ASS2 - Final - A Sense of Place

Assignment two A sense of place

Your local tourist board has commissioned you to produce a series of reportage illustrations that celebrates aspects of local culture.
Base your illustrations on real local events, locations and people. Capture a sense of place through drawing from life. Produce between three and five pieces of work, at least one of which should be in colour.
The style of the illustrations is up to you, but the tourist board wants something that portrays vitality and life. They want to see people at a destination, engaging with activities or enjoying themselves taking in the views.
As with the exercises you’ve done so far, use your sketchbook to document and gather information. Your final illustrations could be a selection of your best drawings or re-worked illustrations based on your sketches.
Reflect on what sort of reportage you are most interested in and how you’ve produced your best drawings, then pick a place that supports this way of working. For example, if you’re interested in architectural illustration, focus your assignment on illustrating local buildings of interest. 

   After reviewing the Assignment 2 exercises and looking at the critical review, I feel I am now ready to take on this final assignment. Looking back at Assignment 2 I feel I have enjoyed Science illustration reportage and Travel Illustration reportage. Both were fascinating -

Science illustration - Really enjoyed being more observant, looking at things closer and in more detail

Travel Illustration - I enjoyed going on a journey and reporting about it through writing and illustration together with photos to create a series of illustrations.

      Due to travelling restrictions and researching to show identity of a place, I am going to stick to my own local hometown, Wolverhampton. Wolverhampton has a lot of local culture and having lived here all my life, I know what iconic places and buildings which come together to make Wolverhampton’s identity.

      I am now going to mind map my first thoughts and ideas to see what I can come up with initially, before I start researching and getting out there to create my illustrations.

    Here above are my mind maps that I have created. I have thought about Wolverhampton, used keywords to help describe it and the main places that are popular.

Here are a list of places which are iconic, attractions and our way of life in Wolverhampton:

Places
Art Gallery
Bantock House
Molineux
St Peter's Church
Grand Theatre
The Lighthouse
The Lock Museum
Wolverhampton University
Moseley old Hall
Wolverhampton Civic Hall
Mander Centre
Banks's Brewery
Wightwick Manor and Gardens
David Austin Roses
Man on the Horse

Way of life - Our Culture

Our Yam Yam accent
Friendly and helpful
Pigeons and landgulls
wolves football team
Orange Chips
Planning My Wolverhampton Journey 

My Opinion Of My Wonderful Hometown

Wolverhampton, it's been my home since I was born and my memories of Wolverhampton as a child to now have been happy ones. It is a great place to live and we as a population are very proud to say we are from Wolverhampton. We have a huge history, the friendliest people, Even our very own accent - We call ourselves Yam Yams and this is known throughout the UK. Actually our accent is quite famous and people love to hear us talk. For example normal English would be How are you? but we would say How am ya? or Bostin! means very good!. We love our accent and are very proud of it - It's a big part in our identity and people recognise our accent anywhere.

Here’s a link from the BBC about our accent:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blackcountry/features/2002/12/accents/black_country_dialect.shtml

Some History I Know About Wolverhampton

The city is named after Lady Wulfrun, who founded the town in 985.

Wolverhampton at one point was known for bike manufacturers and based here was over 200 different manufacturers during 1868 to 1975.

Wolverhampton was one of the few towns to operate trams which appeared in 1923, and in 1930 for a brief period the Wolverhampton trolleybus system was the world's largest trolleybus system.

Many of the city centre's buildings date from the early 20th century and before, the oldest buildings being St Peter's Church.

Wolverhampton has a strong industrial history in the Victorian era during the industrial revolution. Numerous companies, such as Chubb Lock and Safe Company, hired, taught and expanded their artistic status to international reputation, whereby a safe became truly a work of art with fine script and hand-painted designs, highly collectable today. Even in the United States, one can find their preserved masterpieces to this day.

