Print #3 (Modern Teen)

For my third print, as part of the people and characters unit in module one, I have created a final print, alongside several testers and secondary prints, of a stereotypical modern day teenager, from around the era of the 80's/90's and early 00's.

I created this print as a homage to Hartlepool during the eras of the 80's/90's and 00's. This illustration will fit alongside my other prints, that involve an industrial worker, a female teenager, and a rich figure.

I used this sketch (below) I created, as a reference point for my print.

For the creation of my final prints, I have used a few techniques for printing. 

My prints above. The darker print is notably the actual printing source sheet.

Thomas.

Gallery viewing is live!

The exhibition is go! :) 

Thomas.

Mural is no more

Well, the folio gallery mural is now no more, the walls have been all painted over, back to their original colours. The mural served its purpose, and attracted the attention of the press, visitors, and more importantly, allowed myself and my group to gain experience in creating an actual live, running galley from scratch.

We worked well under high pressure, as well as workload, and we met the deadline for completion no problem. It was a really memorable, and enjoyable experience, and now every time that I peer to the folio gallery space, I will think of the time when I worked inside a collaborative group, to create something wonderful for the eyes.

Here is another reminder of what the exhibition space looked like, at several intervals during creation. (Below)

Before work was laid down.

The addition of the fisherman, which I think is great.

The first day of painting.

The second day of painting.

Completion.

I am glad to have been a part of this exciting unit. :)



Thomas.

Exhibition Aftermath

Well, the folio gallery exhibition is over, visitors have come and went. It all began at around 7:00pm, a few people turned up to look at our artwork, and I did overhear many compliments coming from them.

About 20 minutes after, the area was packed, there were at least 35 people in the folio, and it was so pleasing to see a great turnout.

About 40 minutes after, the crowd started to dissipate, and the exhibition was beginning to be over.

A very good showing, it wasn't my first exhibition, but it was definitely one of my best, something that I am grateful to have been a part of.

Thomas.

Unit Recap

For the people and characters project, all other work aside (painting etc), my main section with the character element, was that I created several draft pencil characters, which turned into final charcoal characters, to fit inside ink printed bottles, that hung on the end of the fisherman's pier. I chose to use charcoal for the final characters, because it felt that by using this medium, it sort of reflected Hartlepool's past, in terms of its industry, which was all powered by the fuel of coal, a dusty, and black substance.

Charcoal is a substance that looks a lot like coal, however comes out on materials so much better. So it worked just perfectly. As a side bonus, it gave the piece the impression of industrial pollution. ( example, a smog dust atmosphere)

My idea was to create alternate people, user a unified theme. One of the characters was of a working teenager, living back in the industrial period timeframe, and the other was of a much more relaxed teenager in today's period in history. A stereotypical teenager, with a skateboard, and long hair.

An additional character, was of a 50's female, wearing 50's style fashion and clothing, to represent the middle period in Hartlepool's history.


Thomas.

Exhibition day

Today is the day of the big folio gallery exhibition. All is set for the press, and for the viewers to come in and to take a look at our hard work.

Very excited for today, can't wait until 6:00pm tonight, as that is when the exhibition begins. I will post an update to the blog, after the exhibition, detailing what happened.

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Brief Update: The event is about to begin, in a mere 20 minutes, about to go down to the folio, and begin showcasing mine and my groups very hard work.

Thomas

Gallery Project Complete

Yesterday, the people and character mural in the folio art gallery space, that myself and my group have worked on for two weeks, was finally completed.

As a recap to what the mural consists of, the piece contains various elements of hartlepool's culture, and maritime history, as well as environment. It has a number of different people and characters inside the ink-printed bottles, which are situated on the wall. The fisherman on the pier, who is 'fishing the bottles out', is Sophie's character, and I really love what she has done. Her style is rough, but fits the aggressive brush strokes of the sea.

The gallery exhibition is on november the 18th, and I will be attending, with two guests. I can't wait to see what they, and the press think of our accomplished hard work. I am very excited.

