media fanzine evaluation

1. Olivia Groom

2.  For my research, I decided to really make an effort with understanding the ins and outs of
what makes a good fanzine and how I would achieve something unique. I wanted to make
it to portray something new and modern and explore new techniques within my media
skills. I started my research by going on issuu.com which is a digital publishing platform
for magazines. I found this really helpful as I didn’t actually know what a fanzine was
until starting this project, so being able to go on issuu and read through existing ones
helped me get a good overall idea of what I will need to include when it came to
production and what looks best if you want it to stand out. I looked a lot at the illustration
and artwork as I really wanted to expand on this myself, all the fanzines I chose for my
research were very minimal but expressive which helped me to get ideas for my own.
After looking at a range of fanzines on issuu I realize I wanted my fanzine to be more
artistic than informative, I didn’t want it to be like reading a magazine or leaflet but more
a sketch book style which was fun and innovative. There was a specific one that I really
enjoyed researching which was a fanzine on coffee, and the illustration and colours were
amazing- it was very original and experimentive which gave me the realization I wanted
to really push myself and produce something personal that also showed off my skill set. I
think If I hadn’t come across this existing fanzine during my research I wouldn’t of
pushed myself to produce my own drawings which ended up a lot better than I ever
thought they would, as I have never drawn anything architectural or attempted 3D
sketches. I also looked a lot at the writing and the use of language. One existing fanzine I
looked at was on surfing, and it didn’t much text at all but the parts it did have were bold
and meaningful which I liked. I also did a lot of research on the language within different
fanzines, and the mode of address. After researching and reading different types of
language I knew I wanted mine to be quite informal and fun, as well as personal and
something you feel at ease reading. I think my interviews ended up coming across quite
light hearted which I really liked, I didn’t take it too seriously as I found the fanzines that
involved a lot of facts and informal language quite boring and minimal.

3.  To start the process of my production, I began some idea development and got
to terms with what subject I would focus my fanzine on. I decided after my
research I wanted to create something artistic as well as personal and
produce something with meaning. I initially thought of creating a number of
drawings/paintings on places I have been and that I like, or mean something
to me. This then drew me to the thought of focusing my fanzine on
architecture, drawing buildings and having photographs. This to me seemed
to be the best idea as my family has a business in architecture and it has been
passed on through generations, so I started to look at fonts, colors, existing
drawings and paintings all based around the theme of architecture. Thinking
about fonts, I went on dafont.com to see what could work, as I knew I wanted
quite a simple font that would relate to architecture, quite bold and pristine
with sharp edges. With doing this I thought of a few ideas like involving the
outline of buildings around the fonts and making it all come together, which I
did end up doing for my production. After fonts I mainly looked at a lot of
photographs of existing drawings/paintings/sketches on Pinterest's and google
which really gave me the finalized view of how I wanted my own artwork to
look like. I wanted to combine architecture with abstract and watercolor style
drawings whilst also focusing on the architectural realizations and technical
side of it. I decided I would draw images of famous architectural landscapes,
and places I have actually visited and admire such as London, Venice, York,
famous bridges etc. So I focused a lot on drawings of these places and a lot of
abstract stuff, and some floor plans and sketches for the technical side of it.
When it came to color, I knew I wanted to use red, white and black for my
cover and interview pages, but with my drawings I wanted to really go for it
with bright vibrant colours to enhance the places and make it come to life.

4.  When doing my research, I found this fanzine on Brighton which really inspired
me to create what my finished product looks like now. I think it was the colors and
the simplistic overview of the fanzine that really drew me to it, it was sketchbook
like which is what drew me to make mine similar to this. I think my front cover
resembles a lot of similarities to this fanzine. Firstly my fanzine cover also has a
outlined drawing of a building, lots of detail within the lines making it 3D and the
sharp darkness that makes it look very realistic. I also used the technique of not
really giving the drawing a finished edge similar to this one, as I liked how this
looks open and inviting. I only used a drawing and title for my cover like this one
also does. My fanzine cover just has 'The art of architecture' and my name
underneath. My fanzine cover was actually my favorite aspect to it, as I think it
looked the most accomplished and the fact it is so negligible makes you want to
pick it up and go through it. The language that I used was similar to this existing
product using scrapbook labels like 'artwork' and 'more photographs' quite
informal and relaxed, which makes the reader feel more involved and comfortable
reading it. This is what I liked about this fanzine, it was fun and an easy read that
was enjoyable which I felt is what a fanzine involves. It’s expressing and admiring
a certain subject, making it appealing and inviting. I felt after reading this fanzine
that Brighton is somewhere I should visit. I think the colours used expressed it
well too, which made me choose to create my drawings with vibrant pastel colors
that have good connotations. For example, the colours used here have connotations
of a beach with the yellows and oranges, like a sunset. So for my fanzine cover, I
used the RIBA (royal institute British architectures) which are red, white and
black. To me this made sense as it portrayed the context and anyone interested in
architecture would relate the color and subject straight away.

