surprisingly enough, another bird.

Sorry, no updates for a while! Been running around in the snow with Tofi here.

Budapest

Here is an image I made after collageing and arranging different building images, which I then photocopied and then worked on top of. 

Workshop

If you print out this image, cut along the dotted line, and fold it into a book, this will all make sense... 

This is the result of a workshop we had today, where we got assigned to look through another persons work, and make a narrative zine using our partners subject. I was working with Amber who has been working with the benches on the London underground. Somehow, I managed to come up with a romantic story of a bored time travelling commuter, I can't believe I can call this uni work! 

Transport

Think strangers on a train, except they are in Budapest and not in a train...

Ahoy!

Back from Budapest! Right now I'm working on some collage/drawings of buildings from word done in Budapest, so meanwhile, I thought I would share the strangest conversation of my life so far with all of you...


Stranger no.1: Your shape! Is wrong! the arm, the neck, it is all wrong! (presumably he was talking about the proportions in my drawing...)
Stranger no.2: Yes! WRONG!
Me: yes, I know.
Stranger no.1.: wrong! wrong!
(this then went on for a while)
Stranger no.1: You have an beautiful eye.
Me: ... thank you.
Stranger no.1.: But arm shape is wrong!
Stranger no.2.: Yes!
...at this point stranger no.1. accidentally hit me after furiously pointing at me sketchbook...
Stranger no.1.: No problem! No problem, ok? ok?
Stranger no.2: Yes, no problem?
Stranger no.1.: NO PROBLEM!
Me: ... That's ok.
Stranger no.1. walks off.
Stranger no.2.: No problem, yes?
Stranger no.2. then pointed out his pinkie, took my hand, and made our pinkies touch, and then screamed out AHOY!!!
plucked off one of my hairs
and walked away.



So yes, I will probably delete this post first thing tomorrow morning, but I thought I should share a small experience of my trip to Budapest, and thought, why not start with the surreal.

C.G.E. Mannerheim

Marsalkka Mannerheim Ajattelee...

Ilmari Tapiovaara

Finnish designer... more will be revealed about the brief that this is linked to on a later post! Also, no updates on paris work, having way too much fun on this brief...

For some bio on Ilmari ..:
link! (great blog as well...)
(this link is in Finnish, but has good examples of his design work)
another link...! (A good, quick to the point bio.)

Tapiovaara designed the 'domus' chair for a Finnish university, it was made out of reformed plywood and had a elegant design that embraced natural form. The use of wood also allowed for the stacking process to be very quiet.

The best kind of reasoning

The drawing trip scheduled for Monday was canceled, so I figured Paris was a good alternative. I can honestly say, I am refreshed and inspired, though a day late ( or two? hopefully not..) on my current brief. In any case, keep your eyes peeled for some results of the Paris trip... I would promise something interesting but I'd rather the disappointment was a surprise...

The lovely lady in this photograph lives at the Notre Damn.

Portrait at Shoreditch

The task of the day was to draw people and a point of contact around the shoreditch area. I thought that drawing people and focusing on their eye contact would be interesting, so thats exactly what I attempted to do. While I was drawing, I remembered an workshop exercise I did using an old family portrait, so I applied that structure of that image to the setting I was in.

It's also interesting how much you don't see about people when you aren't paying attention- I saw three people burst into tears within the period of 6 hours in the same cafe. This then led me to be interested in drawing portaits of people who didn't want to be seen.

ethereal

A 5 minute drawing of the word ethereal.

Portrait of Kim

Here's a quick portrait of my lovely friend, Kim. Drawn at a cafe in Shoreditch using her watercolors.

History of mankind

well. actually just water. At least that was the task.

I was given the topic of how water is held, and then sent off to the museum to frantically draw everything that could do so. At first I planned to go for a comical approach of things that would accidentally hold water, but I was just completely overwhelmed by the amount of jugs and vases (,as you can probably see...). At first I cringed at the idea of working with a template, but I am happy with the result, not so much because of any technical feats but because I would have never worked this way naturally.

Another bird... without eyes..

birds

For some reason, I can't stop drawing birds.

Mr and Mrs Vinegar

Here are two versions of the result of my group project- the first has some spoken words, and the second dose not, I think I really prefer the second but it dose not make half as much sense as the first. So choose wisely! Or watch both. Or neither.

