I will now be doing further research on the three main ideas that I had from my inspirations and mind maps so that I can make a final decision on what I will be doing for my project.

 

✦༝˚ Black Swan and the Duality of Humanity ˚༝✦

 

The 2010 film Black Swan directed by Darren Aronofsky is an American psychological horror film starring  Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel, Mila Kunis, Barbara Hershey, and Winona Ryder. It revolves around the committed ballerina Nina as she struggles with her sanity during the production of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake ballet by the New York City Ballet company, in which she is required to play the role of the innocent and fragile White Swan, for which she is a perfect fit and the dark and sensual Black Swan, which has qualities that are better suited to her rival Lilly. The film is dark and at times quite graphic, to show the harsh reality of feeling overwhelmed by pressure amidst a toxic environment, as well as having to come to grips with a different side to oneself, both of which are things Nina has to work through, causing her to lose her tenuous grip on reality and descend into madness.

 

 

This is my inspiration for my first idea, because of the incredibly prominent theme of good vs evil, and how they reside within each of us. I love how the film explores Nina’s character; we get to see how she changes and grows, going from a naive, childish ballerina, who is flawless in her technique, but too rational to dance with passion and lose control with the music and role, to a complex individual who has come to terms with her humanity, by accepting the evil nature that has so long slept dormant inside of her. This premise is quite similar to the classic novella by Robert Louis Stevenson, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, where the main character also struggles with his repressed ‘evil’ twin.

The duality of human nature has been something of great interest to me, ever since I read the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and it is what kept me coming back to this film from time to time, which initially terrified and confused me, but now reflects an amazing theme in a horrific, yet beautiful way, through ballet and transformation. According to early psychologist Sigmund Freud, the mind tries to keep away evil thoughts and desires which are then banished to the unconscious mind. Those thoughts are not gone, however, but remain to affect the thoughts and actions of the conscious mind. In Jekyll and Hyde, and one could even say Black Swan, this resulted in the creation of a dual personality, one which plagued Jekyll and his upstanding career, and similarly tormented Nina before finally taking control during her part as Black Swan. Of course, in reality, the transformation is not a physical one and is usually not a complete separation of the good and evil sides in one person, but rather an eventual blossoming into maturity and acceptance.

 

 

Another reason why I chose this idea is that the theme of duality in human nature, and the film Black Swan, go hand in hand in imagery as well. In my last project, I really enjoyed creating posters for my fantasy series, and I was excited at the prospect of doing so for this idea too. I found that there are already so many beautiful posters that have been created for Black Swan and I was further inspired.

 

 

 

I really love the simplistic, geometric style that is used for some of the posters, relying on the stark contrast between the black and white to create a dramatic impact, rather than over cluttering the poster with words, objects or people. Red is also used a lot, as a reference to the horror genre, and how even though the film appears to be beautiful and serene on the surface, underneath the ballet, there is blood and death, which reflects Nina’s life. If I were to create an animation, I would use a similar style; simple, bold and dramatic.

 

The Power of Stories – AEITA Inspired –

.·:**˚¨¨* ≈★≈ *¨¨˚**:·.

 

For my second idea, the main focus is the power that stories have in society, and over humanity throughout history. Stories exist almost everywhere and are the core of our species. Today, they are used mostly in entertainment, in many forms of media, some of which include books, films, tv series, comics and games. This would be interesting to dissect, but my aim is to explore how stories have influenced humans in older periods of time, how they have travelled, evolved, and reached people’s hearts. A story could save a life (1001 Nights) or alter the course of history (Wonder Woman) and we often dismiss their importance, not realising that even a few words told to a child could result in dire consequences in the future.

 

 

The Empathy Museum’s Clare Patey says, ‘Stories have a transformative power to allow us to see the world in a different way than we do if we just encounter it on our own. Stories are an entry point to understanding a different experience of the world.’ I wholeheartedly agree with this statement. This aspect of storytelling – presenting a different perspective of the world – is important when it comes to connecting with each other. We are given an opportunity to shape, strengthen or challenge our opinions and values by learning from another person’s experience, especially if their experience engages us. We are more likely to absorb the message and meaning within it than if the same message was presented simply in facts and figures because seeing the world, or a certain idea in someone else’s shoes inspires empathy and is the key to world peace if that was ever achievable. This is my opinion because a story can tell a lifetime, and once you understand the reason behind a person’s actions, you are more likely to find similar opinions or traits within yourself. Knowledge leads to understanding. Understanding leads to kindness. Kindness is what keeps our humanity afloat, thus, storytelling is an incredibly important act.

 

 

Unfortunately, simply asking the question ‘what power lies in storytelling?’ is not enough to build a whole project. It is simply my starting point but is far too vague to stand alone. So, I took inspiration from a piece of media that already exists, similarly to my first idea, but this time, a book series instead of a film.

 

An Ember in the Ashes

 

An Ember in the Ashes is a fantasy novel written by Pakistani-American author Sabaa Tahir. It is the first book in the An Ember in the Ashes series, followed by A Torch Against the Night, and was published on April 28, 2015, by Razorbill, an imprint of Penguin Random House. The first of a total of four books, the novel was a New York Times, USA Today and international bestseller, with International translation rights having been sold in 30 countries as of October 2015. The story takes place in a fantasy world inspired by Ancient Rome and follows a girl named Laia spying for rebels against the reigning empire in exchange for their help in rescuing her captive brother, and a boy named Elias struggling to free himself from being an enforcer of a tyrannical regime, later also introducing the perspective of Helen Aquilla, who took the path that Elias shunned, and is continually forced to battle her family pledge to put honour and duty first in order to save her sister from death.

