Collaborative: Break New Ground In Beauty Branding - Meeting one

(Ellie's copy of our mindmap) 

In our first meeting we discussed the brief - what is asks from us what we're going to make etc, and what we had already observed about gendered beauty products on the market. Mainly that everything for men was all blue and silver and black, even if it's the same product that would be sold to women, for example this cocoa butter, for men. It's unnecessary. 

We started to mindmap out ideas for our products and brand, going through different products we could potentially look into, the market and other such things the brief asked of us. We pretty much decided on skincare products such as moisturisers, scrubs, masks, concealer etc. as everyone has skin and there are people of all genders who are concerned with skincare or have a skincare regime. 

A few different names were toyed with, we considered something with 'X' and 'Y' like the chromosomes but thought that this would make it less inclusive as it may ostracise intersex, transgender or gender non-confoming people. We ended up deciding on 'Taboo' for a few different reasons, one being the fact that gender identity and other LGBTQ+ things are still seen as a taboo in society. We thought we could play with Taboo as well, maybe make something fun or risque. 

From this meeting we've decided to go out and research different beauty brands that are gender neutral or are relevant to our project. 

A Clockwork Orange - Text

I sketched out this text, thinking it would be cool if I used a stylised old typewriter type text. I like the chaotic scribbly look and  the disarray of the letters, links to the chaos of the story and the character of Alex. 

I wanted to do the quotes in this writing too so I wrote out a whole alphabet with the intention of re-arranging it. However when I started to do this I realised it would take such a long time and probably would distract from the rest of the cover. So instead I'm just going to keep the title and author name in this text and have everything else in a typewriter style font that goes with this. 

A Clockwork Orange - Development

Been doing some paper-cut & pen drawings from my favourite bits of imagery. I'm quite fixated on this orange cross section as the eye as it includes an orange and  the eye links to one of the most recognisable / iconic scenes from A Clockwork Orange - where Alex has his eyes held open etc.


I'm enjoying the looks of these. I think the black linework works really well against the orange - it's striking, plus I got a lot of positive feedback in a peer crit about this. I'm sticking with an orange and black colour scheme because though it may be cliche, I think since the other imagery will be less so it helps identify the book in a way. Also orange is a pretty striking and youthful colour that fits the book and the target audience of younger adult readers.

 The paper-cut shapes especially when they're a little bit misaligned have quite a nice hand-crafted quality to them, which I like and would like to carry through to the final thing as I quite like the hand-drawn quality of one of the original book covers. I feel like doing something with a more modern style but still hand-crafted would pay homage to the books roots. I feel like this shouldn't be too polished, there should be something imperfect or unsettling about it to reflect the tone of the book itself.



Since I got a lot of positive feedback on one of my roughs that pictured the character of Alex on some orange stripes (intended to be prison bars) so I've done a bit of development on the character. In every drawing I have included the oranges as eyes as I just like the imagery, I think it's fun. When including more of the shoulders they're not really noticable either, so it's kind of just something extra to find on the cover.

I think the last drawing of Alex I did using black gouache is something I'll use on the cover. I'm pretty happy with it, the lines are smooth and the black is solid - I like the way the shadows look on it. The shade around the eyes definitely makes him look like a shady character, Not a nice man.

Responsive: D&AD Shutterstock

The first thing I did was make a spider diagram of all the story archetypes and think of things in everyday life that fit into the categories. I thought this would be better than flat out choosing which three archetypes I was going to do as I could explore the scope of each of them and narrow it down. 

From this I decided to go with "Tragedy", "the Quest" and "Voyage and Return" as there were some ideas that I wanted to pursue and things I had some imagery already in my brain for. I really liked the idea of focusing on really mundane bits of everyday life rather than bigger events.

The quest: I decided on the quest for coffee, because it's relatable - lots of people get coffee in the morning (myself included) and sometimes it's a real quest getting that first coffee of the day into your system. I did a lot of roughing out of different compositions trying to find the optimum quest pose.

Tragedy: A few ideas I had for tragedy were -  Missing the train/bus in the morning, messing up your  makeup, and throwing up after a long night partying. Tragedies I think everyone can relate to. I thought about going for 'break ups' but I found that too cliché, I wanted to do something that's a smaller part of life and make it big!

