What I got from visiting the St. Nicholas' Kirk Graveyard

By visiting places on Thursday, I gathered a few emotional links. We covered the Tunnels, covered in another post, and we visited the St Nicholas' Kirk graveyard, as well as the old train station at Cult, near Gray's School of Art. This post post illustrated what I got out of the visits.

The first emotional link I got in the graveyard was linked to the story of the prisoner forgotten in the basement when the church use to be a prison/church hybrid.


Yes, I have a horribly dark sense of humour. When told this story, I had to hold my laughter back by respect for the others. I don't have much respect for the dead... they're dead, I don't think they need anything. We kept on talking about burials and respect for the dead (see sentence before to have my point of view) and all I could think of was this:


I think what I got out of the visit in the graveyard is that every day life is funny. If you don't think it's funny, you're not looking hard enough. Everyday has so much to teach us and nothing is more real that daily lives. Isn't everyone sick of going to see the new Spiderman movie or the latest Superman, or massacred Alan Moore movies (save The Watchmen, that's a great adapatation)? What I'm trying to say is that I want to try to make the Scottish Splendor (see American Splendor by Harvey Pekar). The medium the most adapted to simple life comics is a light detached medium: comic books. Television is too real and so is written text. We are so use to seeing the news on television or reading tragedies in the newspaper, that the medium of comic books seems to be the lightest one there. Even comic books like Marjane Sartrapi's Persepolis contains light comedy sweetening the harsh depressing reality for the readers.

Harvey Pekar, has worked on bringing more of the truth to the comic book medium in Macedonia, with Heather Roberson and Ed Piskor. He adapted in comic book form the real life adventures of Heather Robertson's journalism work in Macedonia. When one does have a look at this epic tail (Link to Amazon's inside peak of the book: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/reader/0345498992/ref=sib_dp_pt#reader-link) one can see that the comic book medium has a way of being detached from the harsh truth, and gives the reader the impression to be involved in a more exclusive world, Harvey Pekar belonging to the "underground" comic book world. I need to read Macedonia...

Location, location, location

Location, location, location - 29/10/09

As a follow up to the session at the Aberdeen beach, we went to visit three different locations which were this time chosen by the class, divided into three groups. We were going to visit The Tunnel, the tunnel under Union Street's venue, and loading bay for Marks & Spencers, the St. Nicholas Kirk graveyard, and the old train station next to the university. We were to express why we took the group to the locations chosen and what these places made us feel. This could be expressed through our own words or through the art of others.

The choice of our group was the Tunnels, which is just the kind of location which makes me excited. Although speaking about the industrial looking abandoned hole which cannot stop but looking out of place especially compared to Union Street. The tunnel is a monument to the steam-punk genre, home of so much of great comic books, and inspiration to quite a few comic books by the comic book duo of Ian Edginton and D'Israeli. Steam-punk it a genre of storytelling generally based in the Victorian times, where technology has greatly advanced but the only source of energy is still steam. The place is also the local gallery for many street artists which have painted on the walls. I even took the occasion of our visit to put my mark there.

The most interesting element about our visit to the tunnels was to see how others reacted to the location. Most hated it and imagined a series of awful things happening in this alley, and many reasons why they would never come here at night. This did set me apart from most of the group as I have spent many a nights in that alley being the person everyone else would dread to meet there. Different views, different opinions and different fears met in this alley during our seminar. Location, stories, inspirations do not affect everyone in the same way.

By each finding different locations we expressed our likes and dislikes about the environments chosen. Everyone had different feelings about different places, even quite a lot of culture clashes about such subjects as how to behave and what was appropriate to do in a grave yard. Everyone has a different story, and everyone tells their story differently.

Being able to see how people tell their own stories and the difference about how one same location/event impacts them was incredibly useful. Most important to me was how the other artists in the class narrated their feelings, emotions, and anecdotes about the locations they had chosen. The art of narration is all that comic book design is about, and hearing how others told their tales gave me greater perspective on how designers decide to lay out a story.

As well, I have been able to see what subjects and what emotions appeal to different kind of artists. The session over the different locations was like a focus group with everyone showing their preferred types of story.

Life's a Beach

Other than being wet and grumpy for the rest of the day, going to the beach was very educational. What hit me was not the actual beach, because that was wet, sandy, windy, and all in all a beach. What was behind us when we looked at the beach moved me more. It was soul crushing to be honest. Like a miniature Blackpool.

I discovered there is a place behind where I live that I'm really attracted to. Well I didn't discover the place, it's always been there, visible through half my windows and my balcony. The run down old train related building which is used as a squat sometimes, and others as a playground has given me the urge to "curate" on the outer wall of the building.