 

 

The story has themes of love, war, loss, family, good vs evil and class, thanks to the different factions that divide the people in the book:

Scholars – The Scholars are a race of oppressed individuals who once ruled the land that has since been occupied by the Martial Empire. Many Scholars are enslaved by the Martials and those who have not enslaved live a difficult, poverty-stricken life. The Resistance is a secretive group made up of Scholars seeking to overthrow the Empire.

Masks – “Named for the eerie silver masks that cover their faces, these soldiers are the Martial Empire’s most ruthless enforcers. They fight with speed and skill that is almost inhuman. Martial children destined for Maskhood are taken from their families at the age of 6, and trained at Blackcliff Military Academy for 14 years.”

Tribes – The Tribes are a group of nomads inspired by the Bedouin tribes of North Africa.

Resistance – The Resistance is a band of Scholars that work in secret to overthrow the Empire. The Resistance leaders are the best and the bravest of the Scholars. Elusive as the rebels are, they’re the only weapon the Scholars have against the Empire and its soldiers.

Augurs – “The Augurs are a group of 14 Martial holy men and women who are believed to be immortal, and who are revered as advisors and seers.”

There is also a lot of Arabian mythology, which feeds into the fantastical aspect of the world. I am reading the book series myself, and have found it incredibly interesting so far. Aside from the excellent way that the themes are portrayed in the story, I have a particular fascination with one of the factions; the tribes, and their way of life. My interest stems from the fact that each tribe has a storyteller, who is said to be able to conjure vivid images in the mind, through their elusive talent to weave words into stories. Once hearing this description, I was entranced with the idea of someone who is able to harness the power of stories and decided to use the world of AEITA as my inspiration for this project.

I did some more research on the tribes in order to cement my emphasis:

The Tribes are a race of people with medium to dark skin and dark eyes, who typically wear loose robes, and are protected under a treaty. During the Martial invasion, they accepted Martial rule in exchange for free movement for their people. The Tribes speak Sadhese and tend to have many mirrors around their homes because they believe mirrors ward off evil. Most Tribeswomen have had a few children by their mid-twenties, so I can imagine their homes, which are beautifully decorated caravans, to be bustling, exotic and joyful. Married Tribeswomen have a Tribal braid tattoo on their wrist to mark them as married but all of the women are fiercely protected.

Many Tribes travel to Nur for the Fall Gathering, a place in the desert that is said to be sacred to them. Another important Tribal holiday is Rathana, which means “The Night.” While it began as a Tribal holiday, it has spread throughout the Empire. For the Martials, it is a day of revelry, whereas for the Tribes, it is a day to honour one’s ancestors.

Tribespeople Roles

• Zaldar/Zaldara: Chief of a tribe.
• Kehanni: Storyteller of a tribe. They are the keepers of Tribal stories and history, second in rank only to thee Zaldars. Killing a Kehanni is a declaration of war.
• Fakir/Fakira: Tribesperson who prepares bodies for burial and helps souls cross over to the afterlife. They learn and study the Mysteries. Only the Fakirs and Fakiras learn them because they are with the dead as they leave the world of the living. They wash the bodies and commune with the spirits, so they move easily through the Jaga al-Mauth, or the Forest of Dusk, and to the other side. They are to be revered, but with more fear than one would revere a Zaldar or a Kehanni.

With this in mind, I now have a more specific direction with the idea and can think about portraying the power of storytelling through the influence it has on people from this world, or the world itself, or even through magic. I could choose to focus on one of the themes from AEITA and infuse it into a myth or legend or create a story of my own. For this, I can see myself creating a VFX sequence, using my own footage, and some from the internet, edited in an engaging way that would cause the audience to think/be inspired by stories and history. I would also overall my own animations on top and include editing skills learned from this and last year.

 

✧- ★:* A Dreamlike Depiction *:★ -✧

of

✧ Earth’s Descent ✧

 

Since this is the idea that I am leaning more towards, I’ll be doing more extensive research on it, and will make a final decision on if it will be my chosen project theme in ‘Generating Ideas’.

I decided to name this idea ‘A Dreamlike Depiction of Earth’s Descent’ because I am going to be focusing on the idea of Earth falling/dying due to the actions of our species, which is a subject that I am personally drawn to and concerned about. I thought it would be ideal to use a passion of mine for my big message to the world in this project. However, I wanted to portray the idea in a different way since there are already so many articles, videos and statistics on the internet that showcase our negative environmental impact, which don’t seem to be having a lot of effects other than making the audience feel guilty. Sometimes, this negative feeling can spur somebody into taking action and making a change, but more often than not, I have found that people tend to push away their guilt, and want to distance themselves from hard truths in order to remain in their bubble of blissful ignorance. Since my project is a creative one, I would like to focus on environmental art, but instead of replicating and using it, I will be taking a different direction in order for my idea to stand out, instead of being lost and discarded amongst the sea of harsh environmental media. But in order to deviate, I must first understand how this type of art is affecting our society as of now, and then move on to research the other aspects of the project that I want to fuse in order to create my unique direction/style.

