Graphic Novel. Finding a voice of your own.

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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Graphic Novel; Fitting your influences into the medium.

 

Painting to let shadow form the tree structure

The wood had suddenly fallen into private hands!

Drama is not so easy. Despite having the best intentions to deliver a dramatic sense of foreboding with this moonlit tree, I don’t seem to be able to deliver the idea. I have two images with slightly different emphasis on shadow, but I think ultimately neither work. This is disappointing but a good lesson to learn also. When coming to a scene one is full of many thoughts and ideas and one has a vision of how these ideas might possibly develop into a story. In this case I was feeling;  moonlit perimeter of a wooded area, that almost overnight, had signs placed upon trees to indicate the area was now in private hands and people should keep out. This would lead to a story asking why and who these owners might be. What would anyone want with an overgrown old wood that had been desolate for years. It couldn’t be built upon and it had no obvious value. The tree was supposed to be a symbol of decay but despite going for a dramatic low angle to make it loom out into the foreground as a bigger obstacle, I just haven’t succeeded in creating the menace and sense of questioning fear that I want my character to feel and thus the reader to feel.

It is one thing to develop some visual techniques that may deliver a graphic novel sensibility but it is quiet another to create the drama and tension one seeks to portray via the images. As this is the first shot and it stands in isolation it may be more difficult to deliver as it floats in a sea of non context currently. Would it be more powerful as part of a mid edit along with perhaps a setting shot of the entire wood first? I am thinking about this all the time when I sit down to write, where do I begin the edit. Do I start with a tight close up, almost a cut into a characters eyeball and then pull back and deliver the wider scene or do I need to set the scene first and the zoom into the specifics. There are thousands of ways to tell a story but it seems that expectations of what the graphic novel is for me and its close allegiance with a cinematic feel, makes certain rules hard to break.

I am a fan of Samuel Beckett, indeed I think he has come the closest to explaining the human condition along with Francis Bacon (painter)  . I have read everything he has written and thus I am familiar with his uniquely non narrative style. I have become used to being tossed into somewhere and following instinctively the way he wants to lead me into his world. I cannot come to his stories with known paths. I must allow myself to go with the feel of his words.  This has always appealed to me as I feel literature is one of the only arts that has few great exponents of  what one might call abstract style. Readers tend to need an overarching narrative, which isn’t necessary in other art forms. Finnegan’s Wake by Joyce is a fine examples of the difficulty of non narrative works in literature. People simply would not tackle such a book unless they were involved in some form of literary scholarship. I have read it and I have also listened closely to John Cage’s musical interpretation (sound works well in the abstract) and I love them, but they are hard work. My influences in cinema are also non narrative and primarily European. I am currently watching Jane Arden’s films (one of Britain’s finest experimental women film makers who sadly took her own life at 52) and her work also shows how she has used her chosen medium to speak in her own unique way.

So still images for graphic novels present their own real set of problems in telling stories, this is especially true if you are personally interested in non narrative art forms.  I am not sure if I am hitting the wall of my own censorship. I see other graphic novels that inspire me but at the same time they also intimidate me and they act on my subconscious so that I am filtering my own ideas through these high expectations. I have said in a previous post this is very damaging as it is the barrier that can prevent one from doing. It makes it hard to develop story telling and a graphic style of your own when one sees graphic novels whose style and sense you love. I come from a love of abstract art literature and music as I said and it is difficult to lose these influences that make me as a person and at then try to tell a story in another medium with a coherent narrative structure. I have an awful lot to learn. I still believe in doing things swiftly and trying and moving forward rather than giving in and simply replicating what I see.

I am at heart a photographer these are experiments in something other than complex studio lighting and working with models and so forth. I want to explore the graphic novel medium and also encourage others to come to it as a way of telling stories and not necessarily be frightened of doing it differently or inventing their own methods of creating.  One also has to be aware that to translate one’s love of things like Bergman and Beckett into a graphic novel sensibility may of course lead ultimately to disappointment but surely trying is better than not.  I devote about 40 minutes a day to the image and blog posts and so I feel this aids my writing too as I get used to putting together about 1000 words quickly and I get into the discipline of writing about 12,000 words a week here and elsewhere and I am now starting to find that much easier and equally losing my fear of the blank page.

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Graphic Novels & developing a story.

Setting a consistent colour palette and feel.

I have used in this image what I would think is a more traditional palette of colours in a graphic novel or science fiction comic. The more I read graphic novels the more I realise that each image pulls , much like sentences,  and propels the viewer (reader) forward into the story.  They are essential pieces of ‘direction’ the author is using to draw us deeper into the characters predicaments. Each frame is an edit as in film making, except graphic novels use one still frame rather than 24/25fps to tell a story.  This by definition requires a strong collection of relevant still images, to create the believable environments the character occupies. Populating the environment with the character themselves is another precise matter of timing, gesture and appropriate dialogue.

I think the graphic novel offers a real challenge and requires tremendous discipline for the author. It enables her to think far more deeply about the world she is trying to create for her characters, and in doing so, this enables her to find out more about the characters themselves and she also learns how these created environments reflect a deeper understanding of them as individuals.  You live their lives because you have to connect in a real concrete and physical way with the environments they occupy.  You must create them not in your head but in physical space and I feel that is why graphic novels excel at creating memorable rich characters. Many comic characters have reached iconic status often more so than figures directly taken from literature.  The characters seem equally to continue to find ways of interacting with each new generation of readers.

This doesn’t have to be complicated. I for example take a small environment, in this case the example image is one I drew and photographed of Wembley central underground station in London. There are a huge variety of textures in this one environment; metal, wood, plastic, paper, concrete and so on. There are also; gates, bars, steps,  rails, seats, roofs, passageways and so forth. This is all within one vicinity. I have an 8GB memory card and one spare battery fully charged. I can take thousands of full size images before needing to connect these into a computer.  The story could be set here in this small place but in your graphic novel it  can seem like a huge world to the reader.

I like reading graphic novels and I like the discipline they bring in terms of thinking about a characters physical world and ultimately sharing that in a real way with her. I think it is also a good lesson in transmedia thinking as stories seem to have a much more immersive mixed media future now as publishing changes and authors access to the tools of production and distribution continue to expand each day. Random House for example have just signed a deal with a computer games partner and are looking at a new range of graphic novels to follow soon.

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So you think writing is easy?

Frank is a writer of dreams

Click on the image to read it more clearly. A very light hearted attempt to play with the idea of a comic strip which can flesh out words in a very real way, when it is done properly. Not in this case of course as the drawings are just to fill in the idea and play with the box spaces. I have always loved comic strips as a way of telling stories. I think in the hands of good artists the story really springs to life. Would the words (alone) of Frank’s tale be enough? I think the visuals add something that enables one to attach to a character and enables things to be said more succinctly. I drew this to make a point to myself about character creation. I have no drawing skills obviously but in some ways that echoes the bewildered state of Frank I think.

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