Christopher MannGraphics portfolioDecember 2011

Task one: Object Drawing

For this task I was assigned to draw an object displayed in front of me, I drew two drawings of both a biottle and apples but settled for the apple as I spent more time working on it and it looks a lot stronger.

Task two: Continuous Line Drawing

This task required me to take a photo of a human subject sat still in a chair. I was not allowed to look at my subject which to my suprise was easier than expected. I scanned the image into illusrator and used th e pen tool to draw around my continuos line drawing.

Task three: Name Typography

This was the final graphics task set and defi-natly the most complex. I developed ideas and settled for this pipe-line idea. I scanned the im-age into illustrator and traced the lines which took hours to get the overlapping right. I used a white stroke to help the lines stand out and a border to make the image easier to view.

Personal reflection - Graphics PortfolioThis Portflio required me to produce a series of drawings and illustrations. I do not regard myself as a

strong drawer/artist, however I believe I managed ok with the tasks set.

Firstly, the object drawing went well. I could have shaded the darker areas of the image more darker,

however I was happy with myself and the way the drawing turned out. I used the grid to break the image

up and draw as if I was drawing only shades in boxes, as

appose to an apple. I tried not to see the image as an apple until I was finished.

Furthermore, the continuous line drawing task confused me at first, I didn’t think it was physically able to

create a drawing of somebody without looking at the paper. However the image I created was like nothing

I had drawn before, it looked as if somebody else had done it, not in a bad way or a good way, just different,

and I liked that. On the flip side I noticed problems when tracing over the image using the pen tool in illus-

trator. The task was named ‘Continuous line drawing’ and my pencil had actually come of the paper once.

Fortunately this wasn’t as noticable as it could have been and I simply noticed my mistake, knowing I would

rectify it If assigned a similar task again.

In addition, the final task of the three was to create a piece of illustrated typography. We where issued

internet links for research which contained many images of graffiti tags. I decided to think outside of the

box. I am not the biggest fan of how typical street graffiti looks. I wondered around the city of london in

search of inspiration for my typography and stumbled across a graffiti zone in lower marsh near waterloo

station. As much as I appreciated the work, every single piece appeared the same. Although obviously

different, the text looked similar on every piece, almost as if done by the same person. so I wanted to think

out of the box in that sense. The pipeline idea I used appears very different to graffiti ‘tags’ however both

share the same idea that you have to study the work to understand it, for example my work is simply 9 long

lines that appear to look like my name. I had a hard time tracing the work because there was no way to

make lines loop in and out of each other using illustrator, I could only layer one on top of another. If

assigned this task again I would probably break the lines down into smaller parts, as appose to drawing 9

long lines and finding the curves, making the task more confusing for myself. Another point I will take into

account if doing a similar task again is shadow, the image contains no shadow, shadow adds effect and in

my oppinion makes work appear more real, meaning the viewer can relate to it and view it easier. On the

whole I believe the project went well, I have expanded my understanding and appreciation for illustraters

and graphic designers as well as learning valuable new skills.