 

 

Human Impacts on the Environment

 

For thousands of years, human activity has had an effect on the environment, in a myriad of different ways. From the time of our very earliest ancestors, when Homo sapiens first walked the Earth, we have been modifying the world around us through agriculture, travel and eventually through urbanization and commercial networks. Unfortunately, changes like these and other harmful feats such as burning fossil fuels have triggered climate change, soil erosion, poor air quality, and undrinkable water and are feared to prompt mass migrations or battles over clean water in the future. One thing is for certain, our civilisation and technology have altered the planet to an irreversible point, and at the current stage of Earth’s physical history, scientists believe “pristine nature,” or ecosystems untouched by human intervention, no longer exist. These are just some of the many things humans are doing to the planet:

 

■□■□■□ Deforestation □■□■□■

 

Deforestation is the intentional clearing of forested land and has been used throughout history and in modern times to make space for agriculture and animal grazing or to obtain wood for fuel, manufacturing, and construction. It has greatly altered landscapes around the world: about 2,000 years ago, 80% of Western Europe was forested; today the figure is 34%. Similar statistics can be said for China, North America and in fact much of Earth’s farmland, which was once forest. Today, the greatest amount of deforestation occurs in tropical rainforests, which are cleared to make way for logging, cattle ranching, and oil palm and rubber tree plantations.

 

 

Not only is this threatening the world’s biodiversity due to species driven to extinction because of habitat loss, but more carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere, which adds to the greenhouse effect and accelerates global warming. More immediate effects include leaving the soil more prone to erosion. This makes the remaining plants more vulnerable to fire due to forest shifts –  from being closed, moist environments to open, dry ones.

 

■□■□■□ Oceanic Impact □■□■□■

 

Every single person on our great blue planet is connected to its oceans, and even the smallest of choices that seem insignificant to us, build up and affect the whopping 71% of the Earth’s surface. Here is a list of 10 negative human effects:

1.  Habitat Destruction – Whether it be mining, drilling or removal of corals and land “reclamation”, virtually all habitats that are a part of our oceans have been affected in some way.

2. Carbon Emissions – The atmosphere also plays a role in maintaining oceanic health, and ever since the industrial revolution, we’ve been pumping it with carbon dioxide, causing ocean warming and acidification.

3. Chemical Pollution – The reproduction cycles, other biological processes and overall health of sea animals are suffering due to disastrous chemical spills at sea and industries on land.

4. Oil Spills – Following on from the above point, a wide variety of sea mammals, fish, birds and plant life are killed because of oil spills, which sadly do still occur, and can be seen coating beaches in black.

5. Noise Pollution – Breeding success is diminished and mass beaching events occur. Reasons behind this include underwater noise from construction, shipping and naval vessels, all of which have been shown to impact the natural behaviour of marine species by research.

 

 

6.  Plastic Pollution – Over the past 100 years, we have dumped millions of tonnes of plastic into the ocean, the impacts of which will last much longer.

7. Overfishing – In many areas, local fish stocks have been destroyed by factory fishing, leaving too few adults to breed for the future. Certain fishing practices not only contribute to this but also damage the environment by dredging up the seabed and catching other species that are thrown back dead.

8.  Surface Runoff – Petrol, diesel and other harmful chemicals easily flow into rivers or directly into the ocean due to increased urbanisation.

9. Deoxygenation – In certain areas of the world, there is less available dissolved oxygen for native sea life because of the use of fertilisers for agriculture and warming ocean waters.

10. Deep Sea Mining – This is a relatively new issue that has caused concern for the future. Metals required for our laptops, phones and batteries can be found on the seafloor, because of which the subfield of deep-sea mining is now growing.

 

■□■□■□ Pollution □■□■□■

 

Pollution refers to the depositing of harmful materials, or pollutants, into the environment, damaging the quality of the air, water and land. Pollutants such as volcanic ash are natural, but of course, humanity produces a substantial amount of waste of its own:

• Trash from general human activity
• Runoff produced by factories
• Pollutants spewed from car exhaust pipes
• Coal burnt to produce electricity
• Garbage and sewage generated from industries and homes
• Pesticides and other chemical poisons used to kill weeds and insects

It is clear that this is a global problem since all living things, including us, depend on the Earth’s supply of air and water, and although urban areas are usually more polluted than the countryside due to the higher density of people, pollution has been found even in the most remote places on the planet. For example, pesticides and other chemicals have been found in the Antarctic ice sheet whilst a huge collection of microscopic plastic particles sits in the middle of the Northern Pacific Ocean, forming what is known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

 

 

Types of pollution:

• Air pollution
• Water pollution
• Land pollution
• Light pollution
• Noise pollution

I won’t be going into detail with these but I’ve done more in-depth research on each of the above by reading this thorough-going article by Aline Bradford, which I will link here.

It’s almost unbelievable how threatened all forms of life are because of the poison that is continually seeped into our natural resources. Even in minimally populated areas, our waste is accumulating. Migrating fish and ocean currents carry marine pollutants far and wide. Smoke from a factory in one country drifts into neighbouring countries. Winds can pick up radioactive material released from a nuclear reactor and scatter across the stretching expanses of the world. It seems that our action is not only being spread by us, but also by mother nature, and it is killing both simultaneously. We just haven’t begun to feel the effects yet fully, but nature definitely has. I can see that the human way of avoiding a problem by dumping it onto mother nature is partly to push it away, out of view so that the fear of what it’s doing isn’t reaching us but also partly out of lack of knowledge.

We’ve advanced so fast in the short time that we’ve been here, in comparison to Earth’s lifespan and have not given ourselves enough time to think about what our inventions and lifestyles are actually doing to the planet. There’s not been a lot of conversations before introducing something into society, about how it can be safely discarded and what kind of effect its production and implementation have – it’s always been next, next, the next new thing to make us a load of money. But it isn’t that simple, is it? A lot of inventions have been introduced out of desperate need. Out of a desire to help others and prevent death and make life better for people. So it comes down to the age-old question – is it always going to be mother nature or us? Does one have to die for the other to survive?

