Final Evaluation

throughout this project i aimed to capture the essence of the two art movements 'Cubism' and Futurism' and my final outcome from this proect was to create two book covers. one in the style of cubism and one in the style of futurism.
The first task which i was asked to complete consisted of researching four of the elements of design. for this, I chose to research pattern, line, texture and colour. The first thing i did for this task was creating four mood boards, one for each of the elements of design i chose to research. These mood boards were made up of images which i found in books from the library, images i found on the internet and some found materials. Each mood board showcased one element of design in the best way i could find to do so. Once i had completed this research, i then took five or six photographs which i found represented each of the elements of design. I uploaded these images to my blog and analysed one of each of them from each element of design in a previous blog post. With these images i made sure i captured the objects i photographed in a way which made the colours the most vibrant that they could be making the images stand out and making them visually appealing.
During task 1b i was asked to complete consisted of writing a 250 word illustrated piece about cubism and futurism. in this illustrated piece i showed my understanding of the two art movements and the social impact they had.
Task 2 consisted of the planning of my photo shoots. This consisted of writing out ideas, then turning these ideas into full plans, filling in risk assessments then going ahead with the photo shoots which i planned.
Task three consisted of experimenting with creating futurist and cubist style images. i hand rendered and used photo shop to edit images in such a way that they represented the two art movements which i was working with throughout this project.
Task 4 consisted of creating mock up book covers and final book covers for the two art movements. i created two book covers for each of the art movements.
overall i feel like this project was a success and i am very happy with the way my final pieces turned out. Throughout this project i feel like i have improved on my photoshop skills as this project heavily relied on the use of photoshop to create the images. In addition to this i feel like i have gained a better understanding of the two art movements cubism and futurism as i have applied the techniques utsed in artworks of this kind to my art own work. one way i could have improved on this project is to have managed my time better and this is one of the main things i will work on with future projects.

Task 4b - Final Book Covers

During task 4b i was asked to create my final book covers. these are attached below:

this the first final book cover which i created for the cubism art movement. the main image i used is a cubist style image of a cats face. i feel like the text i have used also links in nicely with the cubist theme because it is blocky and slightly abstrach so it shows the creative use of blocks in cubist photos.

this is the second final book cover which i created for the cubist art movement. the main image i used is a cubist style image of the Baildon Moravian church which i have edited in photoshop. I feel that the text fits in well with this image as the curved fluid motion of the text contrasts nicely with the angular nature of the background image.

this is the first final book cover which i created for the futurist art movement. the main image i used is an edited photograph of Antonio doing a front flip. this image shows movement which is a key part of futurist art. the text i used also fits in with the futurist art movement as it has the illusion that it is moving.

this is the second final book cover which i created fir the futurist art movement. the main image i used is an edited long exposure photograph of car tail lights and head lights. i feel that this represents futurism as i feel it suggest speed and movement which are two main factors of futurist art. I feel that the text which i used fits well with the imagery i used as it has the same red and white theme and effect running through it.

Task 4a - Book Cover Mock Ups

For Task 4a I was asked to create 2 book cover mock ups for each of the art movements, cubism and futurism. Here are the mock up book covers i created.

This is the first mock up book cover I created for Cubism. The Main image I used is one that i created from photographs of my cats' faces. I created a collage type cubism design with this image which I find to be simple yet effective and i feel it showcases the cubist art movement well. The text i used on this book  cover is situated in the blank space above the cats head and it is a simple block type. I find that this simple block type works well as the angular lines that are present in the type that i have used are key features in cubism art pieces.

This is the second book cover mock up i have created for cubism. The main image that i used for this book cover is an image that i created in photoshop of a building with angular features. I edited this picture so it would look slightly abstract and unique as this is one of the main features of cubism art. The text i have used for this book cover is a simple block text but i have layered the text so it has a more 3D and abstract look. i find this works well as cubist art work has an abstract nature.

This is the book cover mock up that i created in the futurist art movement. the main image i used for this book cover is a long exposure shot of car tail lights and head lights as the cars pass down the road. i find this image works well as a book cover for the futurist art movement as the stream of light suggests movement which is a key component of futurist art. The text i have used is curved and i feel like the fluid motion of the curved text represents the speed and movement which is present in a lot of futurist style work.

