Final Piece and Evaluation

   I woke up at 6am to set up my final major throughout my house before it rains later. The day was grey and foggy which i felt suit the dreary end of the posters and circus tent.
   I took the fairy lights outside to test if there was any use for them during the day, unfortunately i think they add nothing during the day and due to the bad weather wouldnt be able to leave my work up to see how it look during the night. If i had used other materials i would have been more confident to leave them to the bad weather and let them get destroyed, but i knew the rain would just destroy the paper and remove the PVA glue applied on top, creating an unappealing mess without any effect to aid the dirty appearance. The alternative materials that i would have been confident tto leave to the weather would be if the posters were printed out on poster paper and the tent been made out of cardboard and more sheltered.

   Another thing i needed to make a final decision on was the placement of the tent. Originally i wanted the tent hidden under this dark area here I felt it was perfect with the open space for the tent, whilst still being swallowed by the dark bushes around it to create an untrustworthy place. Additionally would be at the right angle to walk up to. However after i had made that decision earlier, my parents placed these side barriers in for when they add soil to fix the grass.
   Therefore in my way, the only place in my garden that did not have these barriers was at the front of my garden. It meant having to turn around to notice the tent. However, i think the arrows and music will help locate it. I looked at my two options, this one being on the left side of the garden and incredibly sheltered, in fact i thought the leaves would get in the way of the tent. Furthermore, everything was still wet so the water from the leaves would mark up the white tissue paper on the tent.
  On the other hand, the area on the right was more open while still surrounded by bushes. It was under a tree so still sheltered, just not as dark as i wanted compared to the original space i wanted. The small soil area in front of the rock was the perfect space for the tent, whilst the small bush to the left would work to place an arrow in to direct people around the corner.

   I set up the tent, without the lights, using the cocktail sticks to secure it in the mud. I placed the saw dust on the floor to create a trail and placed the flags in order along side it. With the tent being so tiny to convey how only a small 1% of people are actually welcome in, it felt like a secure location hidden in plain sight like a secret club. Therefore, i felt the tent being hidden around the corner fit well, so if any person follows the arrows and doesn't notice it, still continues the narrative on how they were lied to and not welcome.



Photos of journey to Circus tent:

    I used blu-tack to place all my posters and arrows around the house to lead to the garden. Starting from my front door, through the backroom and kitchen. Originally i was going to have two posters in the garden pasted to the fences. I could not do this due to the fence being wet and changing in circus tent placement. I was going to have the posters on the right side of the fence so when the person steps onto the grass they instantly see the tent. However with the tent now round the corner and on the left, i decided to keep the posters on the left where the ivory covers the fence. Therefore, i blu-tacked one poster to the open door and placed another on the ivory.
    As i could not paste the posters up, i could not rip the edges to continue the narrative of the posters being a mess. Instead i let this last poster look unplaced by leaning it and letting it fold over. Additionally a cobweb and old leaf got attached to it which i felt was fitting. I didnt want to try support it up by placing it behind the ivory as i didnt want to upset the birds that nested in that area of the ivory.
   The arrows were placed between the posters, with the first upside down arrow being the red one next to Gazelles poster as it is the beginning of a new room, suggesting they are already willing to follow the arrows blindly. Additionally, with the last few arrows being dark people would not notice the writing being upside down, therefore wouldnt be put off by the "mistake". I placed the last two arrows in the thin ivory on the fence an bush next to the tent. These ones are more hidden due to not being brightly coloured, again following the narrative of deceiving them.

Video of journey with circus music playing:

Final Evaluation:
   Overall i am quite pleased with my final major and how all the little details inspired by my chosen artists have worked together. For instance, Millers use of shapes in her work and bright colours, Gruau use of gouache paint and 1950s influence, and lastly Talbots posters to use as a template.All helping me to create a narrative through colour scheme and consistency with all posters by use of fonts, style and shapes. I think by creating these details of consistency in the posters helped eliminate using a repeated border around the entire poster to show they are connected. I did explore this during border designs and felt it would take up space and distract from the characters individuality.
    Another thing i strayed away from slightly was the 1950s magazine illustration style. I did continue with the 50s style for my posters as all the old circus ones i explored had this style. However i felt the need to stray away from the specific illustration style mainly seen in magazines/fashion illustrations for the purpose of characterisation. These models fit a certain template and simple features that take away their individuality. Therefore i moved away from them to create faces that all looked different. However, due to focusing on the 1950s style in my Unit 1 work i already felt confident of the style and how to find a middle ground of influence and style. So for this project i jumped straight into the drawing style i wanted and didnt show that development in my work. I think it would have been interesting to begin with the template to see how the performers begin and develop into their own characters over time. For my style i kept the 1950s simple outlines of the features and minimal shading, but made these features differ from the template.
   I feel this jump over the drawing style was also an effect of needing to save time to get my entire project completed. This also effected experimenting with painting style. Although i did explore style with the Kaen experimented; i felt i could have explored this further, developing in my sketchbook as i explored character design. Additionally i could have explored different shades of the colours/with colour schemes. Even though i am happy with the outcome of my posters and designs i think i wanted time to explore this deeper to satisfy myself personally to grow more confident in painting.On another not i forgot how incompetent i am at writing fonts. If i had more time i would have liked to have practised writing the different fonts out more with the pen so it could be consistent as when i wrote over the pencil lines i still strayed.
    During this project i tried using oil paints for the first time. Despite it being a new medium to me i did quite enjoy it. However, it was difficult to have ventilation at all time when using it due to the room getting freezing cold at night or during bad weather. Therefore i felt it was best to move back to gouache so i could get my work done and not freeze to death. I think this worked well overall for my project as gouache is an easier medium to use and i am already comfortable with it. It helped me get my work done a lot faster than i would have with oil paint. Although sometimes the gouache would become too watered down, this helped me to remember to dry my brush on tissue after washing it as to not water it down further.
   Other main challenges that occurred were due to COVID-19 and lock down. For instance, i printed my posters out on A3 sizes due to that being the only size my home printer took. However, i would have liked to have sent my work off to get it printed professionally on poster paper. This wouldnt have worked due to the time i had; it would have been impossible to experiment, paint all the posters before sending them off and wait for them to be sent back in the time i had. If i wasnt in lock down i could have used the same method of printing and PVA glue but with the college printer that could do larger sizes. However, i dont think the size of the posters really effected the outcome of my final project as my house is narrow, as shown by the video, i am very close to all the posters and it would have been difficult to get the whole poster in if it was any bigger in the hallway.
   Lock down also affected the presentation of my work as originally the posters were going to be throughout the school to direct people to the FAD final show. Additionally, if continued at college i was planning to collaborate on space with Mae. It would have been interesting to work on a collabed piece as i have never had the opportunity before, it may have taken my work in an intriguing direction to make both of our ideas intertwine. Despite this, i think i still got the same effect i was going for, presenting my work throughout my house early in the morning so my mum would wake up and follow the arrows herself. And also be shocked that i got up so early. On the other hand, it does take away the anonymity with the posters being inside my house and only present to my family. It would have been nice to have presented my work in a public space. I could have created stickers to advertise them outside of the college by placing them on lampposts and walls.
   The other difficulty i faced was the weather, unfortunately the sunshine left when it came to presenting my work and instead had rain and thunder. I had already planned for this issue early on when looking through my house as to where to present my work. However, i was still determined to present my work outside for the hidden in dark bush setting, as the tent would have looked so out of place no matter what set i tried to create inside my house. To overcome this i woke up early to present my work before it rained. This worked well as it proceeded to hail and pour with rain later worse than the day before. Unfortunately there was no way to overcome the effect of only having daylight during my presentation. I originally planned to include fairy lights around the circus tent to highlight it in the dark bush, also leaving it up at night to see a comparison to day. I would have also loved to see if any small animals or birds in the garden interacted with the tent. Due to this i used no fairy lights or electric candle inside the tent. I felt like i had lost a little bit of the atmosphere i had hoped to create, nevertheless i think the use of circus music helped to bring that atmosphere back especially as it gets louder as you follow the posters, pulling you in.
   If i could develop this final piece further, i think i would have liked to create small figures walking up the saw dust pathway towards the tent. I think this idea initially came from earlier when i considered creating a small shadowy Zelroth figure to be by the tent door. These small figures would represent the 1% who are actually welcome. I could either choose a certain appearance to help convey this, for instance creating famous people or white men in suits to suggest the rich. Or they could be holding signs that could point to other forms such as religion, racism, gender, certain beliefs etc. These signs could be placed chaotically around the entrance of the tent and up the path with the flags. They could read "No Poor Allowed" and other discrimination to show the viewer they were lied to. I think this would really help drive home my point that i am trying to convey as some people may not think about it or realise. On the other hand without these extra features it would have been interesting to see how other people interpret my work. With or without those extra features, to continue with the idea of creating Zelroth i would have liked to have decorated/furnished the circus room. I think to accomplish this the tent would need to be slightly bigger so it is easier for people to look inside.
  I asked my Mum how she interpreted my work when she viewed it. She said she views it as freaky and spooky with the tent being smaller. That the person has to do something difficult to be able to fit in, but because of this they get trapped inside. My Mum does prefer to go down the fantasy route and i am glad the spooky side of the tent and suggestion of a trap still crossed her mind. When i explained my meaning behind it she instantly understood how it was represented without needing further clarification.