Dogs and Ant Farms.

Just a little bit of secondary research as I haven't any access to dogs or ant farms.

I used these dog images to do some quick sketches and monoprints and put the dog digging and the machine together to make it look like it was searching for it.

Conceptual Ideas

 Drawing out my ideas I found a little difficult. The conceptual part of this project has been the hardest for me.  I took images from my people drawing and my monoprints to try and sketch out some initial ideas for the machines.

I then started to think of how I could present the peices. After a quick talk with frazer I decided to keep them all simple monoprints. The drawing above shows the digger machine in the ground which almost looks like an ant farm.

Development.

Having 3 projects all going at once slowed things down for this project but I've tried my best to keep up. I decided to go into the print room for another session and draw out some ideas from references. I seem to draw better when drawing that way.

I started off drawing skrews for my first digger idea. I really like how they came out as you can really see the definition of the skrew bits. I then went on to draw different kinds of skrews and drill bits so I would have a choice later on. 

This first print didnt come out so well, having too much ink on the glass made it really hard to see what I'd drawn so I simply did a second print without rolling over the glass with new ink. 

The above print are the childish drawings my sister drew. I love the way they came out in monoprint. I think my final designs should be something like this as the ideas are in a way quite childish too.

Figure Drawing

After another pretty helpful session with frazer discussing our conceptual ideas, we were asked to start on our figure drawing. Wanting to stay ontop of things I thought the best place to go for people to draw was a cafe. I always find it difficult drawing in public as I'm quite selfconcious about people seeing my work, but I sat in starbucks non the less and got drawing. I quickly realised how bad I was at drawing people, especially faces! 

 

I hadnt read the brief yet so I started out using fine liners. I actually find drawing in fine liner alot easier. I'm a lot more confident and seem to just 'go for it' where as with pencil I feel I have to do tonal drawings and properly sketch and shade. I tried some pencil drawings afterwards but didnt really enjoy it at all.

 

After I got home I sat on the floor in my flatmates room and began to draw her. Hands are extremely difficult to draw, I can never get the proportions and angles right. The drawing of the feet I particularly like, as you can actual tell tha tthe front toes are curled upwards. I find drawing things at an upwards angle really difficult so I'm happy with how that came out. These initial drawings really shook me and showed me just how much work I have to do if I want to progress. Time to uy a new sketchbook? I think so.

Second Print Session

 The second print session I decided to do a few more monoprints straight onto newsprint. Drawing from reference this time. I really enjoy print and think it would work pretty well with my ideas for the drill bit, as it has that cloudy background but you can still achieve a clean line drawing.

 The black ink seemed really think and my prints werent coming out so well. I felt like this was wasted time so I changed the ink to red to see if there was a difference. The outcomes I feel were much better.

 

The last dog drawing is my favourite pritn from that day. Even though the line is rough and more of a scribble you can make out what it is and it has character. I was really pleased at the end after managing to produce atleast one successful print!

Monoprinting

I've always been a fan of printing and I really love the simplicity of monoprint. Did a little bit of research on the internet of some prints I like.

I love how easily you can capture the character of something through a simple line drawing, whether it be a crowded city scene or a maby taking its first steps.

20 Conceptual Ideas

 task was set to come up with and draw/sketch out 20 conceptual ideas for dog exercise machines. My first dawings were kind of the obvious ideas like a treadmill, but the more time I spent on it I started to think of more creative ideas. I think the most successful one would be number 10, the drill thing. A treat or something can be put in the top, the device switched on and then it drills into the groung, making the dog dig for it. I wasnt so confident with my line drawings at first but I think I managed to get my ideas down pretty well so that others can understand them.

The page above are some drawings my little sister drew. I asked her to draw some ideas for dog exercise machines and this is what she came up with in 10 minutes. There's a lot of character to her drawings and I actually really liked her ideas. I never would have thought of a pair of mechanical trousers with a GPS that transmits to your phone so you know where your dog is!

DeviantART

So I had planned to go and do some more printing in the studio at the end of this week but due to a family emergency I've had to be at home. This also meant I missed the workshop trip, which is a shame as I was really quite looking forward to it. I'll be making sure to catch up on what I missed later on. So instead of being at the workshop and spending time coming up with new dog exercise machines I took the opportunity to update my Deviant Art account. I've had the account for about 2 years now and have mainly been posting my very amature attempts at photography. I've always wanted to be able to take amazing photographs and since I bought a DSLR I've really got into it.

Check out my DeviantART account!

Bikes and Prints

 Tuesdays session was alot more productive than the last. I felt like I actually learnt something in that session which is always a good thing. At first we had a discussion about illistration and why we chose to be in that specialism. Then we were asked to draw a bike. We had 5 minutes to use whatever material we wanted to draw a bike. Nearly all of us drew the bike from a side angle. I found it really difficult rawing from my imagination and panicked for a second as i couldnt remember what the frame of the bike looked like and almost forgot it had pedels!!  Even though the wheels weren't round and the frames were all different, you could tell that they were all bikes.

  

After we'd discussed the bikes, we then had another short amount of time to come up with some wuick sketched of dog exercise machines. I also found this difficult at first and worried about the neatness andclarity of my line drawings. Not my best work but I guess that doesn't matter when they're rough sketches. 

 

After a break we collected our monoprints. I really enjoyed the print session. I think it gives a drawing an extra element and makes it both more eyecatching and interesting to the audience. I' hoping to use alot of print this year whether it be monoprinting, screen printing or etching.

 

  

 These were my first prints. I quite like the effect of putting chalk onto the slate before putting it through the press, as well as the pattern the mesh creates. However, I had done monoprinting before and had never put it through a press, and so decided to do it the way I was taught by simply placin the paper or newsprint ontop of an inked slate and drawing ontop of the paper with various different objects.

 I think I preferred the way these turned out to how the ones i put through the press came out. I like the simple line drawings and the blotching ink patches.

Rattle.

So I've managed to get my internet working long enough to update. We had a lecture at the begining of the week with a guest lecturer from Rattle. It was interesting but it made me so much more worried about the future. All the work he showed us was completely web based and looked like a lot of tech skills were needed. It scared me how useless I am when it comes to photoshop and illustrator because I realise as a graphic designer these days having those skills is necessary! I think one of the things on my 5 year plan will have to be aquiring the necessary skills that would make me employable!!

Dogs and Machines

Fridays session was a little more productive than wednesday. We started on our actual brief. The task was to create a machine that would allow a dog to exercise, using the photos we were asked to bring in. Using various photocopies of different dogs and machines I began to cut and stick parts together to come up with some basic ideas.

 Based on the idea of a treadmill for dogs except the dog can learn to turn it on and off itself using the levers.

 A weird kind of helmet design designed to exercise the dogs mind (hence the glasses)

 A bath machine that allows the dog to swim at home. The cogs would turn t
o create waves/resistance.

 Another treadmill idea with some motivation hung infront to keep the dog going. Different treats can be hung from the string.

A skateboard for dogs!

I think these basic ideas could be worked on to produce something quite clever and unique, but as the illustration has to catch the readers attention and also instantly show the perpose of the machine, the ones like the brain machine probably wouldnt work as well as they need explanation.