(Example of one of the characters in a bottle)

(Modern, and old fashioned teenage comparison sketches)

(The piece as of last thursday, unfinished)

(The finished piece)

(The bottles close up)

Thomas.

Sharon Tancredi

Sharon Tancredi is an illustrator, who produces work on people and character themes. She works in a pure cartoon style, and uses a broad range of vivid colours, in her work. I love her style, naturally to me, there is something about cartoon stylised artwork, that makes it really interesting to me. An element I tried to add into my character work, in my folio project. I aimed to be semi-realistic in my character design, but with a hint of realism.

http://www.folioart.co.uk/illustration/folio/artists/illustrator/sharon-tancredi < image reference at this link.

http://www.folioart.co.uk/illustration/folio/artists/illustrator/sharon-tancredi

Mural Painting

Today, the main part of mural development went ahead, After yesterday's initial sketch on the wall.

Me and my group, spent the majority of the day painting the base on the folio wall gallery, after going through a very large amount of paint. I personally think one more day on the paintwork, and the mural will be complete, after buying more paint though of course.

I occupied most of my time spent on the mural, painting the power station, the wall under the landfill heap, and focusing on the tonal sea. 

(Above, photos of yesterday's mural progress, which was the basis for today's work).

A great majority of the piece has now been painted out, after a very busy, and collaborative day, working on the mural for the completion date, which is at the latest Monday the 4th of October.

I will post photos of the mural, as of the date this blog was made, very soon.

Mural start

Today, the first solid work began on the final mural piece.

This involved taking a look at our groups entire collaborative plan, and discussing final options before the gallery production went ahead.

After it was settled by all six of us, that it was the idea we wanted to go with, the production began.

As of today, the outline is complete, after being sketched directly onto the white folio gallery space wall.

Mural as of 28/10/13

Thomas

Plans, ideas and incorporation

Quick idea, and basic sketchy plan of where, and what can be positioned in the mural.

The metal pipe, could tie in really well with our industrial theme, I'd like to incorporate it into the piece, rather than view it as a negative (getting in the way) kind of object. It could simply be painted, but I'd like to take a more enthusiastic approach.

Another point of interest is the lighting, there are 5 lights position above where the piece will be placed. We could use this lighting to an advantage, and place more light catching elements under them, like metal. That way it would make our piece more visually eye catching, appealing, and because of it, interesting. Such a simple tweak, could make a huge difference to the outcome, and it's something worth trying.

Lights aren't at every group's gallery space in the folio area, so this would genuinely make mine, and my groups project piece, different if done correctly. I wouldn't want it to just be a simple, illuminated piece.

History of Hartlepool for project

A great link, discussing hartlepool's cultured history in a few paragraphs.

It is provided by the Hartlepool Maritime Experience museum, which is conveniently located right next to the university. 

This link will be of good help to my project, because in my group, we are collaborating to create an exhibition based around hartlepool's maritime, and industrial history, and future.

http://www.hartlepoolsmaritimeexperience.com/?p=The+Museum+of+Hartlepool&s=A+brief+history+of+Hartlepool

Alongside this link, I will be having an actual look around the museum very soon, taking photos, and also taking notes of key events in Hartlepool's history. I will be reporting my findings, in a new blog, that will contain photos, and a large amount of in depth research.

Folio gallery induction

Today, as part of my new project introduction, I had a tour of the available folio gallery space in the main lobby, from Ben and Amy, and after being tasked with planning and producing work on a particular chosen theme revolving around this new topic, that would eventually be publicly exhibited and highlighted by the local press, the class was asked to individually come up with their own personal ideas, and then autonomously assort themselves into groups of 5/6 people, all with similar ideas, or picking an independent group once they had all been formed, containing those with a similar ideology, and theme.

I originally came up with the idea of using scrap materials, to form sculptures of people and characters. And after dipping into several already formed groups, and receiving in depth detail into their strategies, I decided to join one group, of 5, with a topic that interested me. This topic was based around interesting local people in Hartlepool, and also the characters of the unfortunate homeless.

Thomas.