Isolation/Solitude
Acrylic paint and pen.

From my home country, where people have to drink a six pack to be able to talk.

Experimenting with polaroids. Finland -6 C. The wether effects the processing/development of the polaroid images. It slows the process down and gives the images a bluish/purple tint.

My fingers became stiff, but I keep on pushing the button. The flash goes on every time. There is no other setting. That is the beauty, the simplicity of the polaroid camera. The technique of a disposable camera, an unique picture, that you will gte to your hands in a seconds time.

I was fighting the light. Becasue of the simplicity of the polaroid camera, light is even more important. I went to my favorite place in Mäntyharju, the tiny pier, in the middle of a forrest. I wanted to capture the beautiful shapes thats snow, nature, the lake, combined with structures humans have built make. It is like looking at the clouds on a summer day, letting your imagination run wild.

Nature is truly an inspiration for me. When I look at these images, that I took, I see characters that are just waiting to get alive.

Everything is so simple when it is right. People choose to make it difficult. You don`t need fancy words to back your work up if it is good. You don`t need catch frases or complicated words. The work will stand there for it self. Simplisity is often more effective and beautiful, and by beautiful I mean not necessary the esthetics of it, but the beauty in the idea, then using a lot of gimmicks. This is my philosophy in designing. And I think everyone should have one. More is less, make every line count, make them flawless and force the viewer to look at your details that you are offering to them. You have a message, what you have to offer has value. Don`t underestimate or disapoint your viewer. When you finally have got their attention, live up to the expectations and deliver. Philosophy, a story behind design is important. Without that your design, photograph, illustration, what ever it is, is just a flat image.

I have a constant, desperate need to develop myself. I have a huge need to feel fulfilled. I don`t think learning, growing or developing yourself is ever over. This is why I need, in order to grow better as a designer ( like Wayne Hemingway said in his talk, don`t labelise yourself as a graphik designer, fashion designer, but a creative person, who is open to see an opportunity, a possibility, where others don`t ), to pinpoint to myself, not to others, what I value and am about in the creative area of my life. This way, by putting it out there, it will also come more clear to myself.

Influences, reading, listening, watching movies, documentaries, drawing inspiration from others experiences is vital. I want to be even more focused this year. I am not doing this for grades, to show of to others, but to fulfill myself. To be the best I can be and even a little bit better! That is my goal.

Creations by JOOT.

Me and my alter ego JOOT, are creatively in a good place. We feel save to let our hands draw lines and images are coming to our heads naturally. Maybe it is the coldness and darkness of our beautiful country of Finland, that we secretly love and love to hate. A balance, chaos and order, we need in our lives to be content. Inspiration comes from that and a little bit of a french band called Birdy Nam Nam. Thank you!

Today I have been designing the look of my web page a little bit further. I am debating on the type. From the feed back I got from my tutorial, I am thinking of making it simple and straight forward, maybe using Charlemagne Std or Perpetua Titling MT. The colors I will use are black and white, because those are the common colours in my work. I will use a symbol, an illustration of mine to navigate through the pages, as a button. I am not yet sure how I will make my galleries to work. I am thnking of using light boxes. The key points aI want to have are simplicity, straight forwardness, easy to navigate and to let the illustrations speak for them selves.

New environment, new ideas!

A break for couple of weeks. My second day in Finland. I was expecting snow. To be honest we don`t really have it, but some coldness and darkness we do have. My mind is wandering still in England. In work, the people, the feelings I experienced during this first term. Happy times. I am happy to create in Bournemouth. I am happy to be surrounded by the inspirational, curraging people I know there. I love the opportunities I have had to venture into other areas in art that I also love. I have acted in a film, posed for photographs, collaborated with a fashion student in creating clothes, with my illustrations as a pattern ( a project still going on ) and I am starting a new project, helping a film student Harry Atkinson creating the visual look for his upcoming film as a set designer. Not to mention the D&AD project with Allison and Matt that took a really interesting turn after we got the idea of using glass and mosaik pattern as a part of our illustration on the wall. It will definately give our piece depth and make it more interesting, because of the change it will have on depending on how sun light will catch it.

But going back a little bit. We got our unit evaluations, from our previous work. The good thing about this evaluation form was, that it has some more in depth feedback. It is so very useful and good to get some specific feedback from your work.

Was I happy with my marks? It is hard to say. Obviously, like Neil said, this year the grading gets tougher, and the same mark from last year does not mean the same grade actually. It is also hard to judge how I did, because the mark consisted of four projects that we did on the previous unit.

What was said about my work.

