WHAT ARE MY OBJECTIVES? WHY ARE THESE MY OBJECTIVES? WHAT SKILLS WILL I NEED? WHAT IS MY STRUCTURED PRACTICE? WHAT IS THE ACTIVE PROCESS? WHAT IS MY PROJECT?
I HAVE ADAPTED MY OBJECTIVES OVER CHRISTMAS BECAUSE I HAVE MANAGED TO DEFINE MY PERSONAL PRACTICE EVEN MORE SINCE SEPTEMBER
A Proposal/ Manifesto for Authorship 2012/13-giving myself something to work towards within my personal practice.
I HAVE ADAPTED MY OBJECTIVES OVER CHRISTMAS BECAUSE I HAVE MANAGED TO DEFINE MY PERSONAL PRACTICE EVEN MORE SINCE SEPTEMBER
A Proposal/ Manifesto for Authorship 2012/13-giving myself something to work towards within my personal practice.
Storytelling is what drives me as an Illustrator. I grew up reading Fairy-Tales, the works of the Bronte Sisters, Jane Austen. Books that were full of fantastic characters that captured the imagination. Such storytelling does not just inspire empathy, it transports your straight into adventure and therefore, surrealism and fantasy can be found anywhere and this is what I like to remind people with my work. Romance, danger and wilderness are all around, even if they just occur in the imagination-they are an obtainable source of escape.
I take great heed from Illustrators such as John William Waterhouse, Edmund Dulac and Arthur Rackham because I believe I share their motives. They succeed in walking that fine line between fantasy and reality by grounding all fantastical concept with an Illustrative realism, or correctness. They generally accomplish this by producing accurate figures, well cited background and so we can engage. This is what I need to learn and practice; the work I want to produce will echo that of the 'Golden Era' and background and setting are important in achieving this. I must, therefore, be prepared to go out to different locations and record place and atmosphere that can be used to cite my work. This is what fairy-tales were about, walking that fine line between fantasy and reality whilst grounding themselves in their motive to be 'cautionary,' a motive I share. The idea that people, especially children, have, for many years, responded to quite sinister and sometimes brutal tales to teach them 'right from wrong' is something I want to explore, by pushing the boundaries of what is 'acceptable' for children to read. Character and costume design will be key; Character being the most important element of design for such stories to be emotive.
There can be great sense of escapism gained from emersing yourself in a fairy-tale and its pictures. This I think is something that is becoming outdated, and so I need to create the next generations Fairy-Tale Illustrations and this is definitely what my personal practice is about. I will look to feed my illustrations with legitimate sources, whether it be ancient myths and legends, the works of the 'Grimm Brother's' and 'Hans Andersen' or the Gothic novels of Bronte and Shelley not forgetting the 'great fairy-tale Illustrators!' Rackham, Dulac, Beardsley etc. The most important thing is that I keep drawing and take in anything that can be useful to my work.
SKILLS CONTENT OBJECTIVES
My objectives
have not altered a great deal, even though I have altered my proposal, however,
it is important to re-visit them so I know exactly what I need to aim for. I
have compiled a list of bullet points that can easily be referenced and I have
also specified this in terms of SKILLS, CONTENT and OBJECTIVES; the three
principle elements of my personal practice.
1: To explore 'cautionary tales' through
Illustrative means, looking not only at the obvious 'Fairy Tales' but taking
inspiration from movies, film shorts, T.V, novels, short stories etc.
2: To strive to always achieve a
sense of escapism with my Illustrations.
3: To 'de-glamorise' the fantasy
world, the escapism I create should be such that there is a fine-line
between the 'real' and 'surreal'.
4: To story-board in a range of
styles and media and demonstrate an Illustrative understanding for that kind of
story-telling.
5: Show an understanding for the
pairing of foreground, background, set and scenery (proportion , perspective
etc.) in the general creation of a whole 'picture' or 'frame.' I will achieve
this by drawing on location and from observation.
6: demonstrate an understanding of
appropriate costume whilst keeping it innovative and original. This
can be achieved by drawing stills from film and Television, looking into
extremes like stage costumes and other practitioners work, also practicing
costume drawing often and to a brief.
7: To develop my figure drawing
skills, taking influence from my life drawing lessons and locations
drawing.
8. To teach and remind people of
the true Gothic meaning and atmosphere of the old
well-known cautionary tales and use this as a vessel for adventure
and escape.
