Developed Imagery

Following the idea of creating imagery that could be used in an anti-hunting campaign, I created some ink and brush drawings. The protection of nature is what I ultimately want to promote so I thought it would be good to have some imagery of animals in their natural habitat - hence why I added a silhouette of a lion running. I want to include stand alone imagery as well as information in the pack - for now I am focusing on imagery and I will soon combine texts and relevant facts.

WWF Poster Campaigns - Inspiration

https://uk.pinterest.com/sw255328/animal-hunting/

Browsing through my Pinterest account, I found some campaign posters for WWF. I thought these ones in particular were very powerful, especially the ones with the animals turning to dust. They immediately made me feel very sad about the idea of having a future without elephants or leopards. It is a clever thing to pinpoint because it makes you think about your future family and what will exist in their lives. We need to protect that.

Mono-Printing

 

I have been wanting to go down to the print room for a while now and luckily today it was fairly empty so I went in for the afternoon. After I remembered the process of how to mono print I enjoyed it, especially creating texture and using a mixture of stencil and scratching onto the plate. I didn't like some of my outcomes but I will probably use a lot of these prints as backgrounds or collage for information sheets. My favourites were the top left prints, it was purely experimental but I tore up some leaf patterns and dipped them in red ink to create a texture effect. I wish I had discovered that technique near the beginning of when I started printing but I will keep it in mind for next time.

Animals Sketches

Focusing for now on the things that provoked the biggest reaction to me, Cecil the lion is a case I remember clearly and exposed a lot of what hunting in Africa was about. I wanted to reflect some of this in my work, I think a lion is such a majestic animal so when they are threatened people care a lot more than if a buffalo or an animal lower down in the food chain is killed.

Research - Facts and Figures

Starting to look at the actual figures of how much money is made through trophy hunting and how many animals a year are killed for it has informed me on why it is done, and what income this provides for many people. I think I want to incorporate this information into the imagery I produce, maybe by adding price tags to the animals. I found it quite disturbing that the highest income generator was the lion, although they charge a higher amount for the killing of a lion it means that they are still frequently hunted.

Anti Hunting Protest Article - The Africa Show

http://news.nationalpost.com/toronto/african-trophy-hunting-show-near-toronto-draws-anger-of-animal-activists-vowing-to-protest

TORONTO — An African trophy hunting show that is expected to bring hundreds of hunters from across the globe to a venue north of Toronto this weekend has raised the ire of animal rights activists.

African Events Canada, the organizer of The Africa Show, says the two-day event in Vaughan, Ont., offers Canadians an opportunity to book trips to Africa where they can hunt animals such as lions, leopards, elephants and hippopotamuses.

Activist group Animal Justice says trophy hunting is a cruel and outdated practice that should be stopped in favour of environmentally friendly activities like eco-tourism.

If they’re serious about wanting to protect animals they should start by not killing them.

The group has launched an online petition against the event and is vowing to protest outside the venue if organizers go ahead with the show.

The owner of African Events Canada says the Animal Justice threats forced a hotel — where the show was originally scheduled to take place — to cancel the booking.

Birgit Johnstone says animal rights activists don’t understand that trophy hunting has economical and ecological benefits for the local population in Africa.

“Trophy hunting brings in more money than plain meat hunting because you have the trophy hunter who pays for his trophy, pays for accommodation, pays for his flights, pays staff tips, pays for other excursions in the country and taxidermy work and that’s just him,” Johnstone said.

Without trophy hunting, she said, the locals would turn to poaching to earn a living.

Animal Justice spokeswoman Anna Pippus called those claims “outrageous.”

“It’s hard to know where to start. If they’re serious about wanting to protect animals they should start by not killing them,” she said.

African Events Canada had to find a new venue for a second show set for Saskatoon on Jan. 23-24 after a similar petition by Animal Justice led to the cancellation of the event by the Saskatoon Inn, Johnston said. A third show is scheduled to take place in Calgary on Jan. 30-31.

Johnstone said she’ll welcome the protesters outside the venue in Vaughan this Saturday.

“If there are any of them that are level-headed enough to come in and have a look and actually be open minded enough to listen to some of these people then I would invite them in,” she said.

“If they’re going to be crazy fanatical, then I won’t invite them in.”

Trophy hunting has come under the magnifying glass after a worldwide uproar over the death last summer of Cecil the lion, a famous animal in Zimbabwe that was killed by an American after it was lured out of a national park.

