CoP3: Christmas

Christmas is always a difficult time as when I return home I have to work around other people's households, which can be quite difficult. I haven't been able to work on my dissertation which has thrown my planning further into disarray, this is due to host's incredibly noisy house. I can barely hear myself think, let alone string a argumentative sentence together.

However I hate not being working, so have at least pushed forward with my visual investigation in my sketchbook. I began by drawing the Tory characters out in exaggerated forms, more akin to cartoons. However I thought this was too far and was not the aesthetic I was aiming for. So I returned the characters to their more realistic versions and focused on their facial features more. Cameron, already a pig, George Osborne became more lizard like, Rupert Murdoch older and more skeleton like, and Nicky Morgan more idiotic.



I then spent time refining some of my earlier Tory Chums panels whilst also experimenting with my new inking nibs. I found that as I got used to the nibs the line quality of my pieces worked better. I intend to use my inking nibs for my final piece.



To help me in my visual investigation, I further researched the work of Steve Bell and Martin Rowson for inspiration;

CoP3: Giles Collection

As an unexpected Christmas present, my partner's mother brought me the Giles 2016 Collection. Carl Giles (1916-1995) was a cartoonist best known for his work in The Daily Express.



Whilst being amused by the cartoons inside, I found the book to be quite informative in terms of layout. For some time I've thinking about how to make my work more accessible to those with a limited knowledge of politics. This book gave me the idea to insert a section of text before each comic strip to give it context. Furthermore, I've decided to include the date the piece was made as this book has done with Giles work.



This was an unexpected gift but had aided me greatly in research. Here are some more of Giles pieces;

CoP3: Internet Troll

I've now had the pleasure of interacting with my first internet troll. This person, on my Zoom Illustration Facebook page, was offended with how I portrayed David Cameron with a pig's head in my latest comic strip 'Cameron's Credibility'. He informed me he took issue with the general level of humour in my Tory Chums strips specifically the one mentioned already.

I feel that this strip really struck a chord with him, and with the feedback from my last crit session yesterday, believe drawing David Cameron with a pigs head is the best way to portray him from this point forward.

Here is a more refined version of Cameron with a pig's head:

CoP3: Pre Christmas Crit

Today I took part in the final crit session before Christmas; this was an important session as I wouldn't be seeing my peers as often over the next month.

Prior to the session I mocked up an idea of how I want my David Cameron portrait to look in Photoshop;

Again my Tory Chums was well received, but the piece hasn't really changed since the last crit due to my dissertation work. The portrait idea was also commended, largely due to the inclusion of David Cameron having a pigs head. After a investing his appearance I feel that this inclusion both makes him hilarious and unique to the character I need him to be in Tory Chums.

I've set myself a few goals for over Christmas;
- Refine the comic strips I've already created into final pieces. Remember to explore with different tools.
- Develop Portraits
- Correct minor blog related issues
- Create detailed boards for final crit
- Research and investigate the best way to present my zine

Here is my Practical Response Form and Feedback Sheets;

CoP3: Syria

MPs have voted to unfortunately bomb Syria in the hopes of ending ISIS' centre. I disagree with the bombing and felt like I needed to respond to this. Here is the process;




I experimented with textures, a process I haven't used enough in this module due to the aesthetic of the comic strips I've been creating. So it was nice to use them in this piece which is rather unconnected to the rest of my work.

Here is the final piece;

CoP3: David Cameron's Credibility

In the past week David Cameron has argued for the UK's involvement in the Syrian civil war. However despite his best efforts, he lacks a lot of credibility with many holes within his statements. To reflect this I drew a new Tory Chums comic in which he falls into madness and devises a new way to gain credibility. The strip was heavily inspired by Batman: Year One by Dc Comics and artist David Mazzuchelli.

David Cameron in 'Hameron: Year One'

CoP3: Visual Investigation

Over the past few weeks I've been visually investigating David Cameron's face. He is key figurehead of the Establishment and one in which people will recognise the most. During the crit a few weeks ago I proposed a series of portraits that would show the main members of the Conservative Party in over exaggerated terms.

With this in mind I investigated the best way to encapsulate and mock their likenesses, specifically Cameron. Using collage, pencils, inks and digital drawing I examined his likeness and merged it with a pigs head to point out the recent Piggate incident.

I found the collage pieces to be very effect and I enjoyed making them, however they were time consuming to make (even digitally), and considering how my dissertation has been taking up so much time, may not be the most logical process to use.

