Friday, 13 January 2017

Visual Narratives: Paper Cuts



I'm struggling with cut paper a little bit due to my visual impairment: I'm slicing all over the place it seems (I chopped poor pigeon's legs right off and had to reattach them!), and pritt stick, the invisible assassin, is getting all over the place making my work look unprofessional... Would PVA glue be easier to use? I could apply it to the back of my cut paper using a brush... Do the library stock thinner black paper? Would the blue sugar paper in the studio be easier to work with? The paper doesn't necessarily have the be black.

• After cleaning these up in Photoshop, I am really pleased with how they are coming along so don't want to give up on them despite cutting being a struggle for me. I need to keep going! Things aren't meant to be easy and this course is going to be more of a challenge for me more than anyone else, by default.


• After much playing around and experimenting here is a front cover I have created. While I like the paper cut process, the grainy texture, the hand-made fonts and use of silhouettes for simplicity... I don't think I am entirely happy with the characters. They actually look like Beatniks! I'm not sure if I even like the cover as a whole, elements have been simplified too much and nothing makes this cover exciting. I think there needs to be some decoration of buttons to show the flashiness and intricacies of the pearly suits. I need to go back to the drawing board of the character design as well - but I don't want to get too caught up with this aspect!


• I had a quick play around on my Wacom tablet to try and figure out what I want from my aesthetics here, as I'm finding it challenging to properly convey what I want. I would like a softer approach to the characters that can be achieved in a cut paper fashion. Do I need to consider rounder, shorter people to give a jollier visual? The tall, thinner ones aren't giving me a sense of charm and approachability!


• The softer shades of grey from the digital rough above are more appealing to me so I wanted to choose some muted tones. Do I want shades of grey and one or two colours? Would that confuse where the focus of the composition should be?


• While I'm absolutely in love with this aesthetic and the soft pastel colours, I just don't think it marries well with the book I'm wanting to create. I am making it more difficult for myself, as usual, so will stick with a monochrome palette. The thing I want my readers to focus on is the wonder of the Pearly outfits, not a character's cheeks or hair.

No comments:

Post a Comment