illustration 1: study task 1

illustration 1: study task 1 progress

illustration 1: even more facts !!

i found out even more things about murakami! he's forever interesting.

• loves cats & once had a cat named Kirin (influenced by the chinese mythical creature)
• he doesn't know how much money he has & he doesn't care
• wrote his first book on the kitchen table
• doesn't like animated films
• prefers italian food to asian food
• his jazz bar was called peter-cat
• he's afraid of heights

The qilin (Chinese: 麒麟; pinyin: qílín) is a mythical hooved chimerical creature known in Chinese and other East Asian cultures, said to appear with the imminent arrival or passing of a sage or illustrious ruler. It is a good omen thought to occasion prosperity or serenity. It is often depicted with what looks like fire all over its body.

illustration 1: more about murakami

I've been researching about my chosen author, Haruki Murakami, in my notebook so I've decided to write down all the facts that I have gathered so I have them all in one place.

quick facts

• DOB//12/01/49
• POB//Kyoto, Japan
• owned a jazz bar with his wife for 7 years

influences

• Raymond Chandler
• Kurt Vannegot
• Franz Kafka
• Shakespeare
• Stephen King

genres

• fiction
• surrealism
• magical realism
• sci-fi
• picaresque

japan literature

• his fiction is criticized by Japan's literary establishment for being 'un-Japanese'
• murakami says "I'm a kind of outcast of the Japanese literary world" and "I'm kind of an ugly duckling. Always the duckling, never the swan." - the guardian 2014
• he was never part of a community of writers; he was a loner & was never fond of groups, schools & literary circles

work & writing style

• his work is frequently surrealistic & melancholic or fatalistic, marked by a "kafkaesque rendition of the recurrent themes of alienation & loneliness" he weaves into his narratives
• 1st person narratives
• unique humour
• comments from main characters as to how strange the story presents itself
• novels have themes & titles that invoke classical music
• some analyses see aspects of shamanism in his writing
• norwegian wood has been called the japanese "catcher in the rye"

his characters

• his characters experience what he experiences as he writes, which could be compared to a movie set where the walls & props are fake

random facts

• he's a fan of crime novels
• has a passion for listening to music, especially jazz and classical music
• once aspired to be a musician but decided to become a writer because he couldn't play instruments well
• began to write fiction at the age of 29 

illustration 1: kafka on the shore

after reading kafka on the shore i feel enlightened. that book. oh damn. it's so good. i enjoyed it way much more than i thought i would. i have so many little sticky notes coming out of it that it'll take me forever to write down all of the quotes that i have tabbed. however i have started to draw some of the quotes down with some illustrative reactions to them.
they started off a bit silly but i think that's just the nature of my art coming through. i do know how to deal with serious art too though! (promise)

woah such good @ calligraphy. (needs practice)

these were some silly comics i did about the quote. i don't know why my brain thought of this first when i read the quote. however i do think they're kind of cute. but maybe i should take into consideration that the quote is a serious one and if it was in relation to the book wouldn't make much sense.

I really love character design so thinking of how the characters look when reading a book is really fun for me. Following the description of Sakura this is what i came up with. I think I am successful in changing between different kind of styles with more realistic (for me) to a more chibi japanese inspired kind of style.

illustration 1: haruki murakami

in the end i decided to go for haruki murakami because my interest in japanese culture is so strong (hehe). i love japanese so i would also be interested in buying his books in japanese and seeing how they translate.

i decided to buy his books kafka on the shore and norweigan wood. i think this is a good start because i heard these are some of his most popular books and reading the blurbs made them sound interesting.

i did a few initial sketches on haruki murakami as i began to research into his life and works.

illustration 1: choosing my author

Ursula K. Le Guin



Short story and Children's author.
October 21, 1929.
Fantasy and Science Fiction.
Deals in themes of gender, sexuality, religion, naturalism.
In 2016, The New York Times described her as "America's greatest living science fiction writer," although she herself has said she would prefer to be known as an "American novelist."

I'm interested in Le Guin because I really love the science fiction and fantasy genres, these are the genre of books that i read most often.

Harper Lee



Novelist.
April 28, 1926 - 2016.
Fiction and Literature.
Has only written one book, To Kill A Mocking Bird. 
Though Lee had only published this single book, in 2007 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her contribution to literature.

I'm interested in Harper Lee because after writing only one book she is so famous and has won awards. I know that people read this book even in High Schools, but i have never read it. 

Haruki Murakami



Contemporary Japanese Literature.
January 12, 1949.
Novelist and Short Story Writer.
His fiction, still criticized by Japan's literary establishment as Un-Japanese. 
Themes of loneliness and alienation.

I'm interested in Haruki Murakami because I really love Japan and Japanese culture and i'm intrigued as to what makes his writing so 'un-japanese'. 

vis com: evaluation

1.  What have you learn about visual communication during this module and how effectively do you think you have applied these ideas?

