Process and Production Summative Evaluation

Over the course of this module I've developed lots of my skills and become interested in some processes that I had previously written off, I feel like the quality of my work depends heavily on the brief it was produced for this module. I think my Visual Journal and Printed pictures briefs are particularly strong though I feel like my Moving Pictures work slightly lets the rest of my work down. Overall though I definitely think my Printed Pictures work is the strongest in this module because as a process I feel it really enhances the work I produce as it goes hand in hand with working digitally and can often take digital work to the next level, I also feel that it brings back a hand crafted side to digital images that you just can't get with digital print it is a process that I definitely want to carry on with and in the future I can see it even being something I build my practice around. One thing I will definitely consider next time I work with screen print will definitely be scale as I think i was a bit naive when I initially decided to work at A1 and though i'm really happy with how my prints turned out in the end I think if I scaled them down to A2 they would have been much easier and quicker to produce, though I do think the scale in a sense is what makes the prints really stand out and contextually most film posters are A1 anyway. My Final pieces for this brief are some of the best work i've ever produced though there are still some errors that could have been re done if I had more time in the print room or worked at a smaller scale, I think they work well for what I intended them to and thats one thing thats tied all my work together for this module by telling myself it was for a TV series very early on it helped tie all my work together visually.

The Moving Pictures brief just was not for me I felt like I was forcing myself to do it for the sake of it where as with the Printed Pictures brief was the polar opposite and I really enjoyed working that way. I think the most successful part of my Moving Pictures brief was the text at the end of my animations as I felt this worked really well and produced the atmosphere that I really wanted for these pieces, It also created a synergy with my Printed Pictures posters that really tied my work for this module together and I think was one of the strong points of my work. I think on the end the animations weren't as strong as my initial drawn animation I did as I think due to rather than the portraits being face on they were from different angles the lighting became much harder to work out, if I was to do this module again I'd change the faces so they were facing forwards like the original.

I think the way I've used my Visual Journal for this module is different to the way it was probably intended to be used, but rather than try to shoehorn in work that didn't need to be there I found a way to make it work with my practice, such as a lot of the images I created for my visual journal went on to become printed pictures work or moving pictures work, Usually when I've decided what work I intend to produce for a brief the only drawing I do related to the brief is the thumbnails and the final images, I don't really see the point in creating work that won't be used or relevant so I decided to explore printing more and use this as my visual journal, in doing this I got to explore a lot of the areas I wanted to such as printing on t-shirts, printing white on white and doing gradient prints. I think the gradient prints are some of the strongest work I've produced in my time on this course and again is something I want to continue experimenting with, It's just such a shame that in the end they would have looked odd in the set as all the other posters had been produced white ink onto black paper they wouldn't have fit the set though I think thematically they work much better for the book than the white on black Images. I'm also really happy with my time management on this module which has made my work much stronger due to me pretty much finishing my Printed Pictures work the last week before christmas and having the rest of the time to focus on my animations which I think helped my final work. I did have some problems at the start of the module with time management due to being ill and I think my early visual language work might have suffered from this but I feel like I made up for it with my later work.

overall I think this module has been a success for me and I'm looking forward to seeing where I can take screen printing in the next module though I don't think animation is something I will be returning to in a hurry if I can help it. I'm also looking forward to seeing where I can take my work with a visual journal in the next module I think having a slip in folder and working on loose paper has really worked well for a visual journal and I can't see myself going back to sketchbooks at this point.

Process and Production Proposals

My initial proposal was...

Printed Pictures

I intend to produce...

I want to make an A1 screen printed film or television poster for a series based on American Gods by Neil Gaiman. I want to keep the product fairly simple but I want to produce the final piece on coloured paper and make a few variations on different coloured paper and I also want to try out metallic inks for the title. I also would like to produce some screen printed t-shirts reusing some of the assets from the poster and the animation.

The content will focus on...

I will focus on the characters and narrative of the book American Gods and how they can be portrayed through a film poster and set of t-shirts. I really want to get across a sense of atmosphere and the personality of the characters.

I will be aiming to communicate...

I want to communicate a dark atmosphere fitting of the book the film would be based on, I also want to communicate the key narratives of the characters and the split personalities of the characters.

To an audience of...

16-50 year olds the audience i'm aiming for are the type of people that watch HBO shows such as The Wire, Game of Thrones and The Sopranos, So I want it to apply to a mass audience rather than a niche audience. It would have to make people want to watch the show and not just apply to Neil Gaiman fans.

