Proposal

Final Major Project Outline

For my Final Major Project I intend to create a collection of illustrations that will inform and either explain a subject matter or tell a story. I am undecided on whether these illustrations will be accompanied with a written narrative/story or presented as a series of illustrations explaining a subject matter/culture. As an illustrator I am not entirely confident in my own writing and prefer illustrating existing stories and literature. This will be something I will have to think over during the summer and experiment with, thinking up story ideas, characters and seeing if I can write something I would be happy to illustrate. It is important to me that the accompanying text to my illustrations is something I am equally happy with and proud of.

The Mermaids in Disney's 'Peter Pan'

However, the general idea/theme I have for this project is on the subject of Merfolk - an idea that came to me whilst thinking up ideas for my 'Outsider' project for my Self-Publishing module. I would like to explore a different culture(s) to that of my own in my project and I have always had a fascination with sea life and the concept of the existence of merfolk has always been of great interest to me ever since I can remember. The first time I remember seeing Mermaids was in Disney's 'Peter Pan' (1953) [1] where they appear very briefly bathing themselves in a lagoon and it was their brief appearance in this film that left an impacting impression on me. These exotic creatures had an air of mystery to them as we knew nothing about them and go on to find nothing out from them in their appearance which left my imagination to go wild and think up the missing information. I like the idea of perhaps combining both an existing real culture/tribe (e.g. Native Americans, Peruvian tribes and Icelandic people) and a fantasy, non-existent tribe (with this being Merfolk) together in a crossover narrative of these individual cultures.

An example of a double-page spread from the 'Dragonology' book series [2]

Thinking up a way of doing this is where I face difficulty and if I were not to illustrate a narrative story instead my intent would be to simply explain and inform with my illustrations; my idea would take the shape of something similar to a "A field guide to ..." book, similar to the series of 'Dragonology' books. I have not decided whether I would like to illustrate two different cultures or focus on just the one idea and explore another in my Research Project. I would like my final major project to result in the final product being a fully illustrated and professionally printed bound handmade-book, perhaps even collection of books and my research project to be an in-depth investigation exploring the subject matter of my final major project. I would like the book to be handmade and have a visually handmade quality to it, the artwork inside I hope to produce using traditional methods of illustration. I want an authentic feel to my book and using digital methods of illustration I feel would distract away from this.

Communication Objectives and Audience

I would like the illustrations I produce in this project to engage, excite and educate. The illustrations will be informative of the subject matter, with either this being Merfolk or a exisiting different culture, or perhaps both. The illustrations will explore what they look like, environment they live in, diet as an in-depth study of their culture. I would like the readers/audience of this book to be as engaged and excited as I was when I read the 'Dragonology' (Dragonology: The Complete Book of Dragons) and 'Wizardology' (Wizardology: The Book of the Secrets of Merlin) [3] series of books that illustrated and informed us on the study of Dragons and Witches and Wizards. I would say that the product I hope to produce wouldn't have a specific target audience as I'd like this book to be appreciated by a wider market. Younger children interested in the idea of mermaids or different cultures could appreciate this book for it's subject matter and the informative visuals with my illustrations whereas an older audience could get a lot more from this book with the informative text and artwork.

Inspiration

It was only in reflection that I discovered my subconcious, first and primary source of inspiration for my final major project idea. This was in Disney's feature film 'Peter Pan' where I was entranced by the mysterious mermaids and intrigued by 'What Made the Red Man Red?' The appearance of the mermaids and the Native American (the "Red Indians") are very minor in respect to the films overarching storyline and characters and it potentially was this little exploration of the characters that fascinated me growing up and has led me to want to explore them myself.

[4]

[5]

Subsequently it was only natural that my next source of inspiration I found from my childhood would come from another of Disney's films this time in 'The Little Mermaid' (1989) [6] and it's main character Ariel. The films protagonist Ariel herself has a fascination with our world and humans, human nature and human inventions. Airel collects "treasures" lost at sea and these objects range from fine pieces of jewellery to eating forks, which to a mermaid there is no concept value and Ariel sees everyday objects as treasures. Watching this film I found Ariel's character had a parallel to my own fascination with what is her world and the exploration of another world or culture is something I wish to do in my final major project.

