6105alexnelsonart

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Evaluation

What could have gone better?

I feel like when it came to the actual final piece build everything that could have went wrong did. I experienced so many delays, especially when building display wood work is not my strongest suit. However I think I did eventually achieve something along the lines of what I wanted to achieve.  Thankfully I had left enough time for a lot of things to go wrong.  For instance silly mistakes like printing out multiples of vinyl instead of individual ones and general mishaps which were inevitable. 

Working with plastics is best done when there is not a heat wave, thankfully the damage was minimal but it annoyingly bubbled the vinyl and warped one of the panels. 

Out of everything I am least pleased with my display as I think something constructed a little better would compliment my work more. 

What went well?

I think that coming to my ideas was a really good stage within this project, I feel like my illustration skills have really progressed over this year. Also that I learned a lot of new processes throughout, for instance how to vinyl cut on my own and how to apply the vinyl. 

There was swift movement from beginning this idea to carrying out my filming to carrying out my illustrations. I enjoyed experimenting with different figures and think my final illustrations one of the strongest parts of the project. 

If I had more time and funds what would I have done differently?

If I had had the money I would have definitely gone for very thick acrylic, something along the lines of 10mm so that it is completely rigid. I would have also got someone else to fabricate my display so that it is very sleek .

If I had more time I would like this piece to be a series of portraits of people and their movements, I could envision it as a room full of these structures all at different sizes and heights to match the people they are based off of. I could imagine that a lot of them all close together could become quite mind boggling as their transparency would lead them to blend into each other from all angles. 

However, I think that my piece achieves what I want it to do, so overall I am pretty happy with it ( especially that it stands up by itself).  The piece allows the layers to blend into each other (despite a larger display). The layers also blend into their surroundings as intended, making it part of it’s environment as well as it’s own piece. 

I would also try out sandblasting to see how this would lend to the piece. 

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A walk around of my final piece “Mithcell Moves” Vinyl on Acryic. 2017. 

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Project Overview, Quick answers.

This is a quick over view of important aspects of my work, which are explored throughout my blog. An quick explanation of some of the decisions I made that lead to my final piece. 

What is my piece? 

My piece is a layered portrait and dissection of the movement of a figure that blends within the layers and with it’s surroundings, inspired by the stills of Julian Opies moving works, the work of Eadweard Muybridge and Alexa Meade’s living paintings. 

Why Acrylic? 

Out of all the materials that I considered (mainly glass and wood), acrylic is the most transparent, accessible at a large size and least breakable. 

The transparency was important as I knew that I wanted to use layers in my work, and wanted each layer to be visible from one panel to the next. 

Why layers? 

I chose to use layers in my piece for several reasons, partially because that is how I built the illustrations that I produced. 

Secondly, and more importantly, Eadweard Muybridge captured movement through stills that were placed next to each other, this inspired me to have each slight movement depicted as it’s own image.

My piece, takes those 2D separate images and condenses them into one 3D object, blurring the lines from one separate layer to the next. 

Why Movement? 

This is again due to two things. Partially from my initial work in the project being that my illustrations always lacked life and movement would bring life to my illustrations. 

Secondly due to the visual cues of other artists that inspired me. 

( these are the moving portraits of walking that Julian Opie had created. However the stills created this interesting blurred, layered effect.)

Inspiring to me because these are not completely human looking ( they are missing faces and detail) but capture a very human trait, a walk, seamlessly.   This lead me to think about different ways of capturing movement. The blended and blurred visual created by the stills is also something that resonated with me because it pushes the audience to imagine the separate layers and blurs as a whole walk at once, instead of a chronological sequence.  

What is my Illustrative Style? 

My illustrative style in this project was something that I have worked on throughout my university career. It stems from a fascination with street art in connection  with a fascination with illustrative software. Street art as they can create an image using one colour, an incomplete image that leaves transparency for it to blend into it’s surroundings. Moving this forward into a modern computer programme that allows for an image to be reproduced at high speed on mass, and be edited and developed with ease. 

What is different about my work to the inspiring artists? 

