During this, the penultimate lesson before our first crit, we were given time to use the library and document ten pictures and two articles that were relevant to each of us personally. I found this quite helpful in terms of not only identifying the kinds of art in these pictures that appealed to me, but also looking at subject matter that I enjoyed and identifying common themes in work that I would enjoy exploring. Below are the pictures, each captioned with some information about them and how they are relevant to me.
A page from Maus, by Art Spiegelman. Maus is one of my favourite graphic novels, telling the story of the horrors of Jewish life under Nazi Germany with each major group portrayed as a different animal respective to their role in history (for example, the Jews are mice and the Nazis are cats). The visual direction is extremely strong, and immense expression can be seen in each stylised mouse face. With strong writing and a profound respect for the subject matter, Maus is an example of how powerful comics and graphic novels can be as a medium. As someone interested both in writing and cartoons, I hold a very high opinion of this work and strive to create work of my own that is as good.
An illustration from a collection of Grimm's fairytales, which are some of the most widespread, longstanding and mimicked stories of all time. Like many people I was exposed to many of them as a child, and continue to enjoy the fantastical worlds and characters created by the Brothers Grimm. Though it is now probably impossible to create something that will stand the test of time as well as these, since the production of media has increased to proportions vastly beyond the environment of the spoken tales recorded by the Grimms, I aspire to create something that will have at least some influence on other people and their work.
Spirited Away, directed by Hayao Miyazaki, is one of my favourite films. I love the story world, the characters, and the creatures that appear. Character design is one of my favourite parts of art, and this film is a masterclass in creating a full cast of characters, each of whom are unique and interesting to look at and follow in the story. Though the art style is not my favourite it fits perfectly with the childlike point of view the story is told from, and it is more than made up for by the flawless animation and beautiful composition of each scene.
Animal Farm, directed by John Halas and Joy Batchelor, is the animated retelling of George Orwell's 1945 novel. The story's message about power corrupting comes across smoothly, even to younger viewers who would not be acquainted with the more nuanced decrying of communism within the film. In the same way as Maus, animals are used to represent real-life people and groups (such as the despotic pigs and the blind,easily led populace of sheep) to excellent effect, being drawn with such personality that their implied characteristics cannot fail to come across. Though I am not an especially political person myself I think it is important to convey a message in all work, and Animal Farm is one of the finest examples of that in action.
These three pictures are each from different webcomics, which is a new medium that emerged as the internet gained traction and popularity. I found each of these examples engaging in their own rights - the first two being funny, the third surrealistic and thought-provoking - and looked at them as successful examples in a medium I personally am involved in. I am currently writing a webcomic in collaboration with a friend, the first issue of which can be viewed here, and thus am especially interested in learning from examples like these and making my own work better in kind.
A page from a collection of manga and mangaka (manga authors), with Hiroya Oku's name on it. Oku is known for several popular manga series, including Gantz, which is one of my favourite series in the medium. Styled seemingly as a bland action-adventure starring a stereotypical teenage male protagonist and a traditionally kooky, diverse support cast, Gantz takes a turn for the original very quickly and continues from there as one of the best stories of character progression that I've come across in a manga. That, coupled with an entertaining art style and many fascinating creature designs, makes Gantz a work that I appreciate and think highly of.
I chose this photo, from a retrospective book on music, because blues is at the roots of nearly all the music I enjoy. Just as it is important to reference other work when creating your own, the origins of the work you are referencing should also be taken into account. Though I don't really enjoy pure blues on its own as a musical genre, I have immense respect for the waves it caused in the musical community and the work it led to that I connect with a lot more.
I have a great love for comedy - both as an audience member and a casual practitioner - and I can think of no group of performers I respect more as comedians than Monty Python. This photo, from a page in a Monty Python annual, is just one example of the myriad contributions they have made to comedy in both written and performed forms. In any attempt to create something funny I will always refer back to Monty Python for inspiration, though it will be challenging to create work original and distinguished from their own without clearly showing their influence on me, so distinctive is their brand of comedy.
This article, about new animation software being used by Hollywood studios, caught my attention as I enjoy animated productions, though I usually prefer two-dimensional art to 3D. The news that this software might make it to a consumer release is extremely exciting, however, as it would enable individuals to produce inspired animated work, uncensored and untamed by large studio bureaucracy, at a level of quality previously impossible to achieve for the average person. This could even transfer to independent game animation, which is something I would very much like to be involved with, since were I to work on games I would much prefer to be able to direct projects independently of large marketing or business-focused authority.
As stated previously, I am currently working on a webcomic in collaboration with a friend of mine, so this article and its evaluation of the current environment for webcomics caught my eye. It is true that many successful webcomics use recycled premises and stick to certain genres in order to maintain a reliable audience, and I would agree that there is a mainstream in terms of which comics are consistently successful. However, there are so many different comics being made and so many new ones that it seems restrictive to place too strict a definition on this mainstream, for fear of locking out a very large portion of the medium.
