Design Boards

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.

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. 

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. 

Final Album covers - mockup images

Final Album Covers

Final Essay

Artist inspiration - John Squire

These are examples of work that i guess has subconsciously inspired my newfound way of working. I particularly feel it has inspired one of the album cover type images that i have done. This is the work of John Squire who is actually the former guitarist of the Stone Roses so it doesn't get much closer than that in terms of responding to music baring he mind helped create it for the band. 

The 'expressiveness' is what i'm drawn to. Its in a jackson pollock-esque way, which i have recently been thinking about and applying technique wise in my own work. It is a mark of in a way how i am moving into a more abstract sense of illustrating and working within my Practice. I wish to carry it on and depending on if i continue to push my own boundaries then i am quite excited to see where it goes. 

Bringer of War 2nd Album Cover (slight change)

Here is the slight change that has been made to the previous cover that i had made on the same image. There are subtle differences and changes that i believe have now made it a better outcome. 

And because i cant make my mind up heres another one...

Mars/Mon Olympus GIF 2

Mars/Mon Olympus GIF 1

Full 'soundtrack'

The Bringer of War - Album Cover

Heres another image that is a bit like an album cover type response for my practical. I aimed to achieve the tone of the music (as is of course the whole theme of my COP this year) within the textures and shapes that i have made. Its all based around depicting a view on mars itself and it is inspired/is representational of Mon Olympus, the colossal mountain  on Mars.

Below is the inspiration for this i would say. Its another brilliant piece of work from the main man i've been researching, especially for my essay, Stanley Donwood. Theres a similar sense and essence of capturing the atmosphere and tone within the textures and the composition. Colours also play an important part in terms of dictating the overall tone. This happens to be a dark tone for a fairly dark Radiohead record so he once again captures the right feeling for the image to match the music, hence what i aimed to do with this latest image of course. 

And of course there has to be a mockup of the cover and i'm quite happy with the way this one looks. 

Mars GIF to music

Here i have made the GIF into a video type format along with the audio of Mars which i downloaded from - https://archive.org/details/Holst-ThePlanets/Marte.mp3

It feels really good to actually be able to see a visual element i have made put alongside the music and it definitely allows the two to have new forces in terms of the audio and visual together. Its just 1 minute long as a way of keeping the file size down and it starts with the start of the music itself. 

Second Mars GIF/animation

This is another GIF which although very simple, as in theres not a lot going on, i still like it for its effectiveness. I feel this would have been the kind of direction to go with these GIFs or animations but it does feel very late in the day now. Especially since i still have the essay to finish off although it is very nearly there now. 

Mars GIF

This is a very simple GIF that i have made from the album cover type image that i created. I would like to ideally make these kind of GIFs with the music going along to them and in a way i have attempted that here however the sequencing is it a bit odd for it. I wish i had started thinking about simple animations like this sooner as its a bit late in the day now i feel. Especially in terms of making them a form of my final practical outcomes, unfortunately these all feel like tests even at this late stage. 

Experimental GIF/Animation

This is a GIF/short animation i have made which is quite random and out of the blue if i'm honest. While its aesthetic might not be exactly relevant to theme of my practical, with Mars (the bringer of war) visual responses i still feel this is relevant to the themes of my recent research, being inspired by the likes of Walter Ruttmann and Oskar Fischinger, this is my attempt at something similar. I made it with a type of music in mind so it is in that sense in response to music which is the whole theme of my practical investigation. The vibrant colours are a hint at the synesthesia aspect within my research, giving an idea as to how they experience visuals quite differently to others. Unfortunately i don't think i have time to do proper animations on after effects but i will try and create more GIFs/animations on Photoshop, time permitting of course. 

Planetarium album

This was brought to my attention recently and i thought i had to make a note of it for obvious reasons concerning my project. The album came out last year in June and has been met with mixed reviews as far as i can take it, also i havn't given it a listen yet but i'm suspecting due to its overdrawn run time i may feel the same. 

However in light of the themes of Gustav Holst i believe it has to be praised for creating a concept album in this era of music and i can only suspect that these four guys were inspired somehow by the work of Gustav Holst with his work on of course The Planets. 

I do quite like this cover and it is very much in a similar style the way i have created my planet shapes although mine are fairly ambiguous in terms of actually depicting planets of the solar system. The way in which the sun has been depicted is the most effective part visually for me with the rolling firey flames in the deep reds and oranges. Other than the cover is a fairly simple one but its been done in a very effective way, particularly admirable in the way that its mostly analog rather than digital. 

Below is a review from Anthony Fantano where like the other critics he reviews fairly indifferently, i might give it a shot at some point.