Pop art

1. Induction Project
September 2019
CERTA L2 Developing Study Skills
By Daniel Morland

2. Task 1 – Research – Pop Art
• Pop Art was established in the UK and the United States in the 1950s, a
time of major social and political change.
• The art is typically of popular mass culture, advertising, comics and
mundane cultural objects, as if to exaggerate the current culture and
political sphere of the time.
• Block colours, contrasting black against more bold primary colours.
• Artists include: Peter Blake, Keith Haring, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein.
All whom are widely recognised as influential and true artists of their time.
2.4

3. Task 1 – Research – Web source
Pop art was a new movement of art beginning in the 1950s. Emerging
in the United Kingdom and United states specifically. The art itself
derived from popular and mass culture such as advertising and comics
along with other more mundane cultural objects.
As a new form of art, Pop art “began as a revolt against the dominant
approaches to art and culture and traditional views on what art should
be” - https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/p/pop-art
Unlike traditional art forms, Pop Art reintroduced more identifiable
imagery from Pop and Mass culture. These objects would typically be
recognised by the mass public as oppose to historical and political
events. Which traditional art was aimed towards.
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4. Task 1 – Research – Web source
Pop art “celebrated commonplace objects and people in everyday life.”
https://www.theartstory.org/movement/pop-art/ In a way, Pop Art
elevates the popular culture of its time to the level of fine art.
Overall, Pop Art aimed to blur the lines between “high” art and “low”
culture.
Being the 1950s, Pop Art would have a lot of influence from the post
war period of manufacturing and media “boom.” Most Pop Artists
Started their career in medias such as commercial arts like Andy
Warhol who worked as a highly successful magazine illustrator and
graphic designer.
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2.3

5. Andy Warhol. (N/A). Brainy Quotes . Available: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/andy_warhol_162032. Last accessed 10/9/2019.
Pop Art consist mainly of Black lines and the vibrant primary colors. In a way, the
black lines in the image are used to create a contrast to the primary colors on
the image exaggerating and intensifying them. Again as oppose to the more
contemporary art of the time. This relates to the rebellious nature of the art.
Speaking out against tradition and creating a new path for art itself.
“I love Los Angeles, and I love Hollywood. They're beautiful. Everybody's plastic,
but I love plastic. I want to be plastic.” – Andy Warhol. This quote from Warhol is
symbolic of his views not only in his art but with his views of the world around
him at the time. the 1950s consisted of atomic bombs, Nuclear family and of
course, Pop art. Plastics and other new materials were becoming available to the
general public. Toys like dolls and figurines were commonplace in a household,
and were usually meant to represent characters from comics or TV shows at the
time. By saying that people in places like Hollywood and Los Angeles are
“plastic” Warhol is referencing the fictional nature of the people around him, as
if they are plastic. The image in the top right is one of Warhol’s most famous
works of art and you could reference the fact that the woman does ‘look’ plastic
from the colors used to the perspective taken. Warhol is portraying his view on
the plastic society he sees before him.
Anon. (ongoing ). Cock it and Pull it. Available: https://www.popartuk.com/art/cock-it-and-pull-it-xe220-mini-poster.asp. Last accessed 10/9/2019.
Anon. (15/12/2017). An exhibition of American pop art opens in southern Seoul. Available: http://www.donga.com/en/article/all/20171215/1157158/1/An-exhibition-of-American-pop-
art-opens-in-southern-Seoul. Last accessed 10/9/2019.
Andy Warhol. (28/12/2013). Pop Art described . Available: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/pop-art-described-in-quotes-of-andy-warhol-and-roy-lichtenstein-images-for-students-
and-pupils-6386904. Last accessed 10/9/2019.

6. Research Keith Haring
being born in 1958, Keith Haring was in the midst of the
art revolution of Pop Art. When he Moved to New York in
1978, Haring began his art carrier by creating canvas art
along side urban graffiti chalk drawings in subway stations
was was seen, recognised and respected by the general
public of New York. Eventually it was everywhere from
public murals to nightclubs. Even though his art was basic
at first glance, each character and object had movement
and energy.
Politics surrounded Keith Haring. Specifically AIDS
awareness because he had the disease himself. But other
art pieces can be found to strike at the government and
other artists at the time (like Andy Warhol as “Andy
mouse”). Other radical political ideas that Keith Haring
had in his time was gay rights which in the 1980s was
unheard of.

7. Task 1 – Research – Book source
Pop art can be found in many forms. Varying from artist
to artist, however, they still retain a central theme of
bold colours and black outlines as seen. The black lines
are not always used to outline and define characters
and objects, but it can also be used to create depth and
texture in a character seen in the hair on the side. The
colours displayed are eye catching, easily recognisable
and is extremely noticeable. This style was new and
unique at the time it arrived, setting the bar of urban
art higher.
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Osterworld, T (1999). Pop Art. New York: Taschen. P73

8. Task 2a – Idea Generation [individual]
- Title: “motion” “Art” “Rhythm” “movement”
- Title and other information to be separate
- Political (Andy Warhol micky mouse, Crack is whack skateboard)
- Central image on page
- Minimalist design to capture the art in the purest form
- Art piece centred on the page, again to be the centre piece on the
advertisement
- Keith Herring art piece, as he was one of the most influential artists of his
time.
- His art involves movement and energetic characters and the poster should
either incorporate the style or display it in some way.
- Bland mundane/minimalist photo for the background.
- Attempt to make the art piece stand out and create a focal point.
- Bolder lines
Bland/ mundane photo
to capture the
comprehensive art piece Keith
Hering art
piece
Title
Other
information
As an idea, I wanted the poster
to be centered around Keith
Haring’s Art. I have centered it
to create a focal point for the
viewer. I have it centered for
the fact that the art expedition
will be about ‘Pop art’ and who
better to represent that then
Keith Haring. It should give the
viewer an idea of what they
should expect from other art
pieces in the expedition.

