Its been a little while, but I’ve made some good progress since last checking in!
This week, I’ve been working constantly on concepts for my Cheltenham Awards piece- I want this to be culmination of my progression throughout my degree, so I want to make sure it’s suited to the brief, artistically and technically sound, and also something I’m proud of and can connect with.
When mapping out ideas for ‘Unity’ (the theme of the Awards this year), I thought back to my trip to China last year. The contrast between old and new Shanghai architecture, as well as the exceedingly blurred divide was reflected in the community around the city. It was a wild and dizzying blend of temples and traditional teahouses that were hundreds of years old, stood literally metres away from futuristic skyscrapers and the latest architectural marvels. It was so stunning, and unlike anything I’d ever seen! This really felt like the perfect thing to base my ideas on, so I set out making some concepts:
I’ve experimented with different background layouts, figural poses and blends of traditional and modern imagery. I chose the Pudong skyline as the background (very recognisable and iconic), with a selection of traditional architectural motifs based on the places I visited for the foreground surrounding the figure~
The idea fell into place quite quickly, as I was able to envision a rough layout after looking into my initial artist research, particularly the work of Sarah Joncas, as well as taking inspiration from my own past work:
Left: Night Life (Joncas, n.d.). Right Haru ‘Springtime’ (Collingwood, 2017)
The combination of figural elements and landscapes is something I’m already familiar with, and I was eager to work on something that is both beautiful and detailed, with architectural elements that were new territory to me.
I think I’ll be able to realise this piece fairly ‘easily’ compared to my other projects, where half of the battle was technique and workflow. I’m confident in my ability to produce this piece on Procreate, even thought that in itself will be a slight learning curve. However, that just means this is a good opportunity to fully immerse myself in the software- I plan to do final tidy up and processing on Photoshop, but Procreate boasts most of the same functions, so I want to make sure I’m widening my skills as much as possible.
I’ll have to keep a close eye on my time restraints and other projects (e.g. this blog!), as not keeping up with any one of these will negatively impact my progress. This has been a major weakness throughout my degree, and it’s never been so critically important to keep this in check!
Targets for the next few days include working on this piece (probably constantly), while also finding time to start collating my portfolio work and prepping for hand-in~
References
Collingwood, C. (2019). Haru ‘Springtime’ [mixed media].
Collingwood, C. (2019). Modernisation Concept 1 [digital].
Collingwood, C. (2019). Modernisation Concept 2 [digital].
Collingwood, C. (2019). Modernisation Concept 3 [digital].
About a month ago we were set the impossible task of finding the latest issue of Hi-Fructose, a contemporary art quarterly magazine. I traipsed allllll over town trying to find one with no joy. Searches on eBay were also unfruitful, with only one seller listing the latest issue… and of course, they were sold out. :c
I resigned my search to maybe being able to find a back issue in the future. But last week I was browsing again on the off chance I might find a copy, and lo and behold- that seller had just restocked! Since the magazine was coming from Germany I wasn’t expecting it for at least 2 weeks, but it showed up on my doormat this morning~
Hi-Fructose: Issue 50 (Collingwood, 2019)
Here we have Issue 50 of Hi-Fructose, RRP $8.95- my cost was just under €14 with postage, which is fairly reasonable considering these magazines seem to be akin to gold dust in Europe.
Not gonna lie, I was expecting it to be a wee bit bigger than ~A4/letter size, but the quality feels great and it’s printed on nice sturdy stock. Peep that lush gold foiling on the cover! ♥ My poor photo really doesn’t do it justice! [Disclaimer: please excuse my horrible sausage fingers invading the rest of these pics!]
We’d been advised that any recent issue would do for this review task, but I was set on finding Issue 50 because Audrey Kawasaki is one of the featured artists- I’ll touch on her section of the magazine later since her section is near the end of the issue.
Having a quick flick through, there’s also the added bonus of a snazzy 16-page insert on the work of Jason Lemon- love this, it makes it feel very deluxe.
