When I was researching some visual references for the illustration of George Orwell, I found some good old photos of homeless and slums of London and Glasgow in the 19th century, mainly taken by John Thomson and Thomas Annan.
John Thomson’s texts to <Street Life in London (1877-1878)> were vivified with quotations from nomads, cabmen, boardmen and flood victims ‘jotted down as they were uttered.’
In Thomas Annan’s < Photographs of the old closes and streets of Glasgow, 1868/1877 >, people’s ‘presence in his photographs, while evidently not unwelcome to him, does not seem, either, to have been especially sought.’
I started thinking about how I can rearrange these photos. I thought I need a pure symbol to represent the idea of ‘even the situation is difficult your soul of freedom is still wandering’.
I found it at the life drawing society, which I go for practice sketching weekly. When the notification said the model of that night was a ballet dancer, the amount of students were several times more than usual. Her body is so beautiful and her poses are full of dynamism. I realized that everyone was fascinated by the beauty (including me). If I need a symbol for the spirit of freedom, ballet dancer is the perfect choice. For experiment, I combined the two elements together with a quite simple way:
Some experimentation of the ballerina image through monoprint:
I thought there might be some meaning of each gesture of ballet, and then I interviewed with an amateur who is learning British Royal Ballet Course for several years, she told me not to find the meaning of every gesture; it is all about atmosphere.
I’m reading a book about Degas (<Degas and the Ballet: Picturing Movement>), and planning to watch the live performance at Royal Opera House.
Then I made the hand-drawing of the sketches.
Watercolour + Gouache +Colour Pencil (A6 Size)
I seldom use complete hand drawing as my illustration method, so I feel quite satisfied to see my style getting mature, except I couldn't highlight the ballerina well. I want to use collage to see if I can develop it. I scanned the image into computer, and then enlarged them to A4 Size, and printed them out as the base.
The texture of old photos made me think of newspaper. I suppose it might be matched if I used newspaper as collage material. Also it may have some interesting effect using other papers.
I think I still can develop these images further, with more experimentation.
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