Week 2- Introducing the concept

Fantasy Verses Reality

Often artwork is made interesting through the merging of two separate and sometimes entirely different images. Combining concepts and images within art often leads the artist to create an imaginary world which is perhaps unique to them. This also often leads to the creation of an almost surreal image which gives the viewer insight into how the artist’s mind processes his or her surroundings. 

This transformation of information into an imaginary context often happens in dreams, where a humans’ mind processes information absorbed in previous days by rearranging it into a different order; a completely untrue account of what has actually happened. This can often leave the dreamer feeling as if the false rendition was in fact true for sometime after they have woken up. Therefore the reality of what has happened in a person’s life is transformed into fantasy/the imaginary and the person is left to differentiate these two opposites.

In my project I aim to compare and contrast these two contradictory concepts, looking at how they might work together in the same environment. Whether it is through layering, collage or composition, I will explore different ways of viewing these ideas, allowing the viewer to engage with the artwork by providing them with the task of figuring out which components are fantasy and which are real.

I started off my secondary research by looking more into the fantasy side of the two conflicting concepts and both old and new depictions of it in artwork and illustration.

Perhaps the most obvious subject when thinking about fantasy is fairytales and the graphic portrayal of these in both adult and child's literature. 

I was encouraged to look at the work of Arthur Rackham who did illustrations for the Brother's Grimm fairy tales in 1917.

The Old Woman in the Wood- "Suddenly the branches twined round her and turned into two arms."

I particularly like the combination of ink and watercolour Rackman uses to create his illustrations and how he mainly uses the diluted ink from the original drawing to create light and shade. This gives the illustrations  a slightly darker and more ghostly or sinister feel, perhaps catering for the older audience in this particular rendition of the Grimm fairytales.

I then went on to look at a more recent interpretation by Guy Dyas who was the production designer for the 2005 film The Brother's Grimm about the lives of the two famous writers.

The style of both of these illustrators seems to be quite gothic but I particularly admire the detail in Dyas' drawings and how this insight into his sketchbook really allows us to see the development of his visual ideas.

I then went on to look at Turine Tran, an illustrator who's work very much falls into the fantasy genre.

I really liked the style of her illustrations, particularly her use of bright elaborate colours and the textures seen in a lot of her drawings which really emphasise the notion of fantasy.

In response I did my own water colour and ink painting using some of the techniques seen in her illustrations, mainly the long strokes of black ink and bold colours. Trees and nature are obviously a huge part of fantasy especially within visual representations of fairy tales and appear repetitively throughout Turine Tran's work. Therefore in my response I decided to focus on the roots or branches of trees, adding hints of colour which almost made it look a bit like a waterfall.

Next I came across Cory Godbey.  A lot of his illustrations focus on combining human and nature elements a characteristic which is very important in the telling of fairytales.  He cleverly combines these two elements and in doing so creates interesting and imaginary surreal worlds that the viewer wants to be transported into.

The imaginary characters in his drawing seem to be very much embedded in and a part of the human world. This may reveal that there are elements to our world that we don't yet know about.

Both the colours and the technique Gobey uses to create his illustrations really interested me and it kept on reminding me of something which I finally figured out was a peacock feather. So in response I decided to do a small sketch of one using ink and water colour. Not only do I find these feathers aesthetically pleasing, I thought that the bold bright colours and the interesting textures created from drawing the many components that make up a feature would look interesting printed on fabric or perhaps blended or merged in with another image.

Week 1- primary research

Visit to Liberty London

Recently I have become quite interested in print design and surface design for products such as bedlinen and other home furnishings. I always thought it might be quite fun to experiment with my own designs one day, applying my illustrations to different mediums. Therefore for my FMP I decided to start here, looking at ways this has been done before and how I could put my own spin on it whilst finding a concept to base my ideas on.

One of the first places of research that came to mind was Liberty's and their very distinctive and interesting fabrics that they produce and sell. I therefore decided to take a trip there to find inspiration for my project.

Immediately I could see that the designers use a large variety of bright and bold colours within their designs, a detail which I often like to include in my work. Their new scarf collection was entitled "Garden of Beauty"  which seemed perfect for me as nature is one of the topics I considered basing my project on.

I loved these beautifully colourful flowers outside the store and would love to include illustrations of pictures such as these in my project however I want to do something a bit more interesting and creative with them rather than just using a literal representation of nature in my work.

Before visiting the store I did a bit of research online and found a video on youtube interviewing some of the designers of Liberty Arts Fabrics, in which they revealed their design processes and means of inspiration.

The designers at Liberty's seem to use a variety of different techniques to create their pieces, including screen and block printing and digital softwares. A lot of the designs are also made from a combination of different layers and images produced in a variety of different ways from photographs to hand drawn illustrations and even camera-less photography. 

This is evident in the images of some of the fabrics bellow. Some of the prints and patterns were also very detailed which made for very impressive pieces. I am going to use both of these techniques when experimenting with my fabric designs as I feel it is very effective in creating something out of the ordinary.

The design in the photograph above reminds me of an almost "Alice in Wonderland" type scene, where different objects are falling down a kind of abyss into an imaginary world.

Looking around the store made me realise how many of the patterns and prints are effective because of how repetitive they are. If I want to end up printing my own designs onto fabric to create other things, I will probably need to learn how to do this digitally on what even software I have to use.

I really liked one of their displays pictured above. They had made a dolls house out of cupboards/a chest of drawers and used their own fabrics to make all the interior furnishings. I thought that this could be a possible way of presenting my own designs for my final outcome as it seemed like a really clever way to show their clients how their fabrics might be used.

I really liked the design above as it is a classic water colour painting of a landscape but instead of this artist's work being applied to a canvas, the image has been presented on an unusual medium a, cushion. I thought that this could be something that I could experiment with as it could almost act as a world with in a world (a person's reality) and therefore be a form of escapism as just by looking at this colourful and uplifting image the viewer/owner could be transported into another world.

The design pictured above also really interested me as I had already thought about maybe using Ravensbourne's embroidery machine as a way of applying my designs onto fabric and I felt that this design was really unique and engaging. I really love the detail in the image and how every vain in the leaf is represented by its own embroidered line.

I definitely learnt a lot from this trip and by seeing the different designs first hand, I was really inspired to go home and create my own.