In Walter Benjamin's article 'The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction', he argues that  contemporary technology takes historical art for granted, for instance by reproducing works of art or having people pay just to see them in a gallery. Andy Warhol's pop art work (top left) uses  silkscreen painting and took a long time to produce. In content, the reproductions take very little time.

Benjamin says on his article that 'by making many reproductions it substitutes a plurality of copies for unique existence…'( Benjamin, 1936) By this means, businessmen making money from famous historical artworks by printing them onto a variety of products e.g. bags, t-shirts, shoes, jewellery. Even museums reproduce the original painting so they can sell products of it e.g. postcards, posters. Such activities, make artwork less special and it is unfair for artists such as Warhol. Also some people pay go to a museum where to see the the original print whereas it even thought it is identical to the printed version which can be freely accessed

However, Benjamin also mentions that '..in permitting the reproduction to meet the beholder as listener in his own particular situation, it reactivates the object reproduced'  ( Benjamin, 1936) this  means that by printing these old paintings onto different surfaces e.g. books, magazines, objects and products the audience and buyers have different viewpoints than just by looking at the art on a wall surrounded by glass in a museum. Nevertheless, it will affect the business of museums as people will prefer to look for the cheapest options and will change the behaviours. For instance they does not feel these old paintings are special anymore as they can see them everywhere.

Benjamin also mentions in his article that said reproductions have added to the break with tradition which began with mass production of objects. The aura which an original of art possesses is missing from the reproductions. As well as making money, these businessman also believe that these historical paintings have the power to change the contemporary world so therefore that's why they keep printing onto a variety of objects and products.

Overall, there are advantages and disadvantages to reproducing work of art. The advances is that the viewer will be able to see these paintings without having to go to the actual museum to see the original piece as they are identical. The downside is that are future generations will not feel that these paintings are special anymore and this will affect art galleries.

Task 4

Practical project proposal:-

Study task 2 : CoP 2Practical : Group 1 TO BE CONTINUED

Our task was to do some observational drawing in Leeds City Museum and had to draw these two galleries

1. The Collector's Cabinet
2. Life on Earth

1. Task 2 (Museum group work) Identify unexpected/useful outcomes of (a) combination your drawings with other group of members and 9B0 having a focused task to achieve in a short time.

I quite like this group work because everyone in my team working hard to finish off their illustrations. This group work also make me and my friendship with Alice,Rosy and Becky closer and knew about each other a bit more. I also recognised that each per on have different tone of voice and unique in their own way. This group work was completed in a short amount of time and most of our illustrations are sketchy and used dry material but they turn out good after we combined them on the glass wall.

We didn't have time to finish off at the 2nd exhibition which is the Collective's Cabinet because we spent a lot of time in the 1st exhibit which is Life on Earth

2. Comment on task 2led you to respond to the gallery/museum. If this was different to previous visits, how and why ?
Different subject matters as I usually go to town to draw buildings and people instead of animal. Plus nowadays I spend a lot of time do my 'observational' drawing from the internet which isn't good for an illustrator.

3. Task 1 (reportage): Evaluate the task has been approached in the time given.
I think I did just enough 20 pages of drawings as I got idea for my reportage 2 days before the deadline which was 'Camera, and it effect people's life historically and contemporary'. I didn't experiment with variety medias because I did not have enough time.However, I supposed my subject is easy to do observational drawing because people use camera all the time e.g. selfie, note taking.

4. How could the practical of CoP2 be extended to challenge your image-making further and enhance your essay line of enquiry?

• Make the illustration to moving pictures
• Do observational drawings that related to my subject/theme
• Visit more places = more observational drawing
• Try different tone of voice and experimenting with different medias, techniques and processes.
• Take my sketchbook everywhere I go so I do more observational drawings
• Visit library to ind more images/artwork that related to mu subject/theme
• Take photos and print all reference images for future record.
• watch films and documentaries that  related to my theme and subject an draw from it
• draw from quotes
• Add some intangible in drawings

These are my two images from the quotes:-

'The work you produce today will create your future'

'Forget technology. Creativity is not device-depend'

This is an illustration by Benoit that is not political but it fits in with some quotes from an article called 'An Incomplete Manifesto of Growth' by Bruce Mau. One of the quotes is 'Forget technology. Creativity is not device-dependent' (Mau, B. An Incomplete Manifesto for Growth, Cba, http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/manifesto-Bruce-Mau.pdf (Assesed 12 november 2014)). The illustration clearly shows that the man did not depend on technology to do his painting. He made do an observational drawing of trees that he was surrounded by and added some tree’s decorations from his imagination.The other quote from the article that can be related to the  illustration is ‘Avoid software. The problem with software is that everyone has it’  (Mau, B. An Incomplete Manifesto for Growth, Cba, http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/manifesto-Bruce-Mau.pdf (Assesed 12 november 2014)). This illustration clearly shows that the man in the picture focusing on painting is using his hand rather than using a piece of software to do his painting. It is a man experiencing his surroundings for himself rather  than trying to finish off his painting just  by drawing from an image from the internet. It represents the importance of a designer/artist to find reference images from the real world not from printed imagery. Even though the man is drawing from observation  he did not paint all the trees in front of him. He only panted one tree which shows freedom in art. 

