EGRD3014

INDEPENDENT PRACTICE

FINAL PIECE

Student Name: James Fraser

Student Number: 0801309

A series of zines

My final product or piece in this instance happened to be a series of zines on various topics/themes making use of various techniques from drawing to photography.

The latest zine I produced was of Inked drawing of birds, experimenting with a new media that I hadn’t used before.

EGRD3014

INDEPENDENT PRACTICE

SUPPORTING WORK

One Day Zine

The one day zine forced me to quickly think and create a piece of design with a narrative/theme. The zine took me away from the computer and allowed me to focus on creating the zine with my drawing ability and not my knowledge of applications found on a computer.

Although rather a simple brief it gave direction for the remainder of this unit. I knew I wanted to attempt to make small publications or a book but didn’t know how to get into the swing of things. The zine allowed me to start and progress in this and had it not been for this brief then I may have been doing something entirely different.

Design Analysis - John Bentley

We were given an object to analysis, in my case I was given a small artist book. It was produced by “Liver & Lights” or John Bentley as he’s also known.

The task had us question the given object reflecting on what type of value it may contain and whether it used exchange principles. It also made us question what skills we could attribute with said item and how these skills worked with the item whether it was positive or negative.

I found the book to quirky by very pleasing to the reader. The book displayed a wide range of skills from that of the actual illustrations contained within to the making of the book itself as well as the copy found within. The hero in this

case for me is the copy found within, but the supporting images really compliment these small snippets time and time again.

The original design analysis was originally 1 side of typed A4 produced in a basic word processor with no design skills implemented. Rather than displaying a piece of typed A4 I opted to include a shortened version and to also include images to document this piece.

3 minute Video - “Milkception”

The brief was to create a three minute video and the subject could be “anything you like”. So naturally this caused a few headaches, not only had I never done anything relating with video before but I also had to come up with some form of narrative and direction for 3 minutes. So I decided to base my video around a piece of music, Mind Heist by Zack Hemsey. This instantly helped direct the overall feel and mood of the piece due to it being so strong as a piece of music. I opted to create a tongue and cheek “parody” which would involve something seemingly ordinary and showing it as something more.

After some brainstorming and scamping of key scenes, I began to shoot. There was possibly six or more scenes shot

in the end with only four or so making it to the finished piece, due to how they had worked out.

After this I brought it to the cutting room floor, I had never opened any film editing software before so this was new to me but after some trial and error I eventually came out with something I was happy with.

The best bit about having to make this film was pushing me towards a media that I had been hesitant toward and again would be great to know as I push to learn more and become multidisciplinary.

VideoLink: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woc8LjN73Ko

Something You’ve Never Done Before - Paper cut

I decided for this I would combine something new to me and only recently experienced which was film and combine it with something I had seen and appreciated but never attempted, which was paper cut. So I took to making a homage to Rob Ryan and his skills in paper cut, with my trusted camera documenting the process by taking stills every three seconds. These stills would eventually be turned into a time lapse to fully document the process.

The main aim was to try and appreciate someone else’s craft, which I can assure you I now do. I know how much time and effort my paper cut took so I can only begin to fathom how long Rob Ryans paper cuts may take.

The skills here took me away from the computer something that I believe is important to becoming a well round designer. The computer is a tool much like a pen or a scalpel and isn’t anything more.

VideoLink: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSCTXcRLOps

Book Making

I was quite fortunate in having the chance to attend a book binding workshop, which was run by a Danish designer Mette-Sofie D. Ambeck. She is renowned for being a book artist and was kind enough to share some of her knowledge in a workshop showing us how to create our on hand sewn hard back book.

The idea behind the workshop was not to create a book with any particular narrative or theme but rather to use as many different textures and papers as possibly to experiment with what worked for each of us and I guess naturally come up against any problems that may occur.

There was no set size of book, but A5 was suggested as possibly the largest size, I personally opted for a more square book. The pages were roughly 100mm X 100mm and the cover was slightly bigger on all sides to protect the contents from any accidental damage.

