OUGD505: Studio Brief 01 - West Indian Carnival Final Print

The final outcome is on colour plan 135gsm paper. 

It uses black paint and gold ink on a blue background to reflect the nature of the carnival. 

Feedback:

"The colour works really well and is appropriate for the subject matter , the illustrative elements give the print authenticity and personality to the event and give it a refreshing look."

"The gold against the blue is strong. It's effective because it is so bold against the bright colour it was a good choice to used coloured paper because it fills the background."

"It's very illustrative compared to a more graphic approach. I like the textures of the print because lino is less controlled whereas screen print is very clean. It makes it look wavey."

"As a whole it looks good. The final outcome is a nice composition especially the leaf/feathers. You can feel the music she's listening to. "

"I like it the feathers are very natural, it's uncertain wether they were drawn or from an actual feather."

"I think it looks good but the feather at the bottom looks too far away unless you're doing other stuff for it? I'm not sure what your aim is."

Evaluation: 

I'm happy with the final design. Although I think it would have also been more impactful to fill space and become a bolder print by just having the feathers as a repeated pattern but it might be too ambiguous. Having the girl in the centre makes her the focus. She is the main thing that draws your attention.  The feedback "I like it the feathers are very natural, it's uncertain wether they were drawn or from an actual feather." interested me because printing objects could have been a good ambiguous alternative to printing using lino. I think the speckled textures that were created by the lino make each feather look different which makes the design more intricate. It was hard because you can't guarantee what it will look like so it was a lot of pressure on the final print especially because I layered gold on top. They needed to align close enough so that they were apart of each other. I really like the gold and black but think the pink with black and gold is aesthetically pleasing but the pink felt too feminine and light. I wanted the design to be more neutral although it does focus on a female. There was a stronger statement with the blue because it's a primary colour and people preferred that when I asked which tester looked better. 

If I was to do it again I would try place text on it just so that it is clear what event it is just by looking at it whereas because my approach is an illustration it is ambiguous to know exactly what it is unless you guess by the outfit. Screen print would have also worked well with this design because it would have been a smoother outcome but I wanted the print to have extra textures and movement. I would have also tested it on more stock colours. Red would have been too dark against the black and gold. The girl line was quite thin so it needed to be clear at a distance which I think it does on the blue. 

The research on this project was interesting because there were so many events that I had never heard of and it makes you more aware of why certain events take place. A lot of them celebrate Leeds and cultures and make everyone come together.