MindMAPS
This unit focuses fully on mark making, it said on the brief to pick an everyday object and list or create a mindmap of how you could use the object to create art, or how you could represent that specific object through as many art mediums as possible. I was getting a little stressed thinking about what exactly I would do when it came to mark making, and started to make myself very confused over nothing, so I decided that it was best to just start slowly with a mindmap, to let ideas fill my brain, then, I would be able to slowly begin the mark making process.
The first object I picked was a flower, it was quite amazing how much you could use a flower for when it comes to art, and I had no trouble listing ways in which I could represent this object either, as soon as I had created the mind map, I felt much more confident that I could create some good marks.
After finishing the mind map on the flower, I decided to create a mind map of a material instead this time, hoping to broaden my ideas a little bit, I chose paper as an example material, because you can make quite a lot of stuff out of it - or so I thought, it turned out that it was actually a little bit more restrictive than a flower, but this might be because we rely on paper so much nowadays, it's hard to find new ways of using paper.
I re-created the mind map digitally using Popplet.com because the photos of the original sketch were too blurry to be legible. I have also lost the other mind map about paper, so me and my tutor decided that it'd be better to just create one mind map instead.
I re-created the mind map digitally using Popplet.com because the photos of the original sketch were too blurry to be legible. I have also lost the other mind map about paper, so me and my tutor decided that it'd be better to just create one mind map instead.
Mark Making Experiments
I decided to focus on flowers for my mark-making, I tried using pencil, paint, charcoal and coloured pencils. I also experimented with layering tea bags and then drawing on top of the marks while they were drying, I also etched into the dry tea-bag stains with a pin, to create a "ripped" look to the page. I also used a flower leaf to create a print by covering the more textured side in paint and then pressing it down onto the paper.
I also pressed a tea bag over one of my charcoal drawings to create a fuzzy and edgy effect. I also experimented with pen, drawing over the tea-bag stains, the tea bag stains I made also covered one of my colored pencil drawings, this made the colored pencil drawing look really soft and feminine.
The formal elements I would say I have explored in these experiments were primarily line and colour, I think line is displayed quite obviously because of the experiments I did with making the charcoal and pen sketches blurry, by covering them with water colour paint.
Some of the lines are soft, whereas other are quite rigid and hard. Colour is also present in my opinion because of my use of water colours, and my teabag experiments. Shape is also present as a flower would be considered a "organic" shape.
I also pressed a tea bag over one of my charcoal drawings to create a fuzzy and edgy effect. I also experimented with pen, drawing over the tea-bag stains, the tea bag stains I made also covered one of my colored pencil drawings, this made the colored pencil drawing look really soft and feminine.
The formal elements I would say I have explored in these experiments were primarily line and colour, I think line is displayed quite obviously because of the experiments I did with making the charcoal and pen sketches blurry, by covering them with water colour paint.
Some of the lines are soft, whereas other are quite rigid and hard. Colour is also present in my opinion because of my use of water colours, and my teabag experiments. Shape is also present as a flower would be considered a "organic" shape.
Next I decided to experiment more with paint, glue and texture, this involved me experimenting with painting, creating textured paint and adding glitter to parts of the page that had glue applied to them in the shape of a flower. I also experimented with using fine liners and coloured pencils over the wet paint, to create a soft and fuzzy effect.
I first tried painting a flower shape using watercolour paints, and then while the paint was still wet I dragged a paint brush with clear water on it through the painting, this made the white page around it turn a lilac colour, and really softened the edges of my painting, this gave it a cute and childish effect, after that I then moved onto creating a glitter shape, by firstly applying glue onto the page in the shape of a flower, while this was still wet, I sprinkled glitter all over the glue and around it, after waiting for it to dry I then blew the glitter surrounding the flower shape off.
After doing this I then moved onto experimenting with texture, this is what I had the most trouble with today as I couldn't figure out how to create textured paint, I knew I couldn't use watercolour paints, but I had a go with them anyway, and as I thought, it didn't have my expected result, because of this I moved onto using acrylic paints instead, as I knew that these kind of paints were good for creating textured paint. When it comes to the textured paint, what I did was basically put some paint into a mixer, and added things like sugar, oregano and mixed spice, I then dipped the paint brush I was using into the paint and applied it to the page.
After this I moved onto using a kitchen utensil to create floral-like prints on the page, I then used a petal to try and create a floral texture on the page.
