FMP: 2011

I have chosen to make a book for my FMP as I want to show a wide range of projected texures & patterns & by making a book rather than prints, this will keep it much neater & easier to view. I have decided to name my book 'Visual Texture' as I think that it fits well with my subject matter.

Some research into the meaning of 'Visual Texture' -

TEXTURE
Textures range from the smoothest polished mirror to the roughest mountain range as seen from an airplane. The term is often misused to refer only to rough surfaces but this is not correct. All surfaces have texture.

A designer recognizes that different textures can affect interest in different ways. Some surfaces are inviting and some are repellent and so are the textures that suggest those surfaces. Using different textures can increase interest in a composition by adding variety without changing colour or value relationships.

While texture can make an image more interesting it is not a strong enough element to be useful for organizing a composition. Value and colour contrasts are more efficient at that.

The two kinds of texture are:

TACTILE TEXTURE
Tactile means touch. Tactile texture is the actual (3D) feel of a surface. This is of paramount importance to three-dimensional design but of only moderate interest in two-dimensional design.

The actual surface texture needs to either be felt, or seen with light raking across its surface to make the texture visible. Painters are most likely to take advantage of this to give their painting's surface a lively look. Paint can be built up into rough peaks in a technique called impasto. Vincent Van Gogh is famous for this. Some painters add sand to their paint to make more tactile texture.

Collages can use textured paper and other three-dimensional materials (like string, cardboard, sandpaper, etc.) to make a tactile surface.

VISUAL TEXTURE
Visual texture refers to the illusion of the surface's texture. It is what tactile texture looks like (on a 2D surface). The textures you see in a photograph are visual textures. No matter how rough objects in the photograph look, the surface of the photograph is smooth and flat.

Both types are important to the designer, but in 2D art, the illusion of texture is used more than tactile texture.

When photographs are used for collage materials, texture starts to take on more importance. Now you can use the illusion of many different textures, as well as the colours and objects in the pictures. This is one of the things that make collage such a potentially powerful technique. What you lack in control and versatility is more than made up by the rich variety of colours, textures and images that are at the your disposal. Collage allows someone with modest technical skills, and no drawing skills, to create a sophisticated image.

Texture is one of the more subtle design elements. It can make an image richer and more interesting, but is not likely to save a poor composition all by itself.

http://daphne.palomar.edu/design/texture.html