Return to Wayland Wood

I returned to Wayland Wood with an SLR camera to take better photos and gather textures I can use and incorporate into my motion graphic and concept art. 

More photos taken at Wayland Wood 29th October

Fashion

http://www.marieclaire.co.uk/fashionweek/catwalk/26228/43/topshop-unique-london-2010-fashion-week-photos.html#index=4&slider=off

These are some photos taken from London Fashion Week 2010, of Topshop's autumn collection. I will use their woodland theme as inspiration for my character concepts.

    

    

    

    

flowers etc as jewellery

I also looked at Alexander McQueens spring/summer collection from 2003 because his inspiration was by the Elizabethan time period. I will combine this inspiration with the research on real Elizabethan clothing.

http://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/spring-summer-2003/ready-to-wear/alexander-mcqueen#alexander-mcqueen/full-length-photos/gallery/1

I looked at Paul Costelloe's Autumn/Winter 2010-11 collection which is more of a 19th century America inspired style, however, these two images gave inspiration for more clothing ideas for my two characters.

    

http://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/autumn-winter-2010/ready-to-wear/paul-costelloe#paul-costelloe/full-length-photos/gallery/1.

Illustrative Style Ideas

While researching fairy tale illustrations, such as Grimm’s Fairy Tales and

English Fairy Tales And Legends by Rosalind Kerven, I discovered that many were done by the same man, Arthur Rackham.

Arthur Rackham

Rackham was an artist, born in 1867 and died in 1939, who studied at the City of London School and Lambeth School of Art. He was famous for his illustrations of children's story books, such as Rip Van Winkle (1905), Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (1906), and Alice in Wonderland (1907). 

A midsummer nights dream

Little Red Riding Hood


Grimms Fairy Tales
This image shows a border which I could use to make sure resolution sizes do not affect the motion graphic.

Kay Nielsen

I also cam upon this artist, Kay Nielsen, a Danish illustrator who was popular in the early 20th century, the "golden age of illustration" which lasted from when Daniel Vierge and other pioneers developed printing technology to the point that drawings and paintings could be reproduced with reasonable facility. He joined the ranks of Arthur Rackham and Edmund Dulac in enjoying the success of the gift books of the early 20th century. Nielsen is also known for his collaborations with Disney for whom he contributed many story sketches and illustrations.





Alphonse Mucha

I have also been looking into Art Nouveau for the style of my motion comic. This style has always reminded  me of fantasy stories and fairy tales, and so I believe it will suit my Folklore legend, it will also lull the viewer into believing this to be a typical fairy tale and contrast well to the darker story later on. I have chosen to look at Alphonse Mucha in particular because a lot of his work incorporates nature in an ethereal/fantasy kind of way, which I believe could work well with my story.

This was Mucha's first set of decorative panels and it became one of his most popular series. It was so popular that Mucha was asked by Champenois to produce at least two more sets based on the same theme in 1897 and 1900. Designs for a further two sets also exist.

The idea of personifying the seasons was nothing new - examples could be found in the works of the Old Masters' as well as in Champenois's other publications. However, Mucha's nymph-like women set against the seasonal views of the countryside breathed new life into the classic theme. In the four panels shown here, Mucha captures the moods of the seasons - innocent Spring, sultry Summer, fruitful Autumn and frosty Winter, and together they represent the harmonious cycle of Nature.

 

In this series of decorative panels, Mucha again chose to personify the stars as female figures. This time, however, he sought to surpass the panels' decorative function by exploring the deeper meaning of his subjects. The women are no longer confined to ornate crescents and alcoves, but instead float in space and are illuminated by a light radiating from within the composition. Their poses are meditative and dramatic rather than sensual. In all four panels, Mucha demonstrates great skill in rendering the texture and sheen of rich textiles.

From left to right, The Evening Star, The Moon, The Morning Star and the Pole Star.

Bibliography

http://arthur-rackham-society.org/about_the_artist.html

Visual Storytelling and Storyboards

To create my motion graphic, I will need to learn how to storyboard and study the art of storytelling. 

