Fairground Typography

My day was spent experimenting with different ways of forming circus/fairground letters.

I discovered a technique in which I glue thread onto different surfaces, guiding it to vaguely show the original letter shapes.

I wanted the swirls and everything that makes this kind of typography stand out to occur a bit more naturally, so let the thread manoeuvre it's way around the surface as I blow dried it.

I tried the same technique with wool too but it wasn't nearly as defined or attractive as the thread.

I'm planning on creating an entire alphabet using different materials and media to create letters...

See you in a decade.

Clever dinosaurs, broken printers and sick bags.

Today I've been making some collages relating to my project, 'Journeys', using found images.

To begin with, I looked at dinosaurs, as I'm interested in the idea of journeys through time. 

When I created the above image I was thinking about the possibilities of dinosaurs if they lived now, and tried to make the dinosaur look like a pet taking someone for a ride, or he could even be a teacher. Who knows, they may have been more intelligent than us!

I was thinking about how modern an idea 3D imagery is in comparison to the prehistoric period, so I tried to create what a 3D image looks like before you put your 3D specs on. 

When photocopying the image, my printer gave up the ghost and gave me this fantastic piece that I could obviously never repeat intentionally. It made me think of how dinosaurs faded out, and how species have become extinct, but there are still traces of what they once were.

These images are a different take on my theme, as I was focussing on travel.

Even though these women are having some sort of woman vs spaghetti competition, the image reminded me of someone vomiting, as visually it is a bit disgusting. As one of the objects suggested to me in my survey last week was a sick bag,  I decided that motion sickness could be an interesting journey-related topic to cover.

I used brown paper as the material was similar to that of a sick bag, and layered the image to suggest movement. I like the colour palette as it looks quite retro - especially with the antique omnibus ticket!

   

Due to my fascination in fairgrounds, I thought it could be quite interesting to place the women on a ride. I photocopied them with a red filter to suit the colour palette,which I think looks really effective. 

This piece in particular reminds me of Roy Lichtenstein's work because of the primary colours used, and the pointillism-esque patterns of dots and hexagons.

I like the fact that the women are smiling as it made me think of the thrill and fear that rides make us feel.

The work of J.P. King inspired me for these pieces, as his use of positive and negative shapes and their placement is really intriguing, as the layering suggests time and movement. I also like his use of colour as it is fairly limited and doesn't take attention away from the central image.

Journeys

Yesterday I got other students on my course to complete a mini survey to help me progress with my project.

I asked them to...

1) Use the first and last letters of your name to come up with 2 words that you relate to 'Journeys'.

2) Name one object that reminds you of a journey.

I got some really interesting responses. In particular the word 'ride' - I was considering going to a fairground, because there would be some great observational drawing opportunities there! Also I looked up fairgrounds to find that the University of Sheffield is the home of The National Fairground Archive, which is very very exciting. 

The objects that could be interesting were sweets, sick bag, keys, salt and vinegar crisps and gravel. I want to find all these over the next few days so that I can record them in and outside my sketchbook.

Final Major Project

After much debate I've decided on 'Journeys' for my FMP title. This week I've been brainstorming and drawing people on bus journeys really.

Here's an artist called Lapin who I've been looking at. I want to find a book like this to draw in!
I got some old maps from a charity shop but that seems to obvious to me... I'd prefer to work on something that isn't in english. Maybe French or Spanish.. We'll see.

I love Lapin's sketchbooks and how the artist has documented and recorded every day objects in such an inventive way - a bit like a diary, but with drawings!