"A Very Liberal Message"
(Postcard Design)
"History has it's eyes on you"
-Aly Dodds
-Aly Dodds
"They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself."
-Andy Warhol
-Andy Warhol
A Very Liberal Message
15.24 cm x 10.16cm (per postcard)
Digital Collage
October 2017
15.24 cm x 10.16cm (per postcard)
Digital Collage
October 2017
This design project was based off of the work of Aly Dodd's postcards, incorporating the qualities of pop art. Using hand-drawn images, and Photoshop to digitally edit them, a series of 6 postcards was created. These directly follow political opposition to the USA's Conservative preamble. Each postcard represents a belief I have, significant to liberal viewpoints, commonly seen at Reagan. This piece was made with the intention of people being able to take away from it (literally and figuratively).
Historical Investigation
“Andy Warhol Pop Art 60.” Bluesyemre, 28 Oct. 2013, bluesyemre.com/2013/10/28/munch-warhol-06-kasim-05-ocak-06-nov-05-jan-cermodern-art-popart-warhol-munch-cermodern/andy-warhol-pop-art-60/.
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“Aly Dodds.” Cloudinary, Cloudinary, 2017, https://res.cloudinary.com/format-magazine-production/image/upload/c_limit,w_1500,h_1000,f_jpg,f_auto/dpr_1.0/c_scale,w_870,h_580/aly-dodds-graphic-design.
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“Aly Dodds.” Cloudinary, Cloudinary, 2017, https://format-com-cld-res.cloudinary.com/image/private/s--otILgpcj--/c_crop,h_1201,w_1551,x_0,y_0/c_fill,g_center,h_882,w_1140/a_auto,fl_keep_iptc.progressive,q_95/v1/0307b0f8c4c0f5a19b6aca66ba005197/backs.gif
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Aly Dodds is an artist who created a series of postcard based off of her political viewpoints and the need to create a change. These were all aimed at Ohio citizens, and came pre addressed to select senators and members of congress, who she felt needed to be specifically addressed about their views. All of the postcards were hand drawn, and then printed and distributed to be sent out, hoping to insinuate change. All of her postcards are centralized on women's reproductive rights, leading to her color palette of pink and red, pink being associated with females. Her postcards have very unapologetically feminine features about them. Some read "No Roe. No Go.", "History Has its Eyes on You", and "Hello. I am Very Upset." There's a very blunt message about these which show her own personal beliefs that women should have all of their reproductive rights, challenging those specific political figures which do not agree with her. Her style of drawing is very similar to the pop art style. Works like Warhol and Lichtenstein were also made to convey a message about the perception of women, while also including the lack of shading in figures. Both Dodds and pop artists do not use shading in their works, as they create a more fictional character/concept. The style of Dodds is easily compared to that of Warhol as he outlines figures and creates shape through color. Her ideology is more closely related to that of Lichtenstein who focused more on the political views in society at that current time. Many of his works show females being over-sexualized, melodramatic, and a stereotypical beautiful in the eyes of society. The actual presentation of the work uses a series of Ben Day Dots, which is how he creates shapes in his work. Although pop art has few slight alterations in style, pop artists primarily focused on creating images like the work of Aly Dodds. The pop art style was used to create the works which were intentionally hand-drawn, but retouched in Photoshop to make them appear more digitally illustrated. The concept of challenging opposing political viewpoints was used from Dodds and the rebellion of pop artists to create postcards sharing my own beliefs. Majority of the ideas were directly influenced from the USA conservative party preamble from http://home.conservativepartyusa.org/national-platform/.
Sketching & Planning
Most of my sketches were used to create the postcards. I struggled to use some of the ideas, as their sketches did not have an issue that I could think of a way to phrase. I knew that I had to address certain issues, while others were more loosely structured. I knew that these images would cater to my beliefs, as well as majority of my classmates. As my classmates have taught me to be more accepting, I tried to create something that would display that. I considered doing something about Trump's border wall, as well as DACA (more current and direct issues), but these weren't used. I used my phone to trace a few images (Black Lives Matter and Marriage...). I also used highlighters to resemble the colors used by Warhol in Colored Liz (1963), which were later altered in photoshop.