CoP3: Dissertation First Draft Submission

The first draft of my dissertation has been handed in using the Turn It In submission method on eStudio. I have a few thoughts on my first draft;

Firstly. There is still much to be done with the writing, I'm very aware that it is not at the quality of writing that I am aiming for. I also feel that quotations in the piece needs to be reviewed. The beginning is too heavy is quotes, whilst the latter half is quite light - this needs to be balanced out with them also being triangulated arguments, to hammer home my points.

The bibliography needs to be organised into alphabetical order as whilst writing I was noting down the sources as I went, rather than the order they should be.

Finally, the conclusion and introduction need to be fleshed out, however I wanted to wait until the final CoP lecture about concluding dissertations before I did so myself. The reason being that I'll undoubtably find some important tips with the lecture.

My next steps;
Reviewing, reorganising and completing.

Here is my first draft, should it need to be viewed:

CoP3: Tutorial 4

I left today's tutorial with Pete feeling relieved and excited with my work so far - I finally feel as though I've broken through the introductory problem with my dissertation.

I've been hovering around the 1,000-2,000 word mark for some time, which has frustratingly left me behind schedule, however this seems to have been resolved now. The trouble came about as mentioned, due to my introduction - I just couldn't decide on a good angle to start with, which resulted in me going in metaphorical circles of writing. However, after taking Pete's advice and looking more in-depth at the socio-political theory of Marxism, I discovered that it was created as a response to the establishment of the time - the Bourgeois. This added both social and historical context to my writing.

With the initial part of my dissertation now up to a satisfactory standard, I can move forward with the advice Pete has given me. I am not too concerned with the turn it in deadline fast approaching as due to my extensive research and now informed knowledge on the subject I feel that I will reach the word quota in an adequate amount of time.

CoP3: Good Job Jeremy

In recent weeks there has been ongoing issues concerning the NHS, Junior Doctors and Jeremy Hunts harmful changes to their practice. My response to this is entitled 'Well Done, Jeremy':






















Here is a Guardian article discussing the ongoing issues:
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/nov/22/patients-could-die-junior-doctors-strike-jeremy-hunt

I have experimented with David Cameron's face in this piece, however I feel it didn't work out too well. What I have learnt is that the key to Cameron's appearance is definitely in his nose. I just need to figure out how to present it.

CoP3: Thought Bubble Feedback

With Thought Bubble over I am very happy to say that my Tory Chums zine was very well received by the public. I took 10 copies on the Saturday and had to make more on the evening as they sold out. Complete strangers genuinely laughing at my work and enjoying the strips is exactly the positive feedback I wanted.

CoP3: BBC News 25

I came across this video today. This is is exactly the sort of live action satire that I feel is missing from today's television. Maybe the internet is the best platform for such comedy now, away from restrictions of political neutrality.

CoP3: Tutorial 3

My tutorial today went as expected. I received formative feedback which indicated where I feel my work is at the moment -being satisfactory leaning towards good. The form I received is correct in its marking, I feel that if I look at my work honestly and critically the form can't be argued against. Whilst having a good knowledge of my subject my work isn't very strong at the moment. I need to spend some time researching the theoretical side of my argument which hopefully will help inform my dissertation and help me with my introduction.

Here is the formative feedback sheet I received:

CoP3: Crit Session

I presented my work thus far to my peers. I filled in a Practical Response Feedback form before hand and there are a few points to talk about before going further. Firstly, I've decided that providing it can be arranged in time, I'd like to bind my final piece in hardback form. This will give it a more professional and quality feel. Secondly, I have proposed a series of portraits which will be based on the characters I'm working with. Whether these portraits come to light depend on how well my theoretical work moves forward.

Now onto the feedback. The zine was very well received, and I am hopeful that the same will be said at Thought Bubble in a few weeks time. The work within the zine shows evidence of development but not as extensively as I'd like. I need to actively spend some time developing my characters, playing with a few different medias tools etc in my sketchbook. However my peers informed me that the synthesis between my theoretical and practical work appears to still be strong.

The portraits, my peers informed me, whilst a good idea, aren't as strong as my zine, so I should definitely keep that as proposed outcome and focus on my comic strips.

Here is my Practical Response Form and the Crit Feedback sheets:

CoP3: Zine Printing

After giving it some thought, I decided to rework my zine to make it more friendly to people who might have a vague knowledge of politics but not really understand who certain people are. So I decided to have a character introduction section at the beginning of my zine. This was done with the hopes of expanding the following that would read my work as, I feel, the audience is potentially quite limited. The digital version of these pages can be seen below:

Due to the layout of the pages, I faced a problem with the printing order so had to print out a copy, separate the individual pages and stick them together to understand how the book should be laid out in InDesign (see Print Version 2). I then gave some thought to the colour stock I was using. With the book being printed in black and white, for costing reasons, I decided to add some colour by way of the cover. This print came out terribly due to the over use of ink (see Print Version 3). To remedy this I removed all texture from the page and made the title text black. The next print (see Print Version 4) came out exactly as I had desired.

