propercorn proposal

The problems I aim to solve are:

1. to communicate the 'Propercorn' brand to an audience who are 'time poor'

2. to keep in line with the ethos that 'Propercorn' is 'done properly'

3. to find a way to bring the 'brand to life' outside of the packaging

In order to solve these problems I will:

1. design a form of communication that is eye catching and alluring to the young and busy audience

2. research into similar ways advertising has been done in an outside environment, and see how particular places can be used as a tool for communication

3. use the results of the research to inform how I create the end product that solves the problems initially set out by the brief

I will be aiming to communicate:
1. the brand of 'Propercorn'

2. promoting the healthy, 'guilt free' aspect of the popcorn

3. communicating the vibrant, creative thinking behind the popcorn

To an audience of:
1. 20-35 year olds

2. they live in the city, have busy work schedules, are young professionals

3. they are health conscious

print inspiration

I've been looking a lot at propaganda, particularly Russian posters, to get some inspiration for the kind of style I want my prints to have.

Although I don't want my prints to be as detached at propaganda is, I like the use of strong structures and limited colour palettes in the posters. I still want my posters to convey feelings of oppression and loneliness, but also show this bold, imposing landscape compared to the tiny figures. 

moving pictures research

http://www.sherbet.co.uk/clips/85/age-of-stupid

I saw this animation by Jonathan Hodgson for the BBC, I love the style of it, where there isn't too much actual animated movement involved, it is more moving around a still drawing which gives it quite a rough, handmade aesthetic which I like

I like how he has used block figures with no leg movement so they just glide along, but they still look like a crowd of walking people - I might try and use this with my stick figures. 

more mono printing

I made some quick composition sketches to give me an idea of what I wanted to achieve and try out in the print room

I went back to the print room with lots of stencils and a clearer idea of some compositions. It was still a session of experimenting to see what works, playing around with colour and textures.

There are a few which had elements I particularly liked, or areas where I felt I could have improved:

I love the different tones in this one, the indentations left by all the stencils has worked really well with the black, making it all look quite ghostly with the fading figures and shadows around the barbed wire.

I think I must have put the ink too thick for the black, because the barbed wire has come out a bit blurry in comparison to the sharpness of the figure. 

I like the idea of this composition, but I feel it has come out very flat, not how I was expecting. I think I need to play around with perspectives a bit with my stencils as everything is very 2D.

I really like this composition, but the red I was mixing kept coming out pink by the second print. I think this would be more effective with a bolder colour, and maybe having the figures a different colour, or maybe all the same except one figure a different colour.

This wasn't meant to be a print, I just wanted to get the figure red to add to another print, but I really like this composition, the wide expanse of open space oppresses the figure, making it look very insignificant on the page which is the feeling I want to communicate through my prints.

I think this was one of my more successful prints, because I think it has more depth than any of the others, it looks like the figure is actually within the barbed wire, it is a bit less flat. I think this is helped by the shadows and varying tones. There is a bit more narrative to this one, so I need to try and get this effect for the rest of my compositions.

Although I am pleased with how my tests came out; as I got some good surprises, I am a bit stuck as to how to take these prints further into final images. Mono printing is great for experimenting but it is hard to get something that looks like a final piece. I think I need to play around with format, anything on A4 looks a bit dull, and I need to make stencils with some perspectives in them. I have a crit tomorrow so hopefully I will get some useful feedback on where I can take these mono prints. 

moving pictures - concept crit

I came up with the storyboard for my animation, it feels like it might be a little complicated as there is a lot going on, but because it will mostly be constructed as a rolling image rather than animation it shouldn't be too hard, and not as time consuming. 

It starts off with smoke and the title sequence, the smoke then lessens, you see the smoke flowing out of chimneys from factories. Then as the view moves along the factories, miners appear as they walk along the street into the distance. This is connected to when Orwell spent time in the industrial north researching for an essay.

