I've been illustrating a lot more lately. Well, since Saturday. It all started when I forcefully unscrewed my little bottle of India ink (actually if memory serves correctly I think Welker did it because my muscles are in FACT concave). But once we wrestled it open, I started doodling little characters with a paintbrush annnnd two hours and two pages later I returned the lid to the jar and put everything away...
Have you ever seen the video for "Bowl of Oranges" by Bright Eyes? It's one of my favorites.
A.) The song is adorable.
B.) The majority of the video consists of a stop-motion animation of these little hand-stitched paper and fabric dolls...Actually, here, just watch and see for yourself:
The director who created the video is named Cat Solen, here's her website:
She's also directed videos for Maria Taylor, Sia, AND she did the video for "Soul Meets Body" by Death Cab for Cutie (SO good!).
I've wanted to attempt creating something with a similar feel as "Bowl of Oranges" for a while now (we're talking years here), and after all of the exercises I did last semester involving type and creativity, I feel like I'm finally ready to take a project like that on. Especially now that I've finished the sketches I said I'd make for Rob and now that I've made a great deal of headway on Keith's logo.
I'm definitely going to remain true to the illustration style I started to toy around with freshman year in DP's class, and continued to really explore in Illustration I with Frances Demaske, but I think it's gotten a little more mature... I've been trying to think of ways to incorporate different elements and materials into my watercolor/marker/pen drawings for a while, so the other day I decided to start playing with stitching over certain parts of illustrations with a needle and thread a la "Bowl of Oranges."
Here are some of the doodle ideas pre-stitches:
So far, I like what's come about.
I have some different ideas as to where I want to take the idea, but I haven't decided on anything yet. Maybe another book? I've been looking for an excuse to play with different types of book binding since the printmaking/book show in Bruce gallery last school year and I think this might be a nice way to work something like that in. If I can find a way to turn this into a book, that is. For now I just have a bunch of fragmented ideas that have slowly begun to ferment into something more robust with meaning.
I'm just not entirely sure what that is yet.
And then there's the whole issue of body copy. I'll have illustrations, but I need a story or a timeline, poetry, lyrics, something, some sort of written content to give the book meaning. We'll see what comes about....
I'll keep you posted.