Lo1
You have utilised some interesting illustrations for your poster, but this does not communicate your message effectively to the audience. You have some clear rationales but you need to consider whether a member of public would understand this without prompting. There is very little work that needs doing to this to make it work, you just need to find a way to draw the viewer and you can do this by using language they will understand and relate to.

When creating this poster I did a lot of research into the area of drug use. It was something I felt really strongly about. To show how destructive drugs can be. I wanted to create images that catch the attention, that shock and are accurate. Of course illustration being my medium of expressing myself, I was very very specific on creating original images and something that is in my style. I think I did do good on that part. I am happy with the images I created and I think the look of the poster is eye catching. Still while creating the images I was aware of the fact that they might be too abstract and not open up to people. In the images I tried to use I signifiers, such as balls and chain, needles, pills and juxtapose slaves with a good, the drug. And after our last crit, in which I was told it didn`t open up enough, I put the word obey in the poster to make it more streight forward.

This project gave me the lowest mark of them all. I can see why I got the feedback I got, but I do think the critique was a little too hard and I only partly agree with it.

Lo2
You have produced six innovative greeting cards which fit particularly well within a certain genre. The illustrations are good and you have utilised some interesting source material. These are not a set of obvious cards, you could have looked into primary subject more to ensure you address your personal agenda and that of the brief.

I don`t really understand the last sentence of the feedback. These are not a set of obvious cards. I designed the cards for a horror film festival, because of the dark subject matter of the novel, written by E.A.Poe, which was my inspiration. But as mentioned in the critiques, these could be sold in any art shop or a place, that supports original and innovative illustrations. I think I did do what the brief said. It was a very open brief. It could be any cards, to any occation. The only thing was to consider and specify your target audience. This I did.

I am really happy with the images I generated. Poe`s short story, The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Feather was a big inspiration for me and all the images came to my head, by visualising the story while reading.

Lo3
You`ve successfully concluded the packaging project and have definitely combined your interests with that of the brief. The packaging is interesting and appropriate and it would clearly suit the intended market, but is not too similar to any existing pieces. You have utilised your research well here.

This was the project I least enjoyed. I struggled to get into it and felt, that it was not really, my area and didn`t know how I could make it mine. I was also rehearsing and filming a short film at the same time and felt rushed and pressured to find the time to do everything.

In the end I do think I work the best under pressure. Two days before my filming, which knew where time away from doing my actual work I sat in front of my desk, thinking, sketching and panicking. It all started with me photographing a jewerly case for reference and shape. Then the rest was easier then thought it would be. Even though it is not my favorite piece of work I think it still works well and I didn`t compromise my style. You can still see it has the look I am known for to have.

Traveling home to the land of snow.

Herbert Baglione designed for Adidas.

Art by Herbert Baglione.

I CAN NOT CREATE IN COMPANY!

Today I have been painting. That is something I love. It is a source of passion, frustration and agonising pain, looking at every line you create and thinking how to make them even better. I am never satisfied with the texture my brush and acrylic paint give to the images on the canvas. I have locked myself in my room. Isolation is needed and that is actually the theme of my images as well. It seems to be hard for some people to understand this. My housemates have not respected my quest for privacy and have been nocking on my door constantly. Sometimes a lonely island would be the best place to create. No by watchers and no one to hassle you with minor questions.

If I had to choose a way to die I would die in the sea. Says Herbert Baglione in a short documentary called The Run Up. He is someone who I draw inspiration from. He says he has too aims when he works: " To prevent conflict on one hand, but also seeking to create new ones. I need chaos in order to see the harmony. "

He says his work usually critiques on the obese and the anorexic. " I see it as a way to provoke the public. If someone shows the interest in this type of art and they themselves happen to be targets of my critiques, I `ve created a ironic situation. "

He talks about chaos and how in creek mythology it represented emptiness. That makes sense, a room with millions of things, you end up not seeing anything. Chaos is like that.

He finishes by saying: " I need to keep learning, searching, seeing things that will different me from others because, it is not what you show people, but how it makes you feel inside.

In one bit of the documentary, his work is shown drawing itself. That would be a interesting feature on my web site. I admire the man, the images the words. But like Tove Jansson wrote; If you admire someone too much you can never be completely free.

I have been sitting in front of my table the whole day and trying to create. Sometimes it is hard. Sometimes, even though the surrounding are perfect and the mind clear, it just doesn't go like you planned. I have been listening to Henri Mancini's music and playing my flute to get inspired, but today have been tough. My mind feels numb. That is probably the best way I can describe it.

