Louis Wain

Inspired victorian artist and cat lover, Louis Wain is well known for his anthropomorphised cats. His inspiration was apparently his wife Emily Richardson who was dying of breast cancer. Louis comforted  her with drawings of their black and white cat Peter performing human actions and she encouraged him to publish his work. For a time around the 1890's he was successful.

Louis Wain's 'Kitten Book'

Sadly Louis Wain's mental health declined and he was committed in 1924 to Springfield Mental Hospital in Tooting. After an intervention by admirers of his work he was relocated a year later to Bethlem Royal Hospital (now a museum that holds information and art concerning Wain). He died 1939. It is often said he died content surrounded by his beloved cats, whether or not this is true I don't believe we could ever know but it's nice to speculate and says a lot about what people thought of him.

Louis Wain's art during the time he was committed is very well known as an example demonstrating mental health deterioration from schizophrenia. However it is also the subject of debate since the chronological order of his work from that period cannot be proven among other things. I do believe his illness had something to with the change of his art but I agree that saying it affected his ability to communicate visually, that it hindered it, sounds wrong. 

For me Louis Wain is fascinating as a person for his apparent unconventional behaviour, passion for art that bordered on obsession and of course his expressed adoration of cats. His work from both periods fascinate me because of the felines expressions and the intensity of their gaze. He loved cats yet often there is a very unsettling, almost violent expression in their smile and gaze. The kaleidoscopic cats are incredibly expressive of his intense fascination with pattern and primary colours.

Certainly I'll be referring back to him sometime in the future.

Research Project

Now for my research project I plan to do a collaboration with fellow student Victoria Upson. We want to do an adaptation of the fairy tale of Snow White and we're both set on making an animated short using stop motion. We're are both drawn to fairy tale lore and the darker aspects (often ignored in public media) which should give you something of an idea for what direction we're currently thinking of going in.

Even though I'm studying illustration I adore animation and stop-motion in particular. And I've been fascinated in particular with the stop-motion puppetry so this is certainly an excellent opportunity to finally learn how they're made.

There will be a blog exclusively for the Snow White Project sometime soon so please look out for it in the near future.

Final Major Project

Bulby was a project I started back back in secondary school and it quickly became something very personal. It was partly because of this I had to stop working on it for a year to come to terms with the idea of bringing it out into the open.

The essence of the story is about exploration, fears and interaction between people and the outside world. I incorporated many of my childhood experiences and relationships with people around me which explains why it's such a personal project.

The titular character of Bulby is a cartoonish looking creature who makes a journey through a fantastical and often perilous world. The character invokes very traditional traits of childlike innocence and curiosity. I still find these character traits very interesting in exploring those vitues downsides, the interactions with such a character and possible developement. And course there are many other characters, each with their own purpose, ambitions and interpretations of the story's events.

Bulby says: "...!"

For my FMP my goal is to incorporate the whole of what I deem as 'book 1' into a graphic novel. The majority of the tale has been written and i even have a full chapter of really old pages that should serve as an excellent start. I have yet to decide on whether this is a story i want published as a book or online but obviously it can wait. Until then there will be plenty of character designs, media experimentation and art to come that i hope you'll enjoy.

Introductions

A big hello and welcome to the reader whose identity I am currently pondering over. My name is Sophia Torriente and may be catagorized as being among that curious breed of the visual-narrative inclined homo-sapien known as an illustration student. And this is my blog.

This is where I will be posting information regarding the third year of my illustration course specifically it's core components: the Final Major Project (FMP) and my Research Project (which does not need an abbreviation). 

Thank you for looking!