Life Drawing, Session 1

I dont think that it went to bad to say that I havnt done life drawing since last year. Obviously there are problems, such as scale, proportion and positioning that I need to work on again to get back to how I was before. I think its good to have someone new to draw, it will also help me with my character drawings and designs drawing various people rather than just one size.

This is the first drawing that I did. I dont think its that brilliant, the proportions arent right and the figure looks at though it is leaning rather than it being straight. Taking these into account  dont think that its too bad as a first attempt back.

These are the second and the third drawing that I did in this session. I think that the one on the left is a big improvement on the one that i did intially. the proportions are an improvement but the arm isnt brilliant. I dont like the one on the right at all. I think that the figure is to dark leading to the actual shape being lost. I found this pose difficult to do and the amount of corrections that I was doing contributed greatly to the figure being so dark. 

 This is my favorite out of all the pieces that I did in this session. I like this pose out of all of them and I think that I have got the proportions quite right. I also like the mark making on this one and the fact that it isnt to heavy so you can see the shape of the figure. The two things that need working on in this piece are the size and shaping of the arm and the legs. I found where one of the legs was difficult to draw as it was coing towards me creating foreshortening.

These are the last two pieces that I did. I didnt like the pose of the top one, i just didnt find it interesting to draw. The piece that I create from it didnt turn out to badly. The one below that I think is the worst piece that I did during this session. I found this pose the most difficult of the day and i dont think that I had enough time to correct what I did wrong. Due to the lack of time I tried to get the basic figure down quickly beacause of this the proportions werent right, the legs were far to big for the body and i didnt manage to put any shading on, so there was no depth or shape to the figure.

Metamorphosis: Titian 2012

‘Metamorphosis: Titian 2012’ – featuring new work by contemporary artists Chris Ofili, Conrad Shawcross and Mark Wallinger in a unique collaboration with The Royal Ballet.

This multi-arts project, part of the Cultural Olympiad's London 2012 Festival, draws on the powerful stories of change found in Titian’s masterpieces, revealing how these spectacular paintings continue to inspire living artists.
A multi-faceted experience celebrating British creativity across the arts, ‘Metamorphosis: Titian 2012’ brings together a group of specially commissioned works responding to three of Titian’s paintings – Diana and Actaeon, The Death of Actaeon and the recently acquired Diana and Callisto – which depict stories from Ovid’s epic poem ‘Metamorphoses’. The three paintings, displayed at the heart of the exhibition, are seen together for the first time since the 18th century.

http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/metamorphosis-titian-2012

Seven royal ballet choreographers from the Royal Ballet teamed up with composers and the contemporary artists, Chris Ofili, Conrad Shawcross and Mark Wallinger. Together they have produced responses to the three Titan paintings which were then performed at the Royal opera house in July 2012.

The Women In Black- Performace

This is a play that I have wanted to watch for some time. After booking the tickets to go and see it I looked through some reviews to see what other people had said about it. From looking at these I found that the reviews were very varied, from this I had some reservations as to what the play would be like. I had also watched the film earlier this year and wanted to see how they would represent the elaborate scenes like the road up to eel marsh house and also the house itself.

The road up to eel marsh house and the marsh surrounding it.

The house that is used in the film for Eel Marsh house

When getting into the theater, before the performance started, this is the way that the stage was set up.

There wasn't any other props added to the front of the stage, apart from some different clothing that was put onto the rail at the side. This clothing was used to show the difference between the characters that one of the actors played and the different stages of the story that the other actors character goes through. There was other scenes set up behind the curtain that rotated for when they were needed as part of the story, but they were also not elaborate. A lot of sound effects were used instead to set a scene or represent something that wasn't there.

This is a page spread out of the program shows the two actors in their different  costumes  worn to show the different stage of the story and the different characters being portrayed.

I really enjoyed this performance, I don't understand the negative reviews that people have given for the performance. The right balance between story and scary. I think the fact that you are not given everything and have to use your imagination to see the scene in your own mind keeps the audience interested throughout the whole of the performance. The actors were brilliant as well creating tension and suspense and interacting with things that weren't physically there.

I found the use of costume interesting as there wasn't whole changes from character to character as the character changes were done on the stage. Although there wasn't a whole outfit change the putting on of a coat, hat, scarf etc. it was clear that there had been a change of character not from just the clothes but the actors portrayal of the character.

