I ACTUALLY MADE A BOOK!

Ok, so I forgot to take pictures of each stage of the making of my hard back book but I have pictures of the finished piece... No excuse, I'm sorry...

SO! Since I don't have pictures of each stage then I will just have to describe my process! HERE WE GO!

STEP 1: I took pieces of A2 sketchbook pages and cut them into the appropriate size for the book  but doubled in width because it needed to be folded in half. each page was folded in half, the instructions call for 4 piles of 8 sheets but I only wanted 24 pages so I created 6 sheets and folded them all in half individually.

STEP 2: Next I cut a piece of fabric the length of the pages but 5 times the width when held together and the bend, and then I glued them to it at the bend with PVA but wrongly, instead of keeping the wings unglued I attached them also to the paper...

STEP 3: After I cut up some greyboard with the bandsaw to the same size as the paper as a spine the same width as the join in the pages.

STEP 4: Then I cut the fabric with an inch extra border to be folded over the greyboard. I covered the greyboard in PVA glue and then placed it face down in its place in the fabric with a small gap between spine and covers.

STEP 5: when all of that was stuck down efficiently I SHOULD  have stuck the wings to only the covers of the book not the spine so that it was stable. But because I had screwed up the wings I had to get extra fabric and create new ones and try to attach that to the covers and to the already fabricated pages.... it didn't like me... so I gave up, and when the glue was a little drier I stitched it together... badly.

STEP 6:  Then to cover up the botched job I had made of the fabric I covered it with extra paper to be patterned by me later.

So basically... Voila! I had a book at the end. But since my instructions are pretty below par I will give you the link to  the tutorial I used

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-bind-your-own-Hardback-Book/

Statement for Assessments

Ok, so my class can't be the only one needing to complete Statement for Assessments any time they are nearing completion of a brief or project so I thought for future reference I would place up a semi-detailed idea of what should be included in one.

SECTION 1 : Explain what you did in your project - how
                                                                               - What was the subject matter? like of the drawings etc.
                        Relate to the outcomes given in the handbook/brief - Strengths
                                                                                                     - Weakness

                    What pathway have you focused on in your project?

SECTION 2 : Evaluate research - How it helped you? What ideas it gave you?
                                                   - How you analysed the information you found?
                                                   - Things you did or could have tried
                                                   - What exactly did you research? eg, artist's books.

SECTION 3 : Explain the experimentation - Mediums you used
                                                                  - How they join in with your take on the brief
                                                                  - Why you liked/disliked what you tried
                    Lists are ok - bullet point certain ideas

SECTION 4 : Transferable skills - Learning & progress
                                                    - Time
                                                    - Cost
                                                    - Skills
           
                    What you would have done differently if these things had been different.


This is morely for me but if this helps anyone... yay

The pathways project

Our Pathways project was to be a book based on a journey. My journey was about the day of an average student, the thoughts and feelings this student has through the average day faced with situations and such that the average student has to deal with. The book I was going to make was going to be a real hard back book, made with red fabric for the outside covers  and grey board and sketchbook paper. The art work on the inside will be a mix of mediums such water colour paints, markers, acrylics, sketching pencils, etc.

The subject matter in the book will vary from pictures of people I have seen but never met, like the people I see daily on my bus, selfies with my class mates, people who influence your life, things you encounter like mountains of work, deadlines, lack or or excessive sleeping, and obviously the lack of money and full on partying that is associated with student life.

When I complete the book I will upload a almost tutorial on how I created the hard back book. Step by step pictures. I haven't entirely started the physical making of the book because i still need materials and such but that should be completed tomorrow, well at least the combining of the cover to the paper, maybe not all of the pictures on the paper. My problem is with that I don't want the paper to crinkle due to the use of paint but my only real alternative is to do the paintings in my sketchbook and take photos and print them and stick them into the book instead but I don't think that will be much better, I'd like it to contain all the originals.

I am sorry that right now I don't have any real pictures to show to go along with this post but I swear there will be a descriptive post about the making of the book within the next week.

My transformation project

My project for specialist skills was based upon the transformation of games, the Evolution of games over the last few decades. I looked into the range of games that have existed coming from the game pong, going up to all the more violent games nowadays such as COD and GTA and also trying to see about the consoles for gaming.

Because this project was a whole year long I don't want to bulk this up with just pictures upon pictures of my sketchbook pages and so I will only show and explain my final pieces.

My first piece is a 80cm by 40cm acrylic painting. I showed the difference between old games and new, conceptually showing them in battle, like, which is better, fight it out. One side is the old versions of Pac-man, Mario, Link and Pikachu, all looking like they are in 8-bit form. And the other side has all the newer high definition versions of those same characters. Although, all characters are surrounded in a light haze to make them stand out from the dark grey background. The background was a mixed up colour so in some places it is a little darker or lighter because I didn't mix it correctly. The middle shows the word "FIGHT" done in the style of Mortal Combat, which is a popular fighting game.

 

My second piece is done with photoshop using Mario as a background to show how the girl is drawn into the game, becomes her life. I have never used photoshop and it took weeks to complete but luckily Jack from my class let me use his artist's tablet thing so I was able to act like I was drawing rather than attempting to use the mouse. I got really proud of this because it almost looks like a real person... Almost. Well, as close as I could get her in the time frame.



Well in the end I was pretty proud of my final pieces. My work in the sketchbook leading up to them could have been more in depth and better done I believe... But if I pass I will be proud of what I accomplished.