This is the second book cover mock up which i created for the futurist art movement. the main image i used for this book cover is an image which i created in photoshop of Antonio doing a front flip. This image is of the futurist style as it shows the movement of the subject. The text i used is bold, central and takes up most of the page however, as i have changed the opacity of images which i layered on top of each other to create the background image, i also changed the opacity of the text to make it fit in better with the image itself.

Additional Research - Typography and Book Covers

As my end goal for this project is to design book covers for a cubist and futurist book, I was asked to do some additional research into typography and book covers. To show my research, i displayed what i found in a selection of mood boards shown below. throughout this research i learnt that typography is the style and appearance of words printed wording and the art of arranging type on a page. I a,so learnt that typography is very important in the design of book covers as it is essential that the text and type on the front of the book is relevant to the cover in general and the story of the book itself. 

Task 3 - Experiment

For task 3, I as asked to take the images i photographed for task two and create at least two cubist images and at least two futurist style images from them. The way I was asked to create these images was to use paper folding techniques to create a hand made cubist style image and to create a cubist style image by editing it in Photoshop. How i created the futurist images was down to my own decision so i decided to create both of these images using Photoshop as i felt this would be the most suitable for the futurist style and i did not see a practical way in which i could hand make a futurist image. Here are the images i created.

This is the first cubist image i created using Photoshop. This is a photograph of the Moravian Church in Baildon which i have edited into a cubist style in Photoshop. I used the 'inner glow' tool on Photoshop to create the sections of the image which are contained in the boxes. I then adjusted some of the settings slightly in order to get the boxes how i liked them. After this i went to the 'free transform' tool on Photoshop and pulled at some of the corners to stretch the image which is contained in the box to distort it slightly making the image look sightly abstract. I kept adjusting the image in this way until i was happy with the way it was looking. Once i was happy with the way the image was looking, i opened the 'FX' menu and gave each of the sections a pattern overlay to add more interest to the image. After i had done all this i converted the whole image to a sepia tone. Overall I am happy with the way this image turned out and i feel it looks better than i predicted it would before i started to edit it.

This is the second cubist image i created in Photoshop. This is a collage type image made up of cats' faces. included in this image there are photographs of three different cats and different features on the cats face are made up from the photographs of the other cats. In order to make this image I had to photograph my three cats head on. This took quite a bit of time as my cats would keep moving which would make it difficult to get the images i wanted. A lot of the photographs I took during this photo shoot came out blurred and out of focus or my cat would move so that i would end up with photographs of the side or back of my cats head which would be perfectly in focus, which would of course be unusable for use in this image. This meant that the process of taking these photographs proved to be a long one but in the end i finally got the images i was intending to get. Once i had completed this photo shoot, i opened the image in photoshop and edited them slightly just to enhance the image without drastically changing the image. Once i had enhanced these images i chose one of the images to use as a 'base' image then cropped out small parts from the other images and placed them in the corresponding positions on the 'base' image. For example, as you can see, the left eye is at a slightly different angle and doesn't quite match up, this is because this is because the eye is from another cat and it has been put in the same place as where the original eye would be. I did this to a few of the other facial features such as the right ear, right cheek, nose and chin. Creating cubist images like this is effective as it looks abstract yet simple. if you look at this image from a distance, you cannot notice a huge difference in the image at first, it's only when you look closer at the image that you notice that the image has a collage effect.

This is a photograph of the cubist style image i created by hand. Before manipulating this image, it was a photograph of a child wearing a plushy lion winter hat and was found in a magazine. I chose to use this image as I thought the page had a nice look to it but i also wanted to use a different material and something slightly different from my own work so i chose an image from a magazine to manipulate by hand. I created this piece using origami techniques which i was taught by a video clip found on Youtube. I chose to fold the image into this design as I found it aesthetically pleasing and nice to look at and i was attracted to the bow design. I also chose to fold the paper in such a way as I felt that the angular lines than run through this piece represent the cubist art style very well even though the only manipulation which has happened to the image is that of folding. 

