Final narrative Crit and writing workshop

Drawing task. They are from left to right: (top) Monster, aggressive, hidden, (bottom) yesterday, snow and empty. I realized that conveying the meanings of the words are actually harder than I've imagined, because the words can be quite abstract and subjective. For example, what does yesterday look like? What does time look like? I could draw last night's dinner, but only I will understand its significance. For yesterday, I drew the shadow of a person's feet walking the stairs, because I feel that yesterday is something that is left behind and trailed behind us. This interpretation is quite personal too!

Johanna suggested the idea that my "hidden" is quite ironic, because the eye and creak is right in the middle, which isn't very hidden. I agree too: sometimes we end up conveying the opposite of what we want to say! If I could draw it again, I might draw broken lines of an object's silhouette.

This is my final outcome for narrative. I have been more experimental in the narrative formats, as each sequence has a different shape and size. I particularly like the larger frame where her hand reaches out of the box to catch the cup.

However, there are also many rooms of improvement. For instance, Johanna suggested that the change of perspectives from the third to fifth frame made the narrative look more confusing, as it changed from looking above (from the character's perspective) to looking down at the character. Annabelle also suggested that I could add more backgrounds especially to the first and second frame, so the character doesn't exist in an empty space. I think it's very true to create a more believable environment. Moreover, I think more textures can be added, like the "rubber band" effect I did on the third frame which added a certain sense of eeriness.

This is the improved version. I added some backgrounds and redrew the fourth and fifth frame. In retrospect, I might want to draw the character in a more accurate way (such as the foreshortening of the arms). I like how the new fifth frame has more movement and deliberate action of the character "cupping the cup", but again it could be conveyed in a clearer way.

Other people's work

I love Lena's monoprints, which especially elevated the telescope effects of her narratives. I would explore monoprinting more in the future as well. She also incorporated a bit of fish eye perspective into her drawings, which I thought is a little neat detail.

I also really like Ruté's narrative. It is drawn very simply by pencil, yet her drawings have a certain style and are very effective in conveying an interesting but simple story: a woman waiting for a friend to share their dessert. I can learn from the vivid and expressive movement of her characters, such as the character on his bicycle annoyed by the traffic. Characters don't have to be realistically proportionate to look real and human!

Raz's narrative is very interesting. Even though I feel that her narrative might not be entirely an outcome from the brief, we could all learn from her digital practice, compositions and stylized drawing skills.

Writing workshop

We tried to paraphrase an essay today and learnt how to pick out main concepts and points in a paragraph.