 

⊱ ────── {⋆❉⋆} ────── ⊰

 

It’s terrifying to think about how substantial our impact on the environment is; all of the facts and statistics cast a bleak overview of the almost parasitic nature of our species, enforcing the belief that the future ahead is dark and very much in danger. However, no matter how terrible the truth is, we have to face it and converse with it – we have to make everyone understand that our path is shared. Organisations like the World Wide Fund for Nature and Friends of the Earth are already fighting and making a change, but at the current rate of human consumption, it simply isn’t enough. Helping the environment in the long-term can only be reached through harmony with nature, and for that, our entire lifestyle needs to be altered to fit into a more economic future where positive environmental actions are normalised and part of the everyday. It needs to be the norm so that everyone can do it instead of the few. But before that, we all need to understand what our actions – from the big decisions to the minor everyday choices – are doing to our home, and spreading awareness is a pivotal part of this.

There are many ways of raising awareness of a cause. Raising funds, donating and volunteering & participating are the ones that usually jump to mind and a lot of people either aren’t able to do so or don’t want to, feeling like their money would be put to better use elsewhere. However, these aren’t the only methods! We often forget how much power we hold by being a part of the online community, where more and more people are becoming proactive every day. Things like doing research, starting social media campaigns or even just talking about it online are all greatly beneficial to a particular cause. One of my personal favourite ways is to bring attention to something through art – whether it be a poem, short film or an illustration. It’s an interesting, thought-provoking way to explore a topic and transmit important information to a greater audience.

 

 

The Environmental Art Movement

 

Artists have been entranced with depicting our natural environment ever since primitive man first illustrated streaks of rain and lightning on the interior walls of their cave homes. For centuries, a landscape’s appearance in art was meant as a background subject for the documentation of human narratives, or to evoke awe for our natural world, but this has changed dramatically in the 20th century. Alongside using nature to now showcase abstract concepts and fusing natural elements with different genres, rising global concerns surrounding the state of the environment’s health, and our impact as humans upon it has also pushed a big change in what kind of artwork we see today. Many artists are induced to draw attention to ecological issues as well our relationship and contribution to them, often by creating works in collaboration with the physical world, which is the basis of the style of this movement.

 

 

Environmental art is often used as an umbrella term for a range of different practices and approaches, including Land Art, Earth Art, Earthworks or Eco-Art as well as historical approaches to nature in art and more recent ecological and politically motivated types. It has gained more traction since the 1990s when artists began to think about their surroundings as a cohesive system in which humans have a central part to play, instead of just in terms of lived or built space. Here is a nice section of Widewalls article on the Era of Environmental Art:

 

” In a general sense, it can be argued that environmental art aims to improve our relationship with the natural world. Thus, it includes art that observes and interacts with the natural environment, art that reclaims or improves physical environments in the tangible sense, and art that engages with the social environment with pedagogical or activist intent. “

 

Beginnings

——————————————————————————–

Also known as ecological art, the environmental art movement is distinct in its less specific time period and greater scope, and the engagement and representation of the environment through different forms and practices. Professor John E. Thornes noted, “Environmental art is […] a new genre to describe works of art that are both representational of nature and performative in terms of much less direct interpretation and more active audience engagement. Here, Thornes is bringing attention to the basis of the movement, which is physical, tangible works, such as Richard Long’s A Line Made by Walking or James Turrell’s Skyspaces, but also encouraging our acknowledgement of the more unambiguously symbolic works, such as John Constable’s Cloud Series and Paul Cézanne’s Mont Sainte Victoire Series, which are made in a more traditional sense and have evolved into the conservation-based illustrations we see today.

 

 

The Rise of Conceptual and Earth Art

——————————————————————————–

Many artists moved away from realism in the 20th century and also as a result, distanced themselves from depicting natural landscapes and subject matter on canvas, in the mode of prior eras. Instead, conceptualized projects took place outside, with an emphasis on natural locations and materials as key mediums in the work. This lead to the emergence of the avant-garde art movement known as Land Art or Earth Art, pioneered mainly by artists in the United States and Europe during the political and social upheavals of the 1960s. At the time, many young artists were bothered by the restrictions of the gallery space and experimentation within art and so began to look for spaces in deserts and urban wastelands to host compositions of surprising magnitude. Many pieces involved monumental cement constructions in the desert, site-specific infrastructure with materials taken from that location and large shapes carved into the earth in remote places. By sculpting with the land itself and creating outside of traditional museum and gallery spaces, Land artists not only emphasised the ephemerality of their works but also their rejection of commodity status and mainstream exhibition venues, questioning the notion of art as something to be bought and sold for profit.

It is also important to note that there is a crucial distinction between artists who consider what possible damage to the environment their artwork may create and those who only think about aesthetic merits. A lot of negative criticism was garnered by the European duo Christo and Jean-Claude, who temporarily wrapped the coastline at Little Bay, south of Sydney. A similar response was also directed towards Robert Smithson’s 1969 piece Spiral Jetty, which is considered his seminal work, however, permanently damaged the landscape he worked on. Situations such as these have since led Land artists to rethink their methodology consequences and leave the landscape unharmed when possible, or at the least minimize their impact. An example can be said of British sculptor Andy Goldsworthy, who creates sustainable outdoor sculptures using an endless array of natural matter, from snow and ice to leaves, grass, stones, clay, petals, and twigs.

 

Key Ideas & Accomplishments

——————————————————————————–

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ As opposed to using the artist’s studio as the sole location in which to create, environmental artists seek to investigate the human relationship with nature through engaging with the natural world in a much more active and immediate way. By bringing natural materials into new settings, exploring techniques in new ways outside and embedding their artistic practice within the environment, our way of thinking about the artistic site of production is changed.

