More experiments

I have recently been filling my days with more experiments. From tyring to recreate the look of an old tattoo and playing about with illustrating stories and sea monsters.

A tutorial with Dan has seen me question my research question yet again, and really think about what I want to discover.

I have done more experiments with fabric, and printing and thought extensively about where my skills lie. My background is textiles, and I considered working onto an old sail with appliqué and embroidery. I think I will most probably stick to the globe as final outcome as I feel there is more scope for earning a living making globes. I am uncertain if the skills I have will ever result in a lucrative career, however I am enjoying imagining, playing and drawing the superstitions for my globe.

Look into my eyes… The outline of the eye is the fish symbol.

Above shows more experiments with paint on leather. The leather is very thick and the water is absorbed quickly. The graphite paper, used to trace the drawing, doesn’t bleed quite as well as the watercolour pencil and leaves quite a dark line.

Shipwreck Museum

I leant about Eurydice on a visit to the Shipwreck Museum on the Isle of Wight. They kindly opened the museum and allowed me in for a tour and chat. I met Gary, who let me record him talking about his sighting of the ghost ship Eurydice twice off the back of the Island.

I have been questioning my drawing skills. Looking at the illustration for the figurehead for Eurydice, I decide that my drawings may be Ok. As creators, in a world of digital and AI drawing, we are faced with a perfectionism that can be intimidating. I believe there is an aesthetic standard that has perpetrated design, making it too smooth, bright and unreal. It takes away how the individual views the world and makes everything homogenised and generic.

These thoughts made me take a look for the kind of contemporary illustrations and that I appreciate, and here are a selection, they are all different but all have a sense of fun; Charlotte Farmer, Klara Graah, Stella Murphey, Jason Sturgill, Solji Lee, Anan- Laura Sulliven.

Charlotte Farmer Illustration | Home

Repeat and Rotate

The connection, for me, between textiles design and globemaking is the never ending, the repeating of pattern. A seamless continuum, and the precision required to create the uninterrupted. To repeat and rotate, repeat and rotate, repeat…

After a group crit I am feeling even more uncertain about my drawing skills, or lack of. Thinking of using just text and texture to get around the issue. And then I get the following message from Briony in our group chat. Nice words, but when I look at his style there is so much more depth, looseness and beauty.

Lurid beauty of monsters: Tim Burton comes to Moma | Film | The Guardian

AI?

The Roman word Superstiso is the origin of our word superstition. It translates as to stand over (in awe). In my essay I have suggested that our thought on AI could in some way be a parallel to superstition of days gone by. We find Ai an awesome and somewhat scary prospect- It is largely unexplained and misunderstood by many, but has been created by human imagination and ingenuity. It also takes my mind back to the guest lecture by Anastasia Galicheva and the cute exhibition.

Ai Generated images; Neptune

Neptune and carriage, some of these are somewhat entertaining, with extra legs and strange angles. particularly the large beige image, where are those conjoined horses going?

Different AI drawing styles, including ‘old map’ style bottom 4.

I think with my own drawing I am trying to emulate ‘old map’ style, having worked for many years with old maps. I think need to develop my own style further and see where it will take me.