Evaluation

When we first were given the first half of this project brief for printing, i thought i would have a huge advantage as ive done some printing and laser cutting before. But when it came down to it there was a lot, i haven't done before, such as flock and foil and lino printing. I have enjoyed trying out all the techniques.

For my logo design i chose a feather which i was also using for my Vis Com project, so i could develop more ideas for both projects.

I feel i have used my time productively and planned out my time well to make use of the print room whenever i could including after college on mondays and tuesdays, to skip the last minute rush before the deadline.

I think that the print process of flock and foil was really effective when used in the right way, It was quite a simple process to learn and i really enjoyed it.

When trying out the drypoint technique, it didn't really work, I feel this was due to wiping to much ink off the print, but some other people had the same problem also.

When receiving the next part of the project i don't really think it appealed to me much. But when i started to research into ideas and artists that surround darkness, i found it quite interesting. After creating a mind map about darkness i came up with a lot of ideas, I chose to base my project on fears.

I chose to use a lamp to print on as the prints would create a shadow when the light shines through, making your fears come true. After asking my course mates what they feared i tried to draw some of them. I decided on using a clown as my print and the words 'you can scream but no one will hear you'. I feel this worked well.

I was going to use the laser cutter and print screening as my two techniques, but the deadline for the project was only 3 weeks long including reading week, and the laser cutter was booked up, so i dropped the idea and played it safe with print screening and flocking. When i found out that the deadline had then been moved, it was like a weight lifted. I used the extra time to perfect my design.

I had a problem when flocking as the lamp i used deformed due to the heat of the press, and the flock didn't stick as well as i would have liked it to. The screen printing on the other hand went well and i think my colour choice worked well with my design.

If i were to do this project again i would make a prototype before going straight onto printing on the lamps, so i could see how effective the design would be, and whether it for filled its visual qualities as the lampshade was to dark for the print to show through as a shadow.

Finished Lamp

Finished Prints

When making up the screen, there was to much emulation on it, so when washing it off, it created small holes in the screen allowing the ink to bleed through in unwanted places.

I used a dark flock for my first attempt at printing onto my lampshades.Unfortunately this didn't turn out half as well as i would of like it to. I forgot when placing my lampshade and flock into the press, that the heat would make the lampshade deform due to the heat on the plastic.

Even though it didn't turn out that well, i quite like the warped look of the

lamp.

I really like how my second attempt at printing onto the lampshade turned out. I chose to use a dark red to print with as i felt it would be appropriate with my theme of fears. Where the screen had holes in, the ink bled through. I feel this made a really good effect, much like blood splatters- which i hadn't intended on making on the print.

Design Ideas:

I came up with a couple of design ideas after thinking about peoples fears. (just some rough drawings). and what would work well, to be projected.

I decided on doing a clown as my main image, and found this image on the internet which i re-drew out and made more scary with shading. I then went on to chose a font that would work well with this.

I was torn between the font types 'Nightmare 5' and '28days later' which both looked horror like. I chose on using the font Nightmare 5 as it

worked better with my image. I edited the text on illustrator, making it into a vector so i could play with the sizes of the font.

Mood Board

I typed into google darkness and just see what comes up, i found that i just got the obvious connotations of darkness things that seemed to come up where as expected, horror, depression and death.

When doing my mind map for darkness i came up with monsters/fears/shadows/ ghosts/bats/nightmares/ films/ horror/ solar system/ night/ stars/ rockets/gathering of clouds/gothica/death/The Gashlycrumb tinies (Edward Gorey)

I chose to do fears as its something that has effected me since i was younger. I always had a fear of the dark/ something lurking under my bed. I thought i would ask some people what there fears where rather then just

focusing on my own fears.

These are some of the answers i got back, clowns/scared of being alone/ flying ants/ bugs in clothing/grubs in your skull/ tape worms/ spiders/Boy George and Jack the Ripper/ shadows/ Boogey man.

I decided to do an evil clown face i felt it was something that a lot of people are scared of. I decided to use the quote 'you can scream but no one will hear you' which i used in a horror font.

I then decided to make up another mood board of printed lamps, some which had a horror theme to them and other that where just printed to see what sort of patterns they would project.

