Illustrator + Postcards

WHAT HAVE I DONE TODAY?

Today (and yesterday and the day before) I've been working on Adobe Illustrator to try to create some finalised postcard designs. I've been trying to find ways of making cool texts on Illustrator but time is running out, so I used Font.com to download a load! Success!

Getting there, slowly but surely. Slowly but surely. 

HOW HAVE YOU FOUND IT?

Personally I am pleased with them but tomorrow I will seek feedback from colleagues and a tutor to ensure I am on the right track. I need critical feedback now especially as the deadline is creeping up behind me! 

ONLY TWO DAYS AND NIGHTS LEFT, H0W ARE YOU GOING TO SPEND THEM?

I plan to:

TOMORROW DAYTIME

• buy Red Bull!
• go into college, give the tutors my best pieces of work 
• ask Geoff about printing appointment to print the postcards 

TOMORROW NIGHTIME

• finish all postcards, put in right format, put on layout for printing.
• send Max 4 pictures for Show Reel.

WEDNESDAY

• do my final evaluation (60 mins)
• fill in crit sheet (20 mins)
• revise action plan (20 mins)
• find pitch presentation sheet (hmm...)
• print off blog (10 mins)
• place it all neatly and lovingly into portfolio along with 2 best pieces of work
• RELAX

WHAT HAVE I DONE TODAY?

I have watched a few tutorials on how to create the halftone effect that I want to emulate (inspired by Steven Harrington's screen prints). I've discussed my problems with a classmate, establishing what steps I should take next.


WAS I PRODUCTIVE?

Not as productive as I had hoped. Once I had established that I was going to test both ideas out, I had technical problems. I was successful in learning how to make the halftone effect work on Photoshop after having seen a tutorial (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZmONUBhwhA). However when it came to it, the tutorials teaching didn't work out too well so I found my own way of doing it. To add to this, the computer I was working on kept crashing (it just crashed again now!).


WHAT DIRECTION ARE YOU GOING IN?

Well, I'm not entirely certain about the outcome of the colour-related postcard collection. My feeling RIGHT NOW is that it is too weak, and that I'll be disappointed when I tell people at the show what mine is about. I don't know, maybe I'll feel like that with my alternative idea too.

Discussing my problems with Emma

I was having trouble deciding whether to go ahead with the idea that arose in the group discussion the other day, or go ahead with the one I was intending to in the first place.

So I was just discussing it with Emma who was helpful and supportive (always a good thing near the end!)

I came to the decision that I would attempt both quickly and see which I think will be "best".

Time'sa running out!

Panicing a little now!!! Which may be good as I work well and hard under pressure

Sketchbook Pages (not entirely in order!)

Action Plan for the last few days

Bu Wednesday

have idea sorted
have  plan for postcards sorted

By Thursday evening

have them on their way
find out about getting them printed and how to lay it out

By Friday evening

keep producing
show to people, test on people, get feedback, make changes if needed


By Monday

have collection done or almost done (ready for print)

By Tuesday

have evaluation done (500 words)
have bibliography updated


By Wednesday

have books bound

Just A Little More!

WHAT DID I DO TODAY?

I know I said that I would confidently move on to the Finalisation stage, but I want to experiment a litttle more first. I've still got time so I should I guess.

I made samples of:-

• "Swearing"
• "Area Stereotypes"
• "What Is London To You?"
• "Sweat/Rain"
• "Rules, Underground"
• "London Etiquette" - "Sorry!!!" Said he who kicked her. "Sorry!!!" She said back. Typical"
• "I Hate It Here"
• "The Weather Isn't a Reflection of the People"
• "What A Mix"
• "Facebook - 'Like'"

WAS THE EXPERIMENTATION EFFECTIVE?

Yes, like yesterday it was very effective in guiding me visually towards the end goal.
I've found finding what aesthetic style my postcards should have quite a big question mark, so it's helped that I've looked at a lot of other people's work and experimented with my own.

WAS I PRODUCTIVE?

Yes, I didn't go quite as wild as yesterday but I've still worked harder towards finding what the final collection should be.

WHAT CAN I TAKE FROM WHAT I LEARNT?