Voyage and Return: The voyage and return is described as the hero going to a new land and returning with nothing but experience. I wasn't really sure how best to depict both the voyage and return in one image, but my idea was going to the city for a job interview.

An option I considered was one of these types of images that show a whole narrative, much like ye olde Adam and Eve type paintings that would show the whole story instead of just a section of it. 

Eden by Lucas Cranach

Though it would work for the one image I don't think this layout for one image as part of a set of three would hold up, so I'm trying to work out something more suitable so that the three images flow a bit better. I've done a few sketches of public transport type things as that can show the journey - and be a voyage or a return.

Responsive: D&AD - Shutterstock

The brief: 

There are seven different story archetypes; overcoming the monster, the tragedy, rebirth, comedy, voyage and return, the quest, rags to riches. All stories follow one of these archetypes. The brief set by shutterstock is to take everyday occurrences that fit into these archetypes and create images based on this. Choose three of the seven story archetypes and create one image or video based on this. Has to have a real life basis, not fantasy! - MAKE REAL LIFE EPIC

" WHAT’S ESSENTIAL 

Three images or video snippets, each telling a powerful visual story. 

A 30 second video explaining your process and the background to your work (use voiceovers and / or subtitles, but don’t talk directly to camera)." 

The Archetypes

Christopher Booker's "The Seven Basic Plots. Why We Tell Stories" analyses stories and these archetypes. These archetypes are used in everything we use to tell stories - books, TV, film, advertising etc. 

Overcoming the Monster

•  Hero sets out to defeat an evil force that poses threat to them or their home
• Examples: Perseus, Star Wars: A New Hope, James Bond, Avatar

Tragedy

• The protagonist has a flaw or makes a mistake that is ultimately their undoing 
• ("A form of drama based on human suffering - that invokes an accompanying catharisis or pleasure from the audience")
• Goes well with schadenfreude 
• Examples: Romeo and Juliet, The Picture of Dorian Grey, Revenge of the Sith

Rebirth

• Within the story an important event allows the character to change, or change their ways - usually an improvement
• Examples: Beauty and the Beast, A Christmas Carol, The Frog Prince

Comedy

• Lighthearted, fun, with a happy and cheerful ending, more than humour - events make the conflict more and more confusing. Perhaps like a sitcom misunderstanding. 
• Examples: Twelfth Night, Bridget Jones' Diary, Four Weddings and a Funeral

Voyage and Return

• The hero journeys to a strange land and returns with nothing but experience
• Examples: The Hobbit, Labyrinth, The Odyssey, Spirited Away, Alice in Wonderland

The Quest

• The protagonist &co. set out to complete a task (get an item, reclaim a homeland and slay a dragon etc) facing many obstacles along the way
• Examples: Lord of the Rings, Watership Down, The Land Before Time, Iliad

Rags to Riches

• protagonist gains wealth, power, love etc. Loses it all then regains it, growing as a character
• Examples: Aladdin, Cinderella, The Prince and the Pauper

OUIL504 About the Author Evaluation

This module has been such an exciting but challenging module, and I feel as if I've really pushed myself and developed my working style a lot throughout the project. A big plus about this module is that I was excited about it from the beginning, there was no point where I thought “wow this is boring”. Being a cliché goth I chose Edgar Allan Poe as my author and I definitely went to town on the research, I found out so much about his life and works that I didn't know! I think the depth of the research I've done really helped me to have some insight into Poe’s work and made me more able to capitalise on key features of Poe to translate into my own work. The research was on-going through the module as well so it really informed the development of my work, which I feel took a big turn in the middle of the project.

I think that this brief has enabled me to think a little more outside the box, in the beginning of the module I was making quite dark, spooky, predictable imagery in response to Poe’s work. Through crits and more exploration of sudden, seemingly random ideas I was able to come to a final product that was much more interesting than anything I would have initially made. This has made me realise / think that I should be doing this kind of thing for EVERY brief, and I am definitely going to try and be generating more ideas and breaking away from the cliché. However I've also found that it’s good to do some cliché stuff just to get it done and out of the way so you’re not tempted by it later on in the project.