Print

I was very happy when I went down to the reprographics print room to test out a few of my ideas as a physical copy - due to changing the colours on screen. The use of the orange with the simple black and white designs was effective even when printed and the colour were really vibrant. I think my aim at this point is to create a series of images that still compliment each other even when using different processes.

Pro Hunting Article - Conservation

Trophy Hunting Can Help African Conservation, Study Says

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/03/070315-hunting-africa.html

John Pickrell for National Geographic News March 15, 2007 Trophy hunting can play an essential role in the conservation of African wildlife, according to a growing number of biologists. Now some experts are calling for a program to regulate Africa's sport-hunting industry to ensure its conservation benefits. Private hunting operations in these countries control more than 540,000 square miles (1.4 million square kilometres) of land, the study also found. That's 22 percent more land than is protected by national parks.According to a recent study, in the 23 African countries that allow sport hunting, 18,500 tourists pay over $200 million (U.S.) a year to hunt lions, leopards, elephants, warthogs,water buffalo, impala, and rhinos. As demand for land increases with swelling human populations, some conservationists are arguing that they can garner more effective results by working with hunters and taking a hand in regulating the industry. Sport hunting can be sustainable if carefully managed, said Peter Lindsey, a conservation biologist with the University of Zimbabwe in Harare, who led the recent study. "Trophy hunting is of key importance to conservation in Africa by creating [financial] incentives to promote and retain wildlife as a land use over vast areas," he said. In an upcoming edition of the journal Conservation Biology Lindsey and an international team of colleagues call for a plan to increase the conservation benefits of sport hunting, including a certification program to more tightly regulate the industry. "To justify the continued existence of [protected] areas in the context of increasing demand for land, wildlife has to pay for itself and contribute to the economy, and hunting provides an important means of achieving this," Lindsey said. Hunting's Checkered Past In order to be certified under Lindsey's proposed plan, hunting operations would have to prove their commitment to animal welfare, careful management of hunting quotas, wide-ranging conservation objectives, and the development of local communities. "The time has come for greater scrutiny from scientists to promote maximum conservation benefits from hunting," Lindsey said. "There should also be a greater effort from the hunting industry to self-regulate and ensure that unscrupulous elements are weeded out." Trophy hunting has a bad reputation in the developed world, due in part to indiscriminate hunting by early European settlers, Lindsey observed. But hunting has also been credited with facilitating the recovery of species, Lindsey's team argues in its paper.Reckless hunting resulted in the extinction of species such as the quagga (a cousin of the zebra) and led to the massive decline of others, including the elephant and black rhinoceros. The southern white rhinoceros grew from just 50 animals a century ago to over 11,000 wild individuals today, because hunts gave game ranchers a financial incentive to reintroduce the animal, the authors write. Trophy hunting has also driven the reintroduction of cape mountain zebra and black wildebeest in South Africa, Lindsey said. Hunters typically take just 2 to 5 percent of males annually from hunted animal populations, he added, which has a negligible effect on the populations' reproductive health.

Making Posters/Pages

I created a logo design for the campaign I wanted to make work for. I think this would be a good idea to include everything I have learned about hunting on a global scale, backing up opinions with facts and figures I have found during research. I thought about making one for each side of the argument, but I just know that I would not enjoy making a pro hunting pack as it is not something that I really believe in. I have no problem researching and trying to understand someone else's way of thinking but I don't want to act like I condone the views with my own work. PRO NATURE YEAH

I had a play around with some of the imagery in my sketchbook and created a few variations of a similar idea I may incorporate within my resolved imagery. I think the simple colours really work and stand out so I hope the same effect comes across when printed.

After looking at clever puns within some the protest posters I found, I knew I wanted to create my own. So I came up with the slogan 'Protect Nature' which I can then shorten to 'Pro Nature' which is more of a campaign title.

Inky Animals

I have started to paint some animals to use within my campaign pack idea, using paint brush and ink I was able to replicate the certain faces over a series of different animals. I think a stylised approach works for a campaign in favour of the protection of nature.

At this point I think it may be useful to combine this imagery with text to create promo material for a campaign. Leading on from this I may end up making an entire promotional pack in favour of a hunting ban - focusing mainly on the problems with poaching in Africa.

I think the most shocking factors are those to do with the animals highest in the food chain, and how this affects the balance of nature for the rest of the animals. As long as you have the money it is possible to shoot any animal in African wildlife, it is purely based on cost and the expense of doing so. Elephants, lions, leopards, etc are all available to buy as a trophy.

