The Gender Spectrum in Media

Introduction. 

This blog post will be looking at the catalogue advert for the Mega push up bra featuring Andrej Pejic, An androgynous model, who is biologically male but has a feminine look.  I will be looking at this with a feminist perspective and discussing gender theory in particular.

FIG. 1, Daan, W. (2011) Mega push-up Bra [online] Available at:http://andrejpejicpage.tumblr.com/post/14159120248/andrej-pejic-for-hema-mega-push-up-bra (Accessed: 1 March 2012).

  

The Image above FIG. 1 (Daan, 2011) shows the model Andrej Pejic posing for an advert to promote the mega push up bra. The Advert caused some controversies as some people reacted negatively.

One of the strongest negative reactions came from a tabloid article titled ‘Fashion's ultimate insult to women: The latest way of demeaning real women is a male model dressed as a girl’ written by Amanda Platell. (Platell, 2011) The web link below leads to the article.

Platell, A (2011) ‘Fashion's ultimate insult to women: The latest way of demeaning real women is a male model dressed as a girl’ mail online, 25 February  [online] available at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1360460/Andrej-Pejic-Fashions-ultimate-insult-women-man-dresses-woman.html (accessed: 1 march 2012).

Platell argues points in a way that feels like they have meaning to them but if you examining them closely they read likes mindless, driveling hate speech espoused by the like of social conservatives in America such as Rush Limbaughand Pat Robinson who’s rhetoric consists of puritanical moralism.  The article was most likely written to get people's attention and to sell more newspapers as the article's points are invalidate and idiotic at best but the article does express sentiments that are held within certain segments of society.

This concept of Gender performance, Gender play or Gender Change, in this particular case to have a male represent a female role or feminine role, has existed through out history. There were biological males who were eunuchs; due to their status they occupied a unique position in the gender spectrum not being male, female or androgynous. Their roles were normally interchangeable from masculine to feminine.  These individuals existed During the Mesopotamia and also with ancient Mayan culture. Gender play can also clearly be seen during the time of the ancient Greeks with their myths of gender switching god and goddess. The Galli priests, in ancient Rome, who worshiped the Goddess Cybele, would castrate and beautify themselves to look feminine as a way to express their faith to their god. Moving forward to modern times towards the late 20^th century, gender performance becomes more popular in media with such films like the Naked Civil Servant (1975), where the main protagonist who is male takes on a more feminine role for the film. Another film, that also deals with this is The Crying Game (1992), that featured a male androgynous actor called Jaye Davidson who for the purpose of the film played an individual pretending to be a female. This relates to the mega push up bra advert (FIG, 1) as it’s a performance to illustrate the characters Gender role in the film. All these examples show that gender isn’t entirely biologically mutable and come into a wider variety of gender expression and social conformity. The study of this is called Gender Theory.

The tenets of gender theory are that gender is a social construction and is a performance by individuals that are assigned male or female at birth by their biological genitalia.  From that point they are also assigned gender roles, which restricts their expression of their behavior to comfort to what society deems acceptable for male and female roles e.g. girls playing with dolls and boys playing with toy cars.

Judith Butler (1999), foremost expert on gender theory, outlines some of the dynamics of Gender Theory in her book Gender trouble (1999) when she wrote

The performance of drag plays upon the distinction between the anatomy of the performer and the gender that is being performed. But we are actually in the presence of three contingent dimensions of significant corporeality: anatomical sex, gender identity, and gender performance. If the anatomy of the performer is already distinct from the gender performer, and both of those are distinct from the gender of the performance, then the performance suggests a dissonance not only between sex and performance, but sex and gender, and gender and performance. As much as drag creates a unified picture of “woman” (what its critics often oppose), it also reveals the distinctiveness of these aspects of gendered experience, which are falsely naturalized as unity through the regulatory fiction of heterosexual coherence. In imitating gender, drag implicitly reveals the imitative structure of gender itself-as well as its contingency. (Butler, 1999, p.175)

What Butler is saying here and how it applies to FIG. 1 (Daan, 2011) above is that there are 3 perspective of gender at play, ones gender identity ones anatomical sex and ones gender performance.This concept separates biological sex and gender. In the case of the advert above the model ‘Andrej Pejic’ is genetically and anatomically male but Identifies as an androgynous individual but for the purposes of this advert the model is performing a role of a women to promote the product. This can be seen as gender play similar to the Actor Jaye Davidson in the film the crying game (1992).  Andrej Pejic is using his feminine features in addition with the cosmetics and female clothing to create the achieved feminine appearance for the advert.

One of the goals of this advert is to demonstrate the effectiveness of the bra and in many ways it has achieved this by simply using a male model over a female model it can show how a piece of clothing has efficiently given the androgynous male model the figure of the woman. So if it can make a male look as though he has breasts then for a woman it should produce a better affect. Further more this may also attract a new audience for the product with male transvestites from this advert.  

The advert itself doesn’t actually show the bra but only the effect it has under clothing, as the model wouldn’t have the conventional body to advertise the bra in a traditional way. This is shown in FIG. 2 (below) with model Andrej Pejic posing topless.

FIG. 2, Lohr, T (date unknown), i – D [online], Available at:http://thomaslohr.com/site/?page_id=155 (accessed: 20^th April 2012)

The image below (FIG, 3) illustrates a typical bra advertisement from the clothing line George.

