Artist Research : MARY KATE McDEVITT

Mary Kate McDevitt

Here is some personal information about Mary that i found on her website:

Mary Kate McDevitt is a letterer and illustrator living and working in Brooklyn, NY. Mary Kate graduated from Tyler School of Art in 2007 with a degree in Graphic Design and Illustration. She worked as a designer at a studio in Lancaster, PA for 2 years. In 2010, Mary Kate moved out to Portland, OR to pursue a career as a freelance illustrator and artist, but after 3+ years in Portland, Mary Kate moved back east and is residing in Brooklyn, NY.

What attracted me to this artists work is the fact that it's cartoonish but complex at the same time. I really appreciate the fact that her work is mostly based on hand made drawings and with the use of traditional media, which is very clear in her work. 

1.)

1.) Some source materials that I can identify straight away by just looking at this image are sketches use as a template for the final piece, colored crayons or pastels for the background, letters and the rest of the elements in the image and maybe a finelner pen or ink for the really dark areas of the guitar or the shapes on the ''N'' . There are definitely many more source materials and traditional media that were used in the making of this piece but these are the most obvious ones I could identify.

It might seem that not many Photoshop tools have been used but I believe that such a creative piece of work was made with the help of digital media. Selection and move tools are the basic ones that might have been used to arrange elements on the page and resizing to make sure everything is as perfect as it could be. Layering, masks and opacity control we're probably used to give the image this poster texture that is noticeable on the boots and some places on the brown frame. 

Since it's the most important part of the image, the text is located in the middle of the image stretching almost over the whole canvas. Cowboy boots and a guitar are also visible in the image as they relate to the Southern American culture, Tennessee to be more specific. The image is placed on a brown frame and with all kinds of little details such as stars, rectangles and patterns occasionally floating around the main elements. In the background we can see a big yellow circle  with lines beaming out from the center of it, resembling a sun. Very vintage like and light colors have been used to fit the theme of a poster and the texture is very grainy, like it's been painted with a roller on a very rough wall.

I personally believe that the artists intentions were to create a ''promotional'' piece of art, the whole image is centered around cowboy American tradition and I think that in some way the artist was trying to capture this essence through the use of typography and her style of visually expressing herself.

2.)

2.)  Here's another piece where there is no doubt that the artist mostly relied on traditional media and source materials. I can say that the artist has used sketching as the main source material to set the base line for the start of this design. From there I believe she continued by adding the color and the little details by using  pastels or acrylic paint. Either way, the final outcome is as impressive as any other piece of her work because she represents in her work the old school way of doing it and by getting her hands dirty.

In the second stage, where the image was digitized, I believe she used the move and the selection tool to rearrange things on the page and make sure everything is where it should be. She also might have retouched areas with the brush tools and also she might have used layering and blending modes to give the image it's final finish for the post card like look in the end. 

This piece of work is totally based on typography as the main element of the image is the writing which cover almost all of the canvas. Little stars and circles which I believe try to resemblance snow flakes are also noticeable surrounding the text. Really light and calm colors are once again used, in this case to give the viewer the peaceful feeling of winter holidays, with the background being a light shade of blue, the stars and circles being black and white and with light orange and black for the text.

This is a perfect design for a holiday postcard, so I would say that the artist tried to create her version of the ideal holiday greetings card. I personally believe that this is a perfect design for a postcard because of the light color used and also because of the cartoonie style used on the text which would give the viewer a feeling of happiness and maybe relaxation.


3.) Because the artist usually works in a similar style, I believe that the source materials are similar to the ones used in the previous pieces of her artwork. Sketches were most likely used as a template to begin with and from there the artist started filling it in with color and the rest of the little details. I might be wrong, but I believe that the top part of this image was collaged and she continued by creating the part of the iceberg hidden underwater.

I strongly believe that this design has been refined and digitized in Photoshop, and some of the tools Mary might have used are: retouching  tools to give the iceberg a much more realistic aspect, blending modes, masks or opacity control to give the underwater background that cold and frozen texture/aspects for a much more intense aspect.

Once again the main element in this piece is the Typography part. The text is the first thing that stand out from the whole image because of the contrast between the other colors around it. After the viewer finished reading the text, he's attention is captivated by the rest of the image, but for a very short amount of time as it's quiet repetitive.
Really cold and dark colors have been used in this image, this because it has to relate to the really cold condition where you would see an iceberg.

This is a perfect example of the saying ''you've only seen the tip of the iceberg''. This is the artist expressing herself and trying to visually present her innerself by using an iceberg. We can see that on the lower part of the iceberg it says '' I Thrive Best'', which shows that even though you might not see it on the surface, she has that inner drive that pushes her forward everyday to do what she loves and improve herself.