When doing our group critiques, someone suggested that i should look into pumpkin design, as at the time i was considering using the laser cutter to create my final piece. So i looked researched into Halloween pumpkins, which work just as a lamp would.

Print Project continued 'Prints of darkness'

Research:

Anthony Clarkson

I found this artist in a magazine called Juxtapoz. I Really liked the dark illustrations.










Lyubomir Bukov- photographer


This photo is called 'shadows of the past' I think the shadow play that you see within the image works well, shows there identity of when they where younger.






Tim Burtons Drawings


I love Tim Burtons drawings as there really imagenative, alot of his drawing are quite dark, although not drawn in a way to make them look scary. quite child-like.

Tim Noble and Sue Webster
“Dirty White Trash [With Gulls]”

This was produced after collecting 6months worth of the artists Tim and Sue's trash. the piece can read on many differant levels, an enviromental one looking at the amount of rubbish a couple produce, or a message of consumersism, or a metaphor for a life that is built on and out of rubbish.

The gashlycumb Tinies

I found this book in waterstones, and loved the illustrations. The book is about school children in the Victorian times who are killed off in strange and unusual ways.

Colour Theory:

The Color Wheel

The color wheel

The color wheel is designed so that virtually any colors you pick from it will look good together.

Traditionally, there are a number of color combinations that are considered especially pleasing. These are calledcolor harmonies or color chords and they consist of two or more colors with a fixed relation in the color wheel.

Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Colors

In the RYB (or subtractive) color model, the primary colors are red, yellow and blue.

The three secondary colors(green, orange and purple) are created by mixing two primary colors.

Another six tertiary colors are created by mixing primary and secondary colors.

Warm and cool colors

The color circle can be divided into warm and cool colors.

Warm colors are vivid and energetic, and tend to advance in space.

Cool colors give an impression of calm, and create a soothing impression.

White, black and gray are considered to be neutral.

Tints, Shades, and Tones

These terms are often used incorrectly, although they describe fairly simple color concepts. If a color is made lighter by adding white, the result is called a tint. If black is added, the darker version is called a shade. And if gray is added, the result is a differenttone.

Tints - adding white to a pure hue:

Shades - adding black to a pure hue:

Tones - adding gray to a pure hue:

Color Harmonies

- basic techniques for creating color schemes

Below are shown the basic color chords based on thecolor wheel.

	Complementary color scheme Colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel are considered to be complementary colors (example: red and green). The high contrast of complementary colors creates a vibrant look especially when used at full saturation. This color scheme must be managed well so it is not jarring. Complementary color schemes are tricky to use in large doses, but work well when you want something to stand out. Complementary colors are really bad for text.
	Analogous color scheme Analogous color schemes use colors that are next to each other on the color wheel. They usually match well and create serene and comfortable designs. Analogous color schemes are often found in nature and are harmonious and pleasing to the eye. Make sure you have enough contrast when choosing an analogous color scheme. Choose one color to dominate, a second to support. The third color is used (along with black, white or gray) as an accent.
	Triadic color scheme A triadic color scheme uses colors that are evenly spaced around the color wheel. Triadic color schemes tend to be quite vibrant, even if you use pale or unsaturated versions of your hues. To use a triadic harmony successfully, the colors should be carefully balanced - let one color dominate and use the two others for accent.
	Split-Complementary color scheme The split-complementary color scheme is a variation of the complementary color scheme. In addition to the base color, it uses the two colors adjacent to its complement. This color scheme has the same strong visual contrast as the complementary color scheme, but has less tension. The split-complimentary color scheme is often a good choice for beginners, because it is difficult to mess up.
	Rectangle (tetradic) color scheme The rectangle or tetradic color scheme uses four colors arranged into two complementary pairs. This rich color scheme offers plenty of possibilities for variation. Tetradic color schemes works best if you let one color be dominant. You should also pay attention to the balance between warm and cool colors in your design.
	Square color scheme The square color scheme is similar to the rectangle, but with all four colors spaced evenly around the color circle. Square color schemes works best if you let one color be dominant. You should also pay attention to the balance between warm and cool colors in your design.