I first tried painting a flower shape using watercolour paints, and then while the paint was still wet I dragged a paint brush with clear water on it through the painting, this made the white page around it turn a lilac colour, and really softened the edges of my painting, this gave it a cute and childish effect, after that I then moved onto creating a glitter shape, by firstly applying glue onto the page in the shape of a flower, while this was still wet, I sprinkled glitter all over the glue and around it, after waiting for it to dry I then blew the glitter surrounding the flower shape off.
After doing this I then moved onto experimenting with texture, this is what I had the most trouble with today as I couldn't figure out how to create textured paint, I knew I couldn't use watercolour paints, but I had a go with them anyway, and as I thought, it didn't have my expected result, because of this I moved onto using acrylic paints instead, as I knew that these kind of paints were good for creating textured paint. When it comes to the textured paint, what I did was basically put some paint into a mixer, and added things like sugar, oregano and mixed spice, I then dipped the paint brush I was using into the paint and applied it to the page.
After this I moved onto using a kitchen utensil to create floral-like prints on the page, I then used a petal to try and create a floral texture on the page.
![Picture](/uploads/2/2/6/9/22696966/967653_orig.jpg)
In this image you can see that I have drawn a flower then accented the edges with green pencil, I then went over it with a lilac shade of watercolour paint, this really blurred the drawing and the edges, and gave it a softer, more feminine look to it, I like the way this turned out, and I think it would be something I would use again, although I would only use it to create a soft, feminine or childlike and graceful effect. This technique worked as I wanted it to, my experiment with this technique was successful in creating a soft, blurry and feminine look to my green drawing of a flower, this experiment only really worked because I used watercolours, as they soaked into and through the pencil making it damp and blurring it in the process, if I had used acrylics, it would've been much too easy to accidentally cover up the pencil because acrylic paints are very thick, however using a very very wet brush with acrylics could work as long as the paint was watery and thin enough when applied to the page. I found this experiment very easy to do, the watercolour paint gave me the exact effect I was going for. I feel like the colours I used together with the effect visualized a relaxed and happy mood, something very organic and feminine.
![Picture](/uploads/2/2/6/9/22696966/8629475_orig.jpg)
This is the result of me covering a shape I created with glue in glitter, this didn't really work as well as I would've liked, the glitter didn't really stick to the glue, and could've easily been rubbed off if I wanted to. It didn't really keep the shape as not all of the glitter stuck to the glue and dried. I would experiment with this again as I liked the effect but for reliable results I would not choose this technique. If I had used pva glue instead of a pritt stick, or used a thicker glue it could've worked, although I found it very difficult to make the glitter stick to the page, in future I think it would be better use glitter glue, or try another technique, I should've also tried creating textured paint with glitter, but it didn't occur to me at the time. I don't think that this experiment was successful, but with a bit more experimentation I could've gotten the result I wanted.
![Picture](/uploads/2/2/6/9/22696966/7553925_orig.jpg)
An overview of the same page, after I had began experimenting with textured paint, the blue watercolour at the bottom of the page was the first thing I tried, because I used watercolours, the sugar dissolved into the watercolour paint rather than creating a texture, and kept falling off of the page when I moved it, although I do think it looks rather pretty.
Because of this I moved onto using acrylic paints rather than watercolours because they are thicker, and dry very matt and rough, because the paint was thicker, I found it much easier to create textured paint because the paint didn't dissolve the things, such as spices and sugar, while I was mixing them into the paint. I found that this was the best way to create textured paint.
Comparing them now, I'd say that using acrylic or even oil paints is the most efficient way to create textured paint, the reason behind this deduction is because watercolour paints are not thick enough for anything to adhere to the paint, as it is literally just water and there is little to no substance to them apart from pigment. Acrylic paints however, are thick like mud, and so because of this things such as spices, salt and sugar, even leaves can get stuck in it and adhere to the paint, so that when it dries, the particles, bits of spice etc, stay put within the paint and stick to the page because of this.
![Picture](/uploads/2/2/6/9/22696966/434401_orig.jpg)
A close up of the textured paint experiments, for this I think I used turmeric or something similar. I took this photo while it was still wet, but once it dried it was a good example of textured paint. The only problem was that some of the leaves fell of when I move the pad, but it still retained it's rough texture.