Moving Pictures 

I intend to produce...

3-6 10 second stings based on the novel American Gods by Neil Gaiman for a proposed tv show, these would work as a promotional tool for the potential tv series.

The content will focus on...

I intend to focus on the duality of the characters in the books and the contrast between the characters and there gods, most of the focus will be on the characters themselves and different aspects of there personality and motifs related to them.

I will be aiming to communicate...

A similair atmosphere to my poster and t-shirts, I really want both outcomes to work well as a set. The main point of the animations though would be to work as a promotional tool for a film or TV series and to get people interested in the show.

To an audience of...

The audience will be the same as the poster and t-shirts... 16-50 year olds the audience i'm aiming for are the type of people that watch HBO shows such as The Wire, Game of Thrones and The Sopranos, So I want it to apply to a mass audience rather than a niche audience. It would have to make people want to watch the show and not just apply to Neil Gaiman fans.

It s later changed to...

Printed Pictures-

I intend to produce a series of A1 posters based on an American Gods television series for HBO, I plan on producing 3 posters one for American Gods and 2 based on spinoffs Anansi Boys and Coming to America. The series could also potentially have a fourth print as well depending on how well it fits with the others as a set. I changed my idea around the time I was working on my planned A3 posters and they really weren't working so I decided to look at what I'd produced so far for this project and see what I could re-work or where I could expand on ideas to produce a series of A1 prints.

Moving Pictures-
I intend to produce 3-4 10 second stings based on the same television series as my posters and they would work as teasers for the show and would be shown in Ad breaks and online before Youtube videos. I want them to have a dark atmosphere matching the show and the posters so to do this i'm going to use a similar limited colour palette if any. Each sting will focus on one character from the book/ television series, They will be in the same style as my drawn animation was though I intend to incorporate some slight movement and I want to have a background this time.

Process and Production Printed Pictures Finals

Process and Production Moving Pictures Finals

Process and Production Visual Journal

Process and Production Group Animation

This was my first attempt at doing a group animation with all 3 characters I feel it is fairly successful but the portraits flash far too quickly between each other.

This is the slowed down version I'm much happier with though I'm still not 100% sure about the animation, I feel like I don't have the skills to fix it without spending a ridiculous amount of time going between photoshop and after effects trying to fix it.

Process and Production Character Portraits

These are the portraits I did for my animations based on characters from the book Anansi Boysthe first one is Fat Charlie then Anansi and the third is Spider. I'm really happy with how spider turned out though the other two are ok I dont think they came out as well as Spider did. There are definitely some parts that could use work such as the left eye on Fat Charlie which was something I was really struggling to get right due to the angle of the image whereas the Anansi and Spider images were much easier angles to draw.

Process and Production Printed White

During the printed pictures part of this module I also did some prints in white ink onto white paper which I think were really effective, though definitely not as film posters due to them being very hard to see which is part of what makes them interesting whereas these film posters were designed to catch peoples eye and thats very hard to do if the image is barely visible. I haven't photographed them to go on this blog as when I tried to Photograph them I couldn't get it so the design is visible.

Process and Production Layout

This was the first preset I did for my animation where the characters will fit in the first five seconds with there faces flashing. I need to rework the texture behind the text as at the moment it is far too hard to read and gets lost though this was something I had already anticipated, apart from that I'm fairly happy with how they're turning out.

This is a version I did with my initial drawing I did of Spider though in the final one the lighting will change and the face will flash.

Process and Production Idea Change

I've slightly changed the ideas for my animation rather than try to produce one for each of the proposed tv series I did posters for I've decided to focus solely on Anansi Boys as I feel this will make my final pieces much stronger and I wont try and stretch myself too far, and this way it will be much more manageable. They will still each focus on one character but now also intend to do one that incorporates all 3 characters into one sting.

Process and Production Animation Texture

This was my first attempt to include texture into my animation hough I'm having trouble getting the texture to go under my initial animation though this is due to the way I've done my drawings for the animation and in future I need to make sure there is a clear outline to my initial frames rather than them fading into the background.

Process and Production Animation Sound

This was my first attempt at adding sound to my initial animation I quickly realised that while in some places it worked the music was far too mellow for the atmosphere I was trying to create and I would need a much higher tempo song.

This was my second attempt using the first ten seconds of Kanye West's Black Skinhead and I feel it works much better as the high tempo of the song matches the changes of the lighting and it synchs up very well in some places.

