also advised that making friends and contacts is useful and part of the key to success, and that "empathy, clarity and persuasion" are valuable skills to possess while dealing with others in all areas. As part of his presentation, he showed examples of unconventional works created by others and proceeded to offer his perspective as to what he find interesting about them, and what makes them of value to him. The lecture was interesting, entertaining, and reassuring in it's general message that it's OK to have no specific set direction or plan, just that we should strive to learn and improve in whatever ways we can. This message is especially relevant to myself, with my ongoing effort to improve in multiple skills.

Portfolio Review - Megan Thomas

The second portfolio review was carried out in-person with Illustrator Megan Thomas (http://www.megan-thomas.com/) who was assigned to me to give advice and help about the course and my work. She kindly wrote up some feedback after the review session, which is as follows:

As I mentioned to you on tuesday, I feel your watercolour work is definitely your strongest out of your illustrations. The marks, particularly on the baby raven piece, are very nice. I'd suggest playing around with the medium even more and let the watercolour take control for you. You can get some really interesting textures and marks out of watercolours if you really let the medium do what it wants. I'd recommend trying techniques such was painting on wet paper, painting on dry paper, wet/dry brush and using things like salt (to absorb) and wire brush (to add texture), etc. There are a lot of books out there that have pages and pages full of watercolour techniques for you to explore. They're such a versatile medium. I think playing around more with your solid washes, such as the background on the raven/banner image would be beneficial, I especially thing wetting your paper first and really letting the paint flow in it's own way would really add a lot to the piece without distracting from the strong silhouette of the banner and bird.

I think your ink/biro drawings have a lot of potential. I'd recommend trying ink and nibs to vary the line making a bit more. I think with the faces, you don't need to add so many lines, such as the lines around the womans mouth, unless they're very character specific and tell the story of the character. Maybe try bigger strokes (if you end up using nibs and ink) for the shadows and make your lines more varied. If you keep using biro, maybe try making your hatching and lines more varied - more or less pen pressure, finer hatching, etc.

I know when you're still finding your way of working it can be time consuming to play with different media but it's worth it in the long run.

A note on your gouache pieces - more of a comment on composition than the medium (as we already discussed this on tuesday) - on your skull and rose piece, watch your shadows. It appears your light source is coming from top left but your rose shadow is casting towards the skull and your skull in the field needs more depth around the skull to show it's sitting within vegetation and the fact the moon appears behind it. This also applies to the trees. I don't know if the lacking depth of field in the skull/field piece is the cause, but scale is also an issue. I know sometimes scale can be skewered for the sake of creativity but I think it just looks out of place on this image. Just things to be careful with, because they can really make or break a piece.

Thanks again for the advice!