The First Cut - Papercutting Exhibition

I recently went to the Paper Cutting Exhibit at the Manchester Art Gallery. It was actually gorgeous, there were so many intricate and beautiful pieces - I don't know how some people have the time or patience!

I went to gather inspiration for the current project in which I'm hoping to use some form of overlaying paper craft in the final outcomes. The brief is set by the BMW branch in China, whom have given us a list of required designs for t-shirts, mugs and cards as thank you gifts for the volunteers for their charities. 

There was a lot of inspiring work to be viewed and I honestly wished I had more time to admire them, but as always, here, below is a stream of photos of my favourites.

Alice Zine

My final zine was based around Lewis Carrol's Alice in Wonderland, I worked with both illustration and photogtaphy to create my pages and in the final design neglected to include a front and back page. The format of the book worked like a carousel to ensure each reading experience would be unique as there was no set beginning or ending. Some pages were upside down to further emphasise the chaos that was wonderland. The book worked as an embodiment of escapism to the reader. 

 

Disney Zine

 We had a mini zine project where we were taught how to make and bind our own books, I based my first book around the fantasy and reality aspect of Disneyland. A form of escapism on a massive scale, I made the images appear as if shot on a polaroid camera and added faults with the processing by adding white spots. The main aspect was the blurring of visitors in the background - the 'anchor' of reality. The book was to be viewed as the eye point of someone within the dream that was Disneyland. 

Below are a view examples of the images used. They were presented on handmade papers with relevant illustrations alongside and merging on each page to give it a diary like appearance. 

Pieces Exhibition and 8x8

I've been so inactive lately! Hopefully after this catch up I can resume my normal posting pace.

It's been a really busy couple of months - we've had two book releases and an exhibition. The first was the Age Uk 'pieces'. A brief set during my second year in which we worked with the Age Uk charity and focused on dementure patients. The woman I worked with, Cheryl was very sweet and I based my page around the information I learnt from talking to her. There was also a mini exhibition at the event that showed each page individually and the sketchbooks and supporting work. 

I made a collage piece, which is very different from my usual working method. Overall I'm not entirely keen on the final piece, I went through many possible designs and still remain unhappy with it, but the project itself was worth while and I enjoyed it.

The second was the 8 x 8 book produced in collaboration with creative writers from MMU. Again a project from the end of my second year, my piece wasn't chosen to illustrate the writing I worked with but again it was an interesting project and an insight on illustrating someone else's work. 

I worked with watercolour and focused on the ending scene involving ice lollies. The main image [first] presents the juice like blood running while the hand clings to the stick. I feel the illustration for the spot image could be heavily improved but I'm fairly happy with the full page image.