Smoke moves onto the next scene which shows soliders shooting from the trenches, shooting bullets which move across showing a battlefield in the background. Planes from the back fly forward taking up the whole screen then flying into a new scene. This relates to the time Orwell spent fighting in the Spanish Civil War which had a lot of impact on the content for many of his novels.

Next scene shows poorly made house, with people walking in a line into distance, show people passing 'big brother' propaganda posters and then going into intimidating building. View then moves up the building to the eye at the top. This is relating to '1984', where the people live in poverty and have to work in these vast, scary buildings.

 The view then goes into the eye until the screen is black - this is the same sequence used for my drawn animation test. 'Room 101' illuminates in red and then a rat runs across the screen. Again '1984' with the room of torture, where rats were used.

 The rat then runs across a field, leading view to a horse pulling a cart towards a windmill. The horse is whipped, the view moves down the whip to see it is held by a pig trotter. The view zooms out to see two pigs standing on top of a hill.

Moving back further sees a collection of farm animals looking up at the intimidating pigs. This relates to 'Animal Farm' and the dictatorship the pigs had over the other animals. The smoke then takes over the screen, linking it to the beginning, possibly showing more information about the documentary. 



Some feedback I got was:
- the content is appropriate and does answer the brief in being an ad for a documentary about Orwell's life and works
- visually it will look good if using stop motion style I used before
- although it seems quite complex, doing it as a rolling image will save a lot of time so might not actually be too difficult
- when the view goes into the eye at the top of the building, it seems like a natural stopping point, so maybe cut the animal farm section out - the rest of the content is still relevant.

research for mono print

I started a Pinterest page to start collecting print ideas for my mono prints, I don't know much about mono printing so don't yet know what I can, or what I want to do with this process. It seems like a very experimental method of printing, which is exactly what I need to do to get some ideas of where to go.

Follow Astrid's board print ideas for mono print on Pinterest.

mono printing

I went back to the print room to try out some more mono-printing but this time a bit more prepared with what I wanted to do, I brought some stencils along with me to play around with. 

I'm really pleased with how these worked out, I think the top three have a good composition, with the figures just in the corner being surrounded by such open space, it makes them look even smaller, giving it quite an eerie feel. 

I love the texture of mono printing, and how it is different everytime so there are a lot of surprises the more you experiment with it. I tried adding some bits of wood to it which gives it a really nice indentation when you take it off again, I'm not sure the yellow works very well with the green but I just wanted to test it out with something contrasting. I think I prefer the ones where it has been re-printed and the ink isn't as thick, so it has quite a washed out texture.

I think the building one would work better if I did it on a different format, like if I used a long and thin piece of paper to increase the feeling of it towering above the people. 

I am still unsure of what is exactly going into my prints but after doing these test I am more confident with this printing method. I just need to make more stencils and do lots more practises. I want to try and mix in some collage as well so I can build up lots of layers.

visual journal

I did some more work in my visual journal, developing the little figures I have been working with, trying to create more of a composition with them, using stencils and my inkpad.

I wanted to try and create the feeling of isolation/separation from the norm; because in 1984 Winston (the protagonist) feels there is more to know, and believes in the idea of a revolution but he is in the minority. 

I feel like these were quite successful in communicating this, using colour only on one figure makes him stand out a lot against the rest of the composition. 

I particularly like the top one, it has a strong composition and is quite striking with the colour scheme, I will develop it further, possibly working it into my animation somehow. 

I also tried mixing a bit of collage in with my printing, which I felt worked well. The textures of the buildings contrast with the bold shapes of the people. I think the red paint is a bit much and unnecessary, I think it could be stronger if the whole thing was in monotone.  

I've been looking at depicting these little houses after reading the quote

'Were there always these vistas of rotting nineteenth-century houses, their sides  shored up with baulks of timber, their windows patched with cardboard and their roofs with corrugated iron, their crazy garden walls sagging in all directions?' 

I have been visualising scenes where the workers are walking through their poverty stricken areas to the massive, concrete buildings where they work which tower over the bleak city. 

