Side Hustle

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Narrative and Storytelling

Our project ‘Side Hustle’ is  to be a constant investigation running alongside the main projects we completed during the winter term. The focus of this project was our own personal interests, from a list provided we had to pick a theme that resonated with us, for me it was ‘narrative and storytelling’.  I chose this topic because narrative is something I always like to include in my work, it is what inspires me and motivates me to create so the choice of my topic was quite an easy one.

My personal aims for this project were to push myself outside of my comfort zone, to find something I want to explore but have not yet due to my self-made safety nets.

PollyNor: Exhibition

(Own Photos). Norton, P. Airing my Dirty Laundry. 2018.

PollyNor has constantly been a very important source of inspiration for me – her playful illustrations explore what life is like for the contemporary woman and ‘those among us who feel as though we are always working to conceal what lies beneath’ (Ione Gamble, 2018).

Above is one of the major components of her exhibition – an installation room filled with hanging clothes, latex skins, wigs, fake eyeballs, fake teeth and many other oddities used to replicate different parts of the body. The room also had running washing machines and bubbling buckets of water that added atmospheric sound. I really loved this room the feeling you get when you step inside through the pic flap doorway is a little uncomfortable. You feel as if you have stepped into a scene where you are not meant to be… a personal space of someone who you don’t know someone with this quite scary secret. However when you think about the concepts she explores in her work you can feel a sense of solidarity and a strange feeling of comfort in this piece. It’s showing the faces and masks other women put on when meeting new people, out in public or when trying to make a perfect impression – they’re not their true selves… they’re this costume and character they create using these skins and clothes and body parts.

As an illustrator who also enjoys working in 3 dimensional media I am really inspired by this installation – Although I have worked in 3D before by using materials such as fabric, felting, modelling clay on a smallish scale… I never really thought about how large I could take it – the idea of using a whole room and creating an installation that transports the viewer into my work sounds intimidating but also really exciting.

Norton, P. A Spanner in the Works. (2018)

One of the main features of the Polly Nor exhibition was the full display of her 39 part series A Spanner in the Works (for the first time!). The story is of a woman who falls in love with a man (presented in the form a demon-like sea serpent monster) who almost ruins her by making her pregnant, cheating on her and shaming her. The end consists of the three women (her, the man’s other lover and her best friend) working together to help escape the toxic relationship and getting revenge on the monster. I really loved this story – in mainstream culture the two women who are betrayed by the same man are often baited against each other even when the man is the one in the wrong… This series shows how women should stick together and instead of shaming each other we should helps and support each other. I am really interested in these kind of topics relating to feminist ideas – I want the narrative I create to have strong and female characters who don’t put each other down and don’t just exist as an object of desire.

What I was always drawn to when I first saw Norton’s work was her amazing ability to show narrative. Even when looking at just one of these panels by itself you are able to tell exactly how the present characters are feeling and thinking… I am really interested is visual storytelling such as comic books or graphic novels but I always felt making one myself would be a challenge I am just not ready for yet. The way Polly has presented this story – using separate individual images next to each other seems like something I would be much more comfortable with and really ignites an excitement in me to start telling the stories I have had in my mind for so long – starting one image at a time then maybe working to include a composition of more than one panel on each page.

Side Hustle: The Picture of Dorian Gray

In my free time I have been reading the book The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. I absolutely fell in love with this novel. The author’s writing style, the characters, the darkness and the beautiful imagery Wilde is able to create in your head. I would personally consider myself a story writer so when it comes to illustrating narratives they are usually my own. However, going forward in this project I would love to work with these characters and scenes that inspire me so and find a way to make it my own.

Side Hustle: ‘Wildlife Drawing’

 have always loved animals… I’m passionate about animal welfare, animal rights and nature. However, they are never usually my subject matter of choice as I have never really felt confident in my ability to draw them. This is why I decided to seise the opportunity of drawing wolves from life.

