Gipi watercolour process

Drawing in the Style of Gipi

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Objective

To improve your understanding of the process involved in line and watercolour.

To introduce the work of relevant practitioners.

To partly address assessment objective 2 & 3 'experiment' and 'record'. 

Task

Choose another page from your plan.
Gather examples of relevant iconography (subject matter).

Draw them in the style of the graphic artist Gipi—his work is shown below.

  Gipi's drawing style is loose. He has a wandering, broken line that is partly a 

  result of holding the pen further up the shaft. (I have included a video of 

  drawing of shoes executed in the same manner.)

Fill a spread (or A3 page) with examples of iconography from your book. 
Draw smaller than you usually would - about 7/8cms tops!   
our watercolour pans and brushes are small :)

Presentation

Take a photo of your pages and post to the blog.

Checklist for assessment

Loose but accurate drawing style with a wandering, broken line.

Time needed

40 mins.

s WQ

“The ceramics teacher announced that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality. His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would weigh the work of the “quantity” group: fifty pound of pots rated an “A”, forty pounds a “B”, and so on. Those being graded on “quality”, however, needed to produce only one pot – albeit a perfect one – to get an “A”. At grading time, a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the “quantity” group was busily churning out piles of work – and learning from their mistakes – the “quality” group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.”

- Art & Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland

Gipi painting a landscape in landscape.


Gipi drawing.

Planning the page content

Objective
To enable the effective page planning of the song lyric book.

Task
Using the example above–ten panels on each page–draw the template into your sketchbook.
Complete the pages by in putting the imagery on the left side and the lyrics on the right.
N.B. Ensure that your imagery and page lyrics match up! E.G. Left side - Cowboy on old TV / Right side - The lyrics ‘watching cowboy films on gloomy afternoons’


Presentation
Photograph (preferred) or scan into a new blog post. Post title: Planning the page content.


Checklist for Assessment
Neatness, clarity of information, clear images.


Deadline
tba

2 tasks for brainstorming your lyrics

Over the coming weeks, you will be embarking on a Song Book Illustration Project. You will be researching existing book layout, developing your own illustration ideas, experimenting with different processes and techniques and finally presenting a finished book. Your book will be at least 8 pages long.

The subject of your book will be illustrations of a song lyric - using the whole or part of a song.

Objective

To use the lyrics get as many visual ideas as possible.

To understand that early planning is best done using a pencil.  It's much faster and sparks the brain 10x faster than a word processor.

Task 1
Choose a suitable song, (believe me, it takes longer than you think) If you are struggling to find a whole song, choose 6 or more different ones that you find interesting - and could work well visually.

You don't have to understand what the lyrics are referring to, they could be very vague - the most important thing is that they are creating images in your head. Your job is to be 'poetic'.

Task 2

Take your lyrics (12pt, left align on an A4 page) and print off.

Using a pen or pencil, go through the words and associate any image you can–however obvious. 
Go for beautiful poetic interpretation.

Presentation

Photograph them and post them to your blog. 
Post name–Brainstorming lyrics.

To get a the best mark you can, ensure that your pages are busy and full.

Assessment Deadline

Deadline: 3.20 Tues 8 Dec

Take a look again at The Perfect Blog to check that you are presenting your work the best you can.

Please ensure that the following work is posted to your course blog. 

• (Xmas card - Final Jpeg) Not compulsory
• Type Poster - Final Jpeg
• Type Poster - Work in progress (full screen shots of Photoshop)
• Type Poster - Drafting (photos of sketchbook pages)
• Type Poster - Research (screenshot of Pinboard)
• Business Card - Final design (Photographs)
• Business Card - Work in Progress (screenshots)
• Business Card - Drafting (photos of sketchbook)
• Business Card - Research (screenshot of Pinboard)

Colouring Type

Quizlet - Colour Characteristics

Task
Learn the 11 colour key terms for a test on Tuesday 17th.

Quote posters

Objective
I would like to present a collection of inspirational messages relating to creativity on the RM41 wall. Using a quote from below (or one that you have researched yourself) and your own hand drawn and scanned font - create a beautiful 'type only' poster.  I'll print and laminate the best for the walls.

Task: 
Use your type examples and Photoshop to create a 'quote' poster.

Every child is an artist, the problem is staying an artist when you grow up – Pablo Picasso
Have no fear of perfection, you'll never reach it – Salvador Dali
Curiosity about life in all of its aspects, I think, is still the secret of great creative people – Leo Burnett
You can’t wait for inspiration, you have to go after it with a club  – Jack London
Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try – Dr. Seuss
Creativity is contagious, pass it on – Albert Einstein
Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.- Scott Adams
An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail. - Edwin Land
Creativity makes a leap, then looks to see where it is. - Mason Cooley
I go wherever my creativity takes me. - Lil Wayne
Creativity takes courage. - Henri Matisse
Clean out a corner of your mind and creativity will instantly fill it. - Dee Hock
Rule of art: Can't kills creativity! - Camille Paglia
But out of limitations comes creativity. - Debbie Allen

Presentation

Screen shots of work in progress and final design(s)

You will be graded on

Interesting type examples / 

Use of colour scheme - limited or complementary

Time needed

4 lessons

Deadline

tbc

Working with you type scans

Once you have scanned in your type sketchbook pages, watch either one of the tutorials below depending on whether you scanned a colour page or black and white.