The 'Room 101' is an important element of 1984, it is where the state takes people when they have tried to rebel against the law, it forces them to face their biggest phobias until they give in and accept what the state says as true. Winston is taken there, he has a cage fastened to his face with hungry rats at the other end, and they come and bite at his face until he gives in. 

So I started looking at some rat imagery.

final drawn animation test

I finally took photos of my drawings with dragon-frame and put it all together; I decided to take 2 photos of each frame so that it doesn't go too fast, I still had to lower the frame rate in after effects, but because I took more photos I felt it was a lot smoother. 


final drawn from Astrid Weguelin on Vimeo.

Although I know I won't be using this style of animation for my end piece, I do really like the sequence, I will try and include it somewhere in the final storyboard. I feel like this test was very successful, it runs smoothly as I managed to line up all the drawings pretty well on the lightbox when I was drawing them. 

Jo Dery

I looked at animator and comic artist Jo Dery for some inspiration for my animation, I really liked this short video of his:

https://vimeo.com/17251908

I love the use of tracing paper for the smoke from the factories, it is so simple but really effective. Aldo the cut out factories work really well, I definitely want to use some collage for my animation, I might use a similar idea but try make it a lot grittier. 

I also looked through his sketchbook pages; I love the use of cut out textures, mixing collage with paint and pen work - using limited colours with the black and white, it makes the pages very striking. I think a similar cut out style would suit my animation well. 

5 things

We had to start thinking about the audience - who they are, where they go, want they are like etc in order to get an idea of how we should go about formulating our ideas. We each answered questions on our brief then handed the brief to someone else to fill out the same questions.

My answers were:

5 most important words:

- POPCORN

- CREATIVE

- MEMORABLE

- VIBRANT

- HEALTHY

5 most important considerations:

- it has to keep up with the stylish branding of being 'done properly'

- it has to appeal to the young, urban professionals age 20-35

- it has to be relevant to the daily life of the audience, be places where they will actually see the branding

- it has to keep the creative, illustrative feel to the advertising, maybe not same design but similar ideas

- it has to bring the brand to life in someway, focusing on in-store environments

5 related products:

- other brands of popcorn (e.g. metcalfe)

- 'guilt free' snacks (e.g. graze boxes)

- snacks with hand illustrative designs

- in-store designs

- beautifully packaged products

5 related places:

- 'premium outlets' (e.g. whole foods, selfridges)

- corner shops/superarkets

- festivals, cinemas

- events (e.g. London Fashion Week)

- offices

These were my partners answers:

5 most important words:

- YOUNG

- DELICIOUS

- CREATIVE

- NATURAL

- HEALTHY

5 most important considerations:

- everything should be as good as possible

- 'done properly' ethos

- hand made touch

- ties to art, music, fashion industries, guilt free

- target audience of young professionals age 2--35yrs

5 related products:

- popcorn

- hand illustrated packaging

- illustrated postcard

- beautiful box

- in-store displays

5 related places:

- supermarkets

- online

- work

- London Fashion Week

- transport (buses, tube, taxis) 

This was a useful exercise because it helped me pick up on things I hadn't considered; like advertising on public transport or trying to tie in with the arts and music side to advertising. 

I have identified my audience as:
- 20-30 year olds
- health conscious, so they are likely to be going to the gym, shopping at health food stores
- young professionals, so have busy schedules so the advertising needs to fit in with their daily routine; it needs to be something they see on their way to work etc.
- cultured, so maybe going to a lot of art galleries, art house films etc.
- use public transport

analysing the brief

During our last session we answered some questions about the brief that we had chosen:

1. Why have I chosen the brief?

It sounds like an interesting brief where I will be able to try something I have never tried before - using illustration off the paper and into the outside environment. It also seems like it can be easily applied to illustration, although it is not very clear on how, just 'extending the narrative on the packs', so it is very open, I am interested to see how I respond to it. 

2. What do I want to get out of it?

I want to be pushed out of my comfort zone, and try to apply my skills to something I am not used to. I want to start thinking about illustration outside of the course, in a more professional way, and consider how I would make work 'commercially viable'. 