In a book about visual storytelling, it is stated that there are four major components which shape the way a master storyteller spins out a tale and which together determine how successful the storyteller has been at achieving the ultimate goal, the audiences total immersion in the story. (Caputo, 2003) These components are:

Clarity:

The quality of being clear, in particular:

·         the quality of being coherent and intelligible:

·         the quality of being easy to see or hear; sharpness of image or sound:

·         the quality of being certain or definite:

·         the quality of transparency or purity:

Realism

1. The attitude or practice of accepting a situation as it is and being prepared to deal with it accordingly:

2. The quality or fact of representing a person or thing in a way that is accurate and true to life:

Dynamism

1.   The quality of being characterized by vigorous activity and progress:

the dynamism and strength of the economy

Continuity

1.     The unbroken and consistent existence or operation of something over time:

o    a state of stability and the absence of disruption

o    a connection or line of development with no sharp breaks

2.     The maintenance of continuous action and self-consistent detail in the various scenes of a film or broadcast:

Clarity

For the audience to get caught up in the story, be immersed in it, and be unaware of the way the story is being told, they must be able to follow the visual story. This will be very important in my motion graphic, I will ensure my motion graphic makes sense to others by asking friends and family to look over my storyboards and research what is clear to them and, if anything is unclear, what, and how do I need to change it.
It is also important to establish the scene, characters and mood, to give the audience, after one brief glance at the shot, enough information to know where they are, and where they are about to travel. My establishing shot will probably show the 16th century rural village, but needs to show the Wailing Wood also, so perhaps the establishing shot could start with the woods and then pan across to show the neighbouring village. My next shot will show the two children and their parents, this shot will need to show they are happy and loving, possibly shown in a family portrait style. I can research family portraits to look at how photographers link and make the eye flow through the image also.

taken from: http://davidfrankphotography.com/2.0/family/

Clarity of Action Flow: The panels of any comic strip or animation must lead and point the viewers eyes in the correct direction, this is easier. This means I will need to carefully think about positioning and flow of animations for my storyboards. These are all things I will check when creating the storyboards.
180-Degree Rule: The 180-degree rule, this is when the views of the images are only ever seen from one side, not over 180 degrees. For example, if two people are talking, one on the left and one on the right, it is easy to establish the characters by their positioning  however, if we view these same characters from the opposite side, the characters will be on different sides, which can make it confusing for the viewer to differentiate between the two. This goes for any objects in the scene, no matter how far away, should always stay on the same side of any scene.
Set-up and Payoff: Caputo states that any items that are to be a focus of attention later in a story should be set up in an early scene. For example, if a woman in a story is going to use a torch from her bedside table as weapon against a prowler at some point in the story, make sure that the torch is seen on the table when the stage is first set. At this point in my story, I do not think there are any important items that will appear later, but I will keep this in mind when creating the storyboards.

Realism
In this context, Caputo is not referring to photorealism, but rather, a realism that means everything makes logical sense in that world 

Bibliography

Caputo, Tony C. (2003) Visual Storytelling: The Art and Technique 1st ed. New York, Watson-Guptill Publications.

Ellison, Harlan. (2003) With the Eyes of a Demon: Seeing the Fantastic as a video image. In: Caputo, Tony C. (2003) Visual Storytelling: The Art and Technique 1st ed. New York, Watson-Guptill Publications.pp 6-21

Steranko, Jim. (2003) Harnessing Mythology: Reflections on Narrative Theory. In: Caputo, Tony C. (2003) Visual Storytelling: The Art and Technique 1st ed. New York, Watson-Guptill Publications. Pp 172-189

Oxford University Press, 2012. Available from: <http://oxforddictionaries.com/> [Accessed 5 Nov 2012]

More Research

To gather research for my 16^th Century Rural Norfolk setting I visited the Norwich Castle Museum. This was very useful for discovering wildlife specific to Norfolk and the Norfolk Woodland because they had a whole section of taxidermy dedicated to this, and this gave me a new list of creatures to think about and possibly incorporate into my studio project, such as details like a feather in one the characters hair from a specific bird from Norfolk woods. The list of animals was long:

Mammals:         

Otter, Hedgehog, Squirrel, Deer, Muntjac (small deer), Stoat, Weasel, Badger, Brown Hare, Wood mouse, Mole and Shrew

Birds:     

Kingfisher, Harrier, Cuckoo, Pheasant, Robin, Woodpecker, Lapwing, Heron, Jay, Raven, Crow, Jackdaw, Magpie, Rook, Barn Owl, Tawny Owl, Common Kestrel, Sparrow hawk.

Sketches of various animals in the museum.

Unfortunately there was little to find on 16^th century Norfolk, and even less on things that would have suited my rural setting. But what I did find was a glove (worn by the rich) and a copper alloy ring from this time period that may be useful. This is a rough sketch I did to remind me of how they looked. Although it is unlikely that my characters would wear something like this, they may have stolen it from passers through the woods.

I found a book in the museum called A fashionable History of Underwear by Helen Reynolds. The section on 16^th century stated that: “Slashing (clothes) was very common” and “The 16^th century saw differences in underwear between different ranks of society. Women used underwear to change their body shape. The stiffened bodice or “body” incorporated wood, whalebone and occasionally iron bands to shape the fashionable elongated bodice and small waste.”

Again, this may not be that suitable to my characters, but the idea of slashing clothes and having multiple layers incorporated into their attire may be useful.

In a book called The Great British Countryside, I found an interesting section about an old common rhyme about Magpies.

        “Black and white magpies dart around the hedges looking for unattended eggs to thieve.

One for sorrow, two for joy,

Three for a girl, four for a boy,

Five for silver, six for gold,

Seven for a secret never to be told

                …goes the old countryman’s rhyme, and there are those (myself included) who automatically greet every solitary magpie they see with a “Good morning Magpie” to avert the threatened sorrow”

This is a rhyme that I have also grown up with and know my mother and grandparents (all born and raised in Norfolk) to speak to solitary magpies in a similar way. Although this is not directly relatable to my studio work, I could incorporate this stigma and myth into my characters, they are considered to be unlucky, or use 3 magpies to represent the girl and 4 for the boy.

These are a couple of sketches I copied from a book about Norfolk and Suffolk villages, as the quote states, most villagers were still living in humble longhouses with thatched roofs, and the top sketch (more modern for the time) can be used as a base design for the uncles house, so it will stand out from all the others in the village.

Initial Ideas

These are some Initial Sketches I have created of the two characters.

This is a very rough sketch, but was my very first visual idea of the two characters. The clear things I wanted the characters to have were furs, to show not only have they learned to live in the woods, but they are hunters also. However, they wear the fur because they need it to keep warm, they will have learned to respect nature and only kill when it is necessary. Their hair wills should be tangled and messy but also possibly show signs of the times, such as ribbons in the girl’s hair.

These are two initial sketches of the brother and sister, at the moment they very stylised, especially the girl, but this is a possible route to go down. Again these sketches show the furs, messy yet somewhat styled hair all tied in with bits of nature (the girls stick/weapon and leafy skirt)

Studies

To improve my studio work, I have been developing my drawing skills by attending life drawing lessons and making studies wherever possible.

These are some studies I created focusing on clothing and the folds in different materials.

These are some studies I drew of feet and hands. These will be very important in my characters designs, because it is likely their feet will be exposed.

These are some sketches I did over the summer studying the male face, which will help for my male designs as these are what I struggle with most.

In my first life drawing lesson, we focused on lighting and creating form using charcoal and erasers. 

I think I managed to get the form down in the first two, and this was good practise for me to step away from using just lines. However, I really struggled with the second pair of sketches where we were challenged to use just vertical and horizontal lines.

 The next life drawing focused on storytelling and we were challenged to create a story using the model and props and just three scenes representing a beginning, middle and end.