Narrative graphics essay

How do the artists explore narratives using techniques that extend the boundaries of our imagination?

In this essay I will be focusing on how my three chosen artists explore narrative ideas in various ways using a range of techniques. Each artist tells their stories to create a change of reality that is not normally focused on within storytelling. Each graphic designer creates artwork in a new way which shows off their abilities and also the complexity of their ideas. Technology is obviously a huge part of graphic design, especially for the artist’s when they attempt to tell stories through one piece of work or single image. One image that can be interpreted in a never ending amount of ways, leaving it up to the audience’s imaginations to introduce many possibilities behind what the story is about and why it is portrayed in this way. This leaves the audience to start creating strong responses to the complicated ideas of the evolving art piece in their mind.

Before the technology we have today was invented, the idea of narrative art work was portrayed within story books. The style of these illustration within the books were more imaginative than surreal. The illustrations are intricate drawings and prints which create realistic tales. One of the most famous story books that has ever been created is a German book called ‘Grimm’s Fairy Tales’, which was written by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. It was published in 1812 and first illustrated by Philipp Grot Johann until he died in 1892, which led to the illustrations being continued by the hand of German illustrator Robert Leinweber. The illustrations in all editions of this book are detailed and well thought through with every aspect reflecting each story that is told. The characters are drawn to the perfect representation of our imaginations when reading each word.

Narratives have gone from being illustrations in books, to now being designs online which were created by scanning in illustrations but mainly from using Photoshop, Illustrator and other design applications. Graphic Design is a lot more advanced now that we have technology.

Artists are now able to use anything from photography to photographic manipulation, technology is the most useful invention for artists because it helps to widen their horizons and knowledge of different techniques they could use to create new work. Narrative graphics is now a lot more advanced and detailed when pushing the barriers of fewer techniques by creating multiple approaches which extends the boundaries of our imaginations.

Oscar Parasiego is the first artist I researched. He was born in Spain but he is currently based in Birmingham. He has worked on multiple art projects over the last 10 years working in different countries and collaborating with strong diverse communities. This gives his work a sense of diversity that helps to explore the origins of numerous forms of art and the techniques used. His work explores the untruthfulness and the lack of photography to capture the complexity of human self-reflection. Some of his themes explore identity, communication, emigration, death and relationships. Parasiego creates powerful and surrealist images, which discover the most interesting ways to tell an advanced story in a dramatic, yet simple, way.

Oscar Parasiego uses photo manipulation to create his obscure and mysterious artwork. His design work is surreal and also focuses closely on the style and narrative behind each piece of work. He inverts images into a figure which is sitting in everyday, natural surroundings. The figure sits or stand strong, with a slouched and arched back to show the sense of loneliness they are experiencing. The dark, dull colours of some of his work helps us to decide on the fact that the figure could quite possibly be isolated and maybe depressed. The photographs that are inverted into the figure are usually a lot different from the original image. There are photos of twisted branches which provides the audience with the idea of this person feeling confused and tangled within their own brain. Shadows place the figures in the dark most of the time, letting the light shine above the figure’s head, beaming over them as to say that there is a brightness at the end of the tunnel but you must travel through the dark to get to the light. The person has no facial features or any sense of identity, which also represents the idea of being lost and anxious.

The person is usually central in the frame, which tells us that they are the main part of this work.

The figures are what creates the narrative style in these pieces of design work because it is the most important part in order to tell any kind of story.

The next narrative artist I discovered is called Daisuke Takakura. Daisuke Takakura is a Japanese artist who was born in 1980. He is active in photography, design and theatre. Daisuke Takakura’s work expresses the idea that we all have a past, a present and a future. His work creates an interpretation of having one person positioned in different places doing various tasks, to represent their past, present and future selves. He takes photographs of one destination and creates art that tells the story of one person, what they could be doing, could have done or will do. This is shown by having various clones of the one performer.

Daisuke Takakura also uses photo manipulation to create the confusing and recurring pattern of the same person. In each of his time-based pieces, there is one person who is copied a number of times, to both fill up the page and create a number of clones, or have a just few spread out.

