An Experimental Project by Dingding Hu Thesis 2013 @ MFA Illustration Practice Maryland Institute College of Art
INTRO
An Ordinary Day is a story of Kiwi-Pidia. It is a reflection of yound people in the current generation, humorous and satirical, told in a bitter-sweet graphic novel format.
Generation Y is very special for its global orientation as well as for the non-stop information its members are exposed to. The human mind is most complicated and rarely satisfied, as today’s young adults know. The grass is always greener. Life is boring; life is stimulating. Adventure is cool yet serenity is comforting. New friends are exciting while old friends are sustaining. I am so fascinated by the bizarre mysteries of the human mind and the inherent contradictions of everyday life; those complexities confirm my belief that there is some philosophy that informs the seemingly true world yet also connects things together. That is also why I am attracted to surreal and absurd themes in art and literature. Kiwi Pedia is a reflection upon Wikipedia as well as a satire of it. And the bird is an ideal and loyal friend to him. The take-away theme of Kiwi’s adventure is this: Today may be an ordinary day but please remember that it also is a gift. An Ordinary Day is my first comic art project, a combination of my enthusiastic in Character Design, as well as passion for storytelling about absurd mysteries of everyday life and the human mind.
HOW I got here?
Because I am an only child, I spent a lot of time by myself. That solitude developed my habit of observing things quietly. As a youngster, I paid considerable attention to the natural world; however, as I grew up and acquired more experience, I became more interested in the world of people and relationships, though I still maintained my sense of wonder for nature. I found creative inspiration in the everyday routines and nuances of life, while sitting in a cafĂŠ, or involved in relationships or from overheard stories about the people around me. My mind is like an open sieve and I draw what captures my attention at this moment. I am so fascinated by the absurd mysteries of everyday life and the human mind; those complexities confirm my belief that there is some philosophy that informs the seemingly true world and also connects things together. That is also why I am always so attracted to surrealistic and absurd themes in art and literature. This kind of story actually feels truer to me. My interest in surrealism and absurdism also contributes to my fondness for telling stories in an abstract way. The first character in my “Insane Kitchenâ€? family was born in November of 2011. I have a persistent obsession with art related to food, so when asked to come up with ideas about art that could be made for sale, I immediately came up with the idea of making a series of food characters which
Sketches of the concept development about Corn Gaga
Sketches of the further extention design about Gorn Gaga
I could give to people as a gift. Then after several critiques with my classmates, I decided to set the tone of those characters as insane or somewhat abnormal. Then, the first character was born---Corn Gaga. I had a lot of fun developing this single character and wanted to take it further. Then my instructor Whitney Sherman suggested that instead of making dolls of one character, I should come up with the whole collection of the characters first. So for the first semester of Graduate School, I built a whole collection of 5 characters: Corn Gaga, Cabbage Kim, Kiwi Pedia, Bean Bros and Johnny Bacon.
The following semester I tried to push them forward as a collection; and under the guidance of my instructor Jaime Zollars, I have created a series of animated GIFs. I was happy the them, but then the project felt stuck. I didn’t know what to do with them next, besides making the characters do silly dances. So, after that time period, I decided to put them away temporarily.
The family of my character
All of the five characters are related to one kind of food. And each of them has a fashion icon, which express their personality in a way. The stories among them include, achieving a dream, pursuing art, figuring out the meaning of friendship, as well as teamwork. Much more wait to be told, through the five actors and actress.
Kiwi Pedia
Bean Bros
Corn Gaga
Cabbage Kim
Johnny Bacon
the Discription Card
The Book
There are two stories that inform my own philosophy and artwork. One is the fairy tale, The Little Prince, and the other one is the animated TV series Adventure Time. The Little Prince tells what I think is the true philosophy of life through a simple story, which not only makes sense to children, but also touches adults’ hearts. On the surface, it is a story of an odd little boy who travels around to find something that he truly loves, ultimately coming back home. On the deeper level, it reveals the true situation of love and human nature, the questing and wonderful side of life. It is about being lost and then finding what is important in life. And it conveys to its audience the idea that “only heart sees the truth(directly from The Little Prince)”. Both The Little Prince and Adventure Time have effectively revealed a “psychical spiritual truth” told in a delightful child-like way. The difference is, The Adventure Time has told this truth in a more ridiculous and comical way. It uses nostalgia and humor to awaken the child living in the adult’s inner heart. It may seem like a naïve children’s TV show, with all the hilarious creatures and exaggerated facial expressions of the main character. However, it also shows the ambivalence and drama of human nature and people’s relationships. Since both stories are actually a reflection of regular life, which is all about people’s relationship and human psyche, these two tales are enormously meaningful. They take the reader and viewer on a marvelous adventure, which, in the end, confirms that life is a journey.
I chose comics as my story-telling vehicle to tell my story. My reasons is two-fold: First, I have been involved in the advertising world since my undergraduate years, so I am very familiar with storyboards for TV series and animation; which work in a similar way as comic arts. Second, the revival of the comic arts in the current market has rekindled my interest in exploring the variety of the ways to shape a story line via comic books. Those different storylines confirm my notion that comic artists need not be very serious to convey a message or depict characters in a precisely rendered way to be effective. So, as a comic artist, all I need to do is relay how I feel in a way that is most meaningful to me.
Several comic artists are especially inspiring to me: Lilli Carre, Jenni Rope, Kyle Platts and Tommi Musturi. The qualities they share are the positive way of depicting the everyday troubles we might encounter and the interesting way they turn daily emotions into relatively abstract artwork, with a broad appeal. Kiwi Pedia is a name inspired by the iconic Internet information site, Wikipedia. To many people, Wikipedia is linked to a figure that provides data for any famous person, thing, thought, or idea in existence. So by making Kiwi Pedia sound somewhat like Wikipedia, I am trying to make it a character that “knows every human experience�. But since he is just a kiwi, he might think he knows everything, but maybe just everything in the kiwi world. There is always a bigger world outside, for everyone is just a tiny figure in the huge, wild world. Human travails are nothing compared to the vastness and complexity of nature. Kiwi is a fruit full of nutrition, so he is valuable. He should be proud of himself no matter how small his part is in the larger world. Further I want him to represent mental nutrition to the readers of my story. The little bird is the kiwi’s friend. He is completely dumb and knows very little. But the bird believes in one thing: He is going to follow his friend Kiwi no matter what happens. And the bird actually has a valuable skill that Kiwi has always dreamed of : flying.
Exhibition
For me, it is the first time to show a comic book in a gallery, so I decide to design it specific fit for the comic format. Since I have five characters in this comic book, I thought it should be important to show them in an effective way, which I finally choose to print them out in large scale for hanging on the wall. In this way, the audience will have a first impression of all the characters, and hopefully got interested in the selected pages framed and hung on the wall. It turned out a big success, and attracted both adults and children to look at it as well as take photos with it. I also made a short animation which showcased the whole collection of my characters, with eccentric music as a matching background. By adding this animated part into the exhibition, the whole space become more dynamic and interesting.
The huge print of Kiwi Pedia and Cabbage Kim, ready for cut and hang on the wall.
Closer look of Bean Bros on the wall
Installing four of the characters on the wall
Exhibition full view
One of the exhibition wall
Postcard and bookmarks at the exhibition
Artist talk in front of my exhibition
Interaction between the audience and my character