My work is different because I have bought it into 3D. I wanted it to be 3D as I wanted it more person like than just a small image on a page but not so person like that it is a sculpture of the person. It’s a bridge between, a 2D collection of images of a movement and the real person. It is a representation of a real event. 

Why keep the perspective and foreshortening? 

My illustrations are based from photos that capture a movement in real life, so that the figure becomes larger and smaller throughout the panels. I wanted to keep the the original sizing of the figure in the photographs as a nod to it being a real life event so I kept the limits set by the object that captured it (Mitchell). 

I think that it makes all the panels interesting as if they were all the same height you could look at one and it would be like seeing them all.  Not keeping these elements may have changed the way that the movement is viewed as it could deduct the character from the walk if the sizing is wrong,as the placement would be wrong. 

Why Grey Vinyl? 

I used grey vinyl in this piece as I wanted to create a piece which could blend into it’s environment and the other colours that I tested were too stark and interfered with the piece’s background (for instance red creates too much of an impression within it’s environment). 

Grey vinyl is also a tone as opposed to a colour so when it builds it just creates a darker grey, this works for my piece as it creates a subtle build instead of an opaque area. Keeping it entirely transparent. 

Why the size it is? 

The piece is the size it is because I limited it to the size of the actual figure carrying out the movement, this bridges to the idea that this was a real event. It is a life size portrait. 

Why not use lighting?

I chose to not use any lighting for my piece as although it would make it stand out more, it may lose the transparent quality that allows the piece to blend with it’s environment and could lose the visual of the layers blending into each other. 

Why a circle? 

I displayed the piece in a circle so that when an audience member moves around the piece the piece changes, as the layers look different next to or over other layers. Creating an illusion of movement within the piece it’self. I presume that a circle will make an audience move around it because you cannot see all the pieces at once. Therefore allowing the blending of the layers due to their transparency take place. 

Why name it ‘Mitchell Moves’ ? 

I named the piece after looking at a lot of the names given to the pieces by several inspiring artists, for instance Opie names the majority of his works after the person he has based the work on. 

I thought I should keep the name, simple and clear and transparent.

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Final Build

For the final build of my structure I started off the day thinking about how to stabilise the piece, initially thinking about some sort of strut to attach one L frame to the other through the centre of the circle. 

At this point It seemed as if everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. The sheets were wobbling and very unstable, the screws were getting stuck in the structure, which was not good for morale.  Beneath is an image the wobbly structure in G05. 

However, in discussions with Charlie and Alex they suggested using a circle with slots cut into it to slot on top of the L shapes. Or to drill through the acrylic and attach cable wire through the piece to tether it together.  

I decided that the slotted circle would be the best solution, more in-fitting with the current frames (and less time consuming). Fortunately I had kept the inner circles cut out by the laser cutter of the base, so all that needed to happen was to mark it up to be cut on the ban saw.

The image above shows the slotted circle. I painted it the same grey as the rest of the wood so that it would blend into the display. It was tricky to get all the panels into the slots as without all the panels drilled to the base the weight was thrown off kilter, so some panels would slip out. Thankfully a helpful Lottie offered to lend a hand to hold the pieces in place. Eventually all the pieces were drilled into place, and after all the drama the piece was up!

Above is pictured the one unfortunate screw that refused to budge in or out of the L frame, it was stuck for some reason. 

After this victory the next steps were to neaten up the piece, poly filling any mistakes and sanding down the imperfections on the paint job. I asked for some feedback from Steve and he mentioned that the piece had now become an object due to the obviousness of the display. This is not ideal but I don’t think it takes anything away from the point of the piece. He also mentioned that it was now important that the paint job was up to scratch so that it didn’t look as shabby. 

I also needed to remove the sheeting from the acrylic which produced a lot of static. Then give them a polish to remove any dust or finger prints.

Above is pictured the final piece, unfortunately some of the panels were slightly bent at the top (one more than the other due to warping from the heat). But there was not much to be done about this at this late stage. 

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Problem solving

As expected there were a few issues while building the piece. 

Firstly that there was a heat wave, which has unfortunately affected the vinyl, causing it to bubble more than usual. 

Solution- go over it with a pin and a squeegee on Tuesday so it can be as smooth as possible for hand in.  