3. What do you need to produce in response to it?

It is a very open brief so what I need to produce isn't very clear. I need to find a way of communicating the brand ethos in a way that is commercially viable. This can be through traditional methods like posters, billboards etc or something more interactive. It has to relate to the daily routines of the audience in some way to catch their attention. They also like to focus on the design as hand drawn which is an important aspect to take into account. 

4. What do you want to produce in response to it?

I have a few ideas of ways to communicate with the audience; bus shelter ads, billboards, web banners, shop window designs - as these are places that the audience will be encountering during their everyday lives. 

tutorial

I went into my tutorial feeling a bit lost as to where to go with my projects, the animation and etching all seemed a bit daunting especially mixed in with all the other projects I have at the same time, I have been having trouble managing my time. 

But after talking it all through it is clear that the type of etching I was looking to do doesn't really make sense when looking through my visual journal and all the other work I have done. The work I did with the figures is effective and that style would be work nicely with mono print or lino cut. 
It is clear from my wide variety of work that I haven't been very focused on where I want to go or why I am actually doing all this experimenting because so far it hasn't actually got me anywhere.

So I need to just sit and work out exactly what I want to do because at the moment I am doing a lot of experimenting but I'm being to broad with it, if I choose a particular way of working or a process I can then experiment within that and actually move forward with the idea.

It was also suggested that instead of doing 6 ten second stings for my animation, I do the 1 minute animation, that way I can create more of a narrative with it and I could just add in lots of bits that I have been working with rather than having to think of 6 separate ideas. 

So before I start doing more work I am going to make some decisions on where I want to go with this project because so far I have been quite indecisive and broad with what I am doing. It also allows for a lot more experimentation which is what I want to do more of. I think it will be a good idea to move onto mono print or lino, as it fits better with the style I have been working with and it is also a lot less time consuming so I will find it less stressful. 
I will plan out what content I want in my prints - whether or not I am working from quotes, and if so, what quotes I will be using. Also what will be in my animation, I need to go back to the brief and re-read what it is asking. During this I need to start building up a catalogue of drawings in my visual journal using a particular process so that I can start developing one idea rather than doing bits of a variety of ideas. 

visual journal

I feel I haven't been working in my visual journal enough, and I felt a bit stuck with where to go with my prints and animation so I wanted to maybe generate some ideas. 
I played around with some stencils I made and my black ink pad which creates quite a mono print style

When making these I had a quote from 1984 in my mind :

  "a kilometre away the Ministry or Truth, his place of work, towered vast and white above the grimy landscape"

I had meant for the building to be white but I also liked how the white illuminates from behind the stencil building, giving it quite an eerie glow. It isn't that visible on the photo but I had scribbled pencil into the black but I don't think that works as well, the roughness of it doesn't work well in contrast the sharp white of the building.

I wanted to do more where I imagined scenes from the book, and I thought about all the workers walking through the city to work in these huge buildings and how they have been brainwashed so are quite robotic I thought

I think these feels rather haunting which is what I wanted to create, as if the figures are ghosts of what they once were, on their way to work. I feel this could work well as a bit in my animation, but also as a mono print, these kinds of stencils would look good as a mono print or using the same imagery for a lino cut. I feel like I should maybe be taking the path of mono and lino instead of etching after seeing the direction my work is taking. 

I really like these little figures I've made, I want to do more of these, maybe trying out the same style but with some other motifs related to the book.

rolling background

I scanned in all the photocopies of buildings on acetate and connected them together into one long image to then import into after effects to add some movement to it as well as a textured ground and a background colour:

This was just a quick test, I think the buildings are rolling across a bit fast but I am pleased with how it looks. To take it further I think I will choose buildings that are more relevant to 1984, and possibly have figures coming out of the buildings, smoke and planes in the background, to try and create the landscape I imagine in the novel. 

animation tests

I finished drawing the frames for my drawn animation test, but I haven't yet photographed them in dragon-frame. But I wanted to see what bits of it will look like, so I scanned s few bits and put them together in after effects

This is the first part of the sequence, leading up the path to the massive building or 'ministry of truth'. I'm happy that the path actually worked, I was worried I would have got the perspective all wrong but I think it has worked pretty well.