Process and Production Animation Background

This is my Background Im going to use for my animations I decided to go for high tempo changes to match the pace of the lighting changes, I think the texture and brush used to create the effect also helps the animations link with my posters. I think this will work well behind the characters though I will probably have to rework it so it will work behind the text better.

Process and Production Text Photoshop Test

This is the test I did in Photoshop I feel like it works but I'm not sure if I'm 100% percent happy with it, I think next time I should make the texture slightly lighter and also on it's own it looks far too quick for what I had in mind though this might change when I put it into the context of the animation.

Process and Production American Gods Text

These are my title card and tagline for my American Gods animation, I used the same typeface and design as the ones on my posters but added "Neil Gaiman's" to the top of the main type. I intended to have this on the posters but I couldn't get it to fit with the design of the poster well. I plan on added some texture to the background of the type though I'm not sure what to do this with as if I do it in photoshop it will probably be very quick changes but if I use After Effects I can have the texture slide across the back of the text in a much more subtle way, I'll probably just try both and see which one works best as the photoshop version might be best just to keep the pace of the sting.

Process and Production Animation Backgrounds

This is the background I did for my animations I wanted to get the speed of the changes right so they'd fit well with my concept and when I did my initial test animation the changes of the lighting on the face were very quick so I needed a background to match this. I also used the same brush as I've used for most of my posters backgrounds as I really waned to create synergy between my posters and animation.

Process and Production Re-evaluation of Ideas

At this point I though it would be a good time to make a post re-evaluating where I'm heading with this project, what I intend to produce and where my ideas have changed.

Printed Pictures-

I intend to produce a series of A1 posters based on an American Gods television series for HBO, I plan on producing 3 posters one for American Gods and 2 based on spinoffs Anansi Boys and Coming to America. The series could also potentially have a fourth print as well depending on how well it fits with the others as a set. I changed my idea around the time I was working on my planned A3 posters and they really weren't working so I decided to look at what I'd produced so far for this project and see what I could re-work or where I could expand on ideas to produce a series of A1 prints.

Moving Pictures-

I intend to produce 3-4 10 second stings based on the same television series as my posters and they would work as teasers for the show and would be shown in Ad breaks and online before Youtube videos. I want them to have a dark atmosphere matching the show and the posters so to do this i'm going to use a similar limited colour palette if any. Each sting will focus on one character from the book/ television series, They will be in the same style as my drawn animation was though I intend to incorporate some slight movement and I want to have a background this time.

Process and Production Initial Anansi Boys Prints

Due to my forgetting to check the digital print opening times over christmas I had a day in the print room before christmas where I didn't have my A1 negatives, so to get around this I took my design for the Anansi Boys poster and divided it into 4 A3 images and taped them together and exposed it like that. In the end they weren't particularly successful for what I originally intended though I do think the look fairly interesting and I really like the way the type looks in black printed onto white. I think these prints also gave me a good idea of what my final print will look like which is helpful.

Process and Production Gradient Prints

I decided seen as I had some spare time and I already had the screen prepared to do some gradient prints based on the one I posted earlier for my contextual research, I'm really happy with how they've turned out and the final image is really strong. When printing I was having problems getting the consistency of ink on my own due to the scale of the piece so I got someone to help me and it worked much better having two people push the ink through the screen, I also had a problem with the screen flooding at the top of the image though I think this can work with the image.

Process and Production A3 Printed Posters

This is my screen printed version of one of the a3 posters I did I'm still not particularly happy with how it turned out and has only made me decide that it was definitely the right decision to switch from a3 posters to a1 posters. I think they work well on coloured paper but the image isn't as strong as my earlier prints I did on coloured paper.

This is the printed version of the design I did for my t-shirts I decided to do some on coloured paper, I'm really happy with how they turned out but the text didn't come through like I thought it wouldn't on the t-shirt so i'm glad i removed the text.

Process and Production Initial Poster Prints

I've done some initial prints based on my first poster design I did, I think they are ok but they aren't really turning out how they were in my head I'm losing some of the detail I had originally on the digital version, I think this might have come down to when I cleaned and exposed my screen I don't think I did it properly as this was the first time doing it by myself. I think next time I might try making the entire image half tone before printing it rather than just the grey bits.

I think on the next version I may also remove the bits I intended to print in Silver and Gold and I might make them white instead so this print works better with my other posters that are white onto black paper.

Process and Production Preparing for Screen Print

These are my final designs prepared for print I did this by inverting the original designs apart from the text as I plan to print on black paper. I also fixed some errors from my last post such as the type on the Mr Wednesday poster. I also changed the poster into greyscale and half tone images so they would print the different shades while still only using one colour.