Due to the revolution era the area was well known as the Black County and it still is today. We also have our own flag and a phrase: ‘Black by night red by day’ Describing the sky which was full of smog and the burning fires from the manufacturing factories. Near Dudley we also have a black country museum it is just outside of Wolverhampton but its one to mention as millions come to visit and learn about the areas history.

Planning my Journey

       After creating mind maps about my initial thoughts about Wolverhampton, tomorrow I am going to go on a journey around the town and report on its main features, sketch some of the sights and take photos along the way I will also be recording myself talking and describing the places to use as a reference later on to write up here about my journey with my sketches and photos..

     I have planned my journey on a map above to take which will take me to all the main areas which give a sense of place to Wolverhampton.

Here they are in order:

1. The Molineux
2. Grand Theatre
3. Oldest Traffic Lights
4. Lindy Lou's building
5. Man on The Horse
6. St Peters Church and Gardens
7. Art Gallery
8. My Work and Wolverhampton Development

   I have also got my bag ready and put in items I will need such as my sketch pad, pens, pencils, rubber, sharpener and a book I have got about Wolverhampton's history.

My Journey Around My Home City - Wolverhampton

    I had an amazing two days on my journey around the City - It was a bright and warm over the two days, perfect for walking around. I also discovered a lot of interesting things that I did not know about Wolverhampton and its past.

   I started my journey driving to the Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Stadium called the Molineux. It's about 10 minute drive from my house and a 5 min drive to the town centre. As it's a bit out of the town I thought it was best to start here first.

   One of our very popular activities that brings Wolverhampton people together is football. Our team Wolverhampton Wanderers - Locally known as The Wolves, are a highlight and bring excitement and a buzz across the city on match days. We have the loudest fans at football matches home or away and the city's pubs are full chanting and excitement before any home game. Wolves are a great team and have followers all over the world. Back in 1960 Wolverhampton won the highest league and had a huge following because they were so good. Since then the last 20-30 years for Wolves have been a bit of a struggle due to finance and changes of managers and owners of the Molineux. However in 2016 the club was sold to two Chinese businessmen who have invested a lot on money in to the club. Since then we have got ourselves back into the top Premier League, brought fantastic new plays, have an amazing football manager called Nuno. Last week they played in a semi final at Wembley, which was a very important game. Fans from all over the UK including myself attended the game. They sadly lost but it brought all the fans together and was a memorable day.

The Molineux in Photos

Here below are some of the photos I have taken:

The Molineux is yellow orange and black which represent the Wolves logo. The club is built to hold just over 30000 fans, with four main stands forming the stadium.

    Whilst walking around I discovered these posts. I asked the reception about them and discovered they had been here since when wolves football team had started. They are very fitting within the theme of football. They have the Wolves logo on and the top part of the post is in the design of a football.

 

This is the front of the Molineux. Its appearance is grand and is made to look superior to boast and worry other teams who attend to let them know Wolves mean business.

The front stand is known as the Billy wright dedicated to one of there most successful players in history. They also have a statue in front of the stand dedicated to him. This is one of the most iconic statues in Wolverhampton.

I came across these fences which are also themed to the Wolves colours and include their logo.

      These are other pictures I have taken above are of other areas around the Molineux which were also quite interesting such as the artwork of the wolfie mascots and another stature in front of another stand.

Grand Theatre

Once leaving the Molineux I drove to my car park in town where I usually park for work and continued my journey around the city.

The Grand Theatre is a hidden gem. I love going to the theatre I find it great fun and exciting. In my book on Wolverhampton history it mentions the Grand theatre is now 150 years old this year and has 300,000 visitors every year. It is a great place to go for a date.

Photos of the Grand Theatre

      I managed to ask the lady at the ticket office if I could take a photo of the inside and she said yes. I had to be quite quick so the one above is the best I got but it shows you its a wonderful red and gold theatre and has been well looked after. The out side of the building is ok, it's quite hard to see the name of the theatre but at night this is lit up and looks wonderful. The architecture externally has arch ways which are usually found on most theatres which is kind of a signature style to show its a theatre. It has been refurbished over the years and I also know that it will be expanding later on this year taking over the empty building next door to add a restaurant, improved ticket office and bar area.

