Welcome to my second time around using Adobe Illustrator. The focus of our assignment was to depict the conflict of the story. On top of that, we were introduced to a technique called "typography" where you use text to enrich the visual experience of the piece. I decided to use it in the roots and in the chain that held the heart to reality. It is really interesting at how much more I can do with this software after only a semester of experience. Enjoy!
Sanity versus Structure
When structure and insanity clash, one is uncertain of the impending future. That is the basis of my Adobe Illustration based off of my Flash Fiction I wrote in English. In the Flash Fiction the protagonist, Tony, begins the story mourning over his deceased dog. He feels very depressed and lost in his world. The only thing holding him to his sanity are relationships. In the story he meets a girl that resolves his sorrow and allows Tony to be happy again. In this Illustration, the dog with the typography chain around him represents Tony’s relationships with his dog and with the girl he meets, and how they are his structure and peace. The buildings are tilted slightly because in reality, the city life is not completely structured, but a crazy mess of people trying to enjoy their lives’. However, from Tony’s perspective, he sees the roots of the buildings (which are very rigid and straight), portraying how Tony sees society as sane and organized, unlike his own life. The heart that is falling deeper into the earth towards a hellish state, portrays the position that Tony is in before he finds love again. The roots and chain in this Illustration use the design aspect of typography, allowing myself to incorporate text to further portray the feelings of Tony in his struggle to find sanity.
Reflection
Story telling is a very interesting and eye-opening experience. I had to learn how to build a story that would be entising to whomever would eventually read it. There were many re-writes and at one point I completely altered the conflict of my story to build a stronger scene of events. It is quite difficult to then engulf all of the story into a single image. It is equivolent of telling a story in a single word or phrase, or a snapshot from a movie. Either way it was very important to learn for in the future I can apply these skills. The basic is an understanding of what is important, then creating an idea of how to illustrate that idea, and finally executing to the best of your ability. In conclusion, the experience was awesome, but I hope next time I will fix all the blunders that I ran into.
