Political Cartoonists

To begin with I'm going to look at Steve Bell, and his use of visual metaphors. Steve Bell is a very well known political cartoonist who is know to work a lot along side the guardian. One of the most iconic visual metaphors that he has created is George Bush as a chimp. (1)

Bell likes to strip back the politicians to something to do with their image, he always draws John Major with his dull grey underpants and David Cameron frequently dressed in a condom, which adds a certain humour to his work. Bell enjoys doing this as he says;” They’re so careful about their image, which is good for a cartoonist, because you can rip their image to shreds,' he says with a smile.” (2)

So for this methodology I decided to draw Boris Johnson, Mayor of London as a fool. I think a lot of people see Johnson as a joke, and not a serious Mayor at all, I also think that a lot of this time he almost comes across as drunk in his public events. He's been known to often say random strange quotes and embarrasses himself. 

And so i drew him looking a mess and drunk, with his eyes crossed. I did this to strip back his serious title of being a Mayor, and showing him in a way that conveys how serious people actually take him as well as adding humour.

For the second methodology, I’m going to look at Steve Bells use of anthropomorphism.  Bell anthropomorphises certain politicians with animals they look like/ is relevant in current news. He turned Ed Miliband into a crazy panda for a visual metaphor using the animal as a source. He used the source of the panda as it was big in the news at that time that Edinburgh zoo’s pandas were failing to mate.

For this methodology, I decided to anthropomorphise Ed Miliband again, but this time into a chicken. I thought this was very fitting as not only does he look like the famous chicken characters from ‘Chicken Run’, but he also quit his  role in Labour when they didn't do so well. I thought this was very cowardly- and cowardliness always has connotations with being called ‘a chicken’. (3)

Ralph Steadman uses a lot of quick and free flowing ink line work in contrast to some specific sharp lines and ink splatters. This creates a very powerful and bold image that emphasises some power in the point he's making. In this piece (4) the obvious evil character of the picture is very darkly coloured in compared to the statue of liberty, it is almost completely black compared to something almost completely white. By doing this Steadman is able to represent the meaning of bad against good straight away in colour alone.  

I chose to draw David Cameron sitting on a bomb wearing a cowboy hat, to represent his eagerness with the recent news that he's won Syria airstrikes votes (5). And so I drew the bomb with the rough black ink, and gave Cameron the creepy concentric circle eyes that Steadman gives his bad characters a lot. I also used his technique of the ink splatters around the page and the overall roughness of his style.

For the last methodology, I'm going to look at pastiche in Steve Bells work, like this piece he did with Star Wars (6). Bell uses pastiche of both famous paintings, artworks and even films within his own work to add a familiar reference to the joke and to also mock the characters further. By doing this he adds even more humour to his already humorous cartoons.

So again, I used the Syrian airstrikes as the basis of my work. I decided i wanted to use the ‘Harry Potter’ films for my pastiche, and so drew Cameron as the evil character of the film, Voldemort. In Harry Potter, Voldemort tried to kill the baby Harry Potter and so I linked that with the news of Cameron bombing Syria and peoples views that he shouldn't be wanting to kill innocent people.

I drew it in Bells similar comic strip style, and like him, tried to make the characters look a lot like their film characters, (Voldermort and Snape) with little distinctive features of the politicians of (Cameron and John Baron). To distinguish it was them I added their hair and glasses, for Baron. 

By doing this, the reader can immediately see the pastiche connection with Harry Potter. 

References 

(1) Steve Bell, George Bush (2012)

(2) Steve Bell, (2011)

(3) Winter and Mason, (2015)

(4) Ralph Steadman, satirical cartoon of Ronald Reagon, (March 1990)

(5) Sparrow and Perraudin, (2015)

(6) Steve Bell, on Jeremy Corbyn, Labours Jedi knight, (2015)

Bibliography

Bell, S. (2012) The guardian. Available at: www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cartoon/2012/apr/06/steve-bell-cartoon-ed-milliband-giant-panda (Accessed: 3 December 2015).

Bell, S. (2015) Steve Bell’s if ... On Jeremy Corbyn, labour's Jedi knight. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2015/sep/16/steve-bells-if-on-jeremy-corbyn-labours-jedi-knight (Accessed: 12 March 2015).

Fund, A. (2006) Ralph Steadman: A retrospective. Available at: http://www.artfund.org/what-to-see/exhibitions/2014/12/06/ralph-steadman-a-retrospective-exhibition (Accessed: 3 December 2015).

Sparrow, A. and Perraudin, F. (2015) Cameron wins Syria airstrikes vote by majority of 174 – as it happened. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/politics/blog/live/2015/dec/02/syria-airstrikes-mps-debate-vote-cameron-action-against-isis-live (Accessed: 3 December 2015).