Through this brief I have been able to try out loads of different processes that I don’t think I would have bothered with before. I feel like I'm now more open to experimentation and trying different things to find out what’s really appropriate for what I'm doing. I came into this brief assuming I would probably do screenprint, because that was a printing process I was comfortable with. Although my end publication was screenprinted, it was not to accommodate my comfortability (or I would have digitally printed it and saved myself the struggle!). The workshops were really useful for me as I found a love for lino printing in this module. I did not really enjoy lino printing prior to this as it’s a long process and usually I do not have the patience for all that cutting.  The images I was making were coming out pretty successfully and matched the tone of the work I was doing so eventually the positives for my screen prints were derived from my lino prints. I feel a lot more comfortable in the print room, and with print processes in general, I definitely want to continue and do more lino and other print based work!

I am really happy with how my final print work came out, though I made some minor and quite stupid mistakes I think overall my final outcome is good. Since I have managed to keep my blogging (mostly) up to date I think it’s easy to see the development and thought process that’s gone into this module. I think this is almost definitely the most work I've ever done on a module so far and the happiest I've been with any of my work.

Although I do not feel like I've been stressed for time, and I've gotten most things done in good time I don’t think my time management and planning have been the greatest. I only ever made plans when there were definitely only certain times I could do things such as print drop in etc. We were even given timetables to fill out and I didn't, though I have been trying to get things down in my diary. I've found in the two weeks I did plan out and make lists for things ran quite smoothly and I got stuff done with time to spare, so I am going to start making comprehensive lists and plans for the weeks, as it seems to work.

If I were to approach this module again I would definitely dedicate more time to After Effects and sting as I feel as if I didn't try as hard as I could on it. I would have liked to have done some more experimentation but instead I just put off the whole process, as I was not particularly thrilled about having to make an image move. I did make a sting that I am mostly happy with though, I worried that it would be too simple but it’s better than nothing. 

Overall this module has been equally amazing and stressful. The whole project was so exciting for me and I loved doing it. I never got sick of my author or the work I was doing I just got more enthusiastic about the project the more I learned about Poe. I think I've come out of this module with more skills, better work, and a healthier mindset towards completing work and best of all I'm happy with and proud of what I've done!

About the Author: BEST BITS

About the Author: Final Publications!!

These are my final publications!!! Out of all the prints I did I managed to fold maybe 6 of them almost passably acceptably? A lot of them came out total trainwrecks because... while I planned the size of everything while I made the positives in photoshop, I NEGLECTED TO PUT CROP MARKS ON ANYTHING, so each strip I trimmed down to different sizes and this folding the pages was really hard to get ones that lined up properly! A lesson for next time - crop marks are important. Also I'd printed against the grain (as I forgot everything Ben said about having to print with the grain to make folding easier!!!!). I also forgot to put my name on it, but I have an idea of adding a label to the ribbon or something, this only really matters for colours may vary. 

Instead of making a belly band I decided to tie ribbon around my books as I thought this accented the whole 1800's gothic feel of the book. I chose black and green ribbon to match the colours of the book, though now I'm wondering how red might have looked. Overall I think it just adds the finishing touch onto the book and makes it look nice and pretty.

There was a small typo on my final prints and I'd spent so long printing them, I didn't have the heart to go back and do it all again. Initially I thought I could probably cover it with some of the left over printing ink and correct the mistake with tracing magic, but the cover up did not blend into the background so well. Other options I considered were; cutting off the back page entirely, just leaving the typo because it's quite small and I'm not sure anyone will notice unless they're looking for it, or the last one that I attempted that was adding a black ink circle over the typo, as if a bottle has been put down on it. This way it still relates to the overall theme of the work, but also covers the typo. The only real issue being that it then obscures some other bits of text, but I like how it looks to be honest. 

As my prints were on two strips (each half a sheet of A2 paper) I had to join them together, I decided to use black card for this as it is a stark bold contrast. I thought it would probably end up a mess if I'd tried to join the pattern on the back together over that fold, so I decided black would look best! I toyed with the idea of using fabric but forgot to pick up any when I went to the shop. This is probably for the best as PVA glue was useless so I ended up having to use contact adhesive to glue the book together, and it probably would have seeped through fabric. 

