Digital Jars Research

In my last project I worked on a concept that involved creating dream-like scenes within jars. Due to this, I carried out research into different types of jars, and this helped me when creating my own.

Specimen Jars - Manchester Museum

My first set of jar research was specimen jars. I visited the Manchester Museum, where there was a range of jars throughout the building containing various objects and creatures. The most interesting of these were the sea creatures, because they had interesting patterns that were being distorted by the liquid and the glass. Unfortunately, a lot of the photographs were of a low quality due to the lighting and the many layers of glass. This caused the camera not to focus properly and created blurry images. However, I enjoyed gaining this research and think it helped me to create accurate images in my last project, as I could see how the glass distorts the objects inside. I then applied this knowledge to my creative process.

Sweet Shop Jars - Warwick

Also during my last project, I happened to take a trip to Warwick and walked past this sweet shop. I photographed the jars in the window for study and found them to be just as useful as the specimen jars, and a little cheerier. These jars were very interesting for their light reflection; being in the front window of the shop, they had lots of light being captured on the curves of the glass. Once again, I applied this experience to my design process and made sure to incorporate it in my images to make them realistic.

After conducting research and carrying out some design sketches, I set up two shelves with a variety of jars that I had collected and photographed them in various layouts. I used one of these photographs as the background of my last piece and filled in each jar with digital images, both manipulated photographs and digital paintings, to create the captured dreams. I am still very happy with the outcome of this project, and am glad to be able to apply the skills I learnt to my final major project.

Secondary Research

Underwater Shipwrecks

As I am going to create images inside my jars from scratch, I need to conduct some research into how the scenes look in the real world. As I don't have access to a shipwreck or tropical waters, I have turned to the internet. The shipwreck images are very interesting to study, as the shapes of the various pieces of the boats have become twisted and distorted. Also the compositions are very blue, with an unusual change in light. I will be sure to bare this in mind when making this image for myself.

Tropical Fish Scene

The final image I can research for is the fish scene. I am unsure if I will be able to create an image as dense with fish as this, but I will have to see what I can do. I like all the bright colours in these images, and hope to create something similar for myself.

The other scenes I am going to make need more consideration, but I will carry out the necessary research before I begin working on them.