Secondly, once all the L frames were on the acrylic and attempted to be drilled into the base they were still very wobbly. 

I’m thinking some thin strips of wood as struts at the top will stabilise this.

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Display Fabrication

Once I decided on the my display I put it into action, first things first was talking to Charlie the Technician. Who was beyond helpful, so we cut out 24 pieces of 18mm plywood to fabricate the L frame structure. 12 bits at 120mm x 40mm and 12 at 600mm x 40mm. These were miter jointed so that the joint was strong.

I then attached these using the nail gun and a bit of wood glue. Then sanding was required as they were second hand pieces of wood so they had paint on one side. 

Once they were all sanded I had to decide to whether to paint them all, in the drawings of my plan for the structure I used a light grey colour. I thought this was a good idea as it is not too distracting of a colour, and would blend well with the grey on my vinyl panels. 

The L frames are pictured below. 

I then had to work on the other parts of the structure, which was the circle base and blocks to stabilise them at the other end of the panels. I thought it would be best to laser cut them as to get the cleanest circle.  

However because we had to go over the wood to ensure it was cut all the way through and the fact that the laser cutter is not working out it’s best, the pieces were all rather burnt. This was unfortunate but not the end of the world. So more sanding and several layers of paint were required. 

The next step was drill through the acrylic so that I could bolt the L frames onto them. This was something that was going to take quite a lot of care as if not done well the acrylic could crack an split (which is not ideal).  To get around this I made a pilot hole with a 3mm drill bit and then used and 8mm drill bit to create the entire hole. 8mm so that if I needed to shift the panel in the L frame I had space to do so (by a few millimetres).  To drill through the acrylic I had to go slow and steady (  as not to melt or split the acrylic) while the acrylic was clamped to a piece of wood to take off some of the pressure. This actually went really well and got nice clean holes and no splits in all the acrylic. 

I then took each acrylic sheet and placed them on top of each set of L frames so that the holes all lined up, this was more time consuming than measuring up each L frame to the initial measurements but meant each acrylic sheets L frame was fitted to exactly that frame. 

I had also chosen some 6mm bolts at 50mm in length to attach the L frames, these bolts didn’t have the typical bolt end. It has a domed top as I thought this would look better on the piece, less clunky. 

Beneath is pictured the L frame, from far away they actually look good. they aren’t too distracting and the bolts fit in nicely. 

The next step was to drill them into the base, so I took them into the foyer to get on with this. 

However there was an event in the foyer, I assumed that this would be the last step and would be quite simple. However as per usual this was not the case. The panels are not stable with just this support. So it has to be left over the weekend, to  think about how to stabilise them as the panel that was drilled in has the tendency to lean to one side, which, is not good to say the least. 

I think a possible solution would be to brace each panel the the panel next to it, which would just require a small piece of wood between each panel. 

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Display

It is a matter of importance that I figure out what I am doing with my display as time is running out and it seems that applying the vinyl is going to take up a considerable amount of my time. 

I am going to revert to a initial L shape supports to hold up the acrylic, as it will be the quickest way to do it.

I tested the display for the vinyl by creating an L-shaped support out of plywood and clamps. 60cm for the base and 100cm for the upright. I was uncertain about using wood for the support as it  may disrupt the aesthetic of the final piece. However once viewing it, it didn’t look bad as  I thought it would. I think keeping it as an L shaped support as opposed to a full frame is a good solution, as although it is not completely rigid it allows for a more subtle display. 

The next step is to buy some plywood and route it, this will require help from the Wood Technician as this is not my strongest practice. 

The L framed supports may all have to be attached so that the structure can free strand, however I do want to keep the flooring beneath the piece visible so I will most likely drill the pieces to a hollowed out circle. This in turn will help with positioning. 

Routing does not look possible at this moment. A simpler solution may suit this work better, i.e bolting two pieces of wood through the panels, so to clamp the panels in place, then to drill these L frames to a circular panel on the floor, then to add a block at the same height as the circular panel to keep the frames level. 

I need to buy the wood. Most likely Birch Plywood as this is a hard, rigid wood that will keep the panels upright. 

