Thesis book

ONE

A Book of New Start

Charlotte Fu

Table of Contents Introduction Interests Inspirations Making a wordless comic Exhibition

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Introduction I was a graphic designer before I came to MICA. Working all day along and day by day, month by month. I feel getting bored sometimes. I’ve always been passionate about the illustration for many years; I love drawing and spent a few time doodling every day.

After months of struggling, I finally decided to study illustration systematically in American. The other reason brought me to MICA; it is because I want to get a book published shortly. Although It was a big decision and made my life changing, I’m so glad that I’m here and it’s worth with two years study.

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My interest and My experience

Living

in diff erent city

le p o e p g n i t e me

traveling 6

y t i c e g r a l n i Born

Conversations

g n i h c t a W e l p o Pe

I have liked observing people since I was a child. I remembered when I was a teenager, there was one thing I would always love to do— sit in a cafe that had a entire wall made of glass. I would look through it at people outside on the street. I could spend one or two hours,

doing nothing else but observing people, imaging what did they do? Where did they go? Why does that one look unhappy? I propose to write and illustrate a picture book that is told through their expressions and gestures. I think my interest developed then because people—

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no matter whether they were strangers or friends—would grab my attention. I am deeply drawn to the human condition and the stories that surround it. I grow up in Beijing, and lived in Paris for three years. I believe that experience of living in different cities has sharpened eye for people and their behaviors. When I have I

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traveled in past years, it feed my curiosity about people outside my native environment. I found most topics of my drawing focused on individuals, relationships, not only relationship between people, but also the relationship between individuals and animals. I have made a series of drawing of a cat and its owner’s daily life.

s n o i t a r i p s n I My In my application to the MFA I included a series of painting describing loneliness . When I first think of this topic, it was because of Edward Hooper’s paintings. The characters he painted: the woman awakened sitting by the window in Morning Sun, the woman sitting on her own in a café in Auto Mat, and the woman sitting by the window alone in Room in New York – they all present a sense of loneliness. I love very much travelling on my own and I get to see a lot in my journeys. I often see senior people walking slowly in the streets all by themselves, expect for having a little Yorkshire Terrier following them. They all bring me a sense of sadness, an emotion of loneliness. I want to use my own style to convey such feelings.

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Edward Hooper’s Drawing Much of Edward Hopper’s work depict urban loneliness, isolation, even despair. I can not forget the feeling I had of seeing this painting for the first time.No one captured the isolation of the individual within the modern city like him. His imagery of figures within urban settings go well beyond their role as modern cityscapes, exposing the underbelly of the human experience. The color, composition, palette, the contrast of brightness and darkness; every element contributed to the mood he wished to express. Stirred by it, I felt empathy for his subjects.

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Jon Klassen’s Child’s book The Dark I did a research on children’s book and discovered Jon Klassen’s book The Dark. I like how he takes advantage of the contrast of darkness and lightness to create a strong aestheticalcomposition.

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Shaun Tan’s wordless graphic novel The arrival Thomas Ott’s wordless comic Panopticum

The Arrival by Shaun Tan is wordless graphic novel, a man leaves his homeland and sets off for a new country, where he must build a new life for himself and his family.

Thomas Ott plunges into the darkness with five new graphic horror novelettes: “The Prophet,” “The Wonder Pill,” “La Lucha,” “The Hotel,” and the title story, each executed in his hallucinatory and hyper-detailed scratchboard style and running between 16 to 20 pages.

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I’ve researched several comics and graphic novels, most of them are wordless. I like to read the wordless comic. The lack of words on the page does mean that the reader has to piece together the story, and even then, much is subjective and open to interpretation. My love of silent strips has only grown, and many of my favorite moments in traditional comics are those where no words pass between characters. A picture is capable of saying more than a whole panel of words can ever do. And if an artist is capable enough, a story told in pictures alone is an incredibly deep and satisfying experience – every read will reveal something new or suggest a new possibility, and never are their words to narrow the focus down to one particular meaning.

Jane Le Renard & Moi

by Isabelle Arsenault

I refered her book because the pencil texture and rough matieril give me a sense of relax and mood. I was think that maybe this is what I’m looking for my own book.

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The Snowman is a children’s picture book without words by English author Raymond Brigg.

Peggy the hen is contented with her quiet existence and daily routine.

When a powerful gust of wind sweeps her up and deposits her in the midst of a busy city, she explores her new surroundings, makes new friends, and cleverly figures out how to get home—with a newly kindled appetite for adventure. Evocative full-color paintings follow Peggy’s journey, offering comical details that reward repeated viewing.

This reassuring tale and its unruffled heroine invites discussions of exploration, safety, and resourcefulness

I just realize that no matter children’s book or graphic novels that I found are all related to the theme of city life or relationships.