The different prints can be seen below:


Whilst the process of figuring out the best print method was frustrating, I feel that I finally have a product work showing to people. I'm going to take a number of the final prints to Thought Bubble in a few weeks to gauge reaction from the general public.

CoP3: Halloween

Recently Steve Bell has been creating a series of cartoons based around the whole idea of Jeremy Corbyn as Obi Wan Kenobi like figure seen here:




I'd been thinking of creating a Tory Chums comic strip to coincide with the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens in December however Bell's work inspired me and I thought Halloween could be a good way of using my idea with a few tweaks. It plays on several themes, such as the media beginning to vilify Conservative views towards welfare and the idea that Rupert Murdoch is really the Emperor of the Establishment.

Critically, I feel that my line work has improved with my understanding of line weighting becoming more apparent. I have also begun to add texture to the pieces, however there is much more room for improvement from that standpoint.

Additionally - I felt it quite difficult making David Cameron recognisable by his face. If I move forward with my visual investigation into his appearance hopefully this won't be as big an issue when I create my final practical piece.

CoP3: Sugar Tax

Jamie Oliver recently entered the house of commons to discuss with David Cameron the idea of a sugar tax on drinks such as Cola and what not. Oliver suggested this would help curve the high obesity levels in Britain with the taxation money being used for medical help. Cameron has since come under pressure to introduce such a tax.

I have produced an editorial illustration in response to this:

I thought that by offsetting the colours the image would become more interesting and atheistically pleasing, however feedback from my peers suggested otherwise so I reverted the piece to it's original state. Here is the offset piece:

The articles I read can be found here and here.

CoP3: Tutorial 1

My tutorial with Pete today was very informative and helpful. I've found that the writing of my dissertation has slowed dramatically and I'm in somewhat of a quagmire. To rectify this Pete suggested I plan out a layout of the narrative I want my dissertation to follow. This can be read below.




Additionally we discussed how the term The Establishment keeps popping up in my research. We decided that The Establishment could potentially be a great centre piece to my dissertation and perhaps I should starting working my writing around that. With this in mind some thought was given to the title of my work, the strongest being 'How Has The Establishment Helped Secure A Majority Conservative Government?'

Finally here is my feedback form with recorded ideas and suggestions:

CoP3: Steve Bell on Cameron's Legacy

Here is a video from the Guardian website in which Steve Bell discusses the process for one of his cartoons. It's interesting to see Bell visually researching Cameron's appearance, posture etc before ridiculing it with a topical idea. I feel that there is the need for me to visually investigate Cameron's appearance to make my version of him unique, as Bell and Martin Rowson have done, however my time is currently invested in the first draft of my dissertation.

CoP 3: Presentation

Here is the small presentation I'll be giving tomorrow to a small group of my peers tomorrow about my work:



Below is the script from which I'll be reading:

CoP3: Review of Work Thus Far

Here is a brief critical review of my work so far:

I have decided to tackle the rise of the Conservative government in my dissertation thus far. I have been using various news sites with differing political stances to gather my research. However, whilst I'm finding it easy to find articles vilifying Labour's policies, I'm finding it hard to find articles that actively support Conservative policies. This may be down to the idea that the media is targeted at the working class, yet support the Tories, two very different ideologies. This as a result is making my research very one sided.

Whilst gathering this research I have also been responding to topical news stories about the Conservatives by creating satirical comic strips about the 'Tory Chums'. These pieces, given more time investment and visual investigation, could work as a final piece to accompany my dissertation.

I have set myself a few tasks:
- Decide what should my dissertation title should be.
- Ask people if they know of any political authors that can solve my research problem.
- Ask as to whether I need to discuss the arts in my dissertation in some way.
- Discuss with my peers the possibility of the 'Tory Chums' strips working as a final practical piece.

CoP3: Tory Chums Zine Response

As a collected course, Levels 4 to 6, we today presented the work we had created over the summer. My zines were received well, particularly my Tory Chums collection, people informed me that there was a strong synthesis with my theoretical research. The Tory Chums idea is definitely something I want to push forward with after such positive feedback. However I feel that the strips will need a deeper visual investigation before they are worthy of being final pieces.