Im going to need 12 pieces at 3cmx110cm and 12 pieces at 3cmx57cm plus the wooden circle (I still would like to hollow this out so you can see the floor beneath) so will need a 30cmx30cm piece aswell, then extra to place under the L panels to make them level so another  4cmx4cm (4cm as that will be the width of the L frame and the panel combined. 

This above plan is how I intend for the structure to look ( obviously with six panels instead of one). 

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Applying the vinyl.

 Again this was a very tricky process. However, much like pancakes the first one  was terrible, and the second and third increasingly better. So accidentally printing multiples and now having 2 spare acrylic sheets was a blessing as it gave me the opportunity to practise the application process. 

It was very important that I kept a clean, dust and dirt free area to apply the vinyl in, to ensure that there were no bits and less bubbling. So I laid down sheets and took off my shoes whenever I was working with the vinyl. 

(Above is pictured one of the tests where I actually managed to forget to remove the protective covering of the acrylic).

The begin application I had the AI file handy that showed the placement of the figure throughout each panel so that it the sequence of the characters moves correctly. 

I then applied by rolling the weeded vinyl onto a rollback sheet, squeegee-ing it off to remove and bubbles, then rolling it onto the vinyl. This sounds easier than it is, as often the rollback sheet can have tension from not being completely straight which makes applying the vinyl seamlessly, difficult. However i pushed forward and the smaller ones worked out really well. 

These are the first applications after the failed tests) at this point they were working really well and starting to bring the illustration to life. I really enjoy that layers have built up, causing layers of different tone where the vinyl overlaps. 

When applying the largest vinyl cuttings I decided to do it piece by piece as it was very difficult to lay such a large shape onto the vinyl flatly. This worked quite well but became tricky when trying to line up the pieces. 

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In Transit - Andrew O’Malley

This is an attractive piece that  was bought to my attention which connects with the visual cues of my own. It maps the NYC subway, but also seems to be a depiction of movement. Much like if you left the shutter of a camera open if you were taking an Ariel photo of the subway lines. The neon also provides a blur that echos back through the piece.  

It connects with my work due to its materials, (layering of acrylic, with each layer having a separate image). Obviously my work differs due to it’s content but it is helpful to look at work that I can compare with. 

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Vinyl Cutting Process

After completing my illustrations I needed to cut them into the vinyl. This was quite a complicated process as the files that I was using wouldn't import into 2D design (the programme required for the Vinyl Cutter). Therefore they had to be taken through coral and then Rhino.

Eventually  the files began to work, however the Vinyl cutting machine can be very inaccurate so I went through several roles of vinyl before actually achieving what I wanted. 

The next issue was that 2 of the files were to large to be cut, as they went up to the edge of the sheet which was not possible with the vinyl cutter as it places a border on all sheets. So frustratingly I will have to cut those two files. However I still think that the piece can be effective with the 6 panels.  

I then had another set back in the way that i had somehow managed to print out multiple copies of the sheets instead of one of each. Meaning that I wasted a lot of vinyl on spare sheets. So I have had to buy more vinyl and wait to cut again, which is not ideal. 

Above is an image of my vinyl after I weeded them. 

I have had to make the decision to cut two panels (the foreshortened closer up panels) as the vinyl cutter has a margin where it doesn’t cut right to the edges. Meaning I wouldn’t have clean edges, which would decrease the quality of my work, therefore it is now a 6 panel piece. 

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After a short talk with Dem, I am leaning towards a circular placement for the sheets. To create this I may be looking at an octagonal shaped slot base for the sheets, above are the crude sketches of this, minus the upright slot sections to support the acrylic. 

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Vinyl- Transparency

Transparency is going to be important to my work to allow all figures to be viewed at once, therefore above I tested out different transparent vinyls to see which would be best, I tried some bright colours and more subtle colours. (I also had a yellow and a green, but decided against testing them as I disliked the colour when they arrived.) 

From the tests I liked the grey vinyl the best, It looked less like typical vinyl and closer to a sandblasted finish than the others. It will also allow the environment that it is in blend into it as it is essentially colourless and just darker, unlike the other colours (red and blue). This would be a good thing for my project as I want my panels to include it’s surroundings ( there is some really great mosaic in the foyer). 

