To view my other MIAD piece, just click the
the button to the right of this text: |
These four art pieces are by the artist Harry Campbell. These are involved in his portfolio, found on his official art website, yet that don't have names for the pieces. Click on the images to get a closer look! “Harry Campbell.” Harry Campbell, www.harrycampbell.net/.
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Artist In Focus: Harry Campbell
Campbell is a modern day artist that uses an illustrative and futuristic symbolism to really bring a piece together, perhaps linking it more into an overall deeper meaning. The four pieces to the right are some of the many pieces of his work that inspired me the most while creating both of my pieces. Since I've decided to dwell into the community of Teens, this being more into the Social Media Community for this piece, Campbell seemed like a good inspiration. He's good at using symbols and colors in a way that conducts a message well enough while pulling in an audience to analyze his work. I adore the art style, it immediately caught my attention, so in my pieces I will try to use the simplistic hues while drawing things with a delicacy.
I'm working with the Teen Community as my focus where things can get overwhelming and intense so having a fragile and "alone" style to my work will be better for the messages I'm displaying. Teens are put on the spot everyday, say through social media or even by the school related responsibilities they're give, so every intricate detail should feel "on the edge" or "fragile". I want to change the background of both of my pieces to white, a straight connection to his work, so the message delivers more clearly. |
Sketch/Journal Page 1.
Sketch/Journal Page 3.
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Sketch/Journal Page 2.
Sketch/Journal Page 4.
Take a closer look at the planning sketch that ended up turning into what is now my "Internet Persona" Silk Screen Printing piece. Click on the photo to the left!
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Planning Sketches & NotesFor my "Internet Persona" piece and my other MIAD piece "Outside The Box", there were three planning sketches produced for the final product. You can see the first at the bottom right of Sketch/Journal Page 1, another at the top right of Sketch/Journal Page 2, and then the last sketch has it's own page on Sketch/Journal Page 4.
Both pieces had a combination of three planning sketches. This was because of how, when I initially started planning, I focused on one solid piece, thus creating three sketches for it. However, two of the three became ones I quite liked, so they were used in the development of my final product.
The MIAD project demanded two final pieces, so two of the three planning sketches did end up being my final product.
The first sketch, located at the bottom right of Sketch/Journal Page 1, was my original sketch concept. Although it was focused more towards the IB Community, it ended up being scraped because of different ideas. This being planning sketch 1 and planning sketch 2 instead. You can really see the beginning plan of my final result in the 2nd Sketch/Journal Page. To start off, I drew a cellphone as the main base of this piece over a blank background. The blank background, as used in both of my final pieces, was there to symbolize how alone some teenagers feel growing up. In a way, they're surrounded by confusion and misunderstandings and so forth; I'd see this like being in the middle of a blank space thus the white background usage. By the phone, a put a human hand to represent "us". This hand originally would be colored red, but ideas re-developed themselves while I was screen printing. I put a small illustration of myself over the phone to represent my mini internet persona, someone who guides my every move on the internet, as she guides the hand around to click things. I wanted her to be the same color as my phone to symbolize being a creation of the technology. The phone screen and her should be the same hue in some way, shape, or form to formulate this idea well enough. |
Experimenting with photos...
The first four photos of my project, the two to the left and the two to the right of this text, were my initial ideas for the concept. I explored the idea of having myself photoshopped onto an app like I was crawling out of it, but I decided to scrap that idea for a different one.
That's when I started crouching with my digital drawing board, pretending to be some sort of system that my internet persona could use to direct me. I soon enough decided to take a different approach, however, so it'd seem like I was seriously influencing the decisions my real self would make through social media. |
[ the image to the left & right of this text ]
I began the piece here. I was starting to construct a background while digitally designing what the piece ideally would look like when finished. As referenced above in the Experimentation, I'd be looking at the YouTube design of a thumbs down and slightly tweaking it for consumption of my piece.. I wanted the thumbs down to be red to symbolize a very dark and dull negativity. It'd represent the idea of being "wrong" later on. |
[ the image to the right of this text ]
I began to lay out my sketch for "Internet Persona" on one of my digital drawing software's, an application named , that I was fairly familiar with using for outlining and so on. I wanted to begin with coloring in the spaces of what'd be in main focus: The hand, the internet persona version of myself, and the phone. |
[ the image to the left of this text ]
Moving on to adding color, my true original idea was to have the hand a negative and wrong hued red, the internet persona being a green to symbolize "correct:, and then the phone blue because of it's blue implication of being electronic-based. These schemes would be altered later in the finalization of the piece, but, for now, I stuck with this and moved into outlining the subjects with a black brush tool. |
[ the image to the right of this text ]
Like said above, I moved into the outlining area of this process where I used a black brush tool at a size of 2, and carefully outlined the objects filled with color in the sketch. I started out with hand, detailing it in relation to ways artist Harry Campbell would draw hands at times in his pieces. I also started to outline the shapes and curves of the base: A cellphone. Since this would definitely end up influencing the social media approach of the artwork, I made sure it looked like I phone as simplistically as it could. |
[ the image to the left of this text ]
I finished my outlining of the hued objects in my sketch, and moved everything done digitally neatly onto a white background. This white background again would pinpoint on how alone teens feel, sometimes at the center of things they don't quite understand. My original concept also had the reddened thumbs down neatly on the outside of everything. This was to symbolizes on how things in real life can be seen as wrongful or dull compared to the world online. |
[ the image to the right of this text ]
After this, I tweaked my piece in a more enormous way by changing the original color schemes and concepts. I took out the red in the hand, a result of criticism I received when we were approached by Jason of MIAD. For the future of re-adapting from this change, I wanted to aim my silk printing colors into a nastier, duller red, and slap a bunch of these colors as the Thumbs Down stencils on the outside areas of my hand. I also thought about putting some of them on the hand to symbolize real life being "wrongful". |
[ the image to the right of this text ]
Gaining freezer paper for the production of stencils, I brought a few pieces home so I could create what would be used at MIAD. I'd sketch out a main stencil, three thumbs down, onto a paper, and this stencil would be used rapidly on the creation of my final product. |
[ the image to the left of this text ]
Entering MIAD, I was given the following tools to use for the silk printing process... - A Silk Screen Printer ( used to tape the stencil onto, which would later be pressed onto the main piece ) - A Squeegee ( a tool used to spread the acryllic ink around on the final base. You use it on the more open side of the Silk Screen Printing board ) - Acryllic Paint ( For example, the nastier red that I use in this photo ) |
[ the image to the right of this text ]
Using the Squeegee tool, I spread the acrylic paint around the board in a pleasing amount that would soon enough transfer onto my original piece. My original goal was to lighten my grip and force, pressing with ease, so many of the thumbs down would come out blotchy and messy. This did end up happening, thankfully the way I actually wanted it to, and I kept repeating this process to around my main piece to spread these thumbs all over. |
Similarities May Include:
- Both pieces include Technology. this can be in the view of a cellphone and then in the minor hints to social media use within both pieces.
- Campbell's piece and mine both include a hand. This can be important for the point of view the piece settles an audience into. It's more in your face. - Both of our pieces dive more into a hidden meaning that relates to technology use in a modern setting. They both seem to give out very similar vibes when looked at side by side. - Both art pieces have a white background. This is more noticable. |