As I am aware of the hysteria that certain cases like Cecil the lion have caused, I would like to maybe look into why that is. Why, as meat eaters, is there something so wrong about someone killing an animal for sport? Cecil was such an awful case as he was an inhabitant of a national park, which should serve as a home and protection for all animals within it.

I remember after that a lot of images came to the surface, especially on social media, of trophy photographs which is where a picture is taken of a hunter with the animal moments after it is killed. Almost boasting and a way to show off the whole animal to others, before it is beheaded for the trophy wall.

Although I have my own views on the subject matter, as it is obviously something that disturbs me, I realise that for other people it is a way of life that they have been brought up in. For instance, many of the hunters have hunting families so have never known any different - just as I have never killed an animal, I still eat meat.

I want to look into the other side of what hunting means to someone who has been doing it their whole life.

Cover

Today I made a cover for the information pack. I think including a sleeve will mean that I can easily contain loose items I may want to include - such as a pull out poster, bookmarks or stickers. I am happy with the way this is shaping up so far and I think the aesthetic is appropriate for the subject matter. Using textures and paper has been helpful to create a pattern I am happy with. I also think the use of the orange on the PRO has worked well and for other things I make I will use the slogan 'Pro Nature'.

Campaign Leaflets Idea

I had the idea to create my own campaign against hunting which incorporate my own personal views on the subject - but backing this up using facts and general information I have gathered over the course of this module. I think this could be an effective way of compiling all I have learned and found interesting into imagery and illustration - whilst informing the people who read it.

My aim is to include stickers and extra little bits and bobs you might find in an information pack. I want this to ultimately promote the protection of wildlife and why this is important.

Evaluation of British Prints from the Machine Age, Rhythms of Modern Life - Summary

British Prints from the Machine Age

Rhythms of Modern Life

1914 - 1939

Edited by Clifford S. Ackley

Key Points

• A traditional handmade approach to print can be very successful in engaging with an audience (expressive). Informs people of the reality of war.
• Putting a sense of an ideal for society in art can spark discussions and make people begin to think about the world we live in and how this affects the masses. Universally acknowledged, especially in warfare.
• Reflection of a certain time/event in history.
• Nash's prints gave people a unique insight into the battlefield of World War I.
• Notion of sharing ideas - War propaganda.

Key Quotes

• 'This catalogue traces these artists' responses to radical modernism... C.R.W Nevinson's adaptation of futurism to the illustration of the bleakness of the first mechanized war... Grosvenor school lino cut ''pop'' futurism with its colorful renditions of modern urban life'. (Comparative)
• 'tells a story of how the 1910-14 invasion of continental modernist styles produced the British avant-garde reaction of vorticism and, later, the absorption and recycling of modernism... aimed at a broader audience... works representing a between-the-wars... traditional representation and the spirit of new'.
• Roger Fry's Shows 'introduced the British art world to continental modernism... cubism, German expressionism, Cezanne, Picasso, Matisse, Kandinsky, and Brancusi... excitement and cultural debate... revelatory exhibitions'.
• Printmakers on the battlefield of World War I Nevinson 'when exposed first-hand to the brutality of the first mechanized war he acknowledged in his images its grim reality... identity as original prints... by the artist's aggressive attack on the printing surface... scratching directly into the copper of the printing plate... scraping out lighter lines... lithographs'.
• 'Nevinson's modified application of futurist an cubist design principles to the illustration of a new, less heroic kind of mechanized war was surprisingly successful with a public that grasped the relevance of a modern style to modern war'.
• 'Nevinson and Paul Nash served as government-sponsored official war artists. Nash's art was transformed by his battlefield experience... startling war lithographs... present us with a haunted terrain never before seen... new technological violence'.
• Nevinson, Nash 'represent a unique and vibrant moment in British modernism... 1914 to 1939... personal transformations of futurism and cubism captured the thrusting, vertiginous, or syncopated rhythms of the modern world... desolate no-man's-land of the Great War'. 

Summary

'British Prints from the Machine Age, Rhythms of Modern Life', edited by Clifford S. Ackley, explores the ways in which print can highlight certain experiences to provoke a reaction from an audience in society, relating to warfare in particular.

Firstly, Ackley points out that a traditional, handmade and expressive approach to print can be very successful in engaging with an audience. The way in which 'these artists' responses to radical modernism' are recorded can be informative to a viewer. For example C.R.W Nevinson illustrates 'the bleakness of the first mechanized war' in his prints. 'When exposed first-hand to the brutality', you can see from his 'aggressive attack on the printing surface' that a genuine human reaction was provoked by what he saw. The 'grim reality' of war was reflected into Nevinson's images by the way he scratched 'directly into the copper of the printing plate' and scraped out lighter lines in his lithographs. Ackley described this as a 'modified application' which embraced 'futurist and cubist design principles' and was very well accepted. It was 'surprisingly successful with a public that grasped the relevance of a modern style' in relation to promoting a 'less heroic' way to represent war in art.