 FIG. 3, George style (2010) Entice Glam spot padded bra [advertisement]. Available at: http://georgestyle.george.com/2010/11/28/a-lingerie-buying-guide-for-your-man (Accessed: 20 April 2012)

The Differences in execution for the advertisements are very apparent when compared. The product of the bra is presented more directly in FIG, 3 with the model wearing nothing but the bra in the picture.

Chafetz, J. (1978) says “It should be clear that when the terms  “masculine” and “feminine” are used, it is assumed that the characteristics in question are socially prescribed and individually learned, and hence changeable, phenomena; they are not innate to the organism.” (Chafetz, J. 1978, p. 4). This quotes from Chafetz explains that the concepts of masculinity and femininity are just societal constructions that individual adopt as part of their gender role. This in forces the principles of Genders theory and is also demonstrated in FIG. 1 with the pose the model (Pejic) has chosen. The body language are timid yet inviting to the viewer and the way the model has placed his arms forwards slightly inwards towards his chest to amplify the effect of the bra. This shows a desire to reach a feminine appearance for the Advert.

So it can be seen through out history in modern day cultures that the traits of Gender theory are present and this idea of gender being a social construction has some weight to it.

Now looking into the cracks of the theory and acknowledging them brings a few issue to look at such as although the theory is based on studies a lot of the theory chooses to ignore or overlook the possibility of biological roots in the gender scheme of things. 

Steven Pinker, an advocate of evolutionary psychology, speaks about free will in a video from YouTube.com  (Bigthink, 2011).  . He speaks about how the brain is wired and controls our choices based on options given.  Pinker says, “ … Our behaviours are the product of physical processes in the brains.” (Bigthink, 2011).  With this quote you could argue that the way we feel, act and think are down to our biology because at our most basic we are chemical based creatures who react to the world through our senses and the processes the brain makes.  This could infer that how someone chooses to act feminine or masculine or, in the case of transsexuals, wanting to become the opposite sex isn’t always a part of social construction but may be deeper rooted in our biology with the way your brain and body chemicals are telling you how you feel you are or should be in terms of your gender identity, gender role and anatomical sex.

Christina Hoff Sommers wrote In the book ‘The War Against boys’, explaining the ideas of Dr Nancy Marshall, saying “According to Marshall, A child’s sexual Identity is Learned by observing others.” (Sommers, 2000)

This Idea isn’t 100% fact that should be noted. Although an individual who is born and grows up should be affected by their environment that they’re raised in along with social and cultural principles that are embedded in that environment.  But placing a set of these conventions of gender on the individual and saying that the individual will conform even if the gender roles/ performance, gender identity and anatomical sex do not match any innate biological gender behaviours of the subject is presumptuous to degree.

Colapinto, J (2004), in his online article, outlines the Case of David Reimer, an individual who was born a biological boy in 1965, with his twin brother. But Reimer suffered a serious accident at the hand of the medical practitioner during a circumcision at 8 months old, which mutilated his penis beyond repair.  His parents, who were distraught over the matter and not sure what to do, were eventually referred to Dr John Money, one of the worlds leading experts in gender Identity at the time. He put the ideas forward that Reimer parents could raise David as a girl and to give him a surgical sex change. Dr Money’s ideas were that this would solve the issues as he grows up he would identify as girl and the rest would fall into place.

Dr Money claimed that everything was a success and David now called Brenda was happy as a girl.  The unfortunate truth is that Brenda suffered many problems with adapting to female life as Colapinto (2004) explains

At age 2, Brenda angrily tore off her dresses. She refused to play with dolls and would beat up her brother and seize his toy cars and guns. In school, she was relentlessly teased for her masculine gait, tastes, and behaviors. She complained to her parents and teachers that she felt like a boy; the adults—on Dr. Money's strict orders of secrecy—insisted that she was only going through a phase. (Colapinto 2004)

It’s with this we can identify that the individual (David Reimer) wasn’t accepting the social conventions place upon him. It was later at the age of 14 that David was eventually told the truth about his biology from his parents. Colapinto, J (2004) quotes David Reimer saying "Suddenly it all made sense why I felt the way I did. I wasn't some sort of weirdo. I wasn't crazy." With this quote we can gather that the individual had underlining feelings that he belonged in another gender binary other then one he was placed in.  This harkens back to the point raised earlier about who or what we are could be deeper rooted in our biology. 

A quote from Bornstein, K (1995) from her book ‘Gender Outlaw’ expresses her thoughts as a transsexual woman on gender identity.  Bornstein writes

Gender Identity answers the questions, “who am I?” Am I a man or a woman or a what? It’s a decision made by nearly every individual, and it’s subject to any influence: peer pressure, advertising, drugs, cultural definitions of gender, whatever.  (Bornstein, 1995, p. 24)

With this quote the principle is established explaining what gender identity is and how it is developed. Bornstien (1995, p. 24) goes on to explain that, as a transsexual woman, she does not feel like a woman as she will never know how a biological female truly feels to be a woman but she does explain that she was certain she did not feel like a boy or man through the absence of feeling connected to these gender groups and this convinced her to transition from male to female.

What this demonstrates is the wider scale of gender. That Gender Identity does not just fall into the two main categories of male and female but there exist another alternative or alternatives to these. Andrej Pejic (model from FIG. 1) chooses to be recognised as androgynous for their Gender Identity. This term of using androgyny as gender identifier is being used in many other places for example a YouTube channel and Facebook, called Androgentics, operated by 5 individuals who all differ on their gender performance but also consider themselves androgynous with their Gender Identities. The links below is to one of its members individual channel videos.