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Illustration Vs Photography

A question that has been raised is  why have I decided to illustrate instead of use the initial photographs or film. 

My reasoning would be that you can do more technically with a line illustration than you can do with a photograph. For instance if I wanted to laser cut an image it would take considerably longer to do and may not have the best effect, in comparison to the line drawing. The line drawing has a quicker reproduction time and can be displayed in a variety of different ways with ease, as it has a lower resolution so can be effectively viewed on different devices i.e projection, mobile. 

You can also invert the colours with ease and edit the image itself. Say if I wanted to add a character to a photo, it would take a lot longer to edit if I kept it as a photo, as with a line illustration I can just drop it in. 

A more technical and personal reason for using illustration is that it’s an industry standard and I good skill to have for future career moves, and something that I wanted to develop through this last project. 

I think that if I used a video or a sequence of photographs to display this movement it would remove and element of imagination that comes with illustration. Segments of illustration can have a lot more interest than photos as a photo gives a lot more context, where as a line drawing of a figure gives nothing away but the figure (there is no background) the audience can imagine the figure where ever they choose, and wonder where it came from.  

In this project however, I have chosen to put the figure back in the place that I took it from, however with it now being in a different medium it is up to the audience to connect the two. 

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Limits and Alexa Meade

Considering my work i had to think about the size of it. I was inspired by Alexa Meade to use the body as a limit. 

Alexa Meade is an american artist who makes ‘living paintings’, or ‘living portraits’, where I have found inspiration. 

She paints her portrait onto actual people, stand them in painted backgrounds and then photographs them. 

JAIMIE, 2010

BLUE PRINT, 2010

SPECTACLE, 2010

MARTYRDOM, 2012 

 I really connect with her work as there are many aspects within it that I find interesting. Meade uses perspective, blending and the body as a limit for her work.

She uses perspective because she has this amazing capability of collapsing a 3D scene into 2D, from looking at the images she takes from her work you wouldn’t notice that these are real life people instead of 2D paintings. I find that when she has done this within the street environment fantastic. She takes the typical style of a 2D piece of street art where it blends just into it’s surroundings, then takes it a step further by collapsing a 3D human into it. Throughout this project and previous projects I have found this act of blending in art interesting and this is so important in Meade’s work and she does it with suck skill. I find it interesting as it is like an optical illusion, causing more thought from her audience. 

Another aspect that I find inspirational is how she uses the body as a limit for her art ( in the sense that she cannot change the form of the human, she has this one unchangeable space to create her work, even if she blends the person painting into a background). Taking this part and thinking about it in context of my work and it’s size, if it is a portrait of the movement of a person why should I not use the size of the person as the size of my work.  This was thankfully very well in fitting with the sizing of the machines I could be using as I measured Mitchell, 600mm by 1700mm, and the limit of the vinyl cutter was, 600mm. This is the size that I plan on ordering my acrylic in, so at no point will the image ever be larger than the real Mitchell. This combined with the limit that the camera created could lead to an interesting final image. 

How she photographs and paints creates an optical illusion, creating this 3D to 2D effect. This adds another layer of complexity, as it is not just a typical painting, it becomes a living object, that unfolds to an audience gradually as you have to look for the elements that give away what it truly is. 

This is an element that I would like to bring to my work and will fit well with the style in which I have illustrated my figure. I want to create a sort of optical illusion by having a transparent circle of figures, with the main body of the figure depicted in grey vinyl ( which is tone instead of colour). The circle will hopefully push an audience to walk all the way round the piece as you can not see the full piece from one spot. Then the vinyl layers will blend into each other, so the layers blend and move as the audience moves around. The piece moves with the audience. As the grey vinyl overlapped just creates a subtle darker tone, this is helped by there not being lines within the work, so a blend happens instead of a tangling of lines like in my previous work in this project. Meaning that it makes it harder to distinguish between layers, tricking the eyes. I like this effect as it makes an audience work a little bit harder and it brings the piece to life, so it is not just a flat 2D image. 

