summer brief 2

Before reading any of Neil Gaiman's novels or comics I read a few interviews. The first I read was him talking about the importance of reading. He made some interesting points about how children are introduced to reading by their parents. He talks about the trends in books that are seen as 'good' for children saying that there are no bad books for children, we should allow them to read anything that stimulates and develops their interest. Gaiman believes that reading fiction helps children to develop empathy by inviting them to become the characters in the book and see the world from a different perspective. I would like to explore how this can be applied to my illustrations, to discover how effectively I can put across an idea in such a way that the viewer feels they are involved in it.

I like this interview especially the section where they talk about the criteria that certain stories have to have to truly fit within their genre. For example westerns always have a shootout at a saloon and a scene where the villains/villains ride into town on horseback. Following on form this is the idea that the overall theme, context or location of a movie does not necessarily decide its genre. you can have a story about cowboys that isn't a 'cowboy story' because it doesn't meat its set criteria. Kazuo Ishiguro suggests that the genres were never the blueprints for stories in the first place but they come into existence when a large enough number of stories with similar characteristics exist. The problem I think with this is that once a writer has been placed into one of these genres and labelled as that specific kind of author they can feel as though they have to abide by the rules of the genre whether it is pressure from fans directly or from publishers. These constraints cannot be good for creativity and innovation. I often think the best authors find ways to ways to cross between genres and ignore them all together, a practice which must take lots of confidence and may only be possible once an author has reached become well known enough to develop a strong fan base. I don't think it means that all authors that stick to fairly rigid set of rules are not creative, in fact it is almost more impressive when an author or film maker manages to use a formula that has been repeated many, many times over and create something that stands out from the rest.

I looked at some of Neil Gaiman's characters starting with the main character in his comic series 'Sandman'. In terms of appearance Dream is a character that opens up a a wide range of possibilities as his appearance alters throughout the comic series both over time and based on who is looking at him. He can even be seen in two different guises at the same time when being viewed by two characters. There are however some constants in his appearance that continue throughout the story lines. This is a good way to maintain a recognisable character while drastically altering the majority of their appearance. This method is also used for other members of the 'Endless', Delirium is the youngest of the endless and her appearance changes based on her mood, this enables Neil Gaimen to depict emotions through  her entire appearance rather than just facial expressions and posture. The only constant is the colour of her eyes which would not normally stand out enough to identify a character, in this case she has one green eye and one blue, a characteristic unique enough to identify her. After looking through some of the artwork from the comics I would like experiment with characters and see if I can find interesting ways to maintain identity while altering commonly used identifying features.

Neil Gaiman's books and interviews are full of quotes that I would like to explore, many of them would make funny and thought provoking posters if combined with a well thought out illustration. I spent years drawing with no real message or narrative simply to try and make something that looked 'good'. Over the last year I have really enjoyed (and struggled) trying to make images that are both informative and intriguing. Reading interviews with Neil Gaiman has helped inspire me even more to try new ways of getting my message across. I think it is important to try and find new ways to communicate your message whether it is subtle or obvious to make sure it maintains a unique identity and does not become generic or boring. Even a fairly simple point can be made accessible and thought provoking if you can appeal to the viewer in a way that connects with them. I want to be able to suggest ideas to people in such a way that they can apply them to their own life or ideas and then they become part of the process themselves.