developing visual narratives

A, anthology brief

- Weirdting Collective's zine - our character's journey to the autumn festival

- additional booklet - click to open

prototype:

my page in progress:

the dragon (drawn together as a collective):

B, workshops

Stornaway:

- I was playing with the idea of making my narrative into a multiple-choice adventure

lighting intro:

VR intro:

C, chosen text to illustrate

- a chapter for the novel I am working on

- two main characters are staying in a hotel/inn before they embark on a pilgrim's walk

- it is about the intimacy of their relationship

- one of them has a physical issue with his back - which gets worse (more painful) when the couple rearrange the furniture in the room they are staying in

- the implication of the injury before embarking on the walk

- the theme of pilgrimages.

 this book helped to understand the theme of pilgrimage - and its artistic representations

about pilgrimage as a theme:

- physical journey to achieve a spiritual goal: enlightenment-> physical states also correspond to spiritual states?

- or in search of healing ->spiritual states effect physical states

- a "liminoid activity"; non-routine

- spatial but also temporal movement and relation: has been done for many years, following the same routes

- symbolic action; therefore, the representation can be symbolic

representations of pilgrimages in Europe: badges (souvenirs) drawings, pilgrim's passport

D, visual inspirations - research

artists books from the library:

the format of the booklets below in shape and size reminiscent of folded maps, postcards, travel documents

the narrative, theme of travel and memory is represented through the way the little booklets unfold - thus leading the reader

the El Camino pilgrimage; unfolds like a map.  images are memories, impressions

the style seems appropriate; mix of objective and subjective narrative; travel report-feel

narratives spatially represented in illustration - some examples from module lecturea:

online examples of pop-up zines & folded zines, etc.:

my own trip in the beginning of this module to Toscana:

E, work in progress

initial sketches, testers:

the very first one- and smallest

various formats

visual references:

for the inn

windows with a view - a portal to the outside. Portent or contrasting vision. to symbolise: freedom/imprisonment, hope/unknown. 

old fonts: water (especially as a source in certain locations) might represent healing and immortality in mythology; associations with the source of life, baptism, spirit etc.

various plants with meaning

-willow: wisdom, sadness, compassion. connection to water.

-sage: healing, wisdom (clue is in the name)

-poppy(seed): sleep, dreams, peace, death but mainly: pain relief

-cypress: grief, death, also immortality, associations with antiquity

-amaranth: immortality, luck (retains colour even when dried)

-lotus: enlightenment, spirituality. connection to water.

-papyrus: ancient Egyptian symbol for regeneration, life, health, fertility. also, as an etymological association being the basis of paper->books->wisdom. connection to water.

cornflower, and mountain arnica

- both: representation to the characters; mountain meadows, simplicity, romanticism.

- cornflower: herbal uses - iconic colour

- arnica: thought to ease muscle pain although toxic

in progress:

final visuals:

some colour variation:

F, final outcome

prepared for print:

notes on choices:

-small format to prompt a closer look; delicate to prompt careful handling; closeness to indicate intimacy

-small format as something one would bring from a pilgrimage (souvenir needs to be light-weight) OR a map/passport fitting in a pocket

-colours: green to indicate the theme of rejuvenation, healing (herbs, plants) evergreen-> immortality

blue and yellow represent the characters; they are together mix to create green. light and dark, day and night, etc.

-to unfold is to re-enact the narrative: rearrangement of the room; discovery of depth, secrets, hidden meanings.

- play between close-ups and bird-eye view (the experience of being privy to something private)

-many objects repeated (symmetry) where one is damaged. as one character is needs healing, while the other is healthy therefore careless (smokes)

evaluative statement:

I chose to illustrate a chapter from a book I am working on (although I am more and more interested in making it a graphic novel) as an experiment into what sort of style I could use to illustrate it, but also to see, how effectively I can communicate the narrative visually. Here, I was playing with the idea of leaving as much to the reader to work out as possible with minimal text/ dialogue. I was advised not to leave text out entirely since my chosen format could be already somewhat cryptic and confusing.

The story has two larger themes: intimacy (in a love relationship) and (the need) for healing. The setting is an inn where the couple stay before embarking on a pilgrimage (which again indicates the need for healing in a spiritual sense). During their stay, one of them gets injured while rearranging the furniture; this has some symbolic and practical implications to the journey ahead, because a pilgrimage meant to take the idea of spiritual journey in the literal, physical sense; therefore a physical injury’s meaning is transferable to non-physical realms.

My idea was to recreate the rearrangement of furniture in the room by the way the zine is unfolded. In the process, the reader is the one moving the furniture, while uncovering clues to the nature of the characters’ personalities and the nature of their relationship. There should be a sense of being privy to something private, at times up-close, but all the while from the outside, from bird’s eye view; the reader can never fully share in their intimacy, merely has glimpses. The text is minimal as I mentioned, to enhance this sense of mystery. The elements, details of the environment has intentionality, hidden meanings, symbols, again for the same purpose. Despite this richness in detail, the scale of the booklet makes it hard to see – with the same effect of hiddenness. The hand-drawn, line work style is referencing the fact that one of the characters likes to draw – so this might be his own illustration to the events.

The process of creation perhaps was a little slow as I had to work out the folding elements with experimentation and I had to be careful with measurements. Since I am not exactly strong with mathematical and geometrical thinking, this was done very slowly. I am satisfied with how things ended up working out. There were only a few glitches to fix after test prints, but overall not a bad result in my opinion, since I have not done anything like this before. Only issue again was with time, especially because of the lack of facility availability due to spring break and bank holiday near the deadline – I could have done a better prints perhaps. I initially considered to try Riso, that idea was foiled by the fact that it was broken for a long time.