This is the first image i created in the futurist style. This is an image of car tail lights and head lights ad they pass by. This image was created using a long exposure on my camera and placing my camera on a wall in order to get a smooth and steady shot. To create this image, i went out at night and stood at the edge of the road, set my camera down on a wall and photographed cars as they were passing by using a long exposure on my camera. I took several photographs of cars in this fashion so that when i came to edit the images in photoshop a better image could be created. When editing this image, i took all of the photographs i took and i layered one on top of another until it looked like i had only one image. All of the images were now layered on top of each other so i simply changed the opacity to around 30% so that each layer could be seen and the stream of light given off my the tail lights and the head lights of the car looked fuller and brighter. As I placed the camera on a wall whilst i was taking these photographs, this means that the camera never moved meaning even though several layers have been added on top of each other, the detailing in the image such as the road markings are still in focus and show no sign of movement. I feel that this image is a futurist style image as the stream of light from the tail lights and head lights suggests movement and although you cannot see that cars which have created this light stream, it is known that they were there and this suggests power and strength. Power, strength and movement are all key elements in futurist art and photography.

This is the secon futurist style image I created using Photoshop. This is an image of my model, Antonio, doing a front flip on a trampoline. I created this image by asking Antonio to do a front flip while I photographed him using the rapid shutter feature on my camera. By using the rapid shutter feature on my camera, this meant i was able to capture images of Antonio at different stages of the front flip so when you look back at all of the photographs individually, they could almost be put back together to make a stop motion animation. To create this image, i opened all of the images that i took in photoshop then layered them all on top of each other so that each photograph formed its own layer in one photoshop document. At this stage, only one stage of Antonio's front flip was visible, this meant that i had to change the opacity of each layer. As I had quite a lot of images layered on top of each other, I changes the opacity of each layer to around 10 or 11%, this meant that each layer was visible, but not so much so that one was more dominant than the rest. I am very happy with the way this photograph turned out as it turned out exactly the way i hoped it would when i first had the idea of doing this for a photo shoot. I feel that this is a good example of a futurist image as movement is clearly shown through the use of the fast shutter speed and movement is one of the main elements of futurist art and photography

Task 2 - photoshoots

Once I had planned my photo shoots and written out the risk assessments, i was then asked to go ahead with the four photo shoots. here are the images from the photo shoots which i carried out.

futurist photo shoot 1:

Futurist photo shoot 2:

Cubist photo shoot 1:

Cubist photo shoot 2:

Task 2 - Planning - Risk Assessments

Futurism photo shoot risk assessment 1:

Futurism risk assessment 2:

Cubism risk assessment 1:

Cubism risk assessment 2:

Task 2 Part 2 - Planning

Cubsim:

Plan 1:

For the first photo shoot for the cubism art movement, I will be photographing my cats faces. I will photograph the faces of three different cats to later arrange the images so they re-create the face of a cat which has been built up of features from each of the cats. I will be carrying out this photo shoot at my house under artificial lighting. I will be carrying out this photo shoot under artificial lighting in my house because this will make it easier to make the animals co-operate and it will give more controlled lighting without having to worry about unwanted shadows being cast on or by the subject. I plan to spend around 30 minutes to 1 hour on this photo shoot, this is to ensure I have enough time to get the best shots I can as it may not be easy to make the cats co-operate and look directly into the camera lens as I would like them to. As I am photographing at home, there is no travel time or cost to consider with this shoot as I do not have to go anywhere.

Plan 2:

For the second photo shoot for the cubism art movement, I will be photographing the Moravian church in Baildon from various different angles so I can eventually place the images together to create a piece in the style of analytical cubism. I chose to photograph the Moravian church as it is local to where I live and it is quite an aesthetically pleasing building. During this photo shoot, I will be relying solely on natural lighting, this means that I will have to visit the church during daylight hours. I plan to carry out this shoot during the mid to late afternoon whilst it is still bright enough to get a good quality image, yet not too bright so the sunlight is likely to distract from the subject itself. I plan to spend around 30-40 minutes on this shoot, this will give me enough time to arrive at the location, which is situated approximately 5 minutes by foot from my house, and enough time to shoot sufficient photographs of the subject. As the location is within walking distance from my house, this means that there will be no travel expenses required and I will be using equipment which I already own, so this photo shoot will not cost me anything to carry out.