TheMetallicSharpie (2011) True Life: I'm a Jeffree Star Wannabe.  Available at:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrW9TlvSZkk&context=C41c42d3ADvjVQa1PpcFP3Qc8Cav4N5ceMllhubRfCe5ghEDrYcqE=  (Accessed: 14^th April 2012)

This just shows that the concepts of a wider spectrum to gender is present and that gender can act more fluid rather than conforming to one or the other (male or female).

In conclusion although gender theory is correct in areas to state that certain behaviours by the sexes are indeed social constructions.  It is indeed however not entirely 100%  the case  to assert the extreme, that all gender attributes and behaviours are nothing but social constructions. It is thus made clear that the assertion by proponents of gender theory such as Judith butler who argue that gender is nothing but performativity and is based on socio-cultural constructions. This is only a partial truth and it is shown in the case of David Reimer that certain gender behaviours may have innate biologic roots that go deeper and beyond socio-culture idioms. It can also be seen that there is a possibility to more than just the socially accepted male and female gender binaries. With Gender Theory it’s clear that the biological root notions can be incorporated into the theory to better understand the individual over the generalized Groups.

Bibliography 

AndroGenetics, (2009) AndroGenetics Channel, Available at:http://www.youtube.com/user/AndroGenetics (accessed 15th April 2012)

Bigthink (2011)  Steven Pinker on Free Will. Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQxJi0COTBo&feature=plcp&context=C48e003dVDvjVQa1PpcFPJexEEokN5QEaeh6FhmASj6r0AHZnEAwI%3D  (Accessed: 10 April 2012)

Bornstein. K (1995) Gender Outlaw on Men, Women, and the Rest of Us. USA: Vintage Books.

Butler, J. (1999) Gender Trouble. Oxon: Routledge.

Chafetz, J. ( 1978) Masculine / Feminine or Human? An over of the Sociology of Sex Roles. USA: F. E. Peacock Publishers Inc.

Chetwynd, J and Hartnett, O. (1978) The Sex Role System. London: Routledge and Kegan paul Ltd.

Colapinto, J (2004) ‘Gender gap’, Slate, 3^rd June, [online] available at:

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2004/06/gender_gap.html(Accessed: 10 April 2012)

Daan, W. (2011) Mega push-up Bra [online] Available at:http://andrejpejicpage.tumblr.com/post/14159120248/andrej-pejic-for-hema-mega-push-up-bra(Accessed: 1 March 2012).

Gauntlett, D. (2003) Media, Gender Identity An Introduction. London: Routledge.

George style (2010) Entice Glam spot padded bra [advertisement]. Available at:http://georgestyle.george.com/2010/11/28/a-lingerie-buying-guide-for-your-man (accessed: 20 April 2012)

Goodwin, B. (2007) Using Political Ideas. 5^th edn. West Sussex: John Wiley and Sons Ltd.

Hooks, B. (2005) The Will to Change Men, Masculinity, and Love. USA: Washington Square Press.

James, M, Korczak, E, Simon, S and Johnstone, B and (2012) ‘AndroGenetics’ Facebook, Available at:http://www.facebook.com/AndroGenetics (accessed 15th April 2012)

Lohr, T (date unknown), i – D [online], Available at: http://thomaslohr.com/site/?page_id=155(accessed: 20^th April 2012)

Lorber, J. (2005) Gender Inequality. 3Rd edn. Los Angeles, USA: Roxbury Publishing Company.

Microsoft network (2011) A man modeling women’s underwear? . Available at:http://style.uk.msn.com/fashion/a-man-modelling-women%E2%80%99s-underwear#image=7  (Accessed: 1 march 2012).

Paglia, C. (1992) Sexual Personae. USA: Vintage Books.

Platell, A (2011) ‘Fashion's ultimate insult to women: The latest way of demeaning real women is a male model dressed as a girl’ mail online, 25 February  [online] available at:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1360460/Andrej-Pejic-Fashions-ultimate-insult-women-man-dresses-woman.html (accessed: 1 march 2012).

Routledge. (ed.) (2000) Concise Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. London: Routledge.

Sommers, C. (2000) The War Against Boys. New york: Simon and Schuster Paperbacks.

Sommers, C. (1995) Who Stole Feminism? How Women Have Betrayed Women. New York: Touchstone.

Vermaseren, M. (1977) Cybele and Attis: The Myth and the Cult.  New York, USA: Thames & Hudson Ltd

The Crying Game (1992) Jordan, N [film] New York City, USA: Miramax Films Corporation.

The Naked Civil Servant (1975) Gold, J [Film] London, UK: Thames Television

  

TheMetallicSharpie (2011) True Life: I'm a Jeffree Star Wannabe.  Available at:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrW9TlvSZkk&context=C41c42d3ADvjVQa1PpcFP3Qc8Cav4N5ceMllhubRfCe5ghEDrYcqE= (Accessed: 14^th April 2012)

Final Year Animation: The Book

 Animation 3  U1011473

 Final Year Animation: The Book

For the final project for animation 3 the brief states that the animation must be 3 to 5 minutes long. 

