Sketch notes

This is from my sketch book and shows the pre-planning of my 'Effects of media on youth' piece. I used this sketch to write down my ideas and the methods I wanted to use within the piece.

Effects of media on youth

 In this image, which is 68 x 41 cm landscape, I wanted to present the effects of media on young people, using the styles of Nick Lepard, Gustav Klimt and Robert Rauschenberg. To reflect Klimt's style I used his swirl pattern, which I lino printed within the collage in the background. I also added gold to the eyes, hair and toning of the portrait of my brother, painted Lepard’s abstract style. I reflected Rauschenberg's style in the collage background, using various images and objects, and lino prints of Klimt-like swirls and the Pulp Fiction character in the bottom right-hand corner.

Scraffito

In year 12 as part of learning new techniques I was introduced to scraffito. On the left-hand side is an A5 self portrait of myself and to the right is an A5 image of Joe Strummer from a issue of the NME I was reading at the time.

Nick Lepard

This is an artist copy, 62 x 42 cm portrait, of Nick Lepard's 'From Milan To Vienna'. With harsh brush strokes Nick Lepard seems to capture the emotions and faces of his subjects, which was one of the key aspects that originally attracted me to his work. I particularly like the way in which his signature style, made through using individual brushstrokes, creates an edgy persona to the portraits he creates.

Brad Pitt

This image is an A4 acrylic piece of development work in the style of Gustav Klimt. With the actor Brad Pitt in the centre, well known for his role in the film Fight Club, and Klimt, Egyptian-like patterns in the background I tried to visually present how films can sometimes glorify negative actions. I did this after finding out that Brad Pitt's image in Fight Club had created a vast increase in male anorexia. This also made me think of other ways in which media can affect an individual.

Grand Theft Auto V

As Robert Rauschenberg used the printing technique intaglio in some of his images I thought I would attempt to make an intaglio print. I did this by scratching the surface of a piece of A4 acetate with a craft knife to create indentations which would eventually form into the image. I chose to do an image of the game Grand Theft Auto V, as recently there has been a lot of controversy concerning whether or not it encourages violence and drug use, fitting into my theme of influences from the media.

Nick Leopord development work

This is an A4 acrylic development piece of work of my father in the style of Nick Lepard. This was my very first attempt of working in the style of Nick Lepard, using sharp brushstrokes to mimic his abstract style of portraiture painting.

Robert De Niro

After watching various films Robert De Niro starred in, such as This Boy's Life, Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, I admired the way in which he presents such a realistic character. This is why I drew the A4 pencil drawing of Robert De Niro. By being such a talented actor he makes his role believable and draws attention, through the reality of his character, to social issues of the time such as the Vietnam war in Taxi Driver.

Josh Miels

This is an A4 oil painted artist copy of one of Josh Miel's paintings. He is an modern illustrator and a digital artist who works and lives in Australia. I particularly like his work as it is very similar to the style of Nick Lepard, painting portraits with rough brush strokes that make the image look slightly abstract. I also like the way he uses smudged text in this image, giving the painting a ragged effect.

ABDC by Raul Housman

This is an A4 acrylic artist’s copy of the self-portrait, 'ABDC' by Raoul Hausmann. This piece is a photomontage and an example of the Dada art movement. Dadaism was born from a negative reaction to the horrors of World War One; it rejected reason and logic, prizing nonsense and irrationality, moving itself further away from the realism that had controlled the arts in the past. I was particularly attracted to the haphazard nature of the image and the rustic colours.

Breaking Bad

Whilst watching Breaking Bad, submersed in the plot and the dark humour, I decided to create an A3 image of the main character, Walter White. Originally the piece was supposed to be in the style of the young Australian artist Josh Miel, however it seemed to take a different course. With an acrylic background and charcoal portrait, the image takes a peculiar abstract appearance that I hope would reflect some of the dark aspects of the characteristics of Breaking Bad. 

Josie Jammet

This 41 x 24 cm portrait image is an artist copy of one of Josie Jammet's pictures. She is a London based painter whose work reinterprets photographic pictures into new paintings - highly detailed portraits often done in acrylic on canvas. She has painted for many clients from a wide variety of businesses such as Channel 4, The Rolling Stones, New York Magazine, Coca-Cola, The Guardian, the BBC, Nike, Penguin Books and many more. I chose this image as I particularly admired the positioning of the image and the contrasting colours used.

Effy

Working in the style of Gustav Klimt, I painted this 61 x 43 cm acrylic image of the actress Kaya Scodelario, most famous for her main role in the teenage drama - Skins. In a similar way in which Klimt glamorizes women in his work, I wanted to present the glamorization of sex, drugs and violence presented in television.

I Was Cured Alright

Whilst studying A Clockwork Orange for my English Literature and Language AS level Coursework, I painted this A4 acrylic image in the style of the famous graphic designer Barbara Kruger. I used the quote 'I was cured alright' as it was the final utterance in Kubrick's film interpretation of the dystopian novella. Using the menacing image from the beginning of the film and the red background I attempted to capture the violent interpretation of the Kubrick film.

Jimi Hendrix

This is an A4 acrylic painting of one of the greatest guitarists of all time - Jimi Hendrix. I chose to paint this image of Jimi in shades of blue as I felt it captured his musical style.

Jimi Hendrix

Mimicking Shepard Fairey's most famous image 'Hope', which represented Obama's campaign, this Jimi Hendrix version, spray painted on cardboard, A4, is a dedication to one of my favorite musicians.

Joe Strummer

This is an A4 spray painted artist copy of Shepard Fairey's image of Joe Strummer, who was the lead singer of the band The Clash. This was one of the first spray paint pieces I did as part of my AS exam preparation, and it gave me an understanding of the use of stencils and how to use spray paint.

Toni Soprano

After the unfortunate death of James Gandolfini and watching the amazing first two series of The Sopranos I drew this A4 image of Tony Soprano.

The Sopranos

This 53 x 42 cm image has a newspaper collage background on MDF, with a menacing image of four characters from the successful gangster TV series, The Sopranos, spray painted in the foreground. Working in the style of Shepard Fairey I also created my own logo, seen in the background and the badge on the chest of the closest character, mimicking Shepard Faireys 'Obey' and 'Andre the Giant' images that are constantly used within his works.

Brian Jones

This A3 image is based on the recent works of the American graphic designer Shepard Fairey. In the background are four lino prints of one of his patterns that I manipulated, and in the foreground in the bottom right-hand corner is the Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones. In a similar way to Shepard Fairey's images of musicians such as Joe Strummer or Blondie, I wanted to present a musician who I greatly admire in a similar style, with a discreet patterned background.