This week we are required to choose a selection of images, ready for print for the Final Major Exhibition.

I am finding myself struggling to choose between the first half of my images (which contained a very colourful aspect) and my second half (where I had handcrafted the image, and tend to be in much more neutral tones). This week I am going to edit my handcrafted images and see if I can fit them into backgrounds. Hopefully this will help me towards the end of the week when we will hand over our digital images.

Monoprints

Here is an example of one of the Monoprints I had made. I photocopied an image that I had used in my work, enlarged it and recreated the shape using the ink.

I chose this print because it worked out the best, even though it was unexpected. I like the way the linear pattern doesn't quite fit into the shading aspects of the image.

The effect of the miss-print is a quality that I have always admired and used throughout the course of the foundation year. I hope to use these images when editing my handmade images.

Below I have selected a few of my handmade images - I have a collection in a sketchbook which work as final images themselves. Now that I have this selection I can use them for editing in Photoshop.

I found that working in this way was much more effective, and I also really enjoyed making each image.

Each image alone symbolises a certain aspect of Britain, before I have even had chance to work on them.

handmade images

Martin O Neil

O Neil's work has inspired me to work in a more handcrafted way. This way I can produce many images in my sketchbook before I can edit them in editing programmes like Photoshop.

His use of pastel colours and black and white show off a really delicate way of working. Although this is very different to the way I have started off the project.

Fish and Chips

I am analysing my surroundings everyday to see if there is any scrap images/typography I can use within my work.
Here I have collected newspaper headlines - stuck them into my notebook as a basis to an idea. I am starting to use paint mixed in with this so that I have that "mixed media" effect.

I really think this way of collecting "random" paraphernalia for my project is a successful way of working.

As the deadline is getting closer, and i am finding myself getting more and more flustered, I feel that I might run out of time to get all of my ideas down in a visual format. So i have decided that before I continue doing any more digital editing, I should get down as many collaged/visual images into my sketchbook - at least then I will have the body of work I hoped for. From that point I can then go back and edit these images easier.

I believe the process of digitally editing images in Photoshop takes up too much time and I should do this once I have a variety of works to choose from.

For the past few pieces I feel that I haven't really designed anything truly British.. so I intend to focus more on the traditionally British aspects from now on.

Playing In The Park

I am finding it difficult to incorporate typographic elements into my designs. This is something I am going to work on from now on.

Ideas I have had to help do this:

• find out statistics.
• photocopy passages about the topic.
• create my own fonts and use within the designs.

To help my project along I will also plan ahead and create my backgrounds for the next theme - giving the paints time to dry so I am able to work straight onto it.

Using the idea of having a main motif within my designs I begin to produce more detailed and interesting ideas. I am making more use out of my sketchbooks as I begin to build up ideas for each theme.

These images are of the British holiday culture: I want to use ideas such as tourism, photographs, Butlins and swimming. When making decisions about my next theme, I gather my imagery together and organise them into my sketchbook so I can then use these ideas many times.

I have decided to choose a theme for each time I am in the studio, so I will eventually have a diverse range of work available to choose from when it comes to printing my favourite for the final piece.

I believe that working in this way will work best and I really enjoy coming up with new, fun ideas. I plan to carry on working in this way.