Handmade Sketchbooks:
For this sketchbook I used some cardboard; nice paper; thick paper; coloured paper; some ribbon; and a glue stick. Below is the link to the website I followed to make this sketchbook.
For this sketchbook I designed the front cover and back cover loosely inspired by some of Kurt Schwitters work. I am not a fan of most of his work, but I liked his ideas, and appreciate the creativity. I decided to make the front cover a sad clown, because when I was younger clowns used to really scare me and freak me out. I'm okay with clowns now, but I still don't like them and sometimes they freak me out. I then put matches across the top of it because I thought the piece needed something, and I think this adds just enough. I also had a previous design that was mainly pink, but it just didn't look right, so I lightly painted over it, so you it would have this nice texture as well as the previous colour showing through. I used a beige paint pen to put a base colour down for the clowns face, then I went over the top roughly with coloured pencils to give it a nice texture. I then used a white paint pen to fill in the eyes and mouth. Then once that dried, I outlined it and put the detail in with a thick Sharpie. I then used red masking tape to form the hat, and a red mesh material for the nose. for the shirt, I found this striped fabric, so I cut a piece off and scrunched it to make it look like the frilly collar that clowns wear.
I then decided I was going to make the back cover a pigeon because I freaking love pigeons. Just everything about them, they're so cool. I love the colours, the fact that they're street birds, and they act all tough until you get close to them. For this, I used cut up coloured paper, and magazines. For the background I used blue paint, then once that dried I got a silver paint pen, and I put this 50s styles pattern in the background. I then found this piece of art I got from an exhibition, 'State of Print' where everything was made out of cardboard, and etched prints. I then cut it up (I had 2), and on the back it said "state of mind. State of print." so I used that in the bottom corner of the piece. In the top corner of the piece, I put 'Spirit Animal' because, I always say pigeons are my spirit animal, because they're scared of everything but pretend they're not. They also walk with some swag until they're scared.
Below is the steps I took to create this sketchbook:
I then decided I was going to make the back cover a pigeon because I freaking love pigeons. Just everything about them, they're so cool. I love the colours, the fact that they're street birds, and they act all tough until you get close to them. For this, I used cut up coloured paper, and magazines. For the background I used blue paint, then once that dried I got a silver paint pen, and I put this 50s styles pattern in the background. I then found this piece of art I got from an exhibition, 'State of Print' where everything was made out of cardboard, and etched prints. I then cut it up (I had 2), and on the back it said "state of mind. State of print." so I used that in the bottom corner of the piece. In the top corner of the piece, I put 'Spirit Animal' because, I always say pigeons are my spirit animal, because they're scared of everything but pretend they're not. They also walk with some swag until they're scared.
Below is the steps I took to create this sketchbook:
Ideas For My Artist Book:
For my artist book, my theme is Identity. For it, I plan to create work inspired by my family, and the encouragement I get from them. I also want o create work that is personal to each person in my family, and create some work based on their loves and fears.
I will do this by creating small illustrations, no bigger than a playing card, that are personal to me, and them, but I wont name the family member for each piece, or drawing. I want to make sure it is very personal and yet anonymous to them when it comes to their fears and worries.
I will also have a book filled with all my ideas and photos of my family, as well as being filled with memories and quotes of the dumb things they say. With every quote, I will put next to it, who said it, if I remember. To make it all feel very personal I will also take small polaroid photos of my family, or events that happen. The reason why I've chosen polaroid's is because you can't go back and try again, its one photo, one take, and they definitely wont be perfect. I don't want this project to feel structured, and directed. I want to get photos of my family, both good and bad. And I want to get photos of them just living their lives.
I'm going to write down my best memories and my families favourite memories, as best as I can, and from that description, try and sketch it. I want to get a visual representation of the memory, if there is no photograph (at least not one I can find) so we can look back and know what it is. I'm aware this is gonna be difficult, but I'm keen to give it a go and see how well i get the memory. I wont make them realistic, but instead I will illustrate them. This will take a lot of the pressure off for trying to get the likeness down.
For the things my family loves, I will draw objects, animals, and people (celebrities and family members), this is so you can get a real insight to my family and almost feel like you know them without ever meeting them.
The illustrations for my artist book are 9x6.5 inches so that they can fit nicely inside the tins I have for them.
I will do this by creating small illustrations, no bigger than a playing card, that are personal to me, and them, but I wont name the family member for each piece, or drawing. I want to make sure it is very personal and yet anonymous to them when it comes to their fears and worries.