The Idea I have chosen to focus on for my animation is about different scene from several different books. Jules Vern’s 20,Thousands Leagues Under the Sea, Herman Melville’s Moby dick, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and Isaac Asimov’s I,Robot. 

The animation would start by showing a book on a table the camera would slowly get closer (zoom) to the book. The book’s cover opens and the pages begin to turn while the camera is still zooming in. Eventually it would settle on a page 

The page will be a scene from 20, Thousands Leagues Under the Sea. The scene will be where the giant octopus attacks one of the crew on the submarine while it is raised at the ocean’s surface. Ones the octopus grabs the crewman with its tentacle it throws him over the pages as they being to turn again. They again settle on a page from the book I,Robot, the scene from the book where the Robot Robbie is playing a chasing game with a little girl. Both characters are running towards the camera and off page. In the background in the sky the crewman who was thrown by the octopus can be seen flying across the sky from left to right and this leads into another page turn sequence. This leads into a scene from Brave New world where the character Bernard Marx is boarding a ship to fly across the city. The ship takes off and begins flying across the sky right to left. The crewman hits the window of the airship and holds onto the window and this causes the ship to stall and head towards the ground and the pages begin to turn again and now this is leads into a scene from Moby dick with the whale rising up out of the ocean to swallow the ship and then fall towards captain Ahab on a small boat and swallow it as well. The scene fades to black as the whale opens its mouth to devour Captain Ahab small boat. In the dark Captain Ahab lights his pipe to reveal he and his crew are in the whale’s stomach along with the crewman from 20, thousand leagues under the sea and the airship from brave new world and Bernard Marx inside. The octopus from the beginning is also in the belly of the whale floating in the stomach fluids using one of its tentacles to rubbing its head to figure out how it ended up in the belly of the whale. The pages turn and the book closes to show that on the back of the book it says THE END. The book opens slightly again with the octopus tentacle reaching out pointing to the end Animation 3  

Production Journal 

3rd December 

I have a started a rough drawing of the octopus, particularly the body shape using adobe flash. I have also been researching octopus movements under water on YouTube. Using this research I am able to lay down some key frames for the octopus sequence. 

10th December 

This week I have completed the drawing of the octopus and all the key frames for scene 1. I have also drawn the design for the submarine and using motion tweens added the drawing to the sequence of the octopus, to create a flowing scene. I compiled them in adobe after effects. 

17th December 

I have decided to work on the design of the girl character and the robot character. Designing and drawing the girl for the running sequence was simple due to a front view running scene. However the robot was more difficult due to the character that it was based on from the book irobot, had no mouth and head was shaped irregular this is causing my design to look more menacing, and scary rather than friendly like a house robot. 

I have to figure out a way in to which to make the eyes to give the character more personality by the look. Handling the robots front movement will be quite difficult as its arms and legs aren’t that conventional to a normal anatomy to a human. This is because the arms and legs of a normal humans revolves around the slight curves and rotations were as the robots arms and legs are sharp and rigid, which means that as the movement goes forward with every frame the arms and legs have to look exactly like the previous frame to keep the consent flow of movement believable. 

7th January 

I have continued the design of the robot to get a more kind friendly look and completed the run cycle for the robot as best I could, what I mean by this is that the robots movements are slightly jumpy, however due to the fact that the character is a robot it adds to the effect that his movements are slightly jumpy. This is similar to the film terminator with the scene of the stop motion machine at the end of the film. I decided to add small amounts of brown tones to characters of the girl and the robot for their scene just to difrenciate between the different books for each scene. I also made a quick background design of a tree and some landscape. 

14th January 

I have tested the scenes and complied them in Adobe after effects. 

21st January 

Originally I was meant to have the submarine rising from the ocean scene completed however I was unable to successfully animate waves, until I researched other ways to get the same look of waves in the ocean that would still fit with the other scenes with the octopus and the submarine. I did this by drawing several layers of curved flat waves in Adobe Flash and then importing each wave shape into adobe after effects to go with octopus and the rising submarine. 

28th January 

I continued animating the rising submarine by animating the top hatch of the submarine opening and the one of the ship’s crew men stepping out. I then animated the octopus tentacles wrapping around and grapping and slinging the crew man off scene. This was done is adobe flash and imported into adobe after effects to complete the scene. 

4th February 

I able to take out equipment from the MPS equipment store, which was a Nikon D5000 DSLR camera, a tripod and Photon Beard 200 lighting kit and then I used the small green room in the back of the class to start stop motion book opening sequence. I was able to get the look of the book cover opening and pages turning using small amounts of play dough to prop up the pages and cover for each photo taken. I used dragon frame stop motion software to capture the images and to compile them into a sequence so they are ready to be imported in to adobe after effects. Due to test takes to get the book opening sequence looking right which took several hours I was unable to fully complete the page turning scene I will have to return to complete this and to capture the book closing sequence. 

11th February 

Due to the green room not being free I was unable to complete my stop motion of the book sequence. So I decided finish off all scenes for the octopus and the submarine scenes and started on the hover craft design. 

18th February 

I animated the hover craft taking off and the movement of fire for the engine part of the ship. I did this is adobe flash by drawing separate components such as the engine, air ship and the fire, and then imported them into adobe after effects and layered them together so that they complete the scene of the ship taking off and flying through the air. 

