PORTRAIT ARTIST

SUNGSOO KIM

Sungsoo Kim is a contemporary oil-painting artist. He combines monochrome with pastel colours, portraying slumped objects and responding to a sketched effect. The portrait are clearly painted and opposed to the loneliness, of course reveals the inwardness but also reminds the importance of perceptions, own or external, for personal construction or neglect. 

The portraits are transparent and the eyes are the focus point. The effect it gives off is loneliness and contempt. I like the soft pastel colours which are combined by natural tones. It gives off a clear feeling and emotion. They are very contemporary and smooth giving off an artificial impression. He does not paint the blemishes of the faces, only the outline and subtle definitions. The combination of colours create a purity response. 

I will experiment with soft pastel colours and natural tones. Only keeping the focal point on part of the face that I feel will make the viewers engage. 

INSPIRATIONAL ARTWORK

IDEAS

When you go out or go to college, I feel I have to dress and look a certain way. That pressure of impressing people in order to feel accepted with society. I worry that I will be judged and all I want to do is wear what I want to wear and not have to put loads of make-up on in order to feel slightly better about myself. 

Yes, you do feel nice when you put make-up on but it doesn't feel nice when you just want to feel natural and still force yourself to put make-up on. This is what I feel every week. I want to be natural both inside and out. I want to express myself in a natural way, not in a way that would be categorised as beautiful because of the smooth skin and clear face. 

Natural is what I want to show the viewers, to show that there is more than just perfect make-up that makes you feel better and more attractive.  I want to show the contrast between what everyone sees and what I want everyone to see by taking a self-portrait of me with makeup on and me with no make-up and is natural as possible. 

Bjork

Bjorks music and songwriting career began when she studied classical music at 12 years old. Living in Iceland she was influenced by her mothers 'hippie' friends and musical environment. Bjork has worked with many artists and has been a part of famous bands. Her work is very artistic, she creates videos that express her feelings in very creative ways but with subtlety and purity. She exposes herself in a way that makes people feel confused but still has a diverse understanding on what she is trying to convey. 

Bjorks video, 'the unravel', is one of my favourite's because of the elegance and how she wants the viewers to know how she sees her feelings. 

Her colour pallets are dark tones which is one of the reasons why I am influenced by her work. The colours make her work more appealing to watch and makes the viewers more interested in the composition than the music but the music flows with the movement of the shapes and her body. This self-portrait is almost a contrast to her work because there are no colours, it is not abstract or animated. It is natural, her body manner is relaxed but suggests that she has a secret that she enjoys keeping to herself by her slight smile and fixated eyes. Her eyes are infatuating as if she wants to reveal something. I like that it has been taken with a film camera giving that tired outcome and how it is not completely in-focus. 

The photograph gives me the idea of taking a self-portrait that expresses who I am but is a contrast to my video. I want to use subtle and natural colours much like this self portrait but use them in my video as well. 

Bjork created another video called 'Hyper Ballad' which was influenced by her hippy and musical environment. She combined animation to the video, giving it an alluring feeling. It has a sense of movement and more than just a three-dimensional effect. This creates that perception as if you are in the film. It has an artificial atmosphere giving that understanding between dreams and real-life. 

She is a very unique individual, nothing from the media influences her. Her ideas come from life experiences and nothing more. I want her style to be a reference in my work and experiments. 

PHOTOGRAPHS OF PEERS.

 I have taken photos of three people so far, that in some ways inspire. The photos show how they have accepted me taking photo of them. 

The best part about these photos is that they are smiling. Smiling with your teeth gives that approachable feeling. It shows that they are just themselves, nothing more. The black and white photos create that monumental feeling, they are more emote than if they were in colour. 

As well, it achieves a modern outcome with the contrast of monochrome and pastel colours. 

THE INTERVIEWS AND MY THOUGHTS.

I have begun taking photographs of my peers but what I have realised is that i take too much of their time and would take a long period of time asking each person questions. I have decided to ask only a few people some questions but ask everyone to write down what makes them happy in their handwriting. 

