Reflection on studio work

Experimentation with media!

Following feedback from the portfolio review it was said that I really need to experiment with some different mediums to push my ideas forward and see what works well, as I was only watercolour and acrylic. Today has been devoted to trying to find the best medium for my patterns. All the imagery I've created has been influenced from reference of African materials.

OIL PASTEL

GOUACHE & INK (left)
INK (right)

ELECTRICAL TAPE & PEN

ACRYLIC

Spending a really focused amount of time on these A3 spreads has been good for me to get into creating imagery again since I've been working on my research report for the past few days. So far in my sketchbooks I have used acrylic paint and watercolour for the line drawings but today I think I've realised some better approaches. 

First trying out Oil Pastel: before I started this I didn't think it would work for what I want but thought I would try it to see. Turns out I was right, the colours are not strong/bold enough and the lines not crisp. 

Gouache & Ink: first laying the washes of colour I didn't think the media were going to work. The colours seemed pale and patchy when they were drying. But then coming back to them and using the ink to paint over for line and shape they have turned out really well! The gouache used for the background colours work better as they create a flatter and stronger colour, whereas the ink wash can be a bit patchy which you might not be able to see in the photograph.

Electrical Tape: Using some left over tape from BA6 I thought I might as well see what that looks like with permanent marker pen over the top. The colours are bold and graphic but I think the problem is they are too bold and too graphic. If I was just presenting the patterns by themselves they could work but because I will use them to fill a character or object, the imagery is too strong to then go into a line drawing. Was good to see though.

Acrylic Paint: Used both a paint roller and brush to apply the paint to the paper. I really like the finished result as I really love the textures made from the roller, but I don't think this is what will work for this project. The African patterns I have been looking at and working from have bold, flat colours with sharp, staccato lines, and because of this I don't think this method is suitable for my current work.

Reflecting on what I have produced, I think that the gouache paint with ink line on the top has worked the most successfully. This is because I want to use my research into African art and culture to base my illustrations from, and these mediums together produce bold vibrant colours, with sharp and clear shape on top. This was a good task to do as if I had not made myself experiment with other materials I would have reverted to acrylics which I am comfortable in. When actually, exploring others has brought me to a better solution! So using these I will place behind some characters drawings I have already had, and if I am happy with the result I will go on to create patterns I want for my final images.