A Rake's Progress- large scale piece 2

This is are second attempt at the large scale piece for the tavern scene in a Rake's Progress. These first two photos show the initial background that we did for our piece. Even at this point without any detail on  it I think that it already looks better than the piece that we had done previously.
We didn't add much colour to the background so that the details and key features, when put on top  stand out from the background.


We decided to put the figures into the piece we would create layers of fabric to place on top of the background, rather than painting them on because the background might have smudged into them.
This shows the figures placed on the background. To create the figure shapes we drew around each other. We chose to use white fabric for the figures so that they would stand out from the dark background. I think that the figures work well but they need something, like the table in the painting, to pull the whole composition together as some of the figures look like they are floating.

Close up of Tom Rakewell's representation in the piece. We chose to dress this character  because he is the main focal point of the artworks therefore we wanted him to stand out more from the other figures.

V&A Exhibitions

Ballgowns- British Glamour Since 1950
http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/exhibitions/ballgowns/

'Ballgowns: British Glamour Since 1950 will feature more than sixty designs for social events such as private parties, royal balls, state occasions and opening nights.

The exhibition will cover over sixty years of a strong British design tradition that continues to flourish. Eveningwear from the V&A’s vast collection, by designers including Victor Stiebel, Zandra Rhodes, Jonathan Saunders and Hussein Chalayan, will be on show alongside dresses fresh from the catwalk shows of Alexander McQueen, Giles Deacon, Erdem and Jenny Packham.

A selection of royal ballgowns will be on display, including a Norman Hartnell gown designed for Elizabeth the Queen Mother, Princess Diana’s ‘Elvis Dress’ designed by Catherine Walker and gowns worn by today’s young royals. Ballgowns: British Glamour Since 1950 will also include dresses worn by actresses and celebrities including Elizabeth Hurley, Bianca Jagger and Sandra Bullock, and a stunning metallic leather dress created especially for the exhibition by innovative designer Gareth Pugh.'
http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/exhibitions/ballgowns/ballgowns-british-glamour-since-1950/


Theatre Performance Galleries
http://www.vam.ac.uk/page/t/theatre-and-performance-galleries/

Rooms 103 to 106b in the V&A have all aspects of theatre design in them, the rooms include:

• Room 103- Theatre and Peformance enterance
• Room 104- Theatre & Performance temporary exhibitions
• Room 104a- Experiencing Theatre and Performance
• Room 104b- Designing
• Room 105- Costume
• Room 106- Make Up
• Room 106a- Creating and Producing
• Room 106b- Rehearsing & Promoting

Looking through these will give me a small idea of what stages go into design for a theatre performance.

 

 

Nottingham Trent- Costume Design and Making

This is the link to the course that I want to do next year, http://www.ntu.ac.uk/apps/pss/course_finder/116755-1/39/BA_(Hons)_Costume_Design_and_Making.aspx?yoe=6&st=1&s=1&sv=costume.

Costume Design and Making, BA (Hons)

Our BA (Hons) Costume Design and Making is a challenging, specialised course giving you the creative, practical, organisational and technical skills needed to develop design concepts through to professional costume production.

Entry requirements
You will need:

• a minimum of 280 UCAS tariff points
• GCSE English grade C or above (literature or language)
• GCSE Maths grade C or above

Screen Printing

I used the basics of the pattern that I had cut out for the lino print to base my screen printing on. Rather than it just being one piece though I wanted to layer it so that the flowers and the background pattern could be two different colours.

These are the two layers of sencil that I used to create my textile designs. I took the two main elements of my lino print and seperated them into two layers to get to these two stencils.

paper version

fabric version

I think that out of these two the paper one has come out the best. I dont think that either of them has worked very well as the print isnt flat, parts of it are patchy and the stencils have moved in sections of the print. I would have to change the paints that I use because the pigment of the red paint came through the black, whereas I wanted it to look like the black flowers were ontop of the red. I would also, if this was a final fabric, would clean the screens better before I use them as I think that might have had a part to play in the print no coming out as well as I wanted.  





