A Look at OppositesSize: (2) 12in x 16in (30.5cm x 40.6cm)
Medium: Guache on Illustration board, Diptych November 2019 "A Look at Opposites" is a cartoon illustration created to give the feeling of nostalgia and to accentuate the contrast of good vs. evil characters in animation. I wanted to use my personal doodle art style as my way to connect both the drawings, however I wanted to keep the original art style of each unique character the same for the nostalgic feeling connected to some of them. Good and bad is only a perspective; these characters are good and bad in separate ways, and could be interpreted differently by opposite individuals. I was inspired by Doodle artist, Mario Miranda. |
Planning |
Inspiration
My inspiration started with an artist known as Joseph Barbera. In collaboration with a man named Bill Hanna, he was the famous illustrator that made classics like Yogi Bear, The Flintstones, Scooby Doo, and Tom and Jerry. Barbera's goal was to take an old phrase, idea or concept and make it something to laugh at and something of value. He won 7 Oscars for MGM. For a single 5-minute episode of Tom and Jerry, it took over 7,200 hand drawn and pained drawings at 12 FPS. In addition to Tom and Jerry, I used Disney's "The Lion King" to portray the good vs. evil factor in cartoons. Scar, Simba's uncle, essentially kills Simba's Father, his own brother, in an attempt to become king of Pride Rock. I also portrayed Dr. Suess's the Grinch and the little girl Cindy Lou Who. Cindy Lou convinced the Grinch who stole Christmas to gain some compassion for the town and the holiday and give back the gift of Christmas. Venom and Spider-man from the original spider-man comics, created by Stan Lee, are known enemies. Venom has been portrayed as a villain and enemy of Spider-man, often trying to kill spider-man, and at one point does. Last but not least, Spongebob and Plankton from Spongebob Squarepants. Created by Stephen Hillenburg, Spongebob who works at the Krusty Krab, competes with Plankton at the Chum Bucket for the most customers and business. while plankton tried to sabotage business.
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My artistic style inspiration was the doodle art style. It was given this name in the 17th century with the word "doodle" quite literally meaning fool or simpleton. I personally see quite a stigma behind doodle art, simply thinking anything can be doodle art. I see it as a close cluster of different thoughts and ideas to express a story or feeling. A great example for my inspiration was an artist by the name of Mario Miranda, a Mexican artist who made some recognizable pieces. I personally have been working on my own personal doodle art for years; I've found that I love this style and love doing my own take on it. The piece to the left is part of a commission painted on the inside of cafe Mondegar in Mumbai by Mario Miranda, and is now a large tourist attraction because of it. It is the painting I used as an inspiration for how to somewhat lay out my characters. Though it's not identical, you can see the similarity in the clustered characters.
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Symbolism/Meaning
When I was young, Tom and Jerry (and essentially any cartoon) were my favorite pass-times. I loved the Tom and Jerry show in particular, with all my heart. Watching the game of cat and mouse, watching Tom fail every time. Not only was it suspenseful, but it was enjoyable because it was childish and put the characters in unimaginable situations. It made me happy and exited to come home from school to watch in the afternoon. However, on the other side of the spectrum, there were the bad guys or villains in these shows. In "A look at opposites", I chose Good Vs. Evil, with characters from programs that gave me those feelings with evil being the characters such as Tom, Plankton and Venom and the good ones like Jerry, Spongebob and Spider-man. In this piece, I wanted nostalgia to be a factor. I wanted you to feel the defeat that the bad characters felt when the good got away. I connected the two pieces by the doodle art style that I do in my own artwork, using characters that are staples in the Warner Bros cartoons, Disney characters and Nickelodeon cartoons.
Drawing source images
Planning (Semester 1)
For this project, we created two, full-size planning sketches in colored pencil (semester 1 portion). They had to be vertical and had to connect in some way. The first one was my good sketch; all the cartoon characters and movie stars that were "good". The second, were the ones I disliked. The "bad guys" in the shows, or evil ones. I created the good guys one first and colored it completely before starting the evil side. In both pictures, you can see that they both are still being finished. These pictures were both taken when I was about 80% of the way completed. After this, I just finished coloring and touched them up.
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Painting Process
I began by redrawing my planning sketches onto the boards, flipping the evil character drawing because I wanted the transition of good to evil to be more apparent. I did this to have more visible connection, showing the "two sides" of each character. Then, I started painting over the lines in black gouache to make the initial outlines. Changing from the sketches, I wanted to vary the lines in size and opacity to give more emphasis to certain features and details. After the outlines were complete, I went in doing one character at a time with the closest color to the sketches for each character. I had to mix some colors, and some I couldn't get very close. For some of the larger areas to fill, I added a little water to the gouache to make it flow better, however this caused some streaking that was hard to try and get rid of. After all the color was filled, I went over the black outlines one more time to make sure they were opaque.