Both Nevinson and Paul Nash were sponsored by the government to become official war artists. Similarly to Nevinson, Nash's art was transformed by what he experienced on the battlefield. He presented people with 'startling war lithographs' that demonstrated a 'haunted terrain' and 'new technological violence' that had not been seen before by the public. There was an honesty about the way the prints depicted the harshness of war and abolished the glamorisation of what consequentially became a brutal event in history. Ackley suggests that from 1914 to 1939 Nevinson and Nash represented 'a unique and vibrant moment in British modernism'. Their 'personal transformations of futurism and cubism' meant that they were able to notify a greater audience of the 'thrusting, vertiginous, or syncopated rhythms of the modern world' in comparison to the 'desolate no-man's-land of the Great War' effectively.

Using print to share and express a personal sense of concern for a society can spark discussions. It can make people begin to think about the world we live in, the problems we face and how this affects humanity on a mass scale. The notion of this is universally acknowledged, especially when it comes to the topic of warfare.

The Designer as Author Summary

Rock, M. (1996) 'The Designer as Author', Eye, no. 20 vol. 5 1996

Key Points

• Authorship and what creates it is a difficult notion to pinpoint. It is ambiguous and subjective.
• The way in which authorship is viewed has changed with historical events and the hierarchy of society.
• Artists' books often lack authorship due the the graphic, naive way in which imagery is presented. Especially in regards to typography and composition.
• Does it matter who designed it? It is more important to focus on the content of an image.
• To have graphic authorship is progressive and important for the development of new ways of approaching design.

Key Quotes

• 'the question of how designers become authors is a difficult one...exactly who qualifies and what authored design might look like'
• Paris 1968 'The year students joined workers on the barricades in a general strike and the western world flirted with real social revolution...The call for the overthrow of authority in the form of the author in favour of the reader - i.e. the masses'. 
• 'purest form of graphic authorship...many most skilled designers have avoided it...sub-standard graphic quality...the low technical quality and the absence of a practical application'.
• 'what difference does it make who designed it?...longing for graphic authorship may be the longing for legitimacy or power' (making others inferior?)
• 'the development and definition of artistic style, and their identification and classification, are at the heart of an outmoded Modernist criticism...elaborate our historical frame'.

Summary

'The Designer as Author' article in Eye Magazine (1996) discusses authorship, the different ways in which it can interpreted, and whether it is relevant at all in regards to design.

Firstly, Michael Rock explores the idea of authorship being a difficult notion to pinpoint. The question of 'how designers become authors is a difficult one', often it is a subjective idea based on an audience's opinion and 'exactly who qualifies and what authored design might look like' is ambiguous.
These ideas on how authorship is viewed as a whole have changed with the times, factors include; historical events, circumstance and the social hierarchy. In Paris 1968, this was evident when 'students joined workers on the barricades in a general strike', this type of social revolution spread throughout the western world and 'the call for the overthrow of authority in the form of the author in favour of the reader - i.e. the masses' changed the way in which people viewed authorship in society.

Rock describes artist's book in particular as having the 'purest form of graphic authorship' however 'many skilled designers have avoided it' with the use of a 'sub-standard graphic quality' in their work. This lack of authorship is due to the 'low technical quality and the absence of a practical application'. Technologically speaking, the use of computers and mechanical medium and processes rather than a more traditional method tend to achieve certain outcomes. These can be very similar to each other visually, therefore confusing an aesthetic author. However, some would argue whether the notion of claiming authorship matters at all when it comes to a great piece of design, 'what difference does it make who designed it?'. Rock examines that the 'longing for graphic authorship may be the longing for legitimacy or power' which suggests that in this case the reason to design may be for praise and a feeling of superiority over others, taking away from what actually makes a piece of design work.

On the other hand, to gain graphic authorship is to 'elaborate our historical frame'. Therefore can be seen as progressive and a contribution to the improvement of progressing design in the future. Rock describes authorship as 'the development and definition of artistic style' which is 'at the heart of an outmoded Modernist criticism'. Looking around the creative industries today, it is evident that authorship is an important part of design and how we as an audience relate to it. However, there remains dispute as to whether this should be the case. Is the knowledge of a designer relevant to the way we view a piece of art?