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ By working in collaboration with organic landscapes, environmental artists have to take into motion the uncontrollable cycles of the seasons and processes like flowering, erosion and decay. They aim to work in harmony with the natural environment rather than disrupt it. And whilst there are major exceptions, most strive not to sacrifice the health and wellbeing of the environment for their work, considering the impact they have on nature, as individuals.

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ Not only does the art seek to transform how its site is viewed, but also to reveal what is already there, which prompts viewers to pay closer attention to the minute and distinct parts of the world around them. Through situating their work in specific places, and using natural materials such as leaves, flowers, branches, ice, soil, sand, stone and water at the basis of their artwork, the creators can send powerful messages to the viewer.

 

 

Audience

——————————————————————————–

Due to the fact that most artworks of this genre are usually specific and sometimes in hard to reach places, they have a very interesting relationship with the concept of an audience or even a single viewer. Oftentimes, the artist’s aim is to affect the ability of an individual to see an iteration of the work, causing them to rethink their expectations of aesthetic experiences and so document the process rather than the finished product. This poses questions about fame, legacy and how human perspective has warped the idea of art – if it does not last forever, or more specifically, does not let the artist live on through their achievements, what other significance can it have?

It is important to remember that art can be a powerful tool for communication. With the help of video work, documentaries, infographics, illustrations, and comics about climate change impacts and adaptation strategies, raising awareness can be done more efficiently than ever. Environmental art has and still is changing, to meet the rise and fall of new leading factors in society, such as social media. But its purpose remains; to enrich the narrative and extend its reach, utilised as an instrumental way to communicate climate change and human-nature interaction.

 

══════ ∘◦❀◦∘ ══════

 

So we have awareness of climate change with art and awareness of climate change in art. What does this all tell me? Well, in my quest to understand the origins of modern conservational artwork, I have taken a deep dive into the history of environmental art as a whole. I have learned that there is some debate of the origin and meaning behind this category; some theoreticians use the terms Land Art and Environmental Art interchangeably whilst others suggest that Land Art actually evolved into Environmental Art. There is also some disagreement within Earth Art’s purpose – restoration, ecology and direct activism, or simply self-expression through natural mediums? Either way, we can agree that it is considered an early chapter that has a great influence on the evolution of work like this:

 

 

 

 

I found a really useful paper that discusses ways we can learn and spread information about climate change in, through and with art. Whilst the main subject of discussion wasn’t exactly what I was looking for, it was the closest source of information I could find which touches upon environmental art today. It is surprisingly difficult to find a reliable and detailed site that provides some background into modern eco-art (like illustrations, paintings and animations) as well as examples from current artists, such as the many I see on Instagram. There is one paragraph in particular that I found useful to my research and also referenced the aspect of environmental art I have learned about.

 

” A growing number of artists are interested in and concerned about climate change and environmental degradation. Emerging from the field of ecological art since the 1970s, artistic engagements with climate change have grown considerably. A common approach of many artworks has been to focus on or document the problems, risks, and impacts of environmental problems; they communicate climate change, as a topic in the arts. This way of using art to introduce and communicate climate change has attracted more and more critique because it rarely leads to pro-environmental behaviours and might even have contributed to feelings of powerlessness. “

 

Julia Bentz, the person who wrote this paper, even mentions that phenomenon that I have been witnessing – the general sense of spite directed towards certain pieces of environmental art. They share a specific style which can be noticed through over-the-top visuals, tacky editing and extreme hyperbole, and whilst are right in the points they make, they are far too common and have scattered across sites like Reddit after their 2010 peak due to exasperation from viewers.

 

 

I talked about why I wanted to avoid this type of art more in-depth in my Project Proposal and Pitch.

 

Surrealism

” A twentieth-century literary, philosophical and artistic movement that explored the workings of the mind, championing the irrational, the poetic and the revolutionary ” 

– Definition found on Tate –

 

Surrealism is a movement in both literature and visual art. It grew principally from the earlier Dada movement and flourished in Europe between WW1 and WW2. However, unlike Dada, surrealism’s emphasis was on positive expression rather than negation, with an aim to revolutionise the human experience. André Breton, who published The Surrealist Manifesto in 1924 and was a poet, critic and major spokesman of the movement explained that surrealism was a means of reuniting both unconscious and conscious realms of experience, truly, fully and remarkably, to the point that the world of fantasy and dream would be merged with the everyday rational world in “an absolute reality, a surreality.” This way of balancing the dreamlike states of the unconscious with a rational vision of life is precisely what allows surrealist artists to find magic and unexpected beauty in the strange and uncanny. In a similar manner to Earth artists, their work holds an undeniable search for freedom, and urge to challenge imposed values. Breton prefered to focus on the more creative aspect of the movement, defining genius as the ability to tap into this normally concealed realm, this wellspring of imagination found in the unconscious that could, in his eyes, be attained by poets and painters alike.

 

 

As well as depicting dream worlds and psychological tensions, artists within surrealism have also drawn inspiration from Indigenous art and knowledge, mysticism and ancient cultures, all as a means of better imagining alternative realities. Once again, Breton’s brilliant definition summarises the core of the movement; liberation of the mind and of artistic expression.

 

Surrealism is pure psychic automatism, by which one proposes to express, either verbally, in writing, or by any other manner, the real functioning of thought. Dictation of thought in the absence of all control exercised by reason, outside of all aesthetic and moral preoccupation.