Overall I am extremely happy with how they came out. I got a lot of good feedback on the colour scheme and concept of the publication and I feel very proud of myself as I feel like this is one of the biggest projects I've undertaken, I had to learn a bunch of new skills / practice old rusty skills to be able to create something of this calibre. I feel good about it. I think the idea I had was quite fun as it takes Poe's work and brings it into a modern light what with the fancy beer and labels being quite fashionable right now. Hypothetically it could bring information to light and inform people of Poe's work, when they may have not initially been interested. Someone asked why I did beer labels instead of cognac labels, as Poe was a big cognac drinker, and truly it was because of the already brilliant pun in the title "Never Bet The Devil Your Head". One that I didn't end up using because the lino didn't translate so well was "The Cask of Red Death"

IT'S EDGAR ALLAN POE'S BIRTHDAY

(Image not by me) 

About the Author: Final Printing!

AKA INTO THE HELL SPHERE

Final printing got off to a bad start as all of my initial green layer prints came out badly! (I had neglected to re-expose my screen to fully harden the emulsion, so it was still a bit sticky causing pressure problems). Luckily this means I would at least have some throw-away pieces to practice folding with. During this process I was able to find a screen printing method that worked for this piece. I initially tried to print the whole A2 image in one swoop, but couldn't get enough pressure on the squeegee. In the end I found doing each side one at a time with a small squeegee was the best way around this, as it was easier on my small arms and I was able to get the right amount of pressure (though the prints still messed up because of the problems with the emulsion)

The second round of printing went a lot better after I re-exposed the screen. The green came out well and the half-tones showed a lot clearer too! Though I did notice that my positives must have gotten some moisture on them as the edge of one of them is a little wonky, but since they are already exposed I couldn't do much about it - Note to self: Check positives before exposing. 

I had 10 in my first batch of messed up prints and 10 in my batch of new prints so 20 prints. That's a lot of prints, and I decided to do the black layer on them all!! Because why not!! The black layer was more time consuming though due to registration and because I could not print both sides at the same time, I had to do all 20 of one side and then clean that strip and do the other side. It was a long process, but the prints looked really great once both colours were on!! Some are better registered than others, I really tried my best not to lose my cool with this long process, but it was worth it in the end! Also once the black layer was on even some of the really bad green prints didn't look as bad as I thought.

I was also able to easily print a pattern on the back so it wasn't blank either!! Good times. 

From one of the messed up prints I've made a mockup of my book, which is looking pretty good (aside from the terrible folding, but it is only a mockup!)

FOOLISH PROBLEMS I HAVE ENCOUNTERED

 * forgot about printing with the grain so folding is going to be a right old mess, I will just have to TRY

* considered spacing when putting together photoshop files initially, did not include any crop marks, so some spacing problems will doubtlessly ensue. 

*There is a small typo, not really got the time or patience to correct it though as I would have to re-print the whole thing, so we'll just have to deal with that. Maybe I can find a way of editing it by hand.  I do not think it's that noticeable unless you know it's there, or are a proofreader - a lesson learned to indeed... proofread my work and get others to aswell before final printing!

Otherwise I'm pretty happy with it. 

About the Author: Final Sting

I decided to do some fiddling with audio for my sting as initially I thought I would just use a 15 second clip of 'Descent Into the Maelstrom' by Lennie Tristano, which is an improvised piano piece inspired by the feel of Poe's writing of the same name. (I'm living life on the edge by not using sounds from a free music source, but I really thought this music would be appropriate - and as it is only a small clip hopefully we can slip under the radar). I thought the clip of Christopher Lee saying "Quoth the Raven, Nevermore" would fit nicely into my sting too, so I thought I would make an ungodly merge of the two. 

Edgar Allan Poe - Sting from Amber Kaplan on Vimeo.

My final sting is quite (very) simple but I like it. I think it's better that I did something simple that looks kind of alright than try and do something really complicated that would stress me out and probably end up looking bad. The theme of the sting matches the theme of my publication, keeping the bottle motif and the same colours - so there is a sense of continuity within the work. I made the sting from lino prints I had already done as I thought the texture would reflect the tone of Poe's work - and would tie in my print work with the sting.

I think the audio goes quite well with the imagery but it also makes me laugh along with the zooming in on the Raven's face.

If I were to do this again I would definitely start the sting earlier in the project, as I kept putting it off in favour of doing the print work which I felt was more important and was also something I was excited about, whereas I just wanted to put off the sting for as long as possible.
Storyboarding is where I fell down a lot as I kept floating around with ideas too big for 15 seconds and changing bits and pieces, not settling on anything. If I had storyboarded more effectively and dedicated more time to animating bits and pieces then I probably could have made something slightly more complex. 

