Friday, 6 May 2011

Medieval Materials

Just before Christmas we got another assignment in which we had to pick a material from a list which included buckets, oil and stained glass windows. However, to make it more interesting these materials had a twist, the bucket for example, was from medieval times. Because you know, a medieval bucket is so much more interesting than a modern bucket. This would help us in creating an environment around the object and gave us much more to work with.

I chose the medieval bucket as i liked the idea of having a milkmaid carrying the bucket through the small busy streets of a medieval town. So to start with, i researched the clothes of the era. For this i looked at the catholic saint, Saint Margaret  as she was alive in this time period and several depictions of milkmaids from films and documentaries.  I came up with the following...

Milk maids, St. Margaret and my final idea



Character Designs
 After realising that drawing a milk maid would be rather restricting, i instead chose to draw just a servant maid carrying a bucket of water from a well whilst a man admires her from his window. This worked well in theory and on a small canvas but when realising the piece had to be on A2 it started to become a nightmare. It meant i had to add a lot more detail to the background (which i did actually like doing), i had to re-size the character in her new gigantic environment and adding made the work look damaged and amateur-ish. See what you think:
The final product... oh joy
I attached the water colour paper to a firm surface but unfortunately it still crumpled and curled. I think this is one of the reasons i was am not very happy with this piece, perhaps if the paper was completely flat i would like it more. My main reason for not liking this piece of....'art', is that i absolutely hate the facial expression the maid is making. I wish i could scribble it out and re-draw it, i think i could have done a lo better but by the time i had started to outline everything i think i had given up almost. I was unhappy with the work i had produced and it was too late to change it.
Ye Olde Market
Gossiping women
I was happy with the market street until i added colour, the gray looked very drab and dull in comparison to how many colours i could have included on a digital programme like Photoshop but nevertheless i do like how the street looks crammed full of shops and inns. The gossiping women and admirer also didn't turn out too bad, although i think i would have left out this thought bubble next time as looking back on it now it seems to irritate me. Everyone has a piece of work they're not proud of, and this is mine.

All in all i did enjoy the thought of this task, but in reality it didn't turn out the way i had planned. I think i got lost in the assignment and didn't make the material- the bucket, the focus of attention, which was the goal. I also think my decision to experiment in other types of media, although adventurous- ended in disaster. However, i don't think it is completely my fault that this piece didn't turn out very well. The assignment said we could either create any sized piece in photoshop or an A2 sized piece. Not having photoshop or any experience with the programme, i opted for the A2 option. I personally think this was a far too big paper size to work on when the object of interest was so small. I hope the university does not offer this option in future and instead gives the less experienced students some help with photoshop lessons during university time.

 Hmmm... well, let's just leave on a good note shall we? These geese look nice right? Well... apart from the second one, he looks pretty sly -.o         Evaluation complete!

Quack! Hisssss! End of Post!

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