So after realising I needed to work from photos, (which incidentally is how Peter Arkle creates all of his work, so I should’ve realised from the start) I gathered some further primary research. These photos aren’t supposed to be anything special, they’re not stand alone photos, they’re merely tools to work with.
Continue reading Third Set of Primary ResearchCategory: RESEARCH
Zine 2 – Leather and Oak
This zine caught my eye straight from the front cover, minimal with the illustrated, imperfect circle in the middle. The background clearly just blacked scratched crayon on paper, with all the mistakes and strokes kept in. I like this as it comes across very bold.
Continue reading Zine 2 – Leather and Oak
Zine 1 – Honey Drunk
The first zine I looked at was called ‘Honey Drunk’ by Rachel Rolseth. It was all about the use of plants and natural ingredients, in which was a natural recipe for mead and other elixirs. I really enjoyed looking through it, I thought the illustrations were very good.
Continue reading Zine 1 – Honey DrunkZINES
I couldn’t find zines to borrow or for sale anywhere! So when a mate told me about a book shop on bold street (Liverpool) called News From Nowhere Radical & Community Bookshop I was very happy. I really wanted to study a zine in person; how big they were, how many pages they had, what type of paper they had, the content, the illustration, the cover, overall aesthetics. For a (on the scale of design) very small publication their is so many elements to what makes a zine what it is! Although they’re not music related I feel they will really help me progress in this project.
Marion Deuchars
This is one of the artists who caught my eye in the book full of illustrators. Marion Deuchars’ use of typography was the reason I instantly liked her work. This ‘homemade’, art and craft style she displays throughout her work is one that I think would really work in such a zine I’m producing. It has an authentic, welcoming feel that i feel would be very fitting for a homemade zine, it adds a sort of personal touch connecting to the audience.
I really enjoyed watching this video, She explains her methods of work and why she works in such a way, what makes it useful to her. At 1:58 she explains that ‘the tendency when you go on screen is to tidy up those mistakes… I think mistakes are interesting’ I love this! This is exactly what I’m going to follow through with when producing my work it gives the typography a ‘DIY’ personality, like you can feel a personal human touch there.
This sense of humanity is something I really want to have in my zine so Marion’s lettering and type will really inspire me in this area.
Illustrator Discovery
With 445 illustrations, The Picture Book: Contemporary Illustration mini edition is a compilation of work by 80 illustrators from across the globe.
This book was a perfect find, I was struggling to find illustrator who I really liked the aesthetic style of and then I came across this book and found three! I will do further research into all these artists.
Colour Theory Research
I felt it was important to research colour and the psychological experience of it as it is a massive choice I have to make within my work and want to have the knowledge to make the right decision. Colour is a huge choice in any design and very broad but that makes it all the more important to get right
David Hornung is an artist/educator from the city of New York, his book ‘Colour – a workshop for artists and designers’ fascinated me and stood out as something really beneficial for me to read. The part that interested me the most was ‘Part Eight : The Psychological Experience of Colour’.
I want my zine to reflect the band(s) it will be featuring while keeping a visual style. So I think it’s important to have a set palette of colours that runs throughout. This book helps with this with how and why I should choose a certain colour. The band(s) that will feature in my zine will be new, up and coming artists who are excited, passionate and modern, so I’d like to document them in a fun, exciting way that attracts new listeners and makes people want to listen. It will primarily be a documentation of the band as new, upcoming artists however every band wants publicity so it will inevitably become a publicity device. This is important to remember.
one extract from this book really stood out for me it follows;
‘The most nearly universal colour analogues (such as warm and cool) are probably rooted in human biological needs that are connected with such fundamental attributes as health and survival or pleasure and pain. As diurnal creatures, subdued lighting can evoke strong emotion in us. Without clear vision, we are more vulnerable, and vulnerability provokes apprehension. Conversely the clear colours of good vision and good weather elate our sense of safety and wellbeing. The effect of our specific colour groups can also be reasonably attributed to our personal experiences. But one should refrain from drawing facile conclusions about individual colours from such conjectures. Dark colours, it might be argued, are depressing, while bright orange. which is both warm and clear, lifts us up. But darkness can also be rich, like coffee, and bright orange can seem quite mad. Isolated colours may evoke associations, but only in an unreliable fashion.’
Hornung, D.H, 2005 . Psychological Experience of Color. In: L.K . King, ed. Colour a workshop for artists and designers. London: Laurence King. pp. 128-136.
This paragraph is really interesting to me, the whole chapter is to be honest and will be very useful knowledge for when I pick a colour for my zine. After all this I might go for black and white, I’m still undecided. I wanted to research the connotations different sets of colours give off because this will set the whole tone for my aesthetic.
Zine 3 – Psyched-i-y 70’s Inspired Craft Mag
On first glance this zine is bright and colourful with a two tone, contrasting colour theme catching the eye. You quickly learn this is a theme that will run throughout the zine but for some reason it grows stale and overused. This is the only one of the zines I looked at that, that I did not enjoy.
‘Edited and created by Gemma, an art student in Brighton’ you can tell the Artist is not as developed as the other two artists I have looked at. The work is absolutely on the right lines but I can’t put my finger on what’s missing. I really enjoyed the two tone/ half tone ‘print’ look at first but it feels over used and by the end a bit cliche. However, I don’t know if the dated look is what she was going for with it being ’70’s Inspired’.
The content inside the zine is really good I thought, very interesting, especially the stills that feature in there. I thought these were a really nice addition and it’s actually some really nice photography as well. I also love the paper she’s printed onto, it’s like very thin card. The layout opening sideways is also pretty cool this is something I could think about when creating mine.
It’s always good to research something you don’t feel too keen on aesthetically as to stay away from certain things and know why you’re staying away is great.
Peeches Interview
A small interview with the band with questions written by me. It will be written up as a feature in my zine. I would’ve liked to have been there but I unfortunately ran out of time both times I made my visits down! However, I think it’s still think the interview went very well and fits the breif perfectly. The only thing that would’ve been an advantage having been there, would’ve been delving deeper into certain answers, having more of a conversation. But for my purposes this should be great!
Bido Lito!
Bido lito is a Liverpool based Newspaper focusing on art, music and other creative cultures. Featuring interviews with upcoming bands, actors and various other artists. It tells you about events coming up in Liverpool and the dates they’re happening. They’re great for keeping up to date with new upcoming artists, exhibitions and musicians, I love reading them I think they’re boss.
I have quite a few issues of Bido Lito, although it’s battered I chose this one for the interviews inside. They’re going to be very useful for me as a big part of my zine is going to be an interview with the band, I wanted to know what sort of questions they ask and how they display this all.
JackTaylorsFMPll 