Responsive - A Clockwork Orange - Final Design options

These are the 4 designs I thought might work best for the cover. The back cover and spines will need more thought on them but I figured once I developed one or two of these designs the back covers would be easier to think up.

Responsive: A Clockwork Orange - Initial Sketches

To begin the Clockwork Orange brief I did some sketching while I read the book, noting down some of the slang and memorable quotes.

I've been sketching mainly in orange because, despite it perhaps being cliche - how can I not use orange in the design?

I've found myself using a lot of eye motif's as that scene is pretty iconic, wondering if because of that its too cliche? A scene that stuck in my mind is where Alex is hit in the eyes with a chain as well, but since it's not a main point I'm not sure if many people would recognise or capitalise on this point, as it's such a small bit of the story.

Incorporating oranges into the eyes has been something I've enjoyed doing, as it keeps an aspect of obvious imagery but changes it into something new. I've been drawing a lot of boots too, as it is an aspect of the fashion that is mentioned several times in the book.

The book is about youth culture, and social reform and such I think I would prefer to make the cover something to do with the story itself rather than a visual metaphor or something more cryptic.

Since the brief wants something with good type I was thinking about a fully type design, where all of the slang words are written out and the letters for "A Clockwork Orange" are highlighted in a different colour, but in my sketches I have not been able to figure out the logistics of this in practice - I feel like this would actually turn out a mess, and I would prefer to have some kind of imagery.

Image wise most people I've shown have liked the last image of Alex in prison - I think this works as the orange bars against the black line-work is a striking contrast. Also the imagery presents a central theme/ scenario of the book and it's clear what is being shown. I think I will definitely pursue this though I still have a few other ideas I'd like to get down.

I have done a lot of sketching but not a lot of real good drawings, and while sketching has been good for getting out ideas I feel a lot of my work falls down because I do not practice actually MAKING IMAGES to a high quality as much as I should. In the next stage of development I will definitely capitalise on this.

About the Author - Action Plan - 11/01/2016

OK WELL. My sting is half done at this point, I've really got to get on top of that but I'm mainly focused on getting my prints done. I messed up my prints on Friday as I hadn't re-exposed my screen, so the squeegee wasn't gliding as smoothly as it should be, resulting in pressure mess ups and just some really terrible prints, so I will have to print the first colour again!!! Luckily I think I have enough time for this

11th - AM: RE-EXPOSE SCREEN & REPRINT FIRST LAYER
PM: PPP

12th - Assessment Briefing - GO GO GADGET FINISH THE PRINTS
At home work on some audio for the sting. 

13th - Work on, if not finish, sting.  & Mockups / folding practice (see Lyndon about folding techniques) 

14th - AM: Lecture, PM: Responsive 

15th - COP / Whatever needs finishing because I didn't stick to my plan

About the Author: After Effects test

I needed to mess around with after effects a bit to try and figure out what the hell I was doing with myself.
 
Poe Sting Test from Amber Kaplan on Vimeo.

This is just a really simple test I did of zooming (and positioning so the bird will stay central while zooming). I added the wink as a bit of charm.
I tested a few other bits, such as stretching and fading in text etc but I did not upload these because of space difficulties I was having.

I'm not sure I feel confident doing my sting but I feel like I can make something simple, and I'd rather do something really simple that looks kind of okay than stress myself out trying to do something above my skill level that will look bad or I won't even finish in time!

About the Author - Action Plan Week Starting 4/01/16

In my head I thought I would have been able to get my screens exposed, or some printing done before the Christmas holidays but, I WAS WRONG. I did get my screens coated though so that saves some time in screen preparation, and my images are ready to turn into positives.

I will need to print them A2 in the digital print room, which is booked up until the 12th January so I will have to go to drop in.

4th - Turn images into positives (figure out how to do the half tone thing)

5th - Morning: Crit,  Afternoon - Work on sting since I can't do anything about print until Wednesday

6th - Print out positives and expose screens

7th - Morning -Screen-print is booked for Illustration, possible printing day! ( lecture is at 11am, and it's on the Gaze so I shouldn't miss that. so I would only have from 9.30 - 11 to do any printing, setting up would take some time out of that, might not be practical) Afternoon - Responsive

8th - Morning - COP, Afternoon - Print drop in (Prime time for printing) - Aim for 1st colour done

Print is booked for Illustration on Monday and Tuesday as well.