THE ILLUSTRATIONS SO FAR…
CONSTRUCTION OF THE GIANT MUSIC BOX!
I’ve been concentrating on the illustrations for my book. I have roughed out what image/scene I want for each of the nine stanzas. I have then been doing more detailed drawings to get an idea how different elements might work. I have then been seeing how these might work in the shadow play theatre.
Having made a miniature shadow puppet theatre, I tested how it might work by putting a few bits and bobs from round the house behind the screen: a card cutout of my Ninka character, some feathers, a Christmas decoration, some wire models I had made and my daughter’s fairy model. I adjusted the lamp behind the screen and took some photos of the results.
I was so pleased with how it all came out. The colours were amazing. The fuzzy effect and crisp line effect both worked brilliantly. I was worried the beautiful effect I had in my mind wouldn’t translate into reality – but it did.
Now I know I can achieve the effect I want relatively easily, I can play around with different objects, materials and textures and see what works best. I definitely want to try some more typography next.
One of the overriding themes that came out of my deconstruction of the poem was shadows. I did lots of research into shadow play – the history, the materials, modern interpretations. I came across loads of really inspirational imagery and information, but one in particular really got me excited. It was a music video for a musician called Lior created by a group called Stories From the Underground. This had exactly the look I wanted.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4Ufb1D-vyY
I think there is loads to explore with shadow play – the colours, the effects, the materials – all of which will tie in with what I am trying to achieve. My next step will be to make a miniature shadow puppet theatre to play around with. Below is a still from one of Stories From the Underground’s shadow puppet shows.
Stories From the Underground puppet show
In exploring the theme of being trapped, from my poem, I began looking at games and puzzles that relate to this.
I came across Japanese puzzle boxes. These are intricately decorated and intricately constructed boxes, that will only open when the correct turns and slides are made.
I found a great website that provides templates of some Japanese puzzle boxes that I will download. I might be able to combine some of these ideas of a structure that traps its contents with the book I will make for my final piece.I also looked at the Hedgehog-in-a-Cage puzzle, from Czechoslovakia, that consists of a spiky ball (the hedgehog) inside a cylindrical ‘cage’. Only by twisting and pulling in the correct way will the hedgehog be freed. This, again, suggests great ideas for the final form of my project. Plus, the spiky metal structure has a steampunk look that I think goes well with the visuals I am imagining for this piece.
Hedgehog-in-a-Cage Puzzle
Japanese Puzzle Box
I took the key word of ‘swallows’ from my poem, and did some sketches and studies of the bird and of different feathers. This gave me a lot of ideas about how I could use this imagery in my final piece. Below is an extract from my sketch book showing these studies.
Exploring swallows and feathers
My analysis of other contemporary illustrators of poetry highlighted how the most successful examples take key aspects from the text and illustrate just these.
I decided to do this with my poem; extracting key words and themes, then regrouping them, then exploring these concepts. The words I extracted were:
trapped
contorted
walls
scary
gloom
prison
lace
dark
free
light
swallow
rage
passion
tears
tableau
frozen
masquerade
I grouped these words into:
Negative words
Positive words
Emotional words
Words relating to the denouement
NEGATIVE WORDS:All the negative words evoke feelings of darkness, imprisonment, fear and discomfort. One imagines looming shadows, night terrors, nightmares. Figures in silhouette. Brings to mind shadow play and shadow puppetry.
POSITIVE WORDS
All the positive words evoke feelings of freedom and light. The light symbolises freedom from the darkness. One also gets a feeling of flight, of flying away with wings. This relates to her desire to fly away from her prison. The swallow imagery applies to the feeling she gets when ‘dancing’ and to the feeling of no longer being trapped. The qualities of a swallow can be applied to different aspects of teh illustrations – the slender, streamlined body; pointed wings; 9 primary feathers.
EMOTIONAL WORDS
The emotive words are all emotions that can be shown on the face. They can all be associated with positive and negative emotions. How will these emotions shown on her face change throughout the story?
DENOUEMENT
The words relating to the denouement of the story create an image of a diorama, a scene, frozen in time. The stage of a theatre with nothing moving. It’s not that she cannot move, it’s that she doesn’t know she’s supposed to. This is not like being frozen on stage due to stage fright. She is finally confident. This is naive ignorance. This is where the tragedy lies.
Below is an image from my sketchbook exploring the above.
Deconstructing my poem
Here is some of the deconstruction and development of my work with the Benesh Movement Notation. I feel I am ready to start creating letter forms on Illustrator soon.
I have done several experiments with material. I have tried drawing on it, stiffening it with PVA glue, fraying it and sewing an image onto netting so it becomes a form of lace. Below are some examples.
Danny Michael 