25th February 

In adobe flash I did the key frames for the whale (Moby dick) rising out of the water and splashing back down. While in the air the whale opens its mouth and closes slightly. I decided to use the waves from the previous scene of the octopus and submarine for this scene. I also drew out a rough design for the small wooden boat that captain Ahab will be standing on. 

4th March 

This week I decided to separate the individual parts for the octopus for the ship crew man scene to help rectify a problem in adobe after effects that was to have the sailor on the same layer after being grabbed my the octopus rather than being separate. I also animated the man flying through the air after being thrown so this scene can be added to the others to create a linking element for the story scenes. 

11th March 

This week I continued doing the stop motion sequence in the green room of the book pages turning. I was able to get the page turning completed but still need to do the book closing section. 

18th March 

After speaking to Will my lecturer and showing him my work he agreed rather than trying to complete each scene I should compile them as they are so I can get an idea of how the animation would look and run. So I decided to edit the book opening sequence in adobe after effect and connect the first sequence of the octopus and the submarine. I decided to set the layer of the first scene to multiply which allowed it to blend into the pages of the book sequence and using the masking tool and playing around with the rotation scale and position attributes I was able to make it look as though the scene was turning will the page. 

25th March 

I continued editing in adobe after effects the all the scenes by using the same method from last week. 

1st April 

This week I was able to finish the book closing scene for the stop motion section of the animation. 

8th April 

Continuing to edit scenes in adobe after effects. 

15th April 

Continuing to edit scenes in adobe after effects. Thank to the Time Remapping option for layers I was able to extend and stop sequences to help the flow of the animation. 

22nd April 

This week I decided to animate the scene of the captain Ahab looking up of the whale and his expression changes from anger to fear. I did this adobe flash by using motion tweens for the eyebrows and eyes of the captain and drawing frame by frame the mouth animations. I also coloured this in by using adobe flash. I showed my animation to the class, the feedback showed that I should animate the octopus more with its eye movement and consider what sound effects I will be using for the animation. 

29th April 

Compiled all the scenes in adobe after effects and took out audio equipment from MPS equipment stores to record some sounds such as page turning and some voice sounds from the captain. Unfortunately the audio picked up background noise too much so it was unusable for the animation. I have decided to source sound effect from sounddog,com and soundtrack pro. 

6th May 

Continuing to edit in adobe after effect and cleaned up the mistakes with the play doe that was accidentally left on a page of the book when I captured the images for the stop motion sequence. I used the clone tool in after effects to cover it up. After that I exported film to final cut pro to add sounds for the animation. I also decided to add credits that were incorporated into the animation itself by having them disappear as the book cover opens over the top of them and the same for the end credits as the book closes it reveals them. I decided to put a black fade in and out for the beginning and end of the animation and then exported it as the same size compositions settings which was 1280 by 720 in apple pro res. 

Evaluation 

I am happy with the final outcome for the animation however I feel due to some small issues it feels like it could have been better. One issue was that due to time constraints I was not able to do the final scene as I planned to and instead resorted to ending the animations story sooner by having the last page on Captain Ahabs face rather than ending with a shot of the character in the stomach of the whale after it ate them. I also feel the page turning sequences could have been longer as they seem to flow by very quickly and with the camera zoomed in on the opened page it may not be too clear as to what is going on once the pages begin to turn. Sound wise I would have liked to have created some sounds for the animation myself using audio recording equipment instead of sourcing the sounds from Soundtrack pro and online at Sounddogs.com. The sound effects are adequate at best and are one of the weakest parts of the animation in my opinion. One last issue was that I would have liked to have used text from each story scene depicted to add in the animation sequences to give the animation more of a story book feel to it. As to me when it opens on blank pages it feels a little bit off as there should be text on the pages to help convey which story each scene is from. 

Despite these issues I am content with the how the animation looks as a whole and how it plays. The stop motion sequences of the book opening and closing with the text being covered I feel are one of the best part of the animation and act as book ends to provide sort of symmetry with the story telling element. Overall I feel that the use of stop motion combined with 2D flash animation works well and creates a unique and interesting visual look that was good to work with. 

Personal Project

For my personal project I have decided to make a 20-25 page comic book

Illustration DV3025 Project Proforma Guidelines  Semester A & B 2012/13

Illustration

Project Proforma Guidelines

Semester A & B 2012/13

Student Name…Michael Bassick

Tutors Name…Martin Barrett, Lesley Logue

Date 03/12/12

1.    Describe briefly what you consider are your strengths and weaknesses from your experience of level 2.

What worked well in level 2 was the work which allowed me to use mixed media such as traditional drawings mixed with digital methods such as using Photoshop alongside hand drawn images. What didn’t work well were time consuming methods such as painting and focusing on different ways to implement ideas rather than being more decisive and choose one to go forward with.

I liked being able to utilise more digital drawing methods with the pamphlet project from level 2. And with the final project in level 2 I enjoyed constructing the layout of the image I made which was a memory landscape.

I researched different artist such as Goya, H. R Giger, Bernd and Hilla Becher and Ruby Bradford. I also went to exhibitions such as art by Offenders and the museum of everything. I detailed this research in my sketch booking with written thoughts on artists work, images of their work and gallery booklets.

2. Describe the ideas you have for your personal project.

I plan on making a 20 – 25 page paperback comic book. This book would be an issue to the story.  I plan on looking at the work of comic book and graphic novel artists such as Andy tong and Lee Bermejo to see how they have implemented their art into the comic book format involving panels and speech captions. I want to get it printed and made professionally through a book making company/website called Blurb.com.