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British illustrator Jon Macnaught has his unique simple style, I like how he controls the pace of the story, and the quietness when you read the book.

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c i m o C s s e l d r o w a g n i Mak

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Last year, while I was doing the self-directed project. I planned to do a story of the birds in the city. That was the beginning of the comic. I learnt to write the script and to manage the pace of the story, but it was not easy to do. To tell a story only depending on images was beyond my experience, but I learned a lot from this project and finally I decided to make a comic for my thesis project.

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Find A Style I used to do exclusively color drawings, but I’m not afraid of trying something new. Last Year, while I did the research, black and white illustrations drew my attention. I explored the texture and a new way of drawing. I love minimalism, so to create images by using minimal elements is my goal. I enjoyed a lot the process of making a comic and to create a mood for the story by taking advantage of the texture, brightness, and darkness.

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Storyline In the morning, a man opens his eyes and looks out the window. A new day begins just like everyday.

The sunshine fills the room with a warm glow.

He walks over to the window and gazes at his potted flowers on his windowsill. He waters the them, talks to them in a soothing voice, as he always does. They are his family and it’s his love that keeps them healthy.

He gazes at his potted flowers on his windowsill.

He waters the them.

After washing his face and brushing his teeth he stops and notices his own reflection. Suddenly he feels shy, his own gaze is so foreign and he isn’t sure why. Before his mind wanders to dark places, he jerks away and heads for the kitchen. Today, like everyday, he makes his omelet with his whole wheat toast.

He washes his face.

He brushes his teeth.

He gazes his reflection in the mirror.

His step toward the kitchen.

He starts making omelet and bake the bread.

His black briefcase sits by the door, like a loyal friend, always waiting for him. He wraps himself in his brown coat and pats his briefcase before picking it up and out the apartment he goes.

An image of his briefcase.

An image of his coat.

An image of he wearing the coat and with the briefcase in his hands.

As he walks toward the metro station, he slows down, observing the people on the street. “People have different emotions,” he whispers to himself; tired faces, a vibrant student, an old woman holding a bouquet of flowers. The scene is different as he enters the metro station. The energy in the train is lethargic. People eyes are closed, bodies leaning, taking solace in their brief moment of rest before restarting their busy lives. People’s bodies slouch and their gaze is low as if acknowledging one more person will deplete what energy they have left. When someone makes a noise, everyone stares, like being startled from a dream. The noise is unwelcome and breaks the unspoken order inside the train. Most of time, people only show emotion with their eyes glued to their cellphone.

An image of him standing on the street in the crowd.

A zoom in image of tired faces.

A zoom in image of a vibrant student.

A zoom in image of an old woman holding a bouquet of flowers.

An image of underground.

An image of him standing in the car, looking at peo-

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ple around.

An image of people on the car.

An image of a little girl facial emotion. She is about to cry. Her mother puts a pacifier on her mouth.

An image of a middle-age man looking at the little girl.

His one hour trip to office is a normal commute in a big city like his. He is standing at the foot of his office building, looking up and imagining himself, just a tiny dot among all the other thousands dots.

An image of birds eye, he stands at the foot of his office building. He is a tiny dot among all the other thousands dots He greets the receptionist with a warm smile and sing song hello, just like he does everyday.

An image of he stands in front of reception desk, says hello to the receptionist.

The office is like a huge machine. Everyone stays in their position, each a gear specific to a single task.

This is how a machine works smoothly, when every part has one task, one focus. No one talks as they locate their own position. The man is quickly becoming one of them.

An image of overlook the office. Zoom in an image of the man.

He avoids the popular restaurant, the ones filled with people, the ones filled with noise. When he stands in a crowd, surrounded by strangers, his breath is short, until it disappears, so cannot go to these restaurants.

Even when every restaurant is full, he eats his sandwich on his bench in the park. The nature and birds are his moment of solace.

An image of the man walking along the street, looking at the restaurant which full of people.

An image of the man stand among crowed.

Zoom in image of his facial expression.

An image of him being along, sitting on the bench, enjoying his lunch by looking at pigeons in a park.

He observes a group of birds as they fight each other and imagines himself as one of them. He is quarreling, fighting, jumping around, dueling one bird after another. He pretends he is asleep, so that the birds won’t leave, won’t feel his threatening gaze. For him, this is a moment for him to play observer, hide in a secret world, that only belongs to him.

An image of him observing people.

Zoom in image of birds fighting.

An image of his face with eyes seemingly closed.

An image of his thought, imagination.

In the afternoon, he drinks his second cup of coffee

or tea. This is how he stays awake. His desk is always clean and organized, each item having its own correct spot. There are no photos on his desk, no personal items, no colorful flourishes. He avoids these sentiments. He is a sensible man, but a sensible man is also a sensitive man.

