progress crit

Crit to help us finalise our ideas, clear up any issues we have with our work.
my feedback:
- clear that my work is portraying russian architecture during the time of political change into communism. Sketchbook work communicates this well
- work has a sense of intimidating structures
- lots of media processes, conveys a sense of what Russia was like at the time
- I have enhanced feeling of power, intimidation through my work
- should keep using the collage work and lines, but on a bigger scale
- media is very appropriate for subject matter
- keep experimenting in this style, scale up work

Useful feedback, I think I am pretty clear on where I want to go and seem to have shown that in my work as I have been told to keep doing what I'm doing.
I haven't come across any problems yet, but I think I would benefit with some more play with the compositions and with how I should make my buildings statement architecture.

It was also suggested that I try out screen printings, which I hadn't thought of with these designs. But that method would actually work really well I think, as I am aiming for bold pieces.
I am not too confident with screen printing, having only attempted it once, but I feel it is worth doing some test pieces to see how my drawings will work scree printed. 

more tests

I really love this structure, it is the 'Architecture Faculty at the Polytechnic Institute of Minsk'

It is such a crazy piece of design, the lecture theatres on the right end all overhang over each other, which is the angle I am working from. (below) I am so fascinated by the immensity of this architecture, it looks like a huge submarine coming out of the sea. 

Again I tried with and without the lines, and I think the lines are definitely needed to make it more of an interesting piece. 
I also tried being a bit more experimental with the lines, by continuing the draw parts of the building which I think works well.

I am really pleased with how this came out. It is starting to come together as a proper composition, all the lines are sort of working together as a piece in itself.

I like the transition of white lines into black as it hits the building, creating more of a contrast. 

Although these are not finished, I am pretty sure this is the direction I want my final images to be in, I am thinking big scale posters of these constructivist structures could be very effective in communicating my point of this architecture as statement architecture. It was built in a period of change and stands for people rebelling against what formerly oppressed them, standing up for themselves and I feel these illustrations are on their way to portraying this architecture as loud, in your face, statement pieces. 

digital tests

Initially I drew it out without the extended lines. I do like how the colours have come out, it is very bold and clashing, although I do feel it looks a bit naked, like there is something missing. So I went back to the drawing to add in the lines:

I definitely think that improves it, it makes it more intriguing I feel, its quite a strange looking building even without the lines but it now looks quite alien.
But it does make it more of a statement piece I think, and the variety of lines relates back to the constructivist and art and posters that were created, so it becomes more contextually relevant. 

I cropped the image so the building fitted into the page, make it look more finished.
But I now feel it would look better if the lines extended completely off the page rather that stopping halfway, or if I was a bit more experimental with the lines, going at stranger angles maybe.
Need to play around with this composition more I think. 

poster development

I did some more sketches building from the work I have seen from other practitioners.
I think the Oskantino tower has worked really well against the red. It is a mixture of collage and hand drawn elements. But I feel the limited colours makes it much more bold. 
Also the lines do not distract away from the tower, but rather extend it and make it appear more elevated, and towering above everything else. 

I scanned it in and edited it to increase the contrast, make it more graphic. 
But I think it will work better if I do the drawing and collage separate from the background - maybe add that digitally? 

visual research

 I felt a bit stuck with how I should progress with my ideas, the pecha kucha presentation left me a bit confused with what I actually wanted to communicate through this project.

I went to the Saachi gallery and saw a piece by Vincent Michea

Its a very striking piece, with the building isolated and surrounded by such a bold blue.
Also by having the building painted with a lot of detail, to then have the thick black line cutting the page makes the image quite intimidating. The composition of this piece gives it a lot of impact, which is what I want my illustrations to have.





I remembered an artist I had looked at before who depicts buildings in a similar way who relates to my work; Justin Hibbs

I like how he isolates buildings, it automatically makes them appear more ominous; intriguing. 
Also like his geometric shapes painted onto structures, making them quite abstract pieces, but also making a mundane staircase reach out of the canvas, more graphic and in your face. 

I did these quick thumbs using photos of the architecture I've been looking at, and I really like how they turned out. The bright red background contrasting against the detailed buildings - which have elements of bold black lines, creates a lot of impact.

That is what I want to achieve with my illustrations, because the architecture created was during such an important period for Russia, they are buildings that are build to generate a reaction.
They are making a point about how Russia is moving in a new direction now, towards new political regimes and way of life.
So it is statement architecture, which is what I want to communicate through my illustrations, and I feel these compositions do portray this.

The black lines darting off the building, make it appear bigger.

The use of lines reminded me of some architectural sketches by Rachel Whiteread

the lines shooting off at each angle do enlarge the structure, as if it plans to move outwards. 

pecha kucha

link to my pecha kucha presentation:

http://issuu.com/astridweguelin/docs/pecha_kucha

I wasn't too pleased with how I presented my pecha kucha, because I don't think I was entirely sure of where I wanted to go with this project; it all came out a bit confused and jumbled. 
feedback I got:
- show through drawings why I think they are important
- done a lot of visual and contextual research
- try and incorporate feelings of the people during the revolution within the buildings
- create own utopia
- like use of collage
- needs more of a concept behind the structures
- collage in the revolution with the buildings
- depict utopian buildings using colour to set them apart from rest of world
- do 3D pieces
- look into the Bauhaus
- good use of colour
- use angles to communicate intimidation
- extending the buildings with lines works well
- would benefit from more practical interrogation 
- what are you trying to say

I feel some of the feedback I got was helpful, but some didn't really relate to what I want to do with this project; but I think that is down to how I presented it. It was just full of multiple initial ideas that havent really gone anywhere.

I think I need to do some more research - visual and contextual, to get more of an idea of what I want to communicate.