Synopsis For Story

The story is about a young girl named Emily Dulwich.  Her life goes from living a pleasant dream with her mother and father to a nightmare after a terrible fire claims the lives of her parents. So distraught by this Emily enters into an almost Catatonic State by not moving, refusing to acknowledged the world around her and by not speaking a word to anyone. Doctors who examine her feel that she needs to be under constant supervision so they recommend she be sent to a Psychiatric hospital. Emily spends a lot of time at the Hospital in the same state as when she entered. Over the course of the time that she spends there she gradually looses grip with reality by indulging her desperate need to believe in things that aren’t real. She uses her creative mind to fantasise about a world where things were different. In this world of hers she never lost her parents in the fire and she imagine magical creatures. However one day she finds herself sitting on the floor in her room at the hospital as though she has snapped back into reality. The problem is that everything around her has changed. Her room is now dark and dirty as is the rest of the hospital. It looks completely abandoned to her but she notices things that don’t make sense. All the windows are blacked out completely from the outside. There’s a damp rotting smell all around. Confused she ventures out of her room; Still refusing to speak she examines what she see around her as she feels she might be dreaming or imagining it all.  Things get worse as she encounter hideous monsters and learns that something terrible has happened. Her only hope of finding a way back to the real world is a mysterious stranger who appears. He offers her cryptic advice and gives her a companion to aid her along her way.  She must hurry to find out what has happened and how to get back home.

I will be doing the drawing by hand then scanning them to do digital paintings to get better effects.  I will use a graphics tablet on different software packages such as Adobe Photoshop, Flash, sketchbook express, and After Effects. Using these programs will allow me to create the gritty harsh look I am looking for that will complement the Story. The software programs will also allow me to use different textures as well as colour washes to highlight weight and form to induce a certain moods for the viewer, while reading the comic book.   My main focus is to put the far-fetched fantasy side of the story into a realistic setting. I want the work to reflect the technical elements of cinematic angles, where dynamic perspectives are used to portray the same stylized dramatic shots as seen in films.

I plan of documenting by taking pictures and screen shots of my work as it progresses. I will use my sketchbook to write down thoughts, ideas as well as the issues and problems that may arise.

Graphic novels and comic books mainly influence my idea in general. I like the work of lee Bermejo and his style and choice of layout with the stories he makes.  Other influences include films like seven, unbreakable, and console games like heavy rain and the walking dead episodes.

I will research my idea by looking on the internet, visiting comic artist events for example the MCM movies, comic and media expo where I can speak to artist producing there own comics.

The intended audience would be young adults 18 to 25, as the story will deal with adult themes that will depict violence and morbid scenes. 

The final presentation of my work is to have it professional made into a comic book so it can read by anyone.

3. What skills do you need to acquire this semester that informs your project? (Technical, research, analytical, time-management, organisational)

Research into other comic artist such as Paul Duffield, Lee Bradley, Gary Erskine etc.

Time management. I need to make a time table to focus my work around.

4.Propose a timetable for your project

I plan on 5 to 8 hours a day on this project

13/12/12: continue research on artist and comic layouts.

15/12/12: write out story and scenes

20/12/12: begin sketching out panels for story and cover

27/12/12: begin doing digital painting of the panels and cover

05/01/13: use Blurb software to make a digital copy of the book with layouts for each page including cover.

13/01/13: show example of comic book to Martin and Lesley to get feed back on what can be improved or changed.

13/01/13: apply any changes to the comic book.

18/01/13: send book off to be made and await delivery.

the story i want to tell is a very gritty and dark centered about a girl called Emily who has been sent to a psychiatric hospital and remained there for many years. due to the traumatic circumstance that brought her to the hospital emily has been diagnosed with Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and Dissociative disorder. Emily doesn't speak a word to anyone or even herself and doesn't respond to anything. It as if she is in a waking coma. After spending several years there Emily suddenly snaps back to reality or so she think. the problem she faces now is although she has come out of hypnotic state the world has changed around her violently. she is unaware if this is her imagination or something terrible has happened.

Story Synopsis 

The story is about a young girl named Emily Dulwich. Her life

goes from living a pleasant dream with her mother and father

to a nightmare after a terrible fire claims the lives of her

parents. So distraught by this Emily enters into an almost

Catatonic State by not moving, refusing to acknowledged the

world around her and by not speaking a word to anyone.

Doctors who examine her feel that she needs to be under

constant supervision so they recommend she be sent to a

Psychiatric hospital. Emily spends a lot of time at the Hospital

in the same state as when she entered. Over the course of the

time that she spends there she gradually looses grip with

reality by indulging her desperate need to believe in things

that aren’t real. She uses her creative mind to fantasise about

a world where things were different. In this world of hers she

never lost her parents in the fire and she imagine magical

creatures. However one day she finds herself sitting on the

floor in her room at the hospital as though she has snapped

back into reality. The problem is that everything around her

has changed. Her room is now dark and dirty as is the rest of

the hospital. It looks completely abandon to her but she

notices things that don’t make sense. All the windows are

blacked out completely from the outside. There’s a damp

rotting smell all around. Confused she ventures out of her

room; Still refusing to speak she examines what she see

around her as she feels she might be dreaming or imagining

it all. Things get worse as she encounter hideous monsters

and learns that something terrible has happened. Her only

hope of finding a way back to the real world is a mysterious

stranger who appears randomly. He offers her cryptic advice

and gives her a companion to aid her along her way. She

must hurry to find out what has happened and how to get

back home. 

