Anthony Gerace

These collages by Anthony Gerace are definitely a direction I would like to try with my work. They capture the disjointed and confused state of mind of Ned, and also relate to the theme of memory, as though he could only recall certain features of a person's appearance. When using the square pattern it also has the look of the tiles of a swimming pool.

The image above is also another approach, and I like the small sections of text that are out of place and context. This looks somewhat like an aerial view of fields, which links back to Ned being described as an explorer - this could be one of his maps with the forgotten details and jumbled text and directions.

Initial Juniper idea

This is just a quick booklet I put together to see how the images will work alongside the text and give me an idea of how many images I need to produce to balance with the text.

I used my initial idea of representing Ned's state though the Juniper plant, and also some of my experimentation using scanning and layering of paint and images to reflect certain points in the story.

Overall I am fairly happy with the way this looks, but it is definitely lacking something as the images seem a bit boring when paired with the large blocks of text; the pacing of the images is also fairly slow and regular. Because the images are all slight variations on one consistent drawing I think this also makes it seem slightly uninteresting. When I tried using various techniques to draw the Juniper branch it was slightly more visually interesting, but didn't relate as well to the text.

Tutorial 25-10-13

Having spoken with Rachel I am not entirely sure if I want the covers and interior illustrations to be the focus of my work this term, but rather visually responding to the major themes of the story which are time and memory. In doing this I might produce images that could be used as interiors, but I would also like to experiment with the way the text and image interact, or even just how the text could represent Ned's failing memory without an illustration alongside, which I wouldn't be able to do if I was just producing illustrations on their own.

I will still try to follow all the avenues of investigation that I had already planned to, but now I intend to focus more on how to represent time and memory than how to illustrate the story itself.

Memory

Another theme which as a lot of visual potential is that of memory and how Ned looses touch with reality and the events that have happened.

The drawing above by Evie Cahir is a very interesting way of showing how something has been forgotten, with a lot of detail put into something that most people wouldn't pay attention to with the main focus left blank.

I would like to try replicating this effect to an extent, having some of the image clear and the rest either blank or just vague and out of focus. Printing techniques would be a good way of doing this, either badly printing a section of a lino cut, or monoprinting but not pressing very hard for the section I want to be hazy. I would also like to try a technique of transferring a laser print onto another sheet of paper using cellulose thinners to create a distressed and hopefully imperfect and unclear image.

I could also experiment with covering certain areas of an image or photograph with paint like the image above. This could either be done by putting paint directly onto the image, or by using layers of acetate or tracing paper, building layers of memories that can then be uncovered to see the complete image behind it. This also ties in with the vivid descriptions of water colours that are repeated in the story.

Thoughts and ideas

Continuing from my last post, here are some of the ideas I have as to how to approach the illustrations.

Representing Ned and his mental state through a visual metaphor.

I like the idea of using a plant, in this case Juniper because of its use in the production of Gin (the main alcohol drunk in the story) to represent Ned. Either in the way it is drawn or presented or the stage in its life it is at.

This idea is inspired by David Pearson's covers for the Penguin great loves series (shown above)  in which he uses purely botanical images for the covers of the love stories. This is very effective as a series of covers as there is a central theme, but also the images are very cleverly chosen and at first you may not see their relevance to the book, but when you look more closely they are representative of the themes or name of the book.

I am considering using illustrations that look as though they have come from an encyclopaedia, or alternatively from an explorer's journal (like the one I made shown above), firstly because I believe they will work well with text, but also because Ned often described as an explorer in the story. I can apply various effects to these illustrations, or use different processes to create them to reflect what is happening at certain points in the story.

21-10-13 Review

I have read and analysed the story and I have a few ideas as to how I want to approach the illustrations and also the key themes I wish to address:

Themes-

• Alcohol- From the first line of the story it is apparent how important alcohol is to the characters in this story ("...everyone sits around saying 'I drank too much'")
• Memory- As the story progresses it becomes clear that Ned has either ignored or forgotten some recent occurrences ("Was his memory failing or had he so disciplined it in the repression of unpleasant facts that he had damaged his sense of the truth?")
• Exploration- Ned is often described as an explorer or pilgrim and there are numerous references to maps ("He seemed to see, with a cartographer's eye","it had been on his maps")
• Time- Over the course of his journey the seasons all change, going from summer at the start to the "wintery gleam" near the end. There are also points at which exactly when events have taken place is unclear (he arrives at the Halloran's house in search of a drink only to find out they haven't had any alcohol for a long time "since Eric's operation. That was three years ago")

Exactly what is going on becomes less and less clear as the story progresses and the reader is drawn into Ned's confusion as he gets lost, loses track of time, gets more drunk and forgets past events. All of these combined make for a disorienting sensation when reading and I would like to try to give this feeling with my imagery as well. 

