Research and Inspiration
The Sustainable Design class has established several topics to be discussed and one major element is environmental justice. For some reason this topic has stuck with me over the past week or so and caused me to look back on some of the environmental terrors that have happened in years past. I felt inspired to create some artwork that attempts to speak to those times of crisis.
After deciding on some environmental events I went searching for logos and found three or four I wanted to work with. I ended up manipulating the logos for BP, VW, and GE. Each company has had a history of subpar behavior when it comes to environmental justice and they fit with the theme I wanted to arc through this project.
Process
Manipulation was done in Affinity Designer, and again I starting to like it more and more. It seems that for digital creation it is right up there with Illustrator it just lacks a couple features that I have grown accustomed to.
As I deconstructed each logo I found that they just seemed to evolve on their own and I was extremely happy with the results and how closely related they were to each company’s transgressions. After I had my final logos I then went to work on creating patterns that interacted/conversed with the logo well. This was actually the hardest part in my opinion and the final patterns took a great deal of time to get right.
Once the files were ready I did test plots of each. These tests help alot especially when using multiple pens. It gave me the opportunity to fine tune, almost everytime, to make sure I was going to get something that I liked.
This was the first project where I did not use code to generate the patterns. I was better able to create a background that “talked” with the foregrounded logo by creating them myself in Affinity Designer.
Once I had designs I was happy with it was on to testing with the different materials. In the tests I did on Monday I used a Staedtler pen set I had to provide some different color. They have an odd shape but they fit in the pen holder perfectly and I was able to use them without any tape-hacking. The next pen I used was a Sharpie paint pen and it definitely required a little tape to make it fit in the machine. Once I got the right amount of tape I was happily surprised with how well it worked. It definitely created some of the look and feel I was looking for!
On the paper front I used some transfer paper to resemble a “carbon” copy of my plot. In my first attempt the transfer was too light and to make it work properly required turning the cut force on the machine to the max in order to get the transfer onto the second sheet of paper. I brought a couple dried out pens so I didn’t feel bad ruining the tips because, I think, the final product turned out great.
The next plot required swapping out pens and luckily one of my classmates showed me the trick for doing this. I found that letting the plotter have 2 passes at each line allowed me to pay attention to and recognize the split-second I had to pause the machine before it jumped to the next “layer”. It took me about 3 tries to get it right but there is definitely something exciting about plotting with six colors.
Reflection
To plot properly takes time. I feel that this has been my biggest revelation throuh this project. I spent 3 hours on the plotter just working through 2 of my 3 plots. While some of the plots may be relatively simple they take time to perfect and the difference between a practice plot and a final seems to be an extra 45 minutes as well as increased attention. In the plot I did with multiple colors there is just a split second the machine gives you to hit the pause button and swap out the pens.
I’m super happy with what I have created so far and it was a great experience to play with different types of pens and papers.