Visual Research 

visual research from pinterest for this project can be viewed here: personal project Comic book

Artist Research

For this project I decided to research artists who have approached the concept of making a comic book in unique ways such as Paul Duffiled who has very creatively made the layout of his illustrations a part of the story he wishes to convey.

Paul Duffield

Paul Duffield is an illustrator and Animator whose work deals with forming the structure of a story using an elaborate layout of scene in his comic art work. His work is mainly done by pencil, graphic tablet and then coloured in using adobe Photoshop. I find Duffield’s work very interesting due to the fact its like trying to decipher a code, somehting you have to look at and scan to understand the narrative in place. His illustrations sometimes are laid out with overlapping images sometimes blending into one another to convey the movement through the story. Often with out any text Duffield can illustrate a characters actions and motives with this overlapping and merging of images formula. Duffield’s work Sojourn (2008) shown below, which Duffield (2008, p. 165) explains “its a piece about a man trying to escape his life, but unintentionally dragging all his baggage and rubbish behind him.” I think the piece illustrates that well by exploring a unique route of story telling through the layout.

Duffield, P. (2008) Sojourn [pencil, coloured in Adobe Photoshop] spoonbard [online]. Available at: http://www.spoonbard.com/content/interiors.php(Accessed: 28 December 2012)

Duffield, P. (2008) Diamonds [pencil, coloured in Adobe Photoshop] spoonbard [online]. Available at: http://www.spoonbard.com/content/interiors.php(Accessed: 28 December 2012)


Using this format Duffield is also able to place the text of the story unconventional spaces around in his illustrations. For example the work below called Diamonds (2008). Duffield has created a passage for the story so the viewer can follow and slowly grasp how the illustration and text relate.

Duffield’s work also expanse to animation where his soft lined illustrations style is carried over to his animated work. Shown below is an animation called Rolighed, which was made in 2006 by Paul Duffield.

(spoonbard (2008) Rolighed. Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZk9mGzfftY&feature=player_embedded#at=36 (Accessed: 28 December 2012)


The animation won the 2006 International Anime and Manga competition. It was directed and animated by Duffield. I personally like the way Duffield approached the animation with his style and still applying his use of unconventional layouts of the narrative to the angles shown in the animation and the progression of its storyline.

Another Artist I chose to look at was lee bermojo

I first encountered Lee Bermejo’s work, when reading a Graphic novel; The Joker where his work was the cover art as well as the accompanying art of the inside illustrations. His style of work, to me is gritty and sharp but retaining a more realistic look to his characters and the environments there are in. Much of the work reflects the techniques used in films, elements of cinematic angles, where dynamic perspectives are used to portray the same stylized dramatic shots seen in films. He uses techniques like blurred images to show the reaction of characters actions, for instances becoming drunk and unable to see straight. The reader can grasp the feel of these effects alongside the characters. Bermejo’s main focus was to put the far-fetched fantasy side of the story into a realistic setting. His work influences not only how I draw but also how the characters seen within his graphic novel are portrayed on the screen. The joker seen before Bermejo’s interpretation was, in general a cartoon caricature, whereas his changes, such as filling the character out and creating a human element, influenced the character in the film (The Dark Knight-2009). His use of different textures as well as colour washes to highlight weight and form induces a certain mood in the viewer, whilst reading this novel. Bermejo spreads his interest around the page; his focus was on the scene as a whole, including the backdrop, Gotham City. 

He has expressed several times that he wants his versions of the backdrops to be as realistic as real-life cities but not too similar to any particular city such as New York and Chicago. Many images seen with in this novel have been influenced by Bermejo’s interpretation of architecture seen in Prague. Bermejo’s combination of old and new, alongside his influences from Prague, plays an important part within the scenery. The aged gothic stone buildings in the background, with modern run down bars which have a wash of browns and oranges, give the images a sleazed element over the top. I am interested in his use of hard hitting imagery, juxtaposing and the line art mixed with careful consideration, as well as colours to balance it, makes certain images stand out on the page. The detail reflects the effort and consideration gone into the creation of this book and the outcome of each character tells a different story, which coincides with the overall plot.

With my art, I try to incorporate the characters demeanour into each drawing I make, similar to Bermejo’s work. Characters like the Joker have sinister crooked smiles to exemplify something more about their personality. The character, Harley Quinn’s (featured on the upper left corner of the image to the left) Poses, expression and the outfit help give a deeper insight to her characters persona. Just by looking at the image you can see where Bermejo has taken textures of clothing and skin into account. Dynamic angles and panels are used to draw in the viewers’ attention. 

The graphic novel, the joker is aimed at a more mature audience. The images are not child friendly. Adult themes are constantly seen through the novel, sex violence and themes that portray issues of mental instability. 

