Study Task 8- Rationale

What is your theme?

The overarching subject matter of my investigation for cop is fairy tales, but more specifically the re-interpretations and adaptions of fairy tales over the course of time. A lot of the research I have carried out so far looks into these modified versions and explains how they have changed from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but also, the contents of fairy tales.

How are you exploring it visually (methodology)?

One of the changes made by the Grimm Brothers in their newer renditions of their own original stories is a change in writing style. They proceeded to make the stories longer and more descriptive, helping the audience (which changed from adults to children) to visualise the stories better. Reading through some of them formed images in my head and thus provided me with potential ideas to illustrate to start my visual journal. I have illustrated quotes from the stories, and also, hand-lettered the quotes. I have also explored visual metaphors have begun to look at colour theory.

Why are you doing it this way?

I am going to have the quote written on one page and the illustration on the next. The reason I am doing it this way is to recreate the look of a fairy tale book. I wanted to make the composition more interesting than simple having an illustration on a page. The combination of text and image lent itself well to the idea of recreating book pages. 

Materials?

I started off by sketching my ideas out in pencil and pen. I have written out the quotes in hand-lettering and produced a paper cut illustrations to go alongside each of them.  At the moment, I am enjoying the process of paper cut as it also incorporates texture but more predominantly, it brings in a contemporary element to a theme that is quite traditional. For this reason, I also created the outcomes for the visual metaphors in paper cut. 

Any key theorists who have influenced this?

Through carrying out research I came across some theories, one of which described fairy tales as talking in a language of metaphors- “communicate feeling in efficient metaphorical terms”- Jack Zipes (2013). This informed and inspired the visual metaphors produced in my visual journal. Furthermore, I found some information into the colours commonly used in fairy tales- bringing me to look at colour theory. These consist of red, white, black, gold & silver. I also found out that the colour green is not considered a significant colour in fairy tales, so I am going to try and create something based on this.