Oldest Traffic Lights

Whilst browsing through my Wolverhampton history book before my journey I also discovered something that I did not know.  In Princess street are the first set of traffic lights that were ever produced! I just had to go and find them:

     Here they are above and to know that these are the oldest traffic lights in the city, they have painted the poles in strips of black and white. The poles are still from the original firsts ones but the actual lights on top have been replaced due to new technologies and wear. How wonderful to have something in our town that plays an important part in transport all over the world.

Lindy Lou's Building

I realised that even though  I live in Wolverhampton this building is one where you know it but you don't actually see it. I think I have actually taken it for granted and never looked at it  long enough to realise its history perhaps this is because in my life time I've never had to venture in to the building. I discovered that it is the second oldest building in Wolverhampton being built in 1300 century. Here are some photo's below:

    It is a framed timber 17th-century building on Victoria Street which is now one of just two remaining in the area. This building was originally a residential property, but later became the Hand Inn public house. It was completely restored in 1981 after a two-year refurbishment project and has been used by various businesses since then – currently as a cafe called Lindy Lou's. Having now actually looked at it and read up about it, its a very special and beautiful building that perhaps does not get enough public attention. As my own experience people of Wolverhampton know its there but perhaps the continuing changes of business in the property has not help in giving this building an actual name and becoming iconic through a name as well as through the public eye in the sense of the city.

The Man on the Horse

    'The Man os the ozz' as we call it, is very iconic to us. Everyone who lives in Wolverhampton has seen it and walked past it in the busy city centre area. It is a wonderful stature which is an important history relic to us.

   In 1866 Queen Victoria (first appearance since Albert's death) attended Wolverhampton for the revealing of the statue of Albert on a horse. She was so happy with it that she knighted the Mayor! She was known to say that Wolverhampton is very dirty but full of the friendliest people you could meet.

St Peters Church and Gardens

This church is the oldest building in Wolverhampton. It dates back to 994 but may be even older.  It looks so beautiful on a sunny day with the gardens surrounding it. Here are some photos I have taken:

     Walking through the gardens today to view St Peters Church was beautiful. It was very peaceful and calming. I think most of the trees in the surrounding gardens must be as old as the building itself! There is also a special fountain in that park which was built to celebrate a man called Phillip Horseman, who designed the Art Gallery (which is next door) and other various main buildings around the city. St Peter's church it's the oldest building in Wolverhampton, it is one of the most iconic buildings in the city. It has over the years had improvements made to it and repairs. It is a beautiful church which has watched the land around it change and evolve over time and it is still looking over our city today. Near the church there also is a Saxon cross which is also very old. It would of had a lot of patterns chiselled in but over the years a lot of it has now eroded away. There is another statue behind the fountain of Douglas he was a messenger on a boat in the Atlantic sea during an attack by the Austrian Navy. Harris refused to leave his post in the midst of the battle, continuing to send messages calling for assistance, and was sadly killed in action.

There is more info here below for extra reading on such a beautiful building and its surroundings:

http://www.historywebsite.co.uk/listed/stpeterschurch.htm

Art Gallery

My next place to visit was the Art Gallery. The art gallery is a magnificent building and to me is perfect for a home for art. It has engravings and designs around the building which are very interested and are inspiring. 

 Can see here above the Art Gallery is next to St Peters gardens.

As you can see these photos show the Art Gallery's importance in Wolverhampton, it is a building that you notice and is very beautifully designed. It's a great Art Gallery and always has many different exhibitions on. I  went inside to have a look:

As you can see the Art Gallery was very quiet. I think this was because I went in on a Wednesday lunch time and not on a weekend when more people are off work. Having said that I enjoy it more quieter as I get to take in more whats around me. 

