For assignment 3 (Specialist Case) you work individually. The starting point is a specific aspect in the Campaign field. In the end you will deliver three campaign images with a well thought out substantiation.
CHOSEN DISCIPLINE
Why this choice ?
I wanted to focus on a more abstract style of illustrating only using 2-3 colours/values. Perhaps using the Riso printer? I was inspired by the visual sequencing workshop and I hoped I could work further on it.
In the future I hope I would be hired for my ability to do all kinds of styles.
For the technique I believe I will draw it by hand and block in the colours in Illustrator. I would like to learn how to use Photoshop more but I don’t think I have time for that so I would rather stick with something I know. The challenge in this case for me is trying a new illustrative style and i think that will already take enough brain power from me.
Feedback:
Lars suggested that I look into Mexican cartoons and Japanese styled illustrations. Just start storyboarding and it will be alright!
Research you need to do
I need to look at different kinds of cartoons and illustration styles and draw inspiration from them. I want to do something a bit more artistic and I want to make my own thing.
Your strong points in this field and points where you can improve
I chose illustration and comics for this Case. I like illustrating and I have a lot of trust in myself that with enough of time I can create my vision, because I can just keep perfecting it until I’m happy. It’s a good and bad thing because sometimes I can edit something that might be a little unnecessary when I should move on to other things but I’m also grateful that I have the patience to edit something to make something I’m really proud of.
I think comics are a really cool art form and a way to tell stories. You can see the characters reactions and the worlds they live in. Combining text and illustration complement each other to create a deeper experience. Storytelling is something I’ve tried to improve over the course of this module on many of these exercises. Usually I draw singular pieces and I want to be able to expand those worlds!
RESEARCH PHASE
I tried to search for mexican comics but I didn’t really find the things I was looking for. I found this comic Hombres y Heroes and I absolutely hated the style haha!
The style reminded me of my dads Tex Willer comics, which I actually a comic I remember fondly but it wasn’t the style I was looking for this project.
Examples of work from artists in this discipline that inspire you
Mexican and Japanese artists
Frida Kahlo
Mexican artist Frida Kahlo is remembered for her self-portraits. I look up to her for being so bold in her artwork, every time I look at her work I can almost hear her screaming. Her work is very symbolic. Her relationship with her body, life, pain and passion.
Diego Rivera
Mexican painter Diego Rivera helped establish the mural movement in Mexican and international art. Rivera was a new one for me as I started digging for Mexican artists.
His work is also symbolic, I like the way these flowers are so chunky and the stems are huge. It gives them a bit of a cartoon feeling. The people carrying them seem tired from the work although the colours and style give it a poetic and almost light feeling.
Hokusai
Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai was a known woodblock print artist from the Edo period.
His work is iconic and beautiful. I think part of the reason why his art is so timeless is because of the beautiful and strong compositions.
My own finds for inspiration
Tintin
Tintin is a world-famous comic series, created by the Belgian cartoonist Hergé. It is a humorous, fast-paced, mystery comic.
I really enjoy how the characters are written and the dynamics between each other, they are silly and quick witted. All the squiggles and little details are filling within the pages keeping the readers on their toes and inspecting every panel.
Studio Ghibli
Japanese Studio Ghibli is one of the most influential animation studios in the world. Founded by directors Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata. Common themes in these movies are childhood, worlds within worlds, mythology and environmentalism. These movies have a special place in my heart.
The worlds in these movies are truly beautiful, full of funny looking creatures and interesting details. The way the characters move and react to each other is *mwuah* delicious.
Alphonse Mucha
I love the Art Nouveau/Jugend style. In architecture, interior design and Illustration style! One of the styles key points is having multiple layers to guide the eye. It has many beautiful nature themes and organic shapes. It’s whimsical and decorative and truly the viewer to another fantastical world.