There is something very attractive about street art, and even more with the "do-it-yourserlf" spirit of art. I want to bring comic books to one of the most analogue formats: painting on walls. It has a very cave-man like art to it. Spray-painting on the wall of a building is my way of curating my own works. Bringing street art to a destroyed place.

Joanne Tatham and Tom O'Sulivan made me think...

During their first lecture touching collaborative, participative and public art, I wasn't particularly moved. It took me a little while to think about all that had been said. Recently, things just went "tilt". They had a great example of public art: the pyramid that was destroyed and used as a hide. Apart from being my favourite piece of theirs.

The public art has a very important role to play in my project of making comic books more accessible. I have spray painted a small on case comic. The idea behind it is to bring the comic book through a new medium accessible freely to all those passing in front of it. The link with Tom and Joanne's work is that readers could claim the comic as theirs and hopefully add their own touch to the spray painting.

Exploring the Random

Ok, here I am in my Masters in Design class. Started to doubt all my abilities, and especially the one that is having no abilities. I suppose everyone has self doubt, but here is how I overcame mine:



So that's what goes on in my mind. I just chose to put it on paper. I like to explore this randomness in the world, the thoughts we have which don't make any sense if you're not yourself. I really enjoy reading and watching other people's extreme randomness. Weird ideas explored far enough give something like The Drinky Crow Show:



A lot of people don't seem to cope very well with people turning a corner and not really knowing why they did it. The funny part for me is that it doesn't matter, and that the consequences don't matter either. It's a kind of random comedy act. I really appreciate artists like Don Hertzfeldt which dare to do art for no apparent reason.



I admire the courage it takes for someone to create a piece of art which seems to be random. The truth is, there are no real random projects, there is always something behind it, and sometimes admitting that is hard. Admitting to myself that behind my comic strip, I was hoping to make people laugh. Drinky Crow and Don Hertzfeldt do have comedy in common but they also do have another deeper message. That message is just hard to access because one has to see through what they perceive as random.

Are random pieces of art really worth it? They seem to appeal to a minority, but mainly the rational behind them seems to be hidden under layers of what can be perceived as art without rhyme or reason, random art. The random effect of the art does make the message harder to get for some people, but for others with a twisted mind that is bored of logic, it's not just entertaining but carries a true message.

On the lighter notes, here's the wrestling bananas.



Random might also just be an excuse to pass stick people, bananas, and alcoholic suicidal crows off as art. I don't think you can invade someone's mind with a very strange and obscure message that seems to be absolutely random and have amazing production values. Right?

The Beach

The Beach - 22/10/09

Ian took us to a great big beautiful beach. The tide was comic up, and the water was quite agitated, mainly cause the weather was rough as all Hell broke loose. This actually reinforced the power of the location while diminishing our willpower. The weather went hand in hand with the location allowing it to unleash its true powers and its true face, letting us observe the waves beating against the sand the man made walls made to break the strength of the sea. We could observe the wind carrying the sand in whirlwinds right into our eyes and on our close and ruining camera lenses. The beach was untamed for us to observe it and for Ian to express through others artworks what he felt about the beach. We also recorded our own instant feelings about the beach, asking questions about the location and wandering how this untamed force of nature would affect us.

The main observation was the interventions of man built buildings and structures around the beach and our observations on how they barely affect the sea's strength but seem to cheapen and bring down the value of the environment with cheap generic environment leeching as much presence as it can from the beach. We looked into the artificial entertainment centre that is next to the beach; there now seems to be the same layout around any beach.

The environment affects everything around it, may it be the beach allowing a cheap amusement centre to leech on its magnetism and energy and how the artificial "fun" park brings down the beach and the forces of nature by having set up next to it. By putting these two almost drastically opposed environments next to one another they influence each other, and how we perceive them.

These observations are very much observations on curating. By allowing us to observe two elements opposed: a poorly constructed man made entertainment centre and the beach. I suppose I had to see the contrast of these two large elements to understand the importance of curating on a smaller scale and in the case of my research, in the comic book medium. The importance of where we put works of art and how the environment impacts on our work. This may be applied to the publishing of comic books from being spray painted on wall to on the internet, in bookstores, or in museums. The environment impacts incredibly on artwork. That has led me to choose very carefully what subject I should use for the artwork for my comic book designs. What would the people that pass in front of my spray painted comic relate to, understand and have their attention grabbed by? What would be a subject that those who read my comics online be attracted to? The environment, the squat, the internet, should influence my method, my choices of art, and way of publication.

The importance of the environment was crucial in the choice of subject for my first spray painted comic on the squat of the council area. I had to find a subject that would educate the people around and that would use all the benefits of the environment while taking all the advantages and disadvantages of the location into consideration. Aliens are a universal politically correct subject that I wish will attract participation and interaction with all those around the artwork.

