Broken Record
The Tower
Mix Media Paper 20 cm x 28 cm Oct 2020 - The Tower is heavily influenced by the artwork and style of the miniseries Over the Garden Wall. It also reflects the current social and political issues we are all going though in the chaos that is 2020. This piece shows the journey that we have started again. |
Inspiration and Background
- This project was very obviously inspired by tarot and the state of the current world. Today, with elections less than a month away, COVID-19 getting worse, and all of the other problems we are facing, this world is in chaos. In tarot, The Tower represents destruction, chaos, liberation and sudden change. I saw the chaos and sudden change and immediately thought back to March of this year, when the pandemic started. Everyone was panic shopping, everything was shutting down, some places were bring locked down, everyone was terrified and confused. That's why I thought The Tower was the perfect card to represent this year, and also because on New Years I pulled The Tower in a reading I did of this year, and many others did as well.
- The art style is reflective of one of my new favorite shows Over the Garden Wall. When I watched the show I immediately fell in love with the animation and the art style in the show. I loved how simplistic yet detailed everything was. This is slightly more detailed because I started adding some shading with my pencil before I decided to add color to it, but I really like how that all turned out. -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tower_(Tarot_card) - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3718778/ |
|
Process and Sketches
|
- Once I had my idea, the first thing was to draw out the guidelines. These helped give me straight lines to work off of and get everything even. I started by making the outline of the card. I made the card 20 cm x 28 cm, so then there would be a boarder around the card. The whole paper was 27.9 cm x 35.6 cm.
- I made the outlines of the card and then I separated a section where the words The Tower were going. I then found the center of the whole card, and the center of the illustrated part of the card. I did this by measuring from one corner, across the card to the other, (Top left corner to bottom right), and where the two lines met, that was the center. I used these points to help figure where to place things within the card. |
- Once I had the lines and centers down, I started sketching. This copy was originally only supposed to be the planning sketch or rough draft, but I ended up really loving how it was turning out so I went with this instead of making another. The first things I did was the trees, I drew the outlines of the trees in the foreground. In my reference image from Over the Garden Wall, the trees are right in front there, almost framing the entire image, which is what I wanted them to do. I wanted the trees to draw the viewer back into the piece. The tree on the left has a little bird in the little hole in the tree, that bird is Beatrice from Over the Garden Wall. Beatrice was a human that was turned into a bird for not helping someone. After she meets the two brothers she tags along with them and guides them throughout their journey.
- Once I had the basic lines of everything down I started some of the shading to break up the work. I didn't want the shading to be perfect, I wanted the shading to look like pencil marks, not that it the piece didn't look sketched to begin with. I made the inner lines of the path darker to differentiate between the path and the grass. |
- The next thing I ended up doing was adding color to the piece. I wasn't expecting to do this, but I'm glad I did. I really ended up liking how it turned out and thought it looked a little better than just the black and white. All I did with the colors was just one light layer in one color. I didn't want to over do it with color, and I didn't want to shade with the colors because I really liked the look of the pencil shading, and it was much easier than shading with the colors and worrying about too dark of colors.
- Once I had the color down I wanted to darken some of the shading because when I added the colors it somewhat took away from that. The final thing I did was to finish the outlines and The Tower. All I did with the boarders and outlines was go over the pencil with my black markers which I used for the outlining and cross-hatching within the image. For The Tower I was going to try and do bold block letters, but it became more complicated than I wanted it to be, so I used the measuring I was doing for the block letters to make them centered and even. I ended up just writing it in my own handwriting with my ink brush pen.
- Once I had the color down I wanted to darken some of the shading because when I added the colors it somewhat took away from that. The final thing I did was to finish the outlines and The Tower. All I did with the boarders and outlines was go over the pencil with my black markers which I used for the outlining and cross-hatching within the image. For The Tower I was going to try and do bold block letters, but it became more complicated than I wanted it to be, so I used the measuring I was doing for the block letters to make them centered and even. I ended up just writing it in my own handwriting with my ink brush pen.
Reflection
- I ended up really liking this project. I really loves the style and liked trying it out. I normally don't draw like this, but it worked out very well in my opinion. I think it is clear that is was influenced by the artwork from Over the Garden Wall, especially with the pumpkins. I really wanted to include the pumpkins somewhere within this piece since it's October and the pumpkin people were some of my favorite characters design-wise. Though I did really love this piece, I wish I could have more effectively illustrated my point. I made the White House the tower because of all the chaos happening within our US government, with COVID and the upcoming election. I think my point was clear, but I wish the White House would have been a more central and present idea within the piece, although originally I was trying to show more of the journey we have started and will continue to go down. I think this piece is one of my favorites and has opened a door to a new pathway of art for me.
ACT Responses
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork:
- The main similarity is the art style. My work is very clearly influenced by the work of the illustrators of Over the Garden Wall. Also the meaning behind the work correlates with the meaning of the tower tarot card.
What is the overall approach (pov) the author (from research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
-
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
- I think we still have a lot of work to do, but we have a great start and I'm very proud of my generation and those who are standing up for equality and justice. I wanted my work to reflect that battle we have started up again. I wanted to show our new push for the movement and the history we are making everyday,
What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
- My central theme was the chaos and change that is 2020. We have already gone through so much this year with all the shut downs and new lives we have started because of COVID, and the push for social and systematic change. We have fought, and I'm proud to be alive during this resurgence of social justice. I'm excited to see the future and what we are making happen. I wanted this piece to reflect the change that has started and the long, long journey we are continuing to go down.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
- I kind of had to connect the dots with the meaning of the Tower. There are many definitions out there to what the card means and represents, but I had to take all that information and see what fit with my initial ideas going into this project,
- The main similarity is the art style. My work is very clearly influenced by the work of the illustrators of Over the Garden Wall. Also the meaning behind the work correlates with the meaning of the tower tarot card.
What is the overall approach (pov) the author (from research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
-
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
- I think we still have a lot of work to do, but we have a great start and I'm very proud of my generation and those who are standing up for equality and justice. I wanted my work to reflect that battle we have started up again. I wanted to show our new push for the movement and the history we are making everyday,
What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
- My central theme was the chaos and change that is 2020. We have already gone through so much this year with all the shut downs and new lives we have started because of COVID, and the push for social and systematic change. We have fought, and I'm proud to be alive during this resurgence of social justice. I'm excited to see the future and what we are making happen. I wanted this piece to reflect the change that has started and the long, long journey we are continuing to go down.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
- I kind of had to connect the dots with the meaning of the Tower. There are many definitions out there to what the card means and represents, but I had to take all that information and see what fit with my initial ideas going into this project,