Calligraphy Workshop

After choosing the Graphics pathway one of the first workshops I did was the calligraphy workshop. I was asked to bring in ink and various sized flat-headed paint brushes, in order to be able to create different stroke shapes and sizes.

I began using a piece of A3 paper to test the strokes and how different sizes could achieve different looks to the lines.
Once I had a feel of how the brushes worked I moved on to typographic experiments, where I tried to create my own font/style.

Personally I did not think these experiments went that well as my typography outcomes were quite basic and I think I could have         created something more aesthetically pleasing and also had a bit more fun with the type, as it's quite basic.

To extend on this workshop I wrote the words "Upside down", then scanned the type into photoshop and turned the word "down" upside down, as a form of word play, however I think this was the wrong type/font for what was said and it did not work visually.

To improve the aesthetics I think I could have played around with the legibility and also experimented with the type more, as I may have been able to create a completely different type altogether which would have suited what the type actually said.

BBC 2 Channel Ident

This was a motion graphics project which asked me produce a channel ident for BBC 2, I would have to show a storyboard as the final outcome, or if I wanted to do more with the project I could create a short animatic. 

Initially I began looking at genres of shows that BBC 2 broadcast; which lead me to come up with the idea of creating a sports related indent. 

After drawing out a few storyboards for a sports related indent I decided that I would like to create something more than a storyboard. I wanted to make a stop motion, however that wouldn't have been possible with my sports related ideas.

Rather than focusing on a particular genre I came up with a more fun and playful, yet simple concept of a piece of toast being eaten into the shape of a two.

I really enjoyed creating this stop motion as I felt it was simple, however effective and would hold an audience's attention. Overall I was happy with my outcome as a rough animatic, however to improve and finalise my outcome I would need to edit each individual frame and get rid of the reflection of the light on the far right and left hand sides of the frame.

Also it was suggested by peers that I remake the number '2' but this time not be so careful with how I was biting it, as this would give it a more natural look as if the toast is actually being eaten, although I was worried about If the '2' would be readable, but is something I will definitely try as an improvement.

Climate week/poster

3D Design- Spaghetti structure

3D Design- Bridge Building

3D Design - Bottle Holder

Given just an A1 piece of paper and an arms length of masking tape, I was asked to make a stand that held a bottle of water at least 20cm off the ground.

After some brief planning I  had an initial idea of using a triangle based structure, thinking it would be able to distribute weight evenly and be strong and sturdy enough to stand up, and also hold the water bottle. However it proved extremely hard to construct as I had to be careful when ripping and folding, which left me quite restricted.


When coming near to running out of time I had to think fast and improvise my design idea. I ripped the paper in half and scrunched the first half to create a base, then used the second half to wrap around the base for extra support.

Overall I think my outcome had an abstract look to it, and I has happy with the visual aesthetics, however in terms of design and practicality I think it could have worked a lot better, as it was quite obvious the design hadn't had much time put into it, therefore in order to make improvements I would have to spend more time planning, and also make trial versions beforehand to perfect the design and ensure it works and supports the way it's supposed to.

Although my outcome did have a few flaws, it did actually manage to hold up the bottle of water, so I was able to meet the brief requirements for that day.

Fashion- Designs/Fashion Show

 Following my own design sketches I had to make a garment out of paper, I made a skirt solely using long paper triangles which I stapled together. I tried to achieve an asymmetric shape by keeping the shorter pieces at the front, and gradually adding longer pieces as I went round to the back of the piece. 
I liked the look of my skirt, yet the way it was put together proved it was not good in terms of practicality as it was hard to move, and also was damaged and came apart easily.

To improve my outcome I would have to go back and look at my designs and make adjustments to the way each individual piece is put and held together, to allow general movement whilst being worn.

        (Back)                             (Front)

(Mask, Top and wrist piece made by other class members- Modelled by myself)

Fashion- Shapes/ Clothing

 For this task I was asked to bring in a piece of work from my favourite artist, I chose a piece by Andrew Ellis (King Spiff) who is a illustrator and painter.