 

Characteristics

 

With so much artwork depicting our world, or others based on our logic, it isn’t hard to see why surrealism stands out as it does, with its startling approach to the representation of thought and illusion, determined not by logic but by psychologic. The movements major achievements lie in its field of painting, with influence stemming from the fantastic and grotesque images of earlier painters like Hieronymus Bosch and Francisco Goya, as well as closer contemporaries such as Odilon Redon, Giorgio de Chirico, and Marc Chagall. The manifestation of these inspirations, Dadaism and the juxtaposition of surrealism’s human reflection led to the experimentation and methodical research that make up its fundamentals. Through the encouragement of personal psychic investigation and revelation, a distinct style emerged that has evolved over the years and has become all the harder to pinpoint. After all, how can you define the traits of a concept such as thought? Because of this, surrealism has bled from work like the first examples below, to such as the ones underneath:

 

 

 

Abstract vs Surrealism

 

Abstract art is another form of artistic expression that came about during the early 20th century, similarly to Surrealism, because artists were dissatisfied with the norms and conventions of their time and were seeking new ways to express themselves. The abstract and the surreal both became vehicles to unleash the imagination and as a result, made it sometimes difficult to discern a meaning between and within the two. Even though both can be seen often in the paintings of the present day, they each arose out of different influences and unrelated ideas.

 

 

Colours, shapes, lines and textures make up the subject of abstract art, building up its basic style of deferring to or not representing anything of the natural world. The formal qualities follow the movement of capturing an interpretation of a subject rather than artistically imitating it, which can often give artworks a vague and confusing quality. Because of this, abstract art is sometimes called nonobjective art, nonrepresentational art or even nonfigurative art – open to interpretation but with a lack of reference to anything real or objective, that can give the viewer an uneasy feeling. Composition VII by Wassily Kandinsky, Black Square by Kazimir Malevich, and No. 5, 1948 by Jackson Pollock are some of the more famous artworks and influential creators.

 

 

Artist Research

 

After creating my mood boards on surrealism, which you can see in my Generating Ideas blog post, I want to find some more specific inspiration in consistent styles. For this, I will be doing some in-depth research into different artists that kindle my project idea through their work. I have found each of these artists either through my following on Instagram (I like seeing unique styles and it turns out that I follow a lot of surrealists) or through some digging into specific artworks in my mood boards. Surrealism is such a wide movement, that it can be difficult having just general inspiration and I feel that it would greatly benefit me to have some more distinctive styles to go back to. Having artists as inspiration also means that I can apply my favourite elements of their work into my concept art, which will improve the quality.

 

✲꘏ ꘏  Aykut Aydoğdu  ꘏ ꘏✲

 

Turkish illustrator, graphic designer and artist, Aykut Aydoğdu, was born in 1986 in Ankara – Turkey and is currently based in Istanbul. He started studying Fine Arts at high school and graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts in graphic design, since developing a unique style of creating surreal, enigmatic art. Having worked on commercial illustrations, magazine covers, movie posters, Aykut is known for leading the viewer into a world overflowing with symbols and visual metaphors. The surreal figurative works are mainly concentrated on the dilemmas of daily life but have been described as ‘captivating’ and ‘haunting’, resonating with those who suffer from heartbreak and other incomprehensible feelings. Many of the portraits have a morbid, poetic feel, reflecting the pain of loving someone and commonly include female figures interacting with or actually becoming elements of nature.

 

 

When I look at his work, I feel an incredibly potent melancholia. It’s almost as if he has taken raw emotion and ripped it into shreds to place in the strokes of his art – it’s transportative and mesmerising, as was said before. I love how he weaves nature and destruction into the portraits and it creates a haunting dissonance as if each character is someone we understand and know deeply, without ever having met them. The colours are often muted, making everything blend together to further push the sense of magical realism and even if something stands out, it feels very much a part of the person in the frame. A part of their world, story or identity. I love artwork like this, which is both beautiful and open; you can stare at his collection for hours, finding meaning where there is none, or in place of some other intended message. In a sense, it feels almost personal to view the pieces because they are a reflection of how we truly feel.

 

 

For ADDOED, I see myself using elements of this style for character concept art. Not necessarily the animation, since I don’t believe that I have enough capability to animate something like what you see above (and it would also distract from the action) but certainly in the artwork and concept generation. Here, I will put the more notable characteristics of Aykut’s style for future reference, so that I can come back and take some ideas if needed:

• Fusing nature & human anatomy
• Elaborate swirls and detailed linework
• Cracked, broken or disfigured faces
• Themes of death and destruction (e.g. cigars, blood, bandages, cracks, fire etc.)
• Long earrings with a random object at the end (e.g. vase or gem)

 

✺ ┅  Ilene Meyer  ┅ ✺

 

Now comes the first example of one of my favourite artists (there are more to come), not just in the project but also in my personal artistic preferences. Ilene Meyer (1928 – 2009) created the most stunning magic realist visionary works, combining realism, fantasy, surrealism, and psychedelic colours and patterns. She was a self-taught artist, carrying the inspiration she had as a child from her mother’s drawings through her use of light, colour, shadows and “all the details“. Meyer also played with the influence of various other genres and artists in her paintings, wearing fondness for the work of Spanish Surrealist Salvador Dalí on her sleeve and making playful homages to many of his themes, particularly from his later “Atomic” period. With her extraordinarily rich and expressive style, she became internationally recognised, with her art being exceptionally popular in Japan and also used on the cover of science fiction books. This is no surprise when you take a look at some of her pieces!

 

 

 

 

 

Ilene Meyer’s oil paintings transport viewers through the mists of creation and myth to explore a unique world populated by fantastical creatures and imaginary landscapes – all rendered with piercing clarity and passion.