On Friday we had a meeting with our D&Ad tutor, about our ideas. The meeting was really fruitful. We told about our ideas so far. We talked about how we wanted to humanize the large space with something involved with nature. We were talking about how to combine our individual styles and how to make it work as a complete piece. We were also looking at the how to handle the big space and what effect light has got on it. After some brainstorming, we got the idea of using mosaik and creating the illustrations of tiny pieces, consisting of glass. This way the piece would be more live and would change during the day, depending on how the daylight hits it. We got to a good start and after our meeting went to the library to look at loads of images, do some more targeting research and get inspiration.

I am trying to catch a light, in the middle of shadows. Creating is sometimes difficult and you end up drifting.

Winter in Finland.

The photos below are of my sister Riitta and our cat that has unfortunately past away. I shot them back in 2006, on our drive way, in Finland with Canon 350D. I found them today from my computer.

Why I found them interesting again, after forgetting them, was because of an artist I am drawing inspiration from at the moment. I get inspiration from a soviet writer, poet, and filmmaker, Andrei Tarkovsky. I have been looking at his polaroids, in which he portrays his everyday life and his surroundings. They posses a sadness, roughness, that comes from the reality that they are portraying and his use of colour, a blueish tint he gives to his images, due to the the time of the day he shoots his images.

From the shadows of Finland- This cat doesn't live anymore

CREATING MAKES ME HAPPY!

I have spent my day looking at my own work from the past. Arranging, and organising it in the way, it would be best presented on my wed site. It has actually been really interesting and refreshing to do research on my own work and draw inspiration from what I do and what my art is about. I think this should create the look for my website and be the main point on what I want to do. The work should speak for itself, creating the colours, type and the identity for my web page. I am also going back and thinking what inspired me in each project and why I chose to do it that particular way. More then judging what I did I want to find my identity and my way of working and display it to the world. It is also very interesting to look back and see my development as an artist. Today was a good day and it was accompanied by Debussy's Clair De Luna and Jean Sibelius Spruce, both beautiful pieces!

My sister in the darkness. I hope she finds her way out. Created in 2007.

On Saturday I ventured out with Krister Selin to help out taking some photographs, which we are converting to HRD images for a third year we are helping to make. Here are some photos of that shoot on that cloudy day.

A new brief, a new project. At first I wasn't that interested in creating a web page. All I could think was, that it is all screen based, and that for me is the least inspiring part of creating. Then I stepped back and after thinking about it and looking more carefully at the brief, I realized all the possibilities. We are given complete freedom to create our site, to create our own identity, through images. That is a great opportunity, not just to get your work open to the world but to actually examine what makes your design unique and yours. What makes my line when I draw mine and what it is I really want to say with my art.

I watched an animation by www.Tokyoplastic.com called Music Box.In that animation tiny creatures go to a box with hands and the box conducts the creatures, which all make differant sounds. It made me think how much effect sound has. Combining moving images with sound is definately something I am interested in.
I ma thinking of creating an animation in the front of my web page. I could even create the sounds my self, playing my flute. This is an intersting idea I will give some thought.

Today we had our first meeting with Matt Lewis and Allison Lunday about D&AD. We are doing the illustration brief, humanising a big corporate space. On our meeting we talking about he company KPMG and what they are about. KPMG gives advise to other companies how they can use their money better. They give audit, tax and risk advise.

I think interesting about this brief is the input we as creative minds can do for the people in the corporate business world. We need to create images that uplift the people working for this company and in corporate, sometimes clinical environment. What can we bring to the table? The ideas we got from todays brainstorming, where to bring nature in to the corporate world. We where thinking of colour schemes, the tone of the design, and thinking of who we are designing to. We are planning to visit the space in London to get a better understanding of the space have to fill.

THE WAYNE HEMINGWAY TALK

Yesterday I went to a talk led by Wayne Hemingway. He started his talk by saying, how this time we are living in is an exhiting time for anyone involved in creativity. He exampled Fairtrade, which is something he is passionate about, driven by creative people. And he used himself and his partner/wife as examples, demonstrating, that it is not the people with best skills, but the people with creative minds, who get the best results. He told, that the reasons behind his success, is creativety, seeing an opportunity where no one else does, using the opportunity and not being afraid of failure. What I really liked about his talk, was his emphasis on creativity. Creative minds notice things. And that is something I agree on.

What he told his driving forces where in the beginning of his career, where desire to earn money, not wanting to work for anybody and youth culture. In his words, everyone gets an opportunity and when the opportunity comes be open minded. Don't be afraid of failure. Don't think what others think about it.

Many things he said makes cense , and during his talk I found myself nodding to a lot of things because I truly agree with them. For example, the best designers bring their own experience in their work and the importance of a design is in its content, in what it stands for. The looks come later. If you have a good idea, the end product will usually end up looking good as well.

