IDEA PICTURES

Idea Pictures - David Lynch
PLUNGING INTO IDEAS WITH THE KING OF ABSURDITY, MR DAVID LYNCH.
His video in today's briefing has got me ready to make and play and be creative.

https://media.tenor.co/images/2800f216044ca7c31975eabc417e0925/raw

Into Task:
Drawing visual metaphors for given words on the screen.
I understood why we were doing it but I felt so awkward and I struggled to get into the task with it being so quick! I couldn't keep up. By the time I had an idea, we'd be onto the next word. I ripped out the page I did do because I wasn't happy with it. I know I should have kept it in there but every time I saw the drawings I got angry with myself.
I think this is partially a result of my situation though. I was feeling particularly anxious and the room was very busy.

GIVING VISUAL METAPHORS ANOTHER GO
I didn't enjoy the Editorial brief in Level 4 and I didn't make friends with the task today. That doesn't mean I can't do it! TRYING AGAIN. Not giving up.
Bronte and I tried to make each other laugh by coming up with silly drawings and combining the words on the screen (e.g. mystery+cow, cue Bronte's hilarious cow wearing a deerstalker hat). Giggles fuel engagement sometimes. A chirpy mind is better at puns and visual metaphors than my regular stressed head.
That said, I was a little manic in studio today and I need to find a balance between feeling distant and being ULTRA INTENSE JAY.

Chat with Ben:

3D is fine for this task (going to be difficult for the print briefs, but this one should be okay), you should go for it! Chris Sickels - editorial sculpture. Andre da Loba - painted cardboard illustrations.

Zine Feedback

TYPED UP THE FEEDBACK SO I CAN EASILY REFER BACK TO IT

HIGHLIGHTED IN GREEN = MY RESPONSE TO THE FEEDBACK

First Impressions:

Different colour stock is interesting - feels like a mini newspaper. Paper really adds to the craft of the book.

Really well crafted - love the textures and noise of the book.

Like the mix media. 

Dark atmosphere mixes well with naivety of characters.

So expressive! Love how the collaged bits come out of the shape - like the bird's beak out of the circle - makes it 3D and dynamic. Really good storytelling and sequence.

Shapes around the images add a lot.

I am pleased with how the collage worked too, to be honest it was really just me playing with shapes, trying them one way, turning them around and glueing them down once I'd decided how they looked best. A PROCESS OF TRIAL AND ERROR - maybe not the best process but in this time frame it worked for me.

Lots of character.

Really love your puppets although I'm not sure if they worked so well to convey the life of your chosen author.

That's okay because I wasn't aiming to convey Poe's life. I wanted to discuss his storytelling, his melancholy world.

AMAZING ZINE! Love the page with the boy holding the bird.

Very interesting method of imagemaking.

Aesthetic:

Very interesting incorporation of shape through vignettes! Also V moody and lovely.

Intriguing cover, enjoyed the paper used.

Interesting interpretation of the raven!

Like the mix of photography and collage. Maybe could have tried more varying images though?

Great use of media and monochrome, getting an old school b/w effect.

Paper and printing style - very tangible.

Maybe needs a title/front page image.

Perhaps play with adjusting brightness to make it clearer. 

A bit more tonal contrast to break up big areas of black.

Good framing of the images - composition could be stronger.

Really like the model making - not too sure if the drawn element of the bird 100% works - maybe start making animals as well?

Images need to link together more - the handdrawn element seems not to blend that well with the images.

I did want to make the bird but drew it instead because of the time constraint. I do agree that they clash and don't really go together. This feedback seems a bit more harsh than last year but I am glad because it is honest and constructive. Even though I'm a little disappointed that people commented on these flaws because it makes me feel bad about my work, I'm glad they did because it shows me what to improve on for next time.

Concept:

Perhaps develop a bit more dialogue, story. More info on author.

Could maybe add some text to direct the story.

No idea what it's about.

I agree! I was trying to decide whether I needed text or to keep it vague. I now think it needed at least a title! I'm not sure if I want it to be obviously 'Poe' because then it gives the whole game away. It's spoon-fed and blatant - I wanted my zine to be a bit more spooky in its ambiguity e.g. no title, no words, no artist and unidentifiable characters.

