Language head

One of the things I have been aiming to do is take more photographs and after reading the text I picked up on the idea of Spain wanting to have a single personality but Catalonia wanting to be seperate. So working with the theme of multiple personalities and heads to denote the mind I took one differentiating factor mentioned in the text, language to produce my first head. Im not overly pleased with this but I think it does look interesting and is experimental.

The Number 23

The film 'The Number 23' has been an influence on another image I have produced denoting the differential factor between Catalonia and Spain being the language. 'The Number 23' is a psycological thriller about a man's life unravelling when he reads a book of the same title. The character played by Carrey becomes obsessed with the book convinced that it is based on his life without realising the book has darker connotations. The poster for this film was an aesthetic influence on the head I produced as I liked the idea of writing text over a face. However where as the lighting and colours with the expression is darker the head I have produced isnt aimed to be negative it is more indifferent.

Scroll face

This is my face of Verdaguer I like the idea of old fashioned paper to denote the traditional scroll that may have been used to write poetry on. To be honest Im not exactly sure whether they did write on that sort of paper but I think it works on a stereotypical level.

Mount Rushmore

Mount Rushmore has been an aesthetic influence on my book cover for 'The Madness of Verdaguer'. I used the theme of madness and the idea of unravelling to produce a scroll that rolls out into a face.

Through the Keyhole

'Through the keyhole' is a program I remember as a child and has influenced my Barcelona project. I thought the idea of looking around someones house and then attempting to guess the celebrity from the objects in the house was an interesting idea. I felt that the text I was reading about the Catalan wishing to be seperate from the rest of Spain was an issue about identity and the idea of Verdeguers exorcism papers being kept under lock and key informed my design. Also the text was about secrets and I think a lock and key is associate with keeping things locked away.

NOISE Festival

I have just attended a two day event called 'Noise Festival' which was an event at Manchester Town Hall to make connections between practitioners and professionals in music, the media and Art & Design. I was advised to take 4-6 pieces of my work in my portfolio and although I wasn't able to reserve a one to one session I waited around all day, both days and they squeezed me in! I was able to speak to two people Greg Burne from the Big Active agency and an art director from The Independent newspaper. They offered me advise on areas I should market my work for and advice on the aesthetics of my work. It was a great chance to meet people and I am planning to contact the practitioners and speakers that I met with further. It was interesting to see the diverse styles that contemporary illustration practitioners have and also Fine Art graduates attempting to get into the commercial arts. The one to one sessions were held in pods in the main hall and outside of them were tents filled with fine art exhibitions. I spoke to a man called Jonathan, a newly graduated fine artist about his take on fine art now and his passion for it. Also I met another fine art photography graduate from North London who was really struggling financially to support herself and get work, which I thought was down to the fact that illustration is in competition with photography. Overall it was well worth going to the event and I am going to look out for more events in the future.