lesley's headspace – Page 2 – now loading: final year project

Mysterium Veritatis

Just a little book layout/experiment I decided to do. I’m basically almost done with the skeleton of the Paul/Pollux story, so I’m trying to come up with ideas about how to present the world I’ve built without spoiling the story. The plot twist (i.e. Paul = Pollux) can be made rather obvious and chronological, which is not exactly what I want.

At the moment I’m packaging the entire volume as part of something released by an organization called The Mystery Guild (I used this as a frame for my calendar project. I’ve been working on designing a proper logo for TMG to use in the project). The text in this InDesign document is mostly finalized, but the images are all fillers (just ignore them. Even the logos are just fillers I took from the Internet to act as visual placeholders before I finish the final logos and images).

Right now, I am working on

typography selection for main book (ignoring process book for now)
page layout for main book (paper size, grid, hierarchy)
format for main book (i.e. books within books, translucent pages)
typographic approach for Pollux’s story
how to tell the two stories side by side???
mini branding for The Mystery Guild (logo mostly)

Some ideas I have for the main book

translucent overlays of bone structures printed on tracing paper (or something similar) to be overlaid on anatomical drawings of creatures within Paul’s diary [if you read the previous post you know that Paul is a broke surgeon who makes cryptids for a living, just explaining this in case]
hardcover to be embossed with gold foil and book to be coptic bound so it can flip open easily
one colour accent within the book pages – not going full-colour at the moment as it doesn’t seem necessary
process diary look and feel will probably be informed by the main book, but the aesthetic for the process diary is going to be comparatively more raw (intended because it’s sort of a sketchbook/work-in-progress companion to the final space + book)

I’m going to work on the FYP Report only after I produce more work and experiment more. I haven’t yet found a good way to synthesize all the research I have such that it’s easily understood because I went all over the place with regard to what I was looking at and I’m not entirely sure how to organize it. After I work on more of the book (and do some test prints to see how the layout is shaping up), I’ll start on my report. By then I should be much clearer on how I want to proceed.

PS: Mysterium Veritatis is Google Translated Latin meaning ‘the secret truth’.

Text-heavy update

As promised, I’m spending December ironing out my content and approach for FYP, and I’ve narrowed my deliverables down to these three things: a book containing a narrative, the gallery space as an installation relating to the book’s narrative and a process book (thanks for the advice, Beverley!).

At the moment I’ve been focusing on the narrative the most because it’s the centerpiece of what I’m doing. I’m doing a kind of homage to Greek mythology, to House Of Leaves and to all the good literature that has influenced me over the years, while bringing in my illustrations/skills in layout design to complement the content. I haven’t figured out the visual style precisely yet but my aesthetic has been heavily influenced by The Sick Rose and Crucial Interventions. It’s very likely that the book will be hardcover, but I’m not clear on dimensions yet. Here’s the narrative, from one of my brainstorming sessions with B:

This is the story, which I’m working on now. My ideas are best explained over text to B, because I’ve spent most of the FYP period talking to him about my project. This narrative lets me bring in aspects of the Castor and Pollux myth as well as the larger canon of Greek mythology, and gives me an avenue for illustration (I can draw all the hybrids) and grotesque/freakshow ideas that I researched on earlier in the semester.

Here are my initial thoughts for the setup:

The idea is that while the reader is following the stories of Paul and Pollux, they’re standing in front of a mirror, which (as mentioned in the screenshot) will reinforce the ideas of duality and madness. I may also want to incorporate mirrored text into the book pages itself so that the environment can add directly to the experience of reading the book. I haven’t decided where to place the process book, but the walls of this space are likely to be covered in my own drawings (perhaps simulated pages from Paul’s drawings of medical hybrids, and drawings of Castor and Pollux/page extracts from the book) so that people who don’t get a chance to read the entire story get to glimpse the whole project just from the space alone.

Please let me know what you think if you’ve got time to drop me a comment, see y’all next semester and I’ll be back soon with more updates! For now, I will be writing and sketching to work out what I’m going to do with the book, space and process book.

Report WIP

I think I understand what Nanci means by how I might have too much research to work with. I’m in the midst of planning and writing my report now, and it’s proving quite challenging to talk about my research in a way that leads the report reader to where my project is now. This is just a post for me to brainstorm how to organize my report.

Previously, I wanted to organize it by different sets of literature reviews (i.e. On Mythology, On Postmodern Literature) but I think that might not have any personal voice to it if I work that way. It would sound like a collection of unrelated areas of research, and that’s not my intention.

Right now, I’m thinking of trying to look back on my process (how I began by looking at mythology, minus all of the offshoot projects I did) and organize it in that way so that the reader can understand how I got to the idea of looking at the biological/fantastical aspects of the Castor and Pollux story.

As for the project itself, I have two narrative ideas at the moment. The first one is set in the 1800s, surrounding a surgeon who becomes fascinated with the Castor and Pollux myth, and the second one is a retelling of Castor and Pollux. I’m not sure how I’m going to mix the two narratives together yet but I’m working on building them now. I’ve been experiencing a lot of ennui again because I just don’t have much motivation to continue after the critique. It’s as if I’ve been in a slump ever since. Hopefully I’ll find some new inspiration, and writing my report will help me consolidate my ideas.

More collages

Thank you to Beverley for sharing collage resources and influences with me! Here are more visual experiments (I don’t know how I’m going to use them yet in the final outcome) with source imagery courtesy of the Wellcome Library, London. Anyone who needs remixable stock images should definitely check their library out. Right now the way I’m creating is really organic without a specific direction as yet (just going by the aesthetic I like), but along with my illustrations and writing I’m sure this will lead me somewhere good.

