Re-think of Imagery direction

The recent progress of my image making has got me thinking. In my last tutorial, it was pointed out that the papercuts and working in a set was working, however the papercuts were lacking my individual practice. It was pointed out that my drawing skills were being ignored in my efforts to make well made paper cut pieces of work. I took this as a hint that I needed to keep on with the sets and rushed into set model making and worrying about the technicalities. As seen in previous blog posts, it took me a very long time just to work out the structure for one scene and I hadn't even properly got started in the most important bit- The imagery. In reality, there is no way that I would be able to make the set boxes from scratch as well as make the imagery (to fit) to the quality i'd like for the final submission. Therefore I am left with my papercuts (without backgrounds) and my expressive ink drawings. 

It occurred to me looking back over my work so far yesterday that what I had lost sight of was the reasoning behind doing this project in the first place...which was to create imagery that reminisced on my grandparents travels abroad to intrigue and entertain an audience. My initial focus after all was to evoke the excitement in the audience similar to that I had as a child hearing about these stories. 

I had a impromptu tutorial with Salvatore Rubbino today, which was great as he hadn't yet seen any of my work from this project. Also he specialises in narrative, so I was very interested to hear his take on my current practice. We discussed my current issues with the papercuts and how they didn't have any backgrounds at the moment. He also had a look at my set that I created with Joe and we discussed how it was to work in a collaboration and how it encouraged more spontaneity in my practice. He then compared that spontaneity to the loose line drawings in my sketchbook. Those drawings which I almost see as warm ups to a final image. He pointed out how the sparse and particular details added playfulness to each of the images, so perhaps I should direct the same attitude towards larger drawings yet take a more thoughtful approach to composition and the introduction of cut outs. He suggested I look at Henry Matisse's cutting with scissors such as these...

Matisse cut shapes from his own textures, similar to another artist, Lara Odell. Her work is almost graphic as the paint is very thick.

 I think this something I am revert to, however it is important that my individuality is showcased, I would hate to be to be copying her wotk. This means I am not relying on coloured papers and found patterns- in effect its all my own work. Salvatore also stated that when he sees my work his immediate understanding of my practice is that I focus on shape, line and colour. This baffled me as I've always seen theatre in my work. but i've realised that's an underlying influence, not a direct quality of my work. He continued to explain that when i converted to paper cutting my quality of line was not vacant but just in the action of cutting itself and he could see the similarities between the drawings and the papercuts.

So after all that I have come to a considered conclusion, instead of recent plan to create a few 3D sets I will focus on building up a collection of large drawings. These will all be based on the key themes discussed with my grandmother (please see earlier post- Interview with Grandma). I will use gouache paint to make textured backgrounds. These will then be used to create papercuts in a similar (but hopefully quicker) method to the previous papercut, perhaps with fewer layers. All the backgrounds will be loose ink and gouache drawings with a limited palette and selective details- I don't want too much to detracted from the characters as they are going to the most narrative and interaction with the viewer. In terms of making the scenes more accessible as 'sets', I envisage recreating a suggestion of depth with shadow boxes layering the paper cuts at intervals to give a diorama atmosphere as previously anticipated. These are some examples of my attempts today at turning a new leaf for the last few weeks of the project.

Painting cut out papers with gouache paint.

 The above image I have decided is way too loud for a backdrop as the yellow will be too noisy alongside the characters. I have since started a much simpler version.