Thursday 18 January 2018
Practical development - Reflection
My practical development much like my research took a while to fully get going and for a while unfortunately even started. I found a lot of annoying mental blockages in terms of not knowing how to instinctively 'illustrate' how i felt about music. This problem was solved by eventually narrowing down on what piece of music i would focus on for my practical work. I knew that it would most likely be a piece of instrumental as that is what is discussed in my essay and i also feel in an emotive sense, as that is also the main part about my essay, it works better for this way of working.
Of course the music i focused on was by the great composer Gustav Holst and specifically 'The Planets'. I found this collection of music amazingly inspiring in a way of being able to visualise music and incidentally before Holst settled on the name of the planets it was initially named as a series of sound paintings which of course perfectly encapsulates the themes and ideas of what my practical work would ultimately be.
From being inspired by the work of Stanley Donwood, i got to work on practical experimentations, using traditional process predominantly, or at least initially with watercolour and brusho. Two mediums which i found perfect for being able to reflect expression and emotion with for example the strike of a brush or the use of a certain colour.
The true development came from the digital editing of the experiments where i created the various album covers. I gained an understanding in composition elements which are very important for designing something as clinical as an album cover. Once again i was inspired by certain covers that Donwood has done for Radiohead and ultimately i effectively channeled a similar way of working but of course not in a copying sense.
Overall i am very pleased with how the practical development has gone and how it has crafted in a sense the way in which my final outcomes have been made.
Of course the music i focused on was by the great composer Gustav Holst and specifically 'The Planets'. I found this collection of music amazingly inspiring in a way of being able to visualise music and incidentally before Holst settled on the name of the planets it was initially named as a series of sound paintings which of course perfectly encapsulates the themes and ideas of what my practical work would ultimately be.
From being inspired by the work of Stanley Donwood, i got to work on practical experimentations, using traditional process predominantly, or at least initially with watercolour and brusho. Two mediums which i found perfect for being able to reflect expression and emotion with for example the strike of a brush or the use of a certain colour.
The true development came from the digital editing of the experiments where i created the various album covers. I gained an understanding in composition elements which are very important for designing something as clinical as an album cover. Once again i was inspired by certain covers that Donwood has done for Radiohead and ultimately i effectively channeled a similar way of working but of course not in a copying sense.
Overall i am very pleased with how the practical development has gone and how it has crafted in a sense the way in which my final outcomes have been made.
Initial Research - Reflection
Much like every other COP module that i've 'endured' on this course it started off with a feeling of not knowing where to focus my research although one redeeming aspect to this was i was very sure about basing it around Music. This was an easy decision purely because i know that this is where my practice lies. However, it was still no easy task as i was struggling with the narrowing down element of where to focus in on, trying to make sure my eventual chosen essay question wasn't too broad as that is where i struggle the most.
I was drawn to the idea of exploring the element of how visual art i.e illustration expresses music and sounds within its aesthetic and ultimately i aimed to create work that applied this same principle for my Practical work.
In my initial research i discovered the theorist Walter Pater and his quote - 'all art constantly aspires to the condition of music' this quote effectively got the wheels turning and ball rolling and it opened up new avenues of research to explore and delving into the theme of Music aesthetics and the visual within music and vice versa in a way.
One book that shaped a lot of research ideas was by Simon Shaw-Miller 'Eye Hear; the visual in music' was highly influential for me in terms of forming opinions and ideas and to get a better understanding of the certain aesthetic principles that reflect the visual in music.
There were a few stop and start moments particularly before i had eventually nailed down my final question of 'How can Illustration communicate the emotional resonance of music' which was down to many personal tutorial chats with Jamie which effectively moulded the basis of my research, discussing what was working and what wasn't or what types of research would be relevant or not.
The research continued throughout the process as late areas of research for the practical at least formed my ideas in terms of experimentation. Important finds such as the experimental and pioneering animation techniques of the likes of Walter Ruttmann and Oskar Fischinger who's animations in responses to scored music i found very inspirational.
Overall i believe the research in all was handled in a professional manner as once i had found an area to explore i got invested into the topic and followed it to find the influence and ideas that i knew i would get from this project. However there were many stop start periods and i did take a while to fully get going, which surprises me due to the whole topic, with it being based on the theories of music in an aesthetics sense should have grabbed immediately, rest assure it did grab eventually.
I was drawn to the idea of exploring the element of how visual art i.e illustration expresses music and sounds within its aesthetic and ultimately i aimed to create work that applied this same principle for my Practical work.
In my initial research i discovered the theorist Walter Pater and his quote - 'all art constantly aspires to the condition of music' this quote effectively got the wheels turning and ball rolling and it opened up new avenues of research to explore and delving into the theme of Music aesthetics and the visual within music and vice versa in a way.
One book that shaped a lot of research ideas was by Simon Shaw-Miller 'Eye Hear; the visual in music' was highly influential for me in terms of forming opinions and ideas and to get a better understanding of the certain aesthetic principles that reflect the visual in music.
There were a few stop and start moments particularly before i had eventually nailed down my final question of 'How can Illustration communicate the emotional resonance of music' which was down to many personal tutorial chats with Jamie which effectively moulded the basis of my research, discussing what was working and what wasn't or what types of research would be relevant or not.
The research continued throughout the process as late areas of research for the practical at least formed my ideas in terms of experimentation. Important finds such as the experimental and pioneering animation techniques of the likes of Walter Ruttmann and Oskar Fischinger who's animations in responses to scored music i found very inspirational.
Overall i believe the research in all was handled in a professional manner as once i had found an area to explore i got invested into the topic and followed it to find the influence and ideas that i knew i would get from this project. However there were many stop start periods and i did take a while to fully get going, which surprises me due to the whole topic, with it being based on the theories of music in an aesthetics sense should have grabbed immediately, rest assure it did grab eventually.
Summative Statement
Overall i have throughly enjoyed and most importantly have benefited from this years COP module. I knew from the start that my essay and then of course the practical would be geared towards the subject of Music, as my work always is but it was deciding exactly what kind of specific area i would be tackling. The eventual area of emotional resonance was chosen and this has been a very interesting subject area as it means that i now think of my visual work with a more in depth understanding in terms of how it translates what the music and sounds ultimately would look like, this is very important, the simple terms of illustrating 'what the music looks like.' I have also found a great influence in the work of Stanley Donwood as it is evident he applies the same ways of thinking for how the visual must translate the essence and feeling of the music.
As a result of my Practical work i have opened up a new side to my practice completely and i am very pleased with the fact that this is one of the ways the module has benefitted my work. I have always been mindful of textures and have usually included it into my work however with the ways in which i was researching for this project and how i have new informed ideas there is a completely different kind of awareness towards the importance of textures within my practice. The way in which it creates emotion or resonance through its aesthetic of the materials used or the colours in the work for example. With all that in mind i am very intrigued to see how else i can push my practice further, with these new informed ideas.
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