Process and Production Finished Poster Designs

Process and Production Mr Wednesday Poster

This is another poster I did for American Gods I scanned in my drawing I did earlier in the project again, but this time I changed the resolution to a much higher DPI this time so I can print it at A1 to work with the rest of my posters. This is the image i'm most worried about printing as i'm not sure wether it's going to work or not, I'm also not sure wether it'll work in the context of my other posters as the style of the image is quite different to the others, also compositionally it's very different to the others though I do think it works very well as a striking poster. I chose to use this image as I think some of the prints I produced with this image printed in white ink on dark paper is some of the best work I've produced on this course and I think it could be really effective at A1.

Process and Production Coming to America Poster

This is an adaptation of one of my earlier designs I did for a poster, I scaled the original design down slightly so it would fit into the frame I used for my other posters I also moved the viking silhouettes at the bottom up slightly so they fill the bottom of the frame. I again changed the tagline for the poster to Coming to America as this again would be a spin off from the original poster. I think this will work very well next to my original image as I think the compositions and processes are fairly similar. 

Process and Production Anansi Boys Poster

This is my poster I did for screen printing I intend to print it at A1 the same as my other poster, I decided to do this as I felt the A3 prints weren't really working so I decided to do something slightly different and do a series of A1 prints. I changed the date on the poster to 2016 and I changed the tagline on the poster to the subtitle for the series which would be based on the novel Anansi Boys which is set in the same universe as American Gods and shares some of the characters and I think it would work well as a spin off.

Process and Production Print Processes Contextual Research

I found this poster on Pinterest and I really liked the gradient they've used, I think this is something I could use on one of my posters maybe not as one of my final posters but this is definitely something I want to explore in my prints, though I think this could fit fairly well thematically with an Anansi boys print.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/filter017/sets/72157625939127456/

Process and Production Final T-shirts

These are the final T-shirts I produced I'm really happy with how they've turned out, especially the way the ink has come through on the t-shirts in that it's not a bright white and it's come out as a fairly dark grey but I think this makes the t-shirts look much more striking.

I had some problems initially getting the screen to print properly as I had bits where the ink was leaking through the screen so I put more tape on the bottom of the screen so it didn't come through. I also decided to remove the type as well as I felt it wouldn't print properly as the design was too small.

I also did
an experiment on a grey t-shirts I'm happy with how it turned out but I think the black t-shirts work much better as the design is far more visible where as the grey t-shirt it fades too much into the grey background. One thing I wish I could change on these t-shirts is that I should have printed the design out slightly larger so the design fills the shirts a bit more.

Process and Production A3 Posters

These are some posters I did for my final pieces that I proposed, though in the end I feel that these are much weaker than some of the other work I've produced for this module and they felt really rushed. I think I need to re-evaluate what I'm going to do for my final pieces at this point.

Process and Production Blu ray Cover Designs

I decided that I felt my final poster wasn't enough for my printed product I decided to try making screen printed blu ray covers.For these I looked back at my contextual research I did on Criterion Blu Ray covers and how they'd been designed, and that was the style I was trying to emulate but have a more commercial side to them. This is my initial layout it was ok but I felt it didn't look professional enough and the text on the front is far too big. 

This is the refined version of the blu ray cover at this point though the covers were leaning far more towards being a Graphics project rather than Illustration and I was spending far too much time making sure all the text was lined up. though looking back the font for the synopsis definitely needs changing. I quickly realised this was going to be unprintable using screen print as its too small and it would be vey hard to get the level of detail I wanted. Though I did some mock ups with the reference images I would have used.

I also did a mock up of the net for the box the blu rays would go in using the t-shirt image on the spine though in hindsight this would definitely be unprintable with the process I wanted to use.

Process and Production T-shirt Designs

These are the designs I did for my Screen Printed T-shirts, I took the image of Sam Black-crow from my poster design and adapted it for a t-shirt. I added some more modern typography to the image as I felt it would work better on a t-shirt I changed the colours of the feathers so that when I did print it I could do it in just one colour, as this was my first time screen printing t-shirts I wanted to keep it simple.

This is the mockup I did of my t-shirt I felt that the white might look a bit cheap on the black t-shirts but hopefully when I print it like my earlier prints on black paper hopefully it'll come out slightly more grey. I'm also not sure about how well the text will come through on the final image as it's meant to be too small.