5.  The content I involved was all quite original as it was all my own artwork
and photographs that I had taken on holidays going back to 2013. So this was
all very much personal to me and more like a sketchbook/diary type of
fanzine which I liked. The interviews are one of my favorite parts where I
feel I learned new skills within journalism and how to approach this kind of
written element of media. I decided to interview my father, who is an
architect and got my brother to ask me some questions and interview me
which I have never done before, it felt a bit like I had read back somebody
else's interview as its quite a strange aspect interviewing yourself for your
own work. Due to this, I found I had to create quite an informal interview as
it was myself and my dad talking, and obviously I know exactly how we
would both sound and express things, so I could visualize the conversation in
my head word for word. I found this a lot better and easier as I could really
relate to everything which was said and how to convey it to the audience
well. At first for my art work I had the idea of doing a load of paintings and
creating collages, and mainly of places around york and where I live.
However when it came to production I decided I wanted to push myself and
actually learn the art of architecture and draw like one, producing sketches
and floor plans and drawing houses. I also drew places that I haven't been to
but would like to visit, such as the Taj mahal. This I felt meant more as I was
actually drawing places that inspire me, so hopefully the audience would find
this more interesting. On the subject of being interesting, I also decided it
would be more out there to use my fathers work. All the
professional photographs shown are his business' own work.-some I actually
took with him. I thought this was interesting as its personal to me and
relates completely to the subject of the art of architecture. The floor plans on
my interview are of my old house I grew up in, which my dad drew himself on
CAD. This is one of my favorite parts of my fanzine as I'm really proud of
them and they mean something to me, I also wrote about this in my
interview and what is was like growing up in that house, so its all linked.

6.  I spent 2 weeks of my production producing a sketchbook of drawings, which
consisted of a range some detailed some sketches. I really enjoyed this
process as I feel I definitely pushed myself out my comfort zone and didn’t
expect to be able to create so much creative content, as well as producing
some well drawn drawings with 3D elements to them. Evaluating this
process, I think I got a lot better as I went on and started to design better
buildings and added more detail, as at the beginning I was just warming up
with ideas and then there was actually bringing them to life with shadows
and sharper edges. In these 2 weeks I also produced my two interviews. In
the last week I began putting my fanzine together, which was my favorite
part of production where I feel a learnt a lot of new skills and found out new
ways of working with techniques and what area of media I excel in. I started
putting my fanzine together by firstly scanning all my drawings, where I
could then place them into photoshop and edit them. I planned out my
contents before I started this, so I knew how exactly I wanted to lay out my
fanzine and what certain pages would include, which helped a lot as it made
the process of editing and placing it all together a lot more efficient. With all
my artwork, I used the adjustments tool in photoshop to use levels and
contrasts. This really made a difference with sketches especially as It
enhanced all the rough edges and made the shadows drop and all round a
deeper 3d element. I also used a new tool I had never used before this
project, which has helped me develop a deeper skill in graphics and
illustration. I used the tool ''cut out' which created this blured disorted
version of my drawings, which I could then used for my backgrounds. I was
really struggling with my backgrounds and wanted to achieve something
different to what I have produced in the past as I didn’t want just a basic
solid fill. Using this technique really changed the page designs as the
background had the same colour scheme and outlines of shapes as the
images on it, therefore made it consistent and creative. I also developed a
new set of skills with my layout and how I spaced my text and images.
Before this project, I had never really succeded in having an eye for setting
out my texts and drawings, however I think I have learnt what looks most
professional and pleasing to the eye. I left my pages with text quite blank,
and used lines to separate the text and images.