To many people, this may be an easy task to ask people to take their photo and ask them questions but to me its one of the hardest things I have pushed myself to do. Communicating to people has been a huge step to feeling confident with who am and what my goals are. The challenge for this project will be interacting and communicating with my peers. I have not connected with people in this way for many years. The anxiety builds, heart rate speeds and all you can think of is crawling up into a ball. But I need to do this in order to create an effective final piece. I worry about being judged, I worry that they won't understand me and I worry that I will be an embarrassment. This will build myself, make me become known, make me understand who I really am. It may sound cliche but I haven't experienced the normal life of a student. 

Because I have considered my thoughts and how I feel about doing this, It has helped me make sense to why I am doing this, this project is for me, to see how I talk to people and I how I feel about being included in situations. I want to add my feelings and what I have felt through doing this. I will express this by manipulating photographs and bringing out my comfort zone that is not exactly feelings that would be in someone that has to communicate. 

It has shown what I may look like to people. I want to show people how I think I look like to others. My task for now will be researching artists who express their feelings in abstracted ways or unusual ways. 

I think I am going to take photographs of students who inspire me and people who have an energy about them that I feel is interesting. I will of course, create my feelings using graphic layouts and using the colours that i have chosen because they are colours that are personally interesting and intriguing. 

THE BEGINNING OF THE INTERVIEWS

I have begun my interviews by practicing with my sister, Amy. What I needed was a natural and genuine portrait of her and I think I have succeeded in capturing this. I experimented with the colour of the image and designing it against a block of colour. I realised that the photograph in black and white gives a more modern effect against a pastel colour. 

The interview was slightly tricky because I wasn't being clear in what I was asking her. What I will need to do is ask questions but continue with that topic if they have an interesting response. I asked a few questions for my sister, after taking her photo. The most interesting and inspiring questions will be edited onto the page next to the photograph- this will help me start to understand how I can lay out each page. 

I intend to design this in a very contemporary manner with a hint of youth as this is about students and college. I have experimented with different pastel colours to see which one looks ideal together. The photograph has slightly changed on each example but its only from uploading them onto the blog.  I really like the pink against the peach and the pastel blue against muted blue. I think the pink against the pink is slightly too much. 

I have used the 'Prestige Elite Std' font because it is clear and it reflects my inspiration of the 'youthful- i-D magazine' which is very similar to this design. I think the black and white photograph balances against the black font which makes the font emote to the viewers as much as the image. 

WORKING WITH THE STUDENTS

I will begin working with the students by asking them my chosen questions and recording them talking. I will as well, take high- quality photographs of them together and individually. 

I have been rather intrigued by black and white photography rather than coloured because it almost gives the images a timeless effect with a modern response, with the help of pastel colours as the backgrounds.
Before the two-week holiday I would like to get my photographs and interviewing done, so I can focus on the layout and design of the magazine. I will have the advantage of experimenting with my photographs throughout the two weeks by choosing the right colours and saturation.
Furthermore, I will get to research different textured paper to find the ideal one that will compliment my layout.

DESIGNING SKETCH BOOK

Todays lesson I had to experiment with paper, manipulating photographs and taking the experimenting further by layering different mediums together. 

My goal was to experiment with colours and manipulating magazine images by colouring over the faces and outlining shapes- to give the photograph more movement and to give an artistic effect.  I have circled the experiments that will relate to my theme.
 This experimenting will help me get a visual idea of how I can layout my magazine. My colour palette is a combination of soft, muted pastel colours. These colours are modern, fashionable, refreshing and has a youthful influence.

Because I will be experimenting with paper and images, I will need to start a sketchbook to record each experiment I do.  This     sketchbook will include inspirational images and layout designs. I would like to take photographs of students as soon as possible in order to experiment colour combinations and design.

