Wetransfer: Collaborative Practice

The Brief

Deciding on our concept

When sitting down with katy to decide what we needed to do, we made a couple of mind maps to get each of our ideas out there. Fortunately, we both agreed on the same path to take with this brief, I wanted to create something slightly different to what I would usually create, allowing us to produce something that has more tactile qualities, which also explores different processes and medias. The brief requires us to celebrate who we will be in 10 years, and produce an alternative self portrait. With both mine and katys skills combined, I feel like we would be able to produce an interesting response. Me and katy collectively agreed that we want to focus on something that allows us to have exploration of different processes and materials, and something slightly more hands on, and illustrative. For katy, this comes naturally as she is on the printed textiles course, which I am excited about working with her for because she will be able to bring certain skills and techniques when working on the brief, which I don't usually get the opportunity to do. To try and tackle this, we sat down and spoke about who we are, what we like, and what we want to pursue; within the creative field. 

Initial ideas/notes:

layered prints, screen prints, drawings shapes

built up layers of drawings, with different opacities 

the concept needs to inform the illustration 

self promotion - use styles that suit us individually

manipulation of photos

layering up different processes/techniques

telling a story with a collection of images 

collection of all things relevant to me 

A lot of katys work includes bold, floral patterns suitable for print design of a large scale, we have similar interests in terms of designers and influence therefore I think katy is the perfect partner to work with. I want to combine her floral pattern work, and ability to work on a larger scale through the use of prints, drawings and digital manipulation with my ability  to add the graphic elements, resulting in creating a unique response. 

Concept: 'Organised mess'

The idea behind this was created by both katy and I, we considered that we both have the same work flow and same work ethic, therefore this brief was good to collaborate on as we both have the same visions of how we see ourselves in 10 years time. We considered obstacle and difficulties in life, but mainly focused on the way we work creatively. The self portrait needs to be influenced by our design process, as we still intend to be creatives in 10 years time, however in 10 years we will have more direction and stability. 

Katy and I both agreed that we wanted to experiment with different processes for this brief, such as screen printing. With the concept in mind, we felt that it would work well if we created a print that reflects the idea of constantly developing and adding to a process so a print built up of many layers could be something to try. We both sketched out some rough ideas. The print must include something that can represent me/katy as an individual, as it asks for a self portrait, however the idea to illustrate a detailed version of a self portrait did not appeal to either of us; we had both presented some research to eachother that included abstract, geometric designs and as this is something Katy doesnt really base her own practice on we thought it would be a good idea to explore this even further and allow Katy to create something that she wouldnt usually. 

The response will illustrate that there will always be constant development and growth of the creative ideas going on in our minds, and nothing is organised, however there is still a clear direction and focus of where we intend to potentially end up.