Lesson video

Hello and welcome to lesson three of our graphic design unit.

Today we're going to research a contemporary artist, and this is an artist who uses graphic design techniques in her artwork, her name is Freyja Crow, and I'm sure you're going to enjoy trying out the techniques that she uses and also exploring her work, and you'll get great inspiration, I really believe that.

But let's get going.

For this lesson, you'll need your sketchbook, a pencil, coloured pencils, a mirror, and some sheets of A4 paper.

If you haven't got a mirror handy, you can use a mobile phone because you're going to be making a self portrait today and that might be handy.

If it's not your mobile phone, please ask permission of the person it does belong to.

Now, if you have a black pen, and if you have felt tip pens handy, you can use those as well, just like we've said before.

In today's lesson we're going to recap our previous learning.

We're going to learn about the artist Freyja Crow.

We're going to experiment with illustration and text.

I'll explain what illustration is in a moment.

And you're going to create a graphic self portrait.

The key words for today are illustration, and that's a drawing that describes an idea.

You'll find illustrations in reading books, on games, on packaging.

As well as describing an idea, they're often used to make something seem more appealing as well.

Multidisciplinary, I'm introducing you to this term because Freyja Crow, the artist that we're studying today, is a multidisciplinary artist.

That means she works in many different ways, using lots of different techniques, and lots of different materials.

So she works with clay, she works with printing, animation.

She works in other ways as well and we'll find that out, so the multidisciplinary.

And contemporary, we would describe Freyja Crow as a contemporary artist because she is living and working now.

So we're going to start off today by warming up our art brains and our hands with a topography cutlery challenge.

You'll need to collect some cutlery.

Now I've used here a knife, a fork, and a spoon, you can just choose different sizes of spoons, it's completely up to you, but we're going to have fun with this cutlery.

Please let your parent or carer know why you are collecting the cutlery, and if necessary, you might need some help with this.

So you're going to start by making a contour drawing of your cutlery, that is a drawing of just the outline.

A contour is an art term that means outline.

So you don't need the detail.

You don't need to show where the light is on your cutlery, just contour drawings.

And then I'd like you to play with typography.

So if you look carefully here at my examples, you can see in the spoon, I've used the shape of the spoon to make my writing larger and smaller in places.

I've put a spoon shape inside the O on soup there.

So it reads, I like to eat soup, and of course you would eat soup with a spoon.

For the fork, I thought about fish and chips.

So you can see I've rubbed out the ends of the prongs of the fork and put a chip on the end, and I've put some writing on there as well.

So it says fish and salty chips.

If you notice, the dot on the I in fish is a little fish shape as well.

And then finally with my contour drawing of the knife, I rubbed away the line to make it as faint, as light as possible.

And I thought about the words that describe the purpose, the function of a knife.

So I've written spread, cut, chop, slice, spread, cut, chop, and so on repeatedly around that line of the knife.

So you're using a shape, like we've done before, as a guide for typography, but we're also thinking about the object that we're using here.

For this sketchbook challenge, use cutlery as your inspiration for some really, really interesting typography.

Draw just the contour, just the outline, and then write inside, around, or through your drawing.

You can use my examples to help you, but be creative, be open, make it your own work.

Pause the video while you complete this task.

So now I'm going to introduce you to the work of an artist who is a contemporary artist, she's working now, and her name is Freyja Crow.

Freyja Crow is an artist who uses many characteristics of graphic design in her artwork.

She uses pattern, illustration, typography, overlapping and bold images in her work.

Here's an example of her work, and there are different things here, different elements that you might notice that stand out for you.

There is some colour, but it is mostly black and white that she uses within her work.

She has repeating patterns.

There is self portrait there.

I wonder what is the thing in this piece of artwork that stands out for you.

So, as I've said before, Freyja Crow is a multi-disciplinary artist.

She works with paper, with clay, embroidery, digital art, film, and photography.

Freyja has worked on graphic design projects.

So this is an example of a piece of graphic design that Freyja Crow has made.

It's a poster, and it's a poster for a creative event.

And I wanted to show you this because I think it's a really good example of a well-matched concept and content.

So this is an advert for a drawing event and the poster itself has been drawn.

It's encouraging a target audience of everybody to come and draw and enjoy drawing.

And I think it works well in this instance, it demonstrates drawing, it demonstrates creativity, it's eye catching, it's been hand-drawn, perfect.

So within Freyja Crow's artwork, she shows her influence.

And her influences are ancient crafts, and the celebration and conservation of nature.

She also uses self-portraits in her work.

This, you can may see elements here that are similar to the piece of artwork I showed you before.

