Secret 7"
I chose to do a few pages in my sketchbook exploring two of the songs. For the I'm not down page, I took the elements of the song that stood out to me and drew images related to them.
To start the experimentation on this project, we did some exercises in the studio. We all worked as a group to experiment with shapes. On big sheets of paper, we all drew a shape, and then moved around the table adding other elements to the person next to us' drawing, making the shapes into an image, rather than a random shape. This was to prepare us for the day's task, which was to use shapes and colours to create images for the album covers that we are working on.
During and after making the cutout pieces while experimenting, I did some more sketching in the sketchbook. I drew some roughs of some ideas for some of the other songs. I also looked at some 70s themed patterns that goes with the era some of the songs were released in.
Everyone's work on the wall of the studio.
Here are the covers that I made on that day. Two for I'm not down by The Clash, and one for Nina Simone's Sinnerman (Above left).
Using the shapes and colours instead of lines like I usually do, It gave me the opportunity to approach things differently. I had to find a way to convey things with more symbolism and less detail. The black and pink cover was done by carving into the paper, and this is the one that I think resembles my other work the most, as the carving makes the lines that I would usually draw with markers of pencils.
I have included some symbolism on the third cover with the pills to represent the references to mental health in the song, and the cobblestones to represent the streets of London.
Below are the covers mocked up using photoshop.
INSPIRATION - Iron and wine album covers.
Sam Beam (AKA Iron and wine) Designs and creates his own album covers, having been to art school himself. He emphasises how he finds it interesting to try and capture the feeling of the music in the image seen on the cover, which is something I hope to achieve for my album cover in this project. The album cover for 'our endless numbered days' captured my eye as I was scrolling through spotify, which then lead me to listen to the music and discover the rest of the album covers as well. All of the covers feature different mediums, including watercolour, embroidery, linocut and paper cutouts. The cover for 'Years to burn' is the most related to the covers we have been working on so far in the studio, but the painting and printmaking are things that I want to incorporate for other covers that I will be working on for the project.
Mono printing.
As a part of the project, we did some experimenting with mono printing. Mono printing is quite an instinctive and expressive method, which is something I thinks works really well for this project as we try to capture the energy of the songs through images.
Team project
For the next mono printing task, we all worked as a team to create a large monoprint series conveying 'Heroes' by David Bowie
Before we began, we all gathered to discuss the qualities we would need to work as a group, so that we could all achieve this task successfully create a good piece of work. We agreed that we needed patience, creativity, compromise, communication, understanding, respect, energy, support and other qualities so that we could all work successfully together on this task.
In preparation to begin working, we took a look at the website google arts and culture to explore the different themes and to gain inspiration for the piece. We also discussed the research that we had all made into the song, its meaning and background, so that we could incorporate all of that into the work, as well as personal things that the song might remind of us.
To prepare our supplies for this task, we rolled ink onto a large (approximately A1) plastic ink plate, and made sure that there was space for everyone around the table. We gathered all our supplies, such as pens, pencils, paper, and sharpies ready to make different textures and lines on the paper. We measured the wall in the studio we wanted to put the piece up on, and concluded that we would need 4 pieces of A1 paper. We all also made rough sketches on plain paper so that we could use those to draw over directly onto the print. We spent two college days working on the piece, figuring out who will fill in each brick as we went along. We were all very proud to be able to put up the work up, one page at a time. We used different techniques for the sections, such as using a stencil to block out a whole shape on the page, Using cotton buds to get rid of the ink on the plate before marking the paper, and using different stationary to achieve different thickness in the lines.
Above are a few of the rough drawings I did to prepare for the piece.
Reflecting on the two days of work on this piece, I do believe that we worked successfully and effectively together to create something that we are all happy with. Most of the time, we all remembered to share our ideas whenever we wanted to add something to the piece, in case other members of the group had input on the idea, and to also make sure that no one had the same idea. In the beginning we took roles to prepare. Some of us rolled ink onto the plate, some of us created a grid for the bricks in the piece, so that they would all be almost uniform, and some of us went straight to work drawing roughs and sketches for ideas so that we could get started straight away when all our supplies were ready.
These are skills that will be useful for all of us as we pursue creative careers, as working on teams on projects such as this is something that comes up often, whether that be working for an agency and with other people, or even just communicating with a client if working freelance. It was also a great chance for us all to work on one thing together and have a fun, creative time in the studio.