Hi-Fructose: Jason Limon Feature (Collingwood, 2019)
Going off on a tangent, this magazine also smells really good… woodsy and organic with only a very small smidge of plasticky print smell- hooray! I’m sure any fellow bibliophiles will attest to the fact that you can tell the quality of a printed publication by how good it smells~
The magazine is beautifully laid out, with very high quality photography and artwork alongside in-depth artist interviews that are genuinely interesting. Adverts are only found at the beginning and end of the publication, which is a welcome feature- I feel like adverts ruin the flow of a magazine and distract from the otherwise beautiful artwork.
Hi-Fructose: Contents Page (Collingwood, 2019)
Featured artists for this issue include Annie Owens, DabsMyla, Shoichi Okumura, and of course Audrey Kawasaki, all of which have gorgeous artwork. Each section is from 6-12 pages long, with full page illustrations that are vivid and (mostly) of a good resolution. The interviews are set out beautifully and work well paired with both the illustrations and some candid shots of the artists as they work.
Hi-Fructose: DABSMYLA Feature (Collingwood, 2019)
My favourite section is Audrey Kawasaki’s interview- no surprise there! Her work is hauntingly beautiful. I’m already pretty familiar with her work, but the interview alongside her illustrations is obviously very up to date, which reveals new information on her current practice and workflow as well as aspects her life that are inspiring her work. The featured artworks are from 2016 onwards and were impeccably photographed. I love the typography set against her art on the ‘cover’ page of the article- there was obviously lots of love and care put into the layout and editing of this issue.
Overall this is a really nice art quarterly- my top fave is still Beautiful Bizarre as that’s suited to my taste a wee bit more, but I love looking at new and upcoming examples of illustration and Hi-Fructose didn’t disappoint. I only wish it was easier to find in the UK!
Thanks for reading~
References
Beautiful Bizarre (2019). Beautiful Bizarre Magazine [online]. Available at: https://beautifulbizarre.net [Accessed 12 Mar 2019].
Collingwood, C. (2019). Hi-Fructose: Audrey Kawasaki Feature [photograph].
Collingwood, C. (2019). Hi-Fructose: Contents Page [photograph].
Collingwood, C. (2019). Hi-Fructose: DABSMYLA Feature [photograph].
Collingwood, C. (2019). Hi-Fructose: Issue 50 [photograph]. Cover art: Fosik, AJ. Erratic Spell Release [polymer paint on wood].
Collingwood, C. (2019). Hi-Fructose: Jason Limon Feature [photograph].
Hi-Fructose (n.d.). Hi-Fructose|The New Contemporary Art Magazine [online]. Available at: https://hifructose.com [Accessed 12 Mar 2019].
Kawasaki, A. (n.d.). Audrey Kawasaki [online]. Available at: https://www.audkawa.com [Accessed 12 Mar 2019].
Rosa, E. (2019). Hi-Fructose. Issue 50. pp.13, 50-51, 76-77, 104-115.
Even though I’m looking at specific artists for each degree project in terms of suitability, application and style, there are a number of artists that inspire me in all of my artistic endeavours. By looking at the work of these creators, I’ve been able to hone my own style and artistic voice through looking at their work, finding my favourite aspects and fusing these elements together to create my own style. To reference one of my favourite quotes once again, Tony DiTerlizzi once said:
“…an artist’s “style” is simply an expression composed from a combination of the elements in other artist’s work that the artist finds appealing”. (DiTerlizzi, n.d.)
Here are just three of the best artists I follow that have influenced my own process and aesthetic~
Amy Sol
I first came across Amy Sol’s work in an issue of Juxtapoz I was given to look at in the first year of my degree, and I instantly connected with the way in which she utilises fantasy setting and figural fauna and female elements to create an ethereal feel that is both haunting and endearing.
Embers (Sol, 2018), Rae (Sol, 2018).