What I have learnt so far with the experimenting is that acrylic paint looks interesting along side the magazine paper. Coloured pencils aren't visible on the magazine textured-paper, so I will need to use coloured markers instead or graphite pencils. I used a black fine-liner to outline the shape of faces to give the image an artistic but contemporary effect.

I have designed my sketchbook in a graphical appearance because my theme relates to my culture and the latest fashion layouts of Indie-magazines.

     

THEME QUESTION THROUGHOUT MY MAGAZINE

QUESTIONS FOR THE STUDENTS

I have decided to look through the i-D magazine which is all about youth and questioning young people about their life. They talk to general people not famous people which makes it more genuine and interesting to read about because their real and it has that honest impression.

After reading through the i-D 'youth issue' magazine, I found questions that were asked to students. These questions were general but fun to read about. I will have to add more fashion based questions as there weren't any in this issue.  I wrote these questions out and asked my peers which ones they preferred and they chose...

 QUESTIONS

• Describe yourself
• what's the best thing about being a student and what's the worst?
• What makes you happy?
• what's the best party you've been to?
• How does Fashion make you feel?

The best question I like from this list is 'What makes you happy' I think its random and you can expect any response. It is as well, a personal interest and there will be a high spirit theme throughout my magazine.

OTHER QUESTIONS

• Why are friends important to you?
• What's been the most embarrassing thing that's happened to you?

I am happy with these questions, I think they will be fun and exciting to ask. They are general and easy to answer.

PHOTOGRAPHY LESSON

Todays lesson we had to take photographs that related to our theme for this project. I suggested to practice on taking photographs of the students and asking them a few questions. I chose a student that has a unique style and has a noticeable interest in fashion.
I asked her a few questions that weren't just about fashion but also about her as a student.
After interviewing her I realized that my questions were uninteresting but I will adjust and change the questions once researching from Indie-magazines.

Questions I asked the student-

1. Is Fashion important to you?
2. what's the best item of clothing that you've received the most compliments.
3. what's the most embarrassing thing that's happened to you at college.
4. Do you have a certain clique?
5. Do you wear clothing that you feel comfortable in or do wear clothing that you know is trendy and popular at college.

After taking the photo I will experiment the layout I intend to use for the final magazine. I will create a few, to find the best and most effective layout.

1.




The quote is in the font of 'Letter Gothic Std' I like this font because it is clear, modern and is very similar to the font used in Indie-magazine such as 'i-D'. I added that simple block of colour to add colour and associate with the image and the students colour. I think this layout is simple and clear. The quote is readable and with a few more photos of other students it could look more effective.


2.

This layout has the quote as the viewpoint. With her name on the top of the photo. I feel as though the photo is a bit lost next to the text, It needs to combine in some way.


3.

I prefer this layout to the other two, I think the photo is connecting with the text and the block colour  is symmetric with the underlined text. I've learnt that a balanced out layout is more appealing with the photo and text combined together.

REVIEW OF PROJECT PROPOSAL

Today I received great feed back from my Lecturer(Lizzie) about my Project Proposal. It has made me even more excited to move on with this project, knowing that my Lecturer supports my theme and intentions!

DRAWING LESSON

Today we did Drawings using all methods. From my previous research of Portrait Artists, I found a theme of transparent effects, pastel colours and simplicity.
My style of portraits reflect these elements and I have used the mediums; fine liner, gesso and water colour. I hope I have achieved a modern and contemporary sense to the paintings. I want it to reflect my inspiration and mood boards of graphical and modern responses. I've drawn faces and then layered them with white paint. I used slight colour because I like the soft pale effect.

 

 

PORTRAIT ARTISTS

NAME -- PAUL W RUIZ

Paul Ruiz (born in Melbourne) is an oil painting artist. The majority of his work is portraits. What I find beautiful is how he combines opposite colours together. I like the pink pastel background and the texture from the use of an oil knife. I would like to experiment with oil paint because it could give depth to the pages of my magazine.

