Art at Ashton Sixth Form College

ART at ASHTON SIXTH FORM COLLEGE

Watch our latest video here : 

https://youtu.be/E0sJ2u26iic

40 years of design culture...

2020 has undoubtedly been the most memorable year in a long while ...and as a design student its crucial to know about design history , culture & society - but where to start ? 

Creative Review have pulled together the most important (in its view..) of the last 40 years including MTV, the "like a girl" campaign and Fleabag. See what you would have added in or left out . Twin Peaks would be out for me - several hours of my life I won't get back. And if you haven't seen Fleabag, do. 

https://www.creativereview.co.uk/40-creative-moments-that-changed-culture/

CELEBRATE ...!

Colour Thesaurus

By popular demand , here is a colour thesaurus - please see the original version on the link below - thanks to Ingrid Sundberg for this. 

http://ingridsundberg.com/2014/02/04/the-color-thesaurus/

Happy new year ! Feeling the January blues ? Watch this film to remember that spring is just around the corner !

PIG and FIG

A huge thankyou to ex-student Rheanna Sorby, owner of Pig & Fig designs who cam to talk to textile & Design students about her journey from A'level to First class honours degree at Huddersfield & now to her own commercial brand !

She gave the students so many tips on being a design students as well as setting up & running your own design business. A few of the links Rheanna mentioned are here below as well as Rheanna's own company Pig & Fig with its gorgeous designs for kitchenware. (all British made & designed! )

https://www.contrado.co.uk/students
https://www.bagsoflove.co.uk/
https://www.wgsn.com/blogs/
https://www.banana-print.co.uk/product_list.html
http://www.newdesigners.com/
Pig & Fig Designs

NEW STUDENTS !

Add your FOUND typography photo !

Welcome to the blog - on here you will find all sorts of resources and information for the A'level in Graphic Design .


At enrolment you should have been directed to an assignment to carry out before lessons begin in Sept - if you didn't receive it , it's here:


http://www.asfc.ac.uk/files/Initial_Assignments_2017/Graphic_Design_Initial_Assignment.pdf




Remember that this is not a test - it's a way for you to explore the subject a little before we start & to get your brains working again after summer !


If you have any problems. please email me on Helen.Stubbs@asfc.ac.uk


See you in September , Helen

CONGRATULATIONS !

Congratulations to all art students and especially Graphics students on a set of wonderful A'level and AS level results. So many of you will have achieved the results to gain your Uni places & will be prepping now for September. If you didn't gain the A2 grades you needed & it would help to have some advice, staff are in college to help -OR email me & we can talk your options through.There are many opportunities via clearing so don't give up !

Here are the exam grade boundaries that I have taken from the Eduqas website. It's very frustrating if you were only a few marks off the next grade but please remember that there are no resits / re-marks in the Art subjects.

Best of luck if you are off to Uni - can all A2 students please remember to collect sketchbooks by emailing Dan Riley on dpr@asfc.ac.uk AFTER the start of Sept. Best of luck too if you are looking for an apprenticeship - let us know if we can help. AS students - hope your summer work is coming along well - see you in Sept !

Students in A2 have been feeling retro this week with Josh & Alex producing a series of film posters , looking back at Saul Bass & Pulp Fiction Book cover designs.  These are part of their development work towards their exam Unit.

Huddersfield Uni Visit

It was great to see Huddersfield Uni tutors from the Art dept today - John from the Graphic Design dept talked to students about the 3 degree courses in Graphic Design, Graphics & Animation ; & Animation design . John talked about graduates , portfolios, placements & opportunities.

Inspiring stuff ! And we got an invite to workshops & taster days at Huddersfield .

Here is a link to the book that John recommended that you all read.

Recommended Book

The Design process plus CHECKLISTS -updated versions!

This next week , the AS students are continuing with the design process. Having started initial ideas & layouts , we will be looking at further experiments & media - pushing & exploring skills. The design process (as shown in the image) is a cyclical one - one "round" of creativity & experimentation should propel you to the next.

The A2 students will be concluding the Research phase & moving swiftly on to the design & create stage by the end of this week.

Click the links below to find the updated checklists - update yours in your sketchbook please !

A2 Unit 4 checklist

AS Checklist

New worksheet on how to evaluate your practical work

The bit with all the drawing .....

AS Students - you should be reaching the end of the research phase now & the design phase is beginning. 

