Project Hidden Evaluation

To my surprise a interesting result, I was worried that this project would suffer because I was so focused on the digital media unit but in the end I think the end result was well executed. My starting point was to generate a theme through a mind map, this is how I always start a project, it has become apart of my creative process. Then I began to research into the area (The Cold War) to get a feel for the culture and the events that happened in that era, until ideas of my own began to emerge. From there I began to experiment with materials until a image developed within my minds eye.

I have gained quite a lot of experience from this project in skills and time management, I showed that I can deliver a fairly good quality piece of work in a short space of time, and not play it safe by doing the bare minimum. I have enjoyed going back to a more traditional approach to my art using traditional mediums and have discovered really effective ways of producing imagery, I now understand why you should never let go of the traditional skills. Using spray paint was the highlight for me, for once I had no control over the outcome which isn't usually the way I approach things, maybe the lack of time forced myself to produce something quickly which luckily was a success. I feel proud of my idea, the game shows some real thought has gone into it, I hope someone finds the time to play it and find me the missing hidden word. I keep on learning how important research is into other artists, If I hadn't I would probably not have taken a mixed media approach. Luke Lucas was my favourite artist that I found, he surprised me, there was one piece that he created for a pop corn recipe book that I was sure was digitally created, but I was wrong It was made totally out of physical mediums.

I need to realise from now on that one project isn't more important than the other, they are all equally as important to becoming a good designer and getting that all important end grade, so I will have to manage my time better in the future. I also feel that I should have done more experiments using more different mediums as possible because there could have been so many different ways of producing this games box art. I also feel that I needed to do further research into game ideas, there could have been better ways of making a game, but I found a idea that worked and went with it because of the issue of time.

There is one thing that I am happy with and its the fact that I created this idea independently, I wasn't steered in any way and took my own path and went with it, I took the gamble to produce something different and surely that has to count for something. I will certainly be taking a mixed media approach in the future because of how effective and quickly good imagery can be created. Now who ever is marking this project crack the hidden message write it down in your feed back.

Wrapping This Project Up

This I the makings of the final piece of the puzzle 

I created a document on a large scale to print a banner that would fold up an be apart of the game package 

I wanted the banner to look different but feel part of the package 

So I added elements of the cold war using fond imagery, then manipulated it using channel masking techniques and live tracing to achieve the desired effect.

I used my research to use within the banner

Slowly layering the image up and applying blend modes that In photoshop until I felt it looked right

Some elements worked, some didn't

I used my own spray painted images and manipulated them the same way 

Until I ended up with this image, but I felt that i needed something else 

So I duplicated the whole image applied the blend mode, colour dodge then applied a layer mask and painted out parts add a explosion effect and make the text (title) stand out more
And there you go, The Code War Limited edition Banner. 

Stencil Art

After looking into the works of Banksy I felt like trying to produce some more stencil work using spray paint 

I kept on trying different effects 

Using different symbols of the cold war

I would use found imagery

Place them in illustrator, from there I would live trace them to see what effect I could produce.

Then i would print out the image and make a stencil out of the image

Then produce as many effects as possible 

Now from here I will choose one that looks right, scan It in then manipulate it using digital software.

The Code War

The Box Art (Front)

The Box Art (Back)

And The Contents

I am pleased how this project turned out, I proved to myself that I can deliver and develop a idea in a short space of time, I do feel there is room for improvement, the box could have been put together in a more refined way and the Black ops sheets could have had much better style to them. I am pleased with the box art, the spray paint worked really well but I do want to take this further and produce something on a large scale possibly on material that could be folded away and become part of the package.

Banksy

This was sprayed onto the wall in Israel that is a divide just like the the Berlin wall was  back in the cold war.

Banksy
 (images sourced from google images, www.macbeth.com)
Banksy's identity has always been a mystery so information surely be 100% accurate.
His work is brilliant and daring he expresses his opinion on subjects of anti war and anti capitalism  and produces a lot of controversial work, but I can't fault how brilliant they are. I like the dark sense of humour that he injects into his works of art but still manages to get a serious message across. I like the way he uses silhouettes in his images, using mainly black and negative space to describe the forms of the people or animals he paints.

This information and images above where sourced from a film (documentary) "Exit through the gift shop"
which followed Banksy around to see his process, it all in the planning, he would mostly create large stencils that have been hand drawn and cut out . from there he would go out to the place to spray paint the image.

This is a interesting style and process that would fit well into the style of the graphic art work that I produced for my code war game. It would be good to produce some stencils of symbols of the cold war using the same technique that banks used on a smaller scale and not to be produced on a wall, although that would be fun, Imagine the front of the heart space as blank canvas for a political message about the major cuts college has gone through, anyway I could produce these stencils small use spray paint to block in the shape, scan them in to manipulate them on a canvas then blow them up onto some material on a much larger scale for impact.

So Where to Next

As I have said this was a project that had been neglected quite a lot because I have struggled to split my thoughts from one project from another and I was totally absorbed into the digital media unit that I was worried where this project was going.
But I feel that in the end I did quite well I produced a product that was original in its look and the actual game idea was different from what I have done before.
I have learnt quite a lot considering the time I have had, I have discovered the importance of traditional media experiments and how they can be turned into graphic art effectively with very little effort and I have learnt that I can produce things quite quickly and perform under pressure. I also feel that I am working independently, a lot of people seem to have been steered down a route (in terms of media) where I have created my own thing, although I have been criticised for doing things digital all of the time, but I argue that this is my specialist path that I wish to pursue, digital media was only the glue that held this project together, the way it was created was traditional.

So where to next, I have the opportunity to present my work in the form of a exhibition, so it has to be a show case of all the skills I have learnt over these past months, and be the best work that I can produce within this time frame. A good start would be to look back at the work I have done, and mind map some paths to take.

The Final Product

Front Cover

Back Cover

Game Board

Game Board (Back)

All The Decoder Sheets (1-6)

And then there are all the questions and the rule sheets to go with it .

The Concept on Paper

All the documents (above) are the drawings and notes of the game idea. The notes include the questions that I focused around, the actual game idea its self including the sizes, designs and how it all fitted together.
Looking back I do feel I need to be more organised and make my notes more clearer in the future.

Making the Game

First I made A template of the size that I wanted the game to bemusing illustrator
I created another template slightly smaller so they the front cover and base will slot together.

Using the same process from an earlier experiment I began to build up the image

Placing the art work In the right place on the template

I place the brown textured paper on the a layer underneath the symbols and scaled it to fill the whole canvas.

I place the line across to symbolise the berlin wall and for where the text will be placed.

I thought It needed more effects adding so I used some spray paint on a A4 piece of paper, scanned it in.

Then placed it 

Scaled it 

Until it looked right.

I loved that burnt look that I achieved so I have used it again

Using the burn tool at 100% Exposure

I still thought some numbers would strengthen that message of a code game so I placed numbers across the page to add more interest. The old name I thought of (code breaker) seemed a little boring so I renamed it, The Code War 

This is the back cover (base) I thought a plainer approach would be better so the text could be read better

Now this is the game, It's becoming quite frustrating to design 

I have to make sure that It works 

Other wise the game and idea will fail

I think this needs to be worked out on paper first using tracing paper to make sure that it works properly.