DOF?

So this week we started photography and one of the tasks we were asked to do on this blog was to provide an example of two images; one that shows a large depth of field and one that shows a small depth of field. Even though we had an explanation in class I was still a bit confused as to what depth of field actually meant so I went home and did a bit of googling and found that in basic terms:

Depth of field is a characteristic of a camera that can be used to enhance the image composition of the photo. Depth of field means the sharp area surrounding the point of focus. The magnitude of the sharp area is affected by several factors: distance between the camera and the subject, focal length and aperture.

This is an example of a small depth of field. Only the dragonfly is in focus causing the viewer to be drawn to the main subject of the photo, this is good for outlining detail in a photo or to emphasize a certain aspect of it.

This is an example of a small depth of field. This is good for landscape or crowd images, instead of focusing on the detail you are showing the entire scope of the scene, avoiding the need to isolate elements within the image.

A Man of Unlimited Income

 I found this beautifully written article by Gerald Rogers where he describes how he appraches being a freelance illustrator. It really cleared up a lot of confusion I originally had about what an illustrator actually did and gave an interesting explanation into how freelancers conduct business.

"There are reasons why we chose to be illustrators. We are a breed of creators, problem-solvers, and in general, visually-obsessed people. We enjoy being able to recreate the world we see in our own way, with our own hands. As kids we loved the smell of crayons, the taste of pastels, and the feel of finger-paints as we oozed them across the paper. As adults, we still do. We love the process of watching a canvas be filled with the strokes of our brushes. To us this is power."

This quote really stood out to me as it applies to all types of creative people including myself. Art, for some, is a learnt hobby, but for others, like myself, it's a living breating passion and i can feel that excitement oozing out of this article.

So yeah, I highly reccommend reading this if you have any interest in going freelance, or even if you fancy reading a pretty interesting article.

Artist spotlight

During our theory lesson as an introduction to Illustration we looked up various artists and Sara Fanelli's work really stood out for me. The thing that appeals to me about Sara's work is the inventive approach to everything from page design and typography to choice of materials.
She very much reminds me of Laura Child's work as there are many similarities between there work such as collage and a fun, doodle like quality.

"What is a scribble? Dictionaries tend to define it in negative terms - meaningless, careless, hasty - but for the illustrator Sara Fanelli the scribble has its own dynamic. "It's alive... it generates a sense of energy on the page." Scribbles occur throughout her books - urgent, angry scribbles, quiet fluffy scribbles, rhythmic scribbles and wanton, loopy scribbles. They may depict clouds, trees, wolves or spiders - or, set against the formality of the chairs and tables that seem in her drawings to represent harmony and discipline, the scribble can also be a potent symbol of merriment, disorder and high spirits." 

"Everything in her collages has had a previous life. Sweet papers are crinkled and torn, newsprint is yellowed: every mark, every stain has its own story to tell, and she interweaves these stories with her own narratives. Given a new life on the page, the often disparate and initially rather static elements of the collage take on a new significance: they may be veiled in nostalgia, they may be bafflingly obscure, but the irresistible details, the textures, the curious, often surreal, juxtapositions soon begin to reveal different layers of meaning, inviting and rewarding hours of investigation."

Before this week I had no idea what Illustration was all about, looking at Sara's work had inspired me and should i choose to specialise in it then i would love to try out some of her techniques in my own work. 

An introduction to life drawing.

First day of the course and it's a full one.
As well as all the various introductions, tutorials and an interesting lecture by Cristoph Zellweger (possible follow up post for this to come) we were introduced to the interesting world of life drawing.
As I've never done a life drawing course before i had a few apprehensions (mainly the act of staring at a naked person for hours) but mainly i was excited to get back into drawing again.
The first few drawings i did were a bit rusty but after a while i really got into it, i think this quote by Alain de Botton describes it well.
"The very act of drawing an object, however badly, swiftly takes the drawer from a woolly sense of what the object looks like to a precise awareness of its component parts and particularities." 
This applies well to the art of life drawing as instead of focusing on the entire naked image you start focusing on different parts such as the curve of the hip or the negative shapes between the limbs.
Overall I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to continuing on with it for this year.

Here's a few of the sketches I did during this first session.

A welcome.

Hi there.
Having just finished two days of Induction at Chesterfield College I'm itching to get started on the art and design foundation diploma I'm doing there, from the sounds of it we're going to be doing lots of new stuff that I've never done before.
So why the blog? Well we were instructed to create a blog to record all of our ideas and research and work that goes on during this year, an electronic diary of what we get up to you might say.
Anyway, I'm really looking forward to what this year has to hold and I hope through this blog you can get a bit of a sense of how it's going for me.
That's all for now.