Cartoon Modern has been intrinsic in helping me to develop my character design for this module. The range and breadth of images and illustrative styles have allowed me to think beyond what I believe I know about character design (which isn't a lot, and is mostly informed by my favourite children's books!). It has helped me to realise a different approach to my initial sketches and incorporate the modernist Cubist style - which coincidentally links wonderfully with the aesthetic of jazz music that I can hopefully portray in my character. Perhaps? Perhaps not? But it's a starting point!
There were lots of lovely quotes throughout the book that really got the cogs and gears in my head turning... "Use the language of animation to convey contemporary ideas and themes." "New mature brand of animated film." "Bold visual styles derived from modern arts, adapting principals of Cubism, Surrealism and Expressionism expanding and redefining the art form." "Walt Disney believes that character design should be 'live, individual personalities - not just animated drawings." and so on. Here are some of my favourite illustrations from the book:
Petroushka (1956) and The Old Man and the Flower (1962)
Saul Bass: IBM Commercial and Sun Detergent Commercialand John Hubley: unidentified commercial directed and designed by Hubley
The Hope that Jack Built (1957) and Walt Disney: Model sheet for Mickey Mouse and Trix Cereal Commercial
• I started by incorporating some of the shapes from the sound map and initial ideas pages.
• I struggled after this idea, so had to come up with different methods of problem solving! I used a dried up ink pen to make some light shadowy shapes and then used a red construction pencil to trace around the outline and add features to create some weird and unusual creatures which worked really nicely in making designs I wouldn't have come up with otherwise.
• I changed media often to try something else as I still felt a bit lost. A eureka moment was using watercolour with very minimal water to create some dry marks of different colours to make odd shapes and then drawing over the top with fine liner to create characters that way. I have cracked marrying design thinking, design doing and experimentation with different approaches - so have surprised myself a lot! These characters are really funky, odd, evocative and represent the jazz song well.
• I really played with iteration, repeating of ideas but changing proportions and trying different things each time to see what happens.
Have I created too many characters in my sketchbook? Is that a good or bad thing? There is a lot of choice so I can go back and select as many characters that I feel are interesting for my final five and have a story to tell with the music - but at the same time there is a lot of content born out of continued experimentation which will make my selection difficult. These are not the right ones for me, though! Am I being too picky? Maybe! But if this course has taught me anything it is not to settle for the first selections and to keep pushing, always.
In terms of next steps, I will now go back through my sketchbook and look at more simplified and charming characters that are going to be fun to animate and translate into different mediums. I will then develop with consideration of colour, media and materials.
One illustrator I want to look into further for this brief is Rob Hodgson, especially his Funny Buggers zine which I purchased for myself as a Christmas present. It's such a charming little publication full of simplistic, experimental characters using basic shapes and forms partnered with pattern and mark making. The fact that the book is printed in black and white values just adds to the simplification and adds a better spotlight on these characters being coherent together. Some really silly characters have been created with ink, cut paper and digital means and using basic shapes of squares, triangles, rectangles and circles gives it a childlike aesthetic with innocent implications. Such a great resource for my character design!
A lot of Jazz artists around the 80's, in the time of The Rippingtons and Weather Report, used to wear things like dark turtleneck sweaters with a gold chain, Harlem pants, loafers and geometric print jackets - shoulder pads optional. I may want to try and include some of these elements into my character design to really amplify the components of Jazz! There is a lot of repeated forms and shapes, geometric and angular, with a lo-fi aesthetic. Very bright and loud with limited, neon colours and noise / distortion.
Mind Map
Iterating some of the points I made in my initial briefing post, I wanted to start with a handy mind map just to get some ideas down of instruments used, feelings I have when listening to the songs, imagery that appears in my mind, comments on the tempo, tone, ornamentation, repeated motifs, instruments, arrangements, etc. Mind maps are always a good starting point for me just to build on from simple notes and add more arrows and ideas as they come.
Sound Maps
From the previous module, I found sound maps to be very effective when turning sound into visual representations. Already I am able to see clear differences in the shapes and marks I have used to describe the tone, pace, key and overall feeling in the song. These shapes and marks can be used to create initial character designs!
• The Lark Ascending has grand, sweeping gestures, intricate swirls representing the high notes, graceful wide shapes, ornamentation of wind and string instruments. I'm thinking of natural, graceful characters with long limbs and charming features. Purposely used a soft pencil, on its side, to capture the softness of the song and the atmosphere it creates.
• Together (Instrumental) shows a series of repetitive gestures and motions alluding to the electronic, computer-driven sounds that are repeated throughout the song. There is a fluidity alongside a geometric pattern
• Waterfall has angular, jagged, unusual and weird shapes making reference to the strangeness of this jazz piece; ranging from high to low notes at random points in the song, warm and comforting feelings to sad and lonely notes from the deep saxophone. There is an organic, jungle-esque feeling with tribal, aztec shapes and motifs appearing.