A recent article from Juxtapoz Online tells of her inspiration and process:
“Exploring how nature and femininity intersect, Sol’s figures are elegant and serene with a stoic, introspective power. Both her sculptural work and oil paintings are frozen scenes taken from airy dreams and tales. Populated by bewitching figures and their mythic companions, each piece is a glimpse of a delicate ritual or parlance with nature. Incorporating traditional oil painting and sculpting techniques as well as virtual reality and 3D printing, Sol has masterfully blended mediums to explore light, atmosphere, dimensionality, and mood in this new body of work. Characters and figures are rendered both in graceful oil paintings and dynamic sculptural works utilizing digital- based and classic tools to create a visual language all her own.” (Juxtapoz, 2018)
Diurnal Garden (Sol, 2018)
Since I first started following Sol, she has transitioned into a darker palette with more muted grey tones and less bright, pastel colours. I feel this is somewhat reflective in my own art, in the sense that I am starting to find it easier to refine my colour palette to suit a purpose, rather than combining colours from many different families. Nevertheless, I do still enjoy colour and like to embellish areas of my work with colour to draw a focal point or place of interest.
She also makes a wide use of flora and female characters in her work, something I also like to utilise wherever possible. Favouring female figures is a bit of a trend in the illustration world at the minute, but I find the female form so much more interesting and appealing… it seems a lot of artists agree! Combining form and nature is a quintessential match, and I love the diversity and endless possibility of working with this theme.
Overall I just find her work mesmerising ♥
Miho Hirano
Another one of my favourite artists, Miho Hirano’s work shares many of the same qualities with Amy Sol’s work- somber palettes embellished with slight touches of colour, and female focal figures that command the piece. She uses mostly oil paint in her work, which creates smooth fluid scenes and colours that blend seamlessly together which makes for a strong sense of surrealism.
The figures are often surrounded by flora and naturally curving patterns like foliage, smoke and hair- I often use these elements in my own work as I find they flow especially well together and I like to use as much naturally occurring imagery as possible. I especially love how she hides flowers within the hair of the figures, rather than just using them as a separate entity. Touching more upon this aspect of Hirano’s art, Tracy Eire of Beautiful Bizarre Magazine says:
“My first impulse was to connect the floral nature of Miho Hirano’s characters to reclaiming a confounded notion of womanhood, like women’s closeness to nature, their connection to the moon in myth and body, and painting them as entwined with untamed things.” (Eire, 2018)
In terms of feeling and emotion, the facial expressions of the figures play a big part in how the piece portrays these elements- the somber faces of the women in the paintings are a blank canvas for everything that surrounds them. I do find that a neutral expression cultivates a much more appealing aesthetic in my own work, leaving the possibility for the emotions of the viewer to be manipulated using other visual motifs; I find this creates a much more universally appealing piece. ♥
James Jean
I couldn’t write a favourite artists post without mentioning James Jean- I think he’s the artist that really inspired me to explore different varieties of illustration that were a bit more abstract, and has helped me grow out of my comfort zone- even though I still have a long way to go ^^”
I think my favourite aspect of Jean’s artwork is the engrossing, immersive atmospheres mixed with a distinctly Japanese aesthetic. Jean states that he was introduced to Hiroshige and Yoshitoshi during art college (Jean, 2016), which influenced him to start experimenting with sea-like waves and flowing forms in his art.