What was really great to see was an exhibition about an artist called John Fullwood who had created various illustrations of Wolverhampton around 1870. This I though was great and the right time for me to see especially along this journey around Wolverhampton. You can see in the images above John had sketched various buildings which I have been observing - St Peters Church and Lindy Lou Building.  Its great to see what the area use to look like and also how accurately he had drawn St Peters Church.

Place of work

   My last stop is where I work it is in a building called the i10 Building and it's the most modern and new building in our city built only 3 years ago. 

I work on the top floor as the main receptionist for a building developer. The view from the office is great and I can see a lot of Wolverhampton which is why I thought it would be great to use it for this assignment. Here are some of my views I can see:

    Here above is another very iconic building called the Chubb House. This was where the company Chubs made their famous locks and safes. It is now used for a cinema, small art gallery and home to a big children's publisher.

To the right of my view is the tallest building in Wolverhampton which is home to many of the university's students. Below it is the main railway station.

The view to the left is a picturesque view of Wolverhampton showing some of the iconic buildings - The Grand Theatre and St Peters in the background. This is a great photos capturing this areas of the town centre.

Wolverhampton Today and Future Development

    In Wolverhampton the last decade has been quite hard on the city. We have had so many shops close down due to recession and online shopping, we have have also been a city in debt - However in the last two years its has started to pick up noticeably - There is new housing popping up everywhere (me and my partner have recently moved in to a new build). The city centre is currently going through a huge revamp costing £50 million, which they say will be completed by 2021. They also have started to have new shops pop up filling in the empty buildings around the city centre. As well as this the wolves football team are thriving and the city has come together to join in with all the excitement about our ever improving football team. This shows whatever is thrown at Wolverhampton it still survives and becomes stronger with the people who live in it. I am very proud to say I come from Wolverhampton.

Other photos around the town for reference of the people and the atmosphere

Board showing map of Wolverhampton.

People shopping

 The main shopping street

 Jacket potato stand - It has been there since I was a child.

My Sketches of Wolverhampton

Here below is a video of my sketch book with all the sketches I have created from the past two days:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyeucXYc3zI&feature=youtu.be

I think my sketch book is great. I have gained a lot of information and captured scenes which are iconic to Wolverhampton.

Further Research and Ideas - What Type of Illustration Do I Want To Create?

    Here on the below link is a Youtube video I have created to discuss my ideas and more information about my days going around Wolverhampton:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-a2MRGwn31E&feature=youtu.be

After looking at the different options and my ideas, I have decided to create the theatre model illustration which will also get the viewer engaged in an activity in Wolverhampton.

Quick Sketches, Thoughts, Ideas and final four illustrations

Quick Sketches of each point of interest:

Final Illustration scene designs:

 I have created a video to discuss my thoughts, look at my ideas and discuss in depth my choices and my chosen illustration for the scene in the theatre.

Vid - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oa4EnE9kYBQ&feature=youtu.be

I have decided on creating the scene from St Peters gardens. It is an important special place to me, Wolverhampton *and would want the viewer to see why this is. I also think as this is for a travel magazine, its history and beauty would help promote the area and attract tourists.

Creating The Theatre

   Here below are some images I have taken whilst creating my model of the Theatre. I have also done two videos on the links below to show my process and thinking.

Vid 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2inOFSX66Wc

Vid 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkOvn7gWWGE&feature=youtu.be

 A chosen shoebox - which I thought was a great size to work with.

Photos above: Showing the groves where the slides of scene are going to fit in and the stage frame.

Above Photos - Stage now pained and ready to add detail.

 Photos above showing added detail to the Theatre. Using paper to create spirals and tassel textures.

    I am very happy with my stage that I have created. There were a few issues, such as the spirals were a bit tricky to make and glue on. I think I have looked at the grand theatre well and created its likeness as I see it. I am now ready to create one of the scenes. Again I have decided to create St peters Church and gardens. This is because when I went there is was a beautiful place and I felt its atmosphere - calm and magical. It is the oldest area in Wolverhampton, so a lot of people have enjoyed this area and it's peacefulness throughout time. I want to show the viewer what it is like and show people enjoying this area. 