There's lots of pattern here.

There's lots to see.

And as I said before, it's black and white.

We would describe that as monochrome.

And you can see here that Freyja, working with clay, has again, there's a self portrait there, there's the pattern, there's the shapes that we've seen before, lots of lines and dots, showing that as a multidisciplinary artist, she's not just using paper, she's not just using paint.

Here she's used a technique called graffito where she has scratched away at the glaze on her clay to produce her illustration.

Have a look at this piece of artwork by Freyja Crow.

Can you describe this piece of art? What do you notice about it? I notice it is a self portrait.

I notice that there's lots of line here, that it's a bold image.

There's lots of white, and there's a contrast between the black and the white.

This is another monochrome piece of artwork.

Let's look a little bit closer.

Can you see here? I've zoomed in on the hair that she's drawn.

Can you see how she's built up the idea of texture by using lots and lots of lines? Here you can see, if you focus in on her mouth, she's used the thick line under the bottom lip and the contrast between the white of her lips and the black inside her mouth to give the impression of three dimensions, it's 3D.

Our mouths are not flat, and she's showing this to us here.

I think this is a really lovely, clear representation of an eye.

With just a very few lines, you can see it's an eye.

You can see the light glinting in her eye.

I think we can learn a lot from looking at this way of drawing an eye, fantastic.

And here we focus again.

Remember I said that she shows her interests, and one of her interests is nature, and the conservation of nature, and the celebration of nature.

And she showed this in this repeated image of these plant buds and the open plant as well.

And there's a border here too, a really nice, simple border.

So for this activity, you are looking and describing.

You need to look at this illustration by Freyja Crow, make notes, written notes, your thoughts, your ideas in your sketchbook, and make drawings that inspire you from this.

Try out the texture for the hair, try out the little lines.

Try drawing an eye like her, try drawing the mouth.

So look at how she uses pattern and line.

What does her illustration communicate to us? Remember I said that an illustration is a drawing that describes.

So in her self portrait, she is telling us about herself.

So have a look, which ideas could you use in your own work? Pause the video while you complete this task, and I'll see you again soon.

Wow, I wonder how we think about this.

Typographic is the only way to communicate meaning in graphic design.

Certainly we think about writing, which typography is, giving us meaning, but is it the only way? Of course it's false.

Typography does communicate meaning, but we know colour, illustration, photography can do this too, well done.

It's going to be really useful for you today as we make our self portraits for you to have an understanding how to draw a simple self portrait.

Simple is the key word here.

We're thinking about it being a clear image.

Just like when we looked at the portrait that Freyja Crow had drawn, there's not lots of detail in her face but we know it's her.

So thinking back to the contour drawing that you did in the warmup activity with the cutlery, that's the idea that I want you to keep hold of.

We're looking at outline and impression.

So as I explain in the video, keep looking between my drawing and the image that I'm drawing from.

I'm starting by drawing very lightly.

And the way that I'm holding my pencil is helping me to do this.

I'm not holding my pencil as a writer.

You see, I've got my pencil, holding the end of it, and that it gives me control and lets me change the pressure on the page.

Remember, keep looking backwards and forwards between the two images in front of you on the screen.

So now I'm adding the detail of where my eye is.

And now I'm moving on to my nose.

It's important to remember when you draw that you're not going to get it right the first time, you're going to want to keep tweaking things.

But remember, this is just a practise in producing a simple self portrait, which is quite tricky.

This is not your final self portrait.

This is your practise.

This part of your research as an artist.

So can you see as I'm holding the pencil, I've moved where my fingers are, and this is helping me to add more pressure as I'm making the line darker and I'm adding the detail of my eye.

I'm looking carefully about not what I think I know, what I think I can see, but really looking closely at where my eye is there, where I'm looking.

And again, I'm looking at the line, looking at outline, I'm looking at key features.

And I wanted it to be really clear that I'm a very smiley person.

So I chose that expression as I drew, remembering that an illustration is a drawing that explains and describes.

You can see I've already, it already looks like a portrait.

And now I'm going to start adding in some detail.

So learning from looking at Freyja Crow's work, I've decided to use lines as a way of expressing texture in my hair.

But because my hair is longer than hers, I've decided to make the lines run full length of the hair.

And my hair is not flat, so I've made the lines curve and zigzag as they move down.

Maybe when I make my end piece of artwork, my graphic self portrait, that I want to make changes.

Just like we've said before, often when you plan something and you come to do the actual artwork, you may change your mind or think of new ideas, and that is fine, that's all part of the planning process.