Adrift (Jean, 2016)
I adore these aspects, as once again this speaks to my personal love of curved and contoured form which flows across all areas, binding the artwork together. Referencing a 2016 article from It’s Nice That, James Jean and his interviewer Jamie Green expand on these themes:
“Creatures, critters and the tendrils of foliage wrap themselves around spectral figures, occupying worlds that seem to bleed out of the canvas. He casts his surreal and decaying fantasy worlds in technicolour blues, oranges and gold.” (Green, 2016)
“Despite my efforts to force my work to go in a certain direction, I keep going back to these dreamlike images. I suppose they are a selfish, self-indulgent escape from the anxiety-ridden age we live in.” (Jean, 2016)
Mockingbird (Jean, 2015), Piggyback (Jean, 2015)
The detail in these pieces is simply exquisite. Viewing Jean’s artwork is truly a joy, and evokes a very calming effect on the viewer. I’ve previously written about my attention to this particular aspect of emotion in my own work- see my Design Philosophies here ♥
There’s so many artists I’m inspired by, so this is only a small look at some of my favourites. I hope to write another post in the future about more artists that I love! Thanks for reading~
Back with another post on our day out at the Durham University Botanic Garden and Oriental Museum! Find my post on the Botanic Gardens here c:
Admittedly, I’m really not much of a museum-goer… I find them quite dry and stuffy at the best of times. However, I do have a deep appreciation of Asian culture and art, so I thought I’d give this museum a go since it sounds right up my street. The uni were also running a special admission deal for the Botanic Garden and the Oriental Museum on the same day~
Upon arriving the museum was nicely set out, organised in a tiered open space type layout- I know this has nothing to do with my research but it made it feel nice and airy in there (which made me much less anxious about spending hours getting lost in a blur of similar exhibits)!
Durham University Oriental Museum: Main Floor (Collingwood, 2019)
There were a plethora of cultures on show at the museum including Korean, Egyptian, Middle-Eastern and Indian exhibits which I thoroughly enjoyed; however, for the purpose of this post I’ll be looking specifically at Chinese and Japanese items, since that’s what I’m basing my project on.
We visited the Japanese exhibit first- although it was small, there were some gorgeous examples of early ceramics and pottery, as well as some ceremonial prayer set-ups and symbolic items. My favourite exhibit was the collection of traditional Hina Matsuri dolls. The attendant told me these are only displayed for a short time around Doll’s Day or Girl’s Day (celebrated on the 3rd March each year)- more on this holiday here if you’re curious!
Durham University Oriental Museum: Hina Matsuri Doll Display (Collingwood, 2019)
This is exactly what I was looking for to supplement the images of flora and fauna I’d taken in the gardens… I’m excited to work some of these visual styles into my concepts c:
I then wandered across to the Chinese exhibit floors- there was a much larger space for Chinese items and artwork, so I was able to gather tons of really useful reference imagery. The ceramics and pottery were standouts for me; peek a few photos from the exhibit below. My favourite item was the huge Qing Dynasty cloisonné floral vase!
Durham University Oriental Museum: Qing Dynasty Red Dragon Plate/ Qing Dynasty Cloisonné Vase (Collingwood, 2019)Durham University Oriental Museum: Qing Dynasty Porcelain Bowl with Fish and Crane/Floral Horse Bowl (Collingwood, 2019)
At the far end of the Chinese floor was a huge paper replica of a traditional Chinese Dragon- with Chinese New Year being recently, it was nice to see an example of some more modern festive items. In particular I was happy to see this, since my current concepts for the Chinese risograph feature a traditional Chinese Dragon very prominently.
Durham University Oriental Museum: Upper Floor Chinese Dragon and Lanterns (Collingwood, 2019)
You may have noticed the quality of these photos is lacking in this post… truthfully I find museums to have horrendous lighting for photographing exhibits, so while most of my pics are useful and do the job, they’re not very nicely composed and a bit naff. There was also no flash photography, so I just had to make do with the conditions in there… and it was very dark >:c
Overall I thoroughly enjoyed my research visit to Durham. I’m so pleased I was able to source places to go for references for this project- I doubted I’d be able to find sufficient primary sources, so I was winning before I’d even begun~
I’m looking forward to working this new imagery into my concepts- I feel much more equipped to produce some lovely symbolic pieces of art that work well together and show my appreciation for the beauty of Asian culture ♥
References
Collingwood, C. (2019). Durham University Oriental Museum: Floral Horse Bowl[photograph].
Collingwood, C. (2019). Durham University Oriental Museum: Hina Matsuri Doll Display [photograph].
Collingwood, C. (2019). Durham University Oriental Museum: Main Floor[photograph].
