So we have to do a research powerpoint presentation for the Pre-Production project and show all our research. I have a lot of pictures so I shan't post them all on here because it'd take forever, but here's a select few plus some drawings I've done in the recent days.
My character ideas have changed a lot since talking to people a bit more about them. For one thing the feedback on the child was that he looked like a dwarf man. So I have re-constructed him with the help of others (In fact they even drew a few suggestions - see below, well, much below). Since I can't ask to draw people's children. Well I can, but the motheres don't seem to like it. After the second glare I gave up and went to google. So I have made his head much much bigger and his body much much smaller. The eyes are larger like South Park, and the ears are lower down. One thing I noticed more with toddlers is they have quite big foreheads and small button noses.
So Quentin Blake is influencing me a lot with drawing and watercolour on this. Mostly because he's so GOOD.
These are some face ideas for the crazy architect who builds the New Town (e.g. Milton Keynes) with his crazy garden city and looming skyscraper ideas. He is based largely on the character Maurice Moss in channel 4's The IT Crowd, portrayed by
Richard Ayoade.
These are some new face ideas for the Mother.
And more again, this time combining Vidal Sassoon hairstyles and Bernard Buffet's drawing style.
This is some hair research. Can't see too clearly as the pencil is quite light but basically just drawing the shapes of the Bouffant (more commonly known as the Beehive I think) and the perm and other vintage 60's looks.
Toddler faces. I like the one of the boy chewing his foot. I am going to draw this into a concept piece.
Toddler face ideas based on the above picture.
This unremarkable picture of somewhere in Milton Keynes actually gave me the idea to make the building literally grow. If you look from the trees upwards it sort of looks like the Building is part of the foliage. This ties in with the Garden City idea (although in real life the concept was a 'city in a park' rather than planting buildings and growing them).
This is Milton Keynes from the air.
60's Art. Since the Major New Town Act was in the 60s I've chosen this decade for my project. So I have been looking at the art of this time. Although Pop Art was mostly a thing of the mid 50s, it still kicked about and was popular in the 60s, I think. Anyway, This is David Hockney, whilst I may not be inspired or directly use any of his work as a base for my style, it's still worth a look because you never know and I do really like his work all the same. I like how flat and nonchalant it is. The colours are also bright which is definitely something that characterizes with the idea of "the 60s".
This is Richard Ayoade as Maurice Moss.
Whilst looking at the 60s I've found there seems to be 4 main styles or sub-cultures. The Mods (short for Modern), the Skinheads (started in the late 60s unbeknownst to most people, including me, well until now), the Hippie Movement (although mostly American) and as seen below, the Rockers, or Greasers.
An example of the type of Animation character I've been looking at to help design the child character for my project. Boo!
Although Calvin is supposed to be around 6 years old, his proportions are worth a note when designing a toddler. I also like the fact that he has an incredibly sophisticated vocabulary, which is one idea I'm thinking of er...being influenced by. Bill Watterson (the creator of Calvin and Hobbes) also uses a lot of Watercolour and Ink washes when colouring. (In case you forgot, my style is 'watercolour' which is why that's relevant). Another thing I'm looking at is the relationship between Calvin and Hobbes, and how I can use that with the Baby Giant and the Child in my project. Should the Giant be an imaginary friend?
This is Twiggy, a popular and influential model from the 60s, and a key posterchild for the 'Mod' sub-culture.
Paddington Bear uses watercolour. I like this style too. Sort of Quentin Blake esq and very subtle.
This is what Open University used to look like on the TV. This is actually Hugh Laurie when he was in a comedy duo with Stephen Fry. The clip is on youtube somewhere but I don't know how to post it on here. Anyway this is my TV style that I have to use. So the idea is to somehow have the child , as he learns, to then teach it to the Baby Giant. In this kind of manner.
These are some artists I have been looking at.
This is Charles Bartlett from the Royal Watercolour Society.
This is Bernard Buffet (1928-1999), a Parisian Expressionist who was a member of the Anti-Abstract group "L'Homme Temoin" (The Witness-Man).
I think I've mentioned him before, this is Mike Bernard who taught my Gran. He's a member of the RI and uses mixed media and acrylic paints.
This is Charles Bartlett again.
I drew some of these, but I handed round the book to a few people to draw what they thought a toddler should look like. We all came up with the same basic ideas of big eyes, low ears and button nose with a massive head.
This is the start of a character page for the baby Giant.
This is my new cleanly drawn idea for the Child. Calvin and Hobbes fans (like me) will notice Calvin's striped t-shirt and messy hair.
Some character ideas for the Mother. I'm thinking she's now going to be a mutton-dressed-as-lamb type, trying to get back to the 'in' with the Mod Style. She's still immature in the way that she neglects her child and refuses to grow up with an 'infantism' desire. That idea is based a bit on the character 'Joanna' from Channel 4's Green Wing, and well...a lot of people's mums when I was at school, but I shan't name names. Let's just say there were a few too many yellow convertibles for that age group.
And finally, just trying out some more watercolour things. I've used hardly any paint in this, it's almost all water. For white though I am using acrylic paint as it has the bonus of being thicker. Watercolour white is kind of pointless because it just gets washed away.
(I shall explain all this later) Basically, After World War 2, the Giants have to grow the land again. The aftermath in 1945 provides the backdrop and set-up for the New Town setting.
These are film posters from the mid 1950s. note the flat colours and for some reason Yellow is a common theme (not just in these ones but in practically every film poster I looked at...for obvious reasons I can't post them all on here) maybe it's to capture your eye. I imagine it was a bit grey in the aftermath of the second world war.
Supermarkets are another key thing to look at. The death of the local grocer was prominent in 1950-1960s Britain. Although my hometown still has a Butcher AND a green-grocer so take that Wall Mart.