 

A Rake's Progress- large scale tavern 1

these are the the photos of the two halves of the first piece

This was a first attempt at a large scale piece for A Rake's Progress. As a group we chose to base are piece on one of the scenes, we chose the tavern because we thought it would make the most interesting piece.
We managed to get all the key elements into the piece but I don't think that this piece works as a whole, there are too many different things happening with    nothing to pull them all together. I think with this piece there needed to be more thought gone into it in order for it all to work. I also think that the background would have needed to be darker to show the darkness within the original tavern panting.

V&A Hollywood Costume

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/exhibitions/exhibition-hollywood-costume/

The V&A's autumn exhibition, 'Hollywood Costume', explores the central role costume design plays in cinema storytelling. Bringing together over 100 of the most iconic movie costumes from across a century of film-making, it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the clothes worn by unforgettable and beloved characters such as Dorothy Gale, Indiana Jones, Scarlett O'Hara, Jack Sparrow, Holly Golightly and Darth Vader.
 

Video from the V&A channel talking about the Hollywood Costume Exhibition



 

V&A Hollywood costume, BBC news report

 

 

'Audrey Hepburn's black dress from the film Breakfast at Tiffany's and Dorothy's ruby slippers as seen in the Wizard of Oz are among the items on display at a major exhibition of Hollywood costumes.

London's Victoria and Albert Museum will showcase over 100 movie costumes worn by cinema greats over the last century.

Jenny Hill reports'

Video for the news report done by the BBC for the opening of the Hollywood Costume exibition at the V&A.

In the video it explains the process of breaking down a costume, making sure it fits the characters story up until the point youo see it in a film, adding things such as rips, blood, worn areas ect. The oldest costume within the exhibition is Charlie Chaplins that he wore in The Tramp.

 

 

 

18th Century Wigs

I have looked at 18th century portraits to have a look at the styles of hair and wig. Doing this will then give me more of an idea as to which direction I want to take the wig that I am making. 

Caroline of Ansbach- Spouse of King George  II

Lady Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire

























I wanted to make a wig based on the Harlot of a Harlots Progress. I looked at portraits of the aristocracy of the 18th century, from these I could get a feel of what kind of look the Harlot would want but defiantly wouldn't have. The harlots would be bigger and more brash, the bigger the better. She would have tried to achieve a classier look but look like one of these hairstyles that had been lived in for a week and all started to fall out and look messy.

Positive and Negative Space

I enjoyed this session and also think it will help me when looking at my on work. I think that it will help me when looking at costume and theatrical design and performance. This is because we found that although the wool and string is a fine material it created a challenge to get through when navigating are way round the room. From this i can see that even small props can be effective within a performance.

These show the final outcome of our session- Made moving about a little tricky to say the least!

We put all the wool together after taking down it all down. We did this to see how little amount of wool and string it took to make it hard to move round the room. Showing that you don't always need huge objects to create an impact. 

The video above shows my personal journey through the string and wool frames that we created in 3D. I think its interesting to compare this are the one of the other people moving through it. The different ways that people move round it are due to the decisions made by the individual when coming to each obstacle, meaning that no two persons journeys would be the same.

The Woman In Black

Theatre Royal & Concert Hall, Nottingham
Saturday, October 20th

http://www.thewomaninblack.com/

The Women in Black Story
Proud and solitary, Eel Marsh House surveys the windswept reaches of the salt marshes beyond Nine Lives Causeway. Arthur Kipps, a junior solicitor, is summoned to attend the funeral of Mrs Alice Drablow, the house’s sole inhabitant, unaware of the tragic secrets which lie hidden behind the shuttered windows. It is not until he glimpses a wasted young woman dressed all in black at the funeral, that a creeping sense of unease begins to take hold. This feeling is deepened by the reluctance of the locals to talk of the woman in black – and her terrible purpose.
Years later, as an old man, he recounts his experiences to an actor in a desperate attempt to exorcise the ghosts of the past. The play unfolds around the conversations of these two characters as they act out the solicitor’s experiences on Eel Marsh all those years ago.

From watching the film earlier in the year and finding out that there was also a theatre performance, also based on the Susan Hill novel, I looked to see whether there were any performaces I could go and see. When I first looked there were only shows in the west end which I could not get to or afford, so when seeing a poster in nottingham advertising the perfomance I booked ticets to see it.