Futurism:

Plan 1:

For the first photo shoot for the futurist art movement, I will be using the long exposure feature on my camera to capture the red streak of light given off by the tail lights on passing cars. I will carry out this photo shoot on Browgate, a road leading out of Baildon. For this photo shoot, I will be photographing at night meaning that I do not require lighting of any kind, natural or artificial as it would take away from the image I am intending to create. I will carry out this photo shoot during the mid evening, once it has become fully dark outside and I will allow around 30-40 minutes for this shoot. Allowing 30-40 minutes for this shoot gives me enough time to arrive at the location, which is 5 minutes from my house, set up the long exposure setting on my camera, set my camera up on the wall at the side of the road and take a good amount of photographs to complete the shoot. As the location I have chosen to carry out this photo shoot is local, there are no travel costs and I will be using equipment that I already own so this photo shoot will not cost anything.

Plan 2:

For the second photo shoot for the futurist art movement, I will be using the rapid shutter feature on my camera to capture my model doing gymnastic manoeuvres on a trampoline with a view to overlaying the final images I get so the movement within the image is apparent and clear. I will be carrying out this photo shoot at my house in the garden on the trampoline which I own. I will be asking my model, who has had gymnastic training, to do a series of gymnastic manoeuvres such as front flips and back flips which I will photograph with the rapid shutter feature on my camera to capture the movement of my model and capture each stage of the manoeuvre which my model will complete. I plan to spend around 1 hour on this photo shoot, this will ensure my model has time to properly prepare for this shoot and ensures there is enough time to capture the best possible shots of my model in mid air. For this shoot, I will be relying on natural lighting as the shoot will be outside, this means that I am aiming to complete the photo shoot during the mid afternoon at around 1 or 2 O’clock in the afternoon to ensure the lighting is the best it can be. As the location in which I will be photographing is the garden of my home, this means that there will be no travelling time or travelling expenses and as I will be using equipment which I already own, this shoot will not cost me anything to complete. 

Task 2 - Planning part 1 - Ideas.

Cubism photoshoot ideas:

My first idea for the cubism photo shoot is to photograph a building in an analytic cubist fashion. I plan to photograph a building from various different angles with the view of placing them all together to recreate the image of the building which was originally photographed. This idea was inspired by the painting Ma Jolie by Pablo Picasso. This painting is originally musically inspired and the figure of Picassos lover is loosely linked into it, however the muted colours and angular shapes reminded me of that featured in buildings.

  

My second idea for the cubism photo shoot is to photograph my cats head on and present them in a synthetic cubist fashion. My idea is to photograph 3 different cats head on, so the photograph solely consists of the cats face, then crop and edit the pictures together to recreate the image of one cats face using different features from different cats. This idea was inspired by this image from an independent photographer that I found when I searched the words “cubism in photography” in google to gain inspiration.

Futurism photoshoot ideas:

My first idea for the futurist photo shoot is to go out at night and use the long exposure feature on my camera to capture the streak of light that comes from the tail light on the cars which are passing by. Ideally, this will capture the essence of movement, speed and power which is present in typically futurist art. This idea was inspired by the painting ‘The Uprising’ by Luigi Russolo as the red lines running through this reminded me of the red lines which could run through the centre of the photograph if the long exposure feature is used to capture the tail lights of a car at night.

 

My second Idea for the futurist photo shoot is to get my model to use a trampoline to do backflips/ front flips and for me to capture this using the rapid shutter feature on my camera to ensure the most movement is recorded. Once I have taken these pictures I plan to overlay these pictures on top of each other so my model is visible several times within the image at different stages of the flip. By doing this, it will create the illusion of movement and speed which are key elements of the futurist art movement. This idea was inspired by the painting automobile in corsa by Gacomo Balla as the lines and curves of this image suggest movement as would the lines and curves of my models body whilst in mid air.

