SUMMER ASSIGNMENT 2014 By Bradley Santon 0380

THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

Duncan Grant –1912Portrait of ‘ George Mallory’Oil on panel

Matthew Smith – 1944Portrait of ‘Roald Dahl’Oil painting

Julian Opie – 2000Portait of ‘Blur’Digital paintings of the band members

Gauthier Hubert – 2014Man looking like Van GoghOil on canvas

On the 8th of July I took a trip to the portrait gallery to find inspiration for the style, colour and imagery for my triptychs. Although none of the pieces I chose to copy are SELF PORTRAITS, I like them for

different reasons as explained below.

The way the artist has used only a few shades of blue for the background, gives an illusion of nothing else being there – then you begin to see his shoulders and shirt. The blue colour is also a visual link to Van Gogh

The artist blends the use of two dimensional and three dimensional aspects together in a unique way, giving the impression of a digital painting.

I liked the realistic 3D affect that this painting gives and the interesting shadows created using thick brush stokes .

A monochromatic stippled effect that the artist has applied to his work creates emotion, depth and definition

STUDIES OF THE PORTRAIT PAINTINGS

I first drew this picture in pencil then went over it in fine liner because it looked a bit boring and had no depth. I was going to leave it like that but then decided to try even thicker overlay to emphasise prominent features which added to the overall feel of the copy.

I drew the picture in pencil with very little shading or detail and no background shading. This was the only way that I could create the same stark feeling as the original portrait.

I decide to do all the studies in pencil to see if I could achieve the same effects without the use of colours.

I drew this picture in pencil and then shaded heavily to create the same sort of 3D effect that the original has.

Once again I drew this picture in pencil with very little shading or detail and because knew that this was the portrait that I was going to copy in a painted format..

PRACTICAL STUDY OF OTHERS WORK

Duncan Grant –1912Portrait of ‘ George Mallory’Oil on panel

My copy of the Duncan Grant portrait

The artist has used a combination of techniques, such as stippling and possible finger painting in the same tones using darker tones for the background. This makes the subject within the painting (the man) stand out boldly and give areas of the painting texture, creating detail, changes in light and three dimensional aspects. This painting can suggest that the artist wanted the man (George Mallory), to be the main focus of the image. Mallory was part of the first three expeditions up Mount Everest in the 1920’s soon after the picture was painted. This is perhaps why the artist has made him feel important yet contemplative within this painting. I used acrylics in lighter tones in my study to emphasise the subject against the darker background.I used this style of painting for my triptychs and trying to show depth using monochromatic tones of the same colour palette.

PRACTICAL STUDY OF IMAGES FOR TRIPTYCHOnce I had decided the style of painting, I found it really useful to look at triptychs which had been done by

others and also to do small drawn and photographed studies of what kind of images I could use for my pieces. I looked at quite a lot of styles but finally decided on the ones shown below as shown below.

Like the picture by Grant that I copied, these pictures use tones of one colour to represent depth and light.

This was based on the triptych (below left). I simply split the outer images in half like the original. However in my final pieces I used three images, making the outer two have different expressions, e.g. Happy, Calm and Angry.

This triptych uses a very similar technique of painted style to the style I used for my triptych. The images in this painting are also what I was going for as far as strength of image and ease of drawing in front of a mirror. The colours are bold but I used different monochromatic colours for each part of the triptych.

SUMMARY OF THE TRIPTYCH PROCESSI started with hand drawn of images of me in the mirror . This process was really difficult and meant that my first

attempt at the central picture was really distorted and out of scale with the others. So I re-did the central picture and it looked more in scale against the others. I then painted each portrait using one colour with black and white acrylics to create the depth and shadows. All portraits were done in the painting style of Duncan Grant – a kind of stippling

mark making.

My final triptych portraits

‘HAPPY/CALM/ANGRY’

EVALUATION OF THE SELF-PORTRAIT PROJECT

Generally, I liked the way the final pieces looked together but they would have been better if the head was the same size in all of them. I really pleased with the way that the shadowing and depth was achieved using three monochromatic tones – Blues, Purples and Reds. And they do look like me!

I found the process of drawing myself from a mirror really hard! I did the actual drawings with the mirror and then painted them without the mirror. Using the mirror also meant that the scale of the faces did not match because I was closer for the HAPPY picture so my head is slightly larger in this painting overall. My first attempt at the purple painting was really out of scale and distorted – see above - so I decided to re-draw this one and am much happier with it.

The original brief of the project asked for a triptych of painted self portraits based on the style of a portrait by another artist.

I enjoyed the trip to the National portrait gallery but I found it limited in the styles that I actually liked. I finally found a style that was similar to my actual painting style and this is why I chose to use it.

My favourite part of the project was the experiments in trying to decide what I would use for my portraits. I looked at loads of ideas and did loads of drawings and photographs and colour palettes before finally settling on the content and colours which formed my final pieces.

LYNNE HUNT LONDONInterior design studio in London

I chose to look at LHL interior design company because my parents are interior designer’s and they have worked with the main designer at the practise for over 20 years.

Lynne Hunt London are mainly concerned with 5* hotel projects and high end residential properties. The project can be traditional, modern or completely themed as can been seen in some of these project photos.

A brief for the project is normally set by the client and given to the principle designer for interpretation and research. The budget for the job and the direction of the style of the job is also determined at this stage.

At LHL, the designer’s do a lot of research about the area where the property is located, and the style and colour of art and landscape around that area are also considered. They then put together colour boards which will show actual images of the structure, furnishings and art that may be used together with actual visuals of the space which are normally drawn by hand or more recently , using . This is then presented to the client as an initial look at the direction that the design is taking.

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE CASE STUDY AN ILLUSTRATED CASE STUDY OF AN INTERIOR DESIGN PRACTICE

After the initial presentation, the designer s then put together a detailed package of drawings (using AutoCAD) , finishes and furnishings ( using Virtual Design Studio) which take into account any comments that the client may have made and any time restrictions that are in place which could which effect what is selected because of availability.

The documentation is normally filtered through to the client in phases and billed accordingly. Everything that is selected will normally be scrutinised by the hotel or property group to ensure that it is appropriate for its final use – for example , in a hotel project everything has to be contract quality which means that it will last longer and withstand use and abuse by people using the hotel. The price is also considered and any changes are made by the designer’s prior to work commencing.

Once everyone is in agreement, work commences and the final in-situ photos are taken which will be included on the clients advertising and also in the LHL portfolio.

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE CASE STUDY AN ILLUSTRATED CASE STUDY OF AN INTERIOR DESIGN PRACTICE

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE CASE STUDY - SUMMARY

How do I feel, what have I learnt? After meeting with Lynne and the team from Lynne Hunt London, I was quite inspired to pursue a career in the design industry.

I now realise that any design job must involve a great degree of research into the background of the product, area or client before any creative decisions can be made.

Although interior design is very diverse and interesting, my preference would be for smaller scale jobs on the graphic design side which could involve signage within interior spaces, advertising or company logos and identities.

I will definitely follow the DESIGN pathway in my second year of A Level art and Design .

The kind of courses that I am looking at within universities are either Graphic Design , Web Design or Digital Media Arts degrees that have the most versatility for future employment opportunities.