Next I was asked to isolate a small section of the image and make it a more interesting/3 dimensional piece using just paper, I decided to stick the shapes I made onto the original image as I wanted to make use of negative space. I used folded, ripped and layered paper to make the outline of the image.

Personally I thought there could have been major improvements to my work, starting with the amount of detail I put in and the variation of materials I used. For example I could have used different colour paper to emphasise on the amount/depth of the layers and also to highlight raised areas of the image. Overall I did not enjoy the task, nor particularly like my outcome as I did not really find this task exciting and is maybe why my outcome suffered. 


Later on in the day I was asked to chose a shape from my image, and make it again with varying size scales. Next I was put into a group whereby we had to combine the shapes we had made in order to create a piece of work based on a theme.

Personally I did not think our outcome was create in terms of aesthetics, as due to the shapes and objects we had, we were quite restricted with what we could create.

However we were able to rotate groups and use other people's shapes to dress the mannequins, This was one of my personal favourites as I think it most resembles a clothing item. I also like how the use of the scrunched up paper creates texture and depth within the surface area of the paper garment.

Lens Based Media - Photo/Lighting

Lens Based Media: Photos with Narratives

Loading A camera

Lens Based Media - Drawing from Photographs

Prior to the lesson I was asked to produce a number of photographs which I thought related to me, such as my likes and dislikes, memories or even objects. 
I kept the theme of my photo's around my home/general life and showed my interests and day to day life through them.

During the first lesson I was asked to chose one of the photo's and draw it on a A1 page.

I chose this photo of my messy work area as I feel it's something that represents my day to day life, because this is what I spend most of my time doing.

Next I was asked to highlight certain areas of the image I had drawn, in order to give across a particular feel.

The original photo gave of a messy vibe, as it shows a cluttered and unorganised space. I used pencil, biro and other thin marker pens to draw out my own interpretation of the image.
I kept the mark making very sketchy to translate the overall messy look, this also created a sense of movement as the lines used for shading looked all over the place and could have started or ended anywhere on the page.

I think a lot more could have been done with this piece of work, such as spending more time on the shading techniques to create different looks/effects, also to add detail to the image which would improve the overall appearance, however I was limited on time. 

Lens Based Media - Films/Narratives

During the Lens based Media week we looked at narratives and putting them into films. For this task I was to work in a group of six and create a short- no edit 1 minute film, using a tape camera.

First we set about generating ideas about what our storyline would be, so that we could make a storyboard and plan what shots we would need carefully, as we could not edit anything.

Brief storyline: Our film would be shot from two perspectives; the protagonist and then the antagonist, who would not actually be shown in the film in order to create a sense of mystery and a slight thrill.

(Left) Our basic storyboard, showing a visual reputation of the main shots we would like.









Our more detailed Storyboard, where we expanded the initial shot ideas and added a written description, so that our shots made sense and were easily understood with the pictures.

We then moved on to the production of the film which I personally thought went really well, we made few mistakes whilst filming, but this was almost unavoidable as we were only able to to pause our recording to cut between shots.

I was also pleased with how our narrative worked with our shot types and perspective, due to the fact we shot in first and third person, almost giving two storylines at a time.





Part 2

Still looking at narratives: I was asked to think of a memorable character/person I had seen at any point in my life, and then draw them. Next I was asked to draw the person, obviously I did not know anything about the person, however I was then asked to create a background story and information about the person and how they got to where they are now. My character was a homeless man who always had a white rat with red eyes kept on his shoulder, he has no family connections and also had a rough childhood. I then had to introduce an antagonist which would disrupt their day to day life, and the obvious antagonist was a child, as my protagonist did not have a particularly good childhood, therefore it would be interesting to see how they would react in a situation where a child is introduced.

With the antagonist introduced I was then able to create a storyboard and narrative about the two characters.