Shape & Colour Exploration
Task 1:
I knew that I wanted to use a figure as my subject rather than an object, but struggled to come up with who I wanted to use. I ran through my regular process of shuffling through my idols and random anecdotes I know about them to use as symbolism, but nothing came naturally. I originally wanted to do a lady dancing along a chess board with human sized chess pieces all in the background, but I scrapped it for a reason I can't remember. I then moved onto Brad Pitt's character from Se7en. I was going to do a yellow to purple colour palette with red outlines. Yellow for the books that Freemans character recommends he reads for the case, but he gets the cliff notes version. The purple for the massive glass of wine he pours for Freemans character. The red outlining to represent his deadly sin, wrath. But I also didn't love that.
Then I tried Westwood. I was gonna go Sex Pistols Westwood, but I remembered this photo of her from last year with his fists raised and this ridiculous blue hat.
I love this photo. I gave it a shot and hoped that some sort of styling would figure itself out, but it became apparent that it wouldn't before I finished the outlines.
After that, I wanted to go really Avant-garde. I scanned through my archive and came across some photos of Craig Greens Moncler collaboration. I was thinking about using the 2020 collection, but all the photos are too static or had been cropped by a monkey. 2018 has some great photos taken of them though.
I made the mistake of using a picture with a really static pose. I would've liked to use this one; it has a lot of character to me. But it was too boring. So I switched to this photo:
Which lead to this:
And then this:
I am satisfied with the result and look forward to the outcome. I noticed, though, that my version isn't as puffy as the original and is missing some of the straps. I think I will add those and perhaps play with a few perspective warps to get that fluffy look back. But I do really like this pose. He looks like he's belly laughing. Or he was supposed to flee earth to mars on a private space ship but he's watching his wife and her boyfriend steal his rocket. Or stretching before a fight.
Task 2:
Firstly I did a very rough mock-up of how I wanted the light to hit the subject.
I wanted to branch out in an interesting direction with my colour palette, but I had a hard time working it out. I was trying to pick a colour that would play a large part in understanding the emotion being represent by the subject. Red was malicious, yellow was forgiving, green was calming, blue was noble, purple was fearful. But orange was misunderstood and confused. That's how I saw it at least. I went from orange to a purple-red for range and for diversity in emotional symbolism. No villain is truly just evil. There is always a backstory; shattered cherished memories covered by a sheet in the back of the villains mind (the purple) and the defence they put up around those memories (the red) that is ready to fight to the death protecting them and trying to preserve them. So I practiced with the pen tool mapping out a rough idea of how the light would hit the subject and applied my colour palette to it.
Then I refined it all:
There are gaps between the shapes, but I think I'll go in on a layer behind the colours and fill it in with the paint brush tool. Overall, I am happy with the outcome. I think that the lighting is accurate and realistic. I think the colours blend well. It looks a bit stiff though. Not really sure where to go from here too. I would also like to add little details using the lightest colour on the medium portions or add shadows with the darkest colour on the light portions. Definitely needs some detail.
Task 3:
I looked into all of the grotesque stuff you recommended to me. It inspired me quite a bit. I got a sense of what it takes to be 'grotesque'. Stretching, scaling, recolouring, emphasizing or adding non-human to the human form seems to be the most effective way to get someone. Obviously we are most sensitive to the human form because we are human and interact with humans all day long. So altering our forms in the ways previously mentioned is highly effective at making people uncomfortable. In terms of scaling, I was thinking of having a giant mantis in the background from my blind line drawing, but so big that it's mostly out of frame and it mostly having a green penis in frame, but I came to the conclusion that it would be more shock factor rather than grotesque. Instead, I think I want to scale my figure down to mouse size (or have them appear to be scaled to human size) and have them whisper sweet nothings. Perhaps in a red, short hair texture or very dark, hairy texture. Onto the drafts:
In this draft I definitely went for the emphasized and scaled factor. The emphasis of the hair by having it grow thicker the further from the light it is and the fact that it is scaled to be so large. Those hair follicles would probably be big enough to keep your (h)AirPods in if scaled to fit a 6 foot tall person. Not entirely satisfied with the colours or how sharp the borders are, but conceptually I am interested.
This one is the same as last, except the I tried to add a tongue texture as the highlight to create this uneasy feeling about the size, shape and exposure of the mouth. Thats the other thing I've found to be really successful is having the inside on the outside and the mouth can represent that so easily and fluently. This also creates a fight or flight sequence in the sense that our primitive mind sees the large mouth as a threat and thus the figure as a predator. Again, still really rough, but conceptually I am interested.
I also found that making things wet is a very successful strategy, but have no implemented it yet.
This one is much different than the last two. While the other two are inhuman and borderline predatory, this one appears static. It can be interpreted as static or as a thing of witchcraft like a living gargoyle. I haven't made up my mind on that yet. I think it could be cool to treat it as some sort of war hero and paste it as a statue all over the art. But I am a sucker for monsters. Some sort of rock monster? I don't know. In contrast to the other two, conceptually I'm not too interested in this one (for now), but technically, I think its pretty well done.