Initial Ideas
From the shapes and forms in the mind maps I have made a very abstract start on some characters' outlines. I need to keep pushing and iterating as I feel quite uncertain at this stage of where this is going to go... I am not someone who can whack out 20 characters with no thought at all. I need to consider what my intention is with my chosen song of Waterfall by Weather Report. Do I want to capture the strangeness? The unique atmosphere it creates? The jungle-esque mental imagery? Jazz Jungle?! Do I just want to portray jazz for jazz's sake? Jazz is cool!
I enjoy characters and find them very powerful - the distinctive ones throughout my life have stayed with me through their strong visuals. Matilda, Paddington Bear, Peter Rabbit, Mr. Blobby... All wholly tangible, real and my friends. When a character is designed effectively it really portrays their intentions with immediacy - to be comical, educational, unassuming, thought-provoking...
Designing my own characters is going to be a challenge and it is something I struggled with in my previous project when creating the Pearly Kings and Queens picture book. I got rather stuck at one point, looking to Ben Javens as inspiration while being careful not to imitate him to the point where my own intentions didn't show through. After refinement I was much happier with simplified shapes to represent characters. I am not the kind of person who sits down with their sketchbook and doodles different people and animals with exaggerated features in my spare time - which I think I need to start doing.
I am nervous about creating gifs and animating because of my severe visual impairment - understanding a static image can be hard enough, never mind a moving image! When I go to the cinema I have to use the audio description headsets because movement means flashes of colour, subtitles I can't read and objects moving at a speed that my singular, and very weak, eye cannot keep up with... I am up for challenging myself, I always am, but want to record my anxiousness and hope that is changes as I get stuck into the brief! Have fun! Be experimental! Simplification is amplification!
Three Songs
Weather Report - Waterfall THOUGHTS: I'm transported into a jungle surrounded by a series of jazzy creatures! There's a slight feel of longing or loneliness but I see splashes of colour and texture on jungle plants and tree bark, vines spiralling and curling outwards, as shadows hide in the lower vegetation.
CONNOTATIONS: It has an organic feeling to the song, there isn't really a sense of 'happy' or 'sad' - upbeat or melancholic - just an organic-ness and naturalness to it. It is very textured, multilayered, changes from higher notes on the saxophone to much lower ones. A deep bass giving a slight kick and twang. It is strange, mysterious, slightly tribal, fluid, hasn't a set composition, but is fascinating.
Ruff Skwad - Together Thoughts: This wasn't what I expected it would be! I quite enjoy this song after repeated listening and it transports me back to the early 2000's when this flavour of early Grime was prevalent in the UK Top 40, on the television and at people's house parties... The Artful Dodger, Architechs, Sweet Female Attitude and So Solid Crew come to mind! I see the mental image of a lonely character slowly shuffling down the dim street, deep in thought. Contemplating their life in a changing millennium. Possibly texting on their old Nokia 3210 or playing snake, going to a mates' house and refusing to do their maths homework. Am I getting too into this throwback? Probably!
Vaughan Williams - The Lark Ascending Thoughts: Despite the main image on the YouTube video being of a countryside scene, this is what came to my mind's eye too. I think of nature waking up for Spring after a wistful sleep during the Winter months. Graceful and majestic animals spreading their wings, peeking their long snouts from under their burrow, climbing to the tree tops, splashing from the rivers... Happy to receive the miracle of being alive.
Connotations: Peaceful, majesty, grace, vast landscapes, bird's eye view, sweeping motions, optimism, positivity, grandeur, ornamentation, decoration, warmth. This is a beautiful, charming piece of music, almost like a soundtrack with different suites or narratives in the song, it is very well composed and conventional in a way.
Reflection
What is my own intent for this module? For my time at university? As an illustrator in general? I want to push myself, surprise myself, learn new things, experiment, go out of my comfort zone and be comfortable with making mistakes and growing. The Lark Ascending is probably what I would have chosen right back at the beginning of the course, when I was still very set in my ways of creating images and approaching briefs - but now I want to do something different!
I have chosen Weather Report - Waterfall as it is totally unexpected from me. I want to create some wacky characters like nothing I have done before... I am not really a character artist, I have to admit, and it is something I can get caught up in and struggle with. I am excited at the prospect of filling up a sketchbook in the first week as I mentioned in my end of unit evaluation that I need to get working in my sketchbook more rather than just researching or blogging to solve problems methodically and solve problems visually too.
• What do we mean by depth in an image? How can this be achieved?
Depth is the illusion of distance and the 3 dimensional plane giving a sense of reality. It can be achieved by overlapping, sizing objects correctly (smaller will be further away, bigger will be closer to us), and arranging within a picture area or frame which may use cropping.
• Is depth only relevant to image makers who want to make 'realistic' artwork?
Not at all! Depth can be seen in anything from cartoons to children's storybooks, that don't want to evoke reality exactly but still want to give a realistic and interesting story to tell visually. The thumbnails in the handout, demonstrating the more realistic works, are reduced to negative shapes or outlines with a more illustrative feel and still give that sense of 3 dimensionality just because of the design theories they are indicating.
