Subject Matter

Above are photographs I took at the V & A Museum, The Tate Modern, Camden and tube stations (included are photographs of magazine covers I found and just general inspiration).

Initial Ideas

Copies and emulations

For my first artist I decided to copy and emulate Ekaterina Koroleva

Here is some of her work: 

For the copy I used inks, pencil (HB & 4B), graphite pencil, acrylic paint, scalpel

Work in progress shots:

I had to stand on a stool to make the ink splashes. By having them fall from a bigger height the splashes were far more effective

Cutting out the pattern for the top using a scalpel

Original

My copy

I then made an emulation of Koroleva's work: 

I used the same materials and tried to copy her drawing style. To make it my own instead of doing ink splashes I let the ink run down the page.

I also copied a something in the same form as mine: an Interview magazine cover

Series of interview magazines:

Original cover

I tried to recreate the above cover image using lighting, a lace doily (to create the shadow) and then altered the saturation and levels in Photoshop. I also made the eye whiter to make it more similar to the original. 

Holding the doily in front of the light to create a shadow

Original photograph

Finished copy

Emulation of the interview cover:

Original photograph

Black lace pattern I wrapped the image with

How I did it:

I took a photograph I took of my friend and some lace and wrapped the lace pattern around the face in photoshop. I did this by first de-saturating thephotograph and altering the levels of contrast to elimate some of the grey tones. Next, I applied a Gaussian blur and created a displacement map. Once I'd done this I just experimented with the blending modes until I found one I liked best. I settled for Linear Dodge (Add), and then once again I altered the levels to bring out the lace pattern better.

Work in progress: 



Finished emulation: 

Further drafting

Pencil

Ink

Ink fill

Blue and red watercolour

Final drafts

Double page spread 

Experimentation

Below are some photographs of me experimenting with typeface. I used polystyrene printing to create the masthead for my magazine. 

Rolling out black ink so it's evenly covers the roller.

Rolling black ink onto the polystyrene letters I made by cutting out polystyrene with a scalpel.

This is the typeface after printing the letters onto card.

Finished printed typeface, experimenting with square and circle shapes.

I then put scanned it into photoshop and altered the levels, colour and duplicated it. When layering them up I also changed the blending mode, in the 3rd FACADE I put it on multiple blending mode.

Here I was writing out the alphabet that I could possibly use for cover lines. I used various mediums such as earbuds, wire, sticks and multiple size hog-hair brushes.

I scanned the typefaces into photoshop and changed the blending modes, colour and filters. Also changing the size and spacing between characters.

More typographical experimentation

Here I went around trying to find the shapes of letters hidden within everyday objects. This really helped me to approach things with a varying perspective and not just see what meets the eye. For example, by looking at handles from a different angles they can look like the letter D ( as seen below). 

I then did a similar thing, but instead of using objects, I used already-existing typography from things such as signs.
This made me realize just how much typography is in our everyday lives, on posters, signs, cars, etc. Also, just how much variation there is too. It was very useful in helping me explore different typefaces. 

Experimenting with stencil cutouts and a spray diffuser

Inspiration- Miles Donovan

Comment on Donovan

I really like Miles Donovan's work and it made me decide to try a similar style. I like the way the colours contrast so much and that even the same colour but just different tones can be used for the layers. Also, there is a handmade quality to his work, even though it's been photoshopped after, with the ink runs and splashes which reminds me of Ekaterina Koroleva's work. This style could work well for my magazine as it looks professional yet edgy at the same time, meaning it's should still be eye-catching and appealing to readers. 

I started by taking a photograph I had taken and removing the background:

Then I de-saturated the image and adjusted the levels. After, I applied the artistic CUT-OUT filter to get the above image. By copying the different tones onto different pages I made the stencils which I printed and began cutting out

Cutting out the stencil.

Final stencil, base layer. The arrow on the eye was to remind me not to cut out the white in the eye.

Using the spray diffuser with the stencils.

Abstract sprays that I planned on using later in photoshop.

Final sprays. Both layers.

I then scanned the sprays into photoshop and edited them. Changing things such as: blending modes, layering, colouring, size, inversion, levels and contrast.