Here is my feedback sheet:

CoP 3: Tory Chums Zine

This morning I collected my recent comic strips into a zine to present to my peers at college next week. The front cover was a collaborative effort with Becky Firth who kindly produced the 'Tory Chums' text. The text I feel will suggests a sense of fun, rather than a boring collection political stories. The text is reminiscent of the Spitting Image logo in purpose, see below.



I faced a problem with the layout of the zine. The strips aren't in the same order in which they were produced as I needed to place the longer narrative strips across two pages. I felt if the reader had to turn the page to finish a strip, it could diminish it somewhat so place them on pages facing each other.

I printed the zine off in black and white for cost reasoning. If I had the finances to I would love to present my zine in colour for my peers to read. (See Print Version 1)

CoP 3: One More Time...

With the news of Cameron's alleged past activities surfacing yesterday, this piece almost managed to slip under the radar - the Conservative government is planning to cut free school meals for infant children. The scheme brought in last year under the coalition government is to make sure children are ensured at least one meal per day.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/free-school-meals-for-infants-set-to-be-scrapped-under-osbornes-spending-review-10509664.html

Meanwhile the Conservatives are using the police to deliver champagne to the location of their conference in Manchester. These articles in comparison effectively sum up the Conservative government in my opinion…

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3243600/Never-mind-piggate-Tories-clearly-plenty-celebrate-crates-champagne-arrive-ahead-annual-party-conference-police-help-deliver-it.html

In response to this I made a comic strip in which David Cameron and George Osborne coach Educational Secretary Nicky Morgan in how to respond to the news of the school cuts. This plays on the idea the Nicky Morgan is an idiot who was brought in after Michael Gove’s failure as Educational Secretary. It also touches upon her underlying dislike of the gay community (which has been denied frequently), evidenced below:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/nicky-morgan-branded-a-hypocrite-after-backing-irish-gay-marriage-referendum-having-voted-against-it-in-england-and-wales-10272919.html

Here is the strip 'One More Time':

CoP 3: Piggate

The internet exploded today with the news that David Cameron had allegedly put a private part of himself inside a dead pigs mouth as an initiation of some sort a university. Now whilst these are only allegations, I couldn’t help by make a quick response to it this morning.

What interested me about the story was how long it took for the media to report on it, with social media being the more immediate source of news. Perhaps the media wanted to ensure it was an actual story before reporting. But, I feel the more logical option is that the media wanted to underplay it as is usually does with Conservative wrong doing.

http://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/606695/David-Cameron-dead-pig-private-part-Oxford-University-student-Prime-Minister

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/sep/21/conservative-sources-deny-david-cameron-pigs-head-allegations

Additional. Whilst trying to be vulgar within the image, I am quite aware that I have the odd younger follower in my social networking audience. Due to this I decided to keep Cameron's trousers up, hiding his private area, although I feel that this compromised the illustration somewhat. This is an interesting topic which I may discuss in PPP blog.

CoP 3: Take the Nip Nip

My Tory Chums strips clearly won't paint the Conservatives in a good light - so I've decided to push the idea to more extremes! I believe George Osbourne is a lizard person, so decided to incorporate this idea into today's strip. The notion of politicians being lizards, can be read about here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reptilians#Politics

In the strip 'Take The Nip Nip', Osborne is portrayed to have a lizard tongue, scaly skin under his clothes and several nipples (although I'm not sure how common nipples are in the lizard community). 

I feel that while the piece is dark and somewhat disturbing it truly works as a piece mocking George Osborn, however I feel that there is more visual investigation to be done concerning his appearance.

CoP3: Methodology and Research

To help me with my methodology and research within this module I have checked these two books out of the library. Hopefully they will help me write an informed, organised dissertation.

CoP 3: Working Tax Credits

Yesterday the Tory government passed a motion to cut Working Tax Credits. An important part of the welfare system that is being replaced by the minimum wage rise (but will still leave families thousands of pounds less each year). 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-34260902

However rather than reporting on this today - the front pages of the tabloid newspapers were filled with articles concerning Jeremy Corbyn not singing the national anthem during the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. Since becoming leader of the labour party recently the media has been savagely attacking him, further proving the control the Establishment has over our press. 

Here is my response to today's news, 'Tax Credits Cuts':

CoP 3: Welfare Hand

Today was spent toying around with the 'Tory Chums' idea. I have made note of a few less topical stories but will try to keep them as immediate responses to topical events as much as possible. The piece I worked on today however falls more into the former category, despite it's relevance. The 'Welfare Hand' strip was devised as a practical response to the Tory attacks on the Welfare State and how they appear to be creating a social purge. Here is the end result:

I used the process which I have been refining over the summer in which I collect a series of images and create a collage, forming a narrative story. After this I lower the opacity and draw over them with a realistic, yet still cartoon like style. I then remove the collage imagery, change the black line work to blue and print the piece off. Following this, I ink over the lines using fine liners. The work is then scanned back in, coloured and lettered. The process can be seen in the Issue document below:

Whilst I don't think the visual quality is particularly impressive, the piece works as a quick response to a topical piece, therefore completing it's primary function. These pieces will act as a synthesis between my practical and theoretical work.