• What is line of sight?
Line of sight refers to the direction our eyes are taken when viewing an image, purposely imposed by an artist or designer so that we uncover the story in a certain way.
• What does line of sight do for your composition?
Line of sight can control where the viewers' eyes move to read the story and the centre of interest in the composition as a whole. The type of movement can also be conveyed.
• How does movement relate to line of sight?
Movement relates to line of sight through directional line; either moving us along smoothly and rhythmically or abrupt with a clash of lines. The movement will lead the eye but also give the atmosphere and feeling the artist wants the viewer to experience. Tangents will lead the eye away so lines must be moved away from each other to lead into the interesting area.
Critical Task
Image 1 by Laura Carlin: I love, love, love Laura Carlin and find this to be a really nice illustration - full of character and charm! The main focal point is the large sculpture to the left which fills the majority of the canvas and gives a sense of foreground. The mid ground and background are littered with figure sculptures getting smaller in size, giving a sense of depth and distance. These become darker as they enter the shadows. The viewpoint is rather strange, I feel, as I seem to be floating above and looking down on the sculptures, from the way I can see the plinths clearly. The background shows we are in a dark forest with a full moon, stars and trees - so this particular viewpoint matches the surreal and dreamlike scenario. A graveyard perhaps? There's lots of texture which becomes more prominent as the figures move into the distance. My line of sight, however, starts with the peachy-pink figure to the right and then moves to the larger white sculpture. Having a warmer colour surrounded by darker background helps to bring it out to my attention more so than the larger figure.
Image 2 by Miroslav Sasek: I absolutely love the whimsical work of Sasek and referenced him a lot when making my Pearly Kings & Queens picture book. This illustration is so full of movement; perfect for an underground station which buzzes with activity. The clever sweeping gesture of the tracks leads the eye up to the middle, just off centre, to meet the domed roof which graduated spirals outward to envelope the picture area. The walls are curved, bringing the viewer into the picture. There is just the right balance of black and white versus colour and depth is portrayed well through the use of perspective and objects going smaller into the distance. The line of sight goes straight to the centre-right where the track leads up to the curved ceiling, with the eye then exploring outwards to read the narrative.
Image 3 by Mobius: I really enjoy the different viewpoint shown here, through a bird's eye view to show the sweeping motion of the large bird - which is the main focal point, just off centre to the left. The wing pointing to the right leads the eye towards the smaller boats just above the waterfall. The larger cliff faces in the foreground pull the image together giving depth and distance as well as an 'S' shape - giving visual interest to composition, rather than the picture just being head-on. In terms of value and colour, the blue is much more saturated at the front and fades to white the further away it goes.
Practical Task: Over There!
I knew the perfect place to go for this task - the Blenheim Walk boardroom! As Student Governor, I spend a lot of time in here attending both Board of Governors' meetings and Learning Teaching Enhancement meetings. It has big wide windows to look out of and I knew I wouldn't be distracted by other students doing the same task. It was warm and cosy and I was treated to a cup of sweet coffee and the radio switched on to high capacity by one of the members of the Senior Management Team. Awesome!
Here are my initial roughs and sketches from my photographs giving consideration to angles, overlapping of objects pointing to a certain direction, depth, perspective and viewpoint - leading the eye to different areas to unveil the narrative. I toyed with the idea of including my pencil case, coffee mug, window edges and Guide Dog somehow in the final piece...
Process:
• I cropped the final version quite a few times on the guillotine to draw the viewer in even more than I had originally planned and give more focus to the central elements.
• I gave consideration to perspective and wanted to show my view from the first level; slightly from above but not too high above at a bird's eye view level.
• I used varying strengths of ink and a big brush so it could convey the rainy day, and allowed the ink to be loose and splatter as much as it wanted to to provide extra narrative.
• I used darker ink in the foreground and gradually watered it down in the background. This gives a really foggy, misty aesthetic which I really like and mirrors the fogginess on the window I looked out of. It is also an excellent device for giving depth.
Reflection:
• If I had more time, I would have liked to print this out in multiple layers and turned it into a clearer diorama of sorts - just to give the illustration more of a three-dimensional look. It did adhere to the brief of having multiple layers placed onto another. Would it have been better as a three dimensional piece supported by a paper frame?
• Adding Tami was an after-thought to give the illustration a little bit of whimsy and narrative (as she was snoring on my foot when I was prepping my roughs in the Boardroom!) and my peers responded to it really well. In hind-sight, I feel it may be a bit of a distraction to the overall piece? Would it have been best to leave it out?
Here is my final book! I am so pleased with how it has turned out. It isn't perfect, by any means, but it has allowed me to challenge myself out of my comfort zone and really get to grips with cut paper and InDesign - two things I really wanted to tackle. On reflection, I think I have had a lot of successes during this module, despite personal problems away from the course, and am proud of my planning, thorough research, organisation and determination to keep going and pushing ideas - no longer accepting the first idea and the first rough. I can reflect more on my end of module evaluation sheet but wanted to jot down a few initial thoughts!
