Self Promotion - Filling a box

Scan from my old PD book.

my design for the box (excuse the bad white cover lines)

I spent a few hours playing around with the design on my computer trying to find the best way to incorporate my old poster on the design on the box. The idea is that I will write down the address of the art directors on the right side on the box above. Then I began working on the contents of the box.

scans from my old PD book, and images from my Self Promotion Project.

Though it took a long time to set up the images in a 1x1 meter format (the size printed in photography) I was happy with the result. I am hoping that I will get the print files sent to photography tomorrow, as the deadline for next week is coming up. At this moment I still need to compile a list of art directors to send my self promotion project to, all I know is that I need to send at least 1 off to Jonny, and as far as I know I need to find at least 9 more. Once I have fabricated the boxes I will look through my art magazines and websites in order to track down some directors. I feel that I might have some advantage because I will be able to send mine to Danish ones instead of just those within the UK and US. I am a bit nervous that this deadline has snuck up on me like this, but as long as I get the prints soon, I am not too worried.

Self Promotion - Designing a box

Today, having no lessons planned (yay) I went to the library to borrow a few books on papercraft.
 I found the following to be helpful, containing templates of boxes and image examples:
      - "Paperwork: the potential of paper in graphic design". By Nancy Williams. 1993
      - "The packaging and design templates sourcebook". By Luke Herriot. 2007

Oddly enough the Luke Herriot book was only available in German at our library (begging the question why we have foreign language books there that are not related to the study of language. Which reminds me finding a Korean magazine when I was writing my dissertation and looking through the magazine archives), but since the book was filled with mainly picture templates instead of text this did not prove to be too troublesome. After some consultation I decided to draw one up for myself... This proved to be a bad idea as I forgot to incorporate a lid.

scan of my old PD book, and cutouts from my first box designs.

  The box design was refined using trial and error, printing and folding them from my own old printer on plain cartridge paper. A messy but fun process, experimenting with size and seeing plain paper turn into 3D. The boxes all came out structurally weak, due to the low quality of paper I was using. I think that if printed on more sturdy art paper from the photography department, this will solve all structure problems... though it will be harder to fold. I need to get the files off for printing soon as photography printing can take as much as a week.

While doing this I watched "SAS - the real story" on Channel 4 (channel 4 - SAS the real story), this was a move for me to try and think of some inspiration for my FMP war poster. I did not get anything of real use, but it was entertaining and made me remember to look for some Vietnam war images. It was a good show, very interesting to see how the SAS has developed from the second world war into the unit it is today.

Self Promotion Start

Scan taken from my old PD book (for a larger image click on the picture)

I spent the day thinking of how to implement my Self Promotion project, resolving to look for papercraft books in order to create the box. It struck me that the idea of making a box seems simple enough, but all the practical elements involved takes a bit of thinking, and where better to do that than in the library. I briefly asked Katherine in the printroom if she could help me, but she said that I was probably better off trying to find some other source of reference. Upon getting home I began looking through my old and new work to select a range of images that will showcase my skills, it did make me realize how my old and crappy work I have lying around... I really should clean my room.

Side Project - Tin Completed

Below are some pictures of the tin:

My army tin artifact.

Now that this has been completed, I feel that the first concrete step has been taken for my FMP. I can now begin my research in earnest and move on to create the posters, which will form the base of my FMP. On a personal note I was very happy with the result, that feeling of a completed work you are happy with cannot be beat. I had no real plan when I first started drawing and the way all the elements work together surprised me. I do hope that the tutors respond well to it, as this style will be at the core of my FMP. I celebrated by baking cookies and watching QI, Did you know that  man named Mr. Bean tried to shoot queen victoria with tobacco instead of a bullet? Ah the things you learn(?) on QI. In the morning I brought the tin with me to show whichever tutor happens to be about, just to get some feedback and show them the only real FMP work I have so far.

 scan from my old PD book.

Negotiated Study Revisited

Scans taken from my old PD book (to see images larger simply click on it)

Though not entirely related to my FMP, I felt that easing into the process of drawing on drafting film would be best. Furthermore I needed to test out some drawing techniques while painting with acrylic on drafting film, for example my silkscreen prints always come out very crisp and looked a bit too well planned. Peter Lloyd has commented on this in the past, expressing that he would like to see me loosen up a bit, which is something I will try by revisiting these posters.. Though I do not plan on printing these just yet, I did find it a good way to not only end my Negotiated Study project for good, but also a means of easing into the next one. If these prints turn out well I will follow through with this technique for my FMP.