I have learnt a lot through this module. I have tried out so many new and different ideas and themes that I never thought that I would tackle. Making the gifs was one of them, being able to try out this new way of working was really fun and exciting for me and even though some parts were difficult along the way, I have learned to persevere with it to the end. I also learned that sometimes simplification is a really effective way to reduce your ideas so that they are not over complicated. I think I effectively applied this within the Greetings From brief, where I really enjoyed learning about simplification and applying it to my work in my sketchbook as well as my final products.

2. What approaches to/ methods of image making have you developed and how have they informed your concept development process?

As I said in the last point, I think I have really utilised simplification in this brief. I have used it in these past briefs quite effectively and have really enjoyed doing it. It has really been interesting to me, as someone who is obsessed with detail and has always produced it within my practice, to make my drawings simpler and get different effects from them. I also think that as well as simplification, I have really utilised different ways of drawing within this brief. I have been trying out many visual signatures throughout this brief, not wanting to just pin myself down to one way of working, and I think it has showed through my work.

3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?

I think one strength that I have had through these projects is the beginning stages where I am trying out different ideas and changing ideas. I think you can see this especially in the Persons of Note brief, where my ideas spiralled and I tried out many different things in order to find what I wanted my work to look like. I think this way of working is really helpful especially to someone like me, who is really bad at decisions and always asking for other’s advice. I think I have begun to break away from that even though I do still ask for opinions on my work, within these briefs I have tried to be myself as well and do things that I want to do.

4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?

I think one of my weaknesses, although I have begun to break away from it, is still asking for people’s opinions too often. I need to start just going with my gut and doing what I like instead of always asking for advice and sometimes being disappointed with the answer. However I understand that sometimes getting an outside opinion can be really helpful. I also think one of my weaknesses was not using a wide enough range of different materials. Apart from the briefs where we were asked to use the computer, I don’t think I went out of my comfort zone enough. I didn’t try out things that I really wanted to because I held myself back, using clay being one of them. I think in the next brief/next year I would really like to push myself even more into trying something different and experimenting more with my practice. 

5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?

I would go with my gut and do the work I think will become successful. I will gain from this the knowledge that I am independent and my own boss, and not taking too much ideas and advice from people will make my work feel more personal and like my own.

I would possibly try screen printing, I did ponder it on the Persons of Note brief but in the end I didn’t do it. Next time I want to push the boat out. I think doing different things will open up new ways of working for me.

Try more with backgrounds and composition. I didn’t really use much background/composition for any of the briefs. Next time I would like to try and make myself do more, as it is good practice and can give my work more grounding.

Make sure to stick to the brief instead of getting carried away just drawing things that I enjoy. I seem to find something I like drawing and get so carried away with drawing it that I forget what the project is about or what I have to do in the end. I found this at times with the Persons of Note brief and the I See Faces brief. I want to stick to my brief more next time and keep it in mind.

Look at more artists to give myself inspiration. Even though I think I did look at quite a few artists, I want to look at even more to give myself inspiration and help me through the briefs.

6.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

vis com: postcards stress

as a suggestion from the crit session, people were saying for me to try and incorporate the little guy in maybe my postcards or something else so that he wasn't just a loner on the poster. so i started doing some drawings of him that will fit onto the postcards.

i wanted the little guy to fit the theme of the postcards, so on the mushroom one i did a little guy with a flower crown to fit with the floral theme that i had going on. I also decided to do them in ink because i did a few in fineliner and it just didn't feel as nice as the ink did.

then i also did a little space guy to try and fit in with the space font. however, i was a little worried that he kind of just looks like a guy stuck in a bubble. i asked for some feedback from my flatmate and they said to possibly add buttons to his arm or change the antenna a bit.

lastly i was a bit stuck on what to do for the last one as it really is just a psychedelic pattern. however when i got thinking about it i was trying to match 'psychedelic' with something and obviously hippie is what comes to mind so here he is.

i then added them onto the postcards and moved the font up a little bit so that they would fit on. 

however i actually really don't like how they turned out. i think it kind of made it look a bit more ugly. even though the little guy is kind of cute i just really don't think it fit well with what i wanted to go with. there was the idea of putting the stars on it which i did in the  top one and then possibly do other things on the other postcards but i just really wasn't feeling it and missed the simple design that i had done... at least i tried. right?

instead of changing the design to have the little guys on it, i did a different suggestion from matt which was to make the type a little bit smaller as he said it felt like they were kind of squished onto the page. i was a bit dubious at first because i didn't want the type too small cos then you wouldn't be able to see the intricate design i had done on them but he made the point of saying that you have to pick them up to look at the design anyway so making them smaller wouldn't really hurt so i thought he had a point. 

i made the font a bit smaller so it didn't feel as squished onto the page and i think that it looks fine so lets just go with that.

