Final Poster Design

I edited the draft in Photoshop, and I tried painting it in different colour to see different effects. I finally choose the blue one as it has a strong vusual affect. I am happy with this final outcome as it looks like Chinese paper cutting  art.

sketches

I decided to design an illustration of Salford Totem pole and make it a poster. I did a lot research of the apperance of the Salford totem pole, however, I couldn't find any images that can show what it looks like clearly, so that I redesign the parts I couldn't see.

Salford Totem Poles

SALFORD TOTEM POLE

Hidden deep in a warehouse somewhere in Salford Quays was the once proud Salford Totem Pole which stood on the Quays for nearly 40 years until it was removed for safety reasons.

The pole has now been rescued by Councillor Steve Coen and currently resides in the Lowry Outlet Mall! Dreamscope, alongside journalist Saréda Dirir, are following the progress of the renovation by 1st nation American Kevin Cranmer (the great-nephew of Doug Cranmer who originally carved the pole back in 1969).

Salford's totem pole has been restored to its former glory. The 32ft, two-and-a-half-ton structure is once again a vibrant red and green, crowned by the head of a Thunderbird with its vivid yellow beak.

It is likely to be put inside a public building in Salford Quays, although a decision is yet to be made about the exact location.

The pole was commissioned by Robert Stoker, the then chairman of Manchester Liners and unveiled in 1969 in the company’s grounds in the Quays.

It was meant to be a permanent testimony to trade links between Manchester and Canada. But in 2006 it was taken down after falling into disrepair.

OOCL, the company which took over Manchester Liners, moved it to their depot in Felixstowe. But Salford councillor Steve Coen began a campaign to bring it back and the totem was returned in 2007. Repair work was started late last year.

The pole was carved by Chief Pal Nakwala Wakas – alias Doug Cramner – of the Kwakwaka’wakw tribe, from British Columbia, Canada.

His nephew, Kevin Cramner, travelled to Salford to lead the repair work, which used cedar imported from Canada.

OOCL paid for Kevin’s flight and the firm was among a number of businesses whcih helped to pay for the repair work. Two community committees, affiliated to the council, contributed £1,000 each. A lot of the work was done in kind. There are four symbolic designs on the pole – the Great Eagle or Thunderbird, representing family and solidarity; the Killer Whale, master of the seas; the raven, a messenger and symbol of trade; and copper coins, a sign of wealth and power.

The pole is currently on show in the Museum Of Museums at the Trafford Centre. Coun Coen said: "I think it is wonderful that it has been restored. It is up to the people of Salford to decide where it should be put up. But I would hope it is at Salford Quays, facing Canada."

When the pole is rededicated next year there will be a ceremony with native Americans in memory of Doug Cranmer who died in 2006.

It is also hoped Lakota native Americans from South Dakota will attend. Their ancestors came over with Buffalo Bill's Wild West show 100 years ago and camped on the site which is now Media City.

http://www.dreamscope.tv/additional/salford-totem-pole
http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/1312853_salfords_thunderbird_totem_is_go_once_again
http://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/content/articles/2007/01/03/030107_totem_home_feature.shtml

Keywords of Manchester & Salford

Set of business card and rubber stamp

Logo design

I have already got an idea of my personal logo design, which is to design a combination of letter Q and letter L, which are the buginning letters of my first name and my surname. In order to make it look alittle bit different from normal fonts, I designed a little swan with a big circle head and small body.And I painted it in pink. I hope when people look into it carefully, they can realise this is actually representing the letter Q and L. I am really happy with this design as it looks adorable,simple and cute.

The Final DPS Design

After I scanned all the sketches I did onto my PC, I started to adjusted their brightness and darkness and corrected some details in photoshop. And then I tried to pasted them in different positions and played around. For the item dispaly part I found some tag shapes online, and then I adjusted the size of the photographs I found, and pasted them on each tag shape. I really like this idea as it makes the whole page look adorable and tidy.

Vintage Paper background images

In order to create an old time effect, I did a research on vintage paper background images and I will select one of them use as the background of the 3 DPS.

 http://bennaogest.wordpress.com/author/bennaogest/
 http://www.blingcheese.com/image/code/38/paper+background.htm
 http://refphoto.deviantart.com/art/Old-Paper-Background-48259579
 http://www.rgbstock.com/photo/mRNlHYw/Old+Paper+Background+1

Layout Design

I designed the layout of the 3 DPS.
I will put the main illustration and texts together in half of the DPS, in the other half I will display some photographs of 1930s fashionable items such as hats, shoes and handbags.

Sketches of floral patterns

I drew these floral patterns in pencil and I'd like to use some of them in the background of DPS.I will combine them with the female sketches I did and see if they go well with each other.

Sketches

These are the sketches of vintage ladies and stuff I have done. I drew them in pencil and I scanned them onto my PC. I was quite happy with them as I think they will make a good visual effect on a vintage paper background.

Ideas of my design

Inspired by the artists and their works I found during research. I have dicided the main theme of my 3 double page spread which is vintage fashion collage of the 1930s. I planned to start with doing some sketches of vintage ladies, accessories and floral patters (use for background) to get further inspirations.

New Inspirations by Collage Artist-Jess Collins

Jess Collins was an important and influential painter & collage artist who had a defining role in the San Francisco Bay Area art scene during the latter portion of the 20th century. “He was the essential San Francisco artist,” said Harry Parker, director of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, who was well acquainted with the artist. “His political views and his quirky artistic style, his association with the poetry scene, his advocacy of gay rights — all the issues that came into his work were so representative of the San Francisco perspective. Only here could you imagine work like his being made.”

Many of Jess‘ collages and paintings are thematically tied to chemistry, alchemy, and the occult.Collins has also created elaborate collage constructions using illustrations from old books & comic strips, particularly Dick Tracy.

http://paperstreetsupplies.com/art-and-artists/narkissos-the-influential-collage-art-of-jess-collins/

Collage Illustrator-Eleanor Wood

Born in 1955 and brought up in London, Eleanor studied at Hornsey School of Art, Winchester and Chelsea College of Art (MA in Painting). For many years she was based in Norfolk, but now divides her time between studios in the USA and the UK. 

“Eleanor Wood. has skirted the periphery of Minimalism for her entire career, fine-tuning her obsessive, hypersensitive and exquisite miniature technique. In 2002 she moved from her native England to California, the displacement serving as catalyst for a body of work that demonstrates a departure from her previous practice, and which is distinct from Minimalist orthodoxy. 

The assertive color saturations are new to Wood’s previously monochrome repertoire. They are achieved through painting washes of watercolor onto the reverse side of absorbent paper. Waxed Japanese paper is then glued over the front surface as a barrier on top of which intricate layers of oil pastel are applied. The effect is one of finely calibrated pulsations of light and matter that mirror, on a microcosmic level, the tension between embedment in, and flotation above, the paper support of the central colored rectangles.  

  “Exploring the borders between illusion and reality, the works in the show move from a dry grid of tiny lines on a warm, gray-brown background to an evocative composition of ghostly rectangular shapes interrupted by a lush, painterly field of sanguine pigment. Wood’s works manage to be both austere and beautiful, fragile yet powerful, and one hopes to see more of them.”  

http://www.jillbishopcontemporaryart.co.uk/pages/artists/ewood.html

http://basic_sounds.blogspot.co.uk/2009_06_01_archive.html

http://deadline6am.com/eleanor-wood-reves-et-nuages/