OUGD406: Brief 1- Secret 7

Song choice:

T Rex- Get it on

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVEhDrJzM8E&feature=kp

I initially began ideas generation by listening to the song and looking at the lyrics.

Lyrics:

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/trex/getiton.html

T Rex Previous Album Covers:

Logo:

Glam Rock Genre!

From looking at the previous artwork I found that the covers were quite feminine and include pink but also black which include the monochromatic/ black and white backgrounds (rock is usually connoted with black).

Dictionary Definition: a style of rock music first popular in the early 1970s, characterised by male performers wearing exaggeratedly flamboyant clothes and make-up.

"Glam rock (also known as glitter rock) is a style of rock and pop music that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s, which was performed by singers and musicians who wore outrageous clothes, makeup and hairstyles, particularly platform-soled boots and glitter.The flamboyant costumes and visual styles of glam performers were often camp or androgynous, and have been connected with new views of gender roles."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glam_rock

Therefore I found that through looking at what Glam Rock is I began looking at examples to find a colour palette. 

David Bowie

David Bowie is certainly an incredibly influential artist both then and now (he influences artists such as Lady Gaga). I found that through looking at imagery the colour palette seems to be not a set colour but simply anything which is quite flamboyant and bright. This imagery breaks gender roles because pink is usually used among feminine designs and associated with traditional representations of women. Therefore in my designs I will consider my use of colour to reflect and be influenced by the genre (bright). As this brief doesn't allow for different types of inks I shall consider how far I can push CMYK, however I think if the brief was more flexible I would consider using brighter spot colours or possibly screen printing if I had the time. 

The Darkness

I also found that through looking at bands such as The Darkness and Queen they are also incredibly feminine but their use of colour is quite minimal. I also found through looking at this imagery is usually visually of the artist themselves. So in my own designs I want to try and look at other ideas which could symbolise the song. 

Possible starting points:

Lyrics, song, genre.

- "Clad in black" Could perhaps draw/ photograph the back of a woman's dress which could also reflect the sound of the song and the overall aura (provocative and seductive). 

- "Don't look back" This could be portrayed through a silhouette of a woman facing the other way. Although I feel this is quite an obvious idea and possibly wouldn't work incredibly well.

- Linked to the genre of the music I thought about including imagery of a guitar which is known within glam rock (electric). 

- "You got the teeth Of the Hydra upon you" This could be shown through imagery/ illustrations of the hydra greek serpent. 

- "Diamond star halo" is an engagement ring and could be a subtle way to represent love and portray the idea of a female presence within the song.

- "You're windy and wild" I thought this lyrics was interesting and could really work with looking blatantly and imagery of the possible lady mentioned throughout the song. Windy and wild could link to the idea of how hair is blown in the wind.

- "You're built like a car You got a hubcap" From looking at this lyric I thought about looking at the idea of a cars curves which can be compared to a woman's figure. But also a hubcap is the car wheel so I looked at imagery for this.

http://www.solidworksgallery.com/category/photoview-360-images/Final-iteration-of-Bristol-racing-car-body_24d8f67ec0ab0e2a2369cb5da2f09972.jpg

http://i.ebayimg.com/t/VW-Hub-Cap-Volkswagen-2011-2012-Jetta-SE-New-OEM-Wheel-Cover-5C0601147A-16-Inch-/00/s/MTIwMFgxNjAw/$T2eC16ZHJG8E9nyfoUI(BP9wKptJ4w~~60_57.JPG

But I also thought about the idea of "built" and how this could work in terms of parts:

- "I'm your shoes and your stockings: quite an obvious idea due to the idea the idea of a lady being the focus of the song. But I thought visually I could experiment with the idea of showing the back view of shoes and stockings. 

- "Cloak full of eagles" this I feel would work wonderfully visually because of the idea of 'freedom' and how they are a bird of prey. The song I found sounded quite possessive and the idea of a want or need of the female mentioned. This therefore would fit because eagles catch their prey quite aggressively and therefore by showing this could link to the female.

