Year 1 Illustration

Bethany Griib

Reflective Journal

Self Publishing Report

Bethany Griib

Collaboration Industry Report

Bethany Griib

As a result of receiving no responses from the collectives I had contacted, I began to look elsewhere for an insight into the practical and creative benefits of working in a collective.

Big Orange Studio is a more local collective that I was able to receive some responses via email. I emailed Toby Morison; who used to be part of the collective.

Secondary research: Peepshow Collective

In order to gather some more research for my collaboration industry report, I went to the university library and found this book on Peepshow Collective. The book includes a lot of first hand research gathered from an in depth interview, conducted by Peter Nencini & Freya Faulkner.  

It was really interesting to learn more about how the collective started, how they work together and what they are doing now. Within my report, I am focusing on the creative and practical benefits of being a collective. I have extracted some information that I think is relevant to my report:

PN: “...You’ve talked about what you’ve learnt from the person in the neighbouring workspace...not through direct collaboration, but just by the proximity of their method, tools, set-up, rhythm, habit. Can we discuss specific examples?”

LV: “With Luke, it was just a freedom to “do”; just to get on with it and play. And I don’t really have that.” “...I’m not very good at playing or mark-making and I think being next to Luke is...it’s nice to watch someone do something that’s so completely at odds with the way you do it”.

LB: “What’s good about those things is that maybe it affirms something in yourself...You can appreciate what someone is doing but it actually helps you reaffirm your own philosophy behind the work. I find that really good, across the board.”

AR: “But I’d say Spencer’s colour and composition has most definitely been inspiring because you’ve always had a very natural skill for composition”

LV: “I also found that being in a room and having somebody...there pushes you harder and stops you being lazy. I don’t just want to sit there and “bosh” something out because I’ll feel embarrassed about it.” “...I want to live up to what everyone else is doing, definitely”.

ET: “...I did work alongside Spencer at Southwark College and his constant desire to adapt his work is something which rubbed off on me. He did influence me into changing my style and my use of colour. Although conceptually my work is very much the same beast it’s always been”.

LB: “...working alongside Pete-he’s a really good animator- but actually his real talent is in direction and how to tell a story by not showing the action...That’s helped me...sometimes I will think about the ambient noise; I can turn that into a drawing...”

PN: “In direct collaboration with another, how has your work- practically, conceptually- been affected?...”

AR: “...I’m working on this film- with Pete...all my work is, basically, about line. So, to drop the line has felt quite drastic. It’s been a really interesting process...”

CM: “I learnt I have a tendency to go too clean and polished and tasteful- which are the things I don’t like about my work. Working with Marie on If You Could: Collaborate, I learnt that you can do something that’s a bit “off”, or that you can use a colour you don’t instinctively go for...”

PN: “So, does it make business sense for you to be a collective? Is that a business model?”

MD: “...we couldn’t operate the way we go about projects now without being a business and having a joint bank account. We got to the point in the old studio in Bethnal Green where we were dipping into our pockets every five minutes, to build a pot of money in order to do something. It just doesn’t make sense”.

LV: “...it comes down to the fact that we’re all quite individual. We’ve tried several things but we’re so individual that it will never be anything other than what it is”.

05/05/17

Kaleidoscope Illustration festival at the Forum, Norwich 

I think the final event at the Forum went really well; there was a really vibrant and exciting energy throughout the whole day. Everyone was supporting one another and helping out with their displays. It was really nice to see my peer’s work as well, and how it had progressed from the start.

We had a lot of interest in our table from the general public, the stickers and flyers proved most popular! Almost all of our stickers and flyers had gone by the end of the day, and many people found the storm characters humorous and interesting.

Out of my stickers, the “Weather Bomb!” and “I Love Doris” stickers were the most popular amongst the public. I think this was because they were more colourful than the other stickers that I had made. Or, maybe the use of phrases made them more appealing?

Throughout the day, we decided to place and replenish our stickers and flyers in moderation, with the presumption that they may be quite popular, and we didn't want them to all disappear at once!

As a final decision, we chose to each wear rain coats. We thought this would enhance the fun and humorous narrative of our display, and also make us appear more approachable to the public (encouraging them to ask us about our work).