OBJECTIVES:
(SEE ABOVE) To sum up I want to explore the escapism
that can be achieved with fantasy and fairy tales, whilst modernising them to
create story’s for the next generation. I also aim to demonstrate a great understanding
for Historical accuracy (fitting for purpose) in terms of setting and costume.
To achieve this I must explore how the walk that fine line between fantasy and
reality, so the images I create are close enough to home to be believable but
surreal enough to offer an obvious escapism.
CONTENT:
Specifically the content of my work should always revolve
around typical Fairy tale/ narrative stereotypes, ‘the hero’, ‘the loner’, ‘the
damsel in distress,’ ‘the wise woman’ and so forth. My work should aim to
capture fantasy and fairy tale in whatever era the brief calls for; as long as
the content is not lost time and setting should be irrelevant. My work should
be always be costume and character driven and demonstrate a good amount of
development to be appropriate and correct.
SKILLS
Life drawing and observational drawing are going to
be two main skills I need to ensure my drawing does my ideas justice. I will
also need to experiment with a wide range of drawing media, pencils, paints,
ink and printing. My content and objectives calls for polished drawing technique,
so I must develop my skills in this way to achieve this.
Summer Work: Looking at character stereotypes and linking this with cautionary tales; whilst trying to focus upon modernism and originality
Years ago I would rush home from school, literally bursting with ideas because during the monotony that was 'maths' or 'science' my mind had wandered. The lined/squared paper of my work book made a poor canvas for my visions (and I was being constantly reprimanded for my tenancy to doodle!) so I had to save up my ideas until three fifteen. Drawing was for me, that ultimate escapism, a pathway to perfection, and being a notorious perfectionist, it is and was the only way I could truly achieve it.
Over the years, however, I have been trained. At GCSE I was given free reign of the course, with little guidance and, although I believed this a good thing and practice helped me to improve, I do not think I thrived. In my first year at college, I was pushed, removed my from comfort zone. My 4B pencils and coloured pencils were replaced with Biro's and watercolour's and I learned to be more expressive and less precious with my artwork. This was, technically, the most important thing I could have learned (and it was learnt in a classroom with one media cabinet and a bucket for a sink!).
Despite all of this, I still have to draw something detailed occasionally. Quantity has become an important element of my course, so I have learned to 'scribble well.' This can be useful for sketchbooks and visual research but I cannot help occasionally setting aside a day to draw something really 'good.' Or I find my work becomes stifled. I still, however, stick to a theme, so my time is not wasted and the work can be incorporated into a project. At the moment, I am fascinated by the story of Snow White and have been looking into the History and characters. This is a brilliant story to practice character development and work with colour, costume, composition etc.
Snow White Character Sketches:
Colour swatches and face sketch, considering different subdued colours for my design.
Pen sketches, looking at texture and costume, trying to put a twist on the typical S. W costume
Snow White is effectively a corpse and if I was looking at the story subjectively I would say this is a really sinister connotation-explored in this image.
Snow White in two colours. Different time periods to inspire costumes. 20's, medieval/70's and modern. The left work the best because it is highly original.
Looking at the stereotype of the Trickster- an alternate version of S. W. in which she gets a potion from Rumpelstiltskin to forget her Prince Charming. Sketch of the TV episode.
Now the original story, looking at how the colour red can be used. I like the shawl, I thought it may be too much but draws attention to the danger.
Snow White Without Background, using colours from experiments. New and modern take on costume that I am pleased with.
Final Image: I think this shows everything I have learned over the past nine month, composition is something I have always struggled with and I have learned I work better with white space and this image exploits it.
Looking into the original story, I found out that the Brother's Grimm collected the story of Snow White from Germany in 1815. Like all of their fairy tales, Snow White was a very old tale that had been passed down throughout history as folklore or legend, they simply put their own twist on the story and named it 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.'
Snow White is a story about Vanity, jealously, corrupted beauty and is , of course, a 'cautionary tale.' I Like to look at the metaphor's of this story; the beautiful red apple laced with poison, the comparison of Snow's features (white skin [innocence] but blood red lips and ebony hair [symbols of darkness, passion, danger]). The fact that these features have always been of such importance and a story element not lost is important and not to be ignored. Snow White, is not your typical fairy tale princess! For want of a better word, she is 'edgy' and she is flawed. The story always hyperbolises the Queens vanity but what about Snow White's vanity? She could not resit the beautiful comb and ribbons or the blood red apple and each time she did not learn her lesson. And so it is a two way streak, in the Disney movie we are made to believe that Snow is caught out because she is innocent and see's no evil but this is simply not the case! This IS a cautionary tale, but it is Snow White whom the reader must learn from, the Queen is simple the antagonist!
