evaluation

finished book

I am really pleased with the outcome of my book, the colour scheme of the front and back cover complements it well I think.
The colours have been printed really well, there is no dullness which I was a bit worried about happening. 

Although on this page, I think I must have accidentally enlarged the image slightly on inDesign because I think it has come out slightly blurred.

Also when I was trying to trim one of the pages it scuffed up a bit, tearing the corner slightly but it isn't too noticeable. 

I find it very rewarding having the book as the end product, as it feels more like the project has been actually leading up to something and the work was worthwhile doing.
Would like to start having more finished products at the end of projects.

These are my two favourite double page spreads, I think they are my best quality paintings and the composition works well elongated. 
Really like this composition, with the two fish facing each other, think the negative space surrounding them really focuses the attention on the detail and intense colour of the fish. 

inDesign

When setting out my book pages on indesign, I planned to have 12 pages with 9 illustrations, not including the front cover. It was planned out like this.

But after going to the print room, ready to print I realised that the number of pages needed to be in a multiple of 4 for it to be printed in order without any blank pages.

But unfortunately it was too late to do any more illustrations, so I had to re-arrange my pages to make it work, which wasn't too much of a problem as it isn't a book with a sequential narrative so the order doesn't really make a difference. 


This is the new layout, it has a different order and a blank page at the beginning and end of the book which is annoying, but due to my own mis-planning. 

front cover

I wanted my front cover to be related to all the visits I made to fish mongers, but not to be a study of a fish. 
So I tried out a line drawing of one of the fish stalls in the market which I think worked well, as it is simple and quite bare but then there is a few flashes of colour from the fish which is what attracted me to them in the first place.

The book was originally going to be called 'scales' but then the illustrations turned out to not just be studies of the scales, but the whole fish.

Also, 'market fish' implies that the fish will be ones from a market; so will be dead, which is what my project is focused on. 

material development

When I used gold leaf before on my scanned in illustrations I felt that it didn't work very well, because the shine wasn't communicated as well as I would have liked.
So I had planned to apply the gold leaf directly onto the final illustrations once they had been printed out on the book pages.

But after going to the print room and seeing the paper I would have to print out on to if I was going to print double sided, it was quite thin, and I don't thin would work well with the gold leaf and glue.
I decided to apply it onto my original illustrations once I had done them all and then print them out, but I thought I had better try it out first.

But again I don't feel the shine is translated very well through the scanner. 

Also I don't feel the illustrations need it anymore, I think it actually takes away from the detail I have gone into with the watercolour. 

So I'm not going to use the gold leaf anymore.

final illustrations

- I'm really pleased with how these have all worked out. I didn't manage to do as many as I hoped because I misinterpreted how long they would take to actually do. 
- I think the colours have worked out well, when I initially scanned them in it dulled the colours a lot, but they have now all been edited in photoshop and I feel have come out as quite sophisticated illustrations. 
- It was definitely necessary to break up the heavy, intense pile of fish drawings with singular fish studies, with more negative space around to allow for some breathing space otherwise I think the overload of fish would take away from the quality of the drawings. 

progress crit

- Looked through each others work, and gave back evaluative feedback

my feedback:

- good experimentation

- skilful application of watercolour

- simple concept

- clear direction of where I want my book to go

- good choice of square frames for compositions

- been playful with materials

suggestions of what to do next:

- work more with the tracing paper

- be clearer about why I chose the theme of fish scales in the first place

- maybe try and work bigger, so to really explore the detail

- have a clearer plan of what will be on each page

I agree with a lot of this feedback, although I quite like the size of 20x20cm for the book, making the drawings quite concise, and so concentrating all the detail which I think will make it more effective. 

I do feel that my concept isn't particularly strong, or clear perhaps. As I know I am doing these drawings to explore and communicate the beauty of these fish skins that are usually overlooked and dismissed as ugly. 

But the simplicity in my aims enable me to really explore the subject matter, and get the technique just right. 

I could have considered more about the function of the book, and who it is aimed at. Although I don't feel it it particularly aimed at a specific audience. 

I haven't carried out much secondary research, as it is all completely based on the photographs I took from my visits to fish mongers, so research into fish wouldn't have much effect on the outcome of my book. However, I think research into other practitioners who work with watercolour, or do studies of animals would help progress my own practise. 

composition

 - Started doing studies of single fish, rather than piles of multiple so that it breaks up the book - allows some space within all the fish drawings.
- Did it first without a background and then scanned in a second version with a bit of shadow. But unsure of which to use for a final illustration, as the first one looks like the fish are just floating in the middle of the page which is a big contrast to the compositions of my other fish drawings. The second looks more like a finished piece as it has a bit more depth to it. 