Remember to keep looking between the drawing and what I am drawing to see if you can see how I am showing what I can see, but also I'm beginning to be a little bit more inventive when it comes to the lines of the hair.

Now drawing like this does take time.

It does take concentration.

You might find that you will want to use a rubber when you draw, or you might find, like I have, you're going to be brave, and try to do the whole thing without doing that.

You'll find that with practise, it is possible to do this.

Remember, I said we're focusing on it being a contour drawing.

And although I've started adding detail with a line for the hair, for my actual face, it's just outline.

I've not felt the need to add all my many freckles or all my wrinkles, it's just the lines of my features.

And then you can see, I am putting in details, little details like eyelashes, but not every detail.

Maybe keep it simple as possible at this stage.

And using those little lines like we saw in Freyja Crow's work to show where the iris of the eye, the coloured part of your eye is.

And then going over my light lines to make the lines stand out.

And I'm using the technique that we saw in Freyja Crow's work, using line to create the idea that we're not drawing a flat image.

So let's remember these important points.

Spend lots of time looking before you draw.

Decide what the key features are.

Keep looking back at your reflection.

Remember, this is a practise drawing.

And keep it simple.

So pause this video while you complete the task.

You're going to draw a simple self portrait, work in your sketchbook, and use a mirror or a phone to help you, remembering to ask permission if the phone you're using is not yours.

Look carefully.

Choose an emotion that you want to show.

Remember, I chose to show that I am a smiley person.

So if you're smiley, you might want to express that in your portrait.

Draw a simple self portrait with bold lines in your sketchbook.

Remember the word contour, outline not lots of detail.

And spend about 10 minutes on this activity.

Pause the video and I'll see you soon.

Welcome back, as we said before, Freyja Crow shows her interests in her artwork, and we're going to do this.

We're going to use illustration and typography to develop this.

So here, as an example for me, of the things that I like.

I like listening to records.

I like drawing.

I like watching birds fly in the sky.

I like plants that grow.

I like patterns.

And if you can see there, I have a French bulldog called Olive, and I really like her.

So you're going to make some simple illustrations like these in your own style to show your interests.

Practise different typography styles, your name, your interests, it is up to you.

Think about colour.

Will you work in black and white like Freyja Crow, or will you add little aspects of colour like I have in my examples? So go back to your sketchbook.

You'll need to pause the video while you complete this task.

And you are practising illustration and typography.

Think about the things that are important to you and make simple illustrations to show these.

Practise different typography styles, your name, your interests, it's up to you.

Think about colour, will you work in black and white like Freyja Crow? Pause the video, I'll see you soon.

So you've worked so hard today.

We're going to bring together your learning and make a graphic portrait inspired by the work of Freyja Crow.

We're going to put together illustration, typography, and if it works for you, pattern.

Now, here's my example.

It's based on my simple self portrait.

It's based on the drawings that I've made of my interests.

I've decided to use my name as my typography feature here.

I've largely used black and white, but I've also decided to add some colour too.

So I have used some of the drawings that I had practised, and they were practise.

This is my final piece for today's lesson here.

I decided to use colour, but also to keep some areas black and white.

And I have decided to focus on my name as a typography feature.

So again, you'll need to pause the video to complete this task.

Going to make a graphic self portrait that is inspired by Freyja Crow's work.

Work on A4 paper.

Refer to your planning drawings in your sketchbook.

Look back at them.

How did you draw your portrait? What were your drawings that you made of your interests? Which typography did you practise? Make your portrait bold.

And you can do that by choosing to make it black and white or have little pops of colour.

But remember importantly, this is your portrait.

Remember, illustration is a drawing that communicates and describes.

So this is about you.

You make the decisions about what you want your artwork to be like.

Pause the video while you work, and I'll see you when you're finished.

So now it's instant gallery time.

I would love to see the artwork that you've produced in the style of Freyja Crow.

So I'm going to count to five, and then I would love you to hold up your examples so that I can see how hard you've worked today.

One, two, three, four, five.

Hang on a minute, are you already professional artists? This is amazing work! Well done.

That was fantastic.

In our next lesson, we're going to build on your learning.

You'll have the opportunity to use these amazing skills to produce some graphic design work as a graphic designer yourself.

Now, I think a really good idea between now and next lesson is if you could spend some time looking around for examples of graphic design that you might want to, if you can, cut out and stick into your sketchbook.

Remember sketchbook is an ideas collection place.

You could copy some ideas or just get thinking about things that you like, typography that you've seen, ways of making pattern, simple illustration, it's up to you.

It's really good practise between lessons to keep your drawings going.

I'll see you next time, bye.

Well done.