PEER ZINES

Zines I saw around the studio and loved:

Kat's beautiful storytelling. She looked at Shakespeare and had lots of text in her zine but it worked well with all her lively illustrations! A mini book rather than a zine but that's why I liked it. An obvious admiration of her author too, and a synthesis with her author's tone of voice through her appropriately Shakespearean, humorous character drawings.

Sophia's approach to documenting her author - she also did Shakespeare but her focus was on the performance. He was a playwright and Sophia celebrated this by illustrating the actors, the stage and the audience. An all-round theatrical zine.

A couple of really sweet ones about Leonora Carrington making me wonder if I should have studied her further - a sense of adventure and feminism in these bold zines. Suits target audience of and current zine culture.

ONE WEEK ZINE

READY TO GET GOING! Excited for the briefing because I wanted to know what's next...

Study Task 1: MAKE A ZINE.

I've never bought or read a zine before so I'm not completely sure what my product should look like (PINTEREST TO THE RESCUE).

I'm also worried that my work won't suit the aesthetic of a zine because they are so DIY, trendy and random. I don't know whether my tone of voice would suit a zine.

I'm not sure how I'm going to respond to Poe's work in just 12 pages! Need to narrow down my thoughts.

A fun little task and it will be fantastic to see lots of different zines on Friday. It's a very quick way to produce work in a small publication - easy and cheap.

Chat with Ben:

Doing Poe - actually suits me. The right choice!

MAKE IT YOUR POE. Don't do the cliche that people expect, make it your own.

Poe was a bit camp really!

Artists to look at - Jan Svankmajer (The Pit, The Pendulum and Hope)

GET ONTO THE PHOTOCOPIERS

May not have chance in this module to use puppetry because it's very print-based.

Chat with Teresa: 

Seems that no one else in Level 5 is doing Poe.

Keep it simple. Do you have enough time to do this?!

PLAY. Only a quick brief, not to judged but to get you started.

Main idea:

Had a couple of ideas rolling around my skull, including a collection of 'found' objects related to Edgar or a timelapse of a weird crow-beast hatching from an egg, but the main idea I had was the storyboard above in which Reynolds sees a crow and it lands on his hand. Very simple. Very short. But a snippet of Poe's 'The Raven' in Jay-form.

Pinterest Research:

A DIFFERENT APPROACH

Looked at zines and realised my approach doesn't actually suit the format or the product. Decided to start again. Used the photos I took for research over summer - Nests, eggs, my crows, gravestones and zoomed in. Printed these textures in black and white.

VERY AMBIGUOUS AND MYSTERIOUS. Interesting and grunge.

To me it's a bit BORING//? Definitely what the task wanted me to do - very quick and simple BUT it doesn't really reflect MY response to Poe. 

I want it to discuss the creepy/spooky characters and his influence on Tim Burton and Henry Selick. No text works well in that it is vague BUT I want there to be a little more going on than just macro photos. Poe was more complex than that. Still want to use them somehow but incorporate the idea of characters too...

BACK TO REYNOLDS

despite time I WANTED TO DO MY ORIGINAL IDEA so I went back and did it

no clothes so I had to find a way around that

TOO MUCH NARRATIVE?

MUCH HAPPIER WITH THIS

Made 9 copies! Different coloured stock, wish I had found a good duck egg blue.

STRANGE THINGS

SOMETHING IS HATCHING.

Still thinking up a way to have them open. Maybe construct two pieces that fit together to form the whole egg? Cracked edge but fits together as a whole. Could I fit something creepy/unexpected inside it? Can I use animation to make it actually come to life?

AM I TAKING THIS TOO FAR? I have no clue what the final outcomes of this project are or where the brief will lead us in terms of a deliverable, but I would really like to have a go at animation.

Tiny graves. Prefer them without the writing. Looking good on the moss in my garden though.

Much better without the carvings. Too distracting. The shape is the most important and communicates a tombstone without spelling out 'REST IN PEACE'. IF VIS COM - GREETINGS FROM - TAUGHT ME ANYTHING, IT'S THAT SIMPLICITY IS KEY! SHAPES, SHAPES, SHAPES.

Complete Tales of Mystery and Imagination

THIS HUGE BEAUTY WAS ONLY £3.90 WITH FREE(!!!) POSTAGE ON EBAY.