I'm really happy with this, I think the strong pencil lines add a good texture to it, making it feel quite intense when the darkness takes over the composition. Because it was done quite roughly, it feels like it is always in a state of change which I like, it makes the sequence quite lively.

collage work

I played around in my visual journal with cut out photocopies from a book I got out the library - 'The Industrial Architecture of Yorkshire'

I photocopied bits of my collage onto acetate and then played around with compositions on the lightbox:

I was really enjoying layering up the acetate, I feel I came up with some strong compositions. I was thinking for some of my animations I could have a rolling background of industrial/city architecture where I have played around with scale with other elements happening in the foreground. 

mono printing

I did a few mono prints, I really enjoy creating these sorts of textures that could be used for background or cut outs

I then tried doing some mono-type, where I drew into the ink and then printed which had a really nice effect, making it look quite gritty

I enjoyed mono printing, it would work well with the stencil work I have been experimenting with, I am slightly torn between etching and mono printing because both could effectively create the atmosphere I am wanting to depict in my prints. Mono printing could also be translated well into my animations as I have been working a lot with shapes and stencils. 

etching

I decided it would be better to change the image I'm using for my photo etching, as I was told the print comes out better when you us actual photos rather than drawings.

So I printed out a photo of a windmill and some planes and used the same collage as before

I then had to photocopy it onto acetate so that I could expose it later onto the copper plate

I like how well the collage on the hill has come out, hopefully the texture will transfer onto the copper plate

I didn't realise how long the process was for photo etching, I thought it would be a lot quicker but it is about the same, if not a bit longer as there is a lot of waiting around. It is quite a complicated process as well which can easily go wrong:

- clean the copper plate, it has to be completely clean of any grease for photo etching

- while still slightly wet, the sheet of film needs to be peeled and stuck on the plate, making sure there are no air bubbles underneath. The film is light sensitive so should avoid light as much as possible

- once dry, the image on acetate is exposed onto the screen for about 8 seconds

- the plate is then left in water with some powder for an hour

- then the plate is left in acid for another hour, this time it was left for an hour and a half because the acid was a bit weak

The difference for normal etching is that after initially cleaning the plate, hot wax has to be rolled on and left to dry. Then you etch in the image using the tools, then you put the plate in the acid for half an hour so it can eat away at the wax and into the copper. Then you use turpentine to clean off the wax. Then the process of inking up is the same:

- layer on the ink, making sure it gets in all the lines

- scrape off the heavy excess ink

- use tissue paper to clean off the ink but being careful not to get any out of the lines

- wet the paper being used to print on and then print

- for a second print, all the excess needs to be cleaned off and then applied again

So it is a very time consuming process but the outcomes can be rewarding, but it becomes quite a difficult process to experiment with because of how long it takes.

I love the blue colour of the film on the colour plate (the purple is from scanning it in) Not all the detail was exposed onto the plate, but all the texture did which I was pleased about although it was hard to clean all the ink off the plate

 I was pleased with how the collage transferred, but the planes haven't come out very well. I also wanted it to be a bit darker and dirtier around the edges to give it more a gritty feel but I cleaned too much of the ink off before printing. It would have looked better on smaller paper or if I had used a smaller copper plate. But I am happy with this tester, and although it is very time consuming and will be difficult to make a series of prints, I think I will stick with etching as I did really enjoy the process. But I think I will use normal etching next time because I feel I will be able to be more experimental with my mark making.

choosing the brief

I went back over the briefs I brought to the session, and went through all the new YCN and D&AD briefs that have been put out and thought about which would be best for me after the discussions we had in our last session. 
I decided to stick with the 'Propercorn' on, where they are asking to 'creatively bring to life our ethos of "Done Properly"'