Ariel's collection of human treasures in Disney's 'The Little Mermaid'

Another of Disney's films that explored a different culture to my own and has inspired me is 'Pocahontas' (1995) which explores the Powhatan Native American tribes cultural differences to that of it's second main character, John Smith, an English explorer.

Two worlds meet as John Smith encounters Pocahontas in Disney's 'Pocahontas'

Pocahontas is loosely based on the true story of historical figure Pocahontas (later married and renamed Rebecca Rolfe) Not much is known about this woman and it is only through others accounts and stories that we know her story, the characters in Disney's film are also based on historical figures with both love interests John Smith and John Rolfe existing beings. Historical and factual context is important to me if I were to explore a culture that exists as I would like my final major project to be educational and informative of it's subject matter.

Historial figure Pocahontas [9]

Tom Whalen's poster for Disney's 'The Little Mermaid'

American artist and illustrator Tom Whalen was commissioned by Disney to create a series of posters for a collection of their productions. [10] These posters were 'Mondo Posters', Mondo being an American company that produced animations and products targeted at teens and young adults [11] and were created using a limited colour palette. I found these posters particularly striking for their clever using of colour mixing, achieving a high quality finish with a limited colour palette. It is both admirable and inspirational, hoping to create my final major project using traditional methods a limited colour palette is potentially an issue I will face when producing my illustrations if I chose to use print processes. Illustrating with this in mind would lend itself well to processes such as Silk Screen printing and would allow me to produce handmade books in bulk with a handmade finish as I intend my product to be.

Another artist who has inspired me and works to a limited colour palette is French illustrator, Nicolas André with whom I have met in person and attended a talk about his practise. I found Nicolas' work inspirational as not only was it all handmade and printed but it was also very unique from anything I had ever seen before. His books could be read in any order and had been engineered so that they could be read next to any other page in the book.

An example of Nicolas André's work [12]

A double-page spread from Dugald Steer's 'Dragonology' [13]

Dugald Steer's Ology book series, in particular his Dragonology series is a great source of inspiration for me. Growing up these books always stood out for me on the shelf for their decorative spines and front covers, the outside appearance of the book made you want to look inside; they took the phrase "don't judge a book by it's cover" and used it to their advantage. But inside the pages were equally as decorative and impressive as the covers and it wasn't until I was older that I could truly appreciate the details of the books and I hope to achieve this in my own project, aesthetically pleasing books to younger audiences but stimulating and detailed books that can be appreciated by older audiences. The books were informative guides on mythological creatures and treated the subject matter as if truly existing with their thorough and in-depth research and fictional discovery.

Whilst the books were officially edited by Dugald A. Steer there were a collective group of contributors working on the project of which included Helen Ward, Douglas Carrel, Wayne Anderson and Nghiem Ta. Meeting with Helen Ward and looking at her work earlier in the year was inspirational to me as an illustrator, her insight on illustration was invaluable and I will continue to use her influence and inspiration through with me into my final major project.

An example from a variation in Helen Ward's projects.

An example of Tony DiTerlizzi's Field Guide illustrations for 'The Spiderwick Chronicles' [14]

Another example of this type of work similar to the Ology series can be found in Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi's 'Spiderwick Chronicles - The Field Guide' [15] Similarly to the Dragonology books the Spiderwick Chronicles Field Guides were illustrated beautifully and had a handmade quality to them with handwritten font decorating their illustrations. These two examples are the closest existing works to what I hope to produce and will be my greatest influence throughout my final major project. For my research project I feel an in-depth study into my subject matter will help me in my final project and if I do decide on illustrating a narrative story for my final major project then I will undoubtedly create a field-guide to Merfolk for my research project.

A pacific sea-maid illustration from 'The Spiderwick Chronicles'

'Fear' by Avian Anderson

Avian Anderson is another illustrator and artist who I have researched into and am inspired by. Topically, Anderson has worked on projects illustrating both mermaids and various tribal characters which is of interest to me on this project. The depth of their research into character design for merfolk and various species their designs were influenced by is very thorough and something I would like to explore similarly in either my final major project or research project dependent on the direction I take my idea. Anderson influences me more in content than approach as they work digitally and that is not a media I am looking to explore in my project but the subject matter itself is interesting to me. A good quality of design ideas and exploring various designs is something I hope to achieve in my project, in particular if I develop the "A field guide to Merfolk" idea.

