Assignment 1

Flowing & Playing

 Option 1: Illustration

Completed A2 Mark Making Assignment

Tense

Crazy

Peaceful

Agitated

Loopy

I really enjoyed this assignment, it was a nice start to the course and was manageable during my illness. Starting in the top left corner with tiny little marks I gradually got larger and more expressive. I worked on this over 4 days, doing a quarter each time. This was during my recent bad back, which has really effected my daily life. You can see by the marks I made, my changing condition as it grew worse and the one time it felt a little more manageable.

'Tense' - This was the beginning of my bad back and I felt very tight and stressed. My marks reflect that in their jaggered style and variation in shapes. There are varying distances between the marks and they range from shallow waves to more intense zig zags.

'Crazy' - As my pain got worse my lines were very squiggly and loose, because I was running low on energy to do the work. A frantic, quick squiggly selection of lines, some overlapping and symbolising my building stress levels.

'Peaceful' - A moment of feeling more at ease. I love the spacing between these looser lines, it shows a calmer tone and the marks have more of a elegant look, flowing and free.

'Agitated' - Feeling worse, aggressive, sharp, straight lines, you can almost feel the pain in these marks. A mix of jaggered and slightly squiggly, sharper lines. Some overlapping, with minimal spacing. 

'Loopy' - By this point I felt like I was losing the plot with the pain levels and limited mobility. Squiggly, scrambled lines, with more spacing in areas. I sense of disconnectedness and lethargy.

It's interesting to see how the different marks truly reflected how I was feeling on each of the days I worked on it. Whilst it's hard for me to think about, since I am still recovering from this bad back, I can see the value in how this exercise shows expression and emotion, more specifically pain with the changes in line shape, form and spacing.