Some questions to think about to get me started with the brief:

what problems are identified in the brief?
they want to find a way to expand their branding, in the UK and further. And they need to find a way to do this that will capture the attention of an audience with a very busy lifestyle.

what is the brief asking you to do about it?
communicate their ethos of 'done properly' through a campaign or possibly traditional communication. So find a way to reach out to this busy, work centred audience during their day to day lives.

what is the brief trying to achieve?
expand their brand, make it more popular especially within the 'health conscious' 'stylish', 'urban' community - they want to make sure their brand comes across as a healthy yet tasty, stylish, creative snack.

who will benefit?
Propercorn. They will be getting their brand out there and so becoming more popular, so then making more money.

what is the message?
'guilt free popcorn' that is 'done properly' - a stylish, unique way of snacking from a brand that encourages creatives.

who is the audience?
20-35 yr olds with busy lifestyles, work centred, health conscious, appreciative of the arts

who will the message be delivered?
need to think about where the audience will likely be to see this campaign (on the way to work, at their desk) so possibly billboards, bus shelters, snack boxes, magazine ads, shop window designs. Creating a campaign. 

can you see any problems in responding to the brief?
it is a very open brief that could be interpreted by lots of different creative areas. There is a lot of possibilities of where to take it, not quite sure what they want, didn't find brief that clear. Not sure if they want to carry on with same design as on packs - as a extended version of the drawings they already have or a completely new look of the pack design.

responsive brief

In a group we came up with a list of things that we want to get out of this responsive brief:

• gain a better understanding of quality and what is professional in the illustration community
• learning how illustration can be used in the environment outside of college, and outside of just working onto paper; for example, on shop windows
• getting feedback from professionals that will really help improve my work
• being able to find a brief, and then create a whole body of work for it mostly on my own, gain a lot more independence in my work
• learning how to select briefs that are appropriate to me and my way of working
• being able to work quickly to produce a decent body of work, as some of the competitions don't allow for a lot of time
• networking; start communicating with other illustrators outside of college, learning more about illustration as a career
• learn to push myself out of my comfort zone so that I am not just doing things I know I will do okay at, try out something I have never considered before
• considering format more; where I'm not just working for a sheet of paper, but maybe some sort of packaging or a book cover, something I'm not used to
• get feedback from professionals, it's great getting feedback from peers and tutors but possibly having the chance to get feedback from professionals in the illustration/design field could give some alternative insight I haven't heard

etching research

I looked through Pinterest for contemporary etching processes and etching using collage:

I really like the ones that are quite scratchy and dark, they feel quite gritty and worked into which is the aesthetic I want from my etchings. I love the use of collage on some of the examples, the textures show through really nicely, so I definitely want to try incorporate collage and then maybe etch in some lines over the top. 

I have my etching workshop in a few days and we have to bring in something to work from; I did this quick drawing with a bit of collage in it:

I think the textures will look good with this, where the ink bleeds into the edges of the paper, but because it would be a photo etching it might be better if the windmill was an actual photograph and it had more photography imagery in it. So I might do it again but try with photographs instead. 

drawn animation preparation

Thumbs for my drawn animation:

I realised I had made my idea for this test animation more complicated than it needed to be, but only after I was quite a way through it, so had to carry on. I wanted the beginning to illustrate walking along a path but I hadn't taken into account the importance of perspectives. I had originally made it quite rough and not very precise but it didn't look right so I started again, I decided to challenge myself to try and make it work.  So I planned it out a bit more thoroughly.

I then wanted the viewpoint to pan up a massive building, which I was aiming to represent the 'ministry of truth' where the protagonist in 1984 works; a tall, intimidating, bright white building that looms over the bleak landscape. 
Then at the top I wanted an eye to keep up with the theme of surveillance, I want to eye to move either side as if it were watching over the people below, the the viewpoint to zoom further into the 'pupil' until it all goes black. I want the mood to be quite dark and oppressive.   

I have finished all the drawings now, I managed to do 50 which should be just under 5 seconds of film but I will stretch it slightly in after effects, I now just need to photograph each frame in dragon frame and create the sequence.