Collingwood, C. (2019). Durham University Oriental Museum: Qing Dynasty Cloisonné Vase[photograph].
Collingwood, C. (2019). Durham University Oriental Museum: Qing Dynasty Porcelain Bowl with Fish and Crane[photograph].
Collingwood, C. (2019). Durham University Oriental Museum: Qing Dynasty Red Dragon Plate[photograph].
Collingwood, C. (2019). Durham University Oriental Museum: Upper Floor Chinese Dragon and Lanterns [photograph].
Wikipedia (n.d.). Wiki – Hina Matsuri [online]/ Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinamatsuri [Accessed 24 Feb 2019]
As part of my ongoing effort to source primary reference sources (this was a weakness in my workflow during Semester 1), I’ve been for a visit to the local Botanical Garden and the Oriental Museum, both of which are kept my Durham University. To prevent this from being overly wordy I’ll just talk about the Garden today, but I’ll be sure to make a post on the Oriental Museum in the future as both were fantastic!
In an attempt to catch some nice weather for the first part of the trip, we visited the Gardens first- of course, this was a failure because when do we ever have nice weather in the UK? It was really misty and since it’s still February, there wasn’t much to see in terms of flowers and blooms. I did spot a few British flowers planted at the front, but since my project is based on Asian flora, this wasn’t applicable to my area of research.
My favourite area of the garden is the collection of greenhouses, which contain ‘exotic’ plants that aren’t native to the UK. This is where I collected most of my references of succulents for my terrarium project, and at a slower pace I was able to discover some really nice plants that I could reference for this project.
I also discovered another gem in the back conservatory of the greenhouse- koi fish! I hadn’t noticed these at all the first time I went in (I was in a pretty urgent hurry), so I took some time taking reference images of these fish. Here’s a pic of me employing my family to bait the fish with feed while I took photos haha:
Durham University Botanic Garden: Feeding the Koi/Koi Fish (Collingwood, 2019)
After having a good mooch through the tropical section, we ventured outside to the main garden. Looking at the map, there was a cluster of areas that interested me; the Bamboo Grove (30), the Japanese Collection (31), the Oriental Collection (37), and the Sakura Friendship Garden (38)- see these on the map below:
It was quite a trek, and when we arrived at the Oriental Collection there wasn’t too much to see- mostly trees and the odd leafy plant, but compared to the variety in the greenhouses it was a wee bit disappointing. Since it’s out of season, the Sakura Friendship Garden was also a bit underwhelming. Now obviously this garden doesn’t focus on flowering plants nor are they in season, so I sort of expected it to be limited- however, this is the best selection that’s accessible to me, so it’ll have to do for now~
Durham University Botanic Garden: SAKURA Friendship Garden (Collingwood, 2019)
On the plus side, I really enjoyed the Bamboo Grove! Plenty of mossy textures and interesting leaves and branches to photograph- these will definitely come in handy.
Durham University Botanic Garden: Moss Specimen/Lostachys Aurea (Collingwood, 2019)
Despite the drawbacks, I really loved this garden- I’ve re-visited it quite often for inspiration and reference, the most recent being for my first experimental risograph project during Semester 1. That was a bit of a whirlwind visit since time was very short, but I was able to enjoy it much more this time around (despite there still being fairly little flora outside of the nice warm greenhouses!)
More in the next few days on the second leg of our trip- the Oriental Museum c:
[Edit 27th Feb: Oriental Museum trip report here!]
References
Collingwood, C. (2019). Durham University Botanic Garden: Feeding the Koi [photograph].
Collingwood, C. (2019). Durham University Botanic Garden: Koi Fish [photograph].
Collingwood, C. (2019). Durham University Botanic Garden: Lostachys Aurea [photograph].
Collingwood, C. (2019). Durham University Botanic Garden: SAKURA Friendship Garden [photograph].
Collingwood, C. (2019). Durham University Botanic Garden: Unidentified Moss Specimen [photograph].