I will also have a book filled with all my ideas and photos of my family, as well as being filled with memories and quotes of the dumb things they say. With every quote, I will put next to it, who said it, if I remember. To make it all feel very personal I will also take small polaroid photos of my family, or events that happen. The reason why I've chosen polaroid's is because you can't go back and try again, its one photo, one take, and they definitely wont be perfect. I don't want this project to feel structured, and directed. I want to get photos of my family, both good and bad. And I want to get photos of them just living their lives.
I'm going to write down my best memories and my families favourite memories, as best as I can, and from that description, try and sketch it. I want to get a visual representation of the memory, if there is no photograph (at least not one I can find) so we can look back and know what it is. I'm aware this is gonna be difficult, but I'm keen to give it a go and see how well i get the memory. I wont make them realistic, but instead I will illustrate them. This will take a lot of the pressure off for trying to get the likeness down.
For the things my family loves, I will draw objects, animals, and people (celebrities and family members), this is so you can get a real insight to my family and almost feel like you know them without ever meeting them.
The illustrations for my artist book are 9x6.5 inches so that they can fit nicely inside the tins I have for them.
Work For My Artist Book:
Above are the tins that I will be putting my illustrations into. I have painted the lids so you can distinguish which tin is positive and which tin is negative. For the negative tin I have gone with different shades of blue because blue is generally associate blue with sadness. I have then painted the positive tin using different shades of yellow because people generally associate yellow with joy and happiness. For the tins, I used acrylics paints.
For the design of the tins, I decided to make them both the same. For the design I painted two silhouettes of people with their heads open and then some clouds, mainly to fill up some space. I wanted the designs to represent the thoughts from my families heads, and their loves. For the clouds they were mainly to fill up space, but I also thought it could then make the whole piece stand for 'head in the clouds'.
For the design of the tins, I decided to make them both the same. For the design I painted two silhouettes of people with their heads open and then some clouds, mainly to fill up some space. I wanted the designs to represent the thoughts from my families heads, and their loves. For the clouds they were mainly to fill up space, but I also thought it could then make the whole piece stand for 'head in the clouds'.
For my first piece for my artist book I decided to sculpt a skull. This is because several people in my family fear death, even though it is inevitable. They worry about when the time comes, or get themselves worked up at the thought of dying.
Thanatophobia:- The fear of death.
The fear of death is very common, and can be caused by the 'fight or flight'. The fear of death creates a lot of worry and anxiety for people, because they're mortal, and death is inevitable.
Thanatophobia:- The fear of death.
The fear of death is very common, and can be caused by the 'fight or flight'. The fear of death creates a lot of worry and anxiety for people, because they're mortal, and death is inevitable.
Above is another sculpture idea.
The first image is the concept sketch with a note about the idea.
The second image is more on why I chose this concept.
The third image is the actual sculpture [not yet finished]
The first image is the concept sketch with a note about the idea.
The second image is more on why I chose this concept.
The third image is the actual sculpture [not yet finished]
This is the final sculpture. I didn't add the fourth head because I actually really liked it like this, and I feel like it would look clunky and out of place. I feel with the three heads it looks balanced. I'm really proud of this piece because it was my first time sculpting emotions, and putting this level of detail into it.
Id there is one thing I could change, it would be the shoulders/collarbone area. I feel like it looks too flat compared to the heads, but i did struggle to make it look realistic and as if it should be there. Overall, I am really happy with how this looks, and I'm really proud of it. It took me ages to make it, and there was a lot of me restarting, and getting annoyed.
Id there is one thing I could change, it would be the shoulders/collarbone area. I feel like it looks too flat compared to the heads, but i did struggle to make it look realistic and as if it should be there. Overall, I am really happy with how this looks, and I'm really proud of it. It took me ages to make it, and there was a lot of me restarting, and getting annoyed.
[above are the illustrations of fears my family members have (no one named)]
[above are the illustrations of people/things my family love]
Evaluation:
For my artist book I feel I was definitely too ambitious. I'm very pleased with the amount of work I managed to get done, and I'm happy with the quality of work I produced.
I had some sculptures in my artist book, and this was the first time I actually tried and took my time on a sculpture. I happy with how the sculptures turned out, and I if I had more clay, I would've made the sculptures on a bigger scale.
I love most of the illustrations I made for it, and I'm really happy with how they turned out. For the negative drawings, I was only using my grey markers, but they started to run out so I decided to focus more on the positive drawings so that I could still have a lot of work done.