Creating The Stage Design - St Peters Church and Gardens

For the stage design it was again best to show my process through videos, because there was so much to discuss and show. Here below are two videos and images of the stage process:

Vid 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCTZ8qY7hbw

Vid 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPM2yo4gozk&feature=youtu.be

I am very happy how the scene has come together and it shows St Peters Church and gardens how I see it.  I am now going to put the scene all together in the theatre ready for the final illustration vision.

Finished Model

Here below is my finished model and a video of the final process and what i am going to do next:

Vid - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEJpgskdhqY&feature=youtu.be

Taking Photos and Editing in Photoshop

   To create my final illustration,I am now going to create an atmosphere of being inside a theatre. The main key element to this is the lightning. In the theatre you have spot lights and special lighting to create different atmospheres depending on what the scene is about. 

     I asked my partner to help and be my light man whilst I took photos. I have some led lights which are used for a cupboard but as we have recently moved in our new home they were still available to use. They also change colour which is great in order for me to capture the right lighting.

     Here below are my best shots and lighting effects which I think enhance my model and give the atmosphere of a show at a theatre - The lighting is highlighting the scene as well as spotlights on the characters. This helps to highlight the important aspects of the scene and also to make the viewer look at these areas in the illustration to knowledge what the scene is about.

       Out of the two images above I like the one i took at an angle the best. This is because it shows depth and most of the time when attending the theatre you are not looking straight on at the stage. The seating is arched around the stage so this also creates a good composition for the viewer to make them really feel as though they are in the audience. Now that I have chosen my final photograph I am going to put it in to photoshop and finish the scene off by creating a darkness so it only shows what the light is highlighting as well as the people in front of thew viewer in the audience. It needs to be quite dark to grasp the atmosphere effect with the stage being the main highlight.

Final Illustration

Here below is my final illustration:

     I am so happy with the way it has turned out and I have grasped the scene well. When looking at this illustration you do feel as though you sitting down enjoying the tale of Wolverhampton at the Grand Theatre. All my research has paid off and I have created something not only ticks all the tasks boxes but also cleverly engages the viewer in an activity in Wolverhampton,

 Here above I have added some text as an added option to advertise the play on the stage. So if the viewer is interested when they see this is the travel magazine, they know what is is called and can go to the actual show (if there was one) to learn about Wolverhampton.

Final evaluation

I think my ideas is great for a tourist board and it shows local culture in Wolverhampton.

I feel drawing through life , going around Wolverhampton had captured a sense of place. I have produces 4 final designs and one which has been built and created to form a scene fit for its purpose.

My style is creative and I have pushed my boundaries with using paper as a medium. I really enjoy having an idea and then being hands on to make it happen in front of me.

My illustration shows vitality and life and people enjoying the beautiful environment they are in.

In my sketchbook I have documented and gathered information through sketches and writing references to remember important key aspects to what I was looking at. I have written about the weather, buildings with details, people and also key parts in history which come together with our modern day to create Wolverhampton's identity.

The final four illustrations are my best ideas of how to capture Wolverhampton's identity.These are based from my sketches, my memory of my journey and Wolverhampton's history. I have then picked St Peters Church and Gardens to work on and produce the scene in a model of the Grand Theatre.

I think what is also clever about my model is that I am also getting the viewer to join in an activity in Wolverhampton by looking as though they are sitting in the audience enjoying the show.
 

Reportage

Looking back at this Assignment 2 I have used both Science illustration and Travel Illustration which were my chosen top types of reportage.

How have I used it in this Assignment:?

Science illustration - It is quite hard to use science illustration in this assignment as I am not looking closely at a thing from nature or under a microscope - But I have used the process in a way where I have looked at Wolverhampton closer then I have ever done. I have picked things out and looked at them more in depth and discovered history and facts that I didn't not know before.

