Unit X - 'Step Inside My Imagination'

‘WELCOME TO MY WORLD’…

Reflecting on the previous Practice Unit I decided that my work needed to become more than 2d Illustrations. Although I felt my Illustrations were developing to a higher standard they were not giving as strong experience to the viewer. I wanted to experiment with taking the two dimensional and transform that to three dimensional so that the things i imagine could be encountered and experienced by others.

Using the concept of 'stepping inside my imagination' as a starting point I started thinking about what 3d and large scale work I had seen that really inspired me. Straight away i thought of the First Cut exhibition I saw in my first year of my degree. All the work was made from paper in a range of ways. The exhibition included artists like Su Blackwell ( book sculpture), Rob Ryan (Paper cut Artist) and Andy Singleton ( Illustrator and installation artist).  All the work was unique and detailed and it really appealed to me and my practice.

'Map Of My Entire Life' - Rob Ryan

Looking at exhibition i started to search for a connection and i found that paper work would connect strongly to the book Illustration side of my work. My thought path was Story (my head) to Book and book is made of paper, take that paper and transform it into a physical set/story to be experienced. Therefore, Using paper as my medium i plan to test and sample different approaches to taking my illustrations and developing them into paper objects. My main aim is to really push the idea of making my imaginary creatures and places physical and visible for people outside of my head. I want to make my mind and outlook more accessible.

refining details in Drawings (close up)

I have also learnt from the last unit that as a practitioner I am very hybrid. I would class myself as a all round Artist and designer because I have discovered there are different sides to my work suitable for different contexts. For example My darker art is suitable for a Metaphysical market and Rock album covers and my more fantasy illustrations would be suited to Book Illustration and installation.

In this Unit I want to explore these contexts and refine them further completing some mini projects for my portfolio showcasing a few different sides to my work. I feel it is important to emphasise that my main practice is my drawing skill which is highly adaptable and open to many different disciplines and areas of context. Its all about how I apply my imagination and drawing to the different projects.