Exercise 3.4 Interpretation and Communication – suppose we make it different?

The brief

Interpretation and communication are pivotal to the sense of narrative. There is a potential for narrative when any two elements exist together in the same image.

The narrative can be:

Fun – such as adding an animal drawing in the zoo to a city scene.
Dramatic – such as putting a figure on a roof of a building, or the Queen in front of the local market stall.
Descriptive – using weather conditions to suggest a wintery day in a landscape.
Informative – such as adding a figure in Victorian dress in front of a building from this era.

Take some of your earlier images and put them through a process which changes their visual form. Review the drawings you have made so far for the unit and select three which you think have the potential to develop further visually.

For this exercise, you will use SCAMPER as a strategy for creative thinking and working towards making a clear statement that describes a real or imagined narrative. You can take the visual information from whatever source you choose, deliberately trying to combine a range of visual elements, moving towards an increasingly imaginative response.

(S) substitute – change one aspect of the drawing for another
(C) combine – for this process you could either combine different pages from your sketchbooks or add in other images to the mix from other sources, photographs you have taken, other drawings etc.
(A) adapt
M) modify
(P) put to another use
(E) eliminate
(R) reverse

Figure 1 Spider diagram to organise my thoughts

I have chosen three drawings from my sketchbook. The first drawing was from the speed drawing exercise, in which I observed my dogs as they moved and quickly sketched them in different poses. The narrative can be fun with an imaginative response. I will be using bright and fun colours and describe the scenario in a fun way, which is dogs moving around in an imaginative location. I will possibly add an environment from another sketch in my sketchbook by combining a range of visual elements. I will also modify to create a sense of perspective and experiment by using materials to make the dogs look fluffy.

The second drawing is a sketch I made while waiting in the doctor’s reception room. The patients were waiting very long that day, and the young adult opposite me decided to take a nap on the sofa arm. My aim here is to create an uncomfortable scene, describing the location, maybe using text. It could even be a little dramatic.

The third drawing shows a mom with her two young children in the same doctor’s room. The mom tries her best to keep the children quiet and occupied. With both these drawings in the doctor’s room, I will use images from other sources, such as books, magazines, or wrapping paper, to communicate the narrative.

Sketch 1 – The French Poodles

The original drawing in my sketchbook is very rough but I would like to keep the gestural look and feel of the dogs, so I am not going to redraft or ‘clean-up’ the drawing too much.

Figure 2 Speed drawings of French Poodles moving around

After considering different approaches, I have decided to use minimum lines and ‘colour block’ the dogs to draw attention to their shapes, as they are French Poodles, and their shapes are recognisable. This will also emphasize their different poses, such as stretching, sniffing, etc.

Figure 4 Using the background of another page in my sketchbook

I am going to combine (C) the background of the landscape of another page in my sketchbook and see how it works to convey a fun and playful scene.

Figure 5 First draft of playful French Poodle narrative

The illustration in Figure 5 is not resolved and needs to be cleaned up. The dogs need to be more integrated into the environment (background). This can be done by adding texture to dogs to show that they are fluffy. I have started doing that on the dog right in front with the pink jersey. I can then add shadows and some digital charcoal pencil to complete the drawing.

I was very curious how this illustration would work when rendered with traditional methods. I chose cold-pressed watercolour paper with a grain to get that texture of the background and the fur of the dogs. In hindsight, the texture was just too rough for coloured pencils, but I think it still worked. Next time, I will use hot-pressed fine-textured paper, which is smoother for coloured pencils. I also tried pastel pencils to see if I could get a fluffier finish but it added a ruggedness to the illustration.

The digital drawing combined with the analogue background works the best for this narrative because the focus is more on the dogs and their fun poses and less on the textures.

Figure 6 Mixed media illustration of the same narrative

Sketch 2 – Teens in the doctor’s waiting room

I really struggled with this drawing. (Figure 8). If I could do this project again, I would opt for a charcoal drawing in black and white, but instead, I experimented with collage and brought in a dark pattern of cosy floral wrapping paper for the shadows and a lighter pattern for the sofa. I used a newspaper with pastel smudges for the background, but it was too sensitive to carry the intensity of the wrapping paper.

I used alcohol markers for the base and coloured pencils to render the characters and plants. I photocopied the drawing and combined it into the collage. It could’ve worked better if I had used a darker sign with white text, but overall, the collage seems to be unsuccessful. My objective was to create an uncomfortable scene, but instead, I ended up with an illustration that looks unbalanced and incohesive. (Figure 8)

Figure 7 Original sketchbook drawing of teens in the doctor’s waiting room

I like the expressiveness of the charcoal and white paper. (Figure 7) It captures the mood of that day effectively. I would focus on the main character sleeping by using dark tones and more detail and less detail and lighter charcoal in the rest of the room. Keeping the background and the rest of the drawing simple. That means I will do redrafting to improve line, tone and form.

Figure 8 Collage of teens in doctor’s waiting room

In Figure 8 I used a darker coloured pencil to create a shadow over the sick figure that is sleeping to add drama to the narrative.

I scanned the collage into Photoshop to see if I could save the illustration. The outcome was not in line with my narrative or objective of this illustration, but instead, I discovered another technique to create a whimsical night scene. I could always use this effect for another illustration.

Sketch 3 – Mother and children in doctor’s waiting room

After trying traditional collage for sketch 2, I have opted to capture the same mood of the waiting room for sketch 3, but this time using digital collage. Trying to keep the spontaneity of the original sketch (Figure 10), I decided to work on top of the sketch scanned into Photoshop resulting in the outcome in Figure 11. I am happy with this outcome as it captures the cold, uncomfortable feel of the waiting room, even though the hospital tries to make it more homely by using floral fabrics for the sofa. The mother and children’s expressions tell the story as I experienced it that day. The illustration is not resolved and needs to be refined by cleaning it up to create a finished illustration.

Figure 10 Original sketch from my sketchbook

Although I was satisfied with what I wanted to achieve in Sketch 3, I decided to explore further with distortion. If I enlarged the sofa, what would the story convey? Would it show the mother feeling overwhelmed?

I also experimented with digital watercolours and collage to create the look and feel that she becomes one with the couch. This is to play with the narrative that they’ve been sitting there for so long that she feels almost joint to the couch. Or that she wishes to be unseen by the on-lookers, trying to keep her children quiet and entertained.

Figure 12 The same illustration with different rendering and a large couch (distortion)

I’m not convinced that this “being one with the couch” comes across clearly enough. However, the larger sofa does work well to convey the mother’s feeling of being overwhelmed.

My final exploration was another version where I used crosshatching techniques with digital watercolours, but I am not fond of this combination and think a flat colour application like gouache will look better with crosshatching. In this illustration, I experimented by exaggerating the size of the mother to emphasize the fact that she has small children. I think this worked very well, but you can’t have both the large couch and the big mother, so I will have to choose which narrative is more important to convey unless you want to create a giant sofa.

Figure 13 The same illustration with different rendering and big mother (distortion)

What have I learned in this exercise?

I have learned to use SCAMPER as a strategy for creative thinking, working towards making a clear statement that describes a real or imagined narrative.
Coloured pencils should be used on paper with less of a texture unless you want a very rugged look.
Sometimes small changes could speak the loudest, like working on top of an existing sketch.
Next time, I should consider how materials relate to each other in collage; for instance, will a light pastel work with a deep navy wrapping paper?
I have learned that I could explore more with distortion to add a certain emphasis to the narrative. For instance, a big couch and a big mother cou the couch should just be much bigger than the mother.