[LAUIL603] Studio Brief 2: Zine Research and Considerations

• Contextualising a physical publication and zine - here are a number I picked up at various places back in my sighted years including Leeds Zine Fest 2016, Thought Bubble 2016, and Manchester Print Fair 2015.

• I want to give thought and consideration to publication/booklet/zine specifications. How many pages for a publication? What size is a "good" size?

Due to the pandemic and lockdown this will not be a printed publication. It will be digital, ut I need it to load quickly on the computer so a small size is still something to consider. If this were a printed publication I would want it to be something portable and handheld that people could easily transport and carry it. A pocket object. A5 seems an appropriate size. A5 dimensions are 148 x 210mm. I will work to 300 DPI for print if the opportunity arises though 72 is all that is needed for online - so the resolution will be above and beyond for an online publication. I want to remain considerate for print.

• How many pages should my publication be?

https://www.reddit.com/r/zines/comments/5vmutu/how_many_pages_for_your_average_zine/

https://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5843832

https://www.quora.com/How-long-should-a-zine-be

• Research on google is inconclusive in regards to the amount of pages for a zine or publication and has open discussion in regards to where to start. Publications/zines can have upwards of 80-100 pages though will need perfect binding/stitching and no longer have that DIY feel.

Conclusions: Anything goes! Whatever is relevant to what I am making. People agree on around 25 pages as an average? I think I will need to make a basic skeleton of the content and then create padding and add pages as and when, allowing room for any additional content that may seem appropriate.

• Issuu no longer seems to embed online publications for free - what else is available?

https://www.g2.com/products/issuu/competitors/alternatives

Conclusions: FlippingBook, LucidPress, Joomag, FlipSnack, Zeplin, there are a lot of alternatives! I will need to assess each one and make a decision on which one is accessible with my screenreader and meets my needs.

Consideration for contents:

Around 20 or 22 pages at a minimum to start - though will add more as and when I construct. 

Page 1: Cover and title

Page 2: Insert Pattern

Page 3: Opening context [Text On September 5th 2018, I started to experience a change in my vision... After a lot of rest, it wasn't going away and I needed medical attention. ]

Page 4: Instagram Post

Page 5: What is retinal detachment?

Page 6-9: The process of the curtain coming forward 

Page 10: Flashing lights

Page 11-12: Surgery 1

Page 13-14: Surgery 2

Page 15-16: Surgery 3

Page 17-18: Surgery 4

Page 21: Insert Pattern

Page 22: Back cover

Thoughts and Reflections:

I'm quite nervous to get started on the constructing and feel an immense pressure to do a good job of this. this project has significant personal value and I've been crafting the canvas paintings for quite some time. I do feel a sense of relief after conducting some research in regards to existing publications in my possession and parsing page count and dimension. 

[LAUIL603] Studio Brief 2: Collating Feedback through Instagram and Reflection

Reflection:

Throughout this entire module, I shared select pieces online through my professional art instagram with friends, professionals, and other people who found the work through the available clickable location and the hashtags I'd used. I curated the pieces I shared, comprising of both experimental monoprints and paintings, and more "complete" canvases.

It is important to note that none of the feedback I received in Instagram comments influenced my project or my canvas paintings in any way, or pushed my project forward in the same way a crit or tutor feedback would. However, value still exists in publishing the work into the world on an open forum, allowing me to process that the canvas or experimentation piece is done, shelve it, collect feedback, and move onto the next piece. This cycle was necessary at times to keep me moving through the project, keeping me on track with my goal of producing at least 2 canvas paintings per week as per my project proposal. Knowing an audience was waiting in the online sphere allowed me to produce more paintings than the necessary two. Sometimes I was painting one a day because of the lockdown from January to March and I craved something to do, the rush of endorphins of sharing my work with an audience, and interacting with people outside of my four walls. I have no friends or family here in Leeds and struggled immensely without my Guide Dog for 7 months. This became my social life. A connection when I was lonely during the pandemic while also allowing me to work through my degree and through my trauma and daily feeling that arose - also giving me feelings of calm and worthiness. Connecting with people is very valuable in itself.

It was an interesting journey over the months to observe which paintings people found visual value in through navigating which paintings had more overall interaction. I could analyse which paintings had more "dwell time" through my instagram analytics and insights. It made me consider and reflect on what makes an audience interact - is it the caption? The content itself? Longer captions of retrospective thoughts invited the audience to leave comments and share their perspectives. A vulnerable caption paired with a vulnerable painting... Certain quotes and poems resonated with the audience, too.

I was able to sell some of these paintings along the way because of sharing on instagram, increasing my professional skills in that aspect. 