NAME -- SIMON BIRCH

Simon Birch is an oil painting artist currently living in Hong Kong. He focuses his work on body form and movement. He is very similar to the artist Paul Kuiz with the use of an oil knife and soft colours. What caught my attention was the light-colours and the smooth texture. He has helped me understand how to use light tones of colour to create depth in the portraits.

NAME -- MARY JANE ANSELL

Mary Jane Ansell's work draws influences from a multitude of inspirations, from classical portraiture to the world of haute couture and with an appreciation for a refined technique that invokes the past but with a resolutely modern viewpoint.  Her portraits are beautiful and mesmerizing. The use of light and soft colours is exactly my style and colour palette. She has an almost animated effect to her paintings but this only makes her work more unique. I may have to use this colour pallet throughout the whole experimenting because it does reflect my personal colour theme.  

 

NAME -- ANTOINE CORDET

Antoine Cordet is young French painter currently living in Paris. As well, she uses pastel very transparent colour. They have a contemporary effect, with a slight abstract element. They are unique and have a beauty sense to it.  I like how her view point is only the eyes, making them more realistic than other part of the face.

DRAWINGS, PORTRAITS

I will need to research contemporary and modern portrait artists and try to think about line drawing or embroidery on images or on my own photography. These paintings are ones that I found beautiful, colourful, modern and textural. I have naturally turned to pastel and soft colours.

This embroidery image is really beautiful and just makes image more effective. I think this could be a possibility for my magazine.

PROJECT PROPOSAL

Fashion and style has always been an interest to me. I consistently research the upcoming styles and what’s trending around me from my peers. In the Fashion Industry the AW and SS are abbreviations of autumn-winter and spring-summer. They use them to update society with the upcoming seasonal-trend. It’s a modern and short way to articulate a new topic. This method inspired me to think of my own title for this magazine. After experimenting with words that relate to students, college and teens. I came up with the abbreviation CS/15. CS/15 is easy to say, its contemporary and memorable- it stands for College Students of 2015. I think it will make the viewers understand simply what this Magazine will be about.

I want this Final Specialist Project to reflect my skills and what has inspired me through the past two years of doing this Art and Design BTEC course. Not only that but also expressing my personal achievements and interests.

I intend to create my own magazine. A magazine that has an insight of everything about College Students, from cliques, to what the new up-coming trends are. The layout theme of this magazine will relate to Indie-style magazines. Indie-style Magazines are independent, they are created and designed by using sources from the public, they explore youth, pop-culture, style, music, art and fashion. I want to ask my peers about their life as a college student, how they think, what they do and what they know in our culture.

I will ask to take their photo, to display their unique style and to ask them only a few questions about themselves. A few questions will be enough because I want the magazine to be more visual than contextual. Too much writing will be tedious and I will lose the viewers connection to the magazine.

I want this to be genuine, using real life people and to signify their identity. I intend to make this magazine fun, enjoyable and visually exciting.

As well as a Magazine, I will create my own video of college students, to create that understanding of how they act in front of a camera and who they actually are as an individual. I will explore movies that are about adolescence, colleges and the typical cliques. The movies will help me get ideas on how to construct the video.

For inspiration and contextual references, I have researched indie-Magazine such as the V-magazine; ILoveFake; WAD; i-D; LOVE; The Gentlewoman and Wonderland. They are specifically for our generation, to communicate with us by introducing the new trends and everything modern in the social media. Other artists such as Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott and Rankin are both designers and art directors who create visually artistic videos.

These videos have inspired me to make more than just a film, an art piece.  Other Art Directors such as Paul Broadens, Jenny Eneqvest, Matt Wiley, Graham RounthWaite and Peter Stitson have all encouraged me to make the magazine layout as contemporary and defined as possible. The book ‘ Magculture-new magazine design by Jeremy Leslie’ has been an ideal source of information to find Directors and designers that I like and that I find visually engaging.

