process

I exclaimed, "Have my murderous machinations deprived you also, my dearest Henry, of life?" The human frame could no longer support the agonies that I endured, and I was carried out of the room in strong convulsions. Why did I not die? More miserable than man ever was before, why did I not sink into forgetfulness and rest? Death snatches away many blooming children, the only hopes of their doting parents; how many brides and youthful lovers have been one day in the bloom of health and hope, and the next a prey for worms and the decay of the tomb! Of what materials was I made that I could thus resist so many shocks, which, like the turning of the wheel, continually renewed the torture? Frankenstein (Chapter 21)

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Artist Statement

Mythology often employs metaphysical beings as manifestations of their society's issues and concerns. However, within our contemporary time, there's been an absence of mythology in favour of psychology, politics and consumerism. 'Revelations Revisted' draws from the biblical portrayal of society's concerns in the form of the Four Horsemen (Revelations 6) and reimagines them in a modern context. In this Conquest becomes Hyper-Consumerism and capitalism's control over society; Death becomes Mental Illness and its ever-presence throughout all walks of life; Pestilence becomes Pollution and its impact on our natural environment, and War becomes Politics as twitter fights and the actions of egocentric politicians incite violence between different political groups as opposed to nations. 'Revelations Revisited' reminds us of our contemporary concerns by returning to our mythological roots, giving each problem a metaphysical form.

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Obstacles and Issues

Throughout the piece numerous problems were encountered, forcing me to change my practice or employ different techniques to minimise deviation from my end product. The first of these was time, in that the time it took for me to complete my first A2 piece was not sustainable thus causing me to lower the scale of the other pieces to A3.

Then I was faced with the difficulty of maintaining tonal consistency and depth of field within and amongst each piece, forcing me to continually go over pieces that I had considered complete to ensure that everything was in the right area in terms of depth. This composed mostly of darkening areas and rubbing away areas with a craft knife.

I made the mistake of using liquid paper to cover up my mistakes, failing to consider the change in ink tone that would occur due to the shift in medium. I had to then go back on each liquid papered area and shave the liquid paper and the mistake layer off with a craft knife to return the paper to a workable state for me to redo the harmed areas.

Other than this there were no major hiccups, at times the paper would become contaminated with pastels or other media from the art classroom itself but there was never a big deal with that.

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Progress Pics+Finished Product

I was originally going to post two separate posts with each topic however as Tumblr refuses to upload photos I have made a google drive file with all the pictures.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1eIHTlJosqm1zn7mrBi4uO6QUXh8ND0rW

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Influences

My artwork draws mainly from two artists- Gustave Dore and Franklin Booth. More minor influences include Goya, Delacroix and Valezquez. What each of them has in common is their inking and use of line to create contrasting depths of field. Furthermore, their pieces directly deal with issues such as war, poverty and famine. Where these represent the issues during their time, I aim to represent contemporary issues. By drawing the connections between their worlds and ours, I aim to express the cyclical nature of human anxiety and problems. Booth and Dore are exemplars in the style of art I aim to imitate, where they worked in woodblock prints, I'll be working with pen, thus will be incorporating inking techniques which are used with pens. The imagery within my work draws from many influences such as advertising and propaganda, utilising the techniques they use such as negative space, colour, and dynamic framing to create enticing work which appeals to people and attempts to sell them something, whether this is an idea or a product. Subverting this, I will be more confrontational in my work and aim to present reality in a surrealist manner, symbolising the contemporary issues I see in society.

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Current status of the first piece. Due to time constraints the following pieces will have to be half the size.

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Initial progress on the first piece. Heavy use of line to create darker tones. Will slowly lighten up and become less cluttered as the depth of field extends.

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My artist statement, it's subject to change probably.

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Technique study, directly baser on the works of Franklin Booth and Gustave Dores. The last photo contains experimentation with 3D pens, with potential to be used in the final works.

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More planning for the eventual pieces, everything explored is mostly used however at this stage I have decided to do Pollution instead of Poverty as one of the horsemen. Furthermore, the horsemen will be far more dynamic than whats pictured as will be shown later.

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Drew a lot of horses in lieu of my lack of experience, drew from how they are portrayed in propaganda for the imposing dynamic movement.

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As I decided to go with the 4 horsemen idea, I did some research into them to aide the appropriation process. I also sketched in the style of Gustave Dores to practise some techniques and drew the first horses ive ever drawn.

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I did a series of collating and brainstorming through the four frames for my four ideas. It helped to map out the styles and techniques I liked as well as the concepts I wished to explore.

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I absolutely fell in love with Franklin Booth's art, which pushed me towards my 4 horsemen idea as the style resonated with the tone I hoped to achieve.

[mirkokosmos]

William Blake Richmond, 1886

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Query; How was this made and what techniques were used?

[st-just]

Goetic Knight  by  Mike Franchina

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Gothic style, spikes and arches. Dark, grungey tone and texture.  Inhuman form...create the 4 horsemen as twisted abominations or as human as possible?

[thistleweeds]

Franklin Booth

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His work is of ink but imitated woodblock style.

[tomorrowandbeyond]

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More franklin booth