The Art of Art Final Pieces

So as it's been a whole year since we last saw each other (my doesn't time fly) I thought it would be well worth the while to give a little more detail on some of my favourite parts of the year - one of which is my first GCSE Art final pieces.

During the first half term of school we were given the project of "Structures - 2D"; for these we were assigned the task of choosing a structure - man made or natural - and develop it into a final piece. For this piece I chose "Marine Life" which I thought was quite neat since there was an infinite number of possibilities that could be used.

Over the next few weeks I needed to record, develop, experiment and present my ideas and all the while I had to witter on about the significance of every single element - easy marks but a little tedious to be honest. However, it was nice to admire other artist's work in a number of artist studies for which I chose the lovely Celia Hart (www.purplepoddedpeas.blogspot.co.uk) and amazing Fiona Humphrey (www.inkyprintsintheattic.blogspot.co.uk). Their work is such an inspiration and I could look at in admiration them for hours. Honestly...go have a look on their Facebook pages (Fiona Humphrey's is called Inkyprints Originals).

So over the term I came up with a design which I used in a mini final piece as a to-scale watercolour that would save me time later when it came to mapping out the print. Now I had been having some problems with registering the prints, being that the block didn't match up due to inaccurate drawing of the design; so I chose to design it on the computer and then transfer the image from there - far more reliable and less frustrating but a little time consuming for my liking though it had to be done.

Once these had been transferred using matte medium and toner I was ready to do the fun bit. So over the Christmas holidays I carved each of the blocks out ready to be printed on the schools press when I got back. I had to ensure that I didn't miss cut anything as trying to fix mistakes - although not impossible - is a little fiddly.

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These are two of the three blocks I carved. When I got back I spent a few days testing inks and colours before I printed them just to see how they looked overlapping. Of course this being a school I wasn't able to take a picture of the printing process (but fear not a post on this subject will arise at some point) but I do have one of the final piece. I was quite happy with the end results and for a first timer I don't think I did too badly, not perfect but just something to talk about when it comes to evaluating it, ehhh.

And so there you have it, a little and very opinionated insert to my first EVER final piece. As always I enjoyed writing it and hope you enjoyed reading it just as much.

I'll be off now to sort out what will be my next post...in the meantime feel free to check out my Facebook Page and Instagram. If you have any questions then don't hesitate to comment below and I'll do my best to answer them.

Have a nice summer.

Will 

What Gets the Ball Rolling?

"Where do you get your ideas from?" This is that question that those with the gift of imagination are always asked. Do you ever get asked that?...I thought so. Its a difficult one, the reason we hate it is because we can never answer it. You kinda say "well you know, it's just err, there in my head."

I have thought long and hard about what I should say, planning my cunning answer but I don't know whether I should go for the sarcastic approach - you know, "the idea shop of course." Or the immoderate - "I smash my head against a wall until an idea finds its way into my mind."
I realise that now I have this video from Riverheadbook (thank you) that I could just show them to answer the question for me:

But now I say it doesn't matter where ideas come from, no two people can have the same idea (coincidentally) if you do find someone who has exactly the same idea, well done you've just mastered the power of telepathy. It's not like there's a special technique to having amazing ideas. All ideas are the same (in terms of "amazingness") it's what you do with these ideas which counts.

I may not be able to answer that question but what I can do is tell you what has influenced me strongly over my lifetime. So I'll start with books. The books I have read are obviously one thing that has gotten my mind to where it is today and they will continue to do this for as long as I read them.

The Skulduggery Pleasant series by Derek Landy are by far one of the best book series I've ever read and they have along with Harry Potter, Edge Chronicles, Spiderwick Chronicles and the Far Flung Adventure books influenced me to be creative with my own work.

The amazing art work from Chris Riddle has inspired me to draw many times and I've always been keen to try different styles of drawing to influence my characters. Tove Jansson and Quentin Blake are two other illustrators I strongly admire.

If you have as much imagination as boiled cabbage than I say get off that chair your sitting on... yes you! I see you sitting there engrossed in this post, stop reading ...no not now, when I'm finished and go outside. Find those things you find influential because you can't get an idea from just sitting there.
Okay, I'm finished now, you can go.

Now that the rabble's gone I suppose I just want to know if there's anything specific that you want me to mention in my next post. I will be posting up some stuff over the next few weeks to share with you but in  the meantime, if you have any questions or need some advise, get in touch.

Bye y'all