All and all it was a good talk from a funny, grounded man. I really enjoyed it!

I saw an interesting competition Sally had sent us all through the AIB email. The V&A Illustration Awards competition, illustrating books or books covers. I think this is the perfect one for me, since it combines some of my passions. Books and reading and having my take on the words, through images is interesting to me. Now I will just have to venture to a book shop and/or through my collections for some inspiration.

Photos from the set of Tug of War. Discussing a scene with director Hendrik Faller.

After a weekend of rest, which was well needed, I am on again finishing everything to the final hand in. I missed critiques on the packaging brief, do to delays on the film I was working on. But even though the film took a lot of time away from my other work I am really glad I did it. As an experience it was amazing and the long days we kept on working on the set could not have been more enjoyable. It was team work at its best. We where all working together, only time being our enemy. I have so much respect for all the different people working on the team, from the cameraman to the director, including the roles of makeup artist, sound technicians and set designers. I really do admire all of their skills and patience. For me as an actress, it was a lot about waiting around and also delivering the best I could, at the right timing and about forgetting myself and getting rid of my inhibitions. I think all and all the experience was a delight for everyone included in it and we should be proud of our selves.

Prototype packaging for my Animal watch.

I am no one, make me someone.

That is my way of saying I am a blank canvas. The weekend flew away with no time to rest. On Saturday from one to seven and Sunday from two to six I was rehearsing for the short film Tug of War. The purpose of the rehearsals was to get to know my costar and to get comfortable around him. The rehearsals where intense but fun and we are much more ready for the actual shoot, which takes place on Wednesday and Thursday.

Jean Seberg from Breathless.

Today have not been the day for me. I feel that everything is falling on me, all the projects I signed in to do. The most current project, with Animal is something that makes me troubled. I struggle to get in the brief and find the interest to do it. After doing the poster and the greetings cards, which gave me a lot of freedom to create and create with my own images, the packaging design is a tough one.

I came home early today and felt exhausted. I tried to sit in front of my table and stat to sketch like every day. But today it didn't work. I was too tired and felt ill. Sometimes you just need a break I guess.

A ray of sunshine to my misery brought the film breathless by Jean Luc Godard. " The Yardstick of Celluloid Cool" they call it. And it was a highly enjoyable experience. I have found myself a new heroin, Jean Seberg. She's got the presence and frail frame of Audrey Hemburn, but with out the perfect innocence, that for me takes away from her character and makes her less interesting. So I guess today did bring something to be thankful for.

This is me with my mother. Reflection has always intrigued me. The way u can twist what is seen, bend the truth or make it more beautiful.

Whenever you find yourself in the side of majority, it is time to pause and reflect. Mark Twain

We had a big debate about this quote with my housemate. Mainly, because we see it differently. His take on it was, that you have to try to be different, unique and whenever you find yourself in the side of majority that is a bad thing. Maybe he is right. Maybe the quote is not the perfect one. My take on it was that masses often create stupidity. People, forget to think with their own brain or want someone else to think for them. That's why it is easier and safer to be part of a group. After all the quote does say, pause and reflect, not necessary change your standpoint, but reflect. Reflecting is never bad. Either way, I like the quote maybe just because of the simple reason, that it made us talk, debate and for me that is always a positive thing.

I think this applies in every creative designing process. Try to think outside the box, not with the mass. Don't see things the way everyone else does. Bring something new to the table. Pause, and reflect on everything you see around you and everything you already know.

This ( Animal ) would have been a project I would have loved to work together as a group. I would have liked to give some of the responsibility of it to others, generate ideas together, and be influenced by the way others think and create. I am struggling to think creatively in this project. I only see the commersial side of it. It seems like I only see the obvious and that is never a good answer to a designing problem. Give me ideas and I will fly with them!

Today I had a meeting with the director Hendrik Faller of the short film, Tug of War, which I am acting in. We went through a storyboard, to get an idea of the shots. I also met up with an make-up artist to talk about make-up and costume and saw an image of my costar, who is playing my boyfriend. We also talked with Hendrik about the nudity in the film. The film has kissing and a nude scene in it. This i something I have never done as an actress and naturally feel nervous about it. But I love to over come my fears and win myself. I look at it all as a new experience, that will make me more as a person.

The meeting went really well and I am really exhited about the project. Hendrik seems professional, organized and well prepared for the shoot. As an actress that is very comforting. We also visited the editing room to see a clip of a film he did and went to the studio where the shooting will happen. The first rehearsals will take place this weekend. Can't wait!

Ideas are running through my head so quickly, that is hard to catch them, but I will try.

