*FINAL MAJOR PROJECT BRIEF //500*
brief outline-
brief outline-
My theme is crime
My intent is to report, inform and engage.
My target audience is for adults.
What I hope to have achieved at the end of my final major project is to have two products, which will be printed to a professional standard, allowing me to approach potential clients and companies, as part of my portfolio. Product 1 will consist of contemporary crime and product 2 will be based on historical crime.
Product 1
Product 1 will be an editorial magazine piece, which will be designed and presented in a contemporary, minimalist, graphic fashion. The magazine will consist of reportage work relating to crime e.g, court-drawings, interviews, location drawing, information regarding the illustrations and court cases, all of which will have been developed to a high standard.
The reportage illustrations will be presented in a mixture of medias e.g, pen and ink, watercolour and digital. I feel that these medias will work best for editorial presented work and I want my work to look fairly well-rounded with skill and not focused on one thing. I think this will make my work and the magazine overall more engaging.
The information regarding the illustrations and court hearings that i will include as part of my short reports will be presented in a stylistic form in various fonts and sizes, which I will have experimented with and developed to give a more effective and stylised page design, which will overall enhance the illustrations and magazine.
Product 2
Product 2 will be three short comic novels based on factual, historical crimes, which will be presented in the format of a crime comic/ Noir comic. I have decided to illustrate the crimes committed by Ian Brady, Fred and Rose West and Harold Shipman.
I feel that three short crime novels would work better as a set and flow better, rather than having just one on it’s own.
I will be working in a black and white format for that classic crime Noir feel. I will first present roughs in pencil and pen and experiment and develop them on the computer, enhancing them to a professional standard. I have researched crime novels and have taken into account how they are typically presented with the use of layout, composition and text. I will use this as a means to guide me, this will then allow me to incorporate my own style and use my skills to present a comic in a similar format.
-eval
My aims are to have one illustrated editorial magazine piece and three short comic novels which will be professionally printed by Warners or Book Printing UK. This will allow me send my work off to potential graphic design companies, magazines and newspapers in the hopes of getting my work noticed and published. I will be able to do this by sticking to a strict schedule and producing a vast amount of work and keeping my social media updated and approaching potential employers.
My aims are to have one illustrated editorial magazine piece and three short comic novels which will be professionally printed by Warners or Book Printing UK. This will allow me send my work off to potential graphic design companies, magazines and newspapers in the hopes of getting my work noticed and published. I will be able to do this by sticking to a strict schedule and producing a vast amount of work and keeping my social media updated and approaching potential employers.
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Project Outline
For my Final Major Project I will be focusing on the area of reportage illustration. I want to produce and develop several short stories, which are of thick quantity, possibly double page spreads designed in an editorial fashion or create individual magazines for each topic in an editorial style, accompanied by single pieces, which would perhaps be used in a gallery. I want to produce the double page spreads and single pieces to a professional standard, so they are good enough to be presented to magazines, newspapers, design companies and possibly agents.
Some of the journalistic stories will be focused on day visits to villages, towns and cities, exploring daily life as a means to hopefully stumble across happy accidents. However, the majority of this project will be centered around the creation of short-term studies based at particular places of interest, i.e Weekly visit to a car-boot sale, the working life on a farm, visits to the racecourse and weekly/monthly trials at a court.
The communication will be achieved through the gestures and facial expressions, which I capture at my places of interest, and also the narrative, which I will include as part of the report in order to connect more with the audience, giving them a more clearer understanding of what the image is portraying. At the moment my project seems to be quite formal and structured. I want it to portray that element, but in a more intriguing, creative fashion similar to George Butler and Olivier Kugler, reportage illustrators who I have researched below.
Looking at Olivier Kugler especially, with how he has hand written the text for his narratives and the composition, scale and font of the text. I want the communication to execute a more personal approach like this, as I feel it will engage more so with the audience and make the overall image more effective.
I will accomplish this brief by producing a mammoth amount of research - in regards to the format of an editorial magazine and artists and illustrators whose work is of the reportage style. I will produce vast amount of drawings, experimenting with different mediums and resources in a reportage fashion, which link back to my research. I will then continue to develop the early stages of my work on photoshop, playing with text, colour and composition allowing me to further develop my ideas before having finalised finished editorial magazine pieces.
I have always found it difficult to pin-point who my target audience is this. In-regards to my final major project and it’s contents I feel that my work is aimed towards a more mature audience. For example; to understand a court drawing you must acquire an older mind set in-order to engage and fully understand what the meaning of the subject matter is and to see more than just a pretty picture. The same goes for the reportage work I will produce at a racecourse and car-boot sale, which is not as complex as a court trial, but the narrative and overall image will still involve a more matured approach, as the work will be exhibited as an editorial magazine piece. I am not completely fixed on the idea of having a decided audience, I do not want to restrict myself and possibly cancel out other areas of reportage illustration in-regards to who my work is could be targeted towards. This could possibly change in the process of my development within my research and drawings.
Research
I will look at the following artists and illustrators as a means of research into the reportage area of illustration. Of course, there are plenty more artists who specialise in this particular area, but i will narrow it down to only a few to give you a clear understanding of the work which influences me in regards to my final major project. I have looked at contemporary illustrators, historical artists, documentary photographers and film directors.
George Butler
George Butler is my main focus of research and the most important contributor to the reportage area of illustration.
Butler is a contemporary illustrator who produces work, not only for editorial purposes but also for gallery art and commissions.
Looking at Butler’s illustrations will give me a better understanding of how editorial work is constructed and what it consists of. I will use my skills and develop them with the use of ink and small amount of colour to produce informative pieces in a similar fashion to Butler.
