Character papercut developments

Over the past couple of days I have started making people separately from the backgrounds. This was the initial intent to make it easier to drop characters into different scenes to create a range of compositions. I think this will work with images of my grandparents as their journey is the main component of the project, on the other hand characters such as friends they met along the way and people in the background should be kept to the one image. This allows the audience to easily recognise my grandparents. Therefore, I have thought about giving my Grandparents signature colours, my grandmother- red and grandfather blue. However, this is not yet definite I need to test whether this works when they are placed up against different backgrounds.

As seen in the previous post, I started to experiment with layering with papercuts, using foam stickers to raise each layer more effectively than if just stuck together with glue. Even though I found that the hand drawn pattern wasn't effective in the first attempt, I have continued to experiment with different hand drawn mark making on the paper cuts. This is mainly to tie the figures into the backgrounds that will include much more mark making and expressive line work. In terms of layers, I have chosen only a few elements to emphasise. I think, in this case, the figures are much more effective.

The first image is of my grandmother, worked on from the below photograph taken by my grandfather. I have combined detailed ink work with the flat colour paper cuts. I think it works on the legs as the ink work highlights the contours of the leg, however I think the face looks a little flat as there is not implication of the three dimensions. Perhaps it would be an idea to paper cut facial features and paint onto them? I'd definitely like to create some more background imagery to place this paper cut onto as i don't believe the plain background does the paper cut any justice....

Working on a new Trinidadian scene....

After trying to create imagery from photographs of the ship which were fairly monotonous and lacking in chaos and colour, I wanted to work with a busy scene to experiment with my layer technique, especially to consider perspective. I have started by making paper cuts of the figures in the foreground. From the image, I have picked out blue, red, orange and yellow as the colours I will work in, to be in keeping with my other imagery with limited colour palettes.

As you can see below I have chosen to hand draw the pinstripes onto the dress. I think it has worked particularly well considering and carry some of the aesthetic of my ink drawing style without being too overwhelming. I have also chosen to not add detail to the face with ink, only including an earring for suggestion on an ear. I think this is much bolder and true to the idea of the images suggesting memories rather than a realistic documentation. 

These two characters are currently in progress. However I wanted to show how my technique has been applied to other figures. I have also experimented with using origami paper on the lady's dress. I like the variation of texture, however i think next time I will stick it onto thicker paper first as it looks a little amatuer and scrappy.