One thing that was difficult to consider before the day of the event, was the placement of our table, and how this affected the type of interaction from the audience. For example; the way in which our table was positioned (within a row of tables), meant that the audience were unable to walk around the whole table, but only view the table from the front. As a consequence, we had to rethink the placement of the objects in our display.

Another oversight was the practicalities of our poster- as we made our poster from fabric, the fabric wouldn't stick to the blue tack on the walls. Fortunately, there was some Velcro available that we borrowed. The Velcro was successful at holding up our poster.

Halfway through the day, we noticed that few people were actually taking the flyers. As a result, we chose to switch the positioning of our flyers from being next to the corresponding characters, to spreading them out at the front of the table. This made a big difference, as people started to be less apprehensive about taking the flyers. We think the audience were unsure whether to take the flyers at first, because they were positioned with the display objects. This, plus the fact that the audience couldn't get around the table, might have caused the audience to misinterpret the purpose of our flyers.

Finishing touches

I made another small sign saying; “make some rain” to place near my rain instruments. I based the design upon the “make some thunder” sign that I made earlier, to keep the display consistent. I hope this makes it clearer to the audience that they can pick up the instruments.

Making some rain instruments

In our group, we are each making some storm/rain instruments. For mine, I have used an empty toilet roll and a tin can.

I decided to paint my instruments yellow- the yellow creates a bold contrast against the rest of the display, while complimenting the greys and blues. I wanted to create a contrast, so that the instruments look somewhat separate to the rest of the display. I am hoping that, as a result, it is clearer to the audience that they are welcome to pick them up!

My peer, Molly had the idea to fill the instruments with a combination of tin foil and rice. The tin foil slows the rice down as it falls from one side to the other. Consequently, the rice sounds more like rain.

Making the top trump cards/flyers #2

We went to the design studio to print out our flyers. We bought 15 sheets of thin, A3, off-white card (called ”Biscuit paper”) to print the flyers onto. The card is thin enough to print onto, and thick enough to make the cards from.

Initially, I was worried how the colours would turn out against the slightly off-white card. Despite this, they turned out quite well- the earthy nature of the card makes the flyers appear somewhat weathered, like they have been caught up in the storms. On reflection, if we used clean white paper, I think the cards would look out of place against the rest of the display.

At first, we encountered a few technical issues, in which only half of the A4 page(on InDesign) was printed. However, after a few modifications to the printer settings, we managed to print our flyers successfully. We printed the flyers double sided, with our tablecloth design on the back.

By the end of the day, we had printed and cut out 120 A6 flyers (around 30 of each storm variation). The flyers look really effective in terms of the design, colours and consistency. Therefore, I think the printing went really well.

Making the top trump cards/flyers  #1

Using Adobe InDesign, we began to assemble our flyers. We made a basic template, which we used for each of the 5 different storms. Sticking to our template allowed us to achieve a consistent look across all 4 variations.

We each inserted our own illustrations of our storms, along with some relevant text about their character and the damage they have caused. Unfortunately we were only able to make 4 storm flyers/cards, as one of our peers was absent.

We scanned in different parts of our tablecloth, which we used for the backs of the flyers. We thought this would enhance the consistency of design between the flyers and our table. For example; when a member of the public takes a flyer, they will see the design on the back, and recognise the same design on our table. Or, if we decided to leave a few of the flyers around the forum (away from our table), it would be clear for the audience to see which table the flyers belong to, and thus more likely to visit our display.

In terms of fonts, we settled upon using Stencil STD for the titles, and Helvetica for the main text. Helvetica is a casual font, making it easy for the reader to digest, whereas Stencil STD is a bit more dramatic, demonstrating the criminal-like characteristics of the storms.

Final illustration for top trump cards

Illustration for top trump card (#2)

I wanted to show more of Doris in action, especially as we are modifying the flyers to look more like top trump cards.

I thought about using suggestive lines to represent wind. I tried this out in a couple of sketches, and photocopied my original illustration, drawing over the top to see the outcome. While experimenting with different lines, I became aware of the different effects created depending on the shape and length of the lines. For example; a looser, swirly line suggests a calmer wind. While shorter, straight lines imply a short burst of strong wind.