Steve Bell (2011) Available at: http://www.culturenorthernireland.org/reviews/visual-arts/steve-bell (Accessed: 1 December 2015).

Wintour, P. and Mason, R. (2015) Ed milliband resigns as labour leader. Available at: www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/may/08/ed-milliband-to-resign-as-labour-leader (Accessed: 3 December 2015).

Concept art

 For my first methodology I looked at the technique. This is where you spread thick paint onto paper or canvas, then apply some paper or a material to leave texture and marks within the paint, and this then becomes the base of the painting. 

“Decalcomania images are often produced in rapid succession without any forethought. The most beautiful ones - those that suggest more than mere stampings - can offer the artist unique textures obtainable in no other way.” (1)

Similar to this image of the detail of Max Ernst’s painting (2),  I tried to create an image which gives greater and abstract detail to the landscape than a usual painting.

I used this technique with green and yellow paint and I  thought that it looked like a forest, with the pathway in the middle and trees towering above. I added detail with leaves  to the     top of the trees to make it appear more like how I wanted. I think I’ve created something that is very expressive and flows well, something that is less easily created when painting with an image in mind.

For my second methodology I looked into Frottage, this is where you take a drawing tool and make rubbings over various textured surfaces. This may be the ending of the drawing but it can also be used to interpret various pictures within the rubbings to create a further illustration. This technique was developed in drawings from 1925 by Max Ernst (3) when he noticed strange images in the patterns within the wooden floor. 

This is one of the pieces created by Max Ernst’s rubbings, a common theme for his art is the use of trees.(4) The rustic  and free flowing look of this is created by overlapping various rubbings he has collected.

I rubbed my paper on some various textured things around the studio and immediately saw a few buildings being some bushy landscape. So i drew into this a little bit to make what i saw in it more obvious.

For the third methodology, I wanted to look at Creature concept art. I found this artist, Aaron Blaise (5) who favours creating different unique creatures by merging aspects of animals together. He sometimes merges so many aspects that you cant even tell what animals he took parts from anymore, but this example shows one that is very obvious for an example. 

For this, I wanted to just do a very simple experiment and so I played the ‘Exquisite Corpse’ game with a couple of friends. This is where you fold the pages and each person draws an aspect of a creature without seeing the other folded over parts. 

I think this is a great way of showing how easy and simple it is to create an abstract creature. It doesn't fit together but it would be a great starting point to expand on and to gain ideas for your random creature. 

For the last methodology, I looked into H R Gigers biomechanical art.  He is well known for designing humans and machines linked together within a strange relationship to create a whole new form. Giger was heavily influenced by surrealism, and used this to expand on his own work. He calls this style of work ‘biomechanical’ and described it as “biomechanical aesthetic, a dialectic between man and machine, representing a universe at once disturbing and sublime.” (6)

I looked at his work and found this piece, which was the cover for the book, “Gigers Alien”. This is a very iconic image that is well known for being in the film ‘Alien’. I thought this represents well, the dark imagery of nightmares that he creates.

I then found this piece (7), which i thought really represented his biomechanical art well, as it shows the creepy dark side, but also the sexual aspect to it that he uses within his work. And so this is what inspired me to create my own biomechanical creature. 

I used the sexualised nature of his work, to get the starting point of the posing girl. I then added mechanical like features to torso and legs. The small mask to hide her face was to make her appear even less human like, and I used big bold hair which features in his own work a lot. I think i have created the same relationship of humans and machines that H R Giger does. 

References 

(1) Decalcomania-Art techniques, (2004)

(2) Phillipe, (2014)

(3) Tate, Frottage

(4) Max Ernst, The forest

(5) Aaron Blaise, The art of Aaron Blaise

(6) Holmes, (2012)

(7) H. R Giger

Bibliography

Blaise, A. (no date) The art of Aaron Blaise. Available at: https://creatureartteacher.com/conceptcharacter-art-gallery/ (Accessed: 30 November 2015).

Collection online | Max Ernst. The forest (la forêt). 1927–28 - Guggenheim museum (2015) Available at: http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/collections/collection-online/artwork/1133 (Accessed: 30 November 2015).

Coolvibe (2010) Surreal art by H.R Giger, creator of ‘alien’. Available at: Coolvibe.com/2010/surreal-art-by-h-r-Giger-creator-of-alien-2/ (Accessed: 30 November 2015).

Decalcomania - Art Techniques (2004) Available at: http://www.arttalk.com/archives/vol-15/artv1502-1.htm (Accessed: 30 November 2015).

Frottage (no date) Available at: http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/f/frottage (Accessed: 30 November 2015).

Holmes, K. (2012) ‘Original creators: Biomechanical Surrealist H.R.Giger’, The creators project , 12 November. Available at: thecreatorsproject.vice.com/en_uk/blog/original-creators-biomechanical-surrealist-hrgiger (Accessed: 30 November 2015).