An image of his coffee cup and tea ball aside.

An image of him drinking coffee in the tea room and looking through window.

An image of his desk, everything is organized and clean.

He leaves the office at six in the afternoon as always.

He is a serious man who always follows his own rules. He has a set system, complete with rules and routines. For Example, if he plans to watch a movie, no matter what he does that day, he will watch the movie before he goes to the bed. Everything is a task to be ticked off, even fun.

An image of clock on the wall.The hands of the clock pointed to half past seven.

An image of him leaving office.

An image of him in a virtual world. He is standing on the start point. He follows the way.

An image of him in the middle of virtual world. it shows him passes half way in the world.

He moves his chair back after being immobile, after keeping the same position for hours. He scans his desk making sure everything is in it’s correct place.

He says goodbye to the receptionist and heads home.

An image of him standing in front of his desk, checking everything before leaving.

An image of his desk remaining the same status as it was in the morning.

An image of him says goodbye to receptionist.

There still light outside. He moves slowly, passes one store after another. A beam of orange-colored light shines out of a pastry shop window warming the color of his face. The huge window reflects his shape as he turns to face it. He narrows his eyes, exhales onto the glass and watches the bloom of condensation grow. He notices the odd shape of grey he leaves behind on the window, before entering the shop.

An image of him slowly moving in the street.

An image of him standing in front of a shop window.

A beam of light shines his face.

An image of his reflection on the shop window.

He looks at the colored desserts in front of him. But he reaches for the bread and picks up a baguette. He pays and leaves the shop.

An image of him in the bread shop.

An image of various dessert.

An image of him check out with a baguette.

The sun is disappearing and the night creeps up slowly. He looks around at the people on the street, noticing the shift, the difference in their faces from what he’d seen that morning. He goes into the metro

and gets on the train. The space is full of people. The crowd squeeze him into the car. As tightly packed as they are, everyone on the train sways side to side in one united rhythm. Sleepy faces, even a woman’s body is so tired, she slip down her chair. People come and go and leave nothing behind. Not even their scent, as if nothing existed there before. A child seems open’s its mouth, ready to cry and his mother quickly appeases him with a pacifier. A middle aged man turns his head to stare at the mother. Although there is no sound, his glaring eyes is like a warning.

An image of him on the street the daylight almost disappearing.

An image of him goes into the metro.

An image of him standing in the crowd.

An image of him standing on the train, but people around him changed.

An image of people on the train.

He falls asleep and has a dream. In the dream he walks alone in the dessert and nobody is there. He shouts and cries, but nothing comes out. Only the humid air and heat surround him. He breaths heavily and suddenly wakes up from his nightmare.

An image of him falls to sleep.

An image of his dream.

He drags himself off the subway and to his apartment.

He enters the building and gets on the elevator.

An image of him on the way home.

An image of his apartment.

An image of him in the elevator.

He enters his apartment and immediately switches on the TV. Having lived alone for so many years, the sound of his TV has become a loyal friend. The cold air and darkness surround him again. He turns on the AC and starts cooking dinner. He is starving and makes a quick sandwhich.

He washes the dishes before he starts to eat. This is his routine and he believes it saves him time. He checks the kitchen once more. Everything is clean.

An image of him in his apartment.

Zoom in image of him turning on the TV. An image of TV. An image of him cooking.

An image of him eating sandwich.

An image of him do dish washing.

An image of his kitchen.

He moves to the living room and his footsteps break the silence. He plops down onto the sofa, letting his body sink deeply into the cushions. This is a moment he can feel completely relaxed. The sound of the TV puts him to sleep. The light from the window and light from the TV casts a shadow on his face. He can see the gentle glow through his eye lids. He smiles like he is in a sweet dream.

An image of him pops down onto the sofa.

An image of him falls to sleep.

Zoom in image of him face with a smile.

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All the drawings I finished on iPad, It is a new experience for me, the brushstroke that I found quite match to my purpose. Also, a lot of my old drawings are flattened color, but I always want to explore the traditional drawing texture.

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I learned to differentiate the size of the panels and number of the panels to tell the story.

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n o i t a l l a t s n i Grad Show

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I wanted to have a simple and quiet place when I planed my gallery space because my wordless comic is a quiet story. Aside from my comic book, I also made gifs. Compare to single images; I expected the animation made the audience feel more involved in the story.

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s k l a T y r e l Gal

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This year is a tough year for me. I learned a lot from the thesis project. I couldn’t make it without the help of many people. I want to thanks to Whitney Sherman and Kimberly Hall for their patience and guidance. I also want to thanks to Rebecca Bradley and other critique guests; they gave me a lot of great suggestions.

Thanks to all the lovely peers who helped me in our gruop. I’m so grateful that I’m the one in iLP community.

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