Report

Digital Processes Report

After considering the different texts to illustrate I chose Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. I was most interested in the themes and dark tone of the book. Two chapters in particular stood out to me the most when considering parts of the text to illustrate, these were chapters five and ten. Chapter five focuses on Viktor bringing his creation to life, but unfortunately the result is not as expected. The beautiful body Viktor built becomes a hideous creature when given life. Chapter ten explains Viktor’s travels over the icy mountains surrounded by mist with the creature following him in the distance. I wanted to communicate this eerie atmosphere in my illustration.

I initially produced roughs for my chosen chapters which I developed while researching the text further. I felt the collage technique would be appropriate for my illustrations and it fitted the theme of construction. As Viktor built his creature out of separate parts, I aimed to build my work out of collaged drawings and photographs.

During brief two I had the opportunity to work with the collage technique, I researched two collage artists including Bolin Zhang and Danai Gkoni. Gkoni’s method of working inspired my process when producing my work. The artist is inspired by her environment such as the architecture, people and textures around her. She constantly documents these when on location by taking photographs. I decided to start taking my own photos of interesting textures around me gathering my own collection ready to be collaged digitally. Gkoni explains that she is interested in 'the pleasure of urbanity as a condition of togetherness and isolation at the same time'. I feel this concept could apply to my illustration for chapter ten as my charcter is in a very lonely, cold environment, but is also beng watched constantly. Zhang’s compositions stood out to me the most as I feel they present strong perspective. There is a strong sense of distance in his pieces making the space in his environments seem much greater. When working Zhang collects historical back and white photos which he then collages digitally. He combines these with modern photographs, textures and bold blocks of colour. Although very different components they work together in unity.

Although I enjoy traditional methods of working, I prefer to work digitally more so because I feel I work more efficiently. One of the advantages of this method of working for me is having the ability to edit and manipulate imagery quickly. Most errors that occur can be solved easily on a computer compared to when working by hand. Digital artist John Keaveney explains in an interview that ‘The benefits of digital painting are helping me to produce work faster, being more flexible and allowing me to enhance my paintings or correct proportions and mistakes.’ The tools available within software such as Photoshop and Illustrator are so wide and can produce the effects of traditional methods. There is less mess when working as it is compact in one system. On the other hand it is much easier to produce a copy of digital work and some argue that not much artist skill is necessarily needed. Digital artist Matthieu Fouchier explains ‘Copyright for artists who post their stuff online is still very vague and blurry’ making easier for other people to use existing work. There is a charming quality to hand made work that I feel is sometime lost when producing digital work. One of the biggest problems with this method of working is technical errors such as computer crashes. Progress can be easily lost due to this and also by simply forgetting to save your progress regularly.

I am pleased with the result of my illustrations, but prefer my piece based on chapter ten focusing on Viktor climbing over the icy mountains. I think the composition is much stronger and conveys the atmosphere of the text. Danai Gkoni inspired my thoughts when working on this piece as I tried to focus on the idea of ‘isolation and togetherness’ in one. Viktor may be wandering on his own in the lonely, cold environment, but the creature is constantly watching his every move. Viktor tries to escape his creation, but no matter how far he goes they are always together. I am particularly happy with the look of my collaged textures as I think they add a three dimensional element to the illustration. In order to improve this piece I would focus more on the characters and include greater detail by working over them with the paint tool. I would also consider using a darker colour palette to convey the darker tone of the book.

I feel my second illustration based on chapter five is weaker. Although I am happy with the look of textures collaged with my drawings, I feel they may appear quite childish. I found it challenging when combining my textures with the characters, I feel more detail could have been added. I would work more so on Viktor’s face. I can see this piece being more appropriate for a younger reader, but not necessarily for an adult audience. In order to improve this piece I would look at communicating the darker tone of the book. I would also develop my drawings and experiment further with combing them with my textures.

I feel that my quote is appropraite and fits the themes of the book. The tone of the text is quite dark and so I produced a gothic style font to suit this. The quote focuses on Frankestein’s eyes and so I used the eye as a key piece of imagery within some of the letters. I chose specific words to illustarte including glimmer, half-extingushed and cretaure. I felt it would look too busy to illustarte every word and focused on the most important parts of the quote. In order to improve this I would consider illustarted the center of some of the letters with key imagery such as lab equipment and body parts.

My GIF is based on my second illustration of Viktor sat upon the mountain. I think the mist gradually moving looks effective and conveys the eerie atmosphere. To improve my GIF I would add movement to Frankenstein making the figure gradually move forward towards the viewer. This would help communicate the fact that Viktor is being followed.

Overall I think that my illustrations work better separately as I feel that they are very different aesthetically. My second illustration may appeal to a younger audience, but if I were to develop this piece I would try to fit the same aesthetics as my first illustration. Throughout this module I have gained many valuable skills and knowledge of Photoshop and Illustrator, I intend to use and develop these in my further practice.