Wig Making- session 2

This image shows the beginings of the wig that I am making.

Taking influence from 18th century wigs I wanted to create something that is big and elaborate. Although these wigs are ment to be for a character out of a rakes progress/ a harlots progress I think mine looks more like a style that would have been worn in the later half of the 18th century as the ones for women in 1720/30 were much smaller, also they often just wore caps rather than wigs. I want to finish this so that I can use it in my portfolio.

Lino Print

This shows the pattern that I cut into my block before I started printing with it.
For the design I took inspriation from this piece of work by Paul Morrison, which features in his exhibition in the Millenium Gallery.


 I created a block so that when i printed them next to each other the print would carry on, looking like a repeat pattern. This one I did was on black suger paper with bright red printing ink. I dont think that this one has worked well because the colours havnt turned out as bright as i would have wanted. The print has also absorbed into the paper therefor the edges arent as sharp as i would want the to be.



For the other two samples used I printing inks on white fabrics. I was hoping that using a fabric would mean that the print would not bleed as  much therefor it would be shaper. I initally tryed some prints out on a cream coloured material, I found that the colours werent as bright as i wanted on this either. The piece below shows another print that i did on white fabric.

I think that this one works the only thing that i would do would be too look at the amount of ink i have on the stamp if i didnt want to have the faded sections on it. The final one that i tryed in this session was to do a black prin like this but to then layer another print of red ontop of it.

I dont think that I managed to do enough of this print to see whether it would work. You can also see on this that on one of the printed sections i had to much ink on the block and therefor it has all bled and you cant tell what the print should be.

Design Process

There are a few key stages that I would go through when doing any design project in order to get to a strong final piece. When getting a design brief I would first read through it to see what the parameters of the final design will be. I would then brainstorm some initial thoughts and ideas in thumbnail sketches, in order to get my first ideas down on paper.

 From my initial ideas I would then start to do research looking at threads or just even elements that feature in my first ideas. I would create boards and mind maps with all the research that I find so that I can look at it all at once rather than having to flick through a book. Doing this would also mean that small thumbnail sketches could then be drawn alongside the research as further design development. From both the thumbnail sketches and the research I would then create a few larger more refined designs in order to be able to start exploring with techniques and materials.

 Depending on what the final outcome of the brief is I would then exploring and experiment with the relevant materials. I would play about with colours, fabric, and typography etc depending on which ones I would incorporate within my final design. From doing this experimentation I would then be able to see what works together in order to create the most effective and refined final outcome.

 From doing all these steps I would then be left with the strongest final design possible based on the brief that I had been given. I would also know what the best materials and colours etc i should use, due to the experimentation I had done, to bring my final design to life.

 Finally I would look at how successful the project had been. I would evaluate the processes that I had gone through to get to the final piece or pieces to see how I could improve it in the next design project that I would do. I would also evaluate how the final piece itself has turned out to see whether I was 100% happy with it and if not what I could do in order to improve it.

I think that having a design process that is something similar to this is important for producing the most refined final piece of work that you can. If working professionally within industry, as well as the previous steps, you would also need to have frequent contact with the client that you are designing for as your piece needs to meet with final design that they are wanting.  

 

 

Equality and Diversity- ED 1.4

http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/about-us/
link to the equality and human rights commision  about us page on their website.

We have a statutory remit to promote and monitor human

rights; and to protect, enforce and promote equality across
the nine "protected" grounds - age, disability, gender, race,
religion and belief, pregnancy and maternity, marriage and
civil partnership, sexual orientation and gender reassignment.

 http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/hr_law.shtml

link to united nations and the declaration of human rights webite

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is generally agreed

to be the foundation of international human rights law. Adopted in
1948, the UDHR has inspired a rich body of legally binding international
human rights treaties. It continues to be an inspiration to us all whether
in addressing injustices, in times of conflicts, in societies suffering repression,
and in our efforts towards achieving universal enjoyment of human rights

Paper wig making

These show the start of the wig that i am making.

For our wigs we had to choose a character from a Rakes Progress or a Harlots progress. I have chosen the character of Mary Hackabout for mine. I have chosen her as i can make a big eccentric wig for her for when she became a prostitute.
I need to do some more research into 18th century wigs, this would give me more of an idea of the styles and shapes that the wigs would have been.