![Picture](/uploads/2/2/6/9/22696966/6408183_orig.jpg)
A complete overview of all the experiments I tried on the page, I also tried covering a leaf in paint and pressing it down onto the page to create a pattern, although this did not work very well at all, so I wouldn't use this technique at all. As you can see I experimented more with textured paint than anything else on the page, mainly because the textured paint was the easiest to experiment with and acquired the best results. The main reason that the printing with leaves didn't go well, is because I wasn't applying enough pressure, or there wasn't enough paint on the object, the object had to be pressed down really hard, or have very prominent textures for it to work, unfortunately using a leaf didn't work very well in this instance as, as an object, it wasn't dynamic or "deep" enough for me to print with them. The leaves were quite thin too, so everytime I dipped them in paint, they became damp, which also made it more difficult to print with them, because they were soggy and would rip easily. Overall I would say that the experiments with using the leaf to print did not go very well, and in future I would try using a different object or a thicker, more textured leaf for this kind of experiment.
The formal elements that are present in these experiments range from line and shape, to colour and texture, this page of experiments focused much more on colour and texture than any of the other experiments, because of my experiments with textured paint, I found that some spices would actually change the colour of the paints while I was mixing them, this made it interesting to see what spices or grains would do to the paint depending on the colour and texture of it.
Refined Mark Making
After completing the experimental mark making above, I moved onto creating a sheet which displayed a chosen photo in different media, I really liked the idea of taking a photo on a journey through different media, so that's the display method I chose. I experimented with pencil, paint, cardboard, oil pastels and nail varnish on the first sheet (to create a texture similar to that of the viens on petals or leaves).
I then tried my hand at eraser rubbings, and etching into dried paint, most of the later marks were created on a seperate piece of paper, cut out (cropped) and stuck onto the sheet I created - the reason there is a tear in the top corner of the sheet is because I accidently pulled the edge a little too hard while rumaging through my college bag (which as my most recent work in it).
As you can see on the blank space above the marks, some of the titles do not match the actual media, this is because my ideas for mark making, and what materials I wanted to experiment with changed and evolved as I went on throughout the task.
As I am studying on a Graphic Design Course, I wanted to also experiment with some digital media such as Photographs, and have a go at creating Typographic Art (a shape of a flower created by bending or shaping text/sentences).
Although as most of that was done digitally, I didn't see any reason why I should print out any of it - as I would've had scale the images down considerably to make them fit.
In this exercise I covered a range of formal elements, from line, shape, colour and even form and texture. The pencil sketches represent the element line obviously, whereas things like the eraser rubbings, etchings and watercolours would prepresent shape, and colour.
The experiments with tissue paper would probably fall into the form category, as it is somewhat 3-D and touchable. The varnish experiments would fall into the category of texture. I feel that most of the experiments and formal elements I have used and displayed could be used and are used in the areas of graphic design, most notably drawing, painting and print.
The rest of my experiments, like the tissue paper, varnish and pastels, would be more used in more traditional art categories, such as collage and painting. Drawing, painting and print are regularly used in the area of Graphic Design, as a means to help designers visualise what they want to create, before relying on technology, such as programs like Adobe Photoshop and Adobe InDesign. Thumbnail sketches are a good example of this.
I then tried my hand at eraser rubbings, and etching into dried paint, most of the later marks were created on a seperate piece of paper, cut out (cropped) and stuck onto the sheet I created - the reason there is a tear in the top corner of the sheet is because I accidently pulled the edge a little too hard while rumaging through my college bag (which as my most recent work in it).
As you can see on the blank space above the marks, some of the titles do not match the actual media, this is because my ideas for mark making, and what materials I wanted to experiment with changed and evolved as I went on throughout the task.
As I am studying on a Graphic Design Course, I wanted to also experiment with some digital media such as Photographs, and have a go at creating Typographic Art (a shape of a flower created by bending or shaping text/sentences).
Although as most of that was done digitally, I didn't see any reason why I should print out any of it - as I would've had scale the images down considerably to make them fit.
In this exercise I covered a range of formal elements, from line, shape, colour and even form and texture. The pencil sketches represent the element line obviously, whereas things like the eraser rubbings, etchings and watercolours would prepresent shape, and colour.
The experiments with tissue paper would probably fall into the form category, as it is somewhat 3-D and touchable. The varnish experiments would fall into the category of texture. I feel that most of the experiments and formal elements I have used and displayed could be used and are used in the areas of graphic design, most notably drawing, painting and print.