- "You're dirty and sweet girl" I thought for this idea I could work with the idea of juxtaposition and backgrounds which contrast:

- I also looked at Glam Rock as a whole genre as a form of inspiration previously and felt that the boot is incredibly noticeable for the genre as a whole and could work incredibly well. Glam Rock (bright vivid) makeup could also work incredibly well in terms of photographs using a macro lens. 

- I also found that the lead singer Marc Bolan wore a top hat which is seen within most of the album covers and imagery. Therefore I think it would work somewhat as an icon linking to him.

Initial Sketches:

Ideas I want to take forward: Glam rock boot, guitar, top hat, woman's hair, eagle.

Glam Rock Boots:

Initial drawing scanned in from looking at platformed boots.

After adding pink and also creating a vector graphic to surround the boot I felt the lines from my drawing were too rough and needed to be tweaked. 

So therefore I created the boot in Illustrator and filled in the stars with some bright colours- even though rules in graphic design state that only a limited number of colours should be used I found that with Glam rock, there didn't seem to be rules with colour and therefore I have used a variety of colours. The boot I feel looks much better however it appears to fade into the background so I will experiment with adding an outline. 

I created a small black outline and felt that this improved the design aesthetically however it still seems quite flat, so I will use the stars in the background to create a textured brush/ background.

I felt that this worked really well when creating this with paints and scanning backgrounds in, however I found small creases in the thin paper stock I had used, therefore I used photoshop to fill this in.

Design for crit:

I added a blue background to complete the design because I felt that the white contrast seemed far too intense, therefore I chose quite a light blue which allows the design to appeal more whole. However I'm not sure whether this idea seems to obvious of the genre and not specific enough for the song, the critique will help me in confirming my choices. 

Guitar:

I initially began sketching out a guitar which I could then place into illustrator to digitise. I initially thought about including the sheet music of the song however I felt that this could be too busy in terms of composition as the layout is only 7x7. 

Through experimenting I found that using solid colours as backgrounds seemed quite plain and didn't balance the composition. I also found that purple was an ideal colour to use because it isn't specifically assigned to a gender. 

Design for crit:

This was my digitised version of my sketch for crit, however I don't think this successful in terms of representing the song, its far too stereotypical of music to include the instruments and I want the cover to be specific to the song. I don't think I will continue this design further but the critique will be an opportunity to see other opinions. 

Top Hat:

I changed the hat into a silhouette because I gained feedback part way through digitising my sketches that the band across the hat makes it look too much like a wedding hat. Therefore through changing it completely black it will link to T Rex. 

The colour choices were based on looking at David Bowie's album covers and photoshoots, the Glam Rock genre as a whole included bright colours and also makeup. From looking at the makeup I saw that it was blended much like paint to therefore I created watercolour sections in different tones with ink on top. 

Design for crit:

This is my design for crit, and as a whole I'm quite happy with it although I'm unsure if it will work because it links to the artist rather than the song itself. I will see through my crit if people are happy with the design. 

Eagle:

I looked into the idea of using water colour as I thought the traditional high pigmentation of the colours would work extremely well in terms of the flamboyant nature of Glam Rock.

I picked out the colours which I thought would work best (bright).

However after completing this I found that it wasn't successful, the drawing seemed to soft because I used too much water. Therefore I looked at how I could edit this to create a more dramatic and vibrant aesthetic. 

I therefore changed the drawing to black and white and added a fill into the design which I felt worked incredibly well and could work as a striking piece on the cover. This means that my design could work within technically- any colour. 

After experimenting with trying to add colour into the background I felt as though this took attention away from the actual design of the eagle and therefore I will look at experimenting with scanning watercolour backgrounds to overlay the eagle. 

I firstly tried editing the eagle in previous colours used (purple and blue) however I felt these seemed far too saturated in comparison to the white I was initially working with as a background. Therefore I added pink and I felt that this portrayed the the flamboyant nature of Glam Rock and felt overall much more appropriate. 

