ASS 1 - Project 3 - Your tool box

Exercise: Mixing and matching Working around the theme of ‘hybrid’

Task: Create a series of illustrations using the following processes: Starting on paper and moving to a computer, follow this process: Draw - scan - colour Starting on the computer and then moving to paper, follow this process: Colour - print - draw Are there other combinations of mixing and matching digital and analogue (non-digital) ways of working you can identify and try out? Reflect on whether these processes have offered you something new or unexpected.

   For this exercise, I am going to be experimenting and looking how I can mix traditional art with digital art. Tthe first thing I have to do is decide on a theme of a hybrid which I have just randomly thought of mixing a few animals together: a seahorse a cat and a butterfly. What I'm going to do now is draw out this creature I have in my mind and for the first part of this exercise draw it out in a fine liner, scan it into the computer and then colour it in on Photoshop.

 Here below is my sketch that I have drawn out:

I am now going to scan the image and add coloured areas to the drawing of my hybrid creature.

I've started adding colour to my hybrid creature by using the wand tool to select areas and then fill in these areas. I am also trying out the paintbrush tool just to get different effects. I also think that as my creature is underwater I want the sun to shine through the water hitting the seabed. I am going to try to do some streaks of light through the water. I think the transparency tool will help me create this well.

       Here above is my image I have done on the computer using Photoshop software to colour in my line drawing. I think using digital to colour in is very interesting as the colours come out bright and it is easily filled instead of using a pencil crayons or other traditional tools. Also with photoshop, I've discovered that it has various brushes and pens which can grasp the same textures as you would get with traditional tools.

The next thing I'm going to do is this time colour in on the Photoshop first print it out and then draw my design on top of it.  What I have decided  is with the drawing that I have just done previously delete all the black lines from my actual sketch and print it out and then draw or my line working on top of the coloured areas

   

   Here I have printed out the coloured areas and now have used a fine liner to add the details. I've never tried this way before and it was quite interesting to see another way how to use traditional and digital together. There are quite many possibilities with this order of making an illustration you could just be free and put splashes of colour everywhere print it out and then use your imagination to create designs on top. Personally, after my experience, I prefer actual drawing my ideas on paper instead of using a tablet and drawing it into Photoshop. I find it's easier for me than using a tablet but on that note, I have never used a tablet with the screen on, only one that you have to look at the PC monitor to see where your pen is going.

    The next part of this exercise was to think of other ways to mix and match traditional and digital art together. I sat down and had a think and have come up with a way in which I can use my paper style and incorporate that into digital. 

What I've decided to do now is collect pieces of paper out of my room and cut out shapes to form a kind of collage of my hybrid character:

      As you can see above I have cut out the shapes and you can see my sea horse like creature formed in the shapes of the paper. I have cut it out I am now going to scan this into the computer and sketch over the top of it. I think this would be another good way how to use the two together to create an effective piece.

      Above is my finished piece of work that I have created starting off with my paper collage and then applying the outlines of my creature on top in Photoshop. I think it has come out rather well it is a very modern quirky style to it and is something that I find very interesting especially when I have used different papers to create the colours. I have also had a play around with other ideas and another way I tried out was using watercolours. I painted the areas best I could to the character and then scanned that into the computer and again drawn lines on top. I also tried changing the background of the paper to blue which looks like a digital kind of college with the colours going out of the lines where I have drawn the character on.

I have also found some interesting pages online looking at other ways that people have come up with to mix traditional and digital:

https://www.creativebloq.com/digital-art/how-mix-traditional-and-digital-media-101413234
https://thiefoworld.deviantart.com/journal/Traditional-and-Digital-Mixed-Media-349916213
https://community.wacom.com/interests/art/high-impact-hybrids

      This exercise has offered me new interesting ways that I never thought of that actually are quite simple ideas yet give effective results. I like the paper idea of cutting out the shapes and then scanning that integrate some kind of collage. I feel that there must be many more ways to use traditional and digital together and it has made me think to experiment further and I find asking myself how I can incorporate my paper designs with digital to create some really cool effects in my work? It is great to see also that traditional even though it has declined it is still used and a lot of people prefer mixing traditional and digital together then just using one or the other. In today's world they both have their own individual pros and cons but together it gives you more flexibility and ideas to create something that is modern.

Exercise: Less is more

Task: Identify a palette of no more than three colours that could work in combination. Remember that black and white are also colours. Pick colours that work well together, provide some contrast and can be used as dark, mid and light tones. Use this palette to illustrate five domestic items beginning with the same letter of the alphabet. Try the same exercise again using only two colours. Use your learning log to reflect on your experience.

I am interested to start this exercise and to see how using two or three colours makes a difference to my work. I have decided to use the letter S to create some household objects and then to add colour to them. For my first attempt, I have sketched them all out and decided to use three colours that I think will work well together: purple, yellow which are complementary colours and added a bit of blue which is the next colour from purple on the colour wheel. I think these three colours will work well together

Here is my finished image below

As you can see above, the three colours work well together I was really excited by the ways they look kind of rainbow style. They all merged together and blend very well as though they were naturally placed.

Here above is my second attempt using just two colours. I have decided to use blue and purple.

 Using only two colours is also an effective way making objects simple and easy on the eye to understand. However, out of the two, I prefer the three colour objects. I think personally it is more attractive to myself compared to the blue and purple objects. I think this may be that adding the yellow, with the purple they contrast well to each other and make them more appealing then blue and the purple which looks a bit duller. The ones with the added yellow look like they have more character and personality to the objects, even though it has been said that using fewer colours can create more effective work. On this occasion, I do think that my three toned images work better than the two-toned images.

On the three colour objects, the yellow and blue together have created a green colour which technically makes it 4 colours instead of 3. This slightly goes the same for the sock

I've also tried to change the colour of the background of the two colour objects. I think perhaps this has not helped it stand out as it is made the background duller compared to the three coloured toned objects where I have left the background white. Perhaps this is making the objects stand out from the page more compared to the two colour objects.

I have come to understand colours a lot more whilst doing thus degree and I can now remember when I'm adding colours that I think of the best options possible to make my work attractive.