Task 1b - 250 Word Illustrated Pieces

For task 1b, I was asked to create 2 250 word illustrated pieces, one on 'Cubism' and the other on 'Futurism'

Cubism 250 word illustrated piece:

‘Cubism’ was an art movement which took place from the year 1907 to the year 1914. This art movement was revolutionary and it could be said that cubism came about because of photography. This is because when Kodak released their first camera, ‘The Brownie’ in 1900, this made photography easy and possible for everyone, including children. As Kodak had now made photography available to the masses, this meant that there was less need for artists to pain realistically to capture a moment as this could now be done by everyone with cameras and artists were now free to express themselves however they wished through their artworks. This meant that artists work began to change from being realistic and capturing a moment to more expressive and abstract.

There are two different types of cubism, these are analytical cubism and synthetic cubism. Analytical cubism consists of various images of the same subject matter from different angles and viewpoints being placed together to create the final image. This means that a three dimensional object is shown to its fullest potential on a two dimensional canvas. In contrast to this, synthetic cubism consists of a combination of different objects placed together to create an abstract overall piece.

‘factory, Horta de Ebbo’ is an analytical cubist piece created by Pablo Picasso in 1909. This is a painting of a landscape including a factory and palm trees. The colours in this painting are reasonably bright and quite unrealistic in the sense that all of the geometric shapes that create the image are filled in using blocks of colour which would not necessarily be the colours which would naturally occur. This is an example of a typically cubist image as it has been created using geometric shapes filled with colour. The use of geometric shaped means that this landscape image lacks depth which is a key part of cubist work as the intention of cubism is not to portray a three dimensional image in its original three dimensions, but to show it in a two dimensional way without the illusion of depth. The use of geometric shames in this image also give the illusion of the artwork being ‘broken’ into pieces, this is another of the main characteristics of cubist art.

Futurism 250 word illustrated piece:

Task 1b

Futurism 250 word illustrated piece:

Futurism is a distinctive art movement which took place in Italy beginning in 1911. It appears that futurism was inspired by the art movement ‘cubism’. This could be said as the futurist movement followed the cubist movement and the abstract element is present within art works from each of the movements. However, futurism does differ from cubism in quite a few ways, one of which being that futurism focus’ on the movement of an object. Image manipulation is such as overlaying images several times is used a lot in in the work of futurist artists. Futurist artworks ain to get across the motion and movement of the objects captured within the images. This means that colour, line and shape become very important throughout the work of futurist artists. The main themes running through the work from futurist artists include power, speed and matters of industrial nature.

The futurist art movement was about more than just art though. The main artists during this art movement (Boccioni, Balla, Severini and others) all signed a manifesto setting out their ideas. This manifesto not only explained the ideas of speed and power throughout the art pieces, but it also glorified violence and war. The manifesto, written by the Italian poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, included passages such as “we intend to sing the love of danger, the habit of energy and fearless” and “we will glorify war – the worlds only hygiene- militarism, patriotism the destructive gesture of the freedom bringers, beautiful idea worth dying for and the scorn of women” and this was published in the Italian newspaper ‘Gazzetta dell’Emilia’ in Bologna on February 5^th 1909 then in the French newspaper ‘Le Figaro’ on February 20^th of the same year. This meant that a large number of people saw and were able to read this manifesto. Because of this the futurist art movement had a large social impact as the views and beliefs written were very strong and not everybody would have agreed with them meaning opinions were undoubtedly split.

One of the most influential futurist artists was Umberto Boccioni. He was a painter, sculptor and theorist of the futurist art movement meaning he was deeply involved in this movement.  

‘The city rises’ is a painting by Umberto Boccioni. This painting by Umberto Boccioni shows the residents of a city and two horses out in the streets of a bustling city. This is a typically futurist art piece as the subject is slightly blurred suggesting the movement of the horses and people in the painting. The two horses in this painting suggest strength and power, these are two of the main characteristics of futurist art. In addition to this, the colour red is quite dominant throughout this painting, this could suggest the anger and violence which is apparent within the futurist manifesto.

Task 1a - Elements of Design

For task 1a I was asked to research the elements of design then choose four of the elements to look into further. Whilst carrying out my research I found that four of the elements are Line, Colour, Texture and Pattern amongst others. The four mentioned elements of design are the elements that I chose to look into further. The way I displayed the research for these elements of design was through a mood board for each of the elements using images collected form library books, images I found on the internet, images from magazines and found materials.

