BA (Hons) Graphic design

Name - Laura Toal

UCAS number - 107-144-9635

Contact number - 07742606324

Visual language - "Self Esteem" - Stitching and water colour.

Visual language - "Self Esteem" - Stitching and water colour.

I scanned my stitched figures in and added water colour to them, using colours like red, yellow and orange and emphasised the different colours in the skin.

I have always had a great love for portraiture which used to be confined to just photo realism when i had a love for artist Chuck Close and illustrator Victoria Frances. However over the last 6 months y love for portraiture has developed and artists such as Egon Schiele and Jenny Saville now interest me with their use of mark making and striking use of colour to create controversial and shocking images which are yet , still beautiful.

Visual language - "Self Esteem" - Stitched figures + type.

After the success of my stitched typography i looked at creating some images using the same technique. I created these images based on some photographs i had taken leaving the spare thread hanging again as a way of mark making and adding emotion. I chose to use images where the subject didnt show her face to reflect how low self esteem can affect young women.

Visual language - "Self Esteem" - Stitched type.

I then became very interested in the language around the issue of Self esteem and researched into what effects how we see ourselves. I then produced pieces of type based on my research looking at mark making as i think it reflects the emotions behind the subject well. These images were created by scanning my pieces of stiched type and adding watercolour.

Visual language - "Self Esteem" - Drawing with collage and stitch.

These are some other images i drew based on photograhs i had taken which i scanned in and added self esteem quotes to which i found off the internet. I chose to use stitch and collage for my text to add another texture to my work.

Visual language - "Self Esteem" - Drawing with Photoshop.

This is the brief i am currently working on labelled "Visual language", where we chose a piece of text, or a quote and created work based around it. I chose to work around the definition of self esteem. I started the project by doing observational drawings which i converted into photoshop where i upped the contrast and brightness of the image to add emotion to my image.

Visual self portrait.

This brief was named "A visual self portrait" where we were set the task of creating pieces of design based around an aspect of ourselves, it could be our hobbies, our likes and dislikes, our moods etc. I Chose to base my project around my family inparticular how being a grandaughter was so important to me after just loosing my grandad at the time. I created a body of work which had quite an organic feel to it using materials like masking tape, brown paper and stitch often leaning one image on another to represent the relationship i had with my grandad.

Expressive typography

Another brief set was "Expressive typography" where we given a list of popular quotes and phrases which we were to create the typography for in relation to the quote. I thoroughly enjoyed this project and found ideas came to me quite easily.

Expressive typography 1

Type face alphabet 1 - Lost Letters.

This is my second alphabet i created which i named 'Lost Letters.' I chose this type because i think that aswell as making an effective font, it works as an interesting piece of design, looking at the way shapes and patterns are forming.

Type face alphabet 1 - Upper Lower case.

After the experimental stages of my project i decided to turn some of my designs into full alphabets. I Chose this typeface as i thought the use of upper and lower case combined resulted in a bold and interesting typeface which i have named 'Upper lower case'

Experimental Type faces

The brief was called "Experimental Typefaces" where we were instructed to look at an original typeface and develop it to create new and unique styles of typefaces. This was my A2 Page of development where i experimented with cutting up the letters, overlapping them and removing parts of them. I believe that type alone and the shapes and patterns you can make result in interesting pieces of design and pattern.