The rest of my experiments, like the tissue paper, varnish and pastels, would be more used in more traditional art categories, such as collage and painting. Drawing, painting and print are regularly used in the area of Graphic Design, as a means to help designers visualise what they want to create, before relying on technology, such as programs like Adobe Photoshop and Adobe InDesign. Thumbnail sketches are a good example of this.
Photo references
Before moving onto the next set of marks, I took some new photographs of a combination of different flowers, to broaden my selection a little, throughout this task I had kept my choice of flowers quite open, because the object I selected (a flower, or flowers) was quite general, I didn't really feel the need to stick to one type of flower, because I thought it would be good to keep my eyes open for anything that I wanted to produce marks from - looking back it would've saved me a lot of time if I had stuck to one flower or one photograph to base my mark making around, as taking new photographs as references took me a bit more time than I thought it would.
More Refined Mark Making
After I had completed the sheet of different ways of conveying my photo through mediums. I moved onto creating more marks, which this time related to a certain element of art (tone, colour, line etc).
The first element I decided to focus on was tone - I had wanted to experiment by painting or drawing over a photograph stuck on a page at the same time, so I combined the two - I think it turned out quite well, it definetly demonstrated tone in my opinion, as parts of the flower have been significantly darkened due to the paint I layed on top of it, the orignal photograph was mostly white, so I have added quite a bit of colour to the image as you can see. I though that this experiment could've gone better, although I was somewhat satisfied with the result, I feel that I could've been more inventive but there were ideas that hadn't occurred to me at the time unfortunately. I really like the tones, and how the flower has a speckled effect to it.
The next element I decided to focus on was texture, I created this mark my first sticking printed out and scaled photo onto the sheet, then colouring it in with fineliners, and then roughing up the photos by applying more and more pressure, until I created a rough magma-like effect to the photos, I tried three different colours, gray, purple and orange, and I found that orange was the most effective of the colours. It was this colour that really stuck and gave it the magma-like effect I described. I really enjoyed creating this mark! It was fun to see how much I could destroy the paper without actually "destroying' it! I would say that this experiment was very successful in displaying the element of texture.
The next formal element I attempted to display was form, to do this I cut out and stuck pieces of card onto the page, covered it in glue, then covered it in hair from one of my paint brushes, and then covered in some paint and left to dry, the result looked really good, but it smelt really strange for some reason. I felt that this experiment went very well and that I succeeded in displaying the element of form, although there are/were many things I could've used/done to display form so I feel that I could've been a lot more inventive and creative with this.
The last element I experimented with was shape, I don't really know what I was thinking when I created this mark as it is very similar to the last experiment I did with form, used packaging scraps and pushed them into tacky glue, I wanted it to be like a ball of rubbish, although looking back I don't really think that relates to shape well at all, I also think this experiment was a failure because it was much too heavy for the paper and made carrying the sheet difficult, some bits of the experiment also fell off once I had gotten it home.
The first element I decided to focus on was tone - I had wanted to experiment by painting or drawing over a photograph stuck on a page at the same time, so I combined the two - I think it turned out quite well, it definetly demonstrated tone in my opinion, as parts of the flower have been significantly darkened due to the paint I layed on top of it, the orignal photograph was mostly white, so I have added quite a bit of colour to the image as you can see. I though that this experiment could've gone better, although I was somewhat satisfied with the result, I feel that I could've been more inventive but there were ideas that hadn't occurred to me at the time unfortunately. I really like the tones, and how the flower has a speckled effect to it.
The next element I decided to focus on was texture, I created this mark my first sticking printed out and scaled photo onto the sheet, then colouring it in with fineliners, and then roughing up the photos by applying more and more pressure, until I created a rough magma-like effect to the photos, I tried three different colours, gray, purple and orange, and I found that orange was the most effective of the colours. It was this colour that really stuck and gave it the magma-like effect I described. I really enjoyed creating this mark! It was fun to see how much I could destroy the paper without actually "destroying' it! I would say that this experiment was very successful in displaying the element of texture.
The next formal element I attempted to display was form, to do this I cut out and stuck pieces of card onto the page, covered it in glue, then covered it in hair from one of my paint brushes, and then covered in some paint and left to dry, the result looked really good, but it smelt really strange for some reason. I felt that this experiment went very well and that I succeeded in displaying the element of form, although there are/were many things I could've used/done to display form so I feel that I could've been a lot more inventive and creative with this.