Last Friday we had our one day project for Animal watches. We spent the day figuring out what Animal is about and what we can as designers add to their products. It was refreshing to work as a group and share the work load, such a backup research and brainstorming. It was also a good test of time management, because our ideas had to be in a presentable form for three o clock in the afternoon.

After this it is our turn to take the ideas we developed in the group and work on them individually. I am stuck at the moment. More research about the products and the company is needed. Because I don't know the company enough, I don't know what to say with my design and how to fit it in with the brand that Animal is.

At the moment I am also working on a personal project with a second year fashion student Laura Peters. Our collaboration is still in the very beginning and we are still sketching out ideas, what it will be. The general idea is to combine my illustration skills and her love of making clothes and create a range of exhiting new clothes with original, new and intresting patterns. Something I am really exhited about! We will create something new!

I am also looking at the D&AD briefs. There are couple of open briefs which interest me and also the illustration brief; to humanise a big corporate space. On top of this I am working on a short film with the second year film students in their experimental film unit. I am playing one of the two leading roles. I am busy but happy.

I am expressing my feelings with an image. This is how I feel about our new Animal brief.

Inspiration is every where. Beauty is every where. All you need to do is have a look. Blind are many, but sometimes that is not the case. Sometimes they just don´t want to see. Here are some pictures I took this Summer in Turku, my old home town in Finland. I couldn't sleep, so I took my camera and went to discover the beauties of the city lights when the people close their eyes. I would have never discovered the beauties in the windows during the day.

Like you probably noticed, the text on my blog goes the wrong way. This is because I just started my blog today, but have been writing it in word before this. There are dates which will help you follow it, so I hope you don't get too confused about it.

9.9.2008

The second year started. Kit, Neill and Sally welcomed us all to a new busy year, with a lot of hard work and many opportunities. They wanted us to keep up the standards of the second years, who graduated last year. What that requires is a more professional approach to work we do, time planning and a lot of independent thinking.

What I want to get from this year is to gain more computer skills, that meaning learning Photoshop and Illustrator so that I can take my design to an another level. What is coming more and more clear to me is, that illustration as well as photography is the way I want to take my design. Even though for me, the most attractive way and the way I admire most is hand drawn art, I do realize that combining it with computer based designs is important.
This year I really want to push my drawings as well as photography. That I will achieve by exploring and trying different materials, techniques and working together with other creative people. This will let me see the design prosses from their point off view and interduse me to and other way of seeing and thinking.

Even though I feel that it is important to be in touch with the contemporary illustrators, photographers, graphic designers and typographers, and that is one of the goals in my studies this year, my inspiration comes a lot from other areas as well, fine art, literature, music and film being some. The AIB library is a very inspirational place and a good sources of information which I plan to use even more this year.

The past four and half months I spent away from Bournemouth and the AIB, were in the beginning about recovery. The past year was a big experience in many ways. And beginning my Summer I felt I needed to stay a way from all of what my last year was. I felt empty and drained. For me to be able t o get new ideas and be creative again I had to have some time of. How I see things is, that you have to see, hear, listen and live to be able to have something to say. And that’s what I did on my Summer.
After a while, being away from drawing, photographing, writing and constantly creating, I felt a natural need to go back to it. So I started to draw in one of my sketchbooks and went out to take some photos. This summer I started a project for a friend, who is planning to start an electro music night in London, called Digital Paradise. They wanted me to illustrate their flyer and create a look for their webpage. The designing and planning is still on, but we already agreed on some details and it seems to be an interesting project.

This summer I wrote down some key points, what I want to learn, gain, and do this year:

- Inspiration is all around you in music, photography, nature, literature, films, poetry, other people.
- Importance of backup research
- Read more magazines in the area of illustration and graphic design and typography ( Nusign, Art –in-progress magazine, a good one )
- Make PPRD your professional diary, including all everyday activities you do concerning art.
- Write PPRD every day.
- Listen more to what is said about your work ( in tutorials, by classmates ) think about it and then evaluate the work yourself and make up your own mind weather to do any changes.
- Look more in depth to artist who you admire. Where do/did they get their inspiration, their methods of working etc.
- When starting a brief, read it carefully and try to come up with an answer to the problems it asks you to. When the brief is done look back and see how you answered those questions.
- Get more feedback to your illustrations, maybe asking outside your class as well .
- Visit more exhibitions.


ARTISTS I ADMIRE

Aubrey Beardsley, illustrator

Tove Jansson, illustrator, author

Takagi Masakatsu, video artist

Eda Akaltun, illustrator, photographer

Erone, fine artist

Stephanie Schneider, photographer

Man Ray, photographer

Herbert Baglione, fine artist, illustrator
1.10.2008

The task for today is to check out some of the recommended and key materials. As I am interested in illustration and will take my work down that path , I am going to do the year and my work with that in mind.