1. (with new and exciting audio features)


2. (Slightly more confusing but nonetheless more interesting)


Here's the group! xoxo

Birthday Cards

This year I really want to make an effort for everyone's birtyday, starting with my friend Emily's

exciting work

Today we will be shooting our Cabaret project! So by monday you will all be able to FEAST YOUR EYES on a bizarre little movie.

Cabaret Group Project

Our first brief is to create a Cabaret performance in groups based on a given story, my group got a story called Mr. & Mrs. Vinegar. The story itself is very interesting to work with, the characters are bold, and there is some great imagery and sounds. I especially want to incorporate the character of the 'magpie', as I interpret the magpie's intervention in the story as a key moment in the story line, and more importantly, as a symbol; Other folk stories/fable's use the character of a magpie as a malicious and greedy character. Knowing this, the fact that the Magpie doesn't use Mr.Vinegar's simplicity to his own benefit, and actually gives advice to the character, albeit with a malicious tone, highlights this characteristic of Mr.Vinegar. Though this is a small part of the actual story line, I think it is key to the message and if there is one thing that I can really influence for the final outcome is how this character is communicated. Another element of the story that I find interesting is the structure, it ends the essentially the same way it begins- with Mr Vinegar gardening and Mrs Vinegar cleaning. To put it simply, the moral of this story seems to be 'just stick to what you know', which is amusing because it is so depressing.

After watching Dr.Caligari I would like the final outcome of this piece to adapt many elements used in a silent film. An essential part in telling this story is including the sounds, I feel that if we have no spoken words this would be enhanced. I also think that it would be visually very effective if we used a slide show to show spoken words, and adopted a black and white color scheme. As this story is a fable/folk story, the characters and the moral are supposed to be timeless (to an extent), and and using only black and white would communicate this. If it were completely up to me, all the characters other then the magpie would be made as life size puppets that we could act in to a soundtrack and text projected onto a wall. The character of the magpie could be a shadow pupped, much like the example I made. This would bring out a eerie mood and show his significance in the story.

So far, we have not managed to do much as a group, there seems to be a slight communication failure. However, as a group we seem to agree on stylistic ideas and once we get working I think we can create a very successful piece.

Laozi

For Caryn!

Tuonela

A few pages from my moleskin! These are pretty dark, but you should be concerned if they weren't because this swan is supposed to be the "Swan of Tuonela' from finnish mythology, which translates to "Swan of Death". The theme is not surprising considering that I drew these while paying my rent- fun times.

anyway, 'uni' has started and I am working on a very whimsical group project- we are making Cabaret performance about a couple who lives in a pickle jar. The result should be interesting in the least.

'Hope'

moving along with this summer project... 11/25


This is a 'early bird', I thought I would upload this before I ruin it by drawing/embroidering/cutting out the worm. I'm pretty happy with the way this came out, but I'm too tired to say anything else about it!

'hope'

Here's another one of my 'hope' drawing, it links to another piece which instead of sharing im going to hide under my desk because its not exactly top quality. This one im pretty happy with, I based it for the 'world' tarot card, which according to google is "a wonderful card of wholeness, perfection, satisfaction and happiness".

hope no.2.

hope no.1.

One of the five demanded 'hopes for this course' images as part of my summer project for cambercool.

This was due long ago

So here is what I did for my FMP final last... May??
I don't really want to talk about it! At the end of the project I was really frustrated (and still am) because I don't think I did the story enough justice. It's based on a story from the epic 'Kalevala', if you want to know more I kept a research blog while I was working on it which is: saaratuuliafmp.blogspot.com

And all these lovely photo's were taken by KIM SMITH, because, as I said, I wanted to run away from this piece. Though im getting to the point of being 'ok' with it now.

xoxo!

10 Interesting Images

As part of my foundation summer project, I have to blog about 10 images that I find interesting and describe why. I mostly chose images that are on some level very personal, I wanted to avoid showing examples of other illustrators and artists work. This is partially because I have a chance to do this as another part of my summer project, and because I wanted to share some of my background (this is something I usually avoid, I don't know why).


1. Tree Silhouettes



I am really inspired by nature, that's the simplest way of phrasing it. I love how there is always a sense of order and calm, how the ecosystem essentially works as one organism. In my first draft for this series of images I just had photographs of trees and nature, but I realized that was pretty redundant and so I have this image as the 'number 1' in this set. I took this photograph during my holiday, what I find most interesting about it is the structure made by the branches, making a sort of matrix.



2. Reflection



I find this image interesting for similar reasons as the one above, but I am also very interested int eh reflection. It is hard to differentiate which is more real- the reflection of the fallen tree or the actual fallen tree.