Some of the ideas sprang from the most unfathomable places  - from being on a train of thought that you can't quite recall. I sprang to the materials to make "The Weather Isn't a Reflection of the People" which is an example of a random idea. The same for "What A Mix" - I have no clue of it's background! What I'm saying in this is that I should act upon the idea as soon as I have it.

Abundance of Postcard Samples

WHAT DID I DO TODAY?

I began my day flicking through Illustratio Play (Victionary) for ideas and then sketching them out.
I also got out maps of different areas in London and asked Grandma what she thought of them and what she thought of London generally.


I looked back on the list of collections of postcards I could possibly make and began to find materials to make them etc.

I made a 'some' samples for collections:-

• "Thank Fuck I Am In London" with images of Japan from today's newspaper.
• The Grass is Greener - with images of more beautiful places than London and also with the keyboard key "Esc" to imply wanting to escape London. 
• "Don't Bother With..." - I began to explore what places on the tube map weren't worth exploring, asking people for feedback on this. I crossed the places worth going off the map, leaving just the ones "not to bother with".
• "Area Stereotypes" - I simply marked on the map the kind of person you'd find, stereotypically, at that station.  I followed this on to a blanked out tube-esque map on which I marked 1) the things I saw in Camden; Clapham Common 2) the multitudal ethnic groups in London 3) Youth Subcultures
• "Fill in the Blanks" - a blank tube map, inviting the viewer to try to name them. Other approaches came from this experiment like it showing that the tube map is so hard for foreigners to understand that it may as well be labelless.
• "Would London Be London If...?" - Posing the question, if its skyline was different, with another country's building - would London still be London? 
• "Amusing Anagrams" - where I experimented with anagrams of tube station names that I had found in The London Collection (Think Publishing). I retouched the Turnpike Lane sign to say "Internal Puke". I also made my own anagram of Tower Hill ("Litl Whore").
• "What Makes You a Londoner?" - Looking at foreigners who wear and support the Arsenal t-shirt. 
• "Londoners Have Bad Teeth" - A picture postcard that shows my dad's (bad) teeth.
• "Tube Go-ers" - Sketches I have done over the past few months of people on the tube. 
• "Mundane London" - Images of a stripped billboard and an graffitied alleyway and a sodden newspaper. 
• "Puzzle Pieces" - The idea of having many postcards that you collect of different areas to make a map. 
• "Weather Affects" - These read 'Weather Was Sublime. Had a Great Time." and "Shitty Weather. Shitty Time"
• "Tea Underground" - Londoners like tea. Londoners travel. So I made the London Underground symbol from a cup, tea bag and water, and a spoon of sugar resting on top.

WAS THE EXPERIMENTATION SUCCESSFUL?

Yes, I really benefited from seeing the range of ideas I had for collections in front of me. I think it will really help me when it comes to asking for feedback and advice on which collection to create as I will have something tangible to show. It helped being at home while doing this as I had ALL of my materials (I collect papers, books, maps, pens, etc) which I had at my fingertips. Glad I didn't go in to the studio as I would have had to lug it all in!


WAS I PRODUCTIVE?

Even I can't believe I did this all in one day! I knuckled down and saw results. I really enjoyed it though, which is definitely why I managed so much.

WHAT CAN I TAKE FROM WHAT I LEARNT?

It definietly pays to visualise your ideas. Trying to produce something you've thought of allows you to realise the problems it could lead to, like low feasibility and low effectiveness.

HAVE I DOCUMENTED MY EXPERIENCE?

Yes I've gone through and labelled each postcard idea and put any ideas that could lead from it and different approaches to it.  All the postcards are tacked into my sketchbook.


IS THERE A DIRECTION MY PROJECT IS TAKING?

By reading what I've done today, there are many tangents it could take.  I've identified that they either show London in a negative or positive way (or both), are education, are humourous or interactive. (These of course cross over in some areas).


AM I ON TRACK?

Yes, I've experimented a lot today by visualising with type, drawing, photo manipulation, collage, image. I now have a range of ideas to work from and wittle down by getting feedback. I can go on to the "Finalisation" stage confident that I have tried and tested many options.