Landscape Collages

This is a photograph of my mum and uncle taken in August 1977.  I used typefaces for this image and also for all of the images on this post because I felt it was how I could make it more contemporary while still using the old photos.  I text in the background is taken from a Hans Christian Andersen book which my mum still has from being a child.  I specifically used  the second section of the story The Snow Queen which

begins with the heading 'A Little Boy and a Little Girl'.

I used an old photo taken with a Polaroid camera for this image and used the text found on the back of it and incorporated it as part of the image.  I created a series of different compositions with this text until I decided that this was the best of them all.

I really really like this image because I think it looks the most retro of all the ones I've created and it turned out much better than I thought it would and the car is a nice touch in the corner.  I used the Roman Numeral 'V'(for 5) and also '5' simply because there are 5 main people in the image. The composition of the 'V' and '5' works well and they both blend in well with the image rather than looking out of place which I thought is what would happen.



This is a photograph of my great grandparents on their 25th wedding anniversary which is why I have used the Roman Numerals for 25.  The text beneath it says 'anniversary' in Hindi.  I chose to use Hindi because I like the shapes created by the letters and I thought they would present an additional visual aspect to the overall image.

HELEN BRIDGES.

I wanted to create a completely new set of images which are more collage based and resemble something similar to a landscape, a scene created by combining the photographs I have collected.  The outcomes will have contemporary graphical aspects to them but will still retain the vintage old feel given by the photographs.

I wasn't sure at first how to effectively compose the images I had envisioned so I did some research and came across Helen Bridges' work. 

Her work isn't exactly the type of images I want to create but it's enough to give me a clear idea on how I can compose my photographs and how I can introduce typography within the images.

Colourful Compositions!

Here is a selection of some of the images I have created so far.

I created the silhouettes by filling in the people's photographs from the family images with various colours using Adobe Photoshop and converted them into vectors to make the outlines smoother.  I based the colours on my own knowledge of colour coordination by constantly thinking about how people colour coordinate their own clothing which I think has worked really well in terms of my images.

In total I created 6 of these images all which include the geometric square lines that were inspired by the shapes on the figures shirt on the original image and I thought that it would compliment the images which I think it has.  Also in these images I have included the addition of Roman Numeral as they work well with the shapes and they also represent various numbers to do with particular persons life.

These 2 images have Hindi symbols incorportated within the image.  I chose them because I liked their combination of straight lines, right angles and also the curves of the 'O' and 'U' shapes within them.  They presented me with a few ideas on how to present them within the image and I have created a series of 10 with them.  These are just a sample of them.

In this image on the left, I have used the Arabic symbol for 'M' which is the first inital of the person in the image's name 'Mohammed'.  I created a variety of these images and also included the 'M' from the Phonecian alphabet as it was the Phonecian alphabet which became the bedrock for many writing systems including Arabic.

More Research

Research on designers that work with different languages other than English to get an idea on how I can put together my own images with the type I've collected.

 Reza Abedini

 I like how he's incorporated the text with photographs and outlines of people to be part of the same image rather than two seperate elements.  I also like how the photos aren't dominating the overall images.

Natasha Kumar

 

I've chosen to include some of her work in with my research primarily because of the combination of languages within the images.  What stands out to me the most however, is the bold, flourescing colours she uses in her work which I love.

Family Photos

A few of the photographs I will be using for my FMP.  I want to use as many of the photos as I can in some way, whether its taking sections for different backgrounds or utlising the outlines/silhouettes of the people in them for image making.

Alighiero Boetti Inspiration!

I came across the designer Alighiero Boetti during my research and I was drawn to the amount of colour he uses in his work and how, like on the Map, he doesn't conform to the idealism that sea has to be blue on an image which really attracted my attention.  Another thing which stands out for me is the variety of different languages he includes within his work such as Persian, Urdu, English etc.  This made me realise that I can push my project further by looking at the shapes of letter forms and symbols of other languages and incorporating them im my own work.

I also came across his 24 lettere dall' Afghanistan (24 Letters from Afghanistan) which has inspired me to include really old family photographs, some sent from Yemen and from my own family in England which have messages written on the back in Arabic and English.  I want to also look into other interestingly shaped languages such as Hindi, Thai and also the Phoenician alphabet and Roman Numerals.  By including family photographs I feel like my project is gaining much more depth because it's more personal and hopefully this will result in some interesting outcomes.

'g'

I've started looking at the shapes of letterforms and experimenting in different methods of creating them because I think that to incorporate type into my images as images rather than to communicate a message would be a much more interesting concept.

I thought of doing this during some observational drawing of type blocks.  My favourite was g because I really like the curves and shapes that create the letter, so continued experimenting with different methods in making it.

These are some of the experiments I attempted usings inks and pastels.  I made the 3rd image by creating the letter using maskingn tape and then dripping ink down the page.  The tapeacted as a barrier protecting the page so when it was removed I was left with the shape.  I'm pleased with how it turned out as I wasn't sure how resilient the tape would be and I like how the g is angular rather than curved.

I scanned the image and created a digital version using a combination of Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator because I thought that the marks made from the ink were nice and fluid and I was interested in what the outcome would be like if it was a digital image with block colours.  I quite like it in a way because I think the two tone colours compliment another but I think it would've looked better with bolder colours that aren't in the same colour spectrum.

Adjectives.

I've chosen to begin the project by looking at how designers create literal meanings from adjectives because I'm interesting in experimenting with different mediums and ideas and I think that this could be a good way of starting off as there are numerous methods, both 2D and 3D, to visually represent adjectives.

One of the designers I looked at for this is Alan Fletcher as he is known for his work with idioms and adjectives.  I've chosen to include the front cover of Beware Wet Paint as it is prime example of what I want to experiment with in creating literal meanings.  I was attracted to this image because of the bright, lively colours and I love how the paint drips and mixes together creating different tones.   

I also found lots of relevant designers in the book Font Family which I've found helpful and inspiring.

I don't feel that I have used or experimented enough with colour in previous design projects and this is what I want to achieve within my Final Major Project.

One of the adjectives I chose to work with was compress which I made using playdough and took a series of photographs of each stage of it being compressed between pages of a book.  I removed the background of the photograph using photoshop and placed them on a white background so that they could be the main focus.  I enjoyed making this because it made a change to conventional image making.

Another one I chose to experiment with is squeeze which I did during a sewing workshop.  I really enjoyed hand sewing type and will probably experiment further with this throughout the rest of the project.