3. Bird Diagram



I love the idea of investigating the structure of something wild, and trying to further understand how it works and its unique capabilities. Also, I easily forget specific details when I draw and just add in my own, which is why I find really specific diagrams fascinating. This isn't the best diagram I could find, but my scanner is still hiding in a moving box so I can't share my favorite similar image.


4. Chinese Poster



At first I was going to post a CCCP propaganda poster, but this image caught my eye. It reminds me of the urban landscapes I saw growing up in Hong Kong and Beijing.

We should do more and engage less in empty talk - Deng Xiaoping

My original plan for university was to go and study history, I guess because of this i am interested in propaganda posters and their influence. Though this isn't the most traditional propaganda poster it seems to resonate both same concept of industrialization, and shows the stylistic influence of the more traditional posters of its sort.


5. Ruins in Melaka



As I just wrote, I love finding structure in wild/messy/etc images or places. I have always been really interested in old ruins and abandoned houses, as a kid I used to break into abandoned houses with my friends, looking back that was probably not a good idea. But a lot fun.

In any case, the middle building in this picture is an abandoned Chinese house in Melaka, Malaysia. The layers of paint are really interesting, in a way showing a different layer of the houses history with each peeling layer. You can't really see that in this picture very well, but I'm sure you can imagine it.


6. Messy Studio.



This is a image of Francis Bacon's studio. I am interested in this image because I can definitely relate, though not on such a scale. I hope. I think being surrounded by masses of different paints and papers can be inspiring, at least you can see the influence of this in Francis Bacon's work.


7. Old prints



As a kid I was a chronic bookworm, and am now really interested in the type, image and materials which are used in bookbinding. In this image I love how the text can be seen through the page.


8. Map



I am really interested in maps, this probably comes from moving around alot; I am fascinate by how different locations are defined. I think it is especially interesting to compare old maps to modern ones, and from this interpret a changed understanding different regions and generally the make up of the world.


9. Lights



This is an image probably commissioned by a 17th century bohemian who believed that the different angles that the sun and moon hit you shaped your personality. As I mentioned before, I love diagrams of things that shouldn't make sense. I find this image interesting because it's someones attempt of making a bizarre idea seem logical.


10. Coffee



I guess one interpretation of this is that I really love/need my morning coffee. But I also am really interested in the way the two substances mix together, coffee in itself is a comfort for me.

Sonne Genug!

I have no idea what that means, that's just part of text behind the swan. This is just something I drew to relax (...procrastinate.) I'm really happy with how the colors turned out on the swan though! Ah please forgive me, my eyes are literally struggling to stay open as I write this. So I guess I better stop.

Goodnight!

PS I promise to think a bit more about what I write next time...

AGE

AGE: 19



This is also part of my summer project- I have to create A5 image communicating my age.

When I was born my uncle planted a tree outside my grandparents house. To most accurately determine the age of a tree you read the marks left by different seasons. I find I mark my mental age by thinking about the changes I go through different periods in my life (...seasons). There are 19 rings in the trunk of a tree, which is my age.

Also, I love trees!

POSITION IN FAMILY

My second summer project drawing is about my position in Family. I'm the suitcase. And my dog is the most important member of the family.

Note: My father dosn't actually have such a small head.


Also, the reason I haven't posted in a while is that im working on a top secret super commission project, that you may see in a few months time... or, may not.

NAME

CHARGE WITH A FUNCTION;
Charge to be;

For the summer project we have create a series of A5 images about ourselves, showing our 'name, age, nationality, place of birth etc.'. I started off with "NAME', and started thinking about the effect our name has on our personality and actions. Would I be any different if I was named Gertrude? Are there any specific traits that other people named 'Saara' have? This is what I was thinking about when I was drawing this image.

While I was drawing, I came to the conclusion that my name had made no difference to me, it's importance I guess is more to the people who associate me with the name Saara, though in reality there is nothing about me that is determined by my name. My solution to this was empty speech bubbles.

I'm guessing this dosn't make much sense, please don't hate me! I was literally falling asleep when I did this.

Geometric solar system

So it goes like this...

Berries

There's a berry tree outside the Window of our flat, but I can't really see it well so I just sort of guess what the berries would look like closely. ALSO, i bought the first moleskin of my life yesterday, I think I'm going to be a bit obsessed.

Lost in the City

I've had a great week sitting around in an empty flat with my sister. The only 'stuff' here so far is a few futons and an American flag. We eat pizza and surf the net. its amazing!