AuriolB | Ravensbourne Access \ Design

This week I finished my shirt! | Experimented with design & illustration | Researched exhibition & display ideas at the Wellcome Collection and Coal Drops Yard Playing with ideas I spent much of this week just seeing where things took me. I’m not sure any of it has the professional finish to feed into branding or visual identity but I like the energy of the work. Group visit to The Wellcome Collection and Coal Drops Yard A lot of inspiration to be found in St Pancras, at the Wellcome and around the Coal Drops Yard shopping district. We need to think about what’s achievable with the materials space and time that we have, and want to aim to avoid waste/use recycled materials for the temporary installation. Seeing the School of Life cards in the Wellcome shop makes me wonder if we were right to abandon that idea. Still time to reconsider? Great to see how effective it might be to use tape on windows and contrast lettering over a flypostered background. Interesting to see where n

This week we began work on our Group project | I learned how to create patterns in Photoshop | was inspired to draw vegetables | saw a tree where I least expected Group Brainstorming We began exploratory discussions: what needs the product or service might meet; and what skills we had as a group. A common theme emerged around communication, prejudice and judgement young men can face. We identified target audience of teachers, social workers, police to educate them in how better to listen. Defining the project direction Further research and brainstorm discussion began to give a shape to the project: badges, t-shirts, perhaps a booklet; and the idea of a card deck of conversation prompts. Exploring Colour Palette, Visual Language, Tone of voice, Typography Warm colour tones; images that capture themes, of frustration, the ‘masks’ we wear to meet societal expectations, and finding a voice. Sketching some first ideas Though we seemed to be lighting on the card deck as a ‘produc

 Portfolio Presentation  Overall Success: The portfolio showcases my developing practice as an illustrator and visual storyteller. Quality of the Portfolio: The layout is clear and an edited selection of work covers the process from initial photographic research through sketches, experiments with different media to final outcomes. It includes a range of styles and content, from picture book full bleed artwork to black and white incidental line drawings. Appropriateness for interview: The pages progress through a narrative of my development as an illustrator, with prompts and opportunities to talk about the themes and objectives of my work and what I hope to explore during the course of the MA. What can you continue to improve? The final outcome of the full bleed artwork example. Add some supporting text to explain the pages about themes I hope to explore in the course of the MA and the final slide about my experience. Add a further page to evidence picture book text writing, experience

This week I finessed artwork for the hero piece in my illustration portfolio | Selected a first draft of content for portfolio | shared and received helpful feedback from fellow students. Draft portfolio It was helpful to see my work through others’ eyes and hear what evoked response. I found seeing the work in progress on screen helpful: though response from the group was positive it reinforced my feeling that the image was too dark and the combination between photographic textures/digital colouring and hand-drawn style wasn’t successful. I took on board observation ‘if it’s a book about winter it needs to be really snowy’ and comments about the selection of plants and flowers. After experimenting further I started from scratch and achieved a much more cohesive result drawing on a library of painted textures I had created last term and from previous experiments with paint and media. Presentation of the portfolio is written up in a separate blog post , and final portfolio for subm

Over the two week break I wrote the first draft of a book about Christmas | enjoyed drawing with favourite children’s books and dog for inspiration | enjoyed the empty buses | and a beautiful illuminated puppet at Lewisham LIT Festival on the Winter Solstice. A walk on the Peninsula Finally discovered the name of the sculpture and artist that inspired my short film: Head in the Wind \  Allen Jones. Kind of wish I hadn’t: that head I’ve related to as a symbol of freedom and creativity is the brainchild of a pop artist not exactly known for his helpful attitudes towards women. Overall selection of art on the peninsula I find troubling (headless naked female torsoes, no female artists): all feels kind of dated but still perpetuating the same old same old . . . Holiday Project Responding to my object ― a colander ― gave me the opportunity to play with my love of circles ― and colanders! I considered photography from my previous work, for a Colander cookbook; recalled watching a solar