How do illustrators amplify the meaning within a message

How do illustrators amplify the meaning within a message?

I am going to be comparing two interpretations on “Alice and wonderland” the movie version directed by Tim burton compared to the game “Alice” that was produced in 2000 by American McGee.

  Alice in wonderland is a 2010 adventure film based on the famous novel written in 1865. This is based on 19 year old Alice returning to the “underland” after being there when she was 5. The movie is based in a futuristic dream with all these unusual yet astonishing creatures.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3o-19MnWlUc

 The game “alice” is also based on the novel “alice’s adventures in wonderland “ and “through the looking-glass” only this game is a completely different interpretation, the game is set in a more old, cynical, scary and eerie scenery.  This version is based on a nightmare rather than the movie version where it is a dream. American McGee has managed to convey a darker and more sinister interpritation by using dark, ominous, gloomy colours, the characters are all evil creatures.

Story Development

Story Development -  Three Act Structure

Jean-Luc Godard - "Every movie needs to have a beginning, a middle and an end, but not necessarily in that order"

The three act structure is based on 3 criterions

Criterion one – Protagonist – this is the person or thing that stands in for the viewer this can be subtle but there is nearly always one there. Movies normally begin with a basic story to give us an understanding of what is the “norm” in the movie is also introduces the protagonist to help us establish our views. The protagonist is the person who makes a choice that leads us to the main action a prime example of this would be in the movie Avatar…

Jake Sully (the protagonist) was a paraplegic Marine. After finding out that his brother who was involved in an experiment in another world called Pandora but got killed in a robbery. He decides to take his place. In exchange for surgery sully needed to fix his legs he agreed to help gather intel for the military unit.  

Criterion two – Equilibrium – this is where there is balance, this doesn’t always mean it is good but it’s the normal state for the subject, in the middle of the movie this tends to get disturbed and starts a sequence of events, the crisis. In the chosen film this is where jake sully takes on an "avatar" identity and goes through a series of events in order to become part of the Na'vi tribe to get the intel the military are wanting but the restless Colonel moves forward with his ruthless extermination tactics, forcing the soldier to take a stand - and fight back in an epic battle for the fate of Pandora

The third criterion is that the 'outer story' is usually accompanied by an 'inner story' in which the protagonist changes or grows emotionally, phycological story. This is sometime formed in some sort of romance or change of view on there outlook on life. This is the case in the movie avatar when Jake starts to make a strong bond with the native tribe and starts to fall in love with the beautiful Neytiri.

In the end the actor comes to rest, balance is restored but in a different situation. Its about getting things back to a sense of order By the end of the film the characters come to rest in a new, different state of equilibrium, Avatar is a prime example of this, after the war Jake gets changed and welcomed into the na’vi tribe as one of them.

Story Development - Character Design:

There is always a lot of thought that goes into designing features of a character the four main aspects being Protagonist, Antagonist, Dialogue and Stereotype. The character I have chosen to analyse is Jake Sully the main character in the movie Avatar.

The three main important features when designing characters:

Appearance

Action

Interaction

This is Jack sully in the beginning. He is human and in a wheel chair after being in the royal marines, after agreeing to take his brothers place to become an avatar everyone doubts him due to his lack of training, all he could think about was getting his legs back.

You see jack character change drastically in the movie as he learns the na’vi way of life and is in with the action to helps save there world, he become this heroic character who chooses to take the life of an avatar.

Reflective Visual Journal.

Reflective Visual Journal.

Drawing:

RVJ is a visual reflective journal is a creative diary for the development of your thinking; it’s a place to store ideas and develop them. It’s a place to collect, organise, develop, refine, edit and evaluate visual material this can be through text, drawing and photographs. This is a vital tool to enable to engage with visual communication practice, reflect on your work helping you see what is a success or a failure.

Drawing plays a vital role when it comes to your RVJ. Drawing is a method to help gain insights and perhaps even to find inspiration. It is essential to engage a physical connection between hand, eye and the creative side of the brain. It arouses the mind, stimulates thinking that can make certain aspects of an idea visible which would normally be hidden for the naked eye.  Drawing is a different way of thinking than in words. Leonardo has developed these ideas by “thinking on the page” he invented things and created by drawing.

Leonardo De Vinci

You don’t have to be an amazing drawer to be able to express your ideas these are simply there to help start the ball rolling to express, communicate, explore and help with overall ideas and development . It also tends to develop into something totally different on your final outcome.

“I begin with an idea and then it becomes something else”

                                                                                    Pablo Picasso

Reflection

Reflection is another crucial function of the reflective visual journal as this helps others grasp exactly what you are trying to convey and why, This is one of the main procedures for the visual communicator as it shows the viewer how they got to there final outcome and why. It also illustrates all the other ideas that have been thought of. If we just drew what we see who’s to say it will be interpreted in the same way? If we just wrote our ideas how will other people able to know what we are trying to convey visually in the sense of composition, lighting, where the subject stands etc.

Arthur Getz

Arthur Getz (1913-1996), New Yorker cover idea sketchbook, 1948-58, Gift of Melvin R. Seiden in honor of William M. Griswold, 2007; MA 7159.38, © Estate of Arthur Getz.

