I really wanted to put a lot more feeling and expression into my sequence after seeing the animatic I produced (see below). I started out with a few ideas for close ups and editing some of the narrative out for effect and ended up practically redoing the storyboard altogether! Some valuable lessons about project management to be learnt...expect the unexpected kinda sums it up! This is not how I anticipated making progress but it has been a thorough process which gives me much more confidence that the finished article will live up to the terms of the brief. I've given a cartoony feel to the imagery and employed a few comic strip devices (as they did in early 20th century animation) like movement lines to emphasise action. Zooming in has proved an effective way of highlighting important themes. I hope it comes across well cause it's almost impossible to evaluate something you're standing so close to.
Been picking up a couple of techniques on Photoshop. Look at these:
I found out how to change the colours of the dots I've been using for About Me the easiest way after spending hours looking for a colour replacement function. Of course, it's much better to fill a new layer with the colour I want and pick the blending mode that changes the colour of the dots! Thank you Mike (Flower)!
And yes, obviously, there is no quick way to create a line art or comic book effect from a photo with a filter. So you have to trace with the pen tool and use a brush that makes it look like a pen and ink was used! Easy enough, but time consuming! Melissa Clifton explains the technique in her tutorial linked to in the side bar.
This is my idea for the composition of a piece about me. It will be a self portrait with the thought bubble filled with an interest of mine. I plan to process the image in Photoshop to make it resemble a fav artist of mine, Roy Lichtenstein, who used the comic book style to express abstract notions of form and composition. I am using a close up shot of myself as this is one of the techniques Lichtenstein appropriated from comic book artists.
See the example I have picked out below of how Lichtenstein tackled this idea:
This piece, Pet Carrier No 2 by David Shrigley was on display at the Cult Fiction Exhibition I saw this week. It captured my imagination, partly because of the novel use of polyurethane foam which gives a quite alien look to an everyday object. At the same time it makes me wonder what exactly happened to the inhabitant of the carrier!
See the sidebar for linkage to more of his work.
Was invited to attend the opening of a new exhibition at Leeds Art Gallery last night. Cult Fiction: Art and Comics is an exploration of the art of the comic book, featuring the work of 16 contemporary artists and 12 leading comics and graphic novel artists.
It was good to see so much painting and sculpture influenced by this underrated art form. Particularly in this country (the UK) I think there is a view, held by both the art establishment and the general public, that comic books are for children. One lady I met at the show told me she always assumed it was "trivial", which is not an uncommon assumption, I think. I pointed out that there was more than one way to express oneself visually and that some artists clearly prefer to illustrate their literature with pictures rather than the written word. If we weren't open to the persuasion of images we wouldn't appreciate oil painting or photography, and that is clearly not the case!
I really liked the sculpture on display, especially the Jon Pylypchuk piece So then we will burn you when you are dead, sketch below:
It's a whimsical interpretation of a gathering of stuffed toys apparently debating how to dispose of their prone friend. See the side bar for a link to more of this artist's work. And a photo of what this one really looks like!
This exhibition is here in Leeds till 11th November with talks by two of the contributors, David Shrigley and Paul Gravett, taking place in that time. Tickets to both are free from the Gallery shop 0113 247 8256.
I'll leave you with a drawing of one more sculpture from the exhibition. Hairy Guy (Ballerina) Liz Craft. As you can see, I thought it was Captain Caveman, a character from a kid's tv cartoon of the eighties. So, through cultural conditioning, we all fall into the trap of thinking comics and cartoons are "for kids"!
