Project B- Visual Exploration

The Tyger Poem Visualisation Task
For this section of the brief, it's more the visual exploration side of the aspect of storytelling. The poem 'The Tyger' by William Blake, is one that we were given a quote* from to explore further in visual symbolism. I first of all produced a spider diagram and annotations on the poem to explore what my interpretations of the quote were in regards to the rest of the poem. In addition to this, I also made a small mood board in my sketchbook to represent my first thoughts, connotations and ideas in relation to the concepts and themes in the poem.
*"Tyger, Tyger burning bright, through the forests of the night"
Innocence and Ferociousness- Innocence and ferociousness are two contrasting main themes in the poem, the poet is questioning the creator of the world, God or otherwise, a higher power. The poet questions the innocence of a lamb in comparison to the ferociousness yet beauty of a tiger, and tries to comprehend how and why such a creator could create such a ferocious beast and yet such a good, and innocent animal as a lamb. In addition to this, the inclusion of blacksmith jargon shows symbolism of the God's higher power, the poet symbolises and relates God to a blacksmith with his 'anvil' and 'furness' to compare his creations to those of works of art or pieces of craftsmanship, instead of mistakes made.I also explored the aspect of dark and light tones within small mark making with acrylic paints, with red undertones, referencing to the blacksmith furness symbolism etc. 
Drawing, Painting and Stick& Ink
Having never have read the poem properly before, the first aspect I felt that the poem symbolised was a sense of good and evil, light and dark, with the tiger 'Tyger' representing a creation of evil, whilst the lamb a symbolisation of good.
Therefore, my first exploration of visual concepts derived from the aspect of good and evil, so I used minimalist tones of black and white to produce ink drawings and mark making as a starting point for the brief.

For the production of the mark making and experimentation with ink, I tried out different approaches than the usual, to begin to explore new techniques.
 I explored the aspect of using Indian Ink and a stick to produce loose and wild marks on the paper, and spreading the liquid through air, blowing through a straw. I felt these methods produced compositions that showed some sort of ferocity, with jagged lines and details, something I also felt the poet wanted to be conveyed in the metaphor with the tiger.
Symmetry through 'Snowflake' Technique

"What immortal hand or eye, could frame thy fearful symmetry?" 
Symmetry is a theme behind the poem I felt I could explore further, and within experimenting in my sketchbook, I recalled the technique of making 'snowflake' designs from paper, but decided to adopt it into more complex designs to represent Symmetry and design, alike cogs in shape, and furness themed colours of warm tones of oranges, reds and yellows.

Colouring and painting the paper I cut up first with acrylic paints and oil pastels, added the furness colours in the background, which I then used a compass to draw and cut out, and then cut the folds around the snowflake.
Overall, I like these compositions the best, as I feel they successfully symbolise the metaphorical aspect of the poem, which is questioning the creator being a craftsman, like the delicate forms that these paper outlines also symbolise. I produced a series of these cut outs, I feel the curved lines represent the aspect of innocence alike the lamb in the poems William Blake wrote, whilst the jagged, zigzag lines could represent the terror and ferocious nature that a tiger may symbolise.
Photography & Video
As well as wanting to represent the aspect of good and evil, I like the section of the quote that symbolises the fact that the tiger is something created beautifully and shines with deliberation. Relating to the 'burning bright', I took a few shots on my iPhone, as I knew this would produce blurred but bright light effects at night due to the low shutter speeds. Due to the project being given to us on the week of Bonfire Night, I decided that this was a perfect opportunity to explore the aspect of bright lights and blurs, luminous occurrences that link back to the furness references in the poem and the aspect of the Tyger burning bright and being seen in the dark forest.

I also did a short video clip of a firework going off to convey the brightness and luminous nature such a metaphor Blake wanted to present.
I have also applied a filter on top to add more of  a contrast for the light and dark aspect of the video.