Design boards 5. Colours may vary G.F smith

The brief

The decision to design for this brief came from the exhibition exposure attached to this, also due to the fact many of my previous briefs have been digital based and this could be a piece for my portfolio that evidenced how I can work traditionally, whilst also working with popular names such as G.F Smith and Colours may vary.

The brief for the colours may vary exhibition revolved around an archive being created using G.F Smith's stock choices and the various colours they had to work with.
Each student was designated a colour, mine being the Azure Blue.
The brief was complete with freedom, using a traditional print process to almost exhibit the colour of the stock.

Research
Research was hard to complete at this early stage due to the freedom and the brief revolved more around personal interpretation.

Idea generation
The bright colour Azure Blue had relevance and comparison to sky blue or baby blue, colours associated strongly with childhood. This was a starting point for the design and ideas formed from this early stage.
The idea to print a pattern of traditional sweets arose, using lino cutting methods as the traditional means of printing.
The size of the stock was to be an issue, only having a 23x23cm area to print on meant that the lino cut wouldn't be as detailed as first envisaged due to how intricate the cuts into the lino had to be.

Development
The idea was then generated to created a repeat pattern using actual sweets and various colours paints.
The colours of paints again would reflect vibrant childhood colours and also the brightness and attractiveness found in sweets.
Printing with inks was attempted but it was discovered that inks were far too viscus and sticky, also the colours were dark and not so invititing to create a child like print.
Outcome
The final outcome of the print was one that I was very pleased with, feeling it reflected the initial idea and concept of the colour representing childhood memories.
Many comments were made in the print room of how the staff had never seen anyone printing with sweets before, so that was a new method of creating artwork.

A comment that could be made is how the print was reflecting childhood memories yet the best prints were made using wine gums there for part of the print reads "gin" "port" etc, but that is simply due to wine gums being the best sweet of choice to print with.