Benoit applied dark charcoal colours for everything in the illustration except the painting. This made the audience look at it straight away drawing attention to its purpose which is to ‘celebrate the season’. It is obvious that the tree in the painting represent Christmas, especially as Benoit has included Christmas tree decorations and snow. The use of red colour also helps the audience to understand that it is Christmas. The illustration has no outline and no texture, but Benoit adds some shading by using white/light green colour pallet to represent snow. The men in the illustration is wearing a suit which portrays western culture which fits with the weather and the season in the illustration. 

The final quote that is related to the illustration is ‘take field trips’ (Mau, B. An Incomplete Manifesto for Growth, Cba, http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/manifesto-Bruce-Mau.pdf (Assesed 12 november 2014)). This illustration symbolises also that by as taking some field trips, it is possible to do of drawings/paintings, the outcome of which will be different as the surroundings and places are different. The illustrator added some depth by layering trees throughout the illustration in a variety of sizes. Some of the trees bleed out of the page. This has given the work more depth and stronger atmosphere. Benoit decided on grey colour for the sky to represent the sky during winter when is the sky is often cloudy and dark. 

COP 2 : Introduction to reportage

Reportage :- 

Discover and describe and record.

I think Coe was trying her best to change the world even she haven got have the courage. She said even '..processing of witnessing through using a pencil has been 'well, maybe I can do  a little thing'. I think maybe I feel like my drawing won't give any impact now but later  on in the future, people will look at my drawing as time capturing and valuable. 

One of my favourite quote by her is 'count the monkeys in Sri Langka'. 

Lecture : The Gaze and The Media

• Photographers used old paintings as reference images for their work especially how women pose.
• Medias make the audience feel that it is okay to be node in the middle of the street compared to wearing pyjamas
• Using nudity techniques does give a massive impact in advertising industry.

Evaluation

1. What skills have you developed through this brief and how effectively do you think you have applied them?

I have developed my writing and reading skills I had to write a 3,000 word essay with 500 word tasks every week. As well as that, I also had to read plenty of books, articles, journals in order to complete the tasks. I think these two skills are very helpful as I will be using these skills for the rest of my life. I also know how to and feel more confident about writing a bibliography.

2. What approaches to/methods of image making have you developed and how have they informed your concept development process?

For COP part 2, I tried both digital and traditional techniques. For the digital technique, I used  Illustrator and for the traditional techniques I experimented with ink, watercolour, tea bags and felt-tips. To be honest I tried traditional techniques first as I thought I wanted to run away from my comfort zone and I found it hard as I am more at home with digital technique; however it went wrong. I think this was due to my illustrations and lack of an appropriate  style to illustrate my essay on propaganda. So what I did was I changed my whole idea completely although I only had five days until the deadline.

3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?

I think my final designs have some strengths. Firstly, I used Sergeant Stubby as my main character and he is a good world war symbol. Secondly, even though I created my final designs using only digital methods, they still gave a sense of a World War One poster  after I printed them as my posters were printed onto paper on which I had spread tea bags. Thirdly, by redesigning Uncle Sam posters this made people recognize that my theme was World War One as Uncle Sam posters are well known propaganda posters.

4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?

To be honest I do not know what my weaknesses are. I think time management as I only did my semiotic analysis two days ago as I was busy with another module so left this module until the last moment. It took me forever to write a 500 word task as I think I  lack subject knowledge and also English is my second language. this has been a valuable learning opportunity which has helped me to express my opinion. This is a skill I need to work on

5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?

I want to screen print my final design! I used a limited colour pallet and screen printing technique to  give an older and antique feeling towards the illustration/final outcome. Manage my time more and don't leave everything to the last minute. To be honest my time management for this module was not as bad as my other module and I expected to create a to do list or a timetable. I want to keep all my sketchbooks together as I left my research sketchbook at home or maybe I lost it but fortunately I had already blogged it.

