As stated in my proposal, I want to communicate the themes of language, character, theatre and history. I started off by thinking of ways to visualise these themes.
I wanted to bring humour into my work by showing the actors and their costumes (this is Bottom from A Midsummer Night’s Dream).
More character development – having two characters means a bit of interaction which is always fun!
I think the witches stole the show in Macbeth and they’re iconic when thinking about Shakespeare’s work. I’d like to incorporate some text into the rising steam from the cauldron. I tried to consider shape and colour for screen print.
I enjoyed putting this page of my zine together as it talks about life in Shakespeare’s time. The globe was a topical subject as the first voyages around the world were being carried out. Shakespeare chose this name for his theatre and there are many references to the ‘new map’ and travelling round it in his work, such as this quote from Puck. I wrapped the text around the globe in place of the girdle. In my thumbnails I tried to alter the design a bit by placing the globe behind the theatre and Puck in the image, but I think it needs more work.
Anne Hathaway looking lonely and the second best bed, or just the bed with one pillow (to suggest lonliness while he was away in London, or when he died)? Looking at Shakespeare’s life rather than just illustrating scenes from his plays.
Scenes from Macbeth and Hamlet. In the crit it was suggested that I try to bring more authorship into my prints, rather than just illustrating scenes from the plays.
This one is maybe a bit dry, although I’ve tried to make it fun by including character details such as Shakespeare’s hands holding the paper to play with the idea of having a portrait at the top. It’s sonnet 116 with Shakepeare’s visual metaphors around it as well as some of my own – fish to represent turbulent waters like in old maps. It probably strays too far from the brief!
Above: characters from my summer research. Right: This is probably my favourite thumbnail. I’ve taken the line ‘the course of true love never did run smooth’ as I think this is a great example of how the themes of Shakespeare’s work are still relevant today. I tried to communicate this in a way that a modern audience would relate to with narrative and humour: Lysander is looking exasperated as he says it, watching the trouble unfold as all the characters of A Midsummer Night’s Dream fall in love with one another.