Evaluation Unit 1

 Brief

                                                          The brief for my final piece was to make a Magazine Cover and A Double Page Spread for a college target audience. Before this brief was set we had been set a task to make an exact copy of the Magazine Bazaar and NME. So this gave an insight into what we had to produce. I started by making a mindmap on everything that my magazine or a famous magazine would contain such as a barcode, coverlines, masthead, gutters and fonts. For my magazine theme I chose Travel which I looked more in depth into Gap Years, I also used different themes to do with teenage issues to link with my target audience brief. I then made a moodboard using all the things for Jack Wills magazines to come up with images, colour scheme, subjects etc. The Jack Wills magazine inspired my final cover photo of a boy and a girl with their heads close. This is where I got the name for my mast head "Modern Tweed" which is when I started experimenting with different fonts for my Mast Heads and Coverlines. I made various different drafts using ink and biro to create different fonts that I could use for the front cover. I made a colour chart of pastel colours to show me what my colour scheme would be and I found a typewriter font that I liked too. I made an A3 sheet of small images to do with my subject matter to use inside my double page spreads. I came up with two drafts for both front cover and double page spreads which helped with develop my ideas for my final pieces. On my final double page spread I made Travel photos using my own photographs from a trip to New York and made them look polaroid and altered the sizes on photoshop which was different to my draft of a hot air balloon made out of a map. Finally, I added a Coverline and one of the images that I had drawn in ink.

A Piece That Has Been Influenced By Another Artist 

We were set a case study on John Porcellino's King-Cat Comics which really inspired me to make my own comic copy. He uses simple line drawings to create his cartoons which took a lot of effort to do. Everything is hand-drawn and he uses his own stories. Each story appeals to a different generation because they are wrote about his real life dramas, and they all have different themes and moods to suit all. For example the angry teenage years contrast with the logical thirties. From his work I have learnt that you don't need to use alot of detail or colour to make something interesting or effective. I tried to keep everything the same but changed a small detail on each piece. The comic is split up into sections of small squares and rectangle with text and a simple drawing in each. My favourite part is cat calls because its full of other peoples stories not John Porcellino's or my own so it was fun to do.

A Piece Where You Have Experimented With Different Processes.

When making the sketchbook, I used lots of different processes making it and completing each task. I used processes such as hand cutting, water colours, biro line drawings, bookbinding, and drawing with pencil. I took risks with messyness and not trying to make everything perfect especially for the line drawings. The different kinds of paper made it better to draw on because it made it more interesting for the eye. I developed my ideas by cross hatching, rendering and patterns using only biro, ink and pencil. I also used different shapes and fonts. The only limitation with just drawing with ink or biro is that you only get achromatic colours whereas if you experiment with different equipment and techniques, you get a variety of effects and samples. I think some of these would have been better if other equipment was used like acrylic paint or coloured ink, collage, block printing, spray painting, etc.

A Piece I Have Refined Over A Period Of Time

My mock exam piece was refined by going through lots of different research, drafting and experimenting. The poster needed to be as simple as possible so each image looked exactly like a real film poster. The theme of the poster makes the whole thing refined so a lot of research was needed to make it so simple. On the left there is my favourite film poster for Alice In Wonderland that I made. I think the rose and pink colours bring out the black outline. Apart from this poster I don't really like any of the other ones because they're the wrong colour, too handmade and they don't really look like real film posters. I think that I should have used more online images or at least hand drawn disney characters, for example the Cheshire Cat. I think the other posters were completely the wrong colours and if I were to do it again I would make them pinks and purples. I developed the original ideas by choosing simple items from the films Alice in Wonderland, Shrek and Harry Potter. This enabled me to come up with draft posters and then I refined each image by rubbing out the lines on photoshop and making block colours.

My Final Piece

For my final piece I did the travel magazine aimed at the college target audience. I linked this magazine to the Jack Wills magazine using the same sort of photography and colours, I also made the photos on my double page spread polaroid to go with the whole vintage look. I thought the collage in the background of my cover looked really effective with a hierarchy photo on top of that. The cover lines were a struggle because I couldn't get the colours just right or the sizes. It was also difficult to keep everything in line because it was done by hand. If i were to change it I would make the cover lines an official font and follow the guide lines exactly to keep all the mastheads and titles in line. The Jack Wills magazine influenced me by giving me ideas of what to include on the double page spread and the cover. I made a copy of the girl and boy photo in my drafting to use on my front cover.