Proposal

My main driving force is behind my illustrative practice is books. My main interest around teen and adult graphic novels, often incorporating adult and surrealist elements into my work, I realised within Sequential illustration that I liked to display conflict on a basis that it is not always solvable or happy. Although I still see myself as a flexible artist I feel as though my artwork is largely gravitated towards more adult audiences. I wish to create a one book that is meant to entertain but also intrigue, my current Synopsis is that the central figure of the story is living her life from the ages of 12 to 24 before her body falls apart and she then returns in the same place she was with her memories of her past life. This book will contain horror and surrealist elements.

For this project I feel it would be most work efficient to work on a digital program however over the course of my research program I want to experiment with materials and style and how this can affect my work. I usually make use of a limited colour pallet within my work, though it may be that I use several colour pallets depending on tone mood or print. 

I will be looking into self-publishing as creating the book myself gives me greater control over the quality of the pages and the sizing of the book, I would like the book to be sized around, 7.5 inches by 5 inches and printed full colour on a matte paper printed at full bleed bar an inch and a half of room for on the inner side of the page where guttering may occur. I will be looking into binding techniques however as it is a book that I wish to publish my by self I foresee it being glue bound.

The module runs for around 27 to 28 weeks and in this time I plan to use the first 4 weeks to gather materials and draft out a general script and flat plan, 2 weeks to make necessary edits to the script and flat plan. I will then spend the next few weeks experimenting with materials and style and colour pallet so that I have a firm understanding of what the overall aesthetic of the book will be. Then in the remaining time I will generate the work. With 2 weeks left over to check over the files and make any changes needed so I can be prepared for promotion and marketing.

For my Research I will be looking into a range of artist’s that can inform the visual language I use in the book and how I can subvert the expectations of that visual language. In my studies I hope to re-introduce myself into the theories behind how an audience perceives sequential art with artists like Kate brown and Scott Mc Cloud. Not only this but familiarizing myself with the ideas of a strong metaphorical and subversive elements within writing with artists such as , Charles burns and Suehiro Mauro. These are the artists that are making the bulk of my research project and to inform my writing, however I will be looking at a multitude of other graphic novel artists to see how they work as well. I hope that the Research project will let me better understand the audience and how they react. In comparison to secondary artists research I will also be looking at primary resources of observational drawing and technique experimentation to strengthen my drawing abilities.