Gathering Images & Experimentation
I gathered images which I could trace the human form. When beginning to research what issues I could address, my first thought was the issue of gay marriage. I also used "Hands up don't shoot" as a symbol for the "Black Lives Matter" postcard. The biggest struggle I had while making the postcards was how I made the back of them. I wanted to do a dotted line, but I was not able to do this on photoshop. I stuck to creating boxes for each instead.
Process
All of the postcards I made took a hand-drawn sketch, and were then edited digitally. They were originally supposed to be exclusively hand-drawn to be more similar to the style of Dodds, but their aesthetic was lacking. When Digitally edited, the colors were more clean and solid. This made them more visually appealing than leaving them hand-drawn. I used the swatch tool to first find the color that I used to color the image by hand, and then used that to color on the image. While coloring by hand I added a splash of color to each postcard with a highlighter. The vibrant highlighter quality was lost once scanned, and then edited, but the sense of unity remains throughout the pieces. The more pastel tones found throughout the series shows a more visually appealing side. It also contrasts the serious messages with a more light-hearted feeling. I used the color swatch tool to make sure the colors used in the postcards would match the back side.
Reflection and Evaluation
All of my postcards have a sense of unity. In 4/6 of the postcards, the image is repeated. This is used to fill the postcard, and reinforce the message. This combines the style of Dodds with that of pop artists. All of the drawings are colorful, commonly repeated, and convey a message against society today. These are all elements commonly seen in pop art. I also debated making them preaddressed to emulate Dodds, but I thought it'd be more interesting to leave them open-ended. This would allow for people to send them to whomever they wish to send them to. The message for all of these is a bold statement, which I'm happy to see progress in my art. I think I'm seeing my art evolve, and I enjoy being able to add the message that I want to. I'm not afraid to distribute my art and have people share the postcards, which is a development in my art and my growth as an artist. Through the process of creating the work I hand-drew things, like Aly Dodds did. Her work is very motivational and filled with passion about her beliefs.
Connection to the ACT
1.) The cause-effect relationship between my inspiration and I is clear. Both Aly Dodds and I focused on creating art which can be spread, with a political message. It's also similar to pop art as seen through the ideology, in which there is no superior culture.
2.) Doods' attitude towards the topic of my research was very similar. She exclusively focused on advocating for women's rights, while I broadened the research to multiple areas of political problems.
3.) While researching I concluded that in this world, there is a fine line of where politics separate us. This series was not made to try and convince someone to believe one way or another, but rather to show the difference. My own beliefs do not hold true for everyone, and that's just a part of how the world works.
4.) While researching I directly looked at the USA's conservative preamble, as I knew that I did not agree with most of their beliefs. I wanted to find a way to oppose many of their platforms, that I believe do not serve in the best interest for all people. This was inspired by Dodds' use of images to show the need for women's reproductive rights.
5.) Conducting research lead me to draw the conclusion that the issues addressed in my postcards will always have controversy. Although I may see these topics one way (with a clear liberal bias), I understand that not everyone will agree with me.
2.) Doods' attitude towards the topic of my research was very similar. She exclusively focused on advocating for women's rights, while I broadened the research to multiple areas of political problems.
3.) While researching I concluded that in this world, there is a fine line of where politics separate us. This series was not made to try and convince someone to believe one way or another, but rather to show the difference. My own beliefs do not hold true for everyone, and that's just a part of how the world works.
4.) While researching I directly looked at the USA's conservative preamble, as I knew that I did not agree with most of their beliefs. I wanted to find a way to oppose many of their platforms, that I believe do not serve in the best interest for all people. This was inspired by Dodds' use of images to show the need for women's reproductive rights.
5.) Conducting research lead me to draw the conclusion that the issues addressed in my postcards will always have controversy. Although I may see these topics one way (with a clear liberal bias), I understand that not everyone will agree with me.