Alphonse Mucha was a Czech artist whose name is synonymous with the Art Nouveau movement. He illustrated women that look like goddesses with beautiful botanical and decorative backdrops. I like his work with the four seasons and illustrating the moon and the stars as goddesses. That kind of work is always very inspiring and interesting to me. Seeing what seasons, feelings or plants would look like as humans is so beautiful and exciting.
What are your first ideas about what you will make ?
I wanted to make a comic showing that the way you talk to yourself creates your reality.
If you give into negative thoughts and talk to yourself in a mean way those are the things you are going to pick up from your surroundings. On the other hand, if you make an effort to speak to yourself kindly and to see the positive sides those are going to be the things you see more clearly.
I want to draw the same situation happening from two different perspectives. One character sees life through a happy, grateful lens and the other through sadness, anger and jealousy. On the third comic page I want to bring the two characters together to show their opposite attitudes.
FIRST SKETCHES
Feedback
- Define story more clearly
- Use fairytales for inspiration
- More dramatic difference in perspectives
- Use different styles for different moods
- Use different colours for the different moods
After the feedback session I tried to figure out the story more clearly but I was feeling stuck because I didn’t know how I should connect the two characters in the end. I realized I was overthinking and the concept was quite spread out and I needed to simplify it for the final executions.
PROCESS
2nd round of brainstorming
I love nature and fantasy elements and I decided that I wanted dive into that.
Which methods/techniques do you want to work with?
During my exchange I bought a small set of coloured pencils to try out for sketching. I feel like I’ve been using the computer so much for school work I wanted incorporate more traditional art to my skill set.
PROCESS
Characters
This comic has three characters. Two emotions Joy and Hurt and a dragonfly to represent Life. I wanted the emotions to have their own colours and flowers to represent them. This way it can show the emotions of the characters even more clearly by having their surroundings reflect how they feel inside.
Joy and Hurt
The happy flowers are straightforward, shooting up to the sky, reaching for the sun and the sad flowers are curling into themselves, feeling hopeless.
The character Joy has light green, turquoise and light pink the character Hurt has darkish red, olive green and dark blue as their colours. I used yellow for both characters highlights.
Life
From the very start I knew that I had to have something for both characters to react to. First I thought I would give both characters their own insects like a butterfly and a moth for example.
When it came time to make the third comic page I wanted to tie these characters together more so I thought that using only one insect would be better. I wanted this insect to represent life.
Dragonflies represent resilience, reflecting on your thoughts and finding strength and happiness from yourself so I thought that was perfect for my message on this case.
The dragonfly is dark blue and yellow. I wanted the dragonfly to stand out from all the reds and greens and thought i’d keep it simple.
Comic page panels
I wanted to draw inspiration from Art Noveau framing. They are always so squiggly and organic like tree branches or smoke. I wanted the frames to be the flowers the characters were identifying with or personified as. I wanted the characters to pop out and break the composition. I didn’t want this cartoon to be the most traditional type of box panels.
Third poster/comic page
I wanted the third poster to bring both emotions together to show that life is a blend of joyful and difficult moments. First I thought of bringing their hands together with the plants and having the dragonfly as the main focus but then I thought the hands were too corny. I ditched the hands and thought I would only have the dragonfly in the picture.
The whole ensemble
I thought it would be nice if the dragonfly of life traveled through the pages past both of the emotions and in the end would go rest in the blend of the emotions.
Text
It was important to combine text with the illustrations to really bring the feelings out more concretely. So when someone who doesn’t know the process behind this case will still understand it.
The texts are kind of reminders for the reader, because everybody goes through fluctuating emotions of joy and hurt.
TIME ENTRIES
I used an app called Toggl Track to time how much time I used for this case.
| Activity | Hours |
| Sketching base | 10,33 |
| Coloring | 38,09 |
| Wordpress | 10,33 |
| Scanning and editing | 5,42 |
| Total | 64,57 |
FINAL EXECUTIONS
Life the dragonfly flies past Hurt and Joy to show that moments are fleeting and even though we might not have control over a situation we have control on how we react to them.
