Container studies

Having worked on studies to improve my figure drawing, I came up with the idea of using the drawings as a container. I wanted to create a robotic type character, my initial idea being adding in pieces of machinery that in theory (but not in reality!) work in a similar way to bones and muscles.

Initial Ink Painting

 I was finding, however, that the images were beginning to look perhaps a little cliched, and more like famous robots we have seen in the movies! This led me to experiment in a different way of adding machine parts to the human shape. 

I felt that as the robot character was itself representational, I could afford to take the representational aspect further. I decided to take a paper cut from the above image and see what the results were.

I began by overlaying tracing paper over a sketch. I liked the opacity and that the sketch could be seen through the image, I also feel that it would work well against darker or black backgrounds as it is white enough to show up. I think this will work well if I need to break up the image sequence and add some diversity and pace. I will continue to create more collages using tracing paper to see if I will continue the technique.

Tracing paper collage

I then cut a template out of black paper, the initial thought being to use it as a container to fill. I However used the cut out image as a stencil to see what effects I could achieve. The white stencil was interesting, but it did not really capture what I was trying to illustrate. Perhaps if I had stencilled black paint over the images I wanted inside the container it would have worked better. Again, another thing to try!

The stencil itself cam out interesting with the white flecks of paint, I liked the way it broke up the solid black. This I will take forward and use with future cut outs in the project.

The image I was trying to achieve from the start, the human container with machine parts in, was in my opinion, very successful. It is obviously a human shape, but the cogs inside suggest some sort of robot. It is perfect in the way it is representational, and also visually interesting. The next step is to collect my own parts to photograph and put inside, as I think that if the same image is repeated within the container constantly, it will become very boring to look at. I think as a stand alone piece, this works fine, however, in the context of a visual narrative, it may look to busy. I will simplify the amount of parts down to maybe one or two. I think this will keep it visual interesting and less cluttered.