7. If I had to improve my fanzine, I would of created names for my drawings. I realized this evaluating
and actually got feedback from one of my peers also suggesting this. At the time I wanted to have
simple headers on my pages such as 'artwork' and 'sketches' however I could of done with a few
names on where the buildings were and wrote about them. However I really like the fact it's very
simple and you get what you see, I wanted the audience to focus more on the colors and pay attention
the detail rather than reading it, as they work I have produced kind of speaks for itself. With some of
my drawings, I decided to use the cut out tool and the watercolor tool on them individually to create a
softer edge. This really made a difference I feel as the drawings have more depth to them, they look
quite realistic and draw you in. I realized after using this technique I am quite into graphic design
and like the fact I can create a drawing and play around with it to its advantage. Before this project,
I had never been very confident with creating a magazine or poster and what I can do to make it
unique, but I think I have found a new skill set that allows me to create something with my own
personal touch making it more adept. When it came to putting my fanzine together, I exported the
file onto in design and started to try placing it into the order it will be shown in. This helped me to
complete the accomplished look as it showed me areas that needed improving or pages that needed
adding. For example I had to create a new piece of art for my back cover, which ending up being one
of my favorite drawings. I struggled a bit with the layout of my fanzine however, and it took me quite
a while to make sure certain double page spreads were actually placed together. My interviews for
example needed to be in order so they would be as a double page spread, which took me a while to
insure. I managed to work out the order, with the front cover and last page next to one another, and
from there I could visualize in my head putting the pages together on top of one another how it would
look. I printed out my fanzine a few times as I kept realizing pages in the wrong place, or had a
missing back cover. For my back cover, I drew a picture of a street in Italy and edited it making it
look watercolour. This for me brought my whole fanzine together as the color scheme worked
perfectly. Without printing out my fanzine and making mistakes I wouldn’t of realized this so I'm
glad I did so.

8.  Do you like the style of my drawings and the variety of abstract and sketches?
 I like the style of drawings because although they are quite simple they are very intriguing because you can see that you have put
time and effort into them with each individual drawings fro example on the page called artwork I really like the first drawing of the
house because it looks very abstract in the way It is sketched because the proportions look very different to each other. And I do like
the variety between abstract and sketches because it shows that you can do multiple things not just one kind of artwork.
 Do you think the interviews are interesting to read and keep you entertained as a reader?
 I like the interviews because you have written them as if you are directly talking to them with the speech marks, which I think is
something out of the ordinary, also with the interview I think that they are interesting to read because you go into a lot of detail for
each person that you have interviewed because you have left it short and snappy you included more because you are intrigued by this
subject matter. Also with your interviews you can tell that the people who you have asked know what they are talking about and are
also interested in the same subject matter as your are. Which means you have made sure you selected the right people
 What would you improve or take out ?
 Something which I think could be improved in your fanzine would have to be that for your interviews on the last one you have
capitalized the letter “I” in the beginning and made it bold where as you have not done this for the other two interviews and the final
improvement on the interview would be that for the second one you don’t know who you are asking as you have left out there name
unlike the other two interviews, but besides these improvements i don’t think that there is anything else that you could change or
improve.

9.  Do you like the style of my drawings and the variety of abstract and sketches?
When I first looked at the drawings, I didn’t realise you had drawn them yourself, they are that
good until I read that you had. You have an amazing talent for it. The drawings are amazing and
are colourful too so it keeps you looking at it longer. You can almost see the real place if you look
long enough at the drawings.
 Do you think the interviews are interesting to read and keep you entertained as a reader?
I was inspired by reading your interview and the rest of your text in your fanzine. You’ve done
something that it beautifully personal to you which is great which comes through from your
interview.
 What would you improve or take out ?
I think one thing to improve is maybe naming the pages something else except from ‘artwork’
You could name your drawings

10.  Do you like the style of my drawings and the variety of abstract and sketches?
 The abstract drawing are the most visually appealing as the bright colours attract attention, especially when
blended into each other. The use of the warm colours on the Gherkin sketch is also striking as colour has been
brought together with a building that is usually in cold colours. I like how the sketches focus on the main
apsects of the building or structure, the beams in the bridge and the domes of the Taj Mahal.
 Do you think the interviews are interesting to read and keep you entertained as a
reader?
 The interviews are interesting as they give a good insight into architecture and how much work is involved
into designing a building. The part about Venice was the most interesting as it somewhere that is acclaimed
for its buildings and its location, set in the sea.
 What would you improve or take out ?
 I would use less photographs as they detract from the drawings. I think that the photos of Venice work well as
they tie in with one of the interviews but overall they take away from the artwork in the rest of the fanzine. I
would also maybe change the way the interviews are laid out with different colour font or breaks in the
paragraphs so that it is easier to read.