A Real Man vs The real mancolored pencil on a illustration board
30.48 cm x 40.64 cm November 2019 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
Although there wan't a lot of room for Experimentation since I only the two boards I still managed to test and improve my skill with the colored pencils. The color of the "REAL" man is something that brought me out of my comfort zone since I'm not so used to using such vibrant colors since I use either darker colors and just straight up pencil in my pieces.Shading and drawing the drop of clothing was something I experimented with in the way i shaded the clothes and skin. Differences in skin tone and the value of colors was an aspect of this project that I enjoyed greatly. Something that helped my use of color is the wide variety of color I had to my disposal since i had a 34 pack of Crayola colored Pencils. If I could have redone this piece I would have tried to use a wider variety of colors.
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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 extravegant 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 my drawing didn't have so much going on in the piece all together it was for the most part pretty simple. I began with the outline and applied the colors I wanted in a sort of base coat for the piece. After that I went over the piece again to fill in the shading and details. Then I went over the outline with a firm application of the colored pencil. After finishing this step with both pieces I went over the whole of both of my pieces with white colored pencil. By applying the White Pencil it sort of blended out the colors better by getting rid of that sort of base coverage that the normal colored pencils gave by blending it out.
Since my drawing didn't have so much going on in the piece all together it was for the most part pretty simple. I began with the outline and applied the colors I wanted in a sort of base coat for the piece. After that I went over the piece again to fill in the shading and details. Then I went over the outline with a firm application of the colored pencil. After finishing this step with both pieces I went over the whole of both of my pieces with white colored pencil. By applying the White Pencil it sort of blended out the colors better by getting rid of that sort of base coverage that the normal colored pencils gave by blending it out.
Reflection
Overall I was satisfied with the way the pieces turned out. Although the "REAL" man didn't come out to look more similarly to the sketch it sill turned out alright. Although it would have been more trouble to add a more prominent background to the two pieces akin to Laxman's overcrowded depictions of India I believe it is fine the way it is and the differences are a little more clear without a busy frame and it works better for the piece as a whole that the background isn't so busy for the eye. I feel as I really did emphasize the differences between the two ideas of what a real man is supposed to be. As
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.