The next in the series to snow...this one wasn't as successful, the proportions are slightly off so I need to either rectify this or change the dimensions (crop to a portrait shot etc.)
And so, I tried to capture this in my drawing, I used ink and watercolour for stark colour, emphasizing the red and black. My Snow is edgy because it suits my vision but I left a touch of innocence in there for good measure!
One day, I will have to move away from my obsession with Fairy-tales, however, ABC's Once upon A Time is simply fueling it! It does provide me with some good drawing materiel though, especially in terms of archetypes. I can take any character from the show and link them with a stereotype. I also find drawing movie stills extremely beneficial because they help me think in terms of a 'picture'. 'Mise En Scene' is done beautifully in 'Once', the costume, the scenery, the lighting and so drawing, and taking inspiration from it adds to my repertoire. I have drawn two storyboards to represent a scene from episode three 'Snow Falls.' This is one of my favourite episodes and, most importantly it is the episode which, I believe, offers up the most example of typical 'storytelling' archetypes. Here, we see rivals for the Hero/Heroine (Snow White/Prince charming). However, they also symbolise others; Snow is a loner, and in this scene, Charming is the Trickster.
Based on ABC's 'Once Upon A Time'
EDUARDO CASTRO
'Once Upon A Time's' Costume Designer: His visions are similar to mine in that he appreciates and respects the classic Fairy-Tale and even Disney customs but puts a very EDGY twist on everything he creates: These are his Designs for Regina the Evil Queen. He uses signature colours (Red and Black for the Queen/White and Brown for Snow White).
These images show how you don't have to draw something particularly detailed for your vision to come across.
His Creations on the Screen:
His creations work for a modern setting, this is what I try to achieve, the fairy tale illustrations should be classic but modern and interesting (which means slightly edgy) to appeal today.
Continuing with OUAT/storyboards, character Stereotypes and Character Sketches
SUMMER PROJECT STEREOTYPES WITHIN STORYTELLING-GEARED TOWARDS AUTHORSHIP AND FAIRY TALES/CAUTIONARY TALES
1ST FEW IMAGES ARE SKETCHBOOK NOTES, IDEAS, TALKING ABOUT MY OBJECTIVES AND GEARING THEM TOWARDS THIS ELEMENT OF MY PRACTICE.
The Child- a stereotype of Fairy Tales. Red Riding Hood, Snow White and Rose Red. Lots of Fairy Tales Feature a child because its all about learning lessons. So children (who are the main audience) have someone to empathise with. Below: The child from OUAT, Henry is the perfect modern day stereotype.
Rumpelstiltskin: The Trickster, or the 'antagonist', he is an interesting character because, even though he is the natural 'bad guy' he also has a back story that makes him sympathetic. This was a mixed media sketchbook page: I just wanted to capture his character quickly.
Catherine from 'Wuthering Heights', I like to consider W.H like a Fairy Tale because it has all the elements of one with an intense Gothic twist. I drew onto a pre-prepared page and use pen and ink to create ghostly see-through image.
Taken from the movie/musical 'Joseph and his technicolor dream-coat'. The narrator is like the minstrel characters of old.
The Fairy Godmother: Usually present in some form in Fairy Tales-like a modern day guidance Councillor.
Character concept for the little mermaid. Based on tropical fish as opposed to the typical mermaid stereotype (scales/bra-top etc.)
Storyboard continuation of 'The Child', looking a background and context; something I need to work on.
The Hero: looking at mark making with ink and felt-tip, also mixed-media with words and phrases.
The Child-another stereotype-the ghost. using blank/black space.
THE WISE WOMAN: scene from the little mermaid-looking at mark making the use of watercolour to depict water.
Putting real people into character stereotypes (commission-mixed media) photograph and watercolour
Another Beauty and the beast idea-role reversal, chance to try felt-tip and develop background.
Costume and Uniform
Character and Costume development: Based on the work of Eduardo Castro.
A piece taken from a sketchbook on Uniforms-drawn from life and gearing towards a modern day fairy tale story.
The Little Mermaid costume idea -was going to be about the background but became more about the costume. I had to try and convey a mermaid without the stereotypical fish' tail, so I had to think about texture and pattern and how this could be reminiscent of the sea/scales.
ABOVE: EXAMPLES OF VISUAL NOTES/IDEAS/UNFINISHED SKETCHES THAT WILL LATER INSPIRE FINISHED PIECES.
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