Natalie G11 & 12 Artist Portfolio '15 - '17

Inspiration:

        I always have had the love of fashion. Whenever we get to pick a subject that we wanted to do in a project. I would always try and see if it was possible to have a project related to fashion. I had the mini extended essay about Coco Chanel and Christian Dior, a poem about a little black dress, a speech about how fashion relates to your personality… this project was no exception..

 

        When I first learnt about this project, I knew right away that I wanted to do something about fashion. I’ve been reading a lot of books and watching TV shows where girls were getting bullied by mean girls because of how they dressed. At that moment, I knew that my theme would be “Stop Bullying Against What People Wear”. I knew that this would be relatable by a lot of people, girls especially as they are normally the ones targeted.

 

        I believe that this is an important issue. Bullying can make the lives of a girl miserable. Even from something like critiquing how someone is dressed. I remember when I was a little girl, and my aunt made a comment about how bad my shoes looked. Even though that wasn’t really bullying, it still made me feel upset. I can’t imagine what all the girls out there who are actually getting bullied, feel like. That’s why I feel that this is an important issue. It helps make the lives of girls all over the world have an easier time during school. Without having to worry about being bullied.

 

        All the dress sketches that I have on my poster, were inspired by what I like, what I would wear, and what I want. The colors that I have on the poster are colors that I like and I also feel that it won’t overpower the poster.

 

Investigation:

       At the beginning of planning our poster, I came up with three different designs. For my first design, I had a ballgown with tiers that said “STOP BULLYING AGAINST WHAT PEOPLE WEAR” and fingers pointed at it, as if they were laughing. My second poster idea was a bit of a collage. I had girls in the middle facing different directions with pieces of preppy style clothing underneath. Then I had two fingers pointing to pieces of casual clothing at the top of the page. For the bottom, I had different non-designer brands and their logos, with fingers pointed at those. And at the sides, I had the “STOP BULLYING AGAINST WHAT PEOPLE WEAR” and designer brands. My final design was a pattern of mannequins wearing different dresses and the words “Stop Bullying Against What People Wear” in cursive, in the middle. After I finished, I had already ruled out design number two as it was too busy and it would take up way too much time in order to get it completed. So that left design one and three. In the end, I had picked the third one which I felt that I could show my skills at printing more.

 

        I also looked tons of pictures as inspiration for the designs that I drew on the mannequins.

 

Experiment:

        When we were doing our monogram carving, I experimented with different techniques so I could go straight into the carving for our final product. I learnt that it was safer to go a bit deeper than not deep enough. I also learnt that you have to be very careful with letters, especially if it is cursive as there are a lot of twist and turns, and loops which you have to carve out.

 

        I also experimented a bit with fonts. Even though I already knew what I wanted to use when I first came up with the design. It wouldn’t hurt to try a few other fonts. I tried all capitals, block letters, my normal handwriting… Some where bolder than other, and some where softer.

 

        I experimented with designs as well. I knew that if I was using the type of mannequins that I was, it would be easier to draw dresses on them instead of pants due to the shape. So I just drew different styles of minidresses, maxi dresses, tops and skirts. By using different necklines, lengths, and accessories, I was able to come up with a variety of designs that I am really happy with. Then came the problem of whether to use color or not, so I took two lines of mannequins with the same designs and colored one of them, and left the other one with just pen marks (I ended up with picking color).

 

       The final thing I experimented with was color. For the designs, I was using sharpies (which was really fun as I love using sharpies). I took different colors and applied it to different dresses, just to experiment on how the colors contrast or compliment each other.

 

Select:

        After I experimented with all the fonts, the designs, and the colors, I decided which ones to use. I picked my original font, which was the cursive with the heart-dotted “i”, I had picked which designs I wanted to use for my poster, and I picked the colors. At first, the colors would have been associated with the design of the dresses, but in the end, after experimenting with that, I decided to use a color scheme. It makes the poster look more put together and sophisticated instead of a third grade art class. The colors also compliment each other really well.  

 

       The selection process was very easy as I already knew what I wanted from the start. Once I have a vision, I tend to stick with it and be really stubborn about it. So I ended up not having to make a huge decision because I knew what I wanted the end product to look like.

 

Plan:

        After all the experimenting and the selecting, I had to actually plan my poster. What I did was that I drew a full size poster in my sketchbook. I had the number of mannequins that I wanted, I had dresses drawn up, and I had the text in the middle of the page. Everything was set up and measured in the full poster draft.

 

        Then, I had to plan what the stamp was going to look like, and get all the correct measurements. My first design was of the mannequins. I measured out 6 equal rectangles. Three on top and three on the bottom. I drew it out and made sure they were centered. Then, I traced it and transferred it onto my carving block.