The idea of a series of related illustrations, with a central image, subject or motif, that slowly change is something that I would like to use to convey this gradual breakdown of reality around Ned.

I think it is important that my illustrations are not literal representations of scenes from the story (unless the effect of this is considered and purposeful, not just a default) but more conceptual ways of dealing with the themes listed above. I want the reader to have to think about the illustration's relation to the text, and hopefully because of this interaction be immersed more into the mental state of the protagonist.

Michael Porter

There are several recurring descriptions in the swimmer, one of which is the various things that Ned stands on or in. This immediately made me think of the work of Michael Porter, whose semi-abstract paintings are the representations of a place. Porter will go on a walk through woods, or along a coastal path and try to capture the essence of the journey though his paintings, which often look like an abstracted close up of the ground. 

The work above was painted on top of a digitally printed photograph, and I thought I might be able to use this technique of working over a photo to play with the ideas of memory and things that have been forgotten, one of the key themes of the story.

I think that these would make a series of powerful and evocative illustrations as they give an overall impression as the the location and atmosphere, but can also include fairly specific descriptions such as the colour of the water, what is underfoot, or the leaves floating on the surface of a pool.

Siobhan McBride

These paintings by Siobahn McBride perfectly capture disorientation in a domestic setting. The top images is particularly successful because of the overlapping of objects, making us question where they are in the scene. The muted colour palate is also effective in adding to the bleak atmosphere, making these scenes look very run down and long abandoned.

I could use a similar technique in my imagery to unsettle the viewer and make them think twice about the scene they are looking on to. 

David Hockney

When I first decided on The Swimmer as the story I am going to illustrate my first thought was the way in which Hockney captures the movement and feel of water in his paintings. It is also useful that they are specifically of swimming pools. 

One of the things that drew me to Hockeny's work right away was just the variety of techniques and visual styles he uses to capture water in various states. The flat colours and shapes of the house, springboard and the rest of the water are a strong contrast to the energy of the brush strokes of the splash. Even within the splash itself there seem to be two approaches, the thin lines of flat colours either side, and the soft and textural tones in the centre.

In this drawing the overlapping of patterns and colours give a real sense of the depth of the pool and the surface of the water itself. The subtle grid of the tiles gives a three dimensional impression of the pool, and the flowing pattern over this describes the surface of the water.There is a simple beauty in which Hockney has conveyed this scene.

The Swimmer

For my BA7 project I have chosen to design and illustrate the front and back cover and two interior images for John Cheever's short story The Swimmer.

I first read the story last year for another project, and I was particularly interested in the way in which reality seems to fall apart around the protagonist over the course of his journey. It is written in such a way that as a reader it becomes harder and harder to tell the truth from Ned's imagination or memory.

I would like to try to capture some of this confusion in my illustrations - showing the progression his mental state through a series of illustrations. What these might be of and the media I might use is still undecided, but I will use a variety of techniques in my experimentation.

Tree of Codes poster

As a follow up to the last post, I also found poster versions of selected pages from the Tree of Codes. This just shows that the narrative can be shown just as well in various formats (with very different effects) and I should not limit my outcome just to the form of a book.

Visual Editions

Visual Editions is a company that specialise in creating books with a twist, playing with the form of the book and the typography in a playful and experimental way, but always to further the storytelling.

The image above is of the book "Tree of Codes" in which the author looked for a story within another story, and told it by removing large chunks of the original text to leave his own re-interpretation. The book comes printed with the holes already cut in the pages, which in turn allows for words to overlap between pages where you are able to see through, and may conjure up new narratives. Reading the book must actually feel like you are working out an elaborate code and discovering some hidden meaning.