Little Wing: March 2012

Monday 26 March 2012

Thursday 15 March 2012

Illustration Project: Finished Album Covers

VV & Delinquents

Deja Vu

VV & The Delinquents

Groovenile

VV & The Delinquents
Funk

TEAM MADDIE RECORDS

Wednesday 14 March 2012

Been looking at some record covers to get inspiration for my new project...
I wanted to come up with an artist who made the kind of music I liked but also the kind of person I'd like to be. It wasn't a serious fantasy....but if I could be any kind of musician, I would be a cool soul singer with an afro. Someone with a lot to say about the world around them and stories to tell.
I looked at artists like Marelena Shaw and Ann Peebles, women who were graceful yet tough and oozed confidence and poise.

I wanted to visit a record shop and really get to understand the experience of sifiting through records. It is completely different experience to buying music these days. The feeling of holding a 12" in your hand, looking at the album art, reading about the artists is a much more enjoyable way of collecting music. It is an object, a thing that you can keep forever, rather than a bit of data that you might play a few times on your iPod.

I am really glad that I am doing a project that combines both my love for music and art. I can use my imagination to conjure up an imaginary band and hopefully create something that is more than a drawing but an object, a thing.

I listened to the song "Juvenile Delinquent" by Frankie Lymon

I thought this kid seemed wiser beyond his years. It is a really odd but powerful song and it can easily be relevant today.
I wanted to create a band but with a strong lead singer. Thought a name like something & the somethings
eg. Iggy Pop & The Stooges, KC & The Sunshineband, Booker T & The MGs

I also wanted a name that looked good aesthetically....it sounds fickle but thats what I wanted.

So VV & The Delinquents was born.....

Once I had a name, I began sketching some ideas.....

Some starting points...

In the news....

My first attempts at lino cutting....

Sneaky Snake Slips Into Daggenham Home During Dr. Who

Cat is Found Stuck Up 40ft Cactus

Melting Bear

Angels Of Mercy

Rose West

Stephen Griffiths (The Crossbow Cannibal)

Fred West

Myra Hindley

Illustration: Bad Taste

Starting points for my stamp ideas.....

sorry for the bad scans....

Illustration: Bad Taste

Bad Taste

Project Review 16/10/10

My knowledge on famous serial killers at the start of the project was merely that they were sick-minded people that looked scary in the photo’s I’d seen of them (Ignorant, I know). My plan was to illustrate “bad taste” by making these famously wicked people and display them as idols. I suppose my idea of bad taste was to be offensive at this point.

When I first started finding images of the murderers to draw from, I chose the most haunting pictures that I thought would have most impact on the viewer.

When drawing people I try to understand their expression before drawing the form and shape of the face. [This then guides the way I use the medium]. So whilst drawing these people, even though it was from a photograph, I really had to look them in the eyes, which was unnerving.

After watching Appropriate Adult, I felt very unsettled by how complex and twisted the whole thing was.. I now learned that Rose was just as involved and twisted as her husband. I also fully understood the difference in character of Fred and Rose West and their relationship. Before I was going to include just Fred West but I now felt that Rose West was just as significant in this series of disgusting people.

Rather than making a statement and producing reminders of the faces of these murders, I have now found myself creating in depth portraits of these people.

I find that distasteful and it is unsettling for me to make these drawings. Perhaps “bad taste” is as much about the producing of it as it is the outcome.

I feel this project is quite personal in a sense, because it is about how you perceive things. You have to have a taste to have bad taste and everyone has different tastes.

Shaman

Instruction Manual: How To Do a Nose Flip

Finished Map

Illustration: Map Of Dreams Inspiration

Aubrey Beardsley

Aubrey Beardsley's floaty, grotesque imagery captured the dreamy imagery I imagined for my map. Beardsley's lines grow across the page and connect different realms of the image. There are random movements but connections are still made, like the course of a dream.

One of the main reasons I chose to project on dreams was because it's a subject I have always been interested in.

My dreams often influence my drawings and I wanted to learn more about their scientific background.

Neuron Cells

I watched a film called "Dangerous Dreams". Amy Hardy a scientist and film maker created a personal film documents her own experiences with dreams and uses scientific research to explain the nature of dreams.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dangerous-dreams

[Heres the link to the film, it's worth a watch]

I learned that dreams are essentially a way of making sense of the subconscious. The electrical signals and brainwaves that are created in a dreaming state are the same as those produced when learning and being creative.