Forrest Gump: Research

This assignment requires us to come up with interesting compositions using dingbats based on movie quotes! It seems a lot harder than it sounds.

My chosen quotes are:

The seaweed is always greener, in somebody else’s lake. – The Little Mermaid (1989)

The key words are greener and somebody else’s. In this composition, I knew I wanted to show distinct contrast by using positive and negative space to depict “greener”. “Somebody else’s” suggests a territorial space to me. So I think I would want to create an environment in my composition. I might stick to the seaweed part, though I’ll need to be careful to not be literal.

 

Fish are friends, not food. – Finding Nemo (2003)

Keywords are friends and not food. It is a fairly simple quote which might be difficult to make less literal. I can substitute fish for something else — another animal perhaps. I searched for animals that have fish as their diet, and then I realised there’s actually quite a few choices. Birds, sea otters, penguins, bears just to name a few. As for the food part, I thought of using sushi images because it is related to fish but not too literal in terms of visuals.

 

Anyone can cook but only the fearless can be great. – Ratatouille (2007)

This quote is interesting because I can easily depict this in my composition. “Only the fearless can be great” can be seen through hierarchy. So in my composition will make use of that design principle. Leading lines can depict this phrase too. Keywords are anyone and cook. To me if anyone can cook, it means the dumbest of animals can! So I researched on the dumbest animal on earth and it seems that it is the panda. So I might want to play around with a panda attempting to cook.

 

The past can hurt, but the way I see it, you can either run from it or learn from it. – The Lion King (1994)

Keywords here are past, hurt, run away, and learn. “Past” can be conveyed through items related to time like clocks and hourglasses. “Hurt” can be seen through jagged lines, or sharp objects like knives, spears, arrows etc. Wounds and bandages might be possible signifiers too. I wanted to portray “run away” through an animal because having a living thing as a subject serves for a focal point in the composition in my opinion. So I thought of horses and cheetahs. “Learn” is a tricky keyword to portray. I researched on signifiers for learning and knowledge, but they were mostly generic stuff like books and brains. Learning is a journey, so I can probably signify that using a pathway.

I also did a simple search on what silkscreen artists are producing and found one that I can learn from. Below is illustrator and screen printer, Rob Corradetti’s company Killer Acid’s piece. The composition has a balance of white, black and “grey” areas, with the grey areas being lines. There is more white areas than black areas, so that the ink will show up better I think. Plus it gives the overall composition some breathing space in the chaotic design.

Taken from http://www.peopleofprint.com/general/people-of-print-20-screen-printers-you-should-know-about/

 

Here are two works that I can gain inspiration from. I like the composition below because of its use of negative and positive space complemented with a touch of engraving. It really draws my attention to the moon. There is balance in the entire composition as well. It’s a simple statement.

Taken from Pinterest.

 

Compared to the simple image above, the illustration below is very textured. There is application of design principles involved — such as asymmetry, and there is a good balance of textures and white space.

Taken from Pinterest. The Devil Makes Six (detail), ink on Bristol, 2016. Aaron Horkey art

 

Compositions and silkscreen process to be documented under Process.