Life drawing class 2

Butter Market Mural project meeting

This weeks group meeting was primarily centred around pitching ideas to each about the design, content, subject matter of the murals for the the walls in the butter market. 

Things that were generally agreed on: 

Bold block colours

• Limited colour palette
• Simple shapes 
• elements of pattern
• a motif using squares with separate designs within them

These were the main things that were suggested, there were other great ideas as well such a ornate patterns and art Deco visuals, which i hope can also be incorporated into the murals. 

Someone also suggested bringing in historical points about the market such as the glass roof the building used to have which some people are pushing to bring back.     

Here is an example of Gordo's idea for the mural, which i feel could be successful because of the bold and loud colours used, also i like the idea of incorporating building of Hereford. 

This design of Gilly's is a great starting point for all the points we talked about, it has a simple premise but has the potential for everyone to be involved and contribute to a few squares each. it's also useful to see an idea in this stage of design so we have an idea of what we could produce.  

This is a two page spread from Rhiannon's sketchbook, i love the use of oil pastels, it creates a lovely texture as well as providing strong vibrant colour, this design also incorporates the "Squares" idea which we so far like the idea of

My quick design i made after the group meeting, trying to keep in mind the points we talked about a used bold colours and shapes plus placing the designs inside boxes to separate them out. 

Things i need to work on this week:

• Create more typography on the theme of overheard conversations
• look around Hereford for motifs to be incorporate into "Tile" like designs
• Produce more colour mood boards
• 
  

Life drawing class

Recently i have stared a life drawing class at the courtyard in Hereford, i'm trying to get back int life drawing after having a long break from it, i found the class really fun and i had a good chance to experiment with some of my drawings as well by adding colour and ink. I really want to improve my life drawing skills so i can inform my illustration a bit better. 

Hereford Butter Market wall mural project

The third years have been tasked with producing 6 large wall murals to go in the Butter market, which is a old dairy and poultry market in the town center of Hereford, the murals are possibly going to go on wooden panels which will then fix to the walls which make up some of the stalls in the market. 
The first week back to uni we took a visit to the butter market so we could gather some information on the place in general, i took photos of mostly the old sign art and some of the stalls i found visually interesting. The place was certainly stuck in the past, but i felt that only added to it's charm, though i can see where and why it needed some work done. The mayor of Hereford who has requested the artwork intends to bring a younger group of people in the market to view the art and visit the stalls, as well as keeping the current patrons and stall owners happy, this won't be an easy task, the challenge will be finding a middle ground between contemporary and traditional values and visual language. 

A photo of one of the walls which will eventually be covered in a large mural, we will have to take into consideration the owners of the stalls around the walls who have some of their wares on the actual walls ( as seen in photo ) perhaps even incorporate them into the design? 

 Some examples of old sign typography, although stylistically the text looks old fashioned we learned that some of them where painted quite recently, which shows that traditional values are still very much favored in the market. I like the way these signs incorporate small illustrations around and within them.

 An overview of part of the market, some of the stalls are well spaced out and often leave large empty spaces between them, in the photo we are all standing in quite a large vacant space.

A sweet stall where the jars of sweet are all on display on shelves, making a very colourful and pleasant visual. i would like it some of the colours and sweet motifs made they're way into one of the murals.  

bric a brac stall. 

The fruit and vegetable stalls that where situated towards the back of the market had some very interesting colour combinations with the way they had arranged their produce, i am very keen to incorporate food into the murals because the essence and history of the market is food, people will go there primarily to buy food, from fish and meat to fruit and veg, so this i feel should be taken into account when planning and designing the murals. 

Some more examples of sign art, i particularly like the red and yellow "Hillman's" sign because it's interesting use of different typography styles and the way it have matched the colours, it's very striking. learning the history of this florists stall was very interesting also, it has had a place in the market for almost 100 years and most of the owners had worked there for a good chunk of their lives. i find it interesting to hear how the market is such a big part of some peoples lives and livelihood.

So this the main part of my first hand visual research in the market, i found it very useful to visit and look around for the first time in years, just to see how much has changed and what has stayed the same. 
These photos will be central in helping to inform me whist trying to generate ideas and producing images for these wall murals.