The paintings cover a wide variety of subjects, both created and real, including man, animals, plants, still life and the universe. These are fused with a profound understanding of the Earth and encompass science, philosophy and culture. It is precisely this that makes the art so fascinating; the subjects are depicted in rich and clear colours and a broad range of events on Earth, from the past, present and future, all inviting the viewer into the imaginary world to explore and find their own meaning.

 

 

 

 

 

In a description of her book Ilene Meyer: Paintings, Drawings, Perceptions, it states that “Invoking themes of ecology, conservation, culture, and civilization, Meyer’s paintings pronounce that all existence is interconnected and that all souls are intertwined.” It is magnificent how a single person’s perspective of the world can be represented in artwork – based on her own boundless creativity, precise detail and imagination, Ilene Meyer has introduced a wonderful way to discern reality, one that resonates with so many people and with me! When looking through her extensive collection, I found that the limitations of art seemed to fall away one by one in my mind. Why should anything created be bound by the rules of science and mathematics? There is no such requirement when facing the blank canvas. I am finding it difficult to organise and choose the slew of ideas that are not tumbling in my mind and I need to remember to dial back for my project, according to my time limit and existing design. This particular piece was a pleasant surprise nonetheless:

 

 

Finding a piece with deer was like a stroke of luck since I am also including a deer in my production and I can finally see a surrealistic depiction of the animals in a dreamlike environment. Like before, I am going to list the key elements of her style so that I have a written reference list as well as the visual one above.

• Checkered planes and other patterns
• Geometric objects
• Aspects of the natural world (e.g. animals, sea creatures, flowers, fruit etc.)
• Transparency, glass, interesting textures
• Swirls, loops, ripples – bending reality

 

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾.⋆  Moon  ⋆.☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

 

Another one of my absolute favourite artists, one who I have the pleasure of visiting his Instagram page every single time. Oliver Menanteau, or as the internet knows him, Moon, is a rather obscure artist from Nantes, France. I say obscure because there is far less information about him than some other artists that I have been researching. From the ‘about’ section of his website and artist biography on a separate site, I have learned that he is an art director and illustrator who started making graffiti 20 years ago – his first dabble in art. After graduating from an Arts School, he then went on to work as a graphic artist and an artistic director, as well as teaching graphic design
for 5 years. He is currently seen as an established contemporary artist who continues to develop his more personal world, drawings and paintings under the pseudo name Moon (which I think is very poetic).

 

 

 

It is important to also note the historical and biographical context of Oliver, as an artist and his birth-place. France has been an important nation in the unfolding of modernism and established the foundations of what is known today as avant-garde. With movements such as Impressionism, Post-Impressionism and Art Nouveau blossoming in the 19th century, and later vital ones such as Cubism, Fauvism, Dadaism and Surrealism, Paris was a crucial intellectual and cultural centre in the first half of the 20th century. Indeed France is one of the major mothers of art and it is no wonder that Moon was influenced creatively, especially considering the art sphere of the 1970s. As a response to the many tensions of the previous decade, it was characterised by a desire to strengthen itself and evolve, resulting in one of the most central movements at the time, Conceptualism.

 

 

Moon’s art inspires me because of the level of detail, the interesting composition of objects and textures and the use of colour and line. Each piece is like a treat for the eyes and draws me in, to explore all of the beautiful shapes and whimsical character design. I know for certain, that I cannot achieve this level of detail, especially considering how much time I have and my final product, which is animation. I do, however, believe that I will be using his work a lot to help align my mind into the frame of idea creation and fantasy surrealism. When thinking “what more could I add to this character/piece?”, I can come back to Moon’s work and draw inspiration from the…

• Tight vs heavy combination (smaller shapes dominate for interest, larger shapes are for balance)
• Full jewellery and clothing (e.g. leaves and flowers, ornaments, African-inspired patterns)
• Statuesque poses, swirls and shapes on the skin, emphasis on the hair
• Ornamental, coral-reef-esque style of detailing
• Blue, red, yellow, green colours and moon imagery

 

ﾟ+*:ꔫ:*﹤ Dániel Taylor  ﹥*:ꔫ:*+ﾟ

 

Now we come back to more landscape-based artworks, with surrealist artist Dániel Taylor from Budapest, Hungary. He decided to pursue his passion for art at the young age of 14 when he discovered digital drawing and Photoshop. Following his creative upbringing, he had an aim of eventually making art his sole profession which he achieved after mere several years! Since 2015, his ambition has been realised and he has been working as a full-time practising artist. Although it varies in technique and style, surrealism remains the heart of Dániel’s work and he enjoys the challenge of establishing its presence even as he shifts his approach. From colourful, vibrant images to simple black and white sketches, the art ranges in both subject, perspective and overall style but is always engaging and elegant. This is because much of his inspiration is derived from modern digital illustrations but also older comic book art, particularly in the genre of science fiction which produces a lot of minimal, futuristic structures and characters.

 

 

The illustrations above are features of his personal project, in which Dániel delves into creating an otherwordly experience. Using Pixologic’s ZBrush, KeyShot and Adobe Photoshop, he creates a peaceful utopia with distant figures, comparable to sci-fi dreamscapes and comic world imaginations. The euphoria of vast, empty spaces somehow looks far more enticing than our world, despite the fact that the characters within them seem isolated and burdened with some incomprehensible purpose.

“It’s much harder than it seems to create simplistic but also appealing illustrations and I struggled with that for a while. My main inspirations are Moebius (the biggest influence on these artworks), Dave Rapoza and Kilian Eng.”

