After a period of around 4 weeks, I had created a set of 40 images using the layering and blending methods. These ranged from some more open and accessible compositions through to more challenging and confrontational ones. Initially, I had wanted to keep all of the compositions portrait in orientation to keep a uniform look and also one that might accentuate the design when in its final form of the book, however, some of the assets I used around early to midway into the process sat best within their composition, or indeed as base layers themselves, in landscape orientation, I decided that I would allow a handful of the landscape compositions to be made as they would also serve to break the visual flow when reading the book, as the same shape over and over (despite its content) will begin to disappear from the attention span of the reader and they might not spend as much time observing each plate as I might want them to, by interspersing the occasional landscape plate, this would force the reader to readjust their gaze and assess the new form of the composition.
(cropped, click for full view)
I had a plan for one image in particular that would use this same methodology but on a far more intense scale, there is a composition featuring both of my hands in a loose upright configuration on a black background with the detailing and other assets far more visible within the form of my hands leaving a much darker, far blacker image overall that I planned to have spread across two pages, one hand on each, and fill in the rest of the space around the frame in black to create the effect of one, large, black image that would be placed in the centre of the book, not only as a break from the layout in the first half of the book but also as this is where the book would be able to open at its widest and flattest point, allowing the image to really stretch and spread across both pages in the spread. It would be risky given the image would go into the gutter of the spread and risk losing some of the image, but with careful planning and effective design, I felt this would work rather well and create a visually engaging and dynamic element to the book.
Overall I was very pleased with the majority of the produced images, having spent a good amount of time making them and refining them I felt they really captured what I was trying to do with them yet were visually striking enough on their own to remain as standalone pieces that would generate interest and questions around their construction. I knew that I would have to reduce the number of images down for the book, lest I end up diluting my messages and overstimulating the reader into possibly not fully engaging with the work due to the scale of the book. To keep the work concise yet developed, effective yet not overbearing would be the next phase of the project. I knew the best way to do this would be to get feedback from both my tutors, and my peers in class on what they thought of the compositions and which ones were the most effective in terms of engagement, tone, intrigue, and overall feel. I felt doing this in person with my images projected to a larger scale would be the best way to do this as the fine detail of the works would be most visible and this I felt, was where the culmination of what I’m doing with these works is to be found.
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