visual language: 3D lens task

over this week we were asked to create something 3D that represented some sort of super power or superhuman aspect. i decided to go with 'eyes in the back of my head' as it's something my mum says all the time and i got inspired whilst being at home. at first the project felt like it would never be done by me because i was so stuck at what to do and where to go, as i am not normally a 3D artist. however once i got my inspiration it went from there really. i think i need to practice more with 3D and see what else i can do because i need to start pushing myself to do new things. however this task was helpful in opening my eyes to new ways of illustration.

here is a little presentation that i made on issuu as there was so many images i didn't want to frighten you with so many pictures of my hagrid-like hair and grinchy face. it's a little bit of development where me and the photography student were seen playing around with the lighting and the exposure, getting the picture perfect. we also tried close ups and some pictures from the front but they didn't really work i just kind of wanted to see what they would look like!

untold story: end of module evaluation

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?

I think within this project I have really embraced blogging the most, as I have found it really fun and interesting. Researching more into my project and testing things out with different materials is another thing that I think I have really challenged myself with in this project, and if something happened to go wrong, I wouldn’t scrap it like I used to do but instead use that to my advantage.

Which approaches to research have you found most valuable during this module. How have you interrogated your research to identify appropriate ideas?

I think the most valuable research that I have found this module would have been on the internet, purely for the fact that I could get the information that I wanted quickly and easily, and when the library didn’t have the source material that I needed I could turn to the internet. I also think artist research has helped me a lot in this project as I think I have been influenced to try different styles and push my boundaries a bit more.

I also think talking to people has helped me with this project, as a source of research. Finding out the background behind some of the dogs in Dogs Trust really helped inspire me and motivate me, knowing that this was definitely the project that I wanted to do.

What strengths can you identify within your submission and how have you capitalised on these? What aspects of your submission are you satisfied with?

I think the strengths of my submission are the initial development stages that I went through. My ideas went through a lot of different changes, and I think all of them were vital to the development of my final outcome. I am really happy with my final piece, as I think that trying to challenge myself and do something different has really helped to push and motivate me and produce a better outcome than I could’ve hoped for.

I feel like another of my strengths within this brief has been the blogging and research, I think using these has really helped to shape my brief into what it finally became. As without the research behind it, I wouldn’t have been able to come up with the ideas.

What areas for further development can you identify within your submission and how will you address these in the future?

I think one of the things I could further develop in the future would be to focus on experimentation. I think although I did more experimentation than my previous projects, towards the end it felt a little bit like I wanted to experiment more but didn’t have the time, so if I had started a little bit earlier I would’ve had the time. Therefore time management would also be something that I should improve on. Making sure that I have enough time to develop my project and still have enough time for the final piece.

How effectively are you making decisions about the development of your work?

What strategies informs this decision making?

I think I was effectively making decisions on the development of my work in the fact that I was trying to push myself to try new things. Landscape and coloured pencil were new things for me, so I tried them both out in different ways before coming to a conclusion on what I was happy with the most. I think my researching also helped in my decision making, as I found out things that really interested me and then that helped to create more ideas for my project.

I also think that peer and tutor crits helped me to make decisions about my  work, as they helped me to realise which ideas had potential and which I should not run with.

How effectively have you managed this project and organised yourself during this module?

I think to an extent I have managed myself very well within this project. It was a bumpy start with some ideas and visits falling through and not completely understanding the project at first, but as I got with it and got more interested in my project, I think that motivated me to work more and have fun with it, rather than think of it as a chore. So this helped me in the long run, as I didn’t leave things to the last minute and I paced myself, also having fun at the same time.

7.How would you grade yourself on the following areas: (please indicate using an ‘x’)  5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor
	1	2	3	4	5
Attendance				x
Punctuality					x
Motivation					x
Commitment					x
Quantity of work produced					x
Quality of work produced					x
Contribution to the group				x

untold story: final book & thoughts

untold story: final inside sleeve pages

after some thought and some feedback from some peers on their opinions on the options that i had. i decided to go with the paw prints, however i got textures from the first and last page as they were going to go together, so that they tied together really nicely.

untold story: final images

after talking with matt about my images, he showed me a way on photoshop to really make my images pop. i put a similar colour behind a multiply layer, which made the colour come out even more, but still making sure to keep the texture of my pencil crayons; which is what i wanted the most.

untold story: show & tell

The crit was very successful. It was so fun to have 2nd and 3rd years there to see our work and give us some advice on how they think our projects are going. Everyone seems to be happy that i'm doing it about dogs! (everyone loves dogs of course)! i love how animals can bring everyone together like that.

untold story: inside sleeve experimentation

did some experimenting on what i wanted my inside sleeve to look like, i think i want to go for something simple because my artwork is quite intricate i don't want to take away the focus from that. its a hard decision because i love all of these!