Being scared is the biggest thing that prohibits you of thing things. Being scared of failing, being scared of realizing that you actually don’t have anything to say, that there is no ideas in your head. Fear is something that blocks your creativity. I think this is true in every ones life. It certainly is in mine. This came clear to me once again talking to my new housemate, a first year film student. She talked about the same feeling I had last year. Coming to a new country, not knowing anyone, getting a lot of new people in your life, getting a lot of new information in a short period of time and comparing yourself to others.
Fear is a powerful factor. But to be able to do things, to create, to fulfill yourself you have to come over the feeling. Isn’t this the reason we are here? Because we have the need to create, to draw, photograph, to put our own unique signature out there for people to see it.

Today I bought one of the reference books suggested to us, The Fundamentals of Illustration. This is a quote that I found interesting.

Illustration = To illuminate or cast light on a subject.


2.10.2008

We were briefed on a new project titled Look Again / Think Again. What we are required to produce is a A3 poster, which is either to showcase our opinion on a social issue or choose an object which carry values that go beyond its intended purpose or everyday use.
My idea is to do the poster on drug use, which is a social issue, but is also something I have personal experiences of, because of people near me have been facing these problems. This assignment and the theme I am given, came to a good time in my life. Drug use and drug problems have been on my mind quite a lot lately. I think that if you can give a personal touch to a project and have some insight on it, it will ad to better and more meaningful results. What I want to address on my poster, and the point I want to come cross is, how drugs change your characteristics. I want to show the physical and mental damage of drugs and get my point across, that an addiction of any kind is negative in your life. What I got from my tutorial was that in order to make my point across, maybe going with an individuals physical changes when taking drugs would be a good idea. Also what is important to remember is, that we are selling an idea. What I am saying has to have value.


HERBERT BAGLIONE

Someone I am drawing inspiration from at the moment is South American artist called Herbert Baglione. One of the things that makes him intriqueing is that he has a philosophy, call it poetry or story behind his images. In Nusign magazine they call him the last poet. I was reading some of his thoughts on a video installation called Canvas #1.

My painting is the interpretation of chaos and death in different cultures.

Coldness, individuality and the blind search for information are themes that have been inspiring me for the last few years.

The visible tolerance of different races running into one another in the streets of the great capitals of the world. Everyone exhanges hatred and shares their fears.

Everyday is necessary to wear a new mask or seek to be reborn.



3.10.2008

Quite fittingly for my current project, which I am doing on drug use, I am reading a book by William S. Burroughs called Junky. The book is about 1950’s America, which Burroughs describes from the eyes of a drug addict. He writes about the everyday life with a cold, remarking style. Grasping on the up and down hills of addiction, searching for the next fix, euphoria, hallucinations, ghostly night wanders, the terrors of withdrawal symptoms and the return to the junk.

He writes: Junk does not lift up joie de vivre like alcohol or weed. Junk is not a kick. It is a way of living.

All these words and descriptions bring a lot of images in my mind. They are delicious to illustrate or bring to life in another way. I really want to explore with the techniques because we were given completely free hands on doing the Look Again / Think Again brief.
5.10.2008

Don’t take any criticism of your thinking personally, further work may well be needed to help the illustration solve the brief in a way that the client is happy with. This is a sentence that caught my eye in the book The Fundamentals of Illustration. It is definately something I have to work on. It is hard not to take criticism personally. When you put so much time and effort into something, it becomes really important and personal to you.

6.10.2008

On Look Again / Think Again, Drug use project. I Struggle to narrow it down. There are couple of leading themes inside the subject I am thinking of. I am thinking of whether to take isolation, the physical damage of drugs or addiction, as the theme. I am also concerned that my design will not be straight forward enough. It is easy to get confused when you spend so much time with your images and ideas. They all make perfect cense to you because you know the story and the thoughts behind them, but to other people the design might be too abstract and there for not open up. If this happens, it means that you have failed to communicate with the audience. But I don’t want to spell the facts to the audience either. I don’t want to underestimate their intelligence.

7.10.2008

I got a good start to this day with a fresh cup of coffee after a good nights sleep. It is raining outside, which is perfect for some creating time inside. I have to venture out to town and by some black card for my final piece. Finally yesterday evening the images came to my head and I am ready to go now! Good times.
I went to Borders and bought a folder to put all my inspirations in. I am going to start collect things that gives me inspiration. That can include photographs, paintings, objects, poetry, musical lyrics, short stories. Anything really that gets me going.