If you have a BLACK & WHITE scan... watch this


If you have a COLOUR scan... watch this

The Perfect Blog

Type Categories

Create a barrage of handdrawn typefaces.

Objective

To improve your drawing skills
To increase your understanding of typography

Task

• Design a selection of type for use on a poster. On various pages of your book - draw interesting and contrasting examples of type (fonts). You may source these from anywhere you wish.
• For each letter of the alphabet, attempt a few differing versions.
• Work in any medium you desire — a mixture of pen, pencil, ink would be preferable - but remember that you may easily colour in Photoshop.
• Don't worry about creating the poster... we'll do that bit in Photoshop.
• Look on my Type Pinboard (HERE) for inspiration.

Presentation

Photograph your pages and post to your blog.

You will be graded on

Full pages of amazingness, quality and inventiveness. - 4 = A, 2 = C, 1 = E

Pages of experiments, beautifully bustling and busy pages of creativity.

Time needed

3 hrs

Deadline

tbc

Below is a video explanation of the task. Ignore the bit about homework.

Posting coursework to your blog - Business card project

Whenever you have coursework on the go, it is of utmost importance for you to present it in the way that will get you the most marks. Ask any of the year above and they will tell you that keeping on top of your posts it vitally important. If you are organised, you can do some of the writing / arranging at home.
The main ingredients to a winning coursework presentation are:

Evaluation 

Final Piece(s)

Work in Progress (screenshots)

Drafting (photos of sketchbook)

Research (screenshot of Pinboard)

For the business card project you need to create 4 posts. Each of the posts will need a small description outlining the process.
Research - screenshots (cmd  4) of your pinterest board
Drafting - image of your pencil draft
Work in Progress - screenshots of your photoshop doc as it progresses. Could also be shots of your drawings, scans, cutting your cards etc
Final Piece - screenshots of your finished PS doc, and images of your printed off and cut cards.   *

Getting ready to print your business cards...

Make sure you have the thicker paper (NOT cartridge paper!) and don't forget the headphones folks...

Editing you business card in Photoshop.

Objective

To gain confidence when editing scans and drawing in Photoshop.

Task

• Take your best idea.

• Now take the separate elements that are to be handmade and draw them neater in fineliner or pencil on a separate page.

• Download this digital template HERE and complete your design using Photoshop. I will show you in lesson, after that you may watch the above tutorial for extra help.

Presentation

Take a couple of screenshots of your design's journey in Photoshop and a photo of your sketchbook page.

You will be graded on

How well you understand how to use Photoshop to aid design choices.

The quality of your screen shots of progress - just take a couple

Time needed

2 hrs

Deadline

tbc

Homework: Collecting for covering your sketchbook

Outcome

An original and beautifully covered sketchbook to be proud of.

Task

We are going to have some enforced fun covering our sketchbooks!! 
Woohoo!! You will smile.

Your task starts now. Look around you and collect stuff to stick on the front and back.  Think about collecting example of type, texture, labels, patterns etc etc. Other than that, you could draw separate things and overlap them in a sticker-ish manner. When you cover your book, you be required to not leave and black exposed, other than for considered design choices.
I will provide the PVA glue.
Could you bring 50p for the stick back covering.

Lookey HERE for a link to a pinboard full of sketchbook cover examples... but you could really look anywhere for inspiration.

Deadline

Wednesday 23rd September.

.................................

Seriously, don't turn up this Friday without plenty of stuff or it'll be this...

Set up a Pinterest account.

Objective

Create a place where all the research that is accumulated during the course can be organised and referred back to.

Tasks

Go to Pinterest.com and create an account.
Create some boards - Typography (for fonts), Inspiration (for Graphics stuff you like)
Extra boards for cute cats are not only accepted, they are encouraged.

Presentation

Create a new Link gadget on your blog that links to your Pinterest boards.

Business Card intro...

Objective

To introduce very basic Photoshop skills

To introduce basic layout rules

Task

You are to design a business card for yourself. You are now a Graphic Designer and this requires that you make a good impression from the outset!

• Firstly, use 4 rectangles to draft out some ideas in rough for the front and back of your design in your sketchbook. Look for inspiration on Pinterest - you could start with my pinboard HERE

• You are only allowed to work in black and white at this stage.

• What to include? How about some of these... Full name, Job Title, Email, Phone No, Website/blog address, Facebook, Twitter etc etc... but consider clutter!

Presentation

Photograph your sketches (they're called 'Scamps' from now on)

Checklist for assessment

Detailed scamping

Screenshots of 'journey'

interesting design that has 'moved forward'

Deadline

tbc

Blog Header

Objective

Start using Photoshop

Task

Create a header for your blog.

Your name  /  GCSE Graphics  /  Unit 0
SIZE = 900 X 300 PIXELS

Presentation

Post to your blog.