Mermaids as explored by Avian Anderson [16]

Other illustrators and artists that influence me include Marc Aspinall, Oliver Jeffers and Anne Szabla. [17] Each respectively have different elements of their practise I hope to take on in my final major project and will be part of my research towards creating my illustrations. Aspinall produces informative illustrations that could be used in editorial/informative illustration. Jeffers has a handwritten font face accompanying his work which gives his books a handmade feeling, something I similarly wish to do whilst Szabla effectively tells a narrative in her online comics and has a strong character design.

Marc Aspinall's work [18]

Oliver Jeffers' work [19]

Anne Szabla's work

Other examples of films I am influenced in this project by include 'Brother Bear' (2003) and 'Pirates of the Caribbean: On Strangers Tides' (2011) with both exploring the potential ideas I have for subject matter of my book I intend to make for my final major project, these being Mermaids and other cultures.

'Brother Bear' (2003) [20]

'Pirates of the Caribbean on Stranger Tides' (2011) [21]

References

1. Peter Pan (1953)
2. Steer, Dugald, 'Dragonology: The Complete Book of Dragons' (2003)
3. Steer, Dugald, 'Wizardology: The Book of the Secrets of Merlin' (2005)
4. Peter Pan (1953)
5. Peter Pan (1953)
6. The Little Mermaid (1989)
7. Pocahontas (1995)
8. NPS, http://www.nps.gov/jame/historyculture/pocahontas-her-life-and-legend.htm
9. Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pocahontas_by_Simon_van_de_Passe_1616.jpg
10. Whalen, Tom, http://strongstuff.net/
11. Mondo, http://www.mondotees.com/
12. André, Nicolas, http://nicolas-andre.com/
13. Steer, Dugald, http://www.ologyworld.com/
14. DiTerlizzi, Tony, 'Spiderwick Chronicles - The Field Guide' (2003)
15. Black Holly; DiTerlizzi, Tony; 'Spiderwick Chronicles - The Field Guide' (2003)
16. Anderson, Avian, http://www.aviananderson.com/
17. Szabla, Anne, http://bird-boy.com/about/
18. Aspinall, Marc, http://www.thetreehousepress.co.uk/
19. Jeffers, Oliver, http://www.oliverjeffers.com/picture-books/heart-and-the-bottle
20. http://finddisneyworld.com/disneypic/brother-bear-8.jpg
21. http://www.impawards.com/2011/posters/pirates_of_the_caribbean_on_stranger_tides_ver8_xlg.jpg

Bibliography

Books

Black Holly; DiTerlizzi, Tony, (2003), 'Spiderwick Chronicles - The Field Guide'
Jeffers, Oliver, (2009), 'Heart and the Bottle'
Steer, Dugald, (2003), Dragonology: The Complete Book of Dragons, Candlewick Press & Templar Publishing
Steer, Dugald, (2005), Wizardology: The Book of the Secrets of Merlin, Candlewick Press & Templar Publishing

Films

Brother Bear (2003), Aaron Blaise; Robert A Walker, USA, Walt Disney Productions
Peter Pan (1953), Clyde Geronimi; Wilfred Jackson; Hamilton Luske; Jack Kinney, USA, Walt Disney Productions
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011), Rob Marshall, USA, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Pocahontas (1995), Eric Goldberg; Mike Gabriel, USA, Walt Disney Productions
The Little Mermaid (1989), Ron Clements; John Musker, USA, Walt Disney Productions

Websites

Anderson, Avian, http://www.aviananderson.com/
André, Nicolas, http://nicolas-andre.com/
Aspinall, Marc, http://www.thetreehousepress.co.uk/
IMDb, Peter Pan, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046183/
IMDb, Pocahontas, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114148/
IMDb, The Little Mermaid, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097757/
Jeffers, Oliver, http://www.oliverjeffers.com/picture-books/heart-and-the-bottle
Mondo, http://www.mondotees.com/
NPS, Pocahontas: Her life and legend, http://www.nps.gov/jame/historyculture/pocahontas-her-life-and-legend.htm
Ologyworld, http://www.ologyworld.com/
Szabla, Anne, http://bird-boy.com/about/
Whalen, Tom, http://strongstuff.net/