The last element I experimented with was shape, I don't really know what I was thinking when I created this mark as it is very similar to the last experiment I did with form, used packaging scraps and pushed them into tacky glue, I wanted it to be like a ball of rubbish, although looking back I don't really think that relates to shape well at all, I also think this experiment was a failure because it was much too heavy for the paper and made carrying the sheet difficult, some bits of the experiment also fell off once I had gotten it home.
Flower Typography Experiment
Because I am studying Graphic Design, I thought it made sense to experiment with creating images out of typography, and flower inspired layouts, I first experimented with creating a simple flower shape in Photoshop, here's how I did it:
I thought that the result was very simple, I think that if I had used sentences, I would've liked the result more, and that it'd have looked a lot more interesting. I think this kind of illustration could be used for professional means, such as logos and billboard ads, but also just for fun, I didn't really experiment with it too much so I can't say I have an in-depth knowledge of how this would work.
Pattern Mark Making
I thought that it would be a good idea to have a go at creating some patterns out of the photos I had taken, as I thought some of the shapes would look good in pattern form, the flower I chose to use from the photos was the purple, flared petaled flower. I thought this had great pattern potential as it reminded me of Damasks and wallpaper, the first pattern I created is actually on the left hand side.
I created this using a technique that just naturally came to me while trying to move the blanked out pictures I had pasted into Photoshop on a white canvas, there is a slideshow on how I did it below these pictures.
The second pattern I made was created by basically aligning some scaled and cropped down pasted selections, and then filling the background in with a very pale lavender colour. I really liked the way both of these patterns turned out as they remind me of wallpaper and carpet patterns. It was only after that I realized the first pattern is very very fient and not easy to see.
Overall I am happy with both of these and I think they'd make great wallpaper!
I created this using a technique that just naturally came to me while trying to move the blanked out pictures I had pasted into Photoshop on a white canvas, there is a slideshow on how I did it below these pictures.
The second pattern I made was created by basically aligning some scaled and cropped down pasted selections, and then filling the background in with a very pale lavender colour. I really liked the way both of these patterns turned out as they remind me of wallpaper and carpet patterns. It was only after that I realized the first pattern is very very fient and not easy to see.
Overall I am happy with both of these and I think they'd make great wallpaper!
How Mark Making Can be used in GRaphic Design
Mark making can be used in a various number of ways when it comes to Graphic Design, for example if someone were to make a layout that was inspired by nature, or a poster that was inspired by flowers, they could use edited photographs, sketches and mark making experiments (such as textured paint) to create a background using the edited images, or create a layout which resembles the outline or shape of a flower or plant, this could be emphasized by bend or tilting text, applying different text attributes, such as weight, different fonts and sizes, or even creating a font that looks as if it is made out of petals, flower stems or grass etc.
You could even try to create typography with actual flowers, and then use the photos of the created typography as a font. For a poster you could use collage to make it more interactive and visually stimulating, by adding petals, seeds and stems to give it texture and form. Colour is also a good way to demonstrate that something is organic, a poster, or a package design that is green or a pastel colour will usually remind people of nature and flowers. My typography could be used to create a digital typographic painting, a logo and on product packaging.
My experiments could be used in a variety of media, from posters to a layout. The majority of my flower experiments, I feel communicate a generally casual and happy vibe, most of the give off a feminine vibe. My patterns for example could be used in a poster, product packaging and even clothing, my photos could be used as a material for digital collage (Photoshop, Illustrator etc), or something someone could print out and stick in a notebook for reference, they could also be used to create prints on canvas or other methods of display. My experiments with the formal elements are art pieces in their own right, however people could photograph them, use them for inspiration or even edit them to give them a new look.
You could even try to create typography with actual flowers, and then use the photos of the created typography as a font. For a poster you could use collage to make it more interactive and visually stimulating, by adding petals, seeds and stems to give it texture and form. Colour is also a good way to demonstrate that something is organic, a poster, or a package design that is green or a pastel colour will usually remind people of nature and flowers. My typography could be used to create a digital typographic painting, a logo and on product packaging.
My experiments could be used in a variety of media, from posters to a layout. The majority of my flower experiments, I feel communicate a generally casual and happy vibe, most of the give off a feminine vibe. My patterns for example could be used in a poster, product packaging and even clothing, my photos could be used as a material for digital collage (Photoshop, Illustrator etc), or something someone could print out and stick in a notebook for reference, they could also be used to create prints on canvas or other methods of display. My experiments with the formal elements are art pieces in their own right, however people could photograph them, use them for inspiration or even edit them to give them a new look.