Process and Production Nick - Lesson 4 Stencils

Within this fourth process and production lesson with Nick, we were given the task of creating a stencil of the topic that we chose at random. I found that this lesson was one of my favourite process and production lessons that I have had with Nick because it was very interesting, fun and very productive. Before starting the project we had to choose a topic at random out of a box the topic and subject that I chose at random was a Policeman I thought that this topic was very interesting as I had lots of idea that I could do with this. The first was to create a policeman's hat, however I then thought about how I wanted the design to be quite personal to me and connect so I thought about creating the South Yorkshire Police Badge with out the text, but just the outline of the badge. However before drawing the design onto the main piece of paper that I was going to use I decided to draw the badge out on a smaller piece of paper so that I knew it would work at a larger scale.

Once I was happy with how the design looked at a smaller scale, I then moved to create the design at a larger scale, to do this I used a pencil and a ruler to make sure that the design was equal and didn't look off. Once I had drawn the design out with the pencil and ruler, I was then able to cut out the stencil to create a finalised piece, so that I would be able to paint over the stencil in order to create a design. To cut out the stencil design I used a craft knife which I found was quite difficult at first because its been a while since I have used a craft knife, however once I had started I eventually got the hang of it. i was quite pleased with how the design looked once I had started to cut out the segments in the stencil, I chose the South Yorkshire Police Badge because its from my hometown, and where I live when not at University. To make sure that I cut out the right segments on the stencil, I drew a squiggle so that this wouldn't become confusing about which parts needed to be cut out and which didn't. After I had cut out all the segments I was quite happy and very pleased of how the stencil turned out because it took me a bit longer than everyone else to cut out the design, however I wanted to make sure that it was perfect and looked right.

Once the stencil had been cut out it was then ready to be used for my design, we were given the choice of three colours of paint that we could use to create a final design piece. These were blue, Red and Yellow. I decided to go with the blue paint because I felt that this would connect well with the subject and theme of a Policeman as the sirens on a car are blue. I also chose the colour blue for the badge design because it would be bold and stand out very well. To create the final design piece I had to go to the painting station where I found another sheet of plain A3 paper to print my stencil design on to. Before printing onto the blank A3 paper I had to make sure that the alignment of the design was correct and perfect and how I wanted it. I found this part of the lesson quite interesting and fun because I was very interested to see how the design looked once I had used the stencil to create the design piece. Below are two photographs that I took to show how my design looked after I had painted onto the stencil, to create the final piece on the piece of A3 plain paper. Overall I was quite happy with how it looked, although I do feel that one of the segments at the bottom of the badge could have slightly cut better because it doesn't really match up properly, however this could be something that I could work on if I wanted to. 

After I had created the design I then had to choose a piece of text at random to showcase on the design piece that I had created. The piece of text that I chose at random was "Drown me in you sweet submission", I felt that this piece of text worked very well with my design that I had created. However I now had to think about were to write the text and present this on the design so that it looked nice and professional. I had to also think about which typographic font style I wanted to use for the design, as I wanted it to match the text and the fit within the style that I was going for. I have to admit that I am not the best at typography so I had to try and work with the font styles that I am most comfortable with, but the font styles that work. To add text to my drawing I had to use a piece of paper, pencil and a ruler for it to work, however before I started to draw out the design at a larger scale I decided to draw it small so that I was happy with it. Once I had done this I was then able to draw it out larger, I had to make sure that the type was perfect and fit the page that I was working with. I was then able to cut out the type to create the stencil that I needed to work with for the design. 

After I had finish cutting out the text stencil with a craft knife I was then able to place the text over the previous design that I had created which was the South Yorkshire Police Badge. Again I had to choose between the three paint colours to use, as I had already used Blue it was between Yellow and Red. I felt that the colour red would work the best for this design, as I wanted the text to stand out and be bold and seen easily, also cause no problems when reading the design. I then had to line up the text on the badge for it to look right, I decided to place the text straight over the top of the police badge. However once the text had been printed I felt that it could have been put in a different place that would be easier to see and read. However overall I was pleased with how the design turned out in the end. 

To improve on this design further I decided to experiment with the colours of the police badge and the text, so see how the design would look. The first thing I did was to reprint the badge by using the paint colour Yellow, so that it was very different to the last design. Once this and the stencil for the text had dried I then had to choose a colour to use for the text, as I had used the red colour before I then decided to use the blue colour because I felt that this colour would work on the design and would be bold and stand out well. After this had been printed I was very happy with how they both looked, however on the last design I decided to change the angle of the text slightly so the design ended with a stripe up the side which didn't need to be there. If I was to improve on this I would take a little more care with the design so that it would be more perfect.

Overall I found that this process and production lessons was one of my favourites, as I am looking forward to the next lesson with Nick. I think that to improve on this lesson I might create some of my own stencil designs using patterns or lyrics and objects from my favourite songs.