Does this work?

I've been working on my stick-man. There are a few reasons for working with stick-men. It's not just because I can't draw, although that is one big reason. There are a few things I like to do with stick-men:

1. I cannot draw

2. I really like to explore stick people. I like to explore the bare minimum needed to narrate effectively a story. This also allows me to find out which details transmit which expression.



On this stick-man, I tried 3 things to get that thinking effect: I angled the eyes, but that was not enough, so I added the smile, but that still didn't work so just needed to add the hand to get the full thinking look. Details are what make a story true. Frank Miller's Robocop is great not because of the Murphy, the robot cop, but because of all the cyber-punk details in the background of the comic (and movies) are what make the whole world of Robocop complete.

3. To have fun and see what works and doesn't work in stick-man form. It's great to explore it because stick people are the more basic characters for comic books.

In this stick-man version of Fantastic 4 one can really see that The Thing doesn't really work, but it's really funny.

Tom & Joanne on their Work

Tom & Joanne - On Their Work - 15/10/09

With Tom and Joanne, we discussed their work and their proposal for the art project for the London Olympics 2012. Tom and Joanne showed us how they made public art and their relation with the public and with the interactions of the public with their art. They pointed out a very interesting and quite daring approach. They said that they were glad that sometimes no one wanted to come and see their work and did not want to interact with the art. They explained how one of the most interesting points of interaction with art is the lack of interaction with art.

Public art is something really essential for Tom and Joanne, and so is the interaction of spectators with the artwork because then, they become a part of the art. It has taken a while to sink in my head and understand that comic books and my research into comic book narration is so closely linked to public art. The comic book is nothing but paper without the reader. The interaction with the world and the very nature of comics being published makes them part of public art.
They have inspired me to make comic books even more public, looking for more interaction with the public and almost forcing comics to those who pass in front them. Their work inspired me to spray paint short comics onto the wall of the squat behind my home. The council area where I live is not inhabited by what could be considered as the comic book reading market. Thus painting them on walls is bringing the comic book medium in its most basic form to the people that pass in front of that wall every day.
In relation to what I have been doing, this is the "analogue" (hand-made) answer to the webcomic. It is publishing basic comics of the internet and in a medium that anyone can access free. Although webcomics need the viewers to access the works via the internet, creating by that a filter of "internet needed" to view the webcomics, but it creates a very easy way to get feedback and comments making the interactive part of public art quite simple to manage and easy to gather. Thus making the viewer an active interacting figure with the artwork, commenting, submitting answers, joining an active conversation and also being able to submit not only a textual response but also links to their own artwork, creating a net of public art on the spot.

This can also happen in spray painted comics. Nothing (a part from the law) is stopping viewers to become active participants and modify what has been originally done. Just like what happened to Tom and Joanne's pyramid public art sculpture. Participants adding their marks to the initial artwork claim a part of the work as theirs and have an artistic say in the works. This almost takes the public art close to collaborative art.

My Research Proposal

Here's my research proposal... I'm just hoping this isn't too ambitious. It wasn't too hard to come up with, mainly cause in second year, Andrew Jones, my broadcast journalism teacher advised us to start thinking about our dissertation subjects as soon as possible, and this was one of the ideas I had. It was hard to do as a publishing dissertation, so I just kept it asside. 

My passion is comic books, and I think it's fun to study them. In addition, this year will really allow me to explore this medium and learn through first hand experience about comic books. It is a really exciting perspective. I really want to look in to the advantages and disadvantages of using computers through the whole comic book creating process. Some authors, such as Denis Bajram (Belgium comic book scenarist and artist which did such things as UW1: Universal War 1, now published in English by Marvel comics) has done Universal War 1 only on computer, and that is based on the ex-libris of his work found in Universal War 1 number 6, in the original French version published by Soleil.

I've also thought about a comic called Sir Pyle S. Culape, about a GP for mythical beasts, that has now had 3 books published. The thing I was thinking of was that the colour artist changed during the short print run from being a person to being a studio. This seems to happen more and more. The colouring  is done mechanically  through machines. The reason I mentioned Sir Pyle S. Culape, other that it is a dreadfully cool comic, is that the first book and the third book just don't have the same feel. The third book has a fake 3D effect and a weird sheen to the colours that just don't suit the comic. I think that they tried too hard and failed. This is a limit of the computer and a victory for the good not-that-old-fashion way.

I want to experience the two extremes of purely hand drawn against purely computerised and see what can be done with  each and mainly what happens when one mixes the best of both worlds.

