Gouache illustration |
If not you then who?27.94cm x 35.56cm
Watercolour paints and pen on paper September- 2020 The focus of This piece is to represent the first stage of Erick Ericksonn's stages of development which is a basic conflict of trust vs mistrust and how this affects our view of the world. This piece also takes inspiration from pop artist Elsworth Kelly and Illustrator Hirohiko Araki. |
Planning
Inspiration
Inspiration for this Series in General were the artworks of Ellsworth Kelly (1923-2015) an American artist. Kelly who served in WW2 with the Ghost army was tasked with creating life like props to give the illusion to the germans that the Allies had more troops that they did and this was mainly done with blow-up tanks, truck, and fake artillery. After the war He moved to France and studied art there, wanting to seperate himself from the mostly realistic work he did in the armyEllsworth Kelly started to create artwork based off of abract shapes he saw in the everyday. These shapes were mostly organic shapes we see every day such as leaves and seen mostly in his work the dark and simplistic shapes that shadows casted
My second artistic inspiration is an japanese Illustrator by the name of Hirohiko Araki and I have always had an affinity twords his recent works. One of the things he does is recreate the poses of various fashion models in the cover of his Graphic novels and his seperate works. The fluidity and body language from his art pieces was something I wanted to chanel into my work. |
Another inspiration for the meaning behind the title was the 8 stages of development by Erik Erickson who was a professor at Yale and Harvard. The stage that I wanted to focus on in particular was the first stage that has to do with Trust and mistrust as these are the first basic concepts we can grasp at a young age. Overall I wanted this work to have Kelly's use of shape and color in the background while the foreground having subjects depicted in poses similar to those seen in Araki's various works and having the ideas and concepts of Erick Ericksons 8 stages of development drive the meaning and color choice of this piece.
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Planning Sketches
In this sketch the shape in the background the lens of a pair of glasses. The signifigance of this is that of the restrictive lens we seen in when we are in the first stage of development (trust vs mistrust) as newborns. I used a black and white photo as a reference to mimic the often monochrome works of Elsworth Kelly. The pose of the subject is also very reserved and was done as a demonstration of the subject being hesitant to trust the viewer.
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Experimentation
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One of the new editions to the roaster of tools I'm familiar with is paint pens which are used for fine lines and writing in paint. From the reference photo I used this pen to reflect that lighting and found it a bit much for this piecee but I do see it's use and appreciate it as a tool. Now to keep the gouache fairly cleen where it was needed I used painters tape to cover the majority of the piece. Because I had already shaded the subject this was a bit more difficult and after some trial and error I decided to erase the shading and do it again. Both of these experiences have brought a valueable amount of insight into how i'll go about using both paint pens and painters tape in the future.
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Process
I began with my planning sketches and moved on to transfering it by eye. I started out by outlineing the lens by using a compass and a sketching pencil then I used a ruler to create the other lines seen in the piece. From here I began to sketch the subject of the piece using the gesture grip to acquire the simple shapes of the figure then I created a rougher shape of him and accounted for his clothes and outlined where I would shade. Afterwards I used the black paint pen to fill in the pieces of the lens and to outline the subject being mind ful as to keep the stokes as efficent as possible. Painters tape was then applyed to the piece and I mixed 1 part black gouache to one part white as to make the cloudy gray I wanted and I used a soaked sponge stick to spread out the gouache.
There after I removed the tape and shaded the subject back in and used the white paint pen fo account for the light reflection. After that I painted the surroundings of the piece white. To account for the white that got on the lens I went back over it with the paint pen. after leaving the gouache to dry I waited an hour and cleaned up any edges that were left over.
There after I removed the tape and shaded the subject back in and used the white paint pen fo account for the light reflection. After that I painted the surroundings of the piece white. To account for the white that got on the lens I went back over it with the paint pen. after leaving the gouache to dry I waited an hour and cleaned up any edges that were left over.
