Description.

Looking at the subconscious, surrealist art of Dali and Giorgio de Chirico and the idea of a dream like landscapes. The three monolith like pillars with extended shadows play on this idea of utopian dreamscape.

This is my description for my secret 7 submission I wanted it to be concise and to the point highlighting the main sources of inspiration for this design and highlighting exactly what it was I wanted to achieve.

Five final designs.

 My five final collage images for my idea relating to the subconscious, surrealism and creating a dream like landscape. 

I used my feedback on colour combinations as more of a brief outline and experimented with the different colour combinations as I was creating the designs. 

Additionally I used an over lapping of colours for the mountains and sky in the background this was something I discovered during the making process and I feel really gives the designs much more depth and detail. The different colour combinations and shapes too a lot of working out and testing to get the best results.

 This design uses similar colour combinations but with three yellow pillars as the focal point in the much brighter red. I think the balance of composition with this added bright colour is much more eye-catching however I am not too sure about the green tops of the pillars the contrast of colour to too strong and they stand out as slightly out of place.

When scanning the images I had to insure the colours weren't lost and that the scanner didn't have any marks or smudges to best show the tactility of the designs.

 This design uses four colours for the background and their is a better contrast between the shadows, the pillars and the background. I defiantly feel this design is one of the most alluring and engaging. The colour combinations are both bright but have interesting subtleties to them. 

The yellow tops of the pillars give this three dimensional style I have been looking to achieve but are not too overbearing.

This designs yellow background in contrast the the blue pillars is extremely prominent and eye-catching I think the small details like the mountains in the background and the tops of the pillars colours seem to work well together. This is another design I feel to be very successful and have a nice balance of composition throughout. 

The dark brown background of this design creates and interesting contrast from the other designs, The way the shadows in yellow have been highlighted adds a more dynamic style to the designs. 

This design shows an needed change compared to the other designs but the brown is too overpowering and doesn't show the smaller details in the work.

Colour Combinations 2

 

 

Much like my mask design ideas I experimented with a range of colour combinations and asked my friends and class mates to vote on which they felt were most engaging and stood out. This would then be a sufficient starting point when creating the final designs.

 

These four design stood out as with most votes I think due to the simplistic nature and use of both complementary and contrasting colours. I would like to use colour in my designs though the black and white designs stand out the use of colour can create more of a dream like image that relates better to the 'Dream 3' track.

Final Design 3

With this Final Design 3 I began by using the three main colours being blue, green. red and  yellow for the background squares but felt that using an aditional frame for each may soo more exciting and be an interesting change, I then looked at a multitude of different combinations of mask colours in conjuntion with the background and the frames. I felt this gave the design another level of deatil and intrege and would be a interesting change from the other two final designs.

 After I was pleased with the colours I had selected I then cut out the masks to get a feel for how they look next to the frame and background.

This image shows the four masks cut out and stuck down, at this point I was very please with the designs and wasnt shore if it needed any more detail I experimented with some further details shwon bellow creating the eyes for each mask I am still yet to decided which I prefer and I think the best solution would be to scan the design as it is now and then after experiment with more detaiul and decided which I feel ia more enagaging.

















The image bellow is the high quality scan of this Final Design 3. I think I may have to look at scanning again as the colours do not seem as bright as the orginal version.

After scanning in my design I felt it did need an extra level of detail just to give the masks more of an expression and character. Looking at what had been successful in the previous two designs I then used the original background colours to make up the features of the masks. I wanted each mask to be as different as possible to emphasis this idea of a different styles and cultures. I am please with the overall quality and image of this third design. I think the subtle, naive levels of detail along side the graphic frames and colour combinations make for the most engaging and interesting design of the three.

Final Design 2

 This second again uses one of the popular colour combinations from my feedback using much darker colours for the background again in contrast to the bring vibrant tones. The shapes of the features I wanted to be slightly more abstract and loose. I kept the design much more simple looking at making the inages as striking and engaging as possible through the use of sharp edges and high contrast colour tones.






















This image above is a scan of the final collage I was overall please with the difference in Design 1 and Design 2 this extra level of experimentation and interpatation when creating my design gave me alot of freedom to see what worked well at the time and go with it. I think compared to the first design these images are slightly more subtle and the colour tones seem to complement each more effectivly.

Final Design 1

 Using the popular colour combinations from my feedback I began to make the first of my final mask designs.

The contrast between the mask and the back gorund was very prominant and I was please with how each square constrasted with one another.

 These show the basic mask shapes that would form the basis of my designs. Creating definitive shapes for each was key in making the design interesting thoughtout.