vis com: crit & stress

so today we had the final crit before the deadline. it went quite well but a few things were said about little details that i should change. some things i didn't really understand or i'm not sure they really understood my theme. what i was going for was quite a simplified look with not too much going on and the red and blue theme running through to tie them together as a set, however they were saying to maybe add more colour or backgrounds and this just isn't what i wanted.

there were some comments about the original idea for my poster being too boring/doesn't stand out enough. i didn't really know what to do for this because i didn't want to change my whole design, and i actually really liked how the design came out. i thought i used the space quite well. so i'm kind of running with my own gut feeling and keeping the design that i wanted (sorry guys)

i did change some things to it though so that the mushrooms stood out more as a focal point, by just making them the only thing on the poster that has the fuzzy 3D effect. i think this way i am kind of keeping to the feedback from the group as trying to make the mushrooms stand out more than the little guy at the bottom. and i also redid the poster again in ink because i think it gave it a nicer effect than the clean fineliner. i was debating doing the postcard type again in ink instead of fineliner but i just didn't have time which was a shame, this would be something that would've been done had i had more time on it.

vis com: poster tries

So i finished my poster for this project and i was pretty happy with it. However, the next day after staring at it for a while i realised i could do better so i decided to draw it again but instead of drawing it on A4 i did it smaller in my book so i could get a feel for the frame more and the outcome was much better:

i think i optimised the space more on this one and i like the added textures to the mushrooms. I think i considered the frame more and used it to the best of my ability, and i also like how the mushrooms don't touch eachother (sounds stupid but you know) because i think it looks more open and free.

vis com: patrick kyle

when i was talking to matt today he recommended some artists for me to look at. patrick kyle was one of them. his style is really interesting. he works mostly with a lot of colour and strange concepts that don't always make sense. i think that is why matt recommended that i look at him because he is dealing with a lot of similar subjects to what i am doing in this project right now. i really admire his out there concepts and his nice use of colour. although this is not normally an artist i would particularly like, i think looking at his work has been helpful to the type of work that i am trying to achieve with this brief.

vis com: little character

here are some experimental drawings that i did of the little character after matt mentioning something about him today. in my crit people were talking about maybe developing him a bit more.

a few roughs on possible new postcard designs, but just don't think i'll have time to start all over again.

really like how he looks like a little bean. and i think in the professor outfit is really cute!

some of the sketches and designs that i did for the little guys and possible designs to go onto the postcards.

vis com: more sketchbook

starting to get more of my ideas onto paper. i decided to go with a space-themed font for 'turn on'. i think this really matches the aesthetic that i'm going for and it has some representation to how drugs make you feel "out of this world" haha cliche right? i think this really fits.

i struggled for a bit with the 'drop out' title. when i put it into photoshop (the eyes design) i really didn't think that they fit as a set. as the eyes design has parts coloured in whereas the other designs don't. this proved to be a problem when making them a set, as the others didn't have parts coloured in.

doing more final designs for the poster that i'm going to do. i really like the one in the top corner. i think he looks super cute. i'm not sure how the pencil will work on photoshop though, so i'm going to do it in fineliner so that it fits in more with my postcards.

testing out some font ideas for my poster. i want the font to be pretty small so it doesn't have to be too fancy, just something kind of simple. i did want it to be hand made though, which is why i didn't just use a font from photoshop. i really enjoy doing fonts and figuring out which looks best and which material looks best when doing fonts.

drawn out the poster design in fineliner. however, when putting it onto photoshop and stuff i really didn't like how i hadn't optimised the space enough. i didn't even realise this until i had put it onto photoshop. i had also forgot to do some texture lines on the mushrooms which annoyed me.

testing out more fonts and working out a way around the 'drop out' font. i started to try and do the eyes without colouring in the irises but it didn't really end up looking anything like eyes so it looked kind of dumb. ended up going with the pattern design that i did a few pages before that i liked as i think it fits with the psychedelic hippie theme.

drawing out final designs!

vis com: postcards

some processes from my postcards. here you can see me figuring out colour and how the text will fit onto the page.

in this one i was playing around with the manipulation feature. it was quite funny but i don't think it really works for what i'm going for, and it really distorted the designs of the type so that you can't really see what it is so i dont think i'll be doing this.

vis com: stamps

  when thinking of the designs for the stamps, i wanted to be able to portray the different ways in which drugs effect you when you take them. at first the designs were quite simple as you can see on the left, but then i wanted to make them a bit more interesting, so taking inspiration from one of the mock up

 postcards that i had made from the other week. i decided to do a repeated pattern like you can see on the right. i think this way they look a lot more interesting and they portray the 'trippy' nature that i wanted to have.

i am much happier with the outcome of the repeated pattern, even though it was only a simple change i think that they are much more effective this way. it really shows the effects of drugs in a more interesting way and without using crazy colours and intricate designs. instead its quite simple, and the act of taking drugs is simple, it doesn't take much to put a mushroom in your mouth. i think my stamps say a lot.