Phillipe, B. (2014) ‘Alice in 1941 by Max Ernst’, My French Easel, 31 January. Available at: myfrencheasel.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/alice-in-1941-by-marx-ernst.html (Accessed: 30 November 2015).

Editorial

Editorial Illustrations are basically illustrations used to accompany and used as a visual summary for a piece of text, usually in newspapers, magazines and articles. 

With the first methodology, I had to create a small visual summary for an article called; “ If I don't see it, do I need to clean in, ask Oliver Burkeman”. 

And for this I'm going to be looking at using lightness and humour, trying to create a simple light-humoured cartoon illustration. 

For this i wanted to create a simple black and white cartoonish image with a clear image. In the article it says about how some people just don't see the mess, and therefore have no need to want to clean it. So i decided to illustrate a man sat on a sofa in a clean smart suit, surrounded by a messy room that he isn't bothered by. I wanted to keep it simple and not go too much into colour and detail, but I'm unsure as to whether the humour aspect is strong enough in this. But I don't think it impacts the overall message of it.

For the second methodology, I looked at conceptualising the abstract and sensitive. Looking at how to visually summaries sensitive topics which can be difficult subjects, such as peoples health, lifestyle and business.

I decided to look at the lifestyle subject, and found this editorial illustration by John Holcroft (1). He's illustrated what appears to be the ‘perfect kit’ to what people think they need nowadays in our current cultural environment to be happy. As you can see, a lot of the stuff is material objects.

I wanted to create something which shows how people sometimes live their lives. I chose to do something simple, showing the juxtaposition of different objects to create a whole new meaning. And chose to do a popular saying that everyone knows.

I decided to look at the lifestyle subject, and found this editorial illustration by John Holcroft (1). He's illustrated what appears to be the ‘perfect kit’ to what people think they need nowadays in our current cultural environment to be happy. As you can see, a lot of the stuff is material objects.

I wanted to create something which shows how people sometimes live their lives. I chose to do something simple, showing the juxtaposition of different objects to create a whole new meaning. And chose to do a popular saying that everyone knows.

I then started looking at Eric Frasers work, and was particularly interested in his use of silhouettes and abstract, simplified styles.

I liked his piece, ‘Offshore Island’ (3) I was interested in his use of perspective along side the silhouettes. The silhouetted features, such as the trees and the person, are at the foreground of the image. And the deeper into the image you look the more there is grey tone used. 

I really liked how he's simplified the trees into abstract and almost creepy trees. 

So I tried to recreate his use of silhouettes and abstract shapes in my own way. 

I created this landscape scene with pen and ink like Frazer’s piece. I used the silhouette trees in the foreground and tried to abstract these to look even less like real trees. I also added some tone with the hilly background like he also does, both worked well.

I wanted to then look further into  Fraser’s use of tonal effects within his black and white images, as well as using this to create texture. In this illustration (4) Fraser creates a lot of texture in the trees and the grass, giving it a more life like feel. He does this using his line work. The trees are a lot darker as well, and the houses are very un-toned making them stand out and be a clear feature of the illustration.

I chose to also do some houses in a landscape but instead of the big trees in the background, I chose to do mountains. I made these the darkest feature of the illustration and also shaded them using Fraser’s careful line work.  I also chose not to do the trees quite as toned as Fraser does as I wanted the mountains to be the darkest feature in my illustration. 

References 

(1) John Holcroft

(2) Mike Robbins, (2011)

(3) Eric Fraser, Offshore Island, (1959)

(4) Eric Fraser, (1939)

Bibliography 

Bellamy, F. (2012) ‘Eric Fraser in Lilliput’, Visual Rants, 30 January. Available at: https://standby4action.wordpress.com/2012/01/ (Accessed: 26 November 2015).

Fraser, E. (1959) Offshore Island [Pen and ink ]. .

John Holcroft illustrator www.johnholcroft.com (no date) Available at: http://johnholcroft.com (Accessed: 26 November 2015).

Robbins, M. (2011) Huffpost Healthy Living. Available at: www.huffingtonpost.con/mike-robbins/keep-your-head-in-the-clo_b_559814.html (Accessed: 26 November 2015).

Sara Fanelli

Sara Fanelli is a children's book illustrator with a unique style. One of her most used methodologies is, using photo collage of eyes onto creatures she's created. Like this piece Argus, from Mythological Monsters of Ancient Greece. (1) Throughout this book she creates creatures and adds photocopies of human eyes to add a recognizable element to her abstract drawings. This references avant-garde art, and its clear that she likes surrealist/surrealism art.

I had a go at drawing my own creatures or monsters and adding some eyes to them. With the first one I added some background detail and lines which she occasionally does as well. I made the creatures very simple shapes like she does, and just adding some eyes on top. 

