To start the first project, I conducted some non-specific research - focusing on my interests - to get some inspiration.
To start my research I created a Mind Map of ten things that inspire my designs and my life in general. The list is not exhaustive and serves simply to get my mind thinking about all of the potential sources of inspiration for my project. I expanded the ten main branches by adding more specific components. The mind map will provide a reliable source to refresh my ideas.
Source (https://artpattern.altervista.org/damien-hirst/) Last Accessed 28/09/2022
When thinking about the use of points, the first thing that came to mind was Damien Hirst’s use of points in a lot of his paintings which are very famous and command huge sums of money. These paintings use colour to add an extra dimension, which I will not use in my own project. I will be sticking to a monochromatic palette. However, Damien Hirst’s spot paintings provides an interesting perspective as to what can be achieved creatively.
In the illustration above, the points are the same size, so there is no use of scale or dominance. When considering proximity, it is interesting to note that some of the circles overlap in certain areas. Using a similar technique could allow me to create a range of shapes and could provide interesting results.
My research into Damien Hirst’s spot paintings led me to an artistic style known as Pointillism, where whole pieces of fine art are created by the use of thousands of coloured points to create a complete artistic work.
Source (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Paul-Signac) Last Accessed 28/09/2022
This painting by Paul Signac, one of the pioneers of pointillism shows how far the technique can be taken. You can see the points used to make up the image, but from a distance they all blend together to create a complete image.
This style of art makes use of proximity, to make the painting appear whole. There are only very small amounts of white space left between the points. While this works in fine art, as I am tasked with making a graphic design piece, I feel I will need more negative/white space to communicate my narrative.
It is fascinating to see how simple points can be used to create complex art works, and leaves me inspired to consider using my own point projects to create complete scenes which the viewer can see.
When we look up into the sky we see the stars above our heads as simple points of light. We know from science there is a lot more to the stars than this. However, from our viewpoint and without the aid of advanced telescopes, we are left gazing up at points of light of differing brightness.