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FL2017
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REFLECTION ON PRACTICE
ERY RHYM
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JEE KIM
RESEARCH
PROJECT* SUMMARY 03
The objective of the project was to create a trio of pictures based on Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes. The prompt provided a list of rhymes to choose from, which included rhymes such as, “Old King Cole,“ “Three Wise Men of Gotham,“ and “One Misty Moisty Morning.“ The idea of the prompt was to produce three images, each of which would have the first line or phrase of the rhyme integrated into the image. The designed images were to be executed in a graphic vocabulary of more or less three values, and drawn in a 4×5 ratio rectangle, oriented horizontally or vertically.
*This project was a response to a prompt in a course, Word & Image 2, taught in Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts.
01 RESEARCH RESEARCH
I had two goals upon my visual research: first, to explore different subjects that would appear alongside the nursery rhymes, and second, successful examples of illusrations where a limited number of values were used. To get myself started in approaching the subject matter I was going to illustrate, I turned to books featuring illustrations made for children’s books to grasp how images are treated when children are the intended audience. A common thread I found from my visual research was that many of them went beyond simply literally narrating the text and “spiced it up” with an extra pinch of imagination that stemmed from what-if’s. For a large part of the initial process, I did not fully comprehend the idea of using values other than as a means to create the illusion of existing in the real world. The inspirations that gave me an “ah-ha” moment came later in the process when I was stuck trying to portray all the intricate layers of depth. Malika Favre’s works, as suggested by my instructor, were an excellent guideline for how I can economize the number of colors/values I use without compromising the di-
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mensionality of my image. In addition, a sequence from the Disney animation, “Princess and the Frog,” animated for the song, “Almost There” gave me an idea of how different values could be represented through different colors, as long as those colors are of those values. Looking back, I am actually rather surprised I had not thought of this Disney reference earlier, as the sequence is one of the most significant inspirations that drew me into pursuing graphic art.
RESEARCH ABOVE
OPPOSITE
Page Turner, Malika Favre A Bigger Splash, Malika Favre Park Avenue, Malika Favre
Almost There, Princess and the Frog (2009)
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02 DISCOVERY DISCOVERY
First, I read through all of the options multiple times to pick out the rhymes that resonate with me the most from each given set. For each rhyme, I sketched the first couple of images, or scenes if you will, that came to mind as I reiterated the rhyme in my head. For some rhymes, I grew very quickly attached to the characters and their dynamic within the composition as I developed them, which made the process of elimination in choosing the final three rhymes difficult. One critical point to consider was how the three images were working as a set, a criterion which helped me let go some of the iterations I felt particularly strong about. For example, while I thought the iterations for Old King Cole was strong both in terms of composition and character development, they were more so a literal snapshot of what is going on in the poem than an imaginative interpretation as my some of the iterations for other rhymes were successfully doing. Even when finalizing the composition for “Three Wise Men of Gotham,� I had to let go of the iteration I was particularly attached to in order to keep the set consistent with including actual characters in the composition.
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Through a process of elimination as such, I eventually finalized the composition for the three rhymes: “Jack Sprat Could Eat No Fat,” “Little Miss Eticoat,” and “Three Wise Men of Gotham.” In order to focus on assigning values, I first worked monochromatically. However, I initially treated the assignment as a shading exercise as I got too into details articulating every little layer of depth. I simply could not divorce myself from the idea that eliminating details would compromise the dimensionality in my composition. When I did try to include other colors, I was assigning them purely randomly, pushing me further into helpless frustration.
DISCOVERY ABOVE
OPPOSITE
early explorations of illustrations for “Old King Cole“
Iterations~ final compositon for “Three Wise Men of Gotham“
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DISCOVERY OPPOSITE
ABOVE
character study for “Jack Sprat Could Eat No Fat“
Iterations~ final compositon for “Jack Sprat Could Eat No Fat“
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DISCOVERY ABOVE Iterations~ final compositon for “Little Miss Etticoat“
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The breakthrough happened the last session before the final critique. For one, my intrucstor ntroduced me to Malika Favre’s works, which turned out to be a Eureka moment where all the pieces started coming together. Her use of colors was exactly the thing I had been aspiring for all along, something I noticed commonly from many other phenomenal illustration works. Another point for the breakthrough was the tip my other instructor gave me in approaching values and color study. For values, he delineated a system I can use, where no matter how many values I am using, all the values are the same distance from one another. Once I have a set of values, he suggested that I go through other illustration works to find a color palette that I like, then grab the swatch to plug in the pertaining colors to my value set. As I followed the tips step by step, the rest of the process aligned like a clean formula, liberating me to experiment more freely with different color palettes.
DISCOVERY ABOVE
OPPOSITE
value study for “Jack Sprat Could Eat No Fat“
value study for “Three Wise Men of Gotham“
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DISCOVERY ABOVE
OPPOSITE
value study for “Little Miss Etticoat“
TOP
color palettes inspired by Andy Warhol prints BOTTOM
color study for “Little Miss Etticoat“
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03 REFINEMENT REFINEMENT
Eventually, the problem I needed to solve narrowed down to assigning colors so that the same colors don’t intersect in a way that removes the silhouette of a shape. For the most part, I adjusted the shape or gave a different value to the shape to resolve such an issue. For the case of Jack Sprat’s pants, where neither method seemed effective, I created a plaid texture instead to outline his pants among other elements.
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REFINEMENT ABOVE
OPPOSITE
“Jack Sprat Could Eat No Fat,“ “Three Wise Men of Gotham“ final
“Little Miss Etticoat” final
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04 CRITICISM CRITCISM
Truthfully, there was a limited text exploration. At the same time, I am not dissatisfied with the final outcome as I find the choice of type and placement quite consistent with the visual language of the characters. For one, just as my characters have a rather exaggerated quality to their shapes, Neutraface Condensed carries a similar quality to the elongated form of the letters. I am much more satisfied with the process I underwent for this project than the final outcome. Although if I had a more trained eye for color palettes, I would have liked to make the three images in three different color palettes, while still keeping them as a cohesive set. Unfortunately, I had to unify the three images with the same color palette largely because the other color palettes I experimented with simply were not working. At the same time, while the learning curve for this project was steep and frustrating, the Eureka moment was most valuable in terms of the insight I gained about using colors and values. I am most excited for future projects to be able to try implementing these insights to a full swing.
REFLECTION ON PRACTICE
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NURSERY RHYME
JEE KIM
WORD & IMAGE 2