I don't understand. It's in perfect condition and it's so heavy, how the hell did they manage to send it?

Anyway it's beautiful and a big bulk of a book so I need to get reading (I've been reading all that Gaiman we got from the library even though I know I want to study POE but I feel bad about borrowing the books and not reading them so I'll quickly finish the one I'm on - the Graveyard book - before swimming in some juicy Poe stanzas tonight)

Grave Digger

Making some clay tombstones. I want to have a go at constructing a miniature graveyard scene, possibly in a terranium or as a small-scale set, using real plants.

The clay I used was really cheap air drying clay which often doesn't work in my favour (crumbly and weak), but on this occasion it might be the best material! I want the setting to seem old, abandoned and unkempt. The crumbling, cracked clay makes the stones look eroded and damaged.

Carving the letters was difficult, maybe it would work better if I froze the clay first so there is less squishing and smudging. Or perhaps I could actually carve into the clay after they've hardened. The letters aren't legible but I kind of like the mystery of that.

Once they've dried I'm going to give them a wash with an antiqued/muddy grey, then highlight with white. I reckon they'll look pretty spooky stood in moss! I NEED TO MAKE MORE FOR IT TO BE A CEMETERY.

PINTEREST

I've been pinning to a 'secret' board for this brief and I've finally decided to stop being a coward and make it public. No more hiding what I'm doing. BE OPEN. This year I want to be confident and just push forward with MY WORK, not think about the competition or worry about anyone copying. Just get on with it.

So here is the link:

https://uk.pinterest.com/jaystelling/poe/

Here's some snapshots of the pins I've collected, giving an idea of what I've been thinking about/have been interested in.

David Plunkert

Went to Salt's Mill in Saltaire today - found the bookshop. Spent ages looking at pretty pictures and Moominthings (of course) until I found this little collection of Poe stories & poems illustrated by David Plunkert. I'd seen it online but hadn't been able to get a copy of it from my library, so I was very excited to find it here.

Plunkert's distorted, unnerving collages suit the tone of Poe's writing as they have a similar sense of observation and introspection. David Plunkert uses real photos and combines them with printed media (screen/lino) to achieve this aged, weathered aesthetic. 

Plunkert echoes Poe's tendency to discuss gritty details in his use of grunge textures and overlays.

It worries me a little because I am, in effect, attempting to do the same as what Plunkert has already done so well. How can I compete with that?

Although I think Plunkert's approach suits Poe's writing style, I do think that it could be spookier. 

The page with the Black Cat uses a classic black and red 'horror' colour code - perhaps too obvious? It's successful in creating a 'horror' tone and is a recognisable genre convention, but I think that Plunkert has played it too safe by illustrating what the mind can envision without the aid of illustration.

FEAR IS IN THE UNKNOWN, which is why Poe's mysterious stories are so effective. These illustrations, however, leave nothing to try and figure out. Be more ambiguous, unexpected or inexplicable.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Spoke to my friend Clarrie about the project and where I think I'm taking it - she was surprised by my choosing of Poe. Not what she expected. 'A bit dark for you' and thought Leonora Carrington might have been better suited...

Hm. I get it. I am guilty of drawing sickly sweet, sugar coated characters and happy smiling things but that doesn't mean that this isn't me too.

And I don't find Poe dark. He's not.

He's not vulgar or sick in his work, only slightly obsessed with death and mystery. He's spooky rather than scary.

I don't know if that makes sense but it does to me. It's about his tone and I think I understand him.

Sketchbook

ISSUES FACED

I've struggled to find the pleasure in drawing. It'something I lost at the start of the degree and something that has been worrying me. HOW CAN I STUDY ILLUSTRATION WHEN I DON'T WANT TO DRAW? 

I have overcome this by finding new, more stimulating forms of image making (to me - not saying that drawing is not, just that I haven't felt content with the outcomes of MY drawings for a while and that the process of drawing feels tedious and pointless - I'm just doing it because I SHOULD).

BUT I have gradually found that love again. Drawing from words has led me into so many different little worlds and I've realised that all of my work, whatever the form, coexists with initial sketches and scribbles.