Using as contrasting colours as possible for each of the features like the yellow on blue shown bellow.

This is a scan of the finished first dseign, I continued to experiment and play with my designs as I was creating them, looking at things that work well and trying now things all the time. I am pleased with the dynamic feel to this design and the contrasting colour tones stand out how I wanted them to. This I feel is a good start to the final designs and leaves alot of room for experimentation.

Colour Combinations

I began by adding two simple flat colours to each mask to the more detailed drawing, highlighting each mask in contrast with its corresponding coloured background. 
















I then picked out seven coloured GF Smith paper stocks in relation to the colours above. 

I wanted to really experiment with colour combinations and see which would create more impacting and distinctive designs. I created this initial sketch using red, green, yellow and blue but felt I needed to experiment further and see how my mask drawings looked in context. 







These twelve images bellow show the different colour combinations, I asked my friends and class mates which colour combination stood out and got them to vote bellow. This would then be a reference point for me when creating the more detailed collages.

 

 

These three images received the most votes I think due to the distinct contrast between the mask and the background on top of the four background colours. 

Collage & Composition

Using collage I have experimented with a different compositions of my dream scape idea shown the the left. Collage as a material adds an extra level of depth and tactility to my designs, there is also an opportunity to use and experiment with some varying paper stocks to see how this effect the aesthetics of the designs. For these designs I have used three different paper types, black, grey/beige and white. As these three colours are very distinguishable from one another they allow me to look closely at the composition on the cover to see what feels the most nature and inviting. 

 As the design is very simple I think this combination of the pillar sizes and shape and the angle and size of the shadows must be composed with a lot of consideration to convoy the idea in the most engaging way possible. I began by keeping it very simple the three shadows and pillars displayed in a fairly liner way with the shadows at only a slight angle. This however did not show this idea of an infinite horizon that is typically seen in a surrealist photo or painting.

I then looked at lowering the white pillars a little and changing extending the angle of the shadows slightly. I also made the shadows wider as they move upwards these two alterations defiantly helped show this outstretching horizon I had been looking for. I also feel the slightly irregular shapes of the pillars make for a more interesting album cover.

I have also looked at creating shadows that are thinner and the spacing between each shadow to be more similar.

The designs above shows the most successful of my collages and a version but in opposite colour combinations. The three pillars are composed within the square space to be the focal point of the design but giving the shadows enough space to show this outstretched horizon. I have rounded the top edges of each of the pillars to give them a more 3d feel. I think the black background design is an interesting change and is very eye catching however the black background may be too dominant and take away from the designs. The scanner I have used here has shown many marks on the designs that are not really there I think when I am to scan in my finalised design this is another very important consideration as it can really changed the overall finish of the work. I have found collage to be an interesting material for this idea I may look at adding further details in ink and pen as the designs could be seen as too plain.

Creating more finalised designs.

I have began to look at creating a more finalised layout of my design ideas experimenting with different compositions and different levels of detail. These three designs show the progression of my ideas and how I have looked at the different sizes and angles of the three pillars and the corresponding shadows. With this design I felt there was a familiarity about the design that really related to this theme of dreams and the subconscious. The use of three monolith like pillars is very eye-catching and interesting and the use of the long extended shadows adds to this idea of obscurity and something abnormal and strange. I have looked closely at the angle of the shadows to try and make the design seem as if the shadows disappear into infinity. The final design at the bottom of the three will form the basis of my designs though I will start to experiment with some more engaging materials and techniques to best suit the designs and be as alluring as possible. The different levels of detail within the background, the three pillars and the shadows is something I want to experiment with for this project to see what is most appropriate.

 
With this design I felt the balance within the space was near perfect, the shadows are not too overpowering and give this dream like effect but have enough content to the as to not appear to confusing and abstract.

 Looking at the four mask idea and creating these two much more detailed and finalised designs. I have looked at creating a design that has a much higher level of detail and is slightly more direct and engaging. I found when drawing each of the masks that it was difficult to represent each mask accurately in a simple form like I wanted my designs to be. I am going to look at breaking down the designs to create much simpler, graphic designs. This design would be translated effectively into collage and would create some interesting and insightful designs.






This design shows the masks drawn with a high level of detail and the difference in how eye-catching and interesting the design look is clear. I think this naivety within these drawings is very powerful it adds a lot to my designs and is something I want to continue with throughout my next steps in this project. I want now to look at adding colour to these drawings to see how the different colour combinations effect the overall aesthetics of these designs.