Inspired by photographs taken by photographers researched (Turnley, etc), I was driven to explore creating emotionally charged illustrations- in the form of portraits. The original portrait is created in pencil and fine liner, using mark making processes of lines, crosshatching and dot work to instil fine detail into the facial features. Initially, i aimed to create a complete portrait… but as the process continued, I stopped at the nose, so only the eyes are fully detailed. With the rest of the facial features missing, this piece creates a sense of someone hiding, only revelling a part of themselves to look outside their concealment. As a viewer, we are immediately drawn to the eyes of a portrait, especially if they are looking right back at you. It creates a strong connection between artwork and viewer- and in turn between artist and audience.
Using this illustration, I developed it further through a variety of mediums; initially putting it through digital editing. Exploring the human condition and the glitch phenomena inspired me to glitch my own illustrations, primarily portraits, to see the impact this glitch has on our interactions with a portrait. Does a glitch inhibit or strengthen emotional responses to a piece?
Inspired by Rosa Menkman and the glitch art phenomena, I wanted to explore the aesthetic and Cognitive impact glitching artwork (primarily portraits) has on the audience. This is the start of a series of glitches portraits, of which I will explore in another blog post.
Furthermore, I translated this design into screen prints, focusing on merging colours together to explore the aesthetic impact of bold and pastel colour tones. Referring to colour psychology, blue should infer feeling of sadness, but also calmness. Mixed with the pink (playful, energetic) they merge together to create purple. These mixing of colours represents the mixture of emotions we feel as human beings. In the context of this illustration, which was inspired by a portrait taken of a refugee child, the emotional mixture could be in response to loss, displacement, bu also confusion- the experience of being a child, and maybe not fully understanding what or why certain events are happening. The print with pink and black is a lot bolder, more dominant in its depiction of emotion. I personally see the addition of black as a more ominous undertone, a shadow.
The process of screen printing creates more opportunity to develop designs, as you produce multiple copies of the same design. I decided to add in flowers to the composition, again looking at themes of fragility and growth. The flowers could also add a sense of hope and beauty, contrasting with the sad undertones of the facial features.
Caitlin Noble 