Using image and text to try and create a feeling in the viewer
I wanted to answer my own question in my last post and create an image that fits with where I feel I may want to take the graphic novel idea. These ideas as I said previously tend for me to come from a surrealist or abstract form of expression. I thought rather than just write about it I would quickly put together an image and text to see if I could represent that. I started with the premise of who am I and I then tried to think of how I could express that visually in a way that would make sense for me and perhaps convey that sense of identity crisis in the viewer. I was seeking to show my character in a form of crisis. I didn’t want to go for the traditional scream or comic book style range of expressions. I would use these, but in this case I wanted to see if one could create something that didn’t fit that mould, yet perhaps might still convey something through the dislocation of the imagery and also through the placement and simplicity of the text.
These are very early days, so I am obviously not going to be nailing too much right now. I think though I have created a sort of image that may define something that interests me more than purely reproducing what I like from others work. I am very interested in the films of Kenneth Anger and the way he builds an overall sense of something although the narrative is often hidden and obtuse. The films come together as we piece the individual elements and in doing so we get closer to the core feelings he is trying to express.
I am not skilled in doing this personally but I am aware subconsciously of these methods used by writers and film makers. This is what attracts me to their work and hence what inspires me when I sit down to create something. There is a big gap between Rothko and Millais in terms of methods of expression, one is pure abstraction the other is pure representation. They both deal with themes of love and loss but in wholly different ways. There is room for all of these ways of expressing feelings in all mediums the important question for anyone creating art is where exactly do they feel comfortable and how do they want to tell their stories. This is a journey of discovery and I think one where a blog of one’s thoughts along the route is very helpful. I wrote down in an earlier post about influence and unique voice, then this encouraged me to answer that question in my next post. It focussed my mind on an area I was finding difficult and a small door opened and I felt slightly more positive creating the image above than I have creating previous ones that were based upon my feel for what a comic or graphic novel should look like or say.
I am not saying that I won’t continue to experiment with image creation and word integration in order to convey mood and feeling to tell a characters story. I am simply trying to highlight that it may be possible to come at the graphic novel in a way I didn’t think possible earlier this morning. For me the graphic novel idea would have to be something that was deliverable quickly. I like the phrase scale of fail which is used in IT a lot. The beauty of cloud based platforms now and open source CMS is that we have a way of doing this, so we try things until they work or until we find the thing you want to say and how to say it. The idea of spending a long time doing this, fails to fit with my psyche. I am not only looking at creating ways of expressing my own unique voice and ideas but also importantly ways to do it quickly.
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