Travel Illustration - For this assignment I think this type of reportage was key to create my illustration to the brief. It is all about going on a journey and I did just that. I recorded atmospheres, history, how a place made me feel. I took in the sights, people and activities which were going on around me over the two days of researching and exploring Wolverhampton.

Final Thoughts 

    Creating the grand theatre was a challenge and I came across some areas which I found difficult like working how to make sure the layers of scenes stood up well and also all the details I added out of paper on  the grand theatre were a little tricked to create. 

The scene itself was fun to make and watching it come together was exciting. The props on the stage were also fun to do and because of this I am even more interested in creating a cut out animation hopefully in the next assignment I can to put my paper modeling skills to good use. 

My final illustration which I edited in Photoshop finished the scene and brings it all together. I think it shows Wolverhampton well and its identity. If I do have more time at some point in the future I would love to have ago at creating one of the other scene ideas and see how that turns out. 

Over all I feel I have done a great job here - my hard work has paid off. I gave myself a big challenge which helped me explore my skills with paper and making models. I have created a unique and clever illustration which is very interesting to look at.

Reflection on Assignment 2

Here below is the criteria points that cover this courses for assessment. I have put my thoughts based it on this Assignment to see where I need to improve and where I am doing well.

Demonstration of technical and visual skills – materials, techniques, observational skills, visual awareness, design and compositional skills - YES

I feel my compositional skills are great, my finished ideas are appealing to the eye and make the viewer focus on main aspect of an illustration. In regards to my medium paper, I feel I have shown technical and visual skills and I am always learning techniques to manipulate paper. I am Visually aware and take in what's on trend in the news and things which are important to people and life. I am able to portray a message through an illustration.

Room for improvement:
Perhaps look at photoshop and other software such as animation to see if it can enhance or improve my style. Sketch more of real life in sketchbook improve my observational skills.

Quality of outcome – content, application of knowledge, presentation of work in a coherent manner, discernment, conceptualisation of thoughts, communication of ideas - YES

My quality is good on my final illustrations - I take time to follow a process in which I show I have fully researched and attempted various ideas to produce the best idea on a project that I can come up with. I can communicate well through illustration and want to always push myself to become a great illustrator.

Room for improvement:
My downfalls in this area are my sketching quality and my written work. I am hoping by sketching more and everyday that this will improve over time. My written work I feel lets me down somewhat I don't use much terminology and I have always been a bad speller and forgetting my punctuation. I did speak to my doctor regarding this and filled in a questionnaire. I discovered that I may have mild dyslexia and this would make sense when it comes to certain things I struggle with. I am going to have a test in July which will let me know if this is true.

Demonstration of creativity – imagination, experimentation, invention, development of a personal voice - YES

I am very lucky to have a high sense of creativity and imagination. I love experimenting and inventing ideas which are fun and interesting. I have my own style which is noticeable and shows my personal voice. I am always looking at ways to develop and improve my style and look at various illustration types to see where my style fits best.

Room for improvement:
My imagination is great but not as good as when I was a child so I would like to improve on this and perhaps in my sketchbooks as well as observational sketching. I also draw from my brain and thoughts, especially when it comes to characters, stories and made up worlds. There is also room for improvement on my personal voice and style which I will always be developing in my Illustration life journey.

Context reflection – research, critical thinking (learning logs and, for second and third level courses, critical reviews and essays - YES

I am good at looking back at my work, looking at areas I could improve, keep note of things that work and things that don’t. I work well at critically thinking and like to explore and discover to generate great ideas and attain knowledge.

Room for improvement:
I could improve on explaining my errors at times when I get stuck on an exercise such as Making mistakes, accidents and research. .By critically thinking I end up discovering the answer or amending an area in an illustration which I am not happy with. This would show my thinking more and how I resolve issues and problems I come across. 

I am looking forward to receiving my feedback from my tutor and starting Assignment 3. I will take this reflection above with me on to it to keep in mind where I need to improve and also taking in what my tutor has to say to put me on the right path in becoming a successful illustrator with my own personal voice.