responsive: war horse inside illustrations

At this point, I realised I just really had to make something given the time constraints of this project and other deadlines! I mostly was thinking about scale in these compositions, making the horse small or really big to suit the feeling of the text it was based on.

I made some more sketches but found experimenting as I was going along with the final piece itself to be helpful. Most of the sketches I had made were tiny, and these pieces around A4 size, and I found that as I sketched them ready to paint that they would need rearranging to fit the new scale, that they wouldn't translate so well. In the future it would be useful to sketch at a larger scale to be more prepared and sure that a composition will work!

For this series I also wanted to paint out of personal preference as I wanted to work with more colour than I had been allowed to with the print project and also work with something physical. 

 

The first illustration is in regards to the scene where Joey is bought at the auction. He is the main focus of the image at this point as the scene is very much about his personal emotions. The men who are grabbing him are at this point faceless as he does not know who they are. I'm quite pleased with this composition wise, the curving of the horse's neck and the pointing of the hands leading to the horse's face, the main focus of this image.The straightness of the ropes look extra taut and restricting compared to the curve of the hands and neck.

I'm not particularly pleased with the hands though, I painted them freehand because of the nature of painting and they ended up looking very thick and clumsy compared to the rest of the piece. I suppose this could present the brutish nature of the men but it just looks cartoony and anatomically wrong. I will edit these if I have time to.

The second illustration is of the scene where Joey goes into battle and loses his rider. The scene is very much about his own instincts and how he has to power himself through so he is a focus of the image, and scale wise disproportionately larger than the other horses and soldiers. However, he is still aware of them, and they add to his fears, so they are there too, but small. The scene around him is still relevant because it is the environment that causes his pain, not just singular characters (the hands of the men in the first image).

The third image is of when Joey decides to not run away with the soldiers in favour of staying with his lost friends. It's a very emotional part of the book. Joey is selfless, and it is less about him, so he is small in this image. This chapter made me think about the effects of war on horse and man, so wanted to include them all. I exaggerated the scales of both by making the trees very big in comparison, I wanted them to look helpless and vulnerable like all are in the war.

This was the first image I painted and at this point I hadn't really practiced enough to establish a style for the series, so I think this horse looks too different to the other ones. The others have more exaggerated proportions and this one looks a little stiff. I hope to have enough time to repaint him, and he will be a priority over the hands that also should be repainted.

about the author: lino block cutting

I underestimated how long it would take to cut the lino plates and as a result it messed up my timings for other work too! Cutting hessian lino for long amounts of time can also be quite painful especially if done over consecutive days so it's good to take into account time for a break!

At this point it's hard to say how successful they are when they haven't been printed and won't be until I'm back and able to use the college's resources to print. But- I have tried my best to cut them in accordance to what I have learned with previously cutting lino.

about the author: lino and mono print testing

At this point I was feeling very disheartened with print making, particularly lino, but knew I had done so much work with it that I could only persist and keep trying! I'd found before that hessian lino was more effective but hadn't worked it out quite as much as I hoped. I suspected that the amount of negative space was leading to all the messy bits that were printing but shouldn't be, as it is harder to get rid of these- so now I worked with more inked space designs.

And so I tested my theory with a small practice stamp of lino and it worked- this time! There were some uneven edges still and I suspected that this could be because of my old lino cutting tools so have ordered some more in the hopes it would make a cleaner and deeper cut!

The next issue is how I will add the yellow to the designs, as there isn't much of it if I was to use a whole plate with just the small bits of yellow left that would be likely to leave those marks again in all the cut out space. I had tried stamps before, but they moved in the press and I'm not entirely sure if I want to risk that or if I can get away with it in these designs.

So I decided to try using mono print

Pros:

• won't move around in the press (!!!!! the main pro)
• cheaper than stamps
• might not takes as long to make as stamps, but then again if a stencil needs to be made for each one then it will take a long time

Cons:

• quite fiddly, will be quite complicated for some of the designs
• if using a paper stencil it can only be used once as it will leak ink through to the image if reused
• when put through the press it leaves an indent on the paper, would have to be careful that it matches to the edge of the design or else it would look odd

At this point I'm not sure which method would be more suitable so will look to asking for some help from people with experience! In the meantime I will cut the black lino plates as I know they will be needed for sure and will probably take the most amount of time so there's no point waiting around for it!

