Development of Creative Thought and Structure in Illustration and Graphic Art

Illustration and graphic work is all about creativity. It is the crucial point of making great innovative designs. We should always ask ourselves the question that ‘how to create our own originality?’ Maybe there are numerous methods for that, but the most effective and primitive one is overcoming mindsets. Everyone has his own habitual thinking. For example, when I want to describe a real object I tend to think about the outline and the colour that can be showed by hand drawing. For me, image is always prior to meaning. That’s my thinking rules which I should break all the time. To be specific, I believe that overcoming mindsets will helpfully enlarge a designer’s vision and to some extent it can guide illustrators to the field they have never reached. Inspiration comes in the process of discarding habitual mode ideas and searching for new fresh creativity. Free from conventions and preconceptions calls for continual challenging activities for designers. They need careful observations and critical thinking methodology to break the habitual rules. Generally speaking, overcoming mindsets involves in breaking through traditional patterns, utilizing fresh images and bold colours, matching totally different elements or working media etc.

The following group of pictures is a typical example of breaking the rules and developing creative elements for design work. The designer uses gesture to represent faces and renders fingers to be mouths. They show a combination of different elements.

 Working environment is of great importance for designers because creativity is more than the internal thinking process of individuals. A creative working environment can help designers generate inspiration and get into the working mood quickly. Moreover, a stimulating space can allow creative people to interact and broaden their minds.  The following pictures show the workplace of Google which is full of creativity and fresh ideas. People uses slide instead of stairs to go downstairs, chairs are replaced by boats and the wall of rest rooms are covered with green grass and colourful flowers. Overall, designers need to manage a creative environment so that they can be beneficial to their work.

Platforms and working methodology

Platforms that chose by illustrators can be used as an effective way to establish their own markets and find their stable clients. There are all kinds of platforms like publishing, advertising, branding, fashion, installation etc. For instance, the following picture shows the album art of he Rolling Stones “Love You Live” in 1977s, it is created by Andy Warhol, the famous avant-garde artist. The cover is a portrait of the lead singer biting at one’s hand. The illustrator used strong colours to stress the name of the album and the rock band, which makes the album more artistic and represent the free creation spirit of the band.

Moreover, this cover may attract more rock fans and as a successful marketing strategy, it would gain more benefits. Recently, a increasing number of illustrators tend to create their own-label products such as T-shirts, shoes and so on. Generally, young people are their clients. This trend indicates the diversification of the art market.

Creating our own design process is of great significance. I gather experience from every visual practice of mine and gradually make my own design process. I believe that a thorough and versatile process may contribute to my independent work. Meanwhile, I may gain more professional skills from researching the most appropriate way for me. A great design needs a combination of working medium or method. As the following picture shows, it’s my original script of a design. The basic idea or inspiration comes from the dragon and fish. I intend to show a Chinese style, so I drew the sketch at first step, then copied it and use my computer to revise its shape and fill it with strong color. After that I added some words and focused my eyes on the layout and typestyle. This process of mine is a combination of handwork and digital technology and I will try more method such as photography, 3D sculptures, model-making and so on because they are beneficial to my design.

 Reference:

1. Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. 2002.

2.Official website of the Rolling stone

Film structure and characters

Most films have the 3-act structure. The beginning, middle, and end. At the beginning of the film, the protagonist often appears in a stage of equilibrium. In other words, the character often begins with a harmonious, peaceful situation. Then something happens to break the balance and lead to a sequence of events which may challenge the protagonist. After that, the protagonist will experience much frustration and in this process it may change and strive to survive in the adversity. In the end, the problems or events will be solved and reach the final equilibrium. For instance, the movie “Shrek Forever After” of which the protagonist is the monster Shrek has the 3-act structure. The film starts with a very harmonious scene: Shrek, her wife princess Fiona and their Triplets baby lived a peaceful happy life. Shrek has become a domesticated family man. However, Shrek was fed up with the life which had nothing to do with a real monster’s life day by day, so he became anxious and fretful. Finally after quarreling with Fiona one day, He left his cozy home, looking for the things a real monster should do. This scene is a transition to the middle. Then Shrek met the Rumpelstiltskin who offer him a contract that would help him back to the old life, Shrek couldn't resist the offer so he agreed. Rumpy had a pretty good deal – all Shrek had to give him to get a day off was a day from his own life. Unfortunately the day that Rumpy decided to take out of Shrek's life was the day that he was born, meaning that, since Shrek was never born, he never existed. Shrek finds himself in a twisted, alternate version of far Away, where Rumpy has now ascended to king, ogres are hunted, and Fiona was a hunting ogre and the leader of a bunch of other hunting ogres. At the third act, Shrek regretted and decided to pursue Fiona again using his own ability. He helped Fiona beat enemies and she finally remembered him. In the film, Shrek had changed two times, and the second time he woke up to reality which make the movie a happy ending. 

