SUMMER PROJECT 2015
AUTHOR PROJECT
Honestly, I really wasn't looking forward to this project much at all. Not because I don't like reading, in fact I thought it was a good idea to try and get us to read something that we wouldn't normally do otherwise. I just really struggle with having a piece of writing and then having to illustrate it which, annoyingly, plays quite a strong role in being an illustrator.
I decided to choose Douglas Adams - Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. A brutally honest reason why I chose this book is because I had a dream that this book was the one I chose so thought it was almost my destiny to do it. Others may see it as a bit of a cop out but I'm all spiritual like that. Also I do love the way Douglas Adams writes. I love the humour and side ways thinking of things that just somehow works so well together.
5 CHARACTERS - Babel fish, Arthur Dent, Marvin, Vogons, Zaphod Beeblebrox
5 QUOTES - "So long, and thanks for all the fish"
"Ford... you're turning into a penguin stop it"
"The answer to the great question.. of life, the universe and everything... is.. forty-two", said deep thought, with infinite majesty and calm"
"Arthur blinked at the screens and felt he was missing something important. Suddenly he realised what it was. "Is there any tea on this spaceship?" he asked"
"My capacity for happiness", he added, "you could fit into a matchbox without taking out the matches first"
5 MOTIFS - Mundane objects/aspects of human life are glorified - towels are a weapon
Humans play the fool - made fun of looked down on
Having a drink - when anything bad is about to happen
Everything is under-looked - when something bad or weird happens everyone seems to act overly calm
Questioning everything - wanting answers to everything
5 LOCATIONS - Magrathea, Arthur Dent's house, galaxy, earth, Zaphod's spaceship
5 DOUGLAS ADAMS INFO - 6ft 5
Massive athiest - Richard Dawkins dedicated his book 'The God Delusion' to Adams
Wrote 3 stories for Doctor Who
Appearances in Monty Python
Work was influenced by Pink Floyd and Procol Harum
BUT. Because this book was turned into a film, which I have seen a fair few times. I found it really hard to not draw what I already knew the characters, locations etc already look like. Even though they are described so beautifully in the book, I found it hard to separate the two from each other. This makes me think that maybe I chose the wrong book, and that I should have done something that was totally new to me.
I struggled the most with locations and illustrating the quotes. I struggle a lot with composition, especially with landscapes. I can't get to grips with how you can put descriptive words into visuals. With the quotes, I also struggle a lot with contextualising my work - trying to make it actually mean something. I managed to throw done some ideas, but I'm really not too pleased with them. I don't feel like they're pleasing to the eye or is visually stimulating.
But, I did enjoy doing the characters - experimenting towards the end with different materials especially finger painting, which I thought worked quite well. I like the texture that it made and is something a bit different to look at. But as I said earlier, it was hard to not think what the characters already look like, and not just repeating the same thing.