(a page with print-outs, scribbles, thoughts and intentions)

My sketchbook might not look like I want it to, or how others do on the course (finally beginning to forget the urge to compare myself) It's not a book full of pages of free, loose sketches... it is more of a collection. I've got feathers and flowers and cuttings all stuck in there. Not a scrap book but definitely more of a track of where I've been and what I've found.

The drawings then follow. They spill out of these discoveries.

THIS IS THE WAY I WORK AND IT WORKS. :)

I need to keep doing this. I need to feed the book, give it some time and attention. I need to keep my sketchbook healthy and keep it going!

CHARACTERS

I knew I enjoyed creating and drawing characters but it's also great to have the hard work of inventing done for me! Poe's done that part, I just have to visualise them.

(visualisation: drawing characters. using reference from victorian postcard. Developing, drawing again. Working out a suitably 'eerie' aesthetic for Poe's tone) 

(drawings of Poe, young)

I avoided drawing Poe at first because I thought that was too obvious and that the author's appearance was insignificant. After learning about Poe's portraits and how we never see Poe in his prime, looking handsome and healthy, I thought it could be interesting to illustrate that.

Attempted to 'draw in' his dark demeanour/tragic life by transforming into an undead, almost skeletal being himself.

My use of media has been quite restrictive. I've been drawing on-the-go a lot, so have been relying on the age-old pencil... one thing I have tried which is new to me is Pilot Brush pens! Really easy to use and they allow you to do watercolour/washes anywhere. No mess.
Want to try using it with black ink but I've run out so that's one to play with at uni.
Being a HANDS-ON MAKER, I've had lots of ideas for things I want to have a go with, things I want to build, but since I've been working in the sketchbook, these drawings are just 'plans' to me.
I want to:
make a spooky house
make a moss terranium graveyard
make clay/plaster tombstones
make a (better) moving model crow
MAYBE have a go at taxidermy!

I've made lots of work this Summer and think I have followed the brief. I've done what I was asked to do and I've enjoyed it. I never know how much is 'enough' but I think I've used my time well - using spare moments to think about this, but not stressing about it or forcing myself to work when I'm not ready/have other commitments.

I'm really excited to see what happens next and where this project will go. I hope that I get to continue falling for Poe.

MYSTERY

I was watching a documentary about the Bermuda Triangle (unrelated), and they concluded the big debate about the mysterious happenings with the words 

'if we know all the answers then there is no mystery left'.

Yes, Noam Chomsky, it does sound like a plea from the government for us to leave the BIG ISSUES alone... But it's also entirely relevant to my Poe Project. I've been spending so long investigating and trying to understand Poe, but the beauty of him is his mystery. His whole life was a poetic enigma.

It's time to look back at his work and on from his life.

Ryedale Folk Museum

Heritage weekend: loads of historic sites open around the country for free! 

Our family decided to take a trip out to Ryedale Folk Museum 

(we love Beamish for being a living museum and this place seemed to have similar elements, including volunteers in-character, buildings set up to suit the time periods and functioning shops)

I mostly loitered around the Victorian and Edwardian sections of the museum and collected some photos/information around the Funeral Director's lodge and the town:

The 'Farndale Hearse' from 1839. 

An intricately carved and decorative horse-drawn hearse carriage. There is an authentic coffin inside too. Death is beautiful. Why do we spend so much on funerals?

The history of this hearse:

The Chapel of Farndale invested into a hearse, with all villagers paying something towards it (the poorest paying just a shilling and richer families paying 12 shillings). Anyone could use the hearse and all paid towards maintaining it. Likely led by a suitable black farm horse. 

Last recorded use was in 1931.

Victorian Superstitions - Death

Some quotes surrounding Victorian superstitions and death; from dogs barking to laying salt on the chest of the corpse, some very strange traditions and ideas. (right click, open in new tab then zoom to read)

In Memorium
 gave me an idea for producing some of these? Poe-themed condolence cards.
Dainty ink drawings of flowers and calligraphy, with personal messages inside for the deceased.

Mary Featherstone

A beautiful name - perhaps I could borrow this one? I could find names and characters from gravestones. A very personal item, but so grand and mounted inside one of the model cottages.

The Funeral Director

An authentic Funeral Director's attire. Black, formal and distinctive.

Eating Rosy Apples and drinking Victorian Lemonade from the town to finish off the day in true Victorian fashion.