8.10.2008

I am looking at my final poster on the screen. I like the images I generated. I like the black and white, which creates a big contrast, suitable for the dark subject matter. There is a lot of negative, or empty space, which I find daring to use, but I do think it works and gives a sense of emptiness and isolation and draws attention to the figures.
The only worry I have is about the message not being clear enough. In my poster, which is about drug use and showing it in a negative point of view, I give the viewer signifiers, such as needles, pills, chains and figures portrayed as slaves to get my point across; ADDICTION, DRUGS LEED TO SLAVERY.
I am still debating whether to ad the word addiction to the poster. That would make my message much more obvious. But at the same time I think art should be about discovery. It should force people to look again. That, in fact was the title of the project, Look Again / Think Again. By not spelling to the audience the right answer they have to take a moment and figure it out, by looking at the poster and the signs given in it. It is never good to underestimate your public’s intelligence. With these reasons given above, I will not use the word ADDICTION in the poster. Art should be about risk taking and I decide to take the risk of not being understood.
Why I chose these materials:
I used black and white card, cutting with a scalpel the white figures to the balck card. This is a technique I have used a little and I find it interesting. It naturally creates some handmade rough edges. I like the handmade, not perfect look, because it gives the design personality and character.

From the Look Again / Think Again critique:

- Make the message more obvious.
- Don’t underestimate your audience, more clues about the message are needed.

Looking at my poster pinned up the wall, I do agree, that more information is vital, for the viewer to understand what is shown to them. But instead of using the straight forward word addiction, I am going to make the text or punch line about slavery. That is what is shown in the poster.







10.10.2008

Some key points from the guest lecturer:

- Started with textiles and that is still a big part of her designs in the greeting cards.
- Big difference between her own work and the one the industry requires from her.
- Worked for a greeting cards company, now freelance.
- Tight schedules when working in a company as their artist.
- Hundreds of meetings concerning the development of the design/card.
- Freelancing hard work and a lot of self motivation is needed.
- One of the hardest things to her is when people try to alter your personal style.

We were briefed on our new project ; greeting cards. This is a really interesting one, basicly because you can be as creative as you want and take the design wherever you want. Our schedule is quite tight. Our time limit is two weeks and in that time we have to produce six cards. I also want to explore how my images could work on a t-shirt and different fabrics and on a book cover. The only limitations I have is time. So there is not a lot of time to waist.

13.10.2008

THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN IDEA

Couple of years ago I applied to a theatre school in Finland. For the audition we had to read a short story by Edgar Allan Poe , called The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Feather. The story follows a nameless narrator who visits a mental institution in Southern France, know for a revolutionary new method of treating mental illnesses called the ‘ the system of soothing.’ The narrator is shocked to learn that the ‘system of soothing’ has been abandoned recently. He questions this, as he ahs heard of its success and popularity. His host tells him to ‘ believe nothing you hear, and only one half of what you see. ‘
The narrator tours the grounds of the hospital and is invited to dinner. There he is joined by twenty-five to thirty other people and a large, lavish spread of food. The other guests, he notices, are dressed somewhat oddly. Upon the whole, the narrator says, the was much of ‘bizarre’ about everything at dinner. It is revealed that the dinner guests were, in fact, the patients who had just recently taken over.
The images of this dinner have stayed in my head since I first discovered this short story and I plan to do my set of six cards based on that dinner.

14.10.2008
I have been feeling ill for the couple of days and been working from home. This is a method, that actually suits me. I do get work done sitting in front of my table, sketching, reading, researching and writing about my ideas. I like to work in solitude. I have discovered that I need a lot of time to think by my self and I am quite sensitive about the environment. When I am creating , I like to have some quiet music on the background and burns some candles and incenses. This is an ideal environment for me to create.
At the moment I am reading the short story, to refresh my memory and to get some new ideas. I am also looking into my target audience. An idea, that want to bring forward, is to do these cards to a horror film festival. I think that would be the most suitable medium.
Beacause the story The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Feather was written so long ago ( 1845 ) , I am struggling to find the meaning to some of the words, describing the characters clothes. But my intention is not to do a literal translation with images. My images will be loosely based on the short story. And as an artist I do have the freedom to illustrate what I want, leave some things out and create new, if I think it is suitable.

15.10.2008

We were emphasized to look at our target audience, and the suitable place to advertise our cards. For my cards, which are based on Edgar Allan Poe’s short story, The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Feather, the appropriate place would be a horror film festival. This would suite the dark images and subject matter perfectly. It would also attract the right kind of people and at the festivals they sell a lot of other merchandise, in the area of horror.
I looked up couple of horror film festivals; Screamfest Horron Film Festival 2008, International Horror Film Festival, Eerie Horror Film Festival. I was thinking of sending these festivals my final cards and see if they were interested in publishing and selling them as part of their festival . Unfortunately, the time of all these festivals, is either on going right now or approaching too fast. So I am unable to get my cards ready. Nevertheless a horror film festival is my target place and my target audience is the people going to festival.

