Sunday, February 3, 2013

Fan Arts Analysis

by guadi

Okay, I'm taking a break from making more fan arts to explain the works I just did  

One of my favorite thing about art is to know the story behind it; how the work is made and the artist's intention behind each piece. I think the audience appreciate the work more if they understand the background, similar to us appreciating Faith a lot more now because we have read the writer's Q&A's and bits and pieces from the novel. 


Now, my artistic creativity is that an elementary school kid, but I like to tell stories sometimes  

Start with the first picture - Title: The road ahead

I thought that was a cool frame. I love anything that has beautiful landscape, so that horse ridding scene was pretty to look at for me. The quote is from Che Guevara's the Motorcycle Diaries, Che and his best buddy Alberto went on a 9 month journey through Latin America. It was a coming of age journey that changed Che's perspective on social justice and politics. Whether we agree with his politics and actions, that is not related to the work here. That quote is about the two Ches - the young affluent Argentine medical student and the daring adventurer who witnesses the sights and sounds of his native land and the social plagues that have eroded this beautiful earth -- this journey brought the two selves together. The book is a good read if you're interested in the mindset and the myth of Che Guevara. 

Anyway, I just thought the quote fits that scene very well. Overall, it encapsulates Choi Young and Eun-soo's journey. The story is not about something heroic or otherwise; it's simply about a fated encounter that brings these two vastly different individuals together. And for the time spent in this place, they come to reconcile their differences and learn to live as one. As for the artistic effects used, I wanted to emphasize the outlines of trees and shrubs so that the eyes will focus on the entirety of the picture, not just on the two figures.

Piece #2 - A distance between us 

I was going to call this one "Forbidden Love," but I thought title was too cheesy. So I went with "a distance between us." Without knowing where we are in the story, I hope this picture and caption give you some clues on what's happening between these two. You'll see the compactness in this frame. They are so close together, but there is a little space between them that really maximizes the angst in this scene. And the way she looks slightly to his right shoulder while he's staring directly into her eyes. Oooff, the tension; I can feel it. I still want to maintain the photographic nature of this piece in order to capture details of their facial expressions. For everything else, I decided to go with pencil coloring to create a hazy effect added to that distance - to say to the audience, we can't view it clearly from afar. Their private, tender and confusing moment can only be felt by these two. Also the phrase is a creative play on the time-travel theme. 

Piece #3 - Untitled 

I like the term @yuuni wrote "immortalized"; this word captures the essence of that picture for me. I choose this picture because of the way it is shot, from behind a tree while these two converse out in the open. There is a sense of transparency in that scene. I use a transparent effect on that photo and and white out the background to make Young and Gongmin stand out a bit more in that picture. The aged photo frame is to say this photograph was taken a long time ago in history. Oh, I added "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" because it's a patriotic song and I thought it aptly applies to the real general Choi Young.

Piece #4 - Tracing her shadow 

This one is pretty self-explanatory. The pencil sketches and Young literally tracing her shadow. ( If you have more to say about this piece, by all means go for it  )

Piece #5 - Because my steps are slow

The title is from one of the osts. He teaches her how to ride, and so I thought the title goes really well with this scene; the way he looks at her displaying his concern, while she is so focused on the task at hands. And since it's a landscape photo, I used thin and visible brushstroke effects to mimic an impressionist painting (my computer did all the work, I didn't paint this just to be clear  ) Just wanted to capture natural movements and perceptions of the two figures and the green background. 

Piece #6 - This world 

This one is similar to #5 in terms of artistic reasons behind it. It is picturesque frame and @myphim suggested using similar effects to the other piece. The title is about Eun-soo and her first time surveying this land. 

Piece #7 - The proposal

Since the proposal is so simple, frank and understated, I wanted lush and vibrant colors, without being too distracting, to add contrast to his declaration. Then I added a clip at the edge to give a post card feel, as if you can just clip this to your bulletin board - a congratulatory picture to be announced and celebrated by all. 

Piece #8 - In his dream

I didn't add any text in this picture because I wanted to maintain a dream state quality in the work. The focus should be solely on the outline of her figure. Everything else is blurred like sketches of human memory. We only remember the things we love; everything else is vapid. Though there is a sadness in knowing that even our most precious memory does not last forever; when nature decides to take it away, that memory fades. And yeah, I wanted to play with different features, so you see visible traces of her figure, but it's still a bit opaque. This was one of the more experimental pieces. 

Piece #9 - A heavy sword

The original photograph was striking. The glaring spot in the middle is where the blade meets the sun. The sun is the king and the sword is his warrior. When the two meet, it creates a blinding effect, overpowers our senses. This is purely an experimental work because I wanted to try line drawing and see how it looks.  I'll leave the dissection of this piece to you guys. View it in whichever way that suits you  

Piece #10 - I am here

I was going to call this "a picture-book ending," but I thought it was too obvious  The term implies to both, Young and Eunsoo, both are present and happy to be together at last. I like watercolor painting and thought it works well in this scene because everything is clear. The few vibrant colors are applied to their token of love - yellow mums 

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