 

 

I love this particular collection because there is some uncanny familiarity, beauty and peace that I find in the art. Unlike Ilene’s work, for example, the simplicity provides a different portal into the fantastical and surreal, one that sheds the mundane and replaces it with cosmic magic. This is just one of his styles, however; he doesn’t hesitate to vary the graphic techniques and kind of compositions, partly because he either gets bored or runs out of ideas for the current one. I like this manner of moving onto something entirely different because it embodies the freedom that comes with art.

Here are some more examples of his many different modus operandi.

 

Black and White Double Exposure

 

Abstract Double Exposure Silhouettes

 

Negative Portraits with a Galaxy Colour Palette

 

Smokey Double Exposure Animals

 

Flowery Bird Illustrations

 

As you can see, there is an amazing range of differences between each set but somehow, an overall style can still be distinguished. His work has a certain graceful quality that shows precise thought into the composition, colour and texture placement. As I said before his personal project on surreal space landscapes is my personal favourite, and is what I am choosing to use as inspiration for my project, but I also really like scrolling through his other work because it is quite beautiful in my opinion. Dániel’s art can be found in magazines, PC game covers and exhibitions, and he has even cooperated with Marvel thanks to his alternative movie posters. The components that I would identify as part of his style are:

• Nature, cosmos, animals and feminine beauty
• Liquid like materials and abstract stone structures
• Stripes (usually dark and light colours)
• Lone figures with dark skin, white eyes and colour gradient robes
• Empty spaces with space backgrounds
• Weird/twisted elements

 

ˑ༄ؘ ۪۪۫۫ ▹ Gastón Pacheco ◃ ۪۪۫۫ ༄ؘ ˑ

 

Character Designer and illustrator, Gastón Pacheco, was born in Mendoza, Argentina in 1982. Although he is currently dedicated to designing characters and freelance illustration, similarly to Moon, he studied graphic design previously (at UNCuyo). He describes himself as a ‘creative worker’ which is by far an understatement for his evident passion for art and animation. This passion has allowed him to obtain various recognitions and awards such as Customization of vinyl toys (Diego Toys), Author’s Notebooks “Destapa Award” (Monoblock) and more. Most of his drawings are finished with a few touches of software processing. Photoshop, After Effects, 3D Studio Max and TV Paint are some examples of what he uses in his digital domain however Pacheco has stated in an interview that paper, pencil sketch and ink are his ‘go to’ tools. His forte is in quick, handmade sketches which he insists upon despite the love from his fans and viewers which often go towards his more completed, digital artworks. I believe that we must remember after all, for some artists,  these pieces are born of the sketch and without it, they wouldn’t exist. Pacheco is a wonderful example of someone who is connected to the roots or traditional artwork even when working in the digital era and like quite a few of the names on this list, he is one of my absolute favourite artists!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

His way with the fusion of elements, balance and placement of detail and dynamic, striking designs makes his work some of the most impactful and visually interesting. I hope to one day reach this masterful level and perhaps develop a style of my own, remaining open to the endless possibilities of the appearance and form of something as Pacheco does. Note the expertise on colour as well, such as with the first illustration, which seems almost monochrome. He often does this with environments and wider scenes and it creates a real sense of depth and cohesiveness. Whilst a lot of artists use different colours for shadows and highlights, for example, Pacheco avoids the striking effect and sticks instead with a more subtle and easy on the eye method. Two or three colours are involved, one of which is the accent and one of which carries most of the piece, coupled with his unique shading style (akin to pointillism) and you have stunning surrealism on-page.

What is most impressive, however, and stands out immediately, is the character work. I believe that Pacheco’s truly best work stems from this particular genre of art.

 

 

It was so difficult to pick just a few of these because every single one of his characters is enticing and finely crafted. He doesn’t shy away from using ‘monstrous’ or ‘grotesque’ imagery but weaves it in such a way that it only adds to the interest rather than distracts from it. Unsurprisingly, the brilliant work got him spotted; with clients such as Adobe, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Wacom, Disney XD, Comedy Central among others under his belt of experience, he can easily be called successful. Pacheco also participated in publications of magazines and books, nationally and internationally, has taught workshops on character design, and has spoken at events about Design and Animation! 

 

 

As always, I have listed some of the most notable aspects of his style for my own reference and with the hopes that I can expand on my skills by learning from the greats.

• Curvy, round, bouncy style
• Robotic/futuristic details and character parts
• Experimentational form (deviates from the class head, body, legs structure)
• Considered poses and props (it all tires perfectly into the character design, and communicates their personality well visually)
• Fantastical, surreal construction
• Grainy texture and pointillism shading
• Child/animation-like exaggeration (squash and stretch & appeal always employed)

 

✧─── ･ ｡ﾟ★: *.✦ .* :★. ───✧

 

To conclude my subject research, I want to reinforce my intention of utilising this post throughout my concept design and pre-production. I started out with my own ideas, doing further research to help me make my final choice, before diving in full into ADDOED. Environmentalism and surrealism are not light topics, and even if this wasn’t my FMP, I would have to do an incredible amount of research to understand the subject matter and feel confident in presenting it through my work. I feel that animators have a duty, to be honest, or at least spread positive messages through their work because they capture life and reshape it to give back to the audience. If I am to do both of these things, I want to show all of the work I would have put in even if I didn’t need to document it. The more care, time and effort put into a project, the more exciting and worthwhile it becomes in my opinion, and I have high hopes for this one! I will be looking back to my notes on environmental issues, art styles and surreal artists in order to help my accuracy and keep the understanding and passion for the idea alive. Thank you for reading **:·.✧