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Illustrative style and inspiration

Thinking about how I created my illustrations, I have taken a lot of visual cues from  stencil artists like Blek Le Rat. This is because I find it interesting how they can create and entire image with a minimal amount of colour (often just black) by picking out areas of light, tone and texture. Within this you never quite get the entire image(as in there are no complete lines and the figure isn’t completely filled in), giving it a transparent quality that has the ability to blend into it surroundings. 

This is something that I have taken account into my work as I am trying to blend my panels into its surroundings. I am doing this by using transparent vinyl and transparent acrylic and adding this to foyer so that the mosaic flooring can be seen through the panels.

I feel like I am pushing this process and making it my own by carrying it out in adobe illustrator, I like to use this programme as it gives me a lot of opportunity to transfer my images into different mediums. For instance laser cutting, vinyl and print. 

Blek le rat has been a particular inspiration as I have developed my style. This can be seen throughout my university career as last year I was working with stickering in a street setting, where I illustrated a chained female to stick on to pre-existing images around Birmingham. 

So it starts to become clear to me that there are several areas of interest that coincide with street artist’s like Blek Le Rat. The blending in of their imagery to their surroundings, the stencil style of the imagery and the ability to quickly reproduce the imagery. 

You can see this in the work of Blek Le Rat, the below image is of a Russian Soldier Stencil that Blek has been using for years. 

It signifies Blek making a joke during times of tension between Russia and France. Mainly reproduced in the 1980′s in Paris but Blek has continued to use it throughout his career.  I find it inspiring because the image is one colour adn essentially incomplete but creates a whole image. It also contains it surroundings, for instance the wall and other graffiti starts to come through into the image. Giving the image a sense of unusual belonging, meaning it looks out of place but in place at the same time.

I think my work has this element because of it’s transparency. It blends into it’s surroundings while at the same time being it’s own image that is completely separate. 

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Perspective Vs Foreshortening.

 Perspective

the art of representing three-dimensional objects on a two-dimensional surface so as to give the right impression of their height, width, depth, and position in relation to each other.

Foreshortening

verb (used with object)1.Fine Arts. to reduce or distort (parts of a represented object that are not parallel to the picture plane) in order to convey the illusion of three-dimensional space as perceived by the human eye: often done according to the rules of perspective.

These are the definitions of these words, I need to consider this as it was bought up to me as which one was I using in my work. So I am using foreshortening within my work. As I am distorting my work because of the limits of the camera (i.e cutting of parts of the form as it leaves the space of the camera).   I also use perspective as  the image gets smaller and larger in relation to the image being closer and further away from the camera. Therefore I have foreshortened my piece with perspective and proximity to the camera. 

An artist who also uses perspective in his work is Danas Aleska in his 43h exhibition. It’s a compelling piece as he has dissected a human body and depicted it how it would be if the person were lying down and the audience were moving around it.  So the feet are larger at the bottom and the head larger at the top as a human body would be in real life to someone seeing it. 

I connect with this work as it contains the same visual queues that I want to use in mine ( i.e transparency, foreshortening and perspective). He has used separate images ( or dissections in his case) to create and entire image. It creates the idea of a real human in the audiences mind’s eye while remaining nothing but lines on acrylic.  While in my work I want to use separate images of a figure to create a sequence of movement. 

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This is the ariel view of two display options. The circle is the person and the lines that lead from it are what the person can view. 

The bottom illustration would allow the mapping in my work (where Mitchell would be placed where he stood in real life. 

However the top illustration could look visually impressive and would encourage the audience to walk around the whole piece, which could be beneficial. 

Thinking about the piece I would like to place it in a circle, this is because it will make an audience walk around it to see all the panels, which is kind of a play on the subject of the piece as they are walking. I intend for it to be a  jumble of visual concepts as I have kept the foreshortening of the figure but placed it in a way that foreshortening would not be created. I think this can cause an audience to consider the piece more as it may not be initially obvious what is happening throughout the circle of panels.  

This circular placement should also create a different effect to having them paced one in front of the other. This because all the pieces are transparent, including the vinyl figure, meaning there will be a blending of the panels, which will create an almost optical illusion.