black or white line? opinions!! - Josie

So I inverted the sharper images in photoshop as that seems to be an easy way to make the line black and handle the exposure yourself! Think they look pretty ghosty scanned in which is appropriate :D    Can i have your opinions pleeease on which works better! cheeers

josie-birds made of cd's!!

Just because they are exciting and might inspire someone! from HERE by Sean Avery. Check out his other animals they are amazing!!

Amy's Notes from the meeting

Josie - sewing onto paper - working really well.
*if people are interested, check out the birds/ animals at the Exeter museum? really good for this project*
Need to: work more on experimentation and drawing birds from different angles. Also need to look at the stories behind them.

Katie - picked 4 birds.
looking at the crests - how the birds became extinct is going to be placed within the crest's design.
been developing the crests and looking at the shapes made.
Josie said about maybe looking at the animation she posted on Plymouth Illustration (the owl in the hedgehog animation) might help?
Need to: carry on working in the print room as much as possible. start the etching.

Jo - looking at the colours she could include in her book about the bitterns.
going through different colour charts that are colourful but not too over the top.
character designing.
Need to: decide on colours and also start designing an adult bittern character.

Andjela - shows a book she has about Extinct birds which helps a lot. has a lot more back info about the different birds.
looked at artists who use collage in their work and so started experimenting with collage and different textures. (corrogarted cardboard - preperation for woodcut)
Need to: post a blog and carry on with the experimentation (woodcut, lino etc workshop sessions coming up)

Ody - been thumbnailing for comic which may be applied to an app.
been looking at colourful birds 
going to produce a continuous strip .
when the music plays the pics change.
Need to: carry on with thumbnails and maybe even start draft final ideas.

Emmy - going to produce 3 mini-zines.
going to link them together somehow - maybe reason for extinction or species or colour?
maybe look at secret garden technique if struggling to work out how to create the zines.
Need to: plan at least one mini-zine.

Nadine - been working in the printroom - some really nice monoprints.
experimenting a lot,
looked at Audubon? book of birds - really like it.
drawn some quick sketches from the Exeter Museum.
looking into conservation posters and may have live birds as well as extinct birds.
maybe use colour as a metaphor...no colour means extinct.
going to produce screen prints,
Need to: carry on researching and drawing.

Amy - fun, interaction.
need to have suitable text for the audience and because its an educational book.
look at how your style can come across in the pop up.
figure out what angle the book is from so either the birds view or have a narrative?
Need to: start making the pop ups, talk to tom about whether or not you can drop the Macmillan idea and experiment more.

Mr Tibbles-funny story!

This website is pretty interesting, I cant search for birds specifically but if you click "extinct" at the top there are a few posts on birds if you are up for some browsing! This one is especially funny, never knew these birds had evolved without flight because of a lack of predators, give it a read!


The Stephens Island Wren

A.J Fosik-Josie (for Andjela)

This is the guy I was talking about earlier! The shape of the wood pieces and overlaying could work really well for feathers I think.

Meeting Minutes 6th Feb - Josie

    Apologies this took a couple of days I was in Exeter alll day yesterday! Just a note, I was at the Royal Albert memorial Museum in Exeter and they have some amazing paintings and natural history exhibitions going on. There is also a section of stuffed animals including about 6 different species of EXTINCT BIRDS! So if you fancy doing some drawing from life it is quite an inspiring place!




Notes from Monday 6th February:


Meg


Still working on drawings, no focus as yet. Jo LB suggested drawing birds from other angles thinking about their characters.
Research-researching decorative jewellery.
Target-Start drawing 3 different birds from different angles and in different positions. Post to blog-done!


JO LB


Written words completed, we all listened to them read out loud and concluded the second version is easier to read and has better rhythm. Starting to develop the characters and plan the design of the book.
Target-Background visuals by friday, research and look at reeds, Meg suggested Beatrix Potters pond drawings.


Jordan


Lots of drawing (yay) Currently choosing 3 birds to develop into poster designs and focusing more on development. Meg suggested researching Frans Masereel. 
Target-Clear concept of a theme and more research of bird superstitions.


EVERYONE-Jord had the good idea to research the habitat, eating habits etc. more about the birds so you have a clearer idea of their character. 


Andjela


Has changed brief to move more into merchandise. Lots of experimentation, going into woodcut and lino cut.
Target-More experiments, narrow down focus to one type of merchandise ie. tshirts, badges etc. Post to blog!!


Josie


Experimenting lots with scribbler drawings etc. Meg suggested using textures in work. Had brainwave in meeting about using sewing to replicate the scribbler drawings so it is more tactile.
Target-Experiment with sewing and thermographic ink. 
Research-Rework research question to make it more relevant to project. Possibly looking at tactile work using 3d media in print and whether this makes work more appealing. 


Meeting at... i think we said around 3.30 friday! will check and put on facebook!

Josie-opinions on scribbler birds!

Hey everyone, heres some drawings i have been working on. I drew them on scribbler, painted over printouts and then layered them up on photoshop. Any comments on which work better than others, if colour line is better etc. Thanks!

josie-random inspiration

The back of a secret on the Postsecret website! Thought it was quite nice!

And a nice little article about Phil Pascuzzo redesigning the twitter bird logo! HERE

 If you scroll down theres some nice illustrations at the bottom! Good ideas if you are designing merchandise too :)

Josie-bird artist research

Hi guys, this is a blog post I made last week with a few artists on, a wide range of media, all who use birds as a subject! Names under the artists link to their websites! 

CLICK HERE TO HAVE A LOOK :)

JoLB - Group Meeting Notes

Todays meeting

Josie, Jordan, Katie, Amy and Jo LB

1. Blog

Jordan has set up this blog and can give everyone the email address and password so they can post up.

When you do post up remember to add your name to the title and also to add the appropriate labels.

Please follow this blog and then we can add your blog or website link to the page (this increases your page rating in google)

2. Research questions

Josie - reconsidering her research question from looking at illustrators involved in charity work to covering illustrators and community projects.

Jo - Look at Visual aids used in Illustration aimed at young children learning to read and what makes an effective children's book illustrator

Amy - Wants to research educational pop ups but is not sure how broad this subject would be or where to start.  Now has a list of books to consider looking at from the bibliography of Core Curriculum Books and thinks she might look at an older age group than the macmillan brief.

Jordan - has looked into developing a minizine app for his images which were going to be a series of posters, something similar to Jack knife posters  and Josie suggested he contacted them for possible work experience.

He spoke to Tom (who was passing) about maybe using learning app code as his research and Tom said he could look into the influence of technology  and what makes a good/bad use of illustration in apps.

Katie - Is creating crests which will tell the story of how each bird has gone extinct.  Metaphors would be an avenue for her research but having just bought a book about designer makers it might be worth considering the role of the illustrator in this field.

We have a couple of useful contacts re apps

USTWO  who developed Whale Tail and the mouth app - Neil McFarland and ex student Ralph Manning who is n app developer.  There is a link to him on the course website.