 

        The text was harder to plan than I had first expected it to take, but not as long. At first I had the box of each letter marked out so each letter would be evenly spaced. But that didn’t work out so well as my text was in cursive. By have the letters spaced out, it made the cursive look very odd. I decided to just make four horizontal rectangles for the four rows of text, and draw a line down the middle. Then, by dividing the amount of letters in each row by half, I would know what the spacing would be.

 

        For printing, I was planned as well. I made sure that if we print the block (mannequin side) by lining up the paper with the edges of the carving block, it would look like it was spaced properly, and it worked. Also for the text, I took a piece of A4 paper and folded it into quarters. I measured the block and divided the width and length in half so I could measure out where the block was supposed to go on the paper. Then I could just line up my printing paper with the paper beneath the block.

 

Develop:

        From my first full poster design, I think that I developed it further a bit, but not as much as others did because I knew what I wanted from the start.

 

        I developed the dress designs as I didn’t use many of the dress designs from my first hand-drawn draft of my poster. When I had all of the mannequins printed out, I just went along with what comes up in my mind. I just looked at different photos for inspiration, and I redid all the designs until I was happy with it.

 

        Another thing that has developed are the color choice. As I have mentioned before, the colors started out to be a bit random. And not at all planned out. I was just following the designs. But later on, I made a color scheme that I could follow so everything would seem like it was meant to be together and not meant to be separate.

 

        The final thing that was somewhat developed was the text. At the beginning of this unit, I had planned to just write the text out with a pen or a marker. I didn’t expect to carve it out of the block. But when I learnt that we needed to use both sides of our block instead of just one, there was nothing else that I could have really carved except for the text. So I ended up having to carve the text from the block.

 

Create:

         How I first created this poster was by carving out the different prints that I wanted to use. After having transferred both prints onto the carving block, I started to carve off with the mannequins as their shape was simpler. I quickly finished carving it without much trouble.

 

        Then, I started on my second side. As the mannequins were quite evenly distributed on the other side, my block was stable enough to carve easily. The carving of the text took longer as there are so much detail and curves which were quite hard to do. While I was carving, I accidentally carved off one of the hearts that dotted an “i” so I had to fill that in with a marker instead of having it printed.

 

        After that came actually printing my mannequin background. At first because I had to mix paint together to get the color that I wanted, I had a lot of paint in my painting dish. so when I first made a print, there was way too much paint on there. But I ended up getting at least 4 good copies, because I learned how much paint was appropriate for this print and I knew how to line it up with the paper.

 

       Then, I had to draw the designs onto the mannequin. After I had finished all the experimenting with different patters and designs, I came up with one that I really liked. So I redrew them twice more for a total of three posters. I had to draw the legs of the mannequins as well. In the end, I think that they ended up being really similar which is good.

 

       Finally, comes the text. This was a bit nerve wracking as this was the final layer that I needed. I photocopied a few of my posters as a practice so I can get it right on my actual poster. When I finally got to my final posters, two of them turned out fine. But my last one wasn’t printed very well. I leaned that if you want to fix a print, don’t try and print on top of it. My last one’s text now has a kind of 3D effect (which was kind of cool, but not my original design).

 

Evaluate:

       If I had to evaluate my work throughout this unit, I would give myself an 7 out of 10. I think that my skills in carving are quite good because I ended up with a block of cursive writing which I am really proud of. I also printed three posters and I used symbolism instead of it having a literal meaning. I also feel that the way I drew the dress designs really enhanced the poster, making the poster look better without overpowering it. Also, I believe that my topic is “out of the box”. It isn’t something someone normally would think of when you say “social issue’. I didn’t give myself higher because I had screwed up my last print.

 

       I also recorded everything that I did in my Developmental Workbook. I included everything that I have that had to do with this unit in this workbook. I didn’t leave anything out (except for the multiple amounts of prints I did with the mannequins, but I felt like I didn’t need to show 15 prints in here.). Everything about this unit and this project is in this workbook. Therefore, I feel that I did a pretty good job with this unit. 

 

Response: 

      I felt that this was a great unit. It was actually really fun to carve. I know a lot of people who feel like it was tedious and that it took too long, but I actually like carving, and I find it relaxing, so I thought that this unit was really fun. It really made me open my eyes to see how important the printing press actually was. From just one block, I can make thousands of copies, and they would look exactly the same.

 

      I learnt a lot of techniques while carving. Which gauges to use for doing what, how to make sharp corners, how to get the little details. I actually found it easy and not hard at all, though I know some people would say otherwise. But for me, I really enjoyed this unit. It was incredible. I also learned how the proper way to print was. I always thought that you put the block on top of the paper like a stamp. But I realize now how easily that would smudge. I never knew that we were supposed to have the paper on top of the block until now. Also, as I said before, I learnt to never try and fix a print, by printing again on top of it. Overall, I feel that I learnt a lot during this unit. I learnt a lot of different techniques and I have a great time even with that last mistake..