Flyer/cards

As a result of receiving feedback from our peers and tutors, we have decided to reduce the size of our flyers (from a5 to a6). We would like them to look more like cards rather than flyers. Inspired by top trump cards, these will include facts about each storm. We think this will make the cards appear more collectible to the audience, and give them the option to use them as playing cards.

Storm instruments

The audience really liked inclusion of the storm instruments, and suggested that we make more of them. Therefore, we will be making a few more of these, each different sizes and shapes. We think the storm instruments will encourage the audience to interact with our display, as well as adding a fun aspect to it.

Storm names

Feedback on our display

Overall, we received a lot of positive feedback on our display, as well as a few things we could improve upon. The audience liked that our display was visually interesting- there were plenty of things to look at and pick up. They also liked the storm instruments, as a tool of interaction. Our tutors recommended that we make the instruments visibly separate to the rest of the objects, e.g. by painting them with a colour that doesn’t blend with the display, such as red. As a group, we have agreed to make more storm instruments, as they are relatively simple to make and proved really popular with the audience.

-One thing that was brought to our attention, was that the audience were unsure about which pieces of the display they could touch. This prompted us to consider ways in which we could visually indicate the separation between “display pieces” and things that the audience can pick up/ take away. Our tutors suggested we leave a border of negative space, that separates the display pieces from the audience, while the stickers and storm instruments are closer to the edge of the table. I think this is a good suggestion, and believe it would avoid the audience’s uncertainty.

-Scale was also mentioned- a couple of people suggested that it would be nice to have the storm characters bigger than the other pieces on the table, so they appear more dramatic. I think this is a really good suggestion, although I’m not sure how achievable it would be to change this. Unless we re make the paper objects so that they are really small, it would be difficult to change the size of our storm characters within the time we have left. 

-Our audience really liked the fact that we had focused on the characterisation of storms, and said that it would be nice to focus more on the characters themselves. For example; somehow incorporating the storm’s names in bold, either on the display or on our poster. As a group, we appreciated this suggestion, and have decided to place the storm’s names on the poster. We also intend to put the names on some of the paper objects that the storm “destroyed”.

-Poster- When discussing our poster, our audience liked the bold, colourful design. They also recommended that we integrate the storm names. This will make our display sound more exciting- as if advertising something that feature “storm doris, ian, barabara, etc”. This puts more emphasis on the storms, making them the focal point of the display. Our audience also advised that our poster could change throughout the day- for example; the patterns (representing that of a weather map) could change throughout the day (e.g. by adding/removing pieces), thus mirroring the ever changing patterns on a weather map.

-Arrangement of stickers- Our audience said they would like to see the stickers laid out in a more interesting way, rather than just randomly scattered across the table. For example; they suggested we lay them out in a trail, or beside each storm character. We liked this suggestion and will adapt our display as a result.

26/04/17

Building on the display

Today, I added storm Doris to our table, as well as the pylons and trees I had made.

I admired what my peer, Louise had done with incorporating wire into her storm character. To keep the display consistent, I also used wire to connect storm Doris to the damaged tree and pylons. Using the wire to represent wind, I attached one end into Doris’s mouth, while placing the objects at the other end of the wire. This suggests that Doris is blowing out a storm, causing destruction along the way.

I also added a few extra details, in order to cover the negative space. These were;

-Cotton wool balls- I scattered some cotton wool balls over the table and within the wire, representing snow. As well as adding texture to our display, the cotton balls make the display appear alive- as if the storms have literally just exploded over the table... I thought this made the display look more exciting to the audience.

-Stickers- I laid out a few of our stickers across the table. I avoided placing them in a specific pattern or area, as I want to encourage the audience to take them.

-Flyers- as we have not yet completed our flyers, I just made a few mock ups to demonstrate our intentions. There will be 5 different flyer designs for each of the 5 storms. I placed each mock flyer beside the corresponding storms, so the audience can walk around the table and collect the different flyers.

Making a fallen tree

I made a small tree out of card which will lay over the broken electricity pylons. The objects will represent the damage caused by Doris’s high speed winds.

We are each using black card to make the additional props, as it looks minimal against the rest of the display. Therefore, the objects won’t take attention from the main focus of our display; the storm characters. The lack of colour will hopefully indicate to the audience that they should consider these objects as extra decoration- so as not to overthink their presence.