OBJECTIVES 2012/2013 (ORIGINAL AND RE-VISITED)

MY ORIGINAL OBJECTIVES 2012 

For me, drawing has always been about ‘escapism’.  When I read a story I read it for the pictures it conjures in my mind; dramatic, illustrative stills that pack in atmosphere, emotion and intensity. For me, there is nothing better than being able to visualise a world that is more surreal, more exciting, and most importantly, more ‘dangerous’ than the one I live in. This is how I immerse myself and create empathetic illustrations. I seek ‘adventure’ through ‘cautionary tales’ and for this reason I have decided to base my forthcoming authorship project on ‘escapism through cautionary tales.’ I hope that through this project I can remind people of the ‘true meaning’ of the tales of old, focusing mainly on the Fairy Tales of ‘Grimm’ and ‘Andersen’ and drawing out the hidden, adult, undertones of these stories. I am not afraid to push the boundaries of story-telling; I have no problem with being slightly daring, slightly dark and edgy with my illustrations because, ultimately, these stories, no frills, are dark and edgy! I am looking to challenge stereotypes and move away from ‘pretty pictures’ because that is something ‘I know’ I can do. I don’t want to limit myself to a particular audience because the question I am trying to answer is ‘are what we deem children’s stories actually age appropriate?’ Fairy Tales, myths and legends have always been a passion of mine and something I have wanted to experiment with creatively and for this reason I think I will be driven by these objectives. 

Over the years I have realised that ‘material’ or ‘inspiration’ can be found anywhere; that I can source my artistic escape through all kinds of media and I will need a wide range of skills to be able to do so. I believe I can learn a lot through researching films, especially the British, costume, melodrama’s of the early 1940's. It will be important that I practice costume and figure design; along with stance and expression as often as possible as these are key elements in the execution of character. In addition, these movies were ‘cautionary tales’ in themselves and I could remind myself of the story-lines and use them for ‘content’ as well as inspiration. I can draw on the stark, flamboyant style that is evident in the lavish sets, hyperbolic make-up and costume and use this to influence various aspects of my illustrations. One thing I know I need to improve on is my ability to draw scenery and background, I believe I can improve in all fields but character design and costume are the skills I have mastered the most. A good way to begin would be to draw interesting stills from these movies, looking at all the layers and proportions so I can practice putting a ‘picture’ together.  

When I have a good number of interesting drawings I will be able to experiment with story-boarding; as I am planning on working towards producing a set of polished illustrations that fulfill my objectives. I plan to do this by, firstly, experimenting with a wide range of media. My pencil case is packed out with crayons; felt-tips and Pro-Markers, graphite sticks and thick-fine-liners, so I really want to play with lots of different stories and styles and see what works and matches and what doesn't  I have already looked at the work of John Bryan, a movie concept artist from my favourite film era. Looking at such artists is really important in influencing my ideas for style, context and concept, so, I will continue with my artist research throughout the project (concept/costume/storyboard) to give my work and heightened credibility.

In conclusion, I would like to clarify my aims. By the end of this project I intend to have a set of at least fifteen polished illustrations that defer to the concept of ‘escapism through cautionary tales.’ Depending on my research, will I decide if this is to be in book or storyboard form.  I intend to achieve this through extensive practice at character, costume, set and scenery design. I will look at figure drawing, expression, history, film and literature and lastly various forms of story-boarding, settling on the most appropriate from for my aims and context.

Here is a generalisation of my objectives for September; although I have clarified 'what my project will be', 'why I have chosen it' and 'how' I aim to do it. I believe, I can set it out even more simply.

1: To research and explore 'cautionary tales' looking not only at the obvious 'Fairy Tales' but film, theater and narrative artwork.

2: To explore a sense of escapism through cautionary tales.

3: To 'de-glamourise' the fantasy world, the escapism I create should be such that there is a fine-line between the 'real'and 'surreal'.

4:To research story-boarding by looking at other artists, experimenting with a range of styles and media; finally demonstrating an understanding for that kind of storytelling.

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 going to atmospheric locations, doing observational drawings of appropriate buildings, landscapes etc.

6: Show an understanding  for appropriate costume but keeping it innovative and original. I plan to draw stills from film and Television, research into costume and  historical dress and practice my own costume drawing as often as possible.

7: To develop my figure drawing,taking influence from my life drawing lessons and doing as much observational drawing as possible.

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.

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.  

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

RE-VISITED FOR 2013

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.

9. My work must be acceptable for children to read but still push the boundaries. 

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.