I wanted to fill a sketchbook with all my ideas, but i was just drawing them straight onto the blending card, and adjusting it to suit instead of doing thumbnails. I did write about some of the drawings and sculptures in the sketchbook, but I also wrote about them in my research book as well, because there were times where that is all I had on me.
I took seventy small Instax photos of my friends and family, and just of stuff I like or thought would fit. I chose to use the Instax photos because you only get one shot, and you need to wait for it to develop before you know if it worked out or not. There were a few photos that didn't quite work the way I wanted them to, but for the most part I managed to get what I wanted. I also did a 24 photos in 24 hours photography project with a disposable camera. For it, I basically did 'A Day in the Life of Quin'. Not all of them developed, and some of them look bad, but I like that about it. I feel the disposable camera and Instax photos makes the project feel more personal since they're not perfect, and there will be a few problems with them.
In my research book I wrote a lot about my family, and had some photos of them in there as well. I even put quotes they said, and I wrote a few memories about them and how they encourage me to do better, and motivate me. I also wrote down a few of my favourite quotes from celebrities , or that I found online, and some images that I found that I really liked. There are also some small sketches because I got an idea and had to get it down so that I didn't forget it, or to relate to what I was talking about.
I even got a card from a creative weekend I did, where everyone I was with wrote something nice about me, or about the weekend, and I thought that would be great to put into the artist book because it makes it more personal.
Since you can't print out videos, I have put a USB in my artist book with all the videos from my social media of my friends and family just having fun or being weird. I even added some photos onto the USB that I felt didn't need an explanation.
For all the work i created, i was hoping it would fit into a shoebox I had so it would be well presented, but the sculptures were too big and it wouldn't close. So, I ended up handing all my stuff in, in a carrier bag. I wish i had a bigger box to put the stuff in, so I could decorate the outside of it and make it all the more personal.
For the project I wanted to let people get a small insight into my life, and have it feel personal without someone knowing everything about me by the end of it. I'm really happy with how the project turned out, and if I were to do it again I think I would just do it to a bigger scale.
I did really enjoy this project, and I tried my best to keep the same style through out, and produce high quality work.
I had some sculptures in my artist book, and this was the first time I actually tried and took my time on a sculpture. I happy with how the sculptures turned out, and I if I had more clay, I would've made the sculptures on a bigger scale.
I love most of the illustrations I made for it, and I'm really happy with how they turned out. For the negative drawings, I was only using my grey markers, but they started to run out so I decided to focus more on the positive drawings so that I could still have a lot of work done.
I wanted to fill a sketchbook with all my ideas, but i was just drawing them straight onto the blending card, and adjusting it to suit instead of doing thumbnails. I did write about some of the drawings and sculptures in the sketchbook, but I also wrote about them in my research book as well, because there were times where that is all I had on me.
I took seventy small Instax photos of my friends and family, and just of stuff I like or thought would fit. I chose to use the Instax photos because you only get one shot, and you need to wait for it to develop before you know if it worked out or not. There were a few photos that didn't quite work the way I wanted them to, but for the most part I managed to get what I wanted. I also did a 24 photos in 24 hours photography project with a disposable camera. For it, I basically did 'A Day in the Life of Quin'. Not all of them developed, and some of them look bad, but I like that about it. I feel the disposable camera and Instax photos makes the project feel more personal since they're not perfect, and there will be a few problems with them.
In my research book I wrote a lot about my family, and had some photos of them in there as well. I even put quotes they said, and I wrote a few memories about them and how they encourage me to do better, and motivate me. I also wrote down a few of my favourite quotes from celebrities , or that I found online, and some images that I found that I really liked. There are also some small sketches because I got an idea and had to get it down so that I didn't forget it, or to relate to what I was talking about.
I even got a card from a creative weekend I did, where everyone I was with wrote something nice about me, or about the weekend, and I thought that would be great to put into the artist book because it makes it more personal.
Since you can't print out videos, I have put a USB in my artist book with all the videos from my social media of my friends and family just having fun or being weird. I even added some photos onto the USB that I felt didn't need an explanation.
For all the work i created, i was hoping it would fit into a shoebox I had so it would be well presented, but the sculptures were too big and it wouldn't close. So, I ended up handing all my stuff in, in a carrier bag. I wish i had a bigger box to put the stuff in, so I could decorate the outside of it and make it all the more personal.
For the project I wanted to let people get a small insight into my life, and have it feel personal without someone knowing everything about me by the end of it. I'm really happy with how the project turned out, and if I were to do it again I think I would just do it to a bigger scale.
I did really enjoy this project, and I tried my best to keep the same style through out, and produce high quality work.