Life drawing with people is something I am very confident in doing, I love it and am so passionate about it – how much it can help you study and appreciate the human form. However… going into this session I felt very nervous about my ability to draw the wolves well – I am very anxious drawing in public situations as I always want my work to be amazing in the eyes of others which limits my explorative nature (this is a habit I know I need to work on breaking). However -during this session I felt very comfortable and ‘un-judged’ by the others around me as this was a new experience for all os us. I think this gradual relaxation can be seen in the pieces I produced throughout the session, they become more loose and expressive rather than very safe and reserved.

I throughly enjoyed the session… It was a truly informative, inspiring and enlightening experience. That not only allowed me to engage with my work but also the subject matter – we could touch the wolves, feel the texture of their fur and see their own unique personalities. This is something I really enjoyed about this session in comparison to drawing a human model… The wolves do not care about perfection and posing, they just exist and do what they want. I think this really helped me to capture their personalities and presence as well as help me to relax when drawing.

Side Hustle: Research

Painting by 'Elisabeth Pepée Lebichon'

Painting by 'Francois Rintintin-Kanel'

The first thing that came to mind when thinking about how to combine human character with animals were these very kitsch animal portraits. Usually in the style of rococo painters these artists paint animals (most commonly dogs) who dress, pose and stand just like humans. I thought this could be a starting point as if I draw my characters anatomically similarly to here I will be able to include many different types of animals without having to worry about the size differences between them and how I could make it work in an image. I also want to see if I can find a way to take this dated style and turn it into something more contemporary in style.

Side Hustle: Character Development

Character designs inspired by British wildlife and the characters from The Picture of Dorian Gray. I love how these turned out. I especially love the very fluid and quick headshot illustrations produced, I feel they are very emotive and capture the character’s personalities very well.

The blue/monochrome colour schemes present in the drawings were inspired by these beautiful wall tiles I saw at the V&A

Side Hustle: Group Critique

The feedback I got for the group critique regarding side Hustle was similar that that which I received regarding Act 3. However, a comment directed specifically at my Side Hustle project was that they loved the character designs and thought that they were ‘cute’. I found this interesting but also expected it. I did want the characters to look cute when I illustrated them because I think that it creates such a great contrast when put into a dark scene, so I was happy about receiving these comments. Another comment that caught my attention was one that suggested that re-imagining The Picture of Dorian Gray is a little cliche and that instead I should take the characters I have designed and created my own narrative. Although I did consider it for a little while I decided that this is not the route I want to take with this project. I want to pay homage to a writer who provides so much inspiration for me and use this as an opportunity to really show my personal appreciation of his work as well as put my own spin on it.

Side Hustle: Stylistic Experimentation

To develop my idea further I decided to conduct some experimentational tests exploring style, materials and techniques. These were really fun to do as I tried to think of new and interesting ways to build up an image. The materials used for each one are (left to right, top to bottom) 1. Gouache and Acrylic paint 2. Gouache, Tipexx and fountain pen 3. Watercolour, Acrylic paint, Crayon and Gouache 4.  layered acrylic paint.

When asking around about which test people liked the best, to my surprise most people chose 2. I was surprised because personally this is the one I found least interesting. However, maybe if I added very subtle tints of colour as well adding some detail in the background maybe this style could become my favourite as I do definitely see its potential. Maybe for my outcome(s?) I could choose 1 or 2 of these styles and mix them up to make the best one yet. I could also consider having a different styles for each different piece.

Side Hustle: Final Outcome

I feel my Side Hustle  is okay. I am proud of the developmental work and the research I put into this project but I feel that because of poor time management I was let down by the final outcome. Although it is nice, it is not really what I was visualising in my head and I originally planned to do more than one. I also feel that the development towards creating the style this piece was in could have been more thorough as I feel the work is lacking something stylistically – it is too flat or seems unfinished.

I will learn from these mistakes for future projects, and make sure to plan what I need to have done by certain points in the term, insuring that I have enough time at the end to complete my final outcome to a standard I am happy with. Although my time management skills have improved a lot over the course of my a-levels and foundation I still slip up sometimes and need to make sure that they are exceptional for future projects to come.