I plan to first research in depth for ideas and inspiration- to find the right photography skills, the colours I personally like, the current colour palette, the modern layouts and the ideal fonts. I have made a blog to consistently update my thoughts and inspiration for the Final Project.

http://beccyfsp.blogspot.co.uk.

A blog will be a connection to my generation. It will be a way of communicating with the online social-media, which is a prominent element of the 21^st century. It is a way to express and promote you in a more modern sense. My blog will help me stay on-track with my theme and what changes need to be done in order to make this project as effective as possible.

Mood boards will give a visual guide to how this will be presented. I will add fonts, colour, photography and different textures of paper.

As soon as I have made the right choices for the magazine, I will start taking photos of my peers and videoing them.  Once Videoing them I can start my Film. The film will consist of both video and artistic photography. I plan to record the students talking. Adding their voices will strengthen the connection between the students and the audience.

To achieve the artistic element in my video I will use artists as references, such as; Bjork (Hyper ballad) This music video has a combination of layers, animation, colours that gives it that alluring feel. It has a sense of movement and more than just a three-dimensional response. Bjork created another music video called unravel- this video is elegant, extraordinary and only makes you want to watch this repeatedly. In some ways it’s inspiring by the colours, her voice and the delicate movement. My goal is to create a video that has these elements.

The artist Yoko Ono created a performance video. What I liked about this art piece was that it was genuine and ‘raw’. The camera wasn’t straight; there was noise in the background and a lot of movement by the audience. This creates that connection as if you were there, watching her. The viewpoint and that relation with the film is what I hope to achieve in my video by really communicating with the students. Not only that but also how authentic and original the video is.

Bjork has an artistic element and theme in her videos, she will give me the direction of creating that artistic view of my video. Yoko Ono will reflect the genuine and originality of my video.

To advance this magazine I will add my handwriting and my drawing skills (I intend to draw portraits of the students faces) Portraits will give that relation to the viewer and the drawing. I will experiment with pen, charcoal and pencil. I will have to use these mediums in order to understand what works effectively and what will compliment the design and layout of the magazine.

The reason for making this project about college and students is because it is a personal interest and in some ways it is because I am not in a specific clique or group- I am more of an outsider but this gives me the advantage to see my peers in a different light. I envy the confident cliques that walk past me, I envy their freeness and how comfortable they are around their friends. I listen to their conversations, their jokes, their silliness and what party their going to next- this only makes me realize what college is really about. I study the different styles and wonder why they wear what they’re wearing. I think having an illness makes you realize and appreciate what life is about, it has let me recognize that I need to enjoy what I have, enjoy the people around me. I have missed all the youth but this magazine will me give the opportunity to experience it by working with my peers. I want this magazine and video to inspire me as much as it will hopefully inspire my audience and peers.

VIDEO INSPIRATION

NAME -- UNRAVEL

ARIST -- BJORK

This video is elegant, extraordinary and only makes you want to watch this repeatedly. In some ways it's inspiring by the colours, her voice and the delicate movement. My goal is to create a video that has these elements.

NAME -- HYPER BALLAD

ARTIST -- BJORK

This music video has a combination of layers, animation, colours that gives it that alluring feel. It has a sense of movement and more than just a three-dimensional response. 

NAME -- CUT PIECE 1965

ARTIST -- YOKO ONO

Yoko Ono created a performance video. What I likes about this art piece was that it was genuine and 'raw'. The camera wasn't straight; there was noise in the background and a lot of movement by the audience. This creates that connection as if you were there, watching her. The viewpoint and that relation with the film is what I hope to achieve in my video by really communicating with the students. Not only that but also how authentic and original the video is. 

NAME -- STELLA MCCARTNEY FW2014

Designers- Mert and Marcus

What I like about this video is the combination of different images and the random style but Mert and Marcus have stayed with a coloured pallette, bringing the video together. 

NAME -- DSQUARED2

Designers- Mert and Marcus

I love this video because its about students. Its students being rebellious, adolescent and they all have style. I like how they have filmed by using all positions to give it that playful energy. I don't see myself videoing people doing this but what i will consider is how they are enjoying themselves. 