However I had several problems when working in Photoshop with the colouring and trying to scan in the backgrounds to overlay my initial design. This took rather a long time editing than I had initially planned for. 

I started experimenting with colours as backgrounds however I felt the blue was far too vibrant and made the eagle and the background compete for the eyes attention. I also found that by using a pale pink that it worked better however the cover felt far too feminine. 

I thought that by adding the complimentary colour to purple (yellow) that this could possibly make the purple stand out, however the colour combination doesn't work at all and in fact looks quite hideous. 

These examples were through experimenting with textures, I tried this because I felt aesthetically the background of the designs seemed quite plain, although this affect could be created by perhaps using different stock to print onto. 

Through thinking about stock and the warm and cool colours I feel that a warmer colour works much better (pale yellow/ off white) however I found that there is a fine line before the background does make the eagle appear to be quite a peach/red tone. 

Therefore for the crit I chose an off-white colour as the background.

Design for crit:

Woman: "Wild and windy"

After completing the design through adding watercolour to the hair and face I simply just scanned the design in to print. Through designing I felt that the woman shown should have makeup which matches the bright colours. The colour I chose link to the Glam Rock genre and overall aesthetic I have previously researched. 

Design for crit:

Crit:

Questions asked: Which do you think is the most successful? What changes would you make?

Most successful:

Id say the platform shoe is the best. 

I like the hat or the girl.

I really like the girl and the eagle.

The illustration of the girl is the strongest.

Bird or girl with the hair.

Bird. 

Woman's hair.

The girls hair design, illustration is so good.

The girl is the best.

I like the eagle- especially the colours.

I prefer the eagle or the woman.

Changes?

Instead of having a solid background colour look into different stock and materials to print onto which could add texture and addition.

I wouldn't use an off white colour.

I found that these changes were the most relevant to me in terms of how to move forward. Although after the crit I was pleased with my feedback and the response I was given I was still unsure which design I should pursue and use as my final submission. After the crit I had decided that I wanted to choose between the eagle and the woman that I drew.

I spoke to a few people afterwards including friends, family and also someone who is undoubtedly obsessed with records and music as a whole, this was incredibly helpful as the majority said that I should use the eagle as my final submission idea. It was also mentioned that they thought they could really see the design working on t-shirts and other merchandise. However I think to develop this further I will try printing onto different stock as I feel the off-white background really doesn't work. 

Work after crit:

I had quite a few problems with the printers when using matte. However afterward I found that the print looked far too flat. 

Therefore I tried quite a thick textured stock which made the pigmentation of the colours utterly beautiful. 

Final print & Design board for crit:

Submission: Wednesday 12th 2014.

After creating my final print before the critique I spoke to some of the other students on the course and realised that the initial design I created on illustrator would really work within screen print. If I had more time I would really want to experiment with gradients within screen printing. Screen printing gradients I looked at:

http://www.martaryczko.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/ocadsg_poster1.gif

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggp19KNVMteS45WmJTeiIOxpDxwcbjFn7HTMWlJHIfribjzk8xv-lexi4g9RmQ4gvVDP0m75rrIR8prHCIU-KbrPdwNYICPrOss6Hs8dNjgn1-P3do02TVfkqIdY7b0PgKsHcQJvQCXwKG/s1600/DSC_0960.JPG

All designs: (group)

Unfortunately my design wasn't used within the exhibition but I really enjoyed taking part within the live brief. Meeting Kevin King and taking part in a crit was really quite amazing because it allowed me to think of design outside of the university and definitely kick started me into looking at design more especially as a progression from the previous module, I subscribed to creative review and have begun looking at blogs more. 

The final crit went relatively well, the small groups we presented in were relatively positive about me choosing the eagle design although they asked why I hadn't drawn a T Rex and that because I chose a different lyric/ animal that it probably wouldn't be chosen. Although through speaking to others within the group they really liked it and said that the choice of colours were spot on.