Bibliography

The Dark Knight, (2008) Christopher Noland [Film] Warner Bros. Pictures: California/New York
Brian Azzarello/Will Denise (2008) Joker New York: DC Comics
Skinn, D. Comic Art Now( East Sussex: The Ilex press Limited, 2008)
Duffield, P. (2008) Sojourn [pencil, coloured in Adobe Photoshop] spoonbard [online]. Available at: http://www.spoonbard.com/content/interiors.php(Accessed: 28 December 2012)
Duffield, P. (2008) Diamonds [pencil, coloured in Adobe Photoshop] spoonbard [online]. Available at: http://www.spoonbard.com/content/interiors.php(Accessed: 28 December 2012)
Spoonbard (2008) Rolighed. Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZk9mGzfftY&feature=player_embedded#at=36 (Accessed: 28 December 2012)
Joker_Spread_4 [Online] http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/RANDO/Joker_Spread_4.gif (Accessed 28/12/12)

Progression of work

I started the comic book by drawing out rough sketches of the first scenes and concepts of the characters in those scenes.

I first drew the monster design using a biropen and added rough details of what I would like the monster to look like

I then consider a different look shown in the image below in the upper left corner. I decided to keep the first design as I preferred the crazed look over the other one. I then took that design and drew the body concept.

 

I took the image in to photoshop after scanning it and began painting in the details using the brush tools. I tired to make an effort to keep the line quality often seen in comic book as i would like the book to have a graphic novel appearance. 

Colour options

I decided to not do the whole comic in colour as it would save time and I feel the lack of colour helps to create a stronger look to it although i may decide to add a sepia look after i have finished all scenes of the book.

 How to make the book

I considered making the book myself after seeing several handmade books by fellow students and artists at comic related expo called MCM expo Movies, comic and media expo. the hand made once tend to have a more artist touch quality to them but I think I preferred the professionally made books. they have a better finish and crisper quality. 

I looked at possible ways I can get the book made professionally. By searching the internet and I came across a website called blurb.com which offer a way to get your books printed. The site allows you to download software that lets you create a digital version of the book that will be printed once the order is placed. 

www.blurb.co.uk

Possible page layouts

I used a programme called comic life to make a comic panel page.

Mid Year Reviews.


After speaking to martin and lesley about my idea they made several points that I need to address in the comic book such as using primary image to base my background and images of the girl. I explained that I did base the girl character off image of a girl called Esme who I asked to pose to help for referencing. I have uploaded the pictures to show the image I used for reference.

as for background I have considered to taking photos of hallways and areas that I feel would help to create a more realistic environment  for the comic.


other issues brought up was the use or black and white and not colour and the restrictiveness fo the brief I made. upon relfection of the brief I have decided to rework my idea so that the outcome is more free and allowed me to develop the work into. 

Reevaluating and Restructuring the Brief 

After reevaluating my idea for this project and the concerns about several issue the project has at this point, I have decided to approach the project again from the start using a different premiss for the idea behind the project. I feel the original idea was good but is something I would like to continue to work on past the deadline of this project so I have to take into consideration the time frame for this project. With that in mind I have been reviewing past projects that were successful


going over previous projects I have completed at UEL I really liked the idea of using the books from previous project to create a scene from  the story 20, thousand leagues under the sea. another project I really liked was the transcription of a artistes work from my first year on the illustration course.

Altered Book Project work

Transcription Project 1st year work

NEW IDEA

I have decided to use elements from these projects to form a new idea that will acknowledge the concerns about colour, work size and restrictiveness to my original brief mentioned from my lecturers and implement ways in which to tackle such concerns into my new idea which will let me address them directly. My new Idea is that I would like to create several large illustrated paintings about the colossal creatures mentioned in fictional films and books, , mythological texts and biblical texts. I plan on finding several storys, like 20, 000 leagues under the sea that features a giant octopus, and other kinds of stories that have these large creature in them and create large depictions of them preferably using the story to create a scene that the giant creature in. scale wise I would like to go A2, A1 or higher if possible. These large painting could be used for different illustration outcome such as book cover art and movie posters

Artist Research 

I have found some artist, Chris McMahon and Thryiza Segal who have added giant monsters to paintings shown in the link below.

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/adding-monsters-to-landscape-paintings-169615


Other artist I have looked at in the past would include Francisco Goya with his works, The Colossus and Saturn Devouring His Son

visual  research work on pinterest can be viewed here: Personal Project Reevaluated Large Illustrations


I also researched a vidoe game called shadow of the colossus made by Team ICO a game designing company.  the game is based on a character of a young man trying to defeat several large monsters through out the story.

The designs for the large monsters  and the concept art are very reminiscent of Goyas work and in tone what I would like to achive in my own work for this project.

I have considered using acrylic paints on a large canvas or stretched paper for a medium to create these large illustrations. i have taken many images from the natural history museum for the 1000 drawing project and can use them for reference in this project as well i plan to gather more visual images from other places too

I have been researching many different creatures from myths, legends and folklore to try and find good examples to base me painting on.

here is a video from youtube that goes into detail about different monsters from different cultures

Natural History Museum  Primary Visual Research

Images I took at the natural history museum for the 1000 drawings project will help for the input for the designs for the monsters

I have also taken other images of animal in different places such london Zoo shown below.

London Zoo Primary Visual Research

Tropical wings zoo Primary visual research 

I visited the Tropical wing zoo for some more visual research and to help with the design of the monsters 

Safari Port Lympne Visual Research 

These are images I took while at a Safari at port Lympne I plan on gathering visual information of the structures of different animals to incorporate into my creation for the colossal creature i choose to from different text sources such as books, mythological, and biblical. 

I have looked at some books to fine monsters to base my illustration on.

process of my  a1 painting