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Individual Project Proposal

Name of student: Nicolas Rossert

Working title for your Project: How computers coloured comics

What is the topic of your proposed project?

Looking at the impact of computerisation on comic book art

What is the aim of the proposed project?

Aim: To look at the impact of computerisation on contemporary comic book art.

Objectives:

1. Look into the extent of the use of computers in the comic book design world

2. Evaluate the impact of computerisation on comic book art

3. Explore the limits of computerisation on comic books

4. Establish the advantages of cross "computerised" and "hand-drawn" comic books

What will be your approach? (Indicate how you will achieve your objectives)

-Research the existing publications containing a contemporary extensive use of computerisation on comic books

-Experiment with computerised comic books

-Evaluate the advantages of computerised comic books against those of "traditional" comics

-Bring the best parts of both worlds together and create a new type of comic book clearly distinguishing its traditional and computerised contents

-Evaluate the impact of this new technique

Give details of the context to which your project relates:

Comic books are becoming more and more extensively computerised. Now some comics are made entirely on computer, from the sketching to the colourisation. This technique of comic book creation has divided the realm of comic book art. Some see this as a clear advantage and mainly as giving possibilities of extremely rapid and precise one man comic book creations. The world stays divided because most feel that comics created or just coloured on computer do not have the same feel as hand-drawn and coloured comics. It has now become the norm to have computer coloured comics, and a computerised colouring studio's name as colourist on the comic book instead of a name of a one artist. This has led the comic book creation to go through a more and more industrialised production process. This research would like to evaluate not only the impact of the overwhelming computerised world, but also gage how the analogue can mix with the digital in comic book creation. 

Outputs

-Entirely digital comic books

-Entirely hand-drawn comic books

-Experimental methods of both digital and hand-drawn comic book creation

-Merging of the two possible styles

What resources will you need?

-Comic books

-Comic book research litterature

-Computer with scanner and printer

-"Traditional" (analogue) drawing tools

-Other art utensils

Plan of Work (Indicate approximate time required to complete key tasks)

Semester 1 Explore digital comic books

Semester 2 Compare and contrast the 2 comic book creation techniques

Semester 3 Explore the mix of the two techniques

On Research

On Research – 08/10/09

For our first seminar, we discussed research in the world of art and design. This type of research is very different from what I have done so far, which has been mainly business or media oriented research, but mainly literature based research. The research that I would have to start would require not only literature based research but also a large amount of experimentation and artwork. It was explained to us that we would have to explore in a very hands-on approach the subjects we would research. Therefore I would have to create designs and artwork relevant to what I am researching and what I have read in my literary research.

This type of research is very new to me, but is very logical. Researching art through art allows for a more personal research method. Solely literature based research will only allow you to discover other people’s point of view, it is just a compilation of people’s experimentation, but being allowed to do your own experimentation with art allows for first hand experiences to  be had and for us to have an experience of what “works” and what does not work.

Regarding my research on the impact of computerisation on web-comics, I will be able to attempt to make my own web-comics based on literature research but also on my own attempts to explore this fairly new medium of comic book publishing which has brought forth a new kind of comic book design and artwork. This research pushes me to try my own designs and to publish them in order to get feedback, or even just to be able to observe the way my comic book designs would be in a finished published form.

This research method will be applied in three different ways to the three different types of artwork that will be produced for my research. Simple black and white stickmen comics will me created by hand and then digitalised and published through the internet allowing research on the democratisation of web-comics as well as the new stickman comics that have appeared almost exclusively on the internet. This research method is also the only one possible to be able to research the impact of democratised, purely analogue, comics. In other words, there is no other way to gage the impact of my theory about the democratisation and universal access to spray-painted comics. This has never been researched which disables the possibility of literature based research. Trying new methods of design and new medium of publication is something that has to be researched first hand. Allowing us to do so is essential to the good function of our research. I have truly embraced the opportunity to apply this artistic method of research to my work. For the third part of my research, literature based research could have been applied, but it would have had very limited results. Only so much can be learnt by looking at the work of others, and by reading what others have written about the subject. Being able to explore and gage for ourselves the impact of our research opens a new dimension to the research possibilities.

Ok... I'm full of self doubt now, lets get started!

Second day of university and banzai, we're doing presentations of our work. It's nice to see what other people have done, and get to know them a bit more. Only thing is these presentations have made me feel like a guy who draws pictures of Jesus on the side-walk in a room full of... brilliant artists... I do have to admit, that was not the most witty thing I ever wrote.



Yeah, that's kind of the way I feel... The added "Shut up & don't move" at the end is not there to show that the world is a cruel place, but more to remind myself to stop whining and get on with it!

Well here goes nothing!