POE THE TIME TRAVELLER

I stumbled across this weird theory that Poe was (is?) a time traveller.
He made comments about technologies and matters that were beyond his time.
Source; http://www.upworthy.com/3-moments-that-might-convince-you-edgar-allan-poe-was-a-time-traveler?c=ufb2

Interesting...

http://www.craveonline.com/images/stories/2011/2012/November/Film/Bill_and_Ted_Phone_Booth.jpg

The Poe Caricature

RESEARCH IS GREAT  BUT NOT WHEN THE INTERNET AND EVEN BOOKS(!!!) ARE FILLED WITH INACCURATE GARBAGE.
Poor Poe, he wasn't the drunk, shabby, moustached, mad man we picture.

Google 'EDGAR ALLAN POE PORTRAIT' and you'll be flooded with the same image over and over. One(s) taken in his final years (in which he attempted suicide and was at a physical and mental low point in his life.

HE WAS HANDSOME
HE WAS A CAT GUY

A GENTLEMAN

The photo above is a portrait of Poe, looking much younger and sporting some rather dandy sideburns. Weirdly, if you Google 'Henry Poe' (William Poe, elder sibling of Edgar), THIS is the photo that comes up. All lies! It's Edgar.

Why is everything about Poe so mysterious, twisted or fabricated?

Found this little gem in the depths of the internet whilst looking for some real answers. It's Edgar's hand writing!

And these are some photos of the houses in which Edgar Allan Poe has lived. Did they build into his symbol of the haunted house?

 

Useful Links:

http://www.eapoe.org/index.htm

http://worldofpoe.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/brother-of-edgar-poe.html

POE 25

5 Quotes

“I feel that the period will sooner or later arrive when I must abandon life and reason together, in some struggle with the grim phantasm, FEAR.”

"I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity."

"The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins?"

“I felt that I breathed an atmosphere of sorrow.” 

“From childhood's hour I have not been
As others were; I have not seen
As others saw” 

5 Motifs

Animals: Raven / Black Cat

Evil Eye (Eyes)

Death
Dreaming

Heart (Romanticism)

5 Characters

possess psychic communication, psychotic personality, double personalities

Barnaby Rudge / Grip the Raven (Dickens)

Arthur Gordon Pym

Lady Madeline

Tamerlane

M. Auguste Dupin (Detective)

Madame Eugenie Lalande

Annabel Lee (the unattainable woman - beauty, desire and posession)

5 Locations

desolate, ghostly, eerie, untimely, remoteness, indefiniteness,

ambiguous but removed from the reader's mundane environment. Unfamiliar.

Castles

19th Century America

The Afterlife

The House of Usher
GRAVEYARDS/Cemeteries

5 Pieces of Info

The Mystery of his Death + The Mystery Mourner

Alcohol and Drugs

The Mother Complex

REYNOLDS?

Disputed facts!

Mourning has Broken

An event at Ripon Workhouse Museum about Victorian Mourning:

Only on for one week and I've been working every day this week, so today was my last chance to go!

IT'S LIKE IT WAS MADE FOR MY PROJECT. The perfect research event and it's right on my doorstop.

IN RELATION TO POE:

Although Poe fell upon hard times and didn't have much money to his name, he didn't ever stay in a workhouse but visiting the museum today has taught me a lot about the social structure of Poe's time.

When people were rich, they were very rich and the poor were very poor.

It's hard to imagine just how hard life was, and how common death was in Poe's time. He lost his parents and wife to illnesses like TB and Pneumonia.

HE WAS NOT FROM ENGLAND, BUT FROM AMERICA - SO THE CONTEXT WAS VERY DIFFERENT

DEATH IN THE WORKHOUSE:

A topic of historical importance, interest and tradition.

I'm really glad I managed to drag my little brother along because all of the activities were really child-centred and I would have looked really, really, really weird doing them all myself.

The museum was very quiet today so it felt like all the volunteers were pouncing on us (especially Finn), trying to get us to have a go.

Funeral Biscuits

 

Baking funeral biscuits following a traditional Yorkshire recipe. 

Authentic, experiencing the era through our SENSES - eating and smelling the funeral!

DEADHOUSE/MORTUARY

 

Funeral Attire

Finn and I getting into character.