Assignment five

Seven days 

I started my thought process with mind mapping 'Seven days', what could this be as a creative idea? 

Here I came across a few ideas that I like:

A focus around the moon, inspired by the anniversary of this moon landings this year. Seven days on the moon (what did they see? What did they find?). Could be a child's illustrated guide. Seven days of flying to the moon (could be an illustrated diary?) I also noted the words "what if the moon wasn't round anymore?" I like these words a lot. 

However, what I wrote in many of the leads here is the words "well being" emotional health" "mental well being". With a keen interest and emphasis in the media on our emotional health, could this be a lead in? Seven days of feelings, your emotional health in seven days? 

I also liked the idea of a new mum, the first seven days of mum. Again, there is a direct link here to emotions. 

With further thought of the angle of our mental health and inspired by a spontaneous and unexpected meeting with a lonely and broken hearted elderly gentleman in the street, I wrote the words "Seven days of lonely" on a sheet of paper. 

This explores the lonely elderly and the lonely new mum. I like the thought of both of these areas. 

I wrote the words "The invisible mum". I like these words a lot. 

Research: 

I read that 'Cadbury' has partnered up with 'Age UK' this year to help tackle loneliness. This inspires me further to develop my lead.... And perhaps follow my elderly angle. 

There is also an ITV advertising "Get Britain Talking" campaign currently running. Again, our emotional well being seems timely.  

Could my idea be "Seven Days of Lonely".... Who is my character? What is my story?

I have followed the artist Charles Mackesy throughout this module. I have felt inspired and encouraged by his ink drawings and his implementation of words. He writes in the style of a short story, with beautifully created rough and loose lines. I was fortunate to see Mackesy's original drawings in London earlier this year. I would like to use his use of illustration style and inky words as my style inspiration. 

Mood board 1

'Seven Days of Lonely'

The brief

• Create an illustrative strip exploring seven days of loneliness. 
•  Develop a character and narrative to tell your short story. 
• Don't shy away from the stark reality of loneliness and all of the emotions associated with it. Be emotive. 
• Present this story in seven frames to create a continuous strip illustration.

Mood board 2

My character: 

Reliving previous exercise "Character Development'. I create my character.

• Female - Hope. 
• Widowed. Married to Roly for 50 years, they celebrated their Golden anniversary just the two of them. Roly passed naturally from age related conditions. 
• 85 years old. 
• No children. 
• Two sisters who have passed in years previous. 
• Now lives alone since Roly's passing. Had a pet cat called Olive with husband Roly. She too has passed naturally from age related conditions. 
• Grief stricken. 
• Isolated. Lonely. z

There will be two characters in my story - Hope and Lonely - Lonely will be a character in his own right. Lonely is the empty armchair in the room. Her only companion. She talks to Lonely as she would have done to her husband Roly and cat Olive. Lonely is Roly's armchair. Hope and Lonely, opposite emotions entwined. 

My story: 

I struggled to find an existing poem, story or article that I felt would fit my idea. So here, as in 'Education Strip', I decide to get over this hurdle by writing my own words. 

Frame 1. Monday. 
 'Lonely, my love, it's my birthday you see, 
Take your cake from the kitchen with a warm cup of tea...

Frame 2. Tuesday. 

Olive and Roly, you cuddled just there, 
But time passes slowly in the greying of my hair...

Frame 3. Wednesday. 
You cradled me tightly, when the room felt so cold, 
My tears in your lap and my bones frail and old...

Frame 4. Thursday. 

I'll miss you Lonely, but you know I must go, 
I will leave you my heart in my hat with the bow...

Frame 5. Friday. 

I'll take the bus Southwards, to the cliffs that I knew, 
Where I played with my sisters and the kite that we flew...

Frame 6. Saturday. 

Who will phone me at Christmas? I won't be here you see, 
I'll be heading home Northwards, in time for my tea...

Frame 7. Sunday. 

No one will see what you meant to me Lonely, 
Just a chair in the corner, whom I loved so solely...


Props: 

I had a look at a few props that I would need to draw for my short story. An armchair, I wanted this to be vintage. A cat basket, where Olive slept. A traditional diamond kite that Hope has memories of flying with her sisters and the cliffs, here I will use Beachy Head as reference. 

Character development: 

I see Hope as slim and frail. Grey hair, it isn't tightly set as Hope suffers from heartache and depression. Her hair has become long and thin, she wears it tied up. A small pair of glasses. Pencil sketched of how I see Hope. 

