Olio Final

Well, with the Olio finished and handed in, now's a good a time as any to show the final result:

Temporal War

I must say although I'm satisfied overall, I'm a little at odds with how this turned out. I asked around for feedback and it was really facinating to hear other people's interpretations.

Pretty much everyone focused on a iconographic aspect and the connection with medieval depictions of hell but surprisingly few noticed the mechanical man or made anything of it, which was interesting because frankly, I thought it would be an obvious indicator.

Olio II

Now, getting to actually explaining the concept I have in mind.  For my Olio piece I plan on exploring the theme of conflict and war. Specifically influenced by a narrative I've been working with for some time.

The idea is to portray two parties, locked in a perpetual battle. It's pretty self explanatory but I'm facinated the way history repeats itself and the cycle of war.  And in particular the obsessive nature of ideologies and beliefs, despite, I argue, how dear and essential they may be to our being.

For me the two parties represent an obsession with the future and the other the worshipping of the past. And I intend to portray this from the latter's perception.

So I'm focusing on the style of religious icons for the overall piece. I sort of imagine this party sees themselves as something almost but not quite like the avenging angel. They're deeply devoted to their ideals and it's against their beliefs to kill but do so in order to defend their 'holy land', so to speak, from invaders.

The depictions of the Archangel Micheal give a good impression of what I'm going for:

St Michael
by
Guido Reni

Michael slaying Satan
by
Raphael

Olio

In my Illustration course, the Olio is a collection of my years work (as in all the people in their third and final year of illustration). It is a piece made with the intention for the Olio and usually with a running theme (such as the theme of mythology, which was last years). This year there isn't really a theme, but, we were given a quotation to interpret. This was mine:

'Remember those quiet evenings'

Now, I could just as easy illustrate something with the theme of tranquility, however, I find the key element of this phrase is was distinguishing the difference between witnessing a time of peace and recalling a time of peace from long ago. Remember those quiet evenings.

Making the key element is nostalgia...

Or even regret.

Which got me thinking about doing something I've been wanting to do a long, long time. Something involving the storyline of my biggest project.

Honestly, it fits my usual work so well I couldn't have picked a better quote.

The Wandering Child

(Yes I can see Pinocchio's trousers look terrible. I'll fix them later along with painting-in Tinker bell.)

When considering the Child archetype I find two figures stand out: Peter Pan and Pinocchio. And indeed the two have had an influence on the story of Bulby.

Peter Pan and Pinocchio are both concerned with the story of a child's development and coming of age. Both must go through a long adventure involving dangerous trials linked to adulthood and temptation. The figures of the Cat and Fox of Pinocchio for example and not to mention Toyland. And in Peter Pan there was temptation of staying in Neverland. And it's interesting to note the difference in their tales conclusion. Pinocchio essentially strives to become a 'real boy' which is symbolic of him becoming an adult of values. Peter Pan however strives to remain in the realm of childhood imagination; eternally young.

Concerning the characters of the two they are both similar in how they challenge the ideal of the perfect innocence of the child. Peter Pan is selfish and arrogant while Pinocchio was selfish and dishonest. They show how childhood innocence can actually be a relitively destructive force.

Of course, this is going into the mainstream interpretation of the two. I will have to look closer at the original stories of the two and see how they differ.

Character Design

I've been ill for a while but I've been working on character design for the past week. I'll eventually collect them all into one character lineup to use as my reference so you can see the difference in height and such. But for now, say hello to:

Bulby

Carrie Hanaurie

Flipside

Sonny

Monkey

Batten

Stokes 'Junior'

Playing with Curves...

It's all in the title. I started out fiddling with the levels and ended up screwing around with curves and came up with some bizarre images that I really like and think I could use but would never put out as a final image. Something to refrence for later ideas.

I also played around with trying to find something simple to give a little depth to my previous drawing...it ended up drawing attention away from the image (esp the wings) so I made it higher....

Didn't work out but I still learned a few things.

Grafted wings

This isn't strictly related to my FMP but I had the idea a while ago, it came back to me so I just had to do it. Although this is a character design I plan to use, it's to appear much later in another narrative project. Which, now that I mention it, is sure to crop up again.

To explain, I'm quite fascinated with the concept of altering the human condition (wiki covers it fairly well) and the various reasons for this desire from aesthetics, expressing identity to health and (debatable) improvement. I admit, however, though I've been interested in ideas surrounding it, I'm only just becoming familiar now with the term transhumanism.

Of course, this isn't anything new. Doesn't make it any less interesting or relevant for that matter.

Concerning the character in question, I have a very clear idea of how these aesthetic wings are supposed to function. 

Smoking is Hazardous to your Health

On another note, I believe this is the first smoker I've ever drawn.
This is just a rough image. While I'm proud of my line-work, my attempt to combine it with acrylic (my strong suit) failed and came out more like watercolour (NOT my strong suit).

Kudos to Jack and Tor for naming him.