Sara Fanelli is very influenced by collage and photomontage within the art movements, Dada, Surrealism, Cubism and Futurism. She also likes to “fuse the unconscious (the part of the human mind where memories and instincts are stored) with the conscious, to create a new "super-reality" - a surréalisme.”(2) This inspired her animals talking along side humans, and inanimate objects suddenly coming to life.“I have complete freedom in the way I want to express those ideas and in the degree of obscurity of the narrative.” (3)

I then went on to look at how she creates some of her other characters. In work like this one, Insects party from the book Dear diary. (4) Sara Fanelli collages lots of different aspects together to create these surrealist and unique characters. “I definitely love the element of accident and surprise which is a gift of the process of making images, especially in a relatively old fashioned technique like collage.” (5) Fanelli then went on to say how the playfulness of this technique with all the little surprises it creates really makes her enjoy it.

I tried to recreate this by doing the ‘Exquisite Corpse’ game, where you add parts of previous work together to see what kind of strange creature you create. I did this but its not in the exact style of children friendly creatures Sara Fanelli would design. I also did it on some scrap paper and doodled around it with symbols, type and little pictures as Fanelli would.

 I wanted to then look into Fanelli’s use of textural interest. In a lot of her illustrations she uses found bits of paper that add more depth and meaning to her work. In this piece within her book Dear Diary (6)

Fanelli connects with the reader by using old notebook styled paper which has its own connotations of previous life and other uses that the reader can then further relate to.“Everything in her collages has had a previous life. Sweet papers are crinkled and torn, newsprint is yellowed: every mark, every stain has its own story to tell, and she interweaves these stories with her own narratives.”(7) This gives her story even more meaning than what just the new illustrations may portray. 

“with the busy scribbles and notes that cover the graph paper inside this paper-over-board book's cover, Fanelli plunges readers into an enchanting community of committed diarists,” (8) Sara Fanelli is reaching out to something that most people have seen before or do everyday, as well as just adding more interest to her illustrations. 

I then created my own illustration like this, I recreated the old notebook style, with collaged flowers, grass and a butterfly on top. The use of collage of old paper I had, gives the same textural interest that Fanelli creates, as well as making a simple butterfly more interesting.  I also used some notes and scribbles on the page to complete the old notebook style.  

Sara Fanelli also likes to anthropomorphise unusual and unexpected things. She illustrates what its like to see life through these inanimate objects which delights children, and it is good “for exciting and nurturing any child’s imagination or indeed for thrilling older age groups to wake up, look again and never give up looking and thinking about their situation in life.” (9) 

Again it is clear to see Fanelli’s use of Surrealism, by almost creating a whole new look on the objects we use and see everyday. 

I recreated this, by anthropomorphising a table and chair. I did it in the same style and even added some writing in the background which she does in her diary book, referring to them as being a pair and aware of each other. I tried to keep the drawings simple and again added the eyes, which she uses to give the impression of the objects being more human and alive. 

References 

(1) Sara Fanelli, Mythological Mosters of Ancient Greece

(2) Andre Breton, Manifesto of Surrealism

(3) Steven Heller, An Interview with Sara Fanelli

(4) Sara Fanelli, Dear Diary

(5) Steven Heller, An Interview with Sara Fanelli

(6) Sara Fanelli, Dear Diary

(7) Joanna Carey, The Guardian

(8) Publishers Weekly, Dear Diary

(9) Carousel Guide, Sara Fanelli

Bibliography 

Breton, A. (1924) Manifesto of Surrealism,.

Carey, J. (2004) The guardian . Available at: theguardian.com/books/2004/apr/17/featuresreviews.guardianreview8 (Accessed: 12 November 2015).

Children’s book review: Dear diary by Sara Fanelli, author, Sara Fanelli, Available at: http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-7636-0965-8 (Accessed: 13 November 2015).

Collins, N. Art encyclopaedia . Available at: www.visual-arts-cork.com/modern-art-movements.htm#surrealism . (Accessed: 12 November 2015).

Fanelli, S. (2001) Dear diary. London: Walker Books.

Fanelli, S. (2002) Mythological monsters of Ancient Greece. London: Walker Books.

Heller, S. ‘An interview with Sara Fanelli’, pp, 5. Available at: http://www.hellerbooks.com/pdfs/varoom_03.pdf. (Accessed: 13 November 2015)

Heller, S. ‘An interview with Sara Fanelli’, pp, 3. Available at: http://www.hellerbooks.com/pdfs/varoom_03.pdf. (Accessed: 13 November 2015)

Publishers weekly, Available at: Www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-7636-0865-8 (Accessed: 12 November 2015).

Sara Fanelli (2013) Available at: carouselguide.co.uk/pdf/Carousel53-SaraFanelli.pdf (Accessed: 13 November 2015).