I was debating either to use a piece of brownish colour paper  or just print the poster into a piece of white paper ( + with coloured background digitally).

But, first of all, I get some white papers and spread a wet tea bag all over it to give a brownish and old effect (sadly I forgot to take photograph of them). After it dried, I went to print recourse and to print my finals.

I think by using a brownish colour paper gave an old and historical effect which is suitable with the concept and decided these are my final designs.

I like how the posters was not printed straightly (if you look at the posters closely, they are a bit wonky) onto that papers it reminds me of how bad was printing techniques during that period of time (world war 1)

This below is the crits sheet from peers

... and this one is creet sheet that i have to feel myself after I explained about my project to Max.

First World War One Essay

Sergent Stubby poster 2

I am planning of making another poster of Uncle Sam.

Size : A3

This is the poster.

Traced the 

Too tight the suite, might edit it.

TO give a sense of a dog's hand, I added fur effect similar to on the face.

Done !

In a new A3 document, I placed Sergeant Stubby's illustration. Now I need to find a similar font to the original poster.

I cannot find the font on the internet so I had to used the pen tool to create the font one by one.

To delete the counter, I minus font it.

Using the grids to make everything align and perfect.

Done the poster. I do not know it I should add the logo (from the original poster - the logo from the bottom right) a it is a bit blurred.

I scaled down Sergeant stubby and stroke weight touched each other and busy, so I need to delete some of them.

I used the rectangle tool in Illustrator as a measurement tool to make sure the frames near the edges are align. 

Sergeant Stubby poster 1

I do not have enough time so I decided to use Illustrator straight away as I am good at it and I imagine I can finish this poster pretty fast.

I start off by drawing Sergeant Stubby's head.

I used a rectangle as a guiding tool to get the same distance between each button. 

I tried to put some lines the represent fur.

Cmd+A, open a new document and Cmd+V.

This is how it looks like after I added a colour background. I think I need to print the poster into a special textured piece of paper to give the old feeling toward it.

Sergeant Stubby

I have been drawing these for a day now. These are some sketches that I develop me get the right Sergeant Stubby and the last drawing on the issu above is the perfect one I guess.

I asked Katie to crits this drawing and she said
- the hat is a bit wonky
Make Stubby looks fat but realistic
Add more personality and character rather than only put Stubby on the Uncle Sam's outfit.

There are some sketches that I did for Sergeant Stubby and I think this is the time that for me to make the final drawing on a bigger scale. Maybe either on a piece of A4 or A3. I had so much fun drawing dogs. I am still not sure about the media, I could try use watercolour. To be honest I think it is important for me to use the same media and effect at the Uncle Sam's poster to give a propaganda mode.

Finger

Uncle Sam poster.

That is my poster sketch and I am having a problem to draw 'pointing finger at you'

These four imagines are my main reference images for drawing pointing hand.

These are some photos of Sergeant Stubby with his jacket on with medals.

Trial and error

First of all, I drew and colour the illustrations on separate piece of paper

Then I scanned them in and manipulated them in Photoshop.

I had to change its angel so I can get the right compost ion and depth.

I scanned a texture that I made

I start off with put together the illustrations and the grass on a document in Photoshop

Change the illustration's angel to make it follow the road shape ?

I started to colour the bin but it doesn't look good

I realised that the edges of the bin's lead and its body isn't the same. So by using the lasso tool to select the line

Cmd+T then expanded it.

Tadaa.

the I realised that the outlines is just bad, wonky and isn't neat so I  think i should try.... live trace on Illustrator to see if it going to make any differences.

I think the lines look softer and neater but I am still not happy with it. What I could do is I could draw the entire lines again in Illustration as I am so demanding of getting perfect lines. oh wait.

I tried to move the lines that I live traced in Illustrator to Photoshop and I think it looks better.

I had to rubber the grass.

The pen tool then selected the 'load path as selection' in the path menu.

I also had to rubber the bin's texture near the dog's fur because I can see it's texture through out the dog even though I had coloured the dog in.

I did collage trees using the textures that I made

 Manipulated them into Photoshop. I think the illustrations have too much tree and less sense of depth

I think the illustration looks better but I think to improve this.. maybe I should've done all collage ? I like the differences between traditional and digital collage have made.

I got a feeling that this idea isn't going to work. After I had a long thought, I decided to do a propaganda poster of Sergeant Stubby.

These are some ideas. 

1. A portrait of Sergeant Stubby with an American flag at the background

2. Stubby holding the flag symbolise America won the war

3. Uncle Sam's poster but Sergeant Stubby's version

4. different emotion of Sergeant Stubby during the war.