16.10.2008

This is what every day should be like! Today has been about being productive, gathering ideas, getting feedback and discussing about different solutions with teachers and class mates alike. This has been a truly inspirational day. I got so much out of this day and am now more confident then ever to get behind my desk and continue the drawings. A big thanks to everyone who contributed to the conversations with me today! I hope tomorrow will bring something even better! I can not wait to wake up and see what tomorrow brings. Creatively I am in such a good place. I feel happy and safe to try out things and really push myself to new results and to challenge myself to do something better and also to be better as an artist. I can not emphacise how important support, guidance and also freedom in creating is.



21.10.2008

Over the past few days I have been experimenting with materials, textures, searching for the appropriate audience and where to display my design, trying different kind of products ( such as book covers, t-shirts, wine bottles, fabric, poster ) to place my design in. This is such a good brief, because it really challenges the creativity and makes the sky the limit. I am still very much in procces of working the final set of six greetings cards, that I plan to show on our Thursdays critique. I got the context of every one of the six, but I am still sketching, I because want to find the absolutely best images for the final cards. The more I research into the subject matter and around it, the more possibilities it opens to create and gives me more ideas. Everything is on my side, only time is against me.

22.10.2008

I found a good book in the library called Prints Now by Gill Saunders and Rosie Miles. Why I like the book, is because it shows the many possibilities where to place your product and a variety of creative ways of using different materials and textures.
One of the ideas I got influenced in our current brief, the greetings cards, is the Beck’s bear bottles. Quoting ‘ The beer –brewing company Beck’s is well established as the sponsor of contemporary art events, a programme that began in 1985 with the German Art in the Twentieth Century exhibiton at the Royal Academy. ‘ In their campain they used Tim Head, Damien Hirst and Rebecca Horn. Each of them created a snapshot of their art more of less recognizable .
I plan to take this idea and use it in the concept I am doing. My greeting cards are being advertised in a horror film festival and I plan to advertise a red vine with an etiquette I have designed.

23.10.2008
INTERIM CRITIQUE

I went to the interim critique with my six cards. They were not in their final form as a complete design, but had all the final illustrations. My plan was to cut out the images and paint he background with black acrylic paint to give the images texture and more of a rough edge. This plan changed after the critique. This is what I got from the critique:



- Make the background solid. Strong , solid colour to bring the illustrations to the front.
- Photoshop colours, no need for extra texture, illustrations strong enough by their own.
- Ref. Aubrey Beardsley ( his use of colours )
- Text from the novel to back up the images and give them context
- Ad to the balck and white, use a hint of colour. Think Art Deco

24.10.2008
FINAL CRITIQUE

What I did based on the interim critique.

I scanned my illustrations in. I played with the contrast and coloured the background and some key items of the photos with photoshop. I printed the images on regular colour paper. I think that takes away from the whole image and makes it unessessarily blank and flat. This is why I am going to try a thicker paper or card with a matte texture or go to the opposite end and try it really glossy to make black stand out. I am also trying my original idea of using acrylic paint on the background.
On the final critique I was complemented on the strong illustrations and I felt that they were well reseaved and made an impact on the viewer, which of course was the idea. I was also told to use different paper, as I originally wanted to, but was unable to do because of my too long debating about the techniques on the final design. I was asked t o consider the size of the final design, because it was considered too large for a greetings card. The final thing I need to do is to add text to the cards to link the set to the short story, The System of Doctor Tar and Professor Feather.
In overall I am very pleased with how the illustrations turned out and only need to consider couple of changes in the final cards.

27.10.2008

I went to the D&AD and looked at their briefs quickly. They made me think. Where do I fit in, in the industry? What do I really want to do? I want to draw, illustrate. I want to have a story, philosophy behind my designs. But what turns me on? What am I good at? Where do I fit in? That is a question I always seem to ask myself. Who am I, what do I want to say, because I do feel I want to say something. For me that is the reason I do create. There is a need to say something to the world around you. I also struggle a lot with many briefs, competitions and the whole market being quite commersial. How do I find the balance between my own work and the commercial need that is out there? How do I find my place?

This an image that came to my head a couple of years ago when sitting on the train traveling from one point to an another. It is my take on Alice's adventures in Wonderland. I created this by using pen 

This is me. My name is Milla Anna Inkeri Koivisto. Welcome to my blog. I don't think my thoughts are more valuable then yours, but please read them anyway.