I want the illustration above to be paired with this one on a double page spread, and I quite like the composition of this with the wide expanse of negative space surrounding it. 
The two might be paired better together if they have a similar sense of floating on the page. 

final illustration development

This one will be used for a double page spread; I really like how this one has turned out, the colours have come out well and I don't feel the fact that there is more going on takes away from the quality of the fish. This is quite different from what I originally set out to do - close ups of fish scales, but I think it will work if I infiltrate the illustrations of close up detail with a few of these mass fish pieces. 

 I did some more experiments mixing watercolour with the gold leaf, I think just having the shine of the leaf rather than a big block of it will work well with the paint. I think I will have to apply the leaf directly onto the original drawings and scan in rather than apply onto the finished prints, because of the paper I will have to use for the double sided printing, is quite thin. 

material development

I did some experiments with the gold leaf, I found that if you stick it on with glue and then rub at it, bits scrub off and leave quite a subtle sheen which could work well. But after scanning this in, I see that the gold leaf doesn't have quite the same shine on screen, and so probably won't translate as well when I print the final illustrations. So i am thinking that it might be better if I just do the illustrations in watercolour, scan them in and edit and then once the book is all binded, i work straight onto the images with the gold leaf so to keep the shine. 






attempted close up of fish scales using watercolour:

this hasn't worked as well as I wanted, where it should be detailed and delicate, it seems very plain and not clear what the painting is of. Also tried the gold leaf directly onto the painting but it has come out looking rather tacky and unsubtle. Think the use of watercolour would be more effective if I focused on whole fish.

I had a go painting from my chosen photographs, Im not sure yet if I will use these for my final illustrations but I do like how they have come out. I didn't use the gold leaf for either, but might try adding now and see how I will look. I found it a lot harder painting multiple fish compared to the single parts of fish I have done, I feel the painting quality isn't as good as it could be. Although I think I have explored the colours well and brought out some colours that aren't usually seem at first glance. These have been edited slightly in photoshop, I didn't want to change too much as I like the analogue style. 

developing final ideas

 I went through all my photos from the various fish markets I have visited, picked out the photos of the fish I felt had the most intriguing skin, then cropped the photos to how I will be painting them.

I feel these would work well if i presented them across a double page spread. 

 

change of direction

my original aims:
- it was always to do an in depth exploration of the fish pattern and texture
- find out about the different uses of fish skins, how they use them for their survival etc. 
- book would be more of an information manual about the nature of the skins

After all my visits to fish mongers and markets I felt the direction change, as my interests were not in the uses of the fish skins, but rather the beauty in the dead fish.

new aims:
- dead fish are usually overlooked and dismissed as rather gruesome, their skin isn't often explored for its beauty
- but looking through all my photos of them you can't help but be intrigued by the mass of different patterns and colours, the way they are so shiny even when dead and headless. 
- so now I want to use what I have been doing with the watercolour to explore and communicate the beauty that I see in the dead fish

material experimentation

I started drawing out some of the fish from Billingsgate Market, but also experimenting with different materials to see what best communicates the texture of their scales. 

Watercolour study of fish head, I think these worked really well, only using minimal detail makes it appear rather delicate. I think the intense colour of the dark blue contrasted with the light pink is very effective and takes away slightly from the fact that it is a fish's head, it becomes something much more alluring. 

I find the lines on mackerel so fascinating, they look like the lines on that of a tiger or some other exotic predator, when in fact it is a very ordinary fish that people eat everyday. So I did a little exploration into that pattern by using layering of tracing paper, but I think this will look better if I scan both into photoshop and layer them there. 

Rough sketch looking at shape of fish and placement of scales, but if colour was added, could look like a much more finished piece.

What I find really intriguing about fishes scales are the little areas on their skin that shine like gold/silver/metal, making them look rather magical. I wanted to explore that so I used a bit of gold and silver leaf on my watercolour paintings. It was the first time I used it and these are only rough sketches but I think it could be quite promising in helping me achieve my aim of communicating the beauty of fish scales. 

Though I find the leaf quite hard to work with, it is very fiddly, and also is water resistant so painting over with more watercolour didn't work very well, making the process quite time consuming which is something I will have to think about when managing my time.