Arthur Gets is a very renowned illustration artist and is also very passionate in fine art, He painted cityscapes and landscapes, drew political cartoons, wrote and illustrated children's books, and explored mediums and techniques such as etching, encaustic, and ink brush drawing. Like most artists Gets has hundreds of reflective visual journals expressing different idea’s along side a written brief explanation of what he is trying to achieve. As you can see drawings get taken and developed.

Tone of voice and Visual hierarchy

Tone of voice.

Tone of voice refers to the atmosphere or mood given off of a piece of work, be it image, type or another medium.

Visual hierarchy refers to the order of importance of objects and subjects in images, and how the artist makes you focus on certain parts of a picture. this can be achieved in a variety of ways, including but not limited to colour, size, typography, weight, scale, and structure. This is very common, especially in newspapers advertising, where aim is to hold the attention of the audience. one that is good for comparison would be a The sun, a tabloid that uses bight colours, size and other such obvious techniques, where as a broadsheet such as the daily mail would use things like boldness, and typography and structure.

Research and inspiration:

Research and inspiration:

Research:

To me research was a way to back up my work, a justification for all I’ve done. the dictionary cites it as: “diligent and systematic inquiry or investigation into a subject in order to discover or revise facts, theories, applications, etc.” there are several ways of carrying out research, for example primary and secondary sources. Primary sources are those that have been gained first-hand by the artist, i.e. a questionnaire asking about famous artists work. secondary resources involve information gathering from other sources that other people have obtained, such as books, journals, etc.

Visual research is a very good example of primary research- it relates specifically to creating. Drawing, painting, illustrations, rendering, and diagrams to name but a few. i feel this is to surround yourself with inspiration, to explore through creation, what inspiration do you gain and create? I enjoyed the visual research of Paul Davis explored in the lecture. anyone could easily see that he has laid a basis of things that inspire him, opening further avenues of research. if i were to research in this way...?

 

When i carry out secondary research, it is normally into the life and times of the artist I’m studying and whether it has affected the piece I’m looking at, as well as close analysis into the piece as a work of art. this is normally useful in providing the most justification for any ideas that inspire me.

Inspiration:

Inspiration can be so many different things for so many people, but the idea of inspiration is based around something, anything, that stimulates creativity. in some ways, inspiration is the reason there is no originality. whatever inspires you was thought of, by someone else, which in turn had its own inspiration.  people find inspiration anywhere, be it in books, other artists work and in day to day life.

Mark wigan is an illustrator who has spent time in japan. while there he designed this poster for a radio station. It is quite likely, therefore that his inspiration wouldn’t be pictures as much as radio, music, and media. that would be something unexpected, as it wouldn’t be assumed that an illustrator would have these as inspirations.

“if there’s something i really like, it ends up on the wall” wigan.

this is a direct quote from wigan that i feel sums up the collective, obsessive nature of inspiration, consuming and interpreting sources and ideas to try create original work. in a way inspiration is like another form of research, surrounding ones self in different materials that stimulate a desire to continue investigating into your inspirations.

An issue with inspiration is how much you take from it. for example, this picture that Wigan is working on could be compared to Picasso’s cubism, although there are obvious differences. This again leads to the idea that inspiration can in some ways make it hard to create original works.

connectivity

Connectivity 28th september.

Notions of originality:

Originality is dependent on peoples idea’s, we learn from copying and watching others and their work, interpreting it for ourselves and making it into an individual piece of work. The notions of originality itself is rehearsing whats been forgotten and being able to see the links between influential pieces of art, and how it impacts of inspiration for other artists. The question is, is it possible to create a completely original style or effect that has not yet been created?

Originality is an idea impossible to achieve in all areas of life, not only in art. We constantly, both consciously and sub-consciously, take elements and ideas from everyday life and manipul ate it into something new. However when it comes down to it, separate the elements and ideas down into their simplest forms you will be able to see that these ideas are far from new and very often very repeated.

                Diego de Silva Velazquez - Las Meninas - (The maids of honour) - 1656

People throughout history have constantly attempted to  take something and claim it as their own, but the reality is they will have been influenced to do it in a certain way or style, adding, twisting, highlighting certain things, trying to make it unique, though something exterior must have influenced our thought process into doing so.

“What is originality? Undetected plagiarism.” William Inge.

Relationships developed from existing forms of historical culture:

The idea of art being influenced by past works immediately forms a relationship through history forged by culture. This means that because of the impossible nature of creating truly original art, all present day works have there roots in early art. A great example of this would be the analysis of a recent YSL advertisement campaign and its obvious influence, Gabrielle d'Estrées done by an unknown artist in 1594.

 The history behind this picture is based on the birth of the subject gabrielle d’estrees’ child with Henry VI. there are many symbolic fertility images such as pinching of the nipple, servant preparing baby clothing in the back of the image and the fireplace signifies the mother's furnace.

the fact that this feminist piece borrows heavily on a peace focusing on woman hood and mother hood already creates a relationship through history and culture by linking feminism and womanhood to different view points on what a woman should be according to culture.

This iconic pose has been re-created based on the first piece “gabrielle l’estrees” again with a feminist stand point but thi s time it has been used to advertise a woman's perfume, the differences in this picture such as placing the woman in a place of power further develops the relationship through time and the context of both pieces.

Both later works represent a more idealist culture, a far cry from the repressed women of 1594. this underlines once and for all the developing relationship through time based on historical culture.