Character design plays a pivotal role in film-making. There are four aspects: protagonist, antagonist, dialogue and stereotype. In “Shrek Forever After”, Shrek is the protagonist who experienced a conflict with the antagonist Rumpelstiltskin. Rumpy is the cause of the conflict, he used Shrek’s intention to be a real ogre to frame him up and won himself a large fortune. The dialogue between them was started with the contract which made Shrek get into trouble. It shows Rumpy’s evil face and let us knows his bad image. The movie is kind of stereotype which describes a man beat his enemy and finally live a happy life with his wife. Shrek, as the following picture shows, is a monster, a fearful ogre, but he has a kind heart. He never fear people and got very well with others. He is a man full of courage and a good husband. In the film, he got lost in the quiet life at first but finally found what he really wanted.

The Rumpelstiltskin has a red brown hair, looks blackness and contemptible. He is a man who only cares about money and the end justifies the means. As a result, he reaped as what one has sown.

Other characters like Fiona, donkey, they are all interplayed. Without donkey and other friends help, Shrek will not find the real thing he need. Similarly, without Rumpelstiltskin, there would be no conflicts. To some extend, he is the essential role of the film. Fiona is a important role, too. Without her Shrek would not realize his fault.

In conclusion, Film structure decides the narrative pattern and the way it communicate to audience. Meanwhile, the character makes up the basis of the film. They influence and interact each other.

Reference:
1."Shrek Forever After (2010)". Box Office Mojo. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved August 22, 2010.

Visualize the originality

In visual communication practice, we need a tool for making the ideas and inspiration specific and developing our creativities. This tool is the RVJ, which is the essence of visualizing our originality. How can we make it? I think the key point is using your hand to draw and create your own visua language.

Working by hand when the inspiration comes, draw or mark it in a paper. This can be really helpful to extend ideas and explore what you need in the creation. In the process of drawing or mark making, the eyes, hands and brains will be used at the same time. This kind of synergy may greatly visualize the scattered inspiration and hypothesis in mind so that we may feel easy to find it out. For instance, the following pictures are Leonardo’s manuscript. They show us his process of design, his inspiration, and originality. Instead of using words, he just drew them, described his thought in figures. There are no intact figures in the picture; all of them are just primary drafting show structures and shapes. It’s better using the way to approach what we really need in creating.

Drawing has no limitation, so it is not just about pens and pencils. We can use many kinds of tools to do this work by hand such as chalks, stones, or as the following picture shows—the cassettes.

 The designer uses cassettes to make the image of the rock stars, to make up their curly hair, their body and convey his attitude and spirit of rock music. It’s really vivid and creative. In addition, I do not think the computer will be work, because it can not keep up with the inspiration in mind.

Another important method to visualize what we think is developing the visual language. Compared with the textural language, visual language which helps us establish our own visable visual vocabulary makes the confused ideas comprehensible and is more effective than it. Visual language, in my view, is just like mind maps. A mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks, or other items linked to and arranged around a central key word or idea. It is used to generate, visualize, structure, and classify ideas, and as an aid to organizing information, solving problems, and writing. This kind of maps can show the cue of one’s thoughts. Visual language has the same function, which may develop our ideas or describe what we think in a better visual way. For example, the following picture is from HOKUSOEM, a Japanese painter. She uses pens to record her daily life. She makes a sequence of visual stories to show her life as a single woman, her traveling experience, her happiness and sorrow etc. 

Overall,drawing and develop our own visual language is of great significance in visual communication practice or the RVJ.

Reference:

1. Buzan, Tony. (2000). The Mind Map Book, Penguin Books, 1996.

2. della Chiesa, Angela Ottino (1967). The Complete Paintings of Leonardo da Vinci.

3. hitorigurashi na hibi shufuto-seikatsusha(2010/7/2)