Visual metaphors (Exercise)

Collect as many examples of visual metaphor as you can find.

Blood red poppies, growing around the bodies of the fallen soldiers.

Fields of poppies showing images from the past to remind us of what has happened

Classic poster from past showing queue at the employment office as people not working

U.S. National Archives about 1940s’

Poster Comparing Political Parties To Characters From The Wizard Of OZ

Poster comparing the road we are heading down to the road to Mordor

Poster comparing the road we are on to the rail line heading to Auchwitz concentration camp

Poster showing different options for different political parties

Poster using David Cameron as Gene Hunt from Ashes To Ashes a tv show set in the 80’s

I have chosen Economic catastrophe for this exercise and I have made a spider diagram.

I have created a drawn visual list of objects

In a supermarket, a man with a large trolley but only can get a bag of potato as he empties his pockets there are only 3 coins left for the potato.

The shelves are bare in the supermarket.

A drawn visual list of subjects.

This scale balance is going down to a potato. Another pound is trying to help the one which can’t buy a potato. A pound equals a bag of potatoes in the past.

In China, there is a famous TV drama program which has used the shell of a snail as a metaphor for the humble abode of the poor people.  I am using a snail’s shell (Lots of bills stick on it.) to convey the people suffering under Economic catastrophe and sleeping rough.

I have shown my husband my drawing and he understand all these pictures.

Choosing content (Exercise)

1. If this were to be made into a film what would the main character be like?

Middle aged male gives impression of being non-descript average height and build?

Maybe slightly balding. Tall and stooping?

2. What clothes would the character be wearing?

Seems to be detective in wartime London should be wearing suit and hat if outside. Grey colour as he seems not to bother about form over function.

3. What furniture is in the main area in which the action takes place?

Strictly functional chair and desk lamp or fan filing cabinets for paperwork. Telephone. Perhaps some pictures on the walls but related to work.

Collect visual reference for the items on your list

I use google search for this era.

https://uk.pinterest.com/sebspence/london-ww2-1-the-blitz/

I have chosen the word “Eerie”.

My picture is of  a middle aged man, who looks a bit older and has just left his desk. The desk is large and black, maybe he is doing some thinking about some case on the way to the windows. Maybe he is trying to find some clues to inspire him. Files of paper are on his table, the bleakness of spring sunshine has made him keep his overcoat (grey colour) on. His hat is hanging on the wall.

Using black and white (Exercise)

In this exercise, I was supposed to produce a Whitby seaside picture which I have done from a similar one like this.

I have drawn a sketch with pencils, then made it as a fine drawing. (It was a little more complex than I thought so I have to concentrate on it for a long time.)

Step 1 Fold this A3 paper then scanned it twice then combined these 2 parts in one image.

Step 2 Invert the new image by photoshop.

I realised  the picture is probably better called seaside instead of sea because I put too many buildings in it. Then there were lots of details that were fiddly. I tried a little bit of cutting out, but made the shapes very difficult to stick on white paper. But I love this picture so I decided to carry on with it then cut off most of it only leaving a quarter on the top right side. I then enlarged it to A3 size and printed on 2 pieces of A4.

Step 3 I Blu-Tack my pieces down. The sea seems only to be a calm one, there isn’t any big waves.  Then I decided to pick up a few small pieces for the sea.

Step 4 I refined the picture but it does not seem to be any better.

I also tried starting off this way to make the image  more intimate but my technique is not good enough to finish it.

I lost control of what I was doing  and I feel it ended badly. I am not sure there are lines showing the small waves in the sea, grass or the building?  I can return to the bigger block to cut more off? It is legible  but I feel it is disjointed and not easy to understand.

Using black and white could get an amazing result. But my main problem was I probably should have used another style for sea waves. Then I think  it could be better.

Seoul-based illustrator Daehyun Kim http://www.moonassi.com/  I like this artist and the way they have conveyed a sense of souls and spooky.

http://adamszary.com/tag/cyberpunk/ the images are good for their readability, legibility and they are clear to understand.

A subjective drawing (Exercise)

For this subjective exercise I chose the theme of an eye to draw.

There are lots of objects related to eyes from drawings, authors, and photographs. I think it is quite easy to get thoughts and themes about this object, but how will this one be amazing and awesome that is my challenge.

A list of a series of words from research google:

Then I decided to work with the word “transparency” (I also circled “sorrowful” to accompany it.)

At the moment the main factors which influence the environment are: exhaust fumes, pollution and CO2. We don’t always take into consideration the effect we have on the environment, like driving a car with a cold engine for a short trip without any planning about the way we live.

I’d like to dedicate this exercise to protect the environment.

For my moodboard I have got a Yorkshire living magazine and made a collage with it

Method 1: I have drawn a big eye first, then put the Yorkshire view scenery on  to clear plastic. Finally I put the clear plastic on the paper with the picture of the big eye. Feels a bit smudged.

Method 2: I tried another way. I drew the Yorkshire scenery first then used marker pen for CD’s to draw the big eye on the clear plastic. Finally I put them together. A bit better I think.

Method 3: I tried draw it straight away.

Method 4: I drew it on a cartridge watercolour page.

Overall I felt that I did not have complete control over the effect I wanted. I wanted the colours outside the circle of the eye to be lighter coloured.

An objective drawing (Exercise)

In this exercise I have taken an item from the provided list and explored this object visually. I have become aware of its texture, physical qualities and function. What is the item for – what does it do?

I have chosen a pair of glasses and a hat.

For the glasses. I have used HB-6B pencils with shadow and tones to let the glasses stand out of the background.

For the hat, I tried simple lines first, then with HB-6B pencils. I used shadow and tones to make it have a three-dimension effect. Finally I used fine lines for the appearance, its textures, physical qualities and function. To show that it is a warm hat.

I like to use the pencils they can match up with rubbers, then use them to highlights areas and use some special effects.

I like the fine lines appearance but I find it more difficult to control and get the effects I want.

I will carry on to try more ways to draw objective drawing and improve my visually draw ability and technical.