I really struggled with this stage. I just wasn't fully satisfied with anything that was happening. I found that to be due to the fact that most of the textures I was experimenting with were very textual, but thats what made them interesting. Then the last one worked well because the textures were flatter, but it was less interesting to me. I dunno. If I had all the time in the world, I would pursue the really hairy guys. But I've probably put 8 hours into this stage alone.
Task 4:
March 1st:
Using a photo of Westwood with her dukes up as my subject (see task 1)
Never mind
Craig Green for Moncler. I think it’s 2018. (see task 1)
I drew my subject, but I realized that I dont like the posing of the model that much and the way it would integrate into the specific project. Way too static.
But before either of them I was going to do Brad Pitt from Se7en. I think that he’s my favourite actor. My top 3 favourite movies are:
Inglorious Basterds
Se7en
Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind
I like violent movies and I like mind warping movies. Inglorious Basterds is always fun. The scalping and scarring of Nazi’s is an entertaining take on such an atrocity. Eternal Sunshine had me a bit dizzy when I finished it, and Se7en kind of encompasses both of them as you work on this serial killer case with the detectives. I actually found a Se7en VHS tape on the side of the road. Probably my best find since it was so random. Fits in nicely with my collection. I think I have close to 100 tapes now. All of the Star Wars movies (except Revenge of the Sith since it was released on the backend of the VHS tape life span and had a very limited run on VHS), Mask, Blade, The Shining, Fargo, Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia, Snatch, Catch Me If You Can, Fight club, The Fifth Element, Lots of X-Files, The Usual Suspects, Hunt for Red October, Blair Witch Project, Scarface, Natural Born Killers Directors Cut, Panic Room, Forrest Gump, Rain Man, Independence Day, Armageddon, Apollo 13, The Keaton, Carrey and Nicholson Batman series, Saving Private Ryan, Apollo 13, Zoolander, Meet the Parents, Swordfish, The Mummy, Ace Ventura… LOTS of em. I just like collecting a physical copy of the movie. Fills up my bookshelf and I enjoy the design of the covers and sides. And I can watch my favourite movies whenever I want (until they expire). Most of them are thrifted too. Fight Club was exciting to find.
March 3rd:
Switched to a photo of the same outfit, just different pose. Leaning back with arms crossed. Shows off more depth to the outfit. (See task 3)
March 5th:
Converting drawing to vector and exporting to illustrator using the method from the previous exploration
Mapped out 2 rough drafts of the lighting (see task 2) and created the fully shaded version (see task 2)
I created a warm colour palette from a red-orange to a plum purple, but I don’t now if I am sold on it. I like the original colours from the photo. White or black. But I want it to be more interesting. I was thinking of also doing the Brad Pitt palette (yellow to plum). Or a green to purple.
I ended up going a lot more variations.
March 9:
I cannot get the clipping mask to work for the life of me. Driving me crazy. I've turned al the coloured layers into compound paths, put the shape on top and the texture on the bottom, and Command-7'd it but it won't go. I keep getting an error message.
It was because there was an empty path in the way.
Going into this, my plan was hair. I was gonna have the lightest part be hairless and the darkest part be the hairiest. As if the light burns the hair off. But also in a man vs beast outlook. One of the most defining visual parts of the human vs animal comparison is our lack of hair (or fur). To be more specific and more fair to animals, lets say mammals. The only mammals I can think of of the top of my head without fur would be Hippopotamus’, Elephants, Dolphins technically, I guess whales too, and those hairless cats. Out of thousands. SO! I was going to have some giant hairy rats trying to convince the subject to stay in the hairy, gruesome animal kingdom on one side. And have some witchy hairless hand reaching out towards to subject on the other. The hand being done witchy because just because we are smart, doesn’t mean we are rational and kind beings.
Anyway, the hair has not looked the way I wanted it to and I am going to try something else
But not before I do something stupid and close the AI tab without saving the hairy figure sample.
I think I have tried just about every hair sample on on the internet. It just isn’t flowing the way I want it to. It’s choppy and looks amateur.
I’ve probably put 4 hours into this tonight.
At least the colour adjustments have been easy.
March 10:
Back again
I decided to try a different perspective. Rather than a human figure, a worn statue figure. Perhaps in a wasteland. I really wanna use my big rats though.
Now that I know exactly what I’m doing, it’s just trying to find what works. Going back in with the hair. The problem with the hair the other night was that the sample photos were too big. It made everything seem out of proportion. So I scaled them down and made tiles out of them. The only issue is that they don't blend seamlessly. Which does bother me, but if it comes down to seamless bad proportions or a puzzle piece figure, I chose the puzzle piece figure.
