reportage

For the practical section of CoP we are looking into REPORTAGE illustration in order to explore political/social/cultural/historical themes.
I was at a loss as to where to start as you can literally start anywhere, so I began by doing some quick locational drawings in the Leeds Uni cafe

But I didn't feel I gained anything from them, I didn't pick up on anything I was particularly interested in and I wasn't that pleased with the drawings I produced.

So I went back to the presentation we were given and looked at the reportage photographers referenced.
I really liked the work of Eugene Atget:

But also his reasoning to why he took these photographs; he wanted to document all the architecture and street scenes in Paris before they became modernised. I find his desire to preserve what he loves about the city really intriguing. The style of his photos are quite dreamy with the soft light, slight mist drifting into the background, and the lack of noise and busy people. They show a much quieter side of Paris which gives his photos a nostalgic feel, making them very personal to how he wants to remember Paris.

His work made me think of a few directions I could possibly go into:

- preservation; idea of preserving historical landmarks, areas - anything, through drawing. Really being able to capture the feeling of the location through the drawing.

- modernisation; we have moved so quickly into the era of technology, lots of new sky scrapers, modern buildings being put up everywhere, the historical buildings are quickly decreasing - could look at the the juxtaposition between old and new, I really like seeing the stark contrast between an old church and a towering building of glass stuck right next to each other, would be interesting to explore.

- loss of nature; the rapid development of cities could lead em to look at the decrease in nature in cities - preserving what little there is.

study task 2

'Find your Pathway' - Russell Cobb

'Go Deep: the deeper you go the more likely you will discover something of value'

We were given a selection of manifestos to read and analyse, one of the being 'An incomplete manifesto for growth' written by Bruce Mau, which I found the quote above from. I think his manifesto is like a guide to how to be creative, where he gives tips that suggest advice to help people think about their design process. He talks a lot about allowing yourself to experiment, try new things in order to be more creative; like going deeper into your research, which is why I chose this image. 

The different sections showing the figure going deeper into the forest, with the red line pointing in different directions symbolising the various pathways he could take. The sections when the figure is in the forest, he has a jumbled symbol of lines above his head possibly suggesting confusion - that he is still in the experimenting process and the mass of trees could be the mass of ideas he is working his way through. The figure then has the tree growing out of his head which could suggest he has gone through the design process and a valuable idea is beginning to grow after his process of experimenting and researching. So I feel this illustrates the Bruce Mau manifesto well as it draws upon a lot of his points, especially that about the creative process:

'Process is more important that the outcome - when the outcome drives the process we will only ever go to where we've already been. If process drives the outcome we may not know where we're going, but we will know we want to be there'

After reading the 'First things First 1964' manifesto I feel this illustration also draws upon points the text brings up. For example, the manifesto talks about how consumerism is having a negative effect on graphic design, that it is corrupting designer's "skill and imagination" in order to sell "trivial" products like 'stomach powders, detergent…slimming diets, fattening diets' rather that using them for necessary things like 'signs for streets and buildings…instruction manuals…educational aids, films, television features'. I feel like this illustration is not for consumerist or commercial purposes, it was a sort of educational aid because Cobb's brief for the piece was to produce a series of illustrations for a creative skills and development company's annual report - so it is of use to creatives, rather than promoting consumerism. 

CoP2 study task 1 - society and politics

I read two manifestos :
 - 'First Things First (1964 & 2000)
 - 'An Incomplete Manifesto for Growth' (Bruce Mau)

We then chose 2 quotes from either one or both of the manifestos that interest/inspire us.
To which we then found 2 illustrations from the library that fit well with the quotes.

'DRIFT: allow yourself to wander aimlessly. Explore adjacencies. Lack judgement. Postpone criticism'

 

(James Green)

'GO DEEP: the deeper you go the more likely you will discover something of value'

(Russell Cobb)