3.)

Artist Research: CRAIG WARD

          Craig Ward

Craig Ward (born 1981) is a British-born, New York-based designer and art director primarily known for his pioneering typographic works and often scientific solutions to projects. A frequent speaker, occasional artist, published author and contributor to several industry journals, he has created award winning typography for a diverse array of clients across the advertising, publishing, fashion and music industries. His work has been shown and documented globally in countless magazines, books and exhibitions.

Craig is a very creative typographer that incorporates the essence in his most formidable pieces of work. He uses the properties of different substances, objects, elements etc. to give his work a very effective aspect that really shows his ability to be creative and also that he has the skills to do it.

1.)

1.)  I don't believe many source materials have been used in the making of this piece. Something that the artists might have done by free hand would be the silhouettes of the fork and knife with a pencil and have them scanned in afterwards. He could have also hand drawn the shape of the plate as a template for him and filled it with words after he scanned it in, but I highly doubt it because these would have been easier created in Photoshop with the pen tool.

This picture has been seriously digitally manipulated. Some tools that have been obviously used in the making of this piece of work are resizing and selection tools, the pen tool for tracing the shapes, maybe the brush tool for each individual name in the middle, blending modes and opacity control to give everything the grunge, painted like aspect an definitely the move tool to arrange everything in this quiet complex piece of typography.

The compositional elements in this image are the fork on the left hand side, the knife on the right hand side and in the middle the plate made out of names of countries from the world. The main element in this piece of work is the gathering of words in the middle as it's the most complex and impressive element of the whole image.

I personally believe that the artists intention is to represent how we are ''eating'' the earth of it's resources, we take and give nothing in return. This image has a very powerful contextual impact on the viewer and the artist has managed to create an impressive and creative piece of work

2.)

2.) I would strongly say that the artist hasn't used any source material at all in this piece. The only element in this image that I think is a source material would have to be the glass breaking if he captured the picture himself even though it would be very difficult to obtain such a powerful camera that can shoot so clear with so many frames per second.

From what I can identify, the artist has definitely used resizing and selection tools to control and place the text in the image,  retouching tools to alter any odd aspects of the image that would seem out of place and maybe gradient filters to give the image a much more vibrant overall look.

The image is made out of two main elements. The text that ''was'' on the piece pf glass and the actual breaking glass. Even though the artist uses such simple elements and a very basic concept the image is very effective. The artist chose white for the text and the background is dark shade of blue to complete the image and keep it as simple as he can. Here's the first example where we see the artist use the nature of an element with typography to create an impressive piece of artwork. The fact that the words '' You Blow Me Away'' are being placed on a breaking piece of glass really shows how the artist manages to express his creativity and it gives the piece a much more vibrant and it gives a kinetic feel to it.

The artist's intentions in this specific piece are to show how he uses juxtaposition in his artwork and how this makes it much more creative and interesting to watch.

3.) I can definitely say that an obvious source materials have been used in the making of this. Water colors or inks have been used to achieve that wet on wet effect which works really effectively with the text because they relate. The text might have also been hand made but I would question it because you could achieve that much more easier with the text tool in Photoshop.

Some Photoshop tool that I would have to use to achieve the same effect would have to be resizing, selection and the move tool to place the text and the ink splashes where I would want them to be, layering and blending modes to give the background paper like texture and maybe try some filters to see which would give the image a better final aesthetic. It's true that the image looks like the text was printed out and the ink was applied afterwards, but I am to experiment with how different digital media enriches the possibility of experimentation and this seems a great starting point.

The image is made out of the text on the page and the wet ink splashes around them. Only black and white was used in the making of this piece which helps him keep things as simple as possible. This piece of art was made out of pure simplicity and even though it seems like such a vague concept it's very effective and the simplicity of it is what give it such a captivating look.

Here we can see, just like in the previous piece, that the artist has used the properties of an element and linked it to the text to make a connection between the typography and the traditional materials used. In this piece, Craig has experimented once again with juxtaposition in his artwork to give it an entertaining and much more interesting aspect. 

3.)

Artist Research: JAMIE REID

       Jamie Reid

Jamie Reid

Jamie Reid (born 1947) is an English artist and anarchist with connections to the Situationist. His work, featuring letters cut from newspaper headlines in the style of a ransom note, came close to defining the image of punk rock, particularly in the UK. His best known works include the Sex Pistols album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols and the singles ''Anarchy in the UK'' , ''God Save the Queen'' (based on a Cecil Beaton's photograph of Queen Elizabeth II, with an added safety pin through her nose and swastikas in her eyes, described by Sean O'Hagan of The Observers '' the single most iconic image of the punk era '' )

Jamie has a very unique style of arranging text on an image and his typography skills and methods of working helped him give the punk era an image. Because the artist is also on anarchist his work has a punk/rock aspect. He uses techniques such as collaging letters from newspaper and photographs to give his work a trashy and somehow messy style which worked perfectly when designing album covers for the Sex Pistols.