• Revisit your brief & the research , looking at which parts you feel are strongest. 
• You need to begin to sketch out your initial ideas - see the images here to help - & don't forget to allow ideas to develop, 
• Don't be tempted to rub out a sketch as soon as you draw it - let ideas DEVELOP. Sometimes the worst sketch & idea can turn on its head ,given time & work. 
• Click on the link below to see some examples of designers' sketching for Poster design, packaging, logos, book covers etc. The videos give an look at logo design - you can see how a designer refines & develops the idea over & over again ....no rubbing out !! The films also show how the ideas are then taken to photoshop - this is the next stage . 
• REMEMBER that the design process applies to all the graphic outcomes - whether a lable for a beer bottle, a book cover or a character design.
• Start with drawing ! ....in pencil ! 

LINK :
Examples of design sketching

That spring feeling....

It could have been the sudden sunshine that filled the studio today but there is some excellent exploration work happening in the Graphics department just now - with A2 students enthusiastically researching the new ideas for the Unit 4. Students have been marbling paper, screenprinting & trapping items in waxed teabags in the pursuit of a direction for the Art exam themes. Ellisa has been creating stunning intricate  paper cuts (& yes, she cut these by hand !!) whilst Josh has been looking at the theme of "Encased" and using colour psychology to convey emotions. Josh filled 5 pots with coloured inks that represented anxiety, anger, joy, truth & serenity. The large vase represented the dominant emotion. Thought provoking & beautiful. 

Jess's mood board of initial ideas for Unit 4

PROUD POST ALERT !

It must be something in the air as the University offers keep rolling in for our A2 Graphics students ! So far all students who have had interviews have gained offers with Congratulations going to Tom & Lewis both being given unconditional offers for 3D design at MMU & Animation at Salford Uni. 

York St John & Huddersfield Uni have offered places on their Graphic Design degree whilst Games Design offers have been given from Salford, Future Works & Sheffield Hallam . 

Many more students are in the process of prepping portfolios for interviews with a staggering 22 interviews in the calendar over the next few week ! 

Many of the students will continue their journey here before moving to Uni & have applied to the Art foundation course at Ashton Sixth Form College .

The AS Art students will get lots of advice in the summer term when we visit the degree shows but it's never too early to think about University choices so please speak to staff if you need advice.

Congratulations to all those who have gained offers so far & good luck to those awaiting interviews. 

Express yourself !



Starts Jan 25th 4-5pm in A1.1 - enjoy producing the Art you like AND gain a qualification for it ! 



Class of 2015 - we salute you !

We couldn't be prouder of our Class of 2015 A2 students who achieved wonderful results again this year for Graphic Design. Joe Casey, Liam Rogers, Charlotte Kearney & Karolina Gliwa all gained A* grades in Graphics with Jessie May Roberts, Dimitris Solomou, & Aidan Robinson all achieving A Grades. Well deserved. 

There were many students who achieved brilliant results & will now progress onto their choice of University degree or career path. Thanks for all your hard work folks - you have been a great year.

Not to be outdone, the grades followed a similar pattern of success with 100% pass rate on both AS & A2 graphics design courses - once again , with good numbers across As & B grades ! 

Congratulations to all students - on both class of 2015 & class of 2016 on a very impressive set of results. Have a Big Summer Blowout to celebrate ! 

A taste of things to come ...

Visitors to the Graphics department had a taste of the type of work they will be trying in September by taking part in a workshop based around abstract typography. Using photoshop skills, Year 10 & Year 11 students took a basic font style & manipulated it with colour, reflection tools & invert tools to create a pattern / branding for "Size?" shoe retailer. They then applied the design to shoe boxes with some great results. Well done all - here are a few examples produced on the day. 

On the road ....

It's that time of year again , when the Graphics & the Art department head out to the degree shows. Next week looks like its going to be pretty busy and the calendar for trips, visits & workshops in the Art department is pretty jam packed. We start out with a whole department visit to the shows at MMU - looking forward to seeing the Graphics & illustration as well as their fantastic facilities. After we've got a taste for that , we're heading up the M6 to Preston to UCLAN to see their exhibition & campus and very excited to see their Fashion Promotion course at the same time.
Once we've drawn breath , we're off to Huddersfield Uni to see their sparkly new facilities in Graphics & photography - as if that wasn't enough , we , of course won't forget out lovely friends st Stockport college either & will pop up the road to check out the work from many of our own ex students. After that, we 're not resting - we have our own End of year exhibition - details shortly - look out for your invite !

Josh at last year's MMU show