Attending the book making workshop was important for me on several levels. As a designer I want to be multidisciplinary and acquiring new skills can only be considered a good thing with that in mind. I learnt a bit about books and graphic terminology such as creep, which I previously knew about but never knew the term used to describe this action. As well as these two things, I have been looking at small publications due to my interest in using book making as a key aspect for my FMP and without this workshop I would have been floundering somewhat and may have avoided learning how to do it on my own.

Food for Thought

I decided to start a project where I document my main meals, breakfast, lunch and dinner. The project was to encourage me to take my camera with me wherever I went. All too often you hear about people “missing the shot” and I too have experienced that.

The project also served as a means for me to literally “watch” what I eat. My intention is to run this for a minimum of forty days and to present the finished result in the form of a small artist book. I’ve been enjoying it so far and look to possibly continue it long after the forty days.

Small Publications & Zines

The main focus of my independent practise to date has been the creation of small publications or zines, the theme or subject matter has changed, with each zine being quite unrelated to the next.

I decided to use zines as my main focus as they have allowed me to quickly generate ideas and attempt to display them, while still allowing me to experiment with creating physical publications and experimenting with various subject matter.

The zines have allowed me to use various skills such as illustration, photography and typography based skills. The

ability to show off a variety of skills in one format was important as I wanted to practise skill that would allow me to appear as a multidisciplinary designer and this format lent itself to this very well.

As I’ve been making zines throughout this unit, my skills have vastly improved and this can be seen when looking back through my first few zines were pages are glued back to back and to the covers, and now my zines are trimmed and hand stapled or bound neatly.

Evaluation

My independent practise has been an interesting one, from not entirely sure what to make of third year, to a few guided weeks through the one week briefs to finally being left to our own devices. I had a strong idea of what I wanted to do for my FMP or at least something I wanted to be able to include in it and so I tried to tailor my independent practise to allow me to try out these things in preparations for the “real thing”.

I tried to tailor my independent practise to allow me to produce a publication, I wasn’t sure what to do it on, and I’ll be honest at the start of this unit I would have opted for something more refined or “corporate”. However after the one day zine project I felt that this would be a good vehicle to start producing work and allow me realise my aspirations for this unit and fulfil what I thought was necessary to put me in good standing for my FMP.

I have found it hard at times to constantly produce zines and to think up new subject matter or even think up new ways to interpret and use old pieces. However this has driven me to create work or even come up with ideas I don’t think I would have had I not pushed forward with making them. Found in some of my zines are the basis of what could become screen prints, with a little extra editing, this wouldn’t have happened had I not just gone for it and produced work regardless of how I felt the piece was coming along. I also managed to include paper cutting into some of my zines, while from a reproduction side of things this makes them a pain but from the other side of the fence it means they are hand embellished, another aspect of book making that I’ve been looking into.

Something I have learnt through making zines is that I’m too worried about the final product sometimes before I’ve even got something on the page, this has been a hindrance and has slowed down production at times.

I lent towards a black and white theme portfolio as a reference toward the zines and small publications I made through the duration of this unit.

FMP PROPOSAL

TRINITY

FMP Proposal

Title: Trinity (working title)

Intended Audience: Potential employers from the Design Industry, who are looking for a multidisciplinary intern or junior designer.

Proposed Media/Outcome: To produce three books each showcasing a different aspect of my skills. The skills would include photography, illustration and typographical solutions. The Three books will be housed in a boxed set. Each of the books will be tacking a different approach in answering or relating to the given subject through a different discipline. The books will have a uniform style from the outside and will look as part of a series held together by a well planned style guide that could be applied over the book and the box itself.

The subject for which these books will be on still eludes me.

Area of Research: The area of research I am look into is book design and the embellishments of books as well as photography, illustrative styles and typographic treatments. I’m highly interested in this art that we may be losing due to the rapid increase in technology and how even something as wonderful as a book may be lost due to technology eventually. I’m writing my dissertation on “Print Vs Digital” and so I’m currently already doing research on publications and print design.

Evidence of skill/knowledge: The skills I would require due to the nature of the brief are my own skills, which I have already and I’m continually experimenting in the various disciplines thus furthering my knowledge. I wanted to showcase these skills in the form of a book. Which previously I didn’t know how to make but since have made an effort to learn about book making and have attended a workshop run by Mette-Sofie D. Ambeck whom as you know is skilled in book making.