[LAUIL603] Studio Brief 2: All Canvases and Reflection

Reflection:

I am extremely proud of the physical portfolio I have produced during this brief, comprising of 64 canvas paintings in total. I pushed myself to use different dimensions and shapes, experiment with different mediums (with or without gesso, structure gel, matte medium, gloss medium) to experiment and identify visual information and mark-making that is valuable to the project as a whole and answers my question -  how can I portray blindness? How can I warp the paint in different ways to take the viewer on a journey through my lens? Since the New Year, I have really pushed myself out of my comfort zone and tried to problem solve this using a variety of colours.

I worked during some very difficult personal circumstances which I could not be more proud of. The going got tough, and tough, and tougher and I persevered as much as humanly possible. By mid-March, I had reached 200 days without my Guide Dog, Tami, who had left me at the end of July 2021 to go to a boarder, have surgeries to remove the benign tumours on her hips and ribs as her harness could no longer close, and recover. She was fully recovered and healed by January 2021 but the lockdown prevented us from retraining and I was nervous going out into the world without being vaccinated yet. My mum was also struggling with the pandemic and isolation as a severe stroke survivor and it hurt me to try and complete my degree while hearing how much she was struggling and eventually hurting herself to cope. I started to lose steam in many ways. With the project and with living. It was so, so difficult living in the lockdown and not being able to go outside - depending on food deliveries and the online realm for my source of happiness and communication. By March, I was fully vaccinated but my barrier was my disability. I was missing Tami so much who is my family and my best friend. I don't really have anyone else with my mum not being my mum anymore and everyone in my family abandoning me with the responsibility of being her carer. It's a terribly difficult situation to live with everyday, and I will for the rest of my life, along with retinal detachment and losing my useful vision - which I'm trying to unpick in this project. To face the content of this project every day was also tough. Was I doing a good job? Was it worth doing? 

With the pockets of human contact, and familial love, not being fulfilled, I was struggling and falling into a dark place. Painting had been an escape and a therapy as talking therapy wasn't too successful this year especially finding the right person to talk to. Listening to music and painting as an escape holds much more value to me to work out my issues. Upon Tami's return at the end of March, I was able to pick myself back 

How have I improved as an artist? My professionalism with canvas painting authentically and organically improved over the months as I continued to paint and push myself, getting used to the materials and experimenting with what they could do - problem solving the question of how to portray what I can see and how to honestly and accurately convey what happened to me in a step-by-step process of flashing lights, large floaters, and a black curtain drawing across my vision before my retina detached. I know how to apply gesso and mediums to acrylics, such as matte medium, gloss medium and structure gel to achieve certain outcomes to a high standard.

I uploaded all of my work in real-time to continue to motivate myself which held incredible esteem. to collect feedback from friends, professionals and people on the internet, shelve the piece, and move onto the next one so that I could continue moving forward in the brief was such a valuable cycle. IF I didn't do this process I think I would have been stuck in my own self-doubt.

What could I have done better? I would have liked to try making my own canvas with the university facilities, rather than just using small, portable ones bought from Amazon that are cheap and easy to deliver. The lockdown until March prevented this from being a reality and I had to manage my time effectively to be able to complete my other modules of dissertation research, writing and planning the visual essay, and professional practice. I could also have tried using different paint, instead of acrylic and watercolour. but I don't feel ready to progress onto oils yet.

What next? Now that I have completed my set briefs of canvas painting and monoprinting, it is time to plan my publication and start to construct it. I want to ensure the content is interesting for sighted viewers while being educational and having good, visual quality.

[LAUIL603] Studio Brief 2: Collecting and Documenting Retinal Detachment

Personal Instagram:

 Google Drive of Camera Roll from the time:

Google Drive link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-FVJW-YkyYwBqPO0AxUDtD1dHRdCV3VM?usp=sharing

I documented my 6 month retinal detachment journey of the time, from September 2018 to March 2019, through selfies and photographs and shared my story to my personal instagram - originally sharing with friends and fans of my favourite band (Ghost) which spread a little further afield. Reflecting back, how could I have done things differently? I could have shared vlogs or lives to have kept those personal moments for the future but honestly, it was such a traumatic time for me and I was highly medicated while I was healing. It's very easily to say these things while I'm reflecting back, sat here and wishing I'd done them, but at the time it didn't feel right and I was very out of it. I do wish I would have done something other than visual media such as photos and selfies though. Some kind of voice recording would have been incredibly valuable. It's hard to imagine me not crying though. IT was such a horrible and lonely experience. Still, I documented my healing journey and these photos will go towards the creating of the publication. I have made all of my photographs "live" in a Google Drive link.

Trigger Warning for sensitive imagery of healing eyes