9. Task 2a – Idea Generation [group]

10. Task 2b – Action Plan/Schedule
Session Activity Who is responsibile
1 Book research Ali
2 Website research Me and Kai
3 Pop art and specifically Keith Hering research Me, Ali and Kai
4 Planning of poster design Me, Ali and Kai
5 Photo and editing for background Me
6 Final design/product Me
7
3.1

11. Task 2b – Action Plan/Schedule
3.1
For research, Ali went off to read about Pop Art in the college library
whilst me and Kai could research on the internet for information on
Pop art. Allowing for a higher range of information from more sources.
The background photo was originally going to be a bland wall. This is
because of the simple textured background but because it will be easy
to put text over it. However, after some thought I believe this could be
unrelated to the art piece and art exhibition itself.

12. Task 2c – Planning: style sheet
Pop art has many different styles and artists. Each piece of art
is different in its own way yet they continue to remain in the
Pop Art style.
A recurring factor for the pieces, is the colours used. Bold
“plastic” colours which are easily perceived at first glance.
Colours opposite on the colour wheel can be seen in the same
image. Colours like blue and orange can be seen in many of
Keith Haring’s painting. By doing this, the artists are reinforcing
the both complimentary colours brightness while also
preserving the colour balance on the image. Another example
is Andy Warhol’s painting of Marilyn Monroe. Colours like pink
and green can be seen to be demonstrate the colour contrast
mentioned. My poster should use this balance of “plastic”
complimentary colours to imitate the look of Pop Art.
Most of the Pop Art pieces have a black outline to define the
character or action on the image. The only exception of this is
Andy Warhol who tends to only define characters with
shadows.
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13. Task 2c – Planning: font
Pop Art font tends to swing more towards
“comic” font. This will be from the inspiration
that Pop Art got from comics themselves
around the 1970s when comics entered the
“golden age.” understandably, if comics were
the popular activity at the time for a
generation of course it attracted the attention
of artists at the time. So comic books and pop
art itself became intertwined with the font
they used. You could recognise the font from
comic books in pops at. And vice versa.
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N/A. (4/9/2019). Golden age of comic books . Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Age_of_Comic_Books. Last accessed 11/9/2019.

14. Task 4 – Production/Final Products
As a first mock up of my poster I was pretty happy with the result. All I needed to
do at this point was to add a non digital aspect to the poster. Like a photo or
another change which didn’t require a computer.
I added some characters around the edges to give the poster some more depth and
“motion.” originally I was going to just have the poster with a centre image
however I believe it wouldn’t have captivated Keith Haring’s movement and action
he puts into his characters and art.
A background photo has to be something which doesn’t distract the viewer from
what they should be looking at, which is the art and information. So, it will have to
be something which provides something extra yet it wont obstruct the viewer.
Something like the sky, architecture or nature. I chose to use the image on the left.
Taken on the 11/9/2019. As I discussed, it had to be something natural and not
distracting. So I took a photo of the sky.
Because of the blue colour, the text was obscured by the background in such a way
it was unreadable. So, i noticed that the text was easily visible behind a white
background. To imitate the white background, I faded the sky image in front of a
white backboard so the text isn’t concealed by the blue of the sky.
The last image on the right is my final product (the boarders around the side is an
artefact from Photoshop) In my opinion, the poster is finished. To add anything else
would spoil what is already there.
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https://danmorlandmediastudies.blogspot.com

15. Task 5 – Evaluation – Problem Solving
• 1 – Background photo: I had to take multiple photos to make sure I
got the right colour contrast so as not to effect the characters on the
poster.
• 2 – Text concealed – originally the background image of the sky faded
the title and other important information on the poster. To change
this, I faded the sky photo to become more transparent and as a
result the text became defined and easily readable.
• 3
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16. Task 5 – Evaluation – Working with others
• Choose three aspects of your production where you worked well with your team
and this benefited the project
• 1 – book research – without Ali, I wouldn’t have had as much time to do other
tasks. Dyslexia makes it more difficult for me to gather information easily. So to
assign Ali to book research would allow me to research in other ways. Like
website research for example.
• 2 – Website research – by having Kai research along side me, allowed me to
research a higher variety of subjects within Pop art as a whole. Like Andy Warhol
and Keith Haring.
• 3 – Poster design – individually, you can easily come up with your own designs
with your own features. However not everyone has the same thoughts and
designs. As a group you can share ideas and provide yours to the others. Allowing
for a more broader range of ideas and intern hopefully better posters.
1.2b

17. Task 5 – Evaluation - Feedback
• Discuss the feedback you received from your tutor during the project
and how you used this to improve the project
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18. Task 5 – Evaluation – Active Engagement
• Define active engagement in your studies and briefly explain how you
used it in this project
1.2a

19. Task 5 – Evaluation
Accessing and storing information
• Explain where the books/resources are for your area in the LC
• Explain how to take a book/resource out of the LC
2.1

20. Task 5 – Evaluation
Accessing and storing information
• Explain where to store electronic information on the college network
• Explain where you upload work when it is completed
2.1

21. Task 5 – Evaluation
Accessing and storing information
• Explain where to store electronic information on the college network
• Explain where you upload work when it is completed
2.1

22. Task 6 - How do you learn best?
• Explain some of the ways you think you learn best [refer to the VAK
questionnaire results in tutorial]:
1.1

23. Task 6 - How do you learn best?
• What makes it hard for you to study?
• What strategies do you think would benefit your studies?
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