about the author: print inspiration

I'd been struggling to think of something for my prints but coming across this image by Shigeo Fukuda on pinterest reminded me of the simplicity and balance I wanted to achieve. It reminded me that what I create need not necessarily be made up of many objects or be a scene, but also served as a reminder that simplicity must be done just right to achieve balance and visual harmony.

responsive: war horse material testing

I have an idea that I'd like to give painting a go for this project. After OUIL504 I'm a little bored of solid blocky shapes. Reading War Horse brings to mind lots of dull, grim colours- but as a practitioner that's not really what I'm about. Here I made a little painting sample of what a War Horse environment could look like with small splashes of colour but using a dull base to fit the mood. I quite like this, though am not so fond of the unnatural blues. I think I'll give it a go when I'm painting.

about the author: selected compositions

 

• The first image was created with the idea of 'possession'. When I read Murakami's work I read a lot of it as being possessive of women. I'm not sure if this is clear enough or should be clearer. I suppose there are other instances of possession too, mostly in the male protagonist hopelessly wishing for a life he can't have.
• The second image is simpler, and mostly based on my work with the egg motif whilst also including the 'mysterious woman' trope.

 

• The third image wasn't as well thought about, but was mostly just to capture the dark mood of Murakami novels. This may make it weaker.
• The fourth image was loosely based on one of the books, Colourless Tsukuru Tazaki, and how one man feels left out of his group of four other friends. I had chosen not to specifically illustrate any of the books but I think it is not such a specific looking image that it may get away with still looking like part of the series. 

• The final image is meant to present the motif of parallels in Murakami's novels. I think the reflection is quite cliche and I had noted in earlier sketchbooks to specifically avoid this visual metaphor but at the same time I can't help but think the image itself works quite nicely. 

As a series I think they work quite well, stylistically matching each other whilst also presenting a good balance of colours to work even when lined up in a row. Individually I worry that some images may be weaker than others (particularly the egg girl) but at this point working as a set has become more of a priority.

about the author: lino print composition ideas

After not being satisfied with my positive/negative and the first set of minimalist compositions I went back and made a new series of compositions.

I still liked the idea of minimalism and shape driven work but knew that if I wanted to make something simple I would really have to take into consideration a well balanced composition. For this series I continued with a surreal approach but somehow the images seem more grounded despite probably being a little 'weirder'. I think this might be because they are less obscured by a background, and are either based on realistic objects (plant) or given an 'environment' to be in (two heads).

about the author: animation first draft

draft 1 from Molly Fairhurst on Vimeo.

As a first draft I'm quite pleased with how the sting has turned out, but some notable points I'm concerned with are

• timing with the music- it isn't wholly smooth and that interrupts the viewer a little
• smoothness of the animation itself- the scene with the flying hands looks a little odd as they're obviously static images, though I'm not sure how to get around this whilst using After Effects
• the cat at the end is off centre but not enough so to be a deliberate composition point and this is distracting
• I'm wondering if the word "Murakami" needs to appear at the end to tie together the odd letters and make it make more sense as a documentary advert sting. Still, the strangeness adds to the Murakami feeling.

But I'm satisfied with my use of motifs and odd surreal imagery to communicate the darker feeling of Murakami I wanted to get across. The textures I used won't necessarily match the prints as I will be using lino printing as my method, but using digital media gives me the scope to create things I wouldn't have been able to create in print making and I think this is a good opportunity to use- whilst also making sure the imagery and colour style stay similar enough for them to work as a set.

about the author: bad print making

Feeling discouraged by my last attempt at print making I tried again because you can only keep trying.

I was told that hessian backed lino gives a better result. It is harder to carve, but won't be moved so much in the press so less of the extra 'bits' won't come through in what is supposed to be negative space.

This is true, but this print was far from good.

The edges in this print were messy and I couldn't get the small details. I suspect having so much cut out space is what's leading to the 'extra bits', but also perhaps not the greatest tools. I need to take much more care with carving.

The colours themselves weren't even a good choice! The green is garish which is far from Murakami's sensitive writing.

But it's a little bit of progression.

about the author: project proposals

The content, audience and what I want to communicate for the two pieces are very if not completely similar, but I thought that was integral to making the two pieces connected as much as possible. Stylistically they could be different but linked through these, I suppose.

responsive: image inspiration

Ward Brackett (1964)

WARHORSE

• use of scale to create impressive images and atmosphere
• collage, texture, minimal colour scheme

Janusz Stanny

A CLOCKWORK ORANGE

• focus on shape
• limited colour 
• texture (here through traditional print reproduction, but am inspired to look at paper and lino)
• minimal sans-serif type does not distract from the image