This is the mood board I created for the element of design 'colour'. This mood board clearly displays this element as each image used in this mood board includes vibrant colours which show off the element of design

This is a mood board which i created for the element of design 'Line'. Each of the images in this mood board displays the element 'Line' in its own way. The way in which 'line' is displayed is more obvious in some of the images than others. For example, the image of the yellow lines on the road obviously shows two bold yellow lines whereas the drawings which have been included in this mood board such as the drawing of Minnie Mouse is less obvious to represent this element of design as there are no clear bold lines running through the image. However, images like this one still represent this element of design as 'line' can be defined as linear marks made with a pen or brush or the edge where two shapes meet. This means that drawings and paintings also fit into this element of design even if the drawing or painting is not solely made up of drawn/painted lines.

 This is a mood board that I created for the element of design 'Pattern'. I found all of the images that I used for this mood board from the internet and magazines. I find this mood board the most aesthetically pleasing out of all of the mood boards which I created, this is because I am drawn to to vibrant colours and and array of shapes which I have used within this mood board.

This is a mood board which I created for the element of design 'texture'. This is the only mood board out of the four which i created which I used materials which had been found within it as this mood board includes a piece of crumpled blue plastic film. I added this to the mood board as I thought it would be a nice touch to actually add some texture to the mood board which would represent texture as an element of design. When I was researching the elements, i found texture the most challenging as i was not quite sure what 'texture' meant but i soon realised that capturing texture within art meant photographing or painting images which would feel different to each other if you were to be confronted with them in real life.

After I had researched four of the elemnts of design, I was then asked to photograph at least 5 of my own images which captured each element of design, here are the Photographs I took.

Element of design - Colour

Element of design - pattern

Element of design - texture

Element of design - line

Out of the photographs I took for the element 'colour' this is my favourite. This is a photograph of a selection of coloured pencils displayed in a straight line. This photograph shows off a wide range of vibrant colours and I feel that because of this, 'colour' as an element of design is shown off to its fullest potential. If I was to re shoot this image, I would sharpen each of the pencils so that the lead of each pencil is more uniform and I would also try to close the gaps between the pencils. Between the dark magenta coloured pencil and the red coloured pencil there is a white streak which looks as though there is a gap between these pencils, however there was no gap between these pencils and the white streak was created by the flash on my camera, if i was to re shoot this this image I would try to find a way around this as it distracts from the image slightly.

 Out of the photographs I took for the element of design 'line' this is my favourite. This is a photograph of a park bench which was made up of cylindrical metal bars. The cylindrical metal bard of this bench form perfect lines throughout this photograph meaning this photograph is a good representation of this element of design. I chose this photograph as my favourite as I like the way the background which can be seen through the armrest of the bench is visible yet out of focus and the main focus is on the bench itself. As this was not a new bench, the signs of wear and rust are visible. When photographing, I did not try to hide the fact that the bench was rusted and worn as I felt that this added to the appeal of the photograph and it gives the photograph some texture meaning a second element of design is incorporated in the photograph.

 Out of all of the photographs I took for the element of design 'pattern' I chose this one as my favourite. This is a photograph of the raised paving stone found at the side of the road to signal where a crossing lies. I chose this photograph as my favourite because I like the way each of the raised spots lies equidistant to the others forming a simple yet effective pattern. I found when out photographing the elements of design that 'pattern' was the most difficult to capture with photography as perfect pattern rarely naturally occur and I felt that photographing purely printed materials (such as the perfume box which I also photographed) would be cheating slightly as these patterns were already digitally generated.

Out of all of the photographs I took for the element of design 'Texture' I chose this one as my favourite. This is a close up photograph of a tree with moss and ivy growing on and around it. I feel that this photograph displays 'texture' very well as there are three different textures being displayed within the same photograph rather than focusing on only one texture as I have done with the other photographs I took for this element of design. In this picture, you can see the difference in texture of the hard, rough tree back, the soft moss and the smooth leaves of the ivy. Although some contrasting textures may not work well together, I feel that this image ties itself together nicely as the contrasting textures somehow fit together to create an aesthetically pleasing photograph. This photograph is my favourite out of all of the photographs which i took for this part of my project.