CoP 3: David Cameron and His Tory Chums

I've been pondering the portrayal of politicians recently. After the bias campaign against Jeremy Corbyn in recent weeks I realised, in the recent years, there has been little in the way of satire towards those in power, save for political cartoonists such as Steve Bell and Martin Rowson. In the 80's and early 90's there was Spitting Image, a fantastic satirical program which mocked the Conservative Government when they were last in power.

I'm not involved in television, but love the idea of creating Spitting Image type comic strips that responds to topical events as Spitting Image did.

A few ideas I've been toying with recently involve the Prime Minister and his Tory chums. These strips will follow the ludicrous antics of the Tory Government during their time in power.

CoP 3: Labour Leadership Win

The Labour leadership race has been won by Jeremy Corbyn against all, reported, odds. So far his further left wing beliefs have seen him portrayed by the British media as an extremist and I fully expect this portrayal to worsen during his time as leader. He is my response to, in my opinion, fantastic news:

CoP 3: The Overton Window

I recently discovered the Overtone Window and thought it would make sense to discuss it. To do this I have paced my dialogue into an Issue document for ease of viewing:

Below is the text from which I sourced:

http://www.storyboardproductions.com/ehc/circle6/3overton-window.pdf

CoP 3: The Establishment Notes

Here are a few notes from my research concerning Owen Jones' 'The Establishment' book.

There is a large amount of text with quotations so I placed it into an Issue document for viewing ease:

CoP 3: Research Books

I have now purchased Owen Jones book ‘The Establishment: and How They Got Away With It’ and Russell Brands ‘Revolution’.

Jones' book I feel will work as the backbone to my research due to our similar political viewpoints and questions towards the current political system. Russell Brand, however, is a character who I don't necessarily agree with on many topics but his discussions on the need for political change intrigue me.

CoP 3: CoP 3 Proposal Feedback

Having received feedback for my dissertation proposal, there are a few key things to discuss.

- I need to define my question. At the moment it reads as a statement and could lead to me generating descriptive text.
Possible questions could be:
-- "How has the Conservative Election 2015 win… changed the political landscape?"

-- "…affected the Welfare State?"

-- "…affected left leaning politics?"
I feel the first question is the strongest as it is broad and will allow me to touch other matters such as the NHS, Fossil Fuels and the economy.

- I need to research from a number of tests and points of view to help me build a well rounded argument.

- My subject leads on well from my Level 5 essay, 'To What Extent Has the Role of Political Cartoon's Changed Over the Years?'. 

- The practical work, at least, should be kept topical as this will keep my work relevant.

Additional:
I'm currently in Birmingham taking some much needed rest after a busy year in Level 5. However I will use this down time to think about research plan.

CoP3: Owen Jones - The Human Rights Act

I have begun watching Owen Jones' Youtube channel where he regularly discusses his political views. In the video below Jones discusses how the Conservative Party are attempting to scrap the Human Rights Act by misrepresenting it to the British public. This idea of the electorate being subverted infuriates me and I'm glad there is someone who is trying to reveal the truth behind such lies.




I find that I agree with Jones' opinion largely due to him being left wing in his political views as I am. I expect that he will become a great source of research in the coming months.

CoP3: Proposal Form

As I have already mentioned, I would like my dissertation to concern he topic of politics, with a specific investigation of the Conservative Party. Here is my proposal form, where I discuss my methodology and practical investigation tools:

CoP 3: The Queen's Speech Response

The Queen's Speech occurred yesterday in which she announced some of the government's pledges for the near future. I personally feel that the monarchy serves little purpose in the modern era, other than being a glorified tourist attraction. Her speech means little in my eyes and she is effectively a mouthpiece for the Tory agenda.

With this in mind I decided to respond to the topic news story. Below is an Issuu document which details my process from digital line work, to print, through colour play before presenting the final piece.

CoP 3: Research

I have decided that I definitely want my dissertation to concern politics. At present I am unsure exactly as to how, but have begun researching the subject area regardless.

Here are a few links to articles I've been reading concerning:

- Extinction
- Climate Change
- Renewable Energy
- Fossil Fuel
- Human Rights

So far all of my research has been from the Guardian. I find it to be a great source for left wing/centralist discussions and it will probably be a recurrent source of information in my dissertation.

