Saturday, 25 May 2013

No go the bogeyman

The book starts with the Orphic myth story of the birth of dionysus, god of wine, pleasure and excess.  The writer then talks about what the book is about- fear and the book being a collection of stories about the bogeys. It is split into 3 parts: Scaring, Lulling and Making Mock. In Scaring, the writer talks about a poem written in Germany in 1782  by Goethe  about the Erlking / King of the Alders  who tries to convince a boy to come with him and after the boy refuses he ends up dead. The author talks about how the poem personifies death as a danger particularly to the young and stories inspired by the poem. She talks about similar monsters- child-snatchers , night-raiders and cradle snatchers. Other creatures she mentions are the Italian manducus and Dossenus, the Russian bannik and his wife bannikha, phantoms, witches, hobgoblins, bogeys, elves, ogres, cyclops  and  giants. The author also mentions fairy tales such as Hansel and Gretel and the puppet show Punch and Judy. She also talks about greek mythology figures such as Zeus and Hera , the Egyptian dwarf god Bes and the story of the pied piper. Next she talks about child-guzzlers/frighteners, Bullebak and some French fairy tales
- tom thumb and bluebeard, Wee willie Winkie and The Sandman and Bogeys around the world.  The author then talks about more fantasy tales with creatures such as Lewis Carols jabberwocky and Lycaon the first werewolf and his relation to Greek mythology. Next she talks about the story of Little Red Riding Hood  and the different versions of the story including one where the wolf wins and children enjoy. She also talks about Goya's "Here Comes the Bogeyman" and "Disparate"which features a creature called the Bobalicon and some of his other fantasy paintings. After this she talks about the origins of the word "Bogy" and stories which bogeys are featured and some other fairy stories. The next chapter of the first part of the book is about Saturn devouring his child. The author talks about Goya's paintings of this cannibal God. In the next chapter she talks about Roman and Greek gods.  The next few chapters are about Greek mythology in particular about Cyclops and Scylla a female monster with 6 heads and twelve feet and the odyssey.In the next chapter she talks about ogres, giants and the size of monsters. In the next couple of chapters she talks about monsters and religion. In the next chapter she talks about eating and monsters. In the next chapter she talks about how fear is applied, this is the last chapter of s caring. Lulling only has a few chapters. It starts with  Caravaggio: the rest on the flight into Egypt. Making mock starts with talking about the chimera, medusa,athena, kali, animalistic nature of humans, echidna, typho,scylla, greek hybrids, Pegasus,  hydra, sphinx, dragons. In the next chapter she talks about the two meanings of funny,  Quentin tarantino films, r.l stines goosebumps, Quasimodo, the grotesque, different genres of fantasy and monsters and their roles in entertainment such as books or movies.   in the next chapter she talks about metamorphosis. in the next chapter she talks about gryllus- a pig like creature and song and mythology. She talks about ogres and giants in the next chapter, jack and the beanstalk, puss in boots, the bfg, king kong  etc . in the next chapter she talks about humour.
  

Sunday, 19 May 2013

Summer Project

Marina Warner  - No go the bogeyman - Scaring, Lulling and making mock

Friday, 3 May 2013

Discussion forum - Taste

We had a discussion forum on the subject of taste and a number of questions were raised.

The first question was "How much as students are you influenced  by tutors and peers  in terms of taste?"
In terms of what artists/ illustrators to look at for inspiration I would say a lot - if they recommended something than I would take a look.

The next questions were : Do you produce work to please? For me the answer to this is yes, it is more important to please other people with my work than it is myself.
Do the projects affect the way your work looks?
Only in terms of colour  for example if  we were given a limited colour palette or if we are given a target audience.
Do the projects stunt or extend your development as a designer / illustrator?
I think they extend them - if I am given limitations will have to think more carefully about certain aspects of my work.


The question after these was : Are blogs such as "Its Nice That" and "Ffffound" genuine artibers of taste ? If so what gives them authority? http://www.itsnicethat.com/
Yes because it is professional budding illustrators will want to look at the illustrators work they show so they can develop their work so that they can become a professional


Should we take much notice of the work of others?
Yes as they can help us develop a style  and encourage us to experiment.

Is there a danger of becoming too influenced in current trends?
Yes this could stop work from becoming unique.

In a world saturated by images is it possible to be unique?
Naturally no two artists draw the same so as long as you don't let things influence you to much then your uniqueness will show

What defines our taste?
Tastes are personal to each individual - they make us unique, if every one liked the same thing there would be no debates or change, there would be no diversity.








Creative Review : Film - Pulp Fiction

For my creative film review I did "Pulp Fiction". I like how the film shows people's      different perspectives on life and isn't in chronological order. Because of this the characters  are very memorable. The film is extremely violent yet there is a sense of humour about it in a black comedy type of way.  I also like the music of the film which is a mix of rock n roll, spaghetti western and pop music which fits the diversity of the film.



Creative Review : Book - Watchmen

For my creative book review I did the graphic novel "Watchmen". I like how each character is unique and has their own distinctive personality and that there is no main character of the book. The art style and colour scheme are also unusual  for its time.  It has dark themes which question people's morality, all of the characters are shown to be flawed  even the most good natured ones. All the characters also have contrasting lifestyles.  




Creative Review : Article - The Everyday Sexism Project


For my creative article review I did an article called "The Everyday Sexism Project".


       http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/the-womens-blog-with-jane-martinson/201
The article was about how the project was doing after being set up a year ago. I picked this article to talk about as I am a feminist and after reading some of the stories  I found out sexism against women was even worse than I thought.  


      "You experience sexism because women are inferior in every single way to men. The only reason you have been put on this planet is so we can fuck you." This quote is an example of how prevalent sexism still is in society. I feel that it is an issue which people often look past because of more prominent issues such as war.  A positive outcome of the project is that thousands of women have found the strength to fight back.

Thursday, 2 May 2013

Final 8 x 8 images

For the colour schemes on the main image I used  a different colour for each puzzle piece.
This is the main image, I used a colour index book to pick the colours. I chose these colours because they are unusual yet they work well together.The puzzle pieces and the images on them represent the main characters memories/ flashback.


The two images above are images from the initial stages of the banner.



For the banner I used a few of the same colours as the main image - the two shades of brown as these colours fitted the woods setting.  The legs are those of the main character - Justin and his best friend Stephen.  The idea was to create a sense of mystery and intrigue by just showing their legs - there is a scene in the story where they meet after a long time in the woods.

8 x 8 prints










Here are my linoprints I did for the 8 x 8 project.  I will now scan each one onto photoshop and then play around with them to create both  the image and the banner.

More 8 x8 research




 


 
 Here are some ideas of imagery to be used on the final banner/ image