A Real Man vs The real manGouache on a illustration board
30.48 cm x 40.64 cm January 2020 A REAL man vs the real man is supposed to a dive into the difference between a man molded by the unrealistic western standards of what it means to be a "REAL" man and a more general realistic look at what men really are. This piece was inspired by western TV and Models aswell as cartoonist R K Laxman.
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Planning
Inspiration
The Main inspiration for my piece was the cartoonist R. K Laxman who was a illustrator from India who grew up an artist with a very good talent for caricatures. After being rejected by the art school he wanted to go to he eventually got a job as a political cartoonist.One of his most popular cartoon strips was "The Common man" which was the usual commentary on political, social and economic matters but all the comics always had the same short middle-aged man. The name "The common man" interested me a lot and got me thinking about masculinity and what people expect of men.
Nowadays we hear about the expectations for men and the cliche 6'0" muscular successful man, in reality this idea is could be further from the truth. Another one of my inspirations were both Russian model Ernest Khamilov better known on the web as "Gigachad" and the fictional character Al Bundy from the american sit-com Married with Children. Both of these men are almost complete opposites so i used them almost as templates for my piece with Khamilov as the Real man (what western culture considers to be a "Real" man) tall, muscular, successful and Bundy being the opposite ( what western culture would consider a failure but he is what real men are like) a little more plush than Khamilov, un-attractive, old and poor. For a base on the "REAL" man I used Laxman's Personality Drawing of JKF since Kennedy was what one would consider a very powerful man at a high position of the U.S Government, his representation by Laxman was also a good example of the idea I was trying to get across with this piece with the "Real" man being one of high success and position. The contrast between these two realities was one that interested e greatly |
Planning sketches
This Sketch was a starting sketch so i could sort of find what i wanted to explore with this piece. It is inspired by one of Laxman's many cartoons. I wanted to show what a normal man sees in the mirror especially one who is relatively self conscious of his appearance.
(Sketch on the left inspiration displayed on the right) |
The sketch on the left was my first attempt at the "REAL" man wearing his suit and his judgmental expression on the bottom can be seen the different colored pencils that were used to draw him on the illustration board.
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Experimentation
Experimentation was wildly prevalent with the gouache much more so when i discovered it's almost water color type qualities. This quality to the gouache helped immensely with the background, the lighter opacity felt fine with the way The background was supposed to be the lighter opacity brought with it another level of control when it came to the color of the gouache. This lead to the background for the real man being easier to do as a whole. On the other hand I am happy that the gouache could also be solid when it needed to be. The Real man turned out very well his clothes turned out very good and the solid is very helpful when it came to conveying the idea of the western standard as being very fancy and eccentric. Blending and creating colors was very easy to do, making different colors was easy coming off of acrylics and I was very fond of the simple addition of water to the paints being enough to revive dried out palettes. Overall I was very fond of gouache and it's applications.
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Process
I started with the research I did and I found my inspiration and began to ideate on the theme and what inspirations I wanted to use. From here i measured out a space on the board to draw my piece on the board from the sketches that I had in my sketch book. After that I began to chose the different colors I would would use for each individual drawing. I did this by trying to have more extravagant and more expensive looking clothing for the "REAL" man. On the other hand I gave the real man more regular and common clothing with the brown pants and gray shirt.
Since I took the advice from Katie I added more detail to both pieces by adding a background to both drawings. From here I got My swatches and mixed the colors I needed to paint with this mostly consisted of grays, blues, skin tones, colors for hairs and different colors for the background. From here I transferred the image from my colored pencil illustration to the actual illustration board, from here I began to paint the subjects which mainly consisted of solid color so i had to apply more gouache to achieve a solid looking color as well as gradient colors for the shading and shadows. To produce clean lines in this area I used masking tape to cover areas I didn't want covered, before I did o I would try to wear the adhesive on the tape to give it less grip because in the earlier stages I experienced the tape tearing off pieces of the paper.The background was handled with bigger brushes and more watered down gouache colors with the exception of the intensely dark background of The Real man. After applying all the layers I needed I would eventually Touch up areas that needed it and then I finished both pieces.
Since I took the advice from Katie I added more detail to both pieces by adding a background to both drawings. From here I got My swatches and mixed the colors I needed to paint with this mostly consisted of grays, blues, skin tones, colors for hairs and different colors for the background. From here I transferred the image from my colored pencil illustration to the actual illustration board, from here I began to paint the subjects which mainly consisted of solid color so i had to apply more gouache to achieve a solid looking color as well as gradient colors for the shading and shadows. To produce clean lines in this area I used masking tape to cover areas I didn't want covered, before I did o I would try to wear the adhesive on the tape to give it less grip because in the earlier stages I experienced the tape tearing off pieces of the paper.The background was handled with bigger brushes and more watered down gouache colors with the exception of the intensely dark background of The Real man. After applying all the layers I needed I would eventually Touch up areas that needed it and then I finished both pieces.
Reflection
Overall I was not that satisfied with the way the pieces turned out. Although again I don't think I quite captured the look of the sketch for the Real man which again is a big disappointment. Another aspect that only came with the gouache pieces was the fact that i didn't seem to capture R K Laxman's style as much as I did in the previous pieces. The only thing I can commend myself for when it came to the production of this work was the backgrounds which in my opinion after the experience with the gouache turned out phenomenally. The facial features of both subjects was something I struggled with to a great extent. This gouache piece help me develop skill when it came to using gouache but I would have heavily preferred doing a different piece since the style was more suited for something a little less stylized such as a cartoonist style.
Compare and Contrast
Comparisons:
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ACT Responses
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 R K Laxman caused me to put more of a emphasis in showing the divide between the two figures shown in my work.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The sites I used for the most part just showed either the model in his shoot or talked about R K Laxman and in Laxman's case they spoke of him in a very high regard
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I drew the conclusion that in reality men aren't all they are cracked up to be by these different models ad the western media especially that of men being muscular and perfect.
What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central idea is that of unrealistic standards and reality of what men should be like.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I can conclude from my research that When it comes to masculinity western culture portrays the perfect man as a standard and something to strive for to all men.
The Inspiration which was R K Laxman caused me to put more of a emphasis in showing the divide between the two figures shown in my work.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The sites I used for the most part just showed either the model in his shoot or talked about R K Laxman and in Laxman's case they spoke of him in a very high regard
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I drew the conclusion that in reality men aren't all they are cracked up to be by these different models ad the western media especially that of men being muscular and perfect.
What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central idea is that of unrealistic standards and reality of what men should be like.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I can conclude from my research that When it comes to masculinity western culture portrays the perfect man as a standard and something to strive for to all men.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
(n.d.). Retrieved December 3, 2019, from https://www.rklaxman.com/index.html.
SLEEK'N'TEARS. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://sleekntears.com/en/sleekntears/.
Fox. (1987, April 5). Married with children.
SLEEK'N'TEARS. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://sleekntears.com/en/sleekntears/.
Fox. (1987, April 5). Married with children.