Conversations with pictures – Interpretation
This task required me to review images in my sketchbook and begin to explore dialogue and character. It was enjoyable to develop the figures further; to give them thoughts and feelings and personalities.
Dialogue
I began by reviewing the characters I had captured so far in some of my sketchbooks. After selecting some of my favourite images, I added dialogue with sticky notes. I found that I enjoyed pretending to be the character, getting inside their head and writing down a passing thought or random comment. Most of the comments are not hugely meaningful, but they give an insight into the character; their daily activities and an opinion or idea.
Next, I experimented with ways of redrawing the images; I kept in mind the character I had imagined and how I wanted to portray them. For example, the lady who has been shopping seemed gloomy, so I used muted colours, with some white highlights. The hot chocolate couple’s conversation was about the drink, so I wanted this to be the focus.
I wasn’t happy with the hot chocolate couple on this page; the hot chocolate is barely visible, which is supposed to be the focus of the image.
My favourite baby draft was the final one at the bottom of the page. The baby’s face seems more alert and full of character and the ink details remind me of the children’s book illustrations for the Alfie series by Shirley Hughes. I quite like the text on the second draft, with the alternating colours for ‘push. me. home.’ They remind me of alphabet blocks.
Letter
I began by considering possibilities for the letter. I quite liked the idea that the letter could be to or from a place, and I had lots of inspiration for the runner’s letter. In my sketchbook, I jotted down notes to help me get started, then I moved to my laptop. Usually, when I am writing to my penpals, I prefer to draft letters by typing.
These were the two trials I printed on brown paper and white paper. I included the rushed crayon images on the brown paper (the texture is pleasing!) and the grey line drawings on the white. In terms of what would be more appropriate for the character, I think the rushed images on the brown paper looks more authentic. They could have a scrap of brown paper from a food stop along the way and have written the letter on this. The white letter looks too clean and precise to be created during a marathon. If the brown paper was crumpled, this would look even more appropriate!
Jade's OCA Learning Log 