Graphic Design - Making marks

The first part of the graphic design pathway began with us warming up by drawing with our mouths of people opposite us and seeing what the results were from being more free with our concepts and ideas of what drawing is. I love these creative exercises as they take me away from my comfort zone of being neat with a reasonable idea of what I'm doing towards something more flexible and unique. I was pleased with the outcomes of these sketches as they still managed to look like Eliza who I was drawing whilst also holding their own individuality. Using different colours and materials stretched my boundaries and enabled me to make marks with a variety of different techniques and styles which is something of great value for when deciding on mediums in the future. Other exercises included drawing blind and continuous which both left interesting marks on the page that show a development of technique.

The next task was to draw an ear in any media of our choice and within a 20 minute time limit. I chose to use blue and red biros in a continuous style to complete the drawing which I took from the activities prior as I liked the lines left linking different elements of the drawing. The result was something slightly messy which is a positive thing as my previous responses have always been neat and concise whilst this was unique and showed some personality. I like the red and the blue as colours that merge well when combined, almost making a purple hue in the darker shadows of the ear. I applied pressure and layered up the colours in the shadows to add depth to the picture whilst also using the lines as contours for where there was a dip in the structure. The effect showed personality and individuality s the exercises prior to this task were shown in their proficiency as my style shifted slightly towards something more defined and unique.

After this there was more of a focus on typography as we used everything we had in our folders to create marks in the lost unexpected way to record the alphabet. Some of the techniques i used were using excess paint to flick onto the paper using a brush, using my fingers to smear watercolour, using multiple pens at once, cutting with a craft knife and looking at it's relationship with paint etc. I really tried to stretch my imagination when tackling this challenge and used all the utensils I had available. 

My favourite to use was the acrylic paint. I didn't intend for the paint to be so gloopy that it dragged between dots but I found the finished effect to be pretty as it almost looked like constellations, delicate. It was this font that I decided to bring forwards and make into the entire alphabet. The final type was created by dipping the wrong end of a paintbrush into the top of the acrylic paint and dotting it onto the page, creating a web between the dots with the thick consistency of the paint. The overall effect of the letters looked neat in the alphabet as their basic shape was that of an Arial Black font which left the letters looking uniform. I felt that this type was the most practical to choose however I did have the opportunity to be more adventurous with this task which I felt i didn't extend to my best ability as my font was still neat in comparison to those around me.