untold story: sketches & experimentation

here is some more sketches and experimentation, mainly for my front cover and inside sleeve pages. i wanted to make sure i tried many different options to make sure that i would get the right thing. i also tried out some different colours, i knew i wanted to go with a green/blue colour to tie in with the dog theme, so like grass or natural themes. 

untold story: finished pencil drawings

i am really happy with how these have turned out. i think that i really challenged myself in the fact that i dont normally do backgrounds or landscapes, so i wanted to show myself that i can do things when i put my mind to it. I'm most happy with the forest landscape because i think that i have made most depth and realism. 

untold story: medieval times

Middle Ages

Greyhounds nearly became extinct during times of famine in the Middle Ages. They were saved by clergymen who protected them and bred them for the nobility. From this point on, they came to be considered the dogs of the aristocracy. In the tenth century, King Howel of Wales made killing a greyhound punishable by death. King Canute of England established the Forest Laws in 1014, reserving large areas of the country for hunting by the nobility. Only such persons could own greyhounds; any "meane person" (commoner) caught owning a greyhound would be severely punished and the dog's toes "lawed" (mutilated) to prevent it from hunting. The value of a Greyhound exceeded that of a serf, and the punishment for causing death of a Greyhound was equivalent to the punishment for murder. In 1066 William the Conqueror introduced even more stringent forest laws. Commoners who hunted with greyhounds in defiance of these laws favored dogs whose coloring made them harder to spot: black, red, fawn, and brindle. Nobles by contrast favored white and spotted dogs who could be spotted and recovered more easily if lost in the forest. It became common among the English aristocracy to say, "You could tell a gentleman by his horses and his greyhounds." Old paintings and tapestries of hunting feasts often include greyhounds.
Hunting in Europe and Asia with specially bred and trained dogs was the sport of nobles and the clergy, in large part because they owned or controlled much of the land suitable for hunting. There's little evidence that the common man in the Middle Ages used dogs to hunt. Hunting with sighthounds in this era hadn't changed much since the time of Romans like Arrian. It was a sport, not the serious pursuit of food, which pitted the hounds against the hare and against each other.
Dogs in general were at times looked down upon in the Middle Ages, while greyhounds were highly valued. Vincent of Beauvais, in the mid- thirteenth century, identified three types of dog: hunting dogs, with drooping ears, guard dogs, which are more rustic than other dogs, and greyhounds, which are "the noblest, the most elegant, the swiftest, and the best at hunting."
The greyhound was used as an emblem, often in tombs, at the feet of the effigies of gentlemen, symbolizing the knightly virtues (faith), occupations (hunting) and generally the aristocratic way of life. Where tombs are concerned, the greyhound always was associated with knighthood (along with the lion, symbolizing strength) and never with ladies, who generally were associated with the little lap-dog (symbol of marital faithfulness and domestic virtue).
The greyhound is the first breed of dog mentioned in English literature. The monk in Geoffrey Chaucer's 14th century The Canterbury Tales reportedly spent great sums on his greyhounds:

Greyhounds he hadde as swifte as fowel in flight;
Of prikyng and of huntyng for the hare
Was al his lust, for no cost wolde he spare.

Edmund de Langley's Mayster of Game, AD 1370, describes the ideal greyhound ( read an excerpt). Langley presented this book to the future King Henry V of England. Henry reportedly was a big fan of greyhounds; perhaps Shakespeare knew this when, two centuries later, he had Henry speak the quote below.
We don't know for certain where or when the term greyhound originated. It probably dates to the late middle ages. It may come from the old English "grei-hundr," supposedly "dog hunter" or high order of rank. Another explanation is that it is derived from "gre" or "gradus," meaning "first rank," so that greyhound would mean "first rank among dogs." Finally, it has been suggested that the term derives from Greekhound, since the hound reached England through the Greeks. A minority view is that the original greyhound stock was mostly grey in color, so that the name simply refers to the color of the hound.

untold story: yann kebbi

i have found this artist Yan Kebbi who uses coloured pencils very effectively. the way that he switches between different densities and edges with his pencils give the piece different feelings, going from hard and rushed, with an energetic feel to soft and calming for the landscape drawing. i want to be able to have this effect come across when making my own piece, to be able to effectively show the mood of the piece. 

untold story: experimentation

some more experimentation to help me make some more decisions on how i want the final book to turn out. i started by doing some ink experimentation as i wanted to try some different media than what i'm used to. i really loved the way that the ink turned out in ways of making the greyhound look like it was really moving and not so static. however i dont know if it is what i want for this book because i don't want to lose the essence of my handmade drawings as i feel like they will be more heartwarming.

i also did more storyboarding for my project, but after talking with peers i am going to change it up a little bit and instead of the greyhound running straight across i'm going to add more perspective and diversity. 

i also started to do some watercolour for the greek background just to see how it would turn out however i feel like it is too much of a wishy washy vibe for what i wanted so i think from the pencil colour test that i did before i'm going to stick with that.