cop: study task 8

My theme that I am working on is Japanese Art. I am mostly looking into woodblock printing and the effectiveness of communication within certain eras. The visual aspect that I want to look at is mostly, colours that were used within these art pieces, and how I can replicate the aesthetic of the woodblock printing without actually doing it.

Woodblock printing is very time consuming and takes a lot of practice, therefore I think by just mimicking the aesthetics of the art will help me to time manage my project and it will be interesting for me to see how easily I can replicate this style. The materials I will be using are mostly ink, watercolours and fineliner. This is to also replicate the style of the Japanese Art as mostly they use thin lines and block colours. This is why I will not be practicing any other means such as collage etc. because I think that it will not fit the aesthetic that I am going for.

cop: first few sketchbook pages

So I finally got started on my visual journal a bit ago and I'm finally posting them on here and I'm really happy with how it's going so far. I think I am taking a step in the right direction in terms of trying to replicate the aesthetic of traditional Japanese Art and also tying in my own way of working. It's like my style and traditional japanese art has been put together. I think as I carry on with this journal I need to make sure that I keep to a certain aesthetic as I want the whole journal to be presented similarly and all have the same aesthetic. I also need to keep working with the same materials, ink, brushpen, watercolour etc. Because I really think that these are the best tools to replicate the aesthetic that I want. 

cop: kuniyoshi project - neko no ateji

In this series of prints, cats form the names of fish in kana. Which is a type of Japanese writing system. I am really interested in how the Japanese use type in their traditional prints, and these are especially playful and interesting. I think it would be beneficial to see how it could compare to a more contemporary example, and see how the growth of Japanese art using type has continued to communicate certain messages. Obviously, there is not so much of a serious message within these pieces which you sometimes see with traditional art, but I think it is a nice change to see something that is more playful.

Eel (unagi)

う

な

ぎ

Catfish (namazu)

な

ま

ず

Puffer fish (fugu)

ふ

ぐ

Octopus (tako)

た

こ

cop: woodblock printing tools

http://www.baxleystamps.com/litho/misc/uchida_woodblock_prints.shtml

I found these info-graphics that depict all the tools that are used within the woodblock printing process. I think these are helpful when doing my journal and I can use these images to create my own.