Context of Practice 2: Summative Evaluation

This year I approached Context of Practice slightly differently than last year, largely due to my understanding of the module’s purpose this time around. Going into it, I knew that there had to be a continual synthesis between my theoretical and practical work and I feel that for the most part I succeeded in implementing this. I found that my practical explorations at several key points helped inform my theoretical work and vice versa. Due to awareness of the module this year, I made a point of continually researching throughout the year, be it by watching video clips, reading news articles and collecting ephemera concerning politics. However, whilst the amount of research this year dwarfed what I did OUIL401, I found that it was perhaps somewhat unfocused; this resulted in a portion of my research becoming redundant once I’d settled on an essay question. Going into Level 6 I will have to resolve this issue - my research will need to be focused and relevant. 

It is due to my research that I was able to make critical, and logical decisions in both my theoretical and practical work. My wide research base allowed me to make informed triangulated arguments within my essay, resulting in it being quite a smooth discussion to produce. Similarly, my developing knowledge of politics allowed me to create an strong, and at times humorous, practical piece that commented on the government and our attitudes towards it. I am very impressed with my practical piece as a whole, not just due to its theoretical foundations but also because of my exploration of media. Initially I tried to create a piece of work with hand, like the great cartoonists of the past such as James Gillray or modern cartoonists Steve Bell or Martin Rowson. However after many attempts at producing work in this method I returned to my guilty pleasure - digital. But digital as a sole method of production also failed to create an aesthetically pleasing outcome, it was only when I merged the two methods that my work truly came alive in my opinion. Despite my positive appraisal of my final product there are understandably a few issues that remain within it. Firstly, that characters within my book could have been improved upon somewhat - this could have been done with repetitive drawings as I found my stronger character designs generally came about due to this process. Secondly, the physical production of the book could have had more care given to it. Several of the pages are trimmed quite tightly and, although not apparent to the casual observer, are a thorn in my side. Perhaps more time could have been spent on its assembly to allow for a more careful hand crafted piece. Finally, although I am happy with the colouring of the book I feel more could have been done with it to create something truly memorable in a visual capacity.

Additionally, I feel that if I were to go back and do this module again I would have done a few other things differently, such as; the Nazi propaganda discussion within my essay. Whilst I felt that this was an interesting part of the paper, it seemed somewhat detached from the rest of the essay. I could potentially have found a way to better intricate it into the rest of the discussion. Given the time again I would also begin drafting my essay much earlier on within the year as I could have began writing segments of it much earlier on rather that waiting for a specific prolonged period of time (the Christmas holidays) to write it. That however shouldn’t act as reflection of my time management within this project, as I am in fact very pleased with my assertiveness throughout this year despite a few stumbles early on. I feel that my management of this module has provided me the time to get informed feedback from my peers and allowed me to make alterations to both my theoretical and practical work where needed. 

I hope to improve upon my increasingly assertive attitude towards Context of Practice going into Level 6 as I feel that such a mindset will be integral to my dissertation and the body of work that will accompany it.

Context of Practice 2: Final Practical Response

Here is my final practice piece for Context of Practice 2:

Context of Practice 2: Final Essay Response

Here is the final draft of my essay 'To What Extent Has the Role of Political Cartoons Changed Over the Years?'

Big Bother: Final Peer Review

Today was our final Peer Review. This basically acted as a presentation day with the time to make minor alterations to our work if need be before Tuesday's hand in. I received very positive feedback with people describing my work as funny, informed and well thought out. I am happy with this response and don't feel I have much left to do now other than double checking my blog and writing my Evaluation.

Big Bother Printed

Today thanks to well executed time management I was able to print off my Big Bother book with nearly a week to spare! I'm over the moon at having the physical copy in my hands. I feel that the theoretical aspect of my work has informed the production of this book integrally and believe that I have produced a series of illustrations that comment on politics in a similar vein to the words of Gill and Rowson et al.

There are a few faults though. Firstly my initial first page was miss cut so I had to print that out out again and once all of the pages were folded and stapled I noticed a few of the pages were miss cut also. To the casual observer this would go unnoticed, but for me I am very aware of this and it will gnaw at me. But I need to draw the line somewhere and for the purpose of this module it is now complete.