Drawings by Hypnothalamus

From the portfolio of the user Hypnothalamus. I’m in love with the sheer weirdness of his work and the majesty of each solitary figure in the drawing. The surreal aspect to the way he morphs the body is something for me to take reference from.

Collage experiment

I think I might actually get into this. I was a bit lazy and clueless about my first collage and just threw a bunch of coloured shapes over the top, but I feel the potential in this for making great visuals for my book that can work alongside my illustrations. I think these are great for period posters and supplementary imagery, so I’ll experiment with more of them and figure out how to fuse this with a type approach plus my existing drawings. Primarily, I still want to draw, but I want to be able to create ephemera that evokes a 1800s mood with a modern sensibility. Thoughts?

All images used in the collage (except the geometric elements which I lazily made in Illustrator) are from Wellcome Library, London.

FYP Crit Reflection + Trajectory Update

Takeaways from last Friday’s FYP crit:

Be aware of work sliding into overly introspective territory (i.e. try not to make it so obvious that you’re using the book as a vehicle to do what you want/draw what you want)
For presentations, trim the content/research a little bit more – I received feedback that suggested I had too much research

Honestly I didn’t receive much criticism about my theme, trajectory or illustration style (I’m genuinely surprised) or in fact any suggestions as to how I can improve my project. I’m going to take it as a sign that I should continue moving on and engaging in research and conceptual thought.

Moving forward, I will be writing more and drawing more and gearing up for production. I want to start settling the content of my book and experimenting with visuals (spreads, illustrations, etc). I might include unrelated conceptual drawings as part of my explorations on duality, but I’d like to get a second opinion. I’m quite inspired by the approach of Crucial Interventions to blending a vintage medical aesthetic with modern grids and type (pictures when the book arrives, I ordered it online for Christmas).

I’m thinking of working more with geometry and anatomy in my illustrations for my FYP. This is contemporary and trending now among dotwork/blackwork artists and it’s recognizably current visual language (that I have been using as well). I think it’s all going well and I shall produce more variations on this theme. Another thing I’d like to try is collaging royalty-free medical images from the Wellcome image database. They could supplement my own illustrations within the book.

Illustration by Benze + Setup

I’ve been feeling a bit stale in the drawing department lately (although this has been a really good break for me), so I started browsing my favourite art websites to look for new inspiration. I am still bent on black and white illustration as much as I ever was, and today I discovered Benze‘s work, which is another aspect I’d like to incorporate into my melting pot of influences.

My plan for the setup is to have the book surrounded by my illustrations/ephemera created that relates to the book. This is just a spontaneous idea for now, but I’ve always been inspired by past work that creates an illustrated space. I’m not sure if it’ll be counterintuitive for the space to overwhelm the book, but I want to immerse the viewer in my aesthetic and I can draw pretty fast when I need to, so I really want to push myself.

I’m hoping to have this kind of space. Right now the plan is to have the left wall focus on fact and the right wall on fiction. So, the left wall would be newspaper clippings (all made by me) and anatomical drawings in a large, pleasing collage. The right wall would be more surreal drawings, possibly excerpts from Pollux’s narrative voice in the book, stuff that’s more esoteric (like my tarot cards). The back wall will be where I can illustrate most, a giant detailed piece about Gemini. And of course, the display stand will be where I place my book (hardcover with gold foil, hur).

This is just a fleeting thought at the moment, but I want a space that creates immersion in my theme and aesthetic so that people who don’t get to see the book at the show can still understand my thesis just from the way the space is arranged. I had a show in JC where I also did a book, and not everyone was able to see it because a book is by definition an intimate viewing that’s most conducive for one person at a time. So, I want to make the space at large evidence of my research, work and illustration skills as well.

Project Summary + Update

The Pollux Case Files
[working title]

Drawing on the Greek myth of the Dioscuri, the celestial twins Castor and Pollux, The Pollux Case Files builds a fragmented, investigative narrative around the immortal Pollux in the aftermath of his mortal twin’s death in battle.

The myth of the Dioscuri, in the same vein as the tales of Homer and Ovid, is traditionally narrated at an emotional distance. In the mythological account, Pollux offers Zeus his immortality for Castor’s life, moving Zeus to enshrine the twins as the constellation Gemini. Yet, what can this tell the reader of Pollux’s navigation of the landscape of grief, or of the nature of twinship and duality? The Pollux Case Files aims to close the emotional distance between this figure of mythology and ourselves by delving into the emotional and psychological facets of Pollux as a lone twin. This voyage into the psyche of a surviving twin will be undertaken primarily in writing and illustration, likely executed in the form of a book or publication extrapolating upon the Dioscuri myth.

The thematic focus of The Pollux Case Files centres itself around the notion of duality. Duality is explored in research that includes the scientific and esoteric issues surrounding twin studies and real-life accounts of lone twins coping with their twin’s death. In building duality into the narrative surrounding my adaptation of Pollux’s story, I refer to the realm of postmodern literature and its techniques of metanarrative, pastiche and multiple voices. In my visual representation of the terrain of Pollux’s psyche and of duality, my inspiration includes the work of Harry Clarke, Will Bradley and Ilya Brezinski, vintage medical and scientific illustrations and the influence of Surrealist work. The project is presently in its research/experimental stage, with its trajectory established and its content and form in development.

I trust myself in being able to write an adequate summary of how things are progressing so far. I didn’t use the summary to justify the rationale behind my project, but I will have a slide in my presentation explaining the cultural value of mythology and perhaps I’ll take a look at the other work that’s out there surrounding retellings/extrapolations upon existing myths.

I happened to have a chat with Candice the other day, and when she asked me how my FYