Discussion forum - Taste

We had a discussion forum on the subject of taste and a number of questions were raised.

The first question was "How much as students are you influenced  by tutors and peers  in terms of taste?"
In terms of what artists/ illustrators to look at for inspiration I would say a lot - if they recommended something than I would take a look.

The next questions were : Do you produce work to please? For me the answer to this is yes, it is more important to please other people with my work than it is myself.
Do the projects affect the way your work looks?
Only in terms of colour  for example if  we were given a limited colour palette or if we are given a target audience.
Do the projects stunt or extend your development as a designer / illustrator?
I think they extend them - if I am given limitations will have to think more carefully about certain aspects of my work.


The question after these was : Are blogs such as "Its Nice That" and "Ffffound" genuine artibers of taste ? If so what gives them authority? http://www.itsnicethat.com/
Yes because it is professional budding illustrators will want to look at the illustrators work they show so they can develop their work so that they can become a professional


Should we take much notice of the work of others?
Yes as they can help us develop a style  and encourage us to experiment.

Is there a danger of becoming too influenced in current trends?
Yes this could stop work from becoming unique.

In a world saturated by images is it possible to be unique?
Naturally no two artists draw the same so as long as you don't let things influence you to much then your uniqueness will show

What defines our taste?
Tastes are personal to each individual - they make us unique, if every one liked the same thing there would be no debates or change, there would be no diversity.

Creative Review : Film - Pulp Fiction

For my creative film review I did "Pulp Fiction". I like how the film shows people's      different perspectives on life and isn't in chronological order. Because of this the characters  are very memorable. The film is extremely violent yet there is a sense of humour about it in a black comedy type of way.  I also like the music of the film which is a mix of rock n roll, spaghetti western and pop music which fits the diversity of the film.

Creative Review : Book - Watchmen

For my creative book review I did the graphic novel "Watchmen". I like how each character is unique and has their own distinctive personality and that there is no main character of the book. The art style and colour scheme are also unusual  for its time.  It has dark themes which question people's morality, all of the characters are shown to be flawed  even the most good natured ones. All the characters also have contrasting lifestyles.  

Creative Review : Article - The Everyday Sexism Project

For my creative article review I did an article called "The Everyday Sexism Project".

•       http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/the-womens-blog-with-jane-martinson/201
The article was about how the project was doing after being set up a year ago. I picked this article to talk about as I am a feminist and after reading some of the stories  I found out sexism against women was even worse than I thought.  

      "You experience sexism because women are inferior in every single way to men. The only reason you have been put on this planet is so we can fuck you." This quote is an example of how prevalent sexism still is in society. I feel that it is an issue which people often look past because of more prominent issues such as war.  A positive outcome of the project is that thousands of women have found the strength to fight back.

Final 8 x 8 images

For the colour schemes on the main image I used  a different colour for each puzzle piece.

This is the main image, I used a colour index book to pick the colours. I chose these colours because they are unusual yet they work well together.The puzzle pieces and the images on them represent the main characters memories/ flashback.

The two images above are images from the initial stages of the banner.

For the banner I used a few of the same colours as the main image - the two shades of brown as these colours fitted the woods setting.  The legs are those of the main character - Justin and his best friend Stephen.  The idea was to create a sense of mystery and intrigue by just showing their legs - there is a scene in the story where they meet after a long time in the woods.

8 x 8 prints

Here are my linoprints I did for the 8 x 8 project.  I will now scan each one onto photoshop and then play around with them to create both  the image and the banner.

More 8 x8 research

 

 

 Here are some ideas of imagery to be used on the final banner/ image