Lonely is based on the 1970's green armchair I sourced as reference in my pictures above. He is worn and a little faded over the course of time. His cushions are no longer plump. 

This is Lonely. Worn olive green watercolour. I thought very carefully about the colour of the room. I want it to show an emptiness, a sadness. I opted for a mauve, a mixed violet, ultramarine and white until I found the perfect balance. 

Thumbnails: 

I split my words into seven days. Each frame will depict a day. The last days of Hope:

For dimensions, I used this book for reference, 'The Tewlve Days of Christmas'. 12 frames at 4"x4.5". 

Roughs: 

Client visuals: 

I produced seven frames here. However, I worry here that my size of frame maybe too tight for size. 

*Here Hope is too plump, she needs to be frail. Adjust this for the final mock up. 

* Does she look too youthful here, would she be able to sit like this at a frail age? Maybe take her out of this frame as I want to show a thought rather than a danger she may slide off this cliff. 

*Note. Add more movement. She feels alive again with her kite. Needs more energy and movement.  

For my final illustrations, I made slight adjustments to the frames, following my notes on the problems above. In this short story, Hope does slip away. I am a little concerned that my frames look like she may have quite literally fallen from a cliff, however I would like the frames to read as her thoughts playing out. She may frame passed away in her bedroom, yet her mind was with her childhood kite where her and her sisters used to play. 

Colour is also very important here. I am using my photo reference of a vintage armchair as my worn olive green for Lonely, and the mauve as the colour of a lonely space. 

Looking back at the work of Mackesy, it is important here that I follow my own style of illustration, however I need to remain stylistically consistent throughout my seven frames. 

Text: 

Guided by the 'Text and Image' exercise, I worked through fonts. I would like my text to visually flow and to show emotion.

I had a go here at using the italic font 'AR DECODE'. I worked my way through a colour spectrum until I found a tone that would match my mauve and olive green and could also be visible. I have opted for burgundy. However, this is a test coloured frame and I am concerned the frame looks too busy with the writing on top of this illustration like this. 

I decide to make my final version of frames exactly 5"X4.5" and place my font at the bottom of the page for clarity and tidiness. This will solve the problem I encountered with my client visuals. 

I painted each frame with watercolour, the medium throughout this module I feel the most confident and content using. I was particularly careful to ensure continuity of colour throughout. I was very mindful of showing a great stillness in the room, yet energy and movement in her thoughts. 

Final Illustration: 

A continuous strip illustration entitled: 

Seven days of Lonely...

Reflection: 

Wow, I was totally enthralled by this one. I wanted to encompass a number of previous exercises here to get to my end result, notably 'Text & Image' 'Character Development' and the experience I gained from 'Educational Strip'. 

Here, I also wanted to have a go and showing a little of my own heart, a personal piece. The exercises have helped me follow clear instructions, and here I wanted to combine that knowledge with my own seed of a story. 

This piece came from a number of meetings with a local man who describes himself as "The heartbroken". 90 years old who has recently been widowed from his beloved wife Nancy. He lives alone and has no children. We have met on 3 occasions and he has thanked me each time for the opportunity "to talk". I am very grateful for his honesty and I will always be grateful for this artistic direction following our chats. 

I am happy with my characters, I am excited by the idea of Lonely and I am proud of myself for reaching this point and pulling it together. I am however, wondering now whether I should add a cover page to this with this name 'Seven Days of Lonely'? I will await feedback to see. 

This assignment has been another opportunity to study the work of Charles Mackesy, a style of illustration I feel most drawn too at present. I was fortunate enough to visit his exhibition earlier this year where he displayed his drawings for his now published book 'The Boy, the fox, the mole and the Horse'. It has been through studying his ink drawings that I can truly see the importance of stylistic continuity. I do feel content my style has remained consistent through my frames, but I do hope that with time I am able to get better at drawing them. 

I also found the previous research I did into Joe Cepeda invaluable in reminding me to add movement into my work. This applied to the frames 'Saturday' and 'Sunday'. 

This assignment gave me the opportunity to show off my areas of interests and talents. I do hope that I have given an insight into my own mind with this assignment. 

References: 

Mr Kenneth Anderson-Jones (one on one conversations about lonliness). 

'The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse' by Charles Mackesy. 

Illustrations by Joe Cepeda. 

ITV TV campain 'Time to Talk'. 

Age UK & Cadbury 'Donate your words'. 
https://www.ageuk.org.uk/get-involved/volunteer/donate-your-words/