1.)

1.) Some of the source materials used in the making of this poster would have to be: old wallpaper for the background, maybe some original stamps and writing on the background, the ''bright'' and ''future'' fonts at the top of the poster we're maybe used from a newspaper, collaged elements. It is pretty hard to identify source material in this specific piece of work but I mentioned the ones i would use if i were to try and re-create this image.

I am not 100% sure about any digital media that the artist used in the making of this or if he used any at all. Photoshop tools like selection tools and resizing tools would be ideal for the first stage when creating something like this. More complex tools like the brush tool could be used to achieve the effect on the font and opacity & flow would be used to give the image a more refined final aspect

The compositional elements in this image are the two black cars in the middle, the text at the top and the bottom and also the background which gives an overall aspect/theme to he image. Very dull and vintage like colors have been used, such as light brown, black and dull red. 

I personally believe that the artists intentions are to raise awareness about the dangers of using petrol at such a high level and remind people about how hazardous for our planet is the fact that the vehicles we use have such a big impact on our environment.

2.)

2.) Source material that i'm sure the artist used at the time he made this piece of work are collaged sections such as the text and he probably also used a pencil or graphite to give the flag a more realistic appearance by adding the shadows.

I don't think that the artist used digital media in the making of this piece, but if i we're to attempt making my version some Photoshop tools of my choice would be resizing and selection tools, blending modes to give the image a canvas like texture, masks and control of opacity for a final retouched and refined  aspect.

This piece of work does not have as many compositional elements as the previous one but it's as effective and impressive like any other. The text is centered as it's the first thing the viewer should see when looking at the image. Other elements visible afterwards is the ripped flag and the safety pins holding it together. Again dull and simple colors have been used such as burgundy red and ''dirty'' blue which gives a punk aspect to the image to suit the band. 

The artist's intention was to create a punk/rock album cover for the band. He managed to do this really well because the design suits the band and it perfectly represents them. The ripped flag with safety pins holding it really captures the idea of anarchy and rebelion which the artists encapsulated in this historical piece of punk art.

3.) The text visible in the center of the image is definitely collaged which is part of Jamie's style and another source material used is the picture of queen Elizabeth.The flag in the background might also be a collaged element. From these pieces of work we can see that the artists is using more source material than digital methods of manipulating the image to give it a different effect, which is why I chose this artist because I want to see how digital media give me more possibilities to be creative and experiment with different tools and techniques.

Some Photoshop tools that I would consider using if i would try to achieve a similar effect would be: resizing and selection tools to begin with, experiment with different filters and masks to give the flag or the image of the Queen the desired effect, layering and opacity settings to give the image an appropriate and realistic texture. 

In this piece of work we can see in the center an image of the Queen in black and white with text over her eyes saying ''GOD Save THE QUEEN'' and over her mouth the name of the band '' Sex Pistols'' . All of this is in an oval on top of the union jack flag which has a realistic aspect because of the folds that mimic how fabric would behave like. Everything in the center of the image is in Black and White and the flag is in  it's usual colors. 

The artists intentions just like in the previous design were to create an album cover that would suit the image of the band. The name of the album is '' God Save the Queen'' so the artist cleverly used the image of queen Elizabeth, added the necessary text and the final touch which was the background. 
This is a historical piece of art in the industry of punk rock and the artist did a brilliant job since the image is still remembered today. 

3.)

Brief

 My Brief

 

In this project I was asked to create two final pieces. These are to be portraits and I am supposed to create them by using typography and text arranging skills that I will learn and experiment with along the way.

 

This project is also an extension of the previous one, where I have to experiment and see how digital media enriches the possibilities of artistic expression, but only with different media. (This being Typography)

 

The very first thing I should consider for the start of this project would have to be researching different artists and see how they used typography and manipulated text in their work. This will give me an idea of what I want to try and experiment with. I will research on various artists through the use of internet and books.

 

Some of the digital manipulating I will be doing in Photoshop is cropping, resizing, the brush tool with text, colors etc. I will also try to use traditional media such as sketches, photographs, oil paints etc.

 

I believe that my two final pieces will be well influenced by the research made and by the advice given to me by my teacher.

 

All of the resources I need to complete this project are provided to me by the school and I believe I will be able to complete the two final pieces with a decent amount of help and guidance from my teacher.