I will firstly gather evidence of first hand research, photographs and drawings, using the photographs for reference only, as I want to strictly draw on location. I will then develop the drawings, depicting parts of the images, deciding where colour should be involved. This will allow me to then further develop my illustrations by playing around with composition and removing sections from the drawing which i wish not to be, giving a less overcomplicated look and more of a simplistic and colour balanced piece.
Looking at Butler’s illustrations will give me a better understanding of how editorial work is constructed and what it consists of. I will use my skills and develop them with the use of ink and small amount of colour to produce informative pieces in a similar fashion to Butler.
I will firstly gather evidence of first hand research, photographs and drawings, using the photographs for reference only, as I want to strictly draw on location. I will then develop the drawings, depicting parts of the images, deciding where colour should be involved. This will allow me to then further develop my illustrations by playing around with composition and removing sections from the drawing which i wish not to be, giving a less overcomplicated look and more of a simplistic and colour balanced piece.
Olivier Kugler
Olivier Kugler is another important contributor to the reportage world. Kugler involves a lot of narrative within his work, allowing the reader to understand and connect more with the content.
I find the format of his work most influential and I will develop a similar style and create final prints in a similar fashion for my reportage project. I am also rather engaged with his use of colour and how he applies it. In relation to this when I am developing my early-stage drawings I will experiment with digital colour and apply it in a fashion similar to this. Another factor that I am most fond of is his composition of images, with the way he overlays them and interlinks, creating a large double page image which carries out a short story.
I will use this format within my own work, using photoshop to edit my drawings, interlinking them with each other giving an overall creative and more interesting finished piece.
Art Lien
Art Lien is an artist who specialises in producing courtroom art. I have chosen to use Lien as research in relation to my project, as I will be producing courtroom art work as a type of reportage illustration for my final project. Court room art is all about telling a story by capturing facial expressions of a particular moment, in order to execute emotion. I have selected a few images of his work which show this. Lien uses a wide variety of mediums for creating his work. Within my final major project I will also experiment with the use of a wide variety of materials in order to see what works and what does not.
What I find most influential about Lien’s work is how he has captured a moment which is not in context. I favor this particular style immensely and will pursue this within my own practice.
I find it a great way of exhibiting an image, despite it consisting of such simple matter it produces a rather strong and powerful image. I would also like to pursue this type of "emptiness of the image" by using a very small amount of colour in my own work within my final project.
I will achieve this by taking notes at court based on the trial and producing sketches from the notes, which i will then develop and compose into rough double page spreads allowing me to then play with colour, experimenting with what does and does not work. finally concluding several finished final pieces formatted in an editorial fashion.
Degas
This is how I like to work and will produce many drawings in this particular way. I want the attention from the audience to be drawn towards the upper body or face apposed to full body in context shots.
I will accomplish this by making vast amounts of studies at my places of interest, using different tools such as, chalk pastels, coloured pencil, pen and ink and watercolour, in order to gain different effects. Doing this will give me more options to choose from for when I come to further develop my drawings into finalised pieces.
I will also experiment with various coloured papers, similar to Degas for a overall more improved finished drawing.
I feel that this would compliment the style of my drawings and also compensate for the little colour I involve.
Diane Arbus
I have looked at many different documentary photographers such as, Nan Goldin, Garry Winogrand, William Eggleston and Eadweard Muybridge for expression and gesture. Aswell as several National Georgraphic photographers to see how they use expression and gesture by facial features and capture theme and context.
Diane Arbus is my main focus point in-regards to documentary photography.
The way Arbus uses "out of ordinary themes" for the subjects of her photography is of great interest to me, especially the facial expressions and the context in general. After my initial research I have found that her photography will be highly influential within my own practice and final major project.
Within my own project I will search out the (out of ordinary themes) from visiting, photographing and location drawing at car-boot sales, Cheltenham racecourse and trials at a court. These particular places of interest will allow me to fully engage with the subjects facial expression and their individual matter. Each of those places are completely different with their clothing, surroundings and emotions. This will give me individual and original stories that I will be able to make look interesting and alluring.
Within my own project I will search out the (out of ordinary themes) from visiting, photographing and location drawing at car-boot sales, Cheltenham racecourse and trials at a court. These particular places of interest will allow me to fully engage with the subjects facial expression and their individual matter. Each of those places are completely different with their clothing, surroundings and emotions. This will give me individual and original stories that I will be able to make look interesting and alluring.
Rear Window - 1954
I have also looked at film as part of my research for my final major project. I found that Hitchcock’s movies show great amount of close up angles of gesture and facial expression. Rear Window is a prime example of this, as most of this film relies on expression and gesture as a means of engaging with the audience to create an atmosphere of a range of emotions such as suspense and tension.
I am focused on facial expression mostly because this is what is of great importance to me within my own practice and I will execute this within my drawings for my project.
I am focused on facial expression mostly because this is what is of great importance to me within my own practice and I will execute this within my drawings for my project.
I have selected a few screenshots from the movie which give some examples of how Hitchcock has used facial expression to put across to his audience the different moods that he wishes to be expressed.
Throughout Rear Window the entire film is focused around one persons perspective and it is all about what that particular person is seeing and trying to make others see the same. This is what I hope to achieve with my work, with trying to communicate my visual thoughts and artistic skills onto paper to connect with an audience.
Throughout Rear Window the entire film is focused around one persons perspective and it is all about what that particular person is seeing and trying to make others see the same. This is what I hope to achieve with my work, with trying to communicate my visual thoughts and artistic skills onto paper to connect with an audience.
I have selected a few screenshots from the movie and supplied three YouTube video links, which give some examples of how Hitchcock has used one mans persepctive and facial expressions, which put across to his audience the different moods that he wishes to be expressed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5pn48wzBuw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6fuDrAmhNc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CC7rzCzJ5cg