I also tried the statue idea. I mixed some distressed canvasses, rust and ore texture together and it works really well together. Very seamless. (See task 3)
Created another using bushier hair and a tongue texture as the highlight. (See task 3)
I just want advice though
March 15th:
Add teeth
Adjust values in the curly headed bastard
Where would these guys go?
Liquify tool
March 23rd:
Story:
Two ‘things’ with heavy greek names doing fun things enjoying the world before they decide that its theirs to take.
Eating
Doing laundry
Hanging out with fish
Walking down the street
Hanging out with rats
Invading someones body
Replace Michelangelo’s David
But wait… there is another?
The new guy eats Biden
They join forces. They are now in control (add Biden to all things they did before)
They Readjust the leaning tower of Pisa
They tilt the Eiffel Tower
Rebuild the statue of liberty as them
Erect a bunch of statues
Until a bigger scaly version of themselves gobbles them up and restores everything they’ve done
This was supposed to be the introduction to the new character in the story. 'Biden' would praise the new version of David. It was supposed to be interpreted as nobody noticed that that clearly isn't Biden and is obviously some horrid monster and so his approval would influence the masses to not be intimidated by the monsters on the street if they saw them.
They went out and tracked him down and waited for him to notice them. Once he did, he had a secret to show them...
He had eaten Biden for safe keeping?! Gasp. After this, I intended on creating this story in which they become a trio of best friends and do all the things that they had previously done as a duo, as a trio, but as I was putting this presidential figure into the first part of the story, I just didn't like it. It immediately felt off. I think I didn't like it because it created the narrative that there are more like them wandering the world. Especially considering the fact that this story was supposed to end with them being eaten by a Godzilla version who kept the world at balance. Who knows how many more too. I wanted them to be unique individuals. So I scrapped this. I didn't want them to be seen as any monsters right away though. I wanted the society in the story to be so blind and stupid that they didn't immediately come off as monsters until they committed a monstrous action (like eat someone). Until then, they could get coffee, buy drugs, and do their laundry without any issues. So 'Biden' having to justify the replacement of Michelangelo's kind of discredited that story. As if the majority society was already aware of them and their actions and was on the fence about how to approach them.
March 25th:
Present in the form of a childrens book?
I worked on the scenarios some more. It's pretty standard cut & paste. What really takes a lot of time is cutting them out properly as to create depth. I have to do it by hadn't by turning the opacity down on the subject layer and using the eraser tool along the edge of whatever they are behind.
March 30th:
Finally finished all iterations. It took me four more days, but I got it. These scenarios take way more time than I thought they would. It's likely my fault for doing 14 scenes.
Not gonna do a childrens book. I think it takes away from the randomness. The narration tells the interpreter whats happening. I'd rather the interpreter just be confused. I want them to feel as out-of-touch from this story as the people in the society in the story are. Dazed and confused.
Not gonna do a childrens book. I think it takes away from the randomness. The narration tells the interpreter whats happening. I'd rather the interpreter just be confused. I want them to feel as out-of-touch from this story as the people in the society in the story are. Dazed and confused.
Also, I wish I had left room for feet in the original drawing. It would have made a lot of these scenes easier and would've helped with the overall composition.
Final Notes:
I definitely want to make note of the fact that throughout this entire process, I followed the advice you gave me in the first critique. At no point during this assignment did I know where it was going to go next. Something about that is fun, but I also found I felt a disconnection from the work. Normally, when I can plan an entire project before I've even started, I feel a great connection to it. It's like watching a son or daughter grow up as I complete each stage. And every time something changes, it's like different stages of life. When you have a kid, you can try to predict how they will turn out based on their current age, but things change. Thats how it feels when the goal shifts a bit normally. But I felt like a deadbeat dad visiting on birthdays or taking the kid to a ball game every now and then with this project. I wasn't entirely certain what was going on in the story and that was the point of your advice, but I don't know if I take well to this practice. Maybe I took it too seriously by continuing this practice through every stage rather than just iterations, but it did prove to be difficult. But I do think I learned a lot. There is definitely fun in not having your eyes locked on a specific target. I wouldn't have created all of those iterations or scenarios if I had. I definitely do love the playfulness of the whole thing and the diverse situations. So I am very grateful for that and I think I learned a lot by stepping out of my comfort zone.
Moral of the story: sometimes you have to practice being a deadbeat dad.
Also, I tried to take process pictures of almost the entire process of stage 3, but I didn't really find myself in a position where I needed to. They took about half an hour each and most of it was just pasting the monsters in accurately. The only time I hit a wall was when I scrapped the presidential arc and I included that, but everything else I did was pretty straight forward. I know these programs pretty well, so I don't run into the technical issues that others might be submitting as process work. I've learned a lot about illustrator since the start of the semester and I'm not intimidated by it at all the way I was 6 months ago. Last semester, I used it to outline my figures in CDR 2. Straight forward enough. But this project has pushed me further into the technical side. I hope what I've provided is sufficient in terms of process, though.
Ben McGaghran