NAME -- Hunger TV- Pedro Pascal & Lena Headey

Designer- Rankin 

This video is so enjoyable to watch because they've filmed it in a way to make the viewers feel as if they are apart of the shoot. The angles filmed are compelling and give that modern quality. The models are genuine and happy, the lighting is youthful and refreshing. 

PHOTOGRAPHERS AND DESIGNERS

RANKIN

http://rankin.co.uk/biography/

Rankin became known after founding the influential magazine Dazed and Confused in 1992. It gave the opportunity to emerge innovative stylists, designers, photographers and writers. It became a mark in the arts and began to form status to all trends and fashion foreground. Rankin has photographed for many famous covers and his style questioned the social pattern and what beauty was in 2000. His theme has related to the next up-coming generation and 90's style but with a playful sense. He has a conscious understanding of the modern culture and his portraits have become a contemporary iconography.

Not only does he specialize in photography but also film. He creates the most innovative films, demonstrating the most stunning digital advances of the photographic industry. Rankin is most famous for his magazine 'Hunger' a fashion, culture and lifestyle magazine.

Rankin's films have given everything i need in order to film my own video. The films are artistic and are at a beautiful quality. He has considered everything from lighting to the beat of the music in the background.

 

Rankin's Hunger magazine and website have a theme of 90 pastel colours. Pastel colours have been an automatic admiration, I find them modern, fun, playful and has that connection with students. His photography is has a genuine sense, the models aren't serious they have that energy of enjoying themselves.  http://www.hungertv.com/

 

These graphic gifs on the right are entertaining and refreshing. The pen sketches around the model give that relation to youth. He has really connected with us young adults and what is going on generally in our lives.

He has been the most inspiring photographer and designer have come across. Rankin will most definitely guide me for the best ideas throughout this project.

Mario Testino

http://www.mariotestino.com/about/

Mario is one the most influential photographers of the 21st century. He has become part of both the fashion and beauty industry and his work has been featured to almost every magazine around the globe. Not only does he take photographs, he designs and writes his own books.

His style of photography is much more related to magazine such vogue, elle etc but what makes them unique is his of colours. They are vibrant and bold combinations. The quality is sharp, defined and clean.

Mario has the ability to use colour and no colour in his photography. What i like about his black and white photographs is that they are not quite black and white. He has got the lighting and softness right but with tint of sharpness.

His coloured photography is very vibrant, they almost look like pop art or cut outs which give the image movement and a three-dimensional effect. Mario as well, combines opposite colours that in fact, make the photograph more engaging and attracting.

Mario has inspired me to take my photography further by combing subtle colours with bright colours and physically experimenting with images by cutting out edges much like the one on the left.

MERT ALAS AND MARCUS PIGGOTT 

http://www.artpartner.com/artists/film-print/mert-alas-marcus-piggott/

Mert and Marcus both work together as fashion photographers. They have been influenced by the photographer Guy Bourdin and have thrived with manipulating their images. What i like about their photography and cover photos is the use of soft, almost washed-out colours. Mert Alas was a fashion photo modeller and Marcus Piggott was an assistant photographer both working for the same company when they decided to become a team.

I am most interested in these covers because they have experimented with the colour of shadows and have saturated certain sections of the image. The Vogue cover is captivating by the contrast between the cold blue and the deep red.
The Love cover is an example of a contemporary Indie-magazine because it is simple, clean but vibrant. Mert and Marcus have considered about the colours and how they compliment each other e.g. The title is the same colour as Kate Moss's lipstick and the white sub heading correlates to the white bubbles.
The Givenchy cover is simple and sophisticated. They have made the title in balance between the white and the black, as well the title is in the centre to make the viewers focus on both the top and bottom of page.

Their designs have been cleverly created. What I have learnt is that the titles colour has to associate with the photographs colours. The fonts are spread across the cover, i think its a way to make the viewers focus on the name as well as the image.