MIAD Illustration - Negative
|
Inner War
Illustration Board 25.4 x 38.1cm November 2017 (Left is the full picture, but poorer quality. Middle and Right are the top and bottom halves of the piece in higher quality.) Exhibition Text This piece is titled Inner War, inspired by the the illustrationist Norman Rockwell's War News. This is meant to be the second in a two part illustration project under a theme of Self-Conflict. This is a negative conclusion to the other piece, and portrays a man sitting in a bar, drinking his sorrows away and trying to reflect on better days. |
(Click pictures to enlarge)
Planning
InspirationIt was very challenging to brainstorm for both pieces of this project. In fact, it was not until 2 weeks before we had our progress check that I had decided on my inspiration for this work. For my negative piece of the two, I had taken a liking to War News by Norman Rockwell, a famous American Illustrationist. I had also taken a look into other artists such as Arthur Rackham and Coles Phillips, but decided against them in favor of Rockwell's higher detail. Seeing how realistic many of Rockwell's pieces inspired me to focus a lot on this and pay more attention to detail than I would have regularly. My theme that I have tried to settle on is Conflict. I wanted to branch off into more of a subtopic of Self-Conflict, depression or alcoholism for example. In this piece, I wanted to show the negative effects of alcoholism and depression on someone as their life progresses. I also wanted to take advantage of the fact that we would have two different pieces to try and tell a story that would combine them. I felt like I would be able to branch them together through that story.
|
(Click to enlarge pictures)
|
Planning Sketches
In this first sketch, I just did a (very) rough sketch of some of the art just to get a general feel for it. I did not plan to make it very realistic and just to test out some ideas. I am glad that I at least did this so I had a decent idea of how to do the people sitting around the bar, which I had still struggled with a bit on the final portion of it. The majority of my planning was done directly onto my board. While that may have not been the best way to do it what so ever, I feel that it had worked out for me.
|
This was also a very helpful sketch for this project. It helped immensely with creating this character (The man behind the bar). While it is still a very rough sketch in comparison to the other one, I think that the most useful thing that I gained from it was the help with the awkward angle that he is standing at.
|
Process
Experimentation
I did experiment quite a lot with this project on many different aspects. The main thing that I had tested was using a white colored pencil to help blend the colors on pretty much everything in this. The parts where this had helped the most was on the skin tones, the wooden bar top, and anywhere that I needed to lighten on area. An example of each aspect is shown on the right, left to right, in respect to the previous list. Another thing that I had experimented on was with using an eraser to lighten certain areas up and put some emphasis on some shaded portions. An example of this is with the black leather jacket and the blue jacket, specifically around the indented shadows of those two objects.
|
(Click to enlarge pictures)
|
Process
Process
Sketching: After I had finished my minimalist planning sketches, I then printed out a picture of War News and created a grid over it to assist in sketching the entirety of the picture onto the illustration board. This is a method that truly helps me when working on these types of things, as my hands can be very unsteady most of the time. I calculated the difference in the size of the grids, as I could not print out the picture to be the same size as the board. |
Drawing and Coloring: This portion of the process was definitely the most grueling and time consuming part of it all. That was partially due to the fact that we had to change the setting of the original piece to a more modern setting. I do feel that I was able to just that with this one for sure. The first things that I had planned to change were the people. I gave the left most character a baseball cap and a smartphone, and on that phone is a very small rendition of my positive piece. I then changed the person above him from a military officer to a biker and the person next to him into just a generic person. My favorite person that I had changed was the man behind the counter. I had decided to change the feeling of the original piece from a homely diner into a moodier bar, where my main character (the man with the blue jacket) has gone to drink his sorrows away and trying to reflect on better days. Because I had chosen to do that, I felt that the server should turn into my interpretation of a generic bartender. I then changed the floor to hard wood instead of tile, and the bar top into a nice "cedar" finish instead of a formica counter. Another honorable mention is the floor behind the bar, that I tried to make into the design of a plastic crate, which I had seen in a bar during my summer vacation. The final thing that I felt was necessary to change was the radio, which I turned into a TV, as to make it modern. I chose to not change the walls, cabinets, bar-stools, newspaper and plate, as I felt that it would still be important to keep a few aspects of the original art visible.
Reflection
This project has definitely been my favorite art project that I have ever done in my life. It pushed me more to actually be much more attentive to detail. On this piece specifically, the most difficult thing was getting so many different aspects to be in the same place as the original. My personal favorite things that I did on this illustration is the left most man and the flooring/bar top. The man is the first thing that I had created on this illustration, and I think that the pants look very good on this board. It is also the very first aspect that my eyes are drawn to when I look at it. The main reason that I really liked about the floor and bar-top are purely the colors that I had blended together. I overall just really enjoy the concept that I created for the projects as a whole. I think these two pieces have created the best correlation to my theme so far.
ACT Responses
1. Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork.
Norman Rockwell's art is created with very high amounts of detail, which I tried very hard to do and did to the best of my ability.
2. What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Rockwell did many different illustrations spanning multiple distinct topics over the years, including Conflict related pieces talking about WW2 or black oppression during the Civil Rights Movement.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Through my research, I discovered that a significant portion (more than I had originally thought) of the world population suffers from mental health issues and alcoholism.
4. What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The theme that I have been trying to stay with so far this semester in Conflict.
5. What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
In the end, I inferred that it doesn't matter who it is, it could be just some random passerby on the street; they could be struggling with diseases like depression and it needs to be taken more seriously.
Norman Rockwell's art is created with very high amounts of detail, which I tried very hard to do and did to the best of my ability.
2. What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Rockwell did many different illustrations spanning multiple distinct topics over the years, including Conflict related pieces talking about WW2 or black oppression during the Civil Rights Movement.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Through my research, I discovered that a significant portion (more than I had originally thought) of the world population suffers from mental health issues and alcoholism.
4. What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The theme that I have been trying to stay with so far this semester in Conflict.
5. What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
In the end, I inferred that it doesn't matter who it is, it could be just some random passerby on the street; they could be struggling with diseases like depression and it needs to be taken more seriously.
Bibliography
“The Art of Norman Rockwell - Norman Rockwell Museum - The Home for American Illustration.” Norman Rockwell Museum, www.nrm.org/collections-2/art-norman-rockwell/.