My name is Shona Fraser and I am a foundation art and design student based in Chesterfield. I’ve had previous design experience through my A-levels (Product Design / Art) and The Engineering Education Scheme, in which I gained the Gold certificate after designing a prototype lifting mechanism for Chesterfield Special Cylinders. I have chosen to study graphics because I’m passionate about visual culture; I enjoy being able to help communicate a message to a viewer in a way which reaches the heart and mind rather than the restrictions of blunt information that barely engages its addressee. I want to study graphics at university so that I can gain the knowledge and skills that go beyond the limitations of foundation design, so that one day I can turn my passion into a professional career.
Here I have submitted a selection of work pieces that come from different areas which I have worked in across my foundation so far and I have included both sketchbook work to show developing ideas and finished solutions. So far I’m in the initial stages of my specialization into graphics and feel that I have progressed significantly in both my physical and digital image manipulation skills. Using Photoshop in the examples shown, I have created a series of clean cut designs along the theme of looking up, the reason I’ve kept the angles quite sharp is to reference to the geometric shapes of the buildings in which the theme is based upon. I have also included examples of life drawings, the pieces were finished in charcoal and black ink using through monoprinting; Life drawing has been a vital study for me as it’s allowed me to develop my observational / proportional drawings skills, which in turn has helped me greatly in my initial design stages within graphics.