Compare/Contrast
Similarities
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Reflection
I personally did not like guache. I was expecting it to be relatively as easy as acrylic to blend and use, but it was not. It dried way too fast, some colors in a matter of seconds, and a few colors had separated from the oils and were difficult to mix back together. I was not able to do a lot of blending at all. If I added even a small amount of water, it became so much more streaky. However, I was satisfied with my final product because I think the colors were vivid and made the characters look a little closer to the original intention than the colored pencils did. I like how it shows the contrast between good and evil more so now, that they actually connect from one to another through their opposing personality. I think it looks a lot better with the varying line thickness as well. I didn't throw random color in those open spots on this final either, I just continued the center characters' color into those parts so it looks more connected. If I were to do this project again, I definitely would not have added water to the guache and just dealt with using more product for those large areas. I think I would have spent more time trying to blend for shading as well.
ACT Responses
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork...
Mario Miranda wanted to show the hectic scene with multiple characters, which I also aimed to do.
What is the overall Point of view the author (from research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The authors of my research gave a light overview of Mario Miranda's meaning and method of his art, but not an in depth reference to artistic intention or goal.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Doodle art is seen as something that doesn't take much talent or time, but it is something that people put their lives into and it can be seen all over the world, in media, in books, on murals etc.
What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
My central idea was to make something that shows contrast between good and evil in animation.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
After researching doodle art, I found that the definition differs from source to source, mostly classified as a piece that can have meaning or just be cluster of sketches that is often unfocused.
Mario Miranda wanted to show the hectic scene with multiple characters, which I also aimed to do.
What is the overall Point of view the author (from research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The authors of my research gave a light overview of Mario Miranda's meaning and method of his art, but not an in depth reference to artistic intention or goal.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Doodle art is seen as something that doesn't take much talent or time, but it is something that people put their lives into and it can be seen all over the world, in media, in books, on murals etc.
What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
My central idea was to make something that shows contrast between good and evil in animation.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
After researching doodle art, I found that the definition differs from source to source, mostly classified as a piece that can have meaning or just be cluster of sketches that is often unfocused.
SOURCES
Images
Cindy Lou Who and The Grinch. (n.d.). Retrieved 2019, from https://www.fanpop.com/clubs/christmas-movies/images/17366818/title/how-grinch-stole-christmas-screencap
Scar and Simba. (n.d.). Retrieved 2019, from https://disneylionking.weebly.com/scar.html
Spiderman and Venom. (n.d.). Retrieved 2019, from https://www.cinemablend.com/news/2472302/rumor-venom-could-end-up-in-spider-man-3
Spongebob and Plankton. (n.d.). Retrieved 2019, from https://coub.com/view/6x9kv
Tom and Jerry. (n.d.). Retrieved 2019, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_and_Jerry
Websites
Cafe Mondegar. (n.d.). Retrieved 2019, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cafe_Mondegar
Doodle Art: Introduction. (n.d.). Retrieved 2019, from http://jayce-o.blogspot.com/2012/05/doodle-art-introduction.html
York, Melissa Whitworth in New. “Master Cartoonist Who Created Tom and Jerry Draws His Last.” The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, 20 Dec. 2006, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1537372/Master-cartoonist-who-created-Tom-and-Jerry-draws-his-last.html.
Cindy Lou Who and The Grinch. (n.d.). Retrieved 2019, from https://www.fanpop.com/clubs/christmas-movies/images/17366818/title/how-grinch-stole-christmas-screencap
Scar and Simba. (n.d.). Retrieved 2019, from https://disneylionking.weebly.com/scar.html
Spiderman and Venom. (n.d.). Retrieved 2019, from https://www.cinemablend.com/news/2472302/rumor-venom-could-end-up-in-spider-man-3
Spongebob and Plankton. (n.d.). Retrieved 2019, from https://coub.com/view/6x9kv
Tom and Jerry. (n.d.). Retrieved 2019, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_and_Jerry
Websites
Cafe Mondegar. (n.d.). Retrieved 2019, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cafe_Mondegar
Doodle Art: Introduction. (n.d.). Retrieved 2019, from http://jayce-o.blogspot.com/2012/05/doodle-art-introduction.html
York, Melissa Whitworth in New. “Master Cartoonist Who Created Tom and Jerry Draws His Last.” The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, 20 Dec. 2006, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1537372/Master-cartoonist-who-created-Tom-and-Jerry-draws-his-last.html.