Second year - 10 successes

As a group and then as a class we went through 10 things we as graphic design students felt were successful last year. We were split into smaller groups and this is what we came up with - 

- Passed year
- Living alone
- Cooking
- Printing workshops as a whole 
- Developed digital skill 
- Learn how to answer a brief
- Confidence 
- Improved our personal professional practice as a whole
- Improved literacy skills
- Balancing work with uni
- Developed workshop skills 
- Whole process of making a book
- Prioritising briefs and work

After we finished this task we were asked as a group to give the most relevant and concise answers we had down, the next 10 things looked like this. 

- Presentation skills
- Giving feedback 
- Workshops
- Independent studies 
- Research and development
- Understanding time management 
- Working with groups 
- Confidence/motivation
- Theory/context
- Development of your own style

As A task then we were set to write 10 things that you would with to improve on this year. I think some of them with remain the same as I feel I do still need to improve some aspects of that list while i'm on my course. 

- Although last year was mainly for experimentation I would like to still keep an element of experimentation in my work, although developing your own style is an important part of being a graphic designer, I would like to start to experiment with different materials, wether this be in my own time or on set briefs.

- I would like to continue my development of illustrator, I feel this is one of the most important applications for a graphic designer. I have used the programme for years now but I still feel I can improve a lot on what I already know.

- Time management for me personally last year was quite a big issue, I need to be able to prioritise different briefs for when they need to be handed in. I felt at some points last year this got away from me and I would find myself doing my own work rather than work connected to the briefs that had been set.

- Research and development of my ideas was always something I was told I need more of. On some briefs last year I developed my ideas really well I thought but on others I didn't  I find it very easy to come up with one or two ideas and just go with them, but in reality I would get a much better end result if I were to explore the different possibilities before I go ahead and start creating final pieces. 

- Presentation is something I feel I need to improve on but more in terms of preparation, I don't particularly feel too nervous when Im presenting some work but I feel I could improve on the preparation I do prior to the presentation. 

- In terms of group work I feel I would benefit in many cases from collaborating with different people, last year if the option was their I would generally choose to work alone. I would like to try work in more groups this year. 

- I would like to work on the finish of my final out comes this year, I feel last year a lot of my work lacked the finish I desired, this Is something I want to continually improve on all year.

OUGD504 - Summer Brief

Research into things that interest you out of these 3 categories - 

Invention/discovery

Hobby/interest

Person/place

This was my initial research that I made some notes on to decide which subject I wanted to take further

I started by researching into an artist I recently came across who really inspired me to try to do some work in the way he did it, He is called Hal Lasko and he's a 97 year old, legally blind artist. He can see just not very well. He uses MS paint to create his work using pixels to create some really detailed work. 

I was really impressed by his work and the story how he came to do this sort of stuff. He was bought a computer by his son and when he found paint on it he never stop creating images. He originally was a typographer back in the day so he comes from quite an artistic background. I found a video that explains a good majority of his story. 

Hal Lasko - Pixel Painter

Im interested in music so when I find something that incorporates art and music i really take an interest in it. When I was on the internet I came across a video of sine waves being put through water to create crazy shapes on the basis of the size and shape of the wave. Ive seen similar stuff like this before using water and light to make the water appear suspended. 

sine wave through water

water suspended by strobe

The next artist I chose to research was a sculptor called Ron Mueck, Ive known about this guy for quite a while now and I would really like to go see one of his exhibitions. He creates these really big ultra realistic sculptures mainly of the human form. His sculptures are truly amazing when you see them. 

I found a video which explains the whole process which although very difficult is a relatively straight forward and simple process, Its the scale and detail that he puts in his work which is the truly amazing part.

Making of the baby

Ron Mueck exhibition

I started looking at a bit of technology because this is something that interests me quite a lot. I found pretty recently some technology that is being developed to basically create an invisibility cloak by way of using mirrors. It says, have designed an invisibility cloak that can temporally hide objects for an indefinite period of time. I dont particularly understand the technology but it does offer something relatively exciting. I like researching new technology that is being developed, 3D printers were something I have found very interesting in terms of the endless possibilities. They can print almost anything and in the future in almost any size. There are plans to construct a lunar base on the moon with the aid of 3D printers.

invisibility cloak

Li Hongbo Is the person I selected to focus on from my initial research, I really like the way he uses paper in a completely different way. The sculptures he creates have a very solid and rigid form that can be transformed in a way you wouldn't expect. I have always been interested in paper artists who use the medium in a completely different way. That was initially where my interest come from. 

The best way to get a grasp of what he does and how he does it is to watch a video of him in his workshop, He explains the origin of what he does and you get to see his work in motion.

Li Hongbo - out of paper

I like how He had a real interest in paper due to his job working with paper, In the video he talks about how selecting the right paper was a very important thing for him. He also talks about how he first came across this technique and how he replicates the concertina of the paper. I like Li Hongbo's ambition to further experiment with paper, he says until he has explored all possibilities.

Li Hongbo was Born in 1974 in Beijing. He was formerly a book editor and designer which is interesting because its not too far off some of the work Ive done on this course.  Working as a book designer and editor he became very involved with the choice of paper this is where his original obsession came from. He found himself fascinated by the intricacies of the traditional Chinese toys and festive decorations known as paper gourds, these are made from glued layers of thin paper, which can be stored flat, but then opened to reveal various shapes. Similar to a installation piece he did, pictured below.

I feel a lot of my research is based around structural sculptural pieces I feel this is a direction I would like to explore with my own work. Perhaps by experimenting with different materials because I feel one of my strengths that I never really explored last year is building things.

I felt the feedback from out crit went ok, a lot of the feedback was similar in the sense they would have liked more facts on Li Hongbo, a bit more on his background and how he came to be.