There’s only 3-ish weeks until the release of the Cheltenham Illustration Awards theme and the start of the Call for Entries, so I’m coming back to the lovely process of risograph printing for a short and sweet 4 week project to fill my time until then~
This time around I already have a good knowledge of the process and what it entails, as well as what types of artwork are best suited to the unique qualities of the risograph printer.
Since it’s quite an uncommon facility, I really want to make the most of my access to the riso this year while at college- there are other companies who print risographs to order (e.g. Risotto Studio, more on this later in my research) but these are few and far between and there’s nothing better than going through and learning the process yourself!
Armed with this prior experience, I’ll be able to produce much more refined prints that make better use of colour (including the new inks!!), as well as transparency/opacity levels and layout (e.g. line trapping, negative space, etc).
As always, I’ve begun the project with a mind map encompassing all of my ideas, areas for research and outcomes, as well as a rough workflow outline:
Before mapping out my ideas, I also wrote a little synopsis of the project and what the aims are- might as well post below!~
Project Synopsis
For this project, I want to directly follow on from my initial risography experimentation in Semester 1, utilising my newfound skills, prior experience and increased colour availability to create a complementary pair of two prints. I will produce approx. 10 completed prints per image in a variety of finishes.
This pair of prints will be a continuation of the theme ‘Natural Pattern’, which I first explored in the experimental Printmaking project during Semester 1. I want to explore further natural subjects in these prints, merging together figure and flora/other naturally occurring elements, grouping these assets into themed outcomes that work well both individually and as a pair of complementary pieces.
I will be producing the imagery using Procreate, with additional hand applied processes such as metallic embellishment (e.g. hand-painted or screen printed, gold/silver leaf application) on select prints to add interest and unique elements.
Ultimately, I’ll be aiming for the final prints to be of a good enough quality to be sold at my final show, in addition to being included in my portfolio as part of Personal Project 3 (PP3).
I will also conduct thorough research before starting on my project as well as throughout the design process. This will include primary references, existing example research, risograph colour methods and printing applications, with additional visual development presented in an A4 sketchbook.
As mentioned, I really want to make some nice prints to sell at final show- so this run of prints will be pretty commercial based rather than conceptual in order to meet the needs of the brief.
Targets for the coming week include starting to draw out some concepts (and finding/photographing references to go with these), as well as artist and existing imagery research. More next week! ♥
It’s now the third week of my timetabled period in which I’m meant to be working on the Printmaking project; while the work I’ve produced in the past 2 weeks isn’t completely irrelevant, it’s high time I started getting deeper into the risograph side of things, e.g. how it works, the process and how to create artwork suitable for the riso.
Dare I say… from the research I’ve done so far, it actually sounds easier than I’d initially anticipated. An actual miracle.
From what I’ve gathered, risograph printing is essentially a cross between screen printing and photocopying, but more environmentally friendly and with a more limited colour range (MUCH more on this in my project research- I’m just doing a quick recap).
Having said that, it’s still quite technical and very different from the processes I’m used to working with. For example, you have to keep in mind the bleed areas around the design, the potential for accidental overlap, and the possibility of errors due to the machine, e.g. roller marks. However, through careful planning I’m certain a lot of these areas of concern can be sidestepped- respectively, this could be through careful border layout, trapping line and colour, and laying out heavily inked areas accordingly. (HatoPress.net, n.d.).
It’s quite a lot to keep in mind, but doing an ample amount of research prior to designing imagery has given me a really good basis of knowledge on which to build the project. My initial mind map helps me to plan out the work I need to do as the project progresses:
Initial Mind Map- I find these useful at the start of every project. (Collingwood, 2018.)
Pending the success of this introductory project, I could utilise this technique to make zines, posters, business cards etc for final show- the colour palette might be more limited, but it’s infinitely less laborious than screen printing (and most of the other traditional printing processes, for that matter)~
References
Collingwood, C. (2018). Personal Project 1 – Initial Mind Map.
chalon joy collingwood 