Daisuke Takakura takes lots of photographs of one person in different positions and arranges them to make them all look like they are interacting with one another. Some of his work is slightly different, in fact the figures are standing or sitting on their own, and have nothing to do with one another. This shows the sense of time, representing the past, present and future of the people’s lives. The technique he uses helps the viewer capture the idea of time and also see his

work in a variety of ways. This allows the interpretation to alter due to the progression of the viewer’s imagination.

The clones are standing, sitting, jumping or attempting a task such as, washing up, playing the guitar or smoking. The colours are usually bright and cheerful in the background for the surroundings, whilst the person is dress in neutral coloured clothes. All of the clones are wearing the exact same clothes, which helps the audience try to figure out more about the narrative story telling. It helps the artist make the person appear to be doing all of this in one day. Just like Oscar Parasiego’s work, Daisuke Takakura creates a sense of isolation and loneliness. This is represented by having only one person, completely on their own, their only friend or acquaintance is themselves.

Heath Robinson is an illustrator and cartoonist from the late 19th century. His work seems to have inspired my next artists’ work. His work is very interesting, comprising of imaginative invention sketches. Robinson had an eye for the genius and has worked with incredibly advanced images. During the First World War, a phrase was used to describe something of an unnecessarily complex nature, which could never happen. Robinson’s style connects drawings with realism in an effective and playful way.

The artist I have researched at this stage is Johan Thornqvuist. Johan Thornqvuist is a 32 year old artist who creates drawings with photographs, using computer manipulation. He is based in Helsingborg, Sweden. His work incorporates whimsical and imaginative designs with serious or natural photographs. His work can be found in several exhibitions, advertising campaigns and also magazines.

Most of the work by Thornqvuist is unusual and surreal. He combines illustration with photography, creating a formalized cartoon style and a comical twist on his original snapshots.

Johan Thornqvuist uses bold, solid colour which help to separate every shape and drawing from one another. His work is a more up to date, and brighter response to the work of Heath

Robinson. There are noticeable differences within their work which help to make their illustrations personal, with their own specific humorous feel.

Thornqvist’s work has influenced me to explore further the idea of natural, everyday surrounding being altered by an abnormal and unique style of illustration. By having an illustration within a photograph of a road, a drink or a plant, the outcome helps to influence the audience to make them feel involved in the artwork because of the objects used. These objects and environments bring back memories to the audience and also link back to Thornqvist’s which allow the audience to have their very own reflection of the work.

My narrative outcome was inspired mostly by the work of Johan Thornqvist. The intricate illustration designs of his work create an idea when I started to create my book outcome. The monster figure in the darkness creates a sense of isolation and loneliness that is creeping up behind the person. The typography on the book cover is not as effective as other designs I have crate, if I had more time this is what I would try to improve on. I wanted to take away her identity to show true segregation between the person and her loved ones, so I blurred and corrupted her face, removing her eyes and creating a more frightening individual on the cover. I developed my book cover further by adding a foggy, mysterious background around both the person, and monster. I thought that this brought my narrative level down so I removed the background and kept the brick wall. This made my figures stand out bolder and also stops from diverting the viewers eyes somewhere less important.

In conclusion, all of these narrative styles capture surrealism in various ways which helps make the audience’s minds work harder to figure out the background stories. I think that Daisuke Takakura’s work is the most effective when telling a story through imagery. The variety of techniques he uses, helps to capture the passing of time, in association with past ideas and distant memories. The illustrations within the Grimm’s Fairytales are created to link to, and suggest aspects of historical events in a realistic and metaphorical way. The change of focus through my narrative design work was caused by each new idea that every illustrator and designer portrayed. Thornqvist’s work has influenced me to explore further the idea of natural, everyday surrounding being altered by an abnormal and unique style of illustration. By having an illustration within a photograph of a road, a drink or a plant, the outcome helps to influence the audience to make them feel involved in the artwork because of the objects used. These objects and environments bring back memories to the audience and also link back to Thornqvist’s which allow the audience to have their very own reflection of the work.