Reflection
Overall the product is something I'm glad with the end product. Starting with the 8 stages of development I think that I could have been expressed more with the subjects facial expressions but the rest of the subject came out very nice and I think that I took a great amount of influence from Hirohiko Araki. The pose of the subject was very reflective of those used by Araki and still has the purpose of demonstrating a reserved mood in the subject. Elsworth Kelly’s style of taking the shape of shadows and darker shapes in general was a great influence in my use of symbolism and color in this piece particularly. Things I wish I could have portrayed better would have had to be stated before the facial expressions that I have depicted in this piece as well as more colour in the future. Use of space is something I want to manage better as well in these future pieces since this piece was too cramped for my taste but I believe it works for this piece well within the context of the 8 stages of development. Overall I can say that this piece met my expectations but didn’t exceed what I wanted.
Compare and contrast
Comparisons:
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ACT Questions
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork:
The Inspiration which was Elsworth Kelly and Hirohiko Araki had an inspiration on my work through Araki's use of poses to convey expression with his characters and Kelly's use of shape and form in his work.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
In particular the article by Tjapan used a very positive approach to depicting Hirohiko as a very dedicated and hard working man. The interview with Elsworth Kelly was a sit down with Kelly to understand his perspective on his own works.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I drew the conclusion that many artist like Kelly want to find something original to depict in their works similar to how Kelly started taking inspirations from shapes that he never saw being used too much by other artist.
What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central theme gathered from Erick Erickson's 8 stages is that of trust and mistrust while seeing through a skewed lens.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I can conclude from my research that sometimes we have to pay attention to things that we normaly don't think about or realize, whether that be shapes, emotion, or even the way we as human's develop.
The Inspiration which was Elsworth Kelly and Hirohiko Araki had an inspiration on my work through Araki's use of poses to convey expression with his characters and Kelly's use of shape and form in his work.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
In particular the article by Tjapan used a very positive approach to depicting Hirohiko as a very dedicated and hard working man. The interview with Elsworth Kelly was a sit down with Kelly to understand his perspective on his own works.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I drew the conclusion that many artist like Kelly want to find something original to depict in their works similar to how Kelly started taking inspirations from shapes that he never saw being used too much by other artist.
What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central theme gathered from Erick Erickson's 8 stages is that of trust and mistrust while seeing through a skewed lens.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I can conclude from my research that sometimes we have to pay attention to things that we normaly don't think about or realize, whether that be shapes, emotion, or even the way we as human's develop.
Bibliography
Araki, H. (2014). Jojoveller. Shueisha.
Kelly, E. (n.d.). Ellsworth Kelly. Circle Form. 1951: MoMA. Retrieved September 17, 2020, from https://www.moma.org/collection/works/109736
P. (2016, June 16). Ellsworth Kelly Part 1. Retrieved September 9, 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-5jBP3ttm0&ab_channel=Phaidon
P. (2016, June 16). Ellsworth Kelly Part 2. Retrieved September 9, 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CVI77mwr1s&ab_channel=Phaidon
P. (2016, June 16). Ellsworth Kelly Part 3. Retrieved September 9, 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnmwqLsfrSU&ab_channel=Phaidon
P. (2016, June 16). Ellsworth Kelly Part 4. Retrieved September 9, 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejxRV_phhcE&ab_channel=Phaidon
Matsumoto, M. (2018, November 18). Special Interview HIROHIKO ARAKI. Retrieved September 17, 2020, from https://www.tjapan.jp/entertainment/17230475
Kelly, E. (n.d.). Ellsworth Kelly. Circle Form. 1951: MoMA. Retrieved September 17, 2020, from https://www.moma.org/collection/works/109736
P. (2016, June 16). Ellsworth Kelly Part 1. Retrieved September 9, 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-5jBP3ttm0&ab_channel=Phaidon
P. (2016, June 16). Ellsworth Kelly Part 2. Retrieved September 9, 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CVI77mwr1s&ab_channel=Phaidon
P. (2016, June 16). Ellsworth Kelly Part 3. Retrieved September 9, 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnmwqLsfrSU&ab_channel=Phaidon
P. (2016, June 16). Ellsworth Kelly Part 4. Retrieved September 9, 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejxRV_phhcE&ab_channel=Phaidon
Matsumoto, M. (2018, November 18). Special Interview HIROHIKO ARAKI. Retrieved September 17, 2020, from https://www.tjapan.jp/entertainment/17230475