Big Bother: Completed

Here is the final finished version of my Big Bother book:



I am quite happy with the outcome to this, however the are some detractions, most notably being that some of my pages fall flat in terms of humour. My ability to make people laugh is something that I can work on in my own time away from college though (to my girlfriend's dismay). I also feel that some of my images aren't as well produced as others, this is down to lack of repetition on my part and is something I need to improve upon. Finally, and this is a mild annoyance. I meant to put '6 Politicians' on the inside cover where I instead put '6 Contestants'. This isn't too much of an issue as people with even a mild pool of political knowledge will understand who it is about.

Big Bother: Analogue and Digital

Yesterday I received a Pentel Aquash Brush Pen which I filled with black ink with the intention of using it for shading. The effect was pretty cool and I ended up outlining it using a dip pen and black ink (as apposed to other methods). At this point I thought about water colouring and how I could add colour to my work; I used a wash of watercolour but again it just looked to faint so I thought about digital colouring. This in turn looked much better, I felt that I had finally struck a balance between handmade and digital. Once that piece was finished I then set about drawing the remaining panels.

Research: Election Ephemera

Who to vote for? Who to vote for? Recently we've been receiving lots of post from certain political parties in an attempt to win our votes. This leaflets are tiring and irksome. I may put a notice on my front door letting them to stay away. I know who I plan to vote for as I am aware of politics and frequently comment on it; a leaflet won't change my mind.


 I'd like to believe the commentary within my Big Bother book would influence votes more than a boring leaflet with facts and figures within it.

Big Bother: Digital

Today I played around with the Nigel Farage panel I have drew in Photoshop. My reasoning was to see how well the image would look drawn and coloured digitally. It was... adequate. I feel that it looked somewhat cold and not handmade. There has to be some sort of middle ground, I'm sure. I need to find a way to make my work look handmade but give it some sort of digital feel also.

Additionally, myself and Becky Firth today booked a slot in Digital print for Wed 22nd April to print our work off. I now effectively have a deadline to have my book ready for.

Research: TTIP Debate

Today I went to a TTIP debate in Leeds Town Hall. Very exciting. Mostly because I've never been inside the town hall before, nor to an event like this. I made sure to wear my suit to look the part and listened intently to the discussion.

I have to say, I was expecting this to be a completely one-sided argument for TTIP but was pleasantly surprised to see there was a large opposition on the panel with speaker from Friends of the Earth and Earth Justice present.

But for me the most notable person there was the MEP Richard Corbett who deals with the European aspects of politics for the Yorkshire region. He was surprisingly unsupportive of TTIP in its current form and stated that he wouldn't vote for it in its current form which is reassuring. He seemed to have more care for the people he governs than the political leaders I have been researching throughout this module. This has inspired me into thinking that people can actually change things for the better - I'd like to believe that my book's political commentary can change people's opinions in such a way.

Big Bother: Initial Design

Today I drew out two panels of my Big Bother book and I'm not too sure what I think about them at the moment to be honest. I decided to use watercolour as used to love using the medium, but didn't get the exact results that I desired. The colours came off as too soft and the work looked like there wasn't much skill involved, my lifework also felt quite uninspired. I do want to keep using watercolours though or a similar product - perhaps indian inks? This is something I'll have to look into.

Moving beyond the medium, I have to say I'm quite happy with how I'm getting the look of the politicians down at the moment. Farage is a deranged lunatic that I feel I have conveyed well with his boss eyes and explosive anger (and the hint of UKIP purple for skin). Clegg meanwhile appears to be crying (and will be in every page his on) as he is upset at having to stand up for things. Finally, Cameron has a pink pig like skin, has no eyebrows and a shiny balding head, reminiscent of Steve Bells condom-headed Cameron. I initially had some trouble with how to draw Cameron but I feel I understand his features now.

Meanwhile on the other page I've drawn, Ed Miliband and done my best to give him an utterly bland and boring face. It's my intention in this page for Big Bother to be unresponsive to him as he's so utterly boring.

Big Bother: Page Layouts

Throughout today I planned out my Big Bother book. It took me some time to think of the humorous dialogue within, and what scenarios the characters would have to be in for these to work. These may be altered as my work develops further.

I'm also wondering how surreal the pages should be. Should they be completely over the top like a Rowson illustration of more reserved (in comparison) like James Gill's 'The Plum-Pudding..."?

Research: Lib Dem Broken Promises

Here is a site that lists all of the promises the Liberal Democrats have broken since being in power with the Conservative party. They either don't care or Nick Clegg collapses into a crying mess when David Cameron argues against him about these issues.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/harriet-harman/10-broken-lib-dem-promise_b_3925441.html

Essay: Feedback

Today I had my tutorial with Richard who informed me that I had a strong piece that was interesting in its broad range of subjects throughout history. It needs to have a stronger opening, a more triangulated conclusion and perhaps a few more references to support my argument. But beyond that it was a 'good read'.

Study Task 5: Big Bother: Politician Drawings

Today I began working on the politicians who will star in my Big Bother book. Those are; Natalie Bennett - Green Party, Nigel Farage - UKIP, Nicola Sturgeon - SNP, Nick Clegg - Liberal Democrat, Ed Miliband - Labour, David Cameron - Conservative.



I found some joy in the initial sketches with Nigel Farage and Nick Clegg, however some others, like Nicola Sturgeon, Natalie Bennett and David Cameron will take more work. Concerning Cameron, I feel that he works better without eyebrows as it makes him look more villainous!

I think that I'm going to design a small book (or zine) in which each page will be a singular panel, perhaps showing an event similar to something that each politician has been criticised for. For example, David Cameron is eating all of the dinner whilst everyone else goes hungry, or Nigel Farage wants to stop people migrating between rooms of the house etc. This book could potentially be released digitally or created on mass physically to be handed out to an audience that are in the know about politics and would find humour in the escapades of these politicians.

Big Bother: Initial Idea

Recently we received a leaflet from Stuart Andrew, the local MP for the Pudsey constituency (including Horsforth where I live), and I have to say - he looks like aright smug git. Anyway - having completed my essay I've been thinking about political commentary - as seen in cartoons by Gill, Bell, Rowson et al. I think my practical piece would work best as a commentary on todays politics.

I began today by drawing Stuart Andrews out several times for no particular reason than to draw him but as I was, I began thinking about a conversation I had with my girlfriend last night. We were discussing reality television (how awful it is) and how people demean themselves on shows like Big Brother. Thinking about it today I remembered that George Osbourne was on Celebrity Big Brother and made a right fool of himself by pretending he was a cat. (Or did he think he actually was? I don't know). Anyway, he is a politician and so I decided to add a few sketches of him to my book and as I did I thought about how brilliant it would be if all of the political party leaders were thrown in a house together, even better - what if it was to decide who would win the next general election!



I find that I don't usually draw things unless they have a specific purpose, but today I'm glad I have done as it has helped me form a stronger bridge between the theoretical and the practical sides of my work.

Essay: Interim Submission

Today I submitted my essay. I feel that it is overall quite strong but there are areas in which it could be improved upon. I'll wait until I receive feedback before moving further with it though.

Research: Martin Rowson on the 2015 General Election

This morning I saw the Guardian's latest cartoon by Martin Rowson. With almost two thirds of my essay complete, I'm extremely tempted to change my final illustration to this due to its play on Cameron as Napoleon as it would help tie my essay today. However, part of the reason why I've chosen Bell's work is because of how vulgar it can be - this would work better with my opinion that cartoons haven't changed that much other than who they're targeting.

Research: Modern Cartoons

Over the past few months I've been looking at cartoons (largely that of Steve Bell and Martin Rowson) as examples of modern political cartoons. I am now however having trouble settling on which image to use for the finale part of my essay. I have looked at how political cartoons came about and how they were manipulated during the Nazi regime to work for politicians rather than against them, but I want a really strong piece of modern cartooning to really tie them together.

Here are two of the illustrations I'm most likely going to go forward with. The Steve Bell one interests me the most as it is about the Levinson Enquiry about Media Phone hacking etc. It's a strong example of politics controlling the media (in this case rightly so) and the media response to it.

Research: More Political Questioning

Here are a selection of anti-establishment sites, videos etc that point out the hypocrisy, double standards and lies within polities. Again these aren't too substantial to my essay but may come in use later on within the module.

http://educateinspirechange.org/alternative-news/look-angry-david-cameron-gets-asked-money-russell-brand/

http://educateinspirechange.org/alternative-news/keiser-report-russell-brand-remove-money-politics/

http://unlockdemocracy.org.uk/pages/about-us

Research: Nazi Propaganda

Recently, for my essay, I've been looking at Nazi Propaganda. I feel that it is a very interesting time for cartoons in Germany and other countries under the 'Axis of Evil' as they were used in a decisively different way to what I have studied thus far. While political cartoons are generally used to mock or satarise those in power, within the 1930/40's they were used in another way entirely, with political leaders such as Hitler shown to be heroic or god-like entities fighting for the rights of the people. Meanwhile he used cartoons to manipulate the opinion of others, specifically towards Jewish people. If Hitler was to pursued people into following his believes he'd need a powerful way to do it, and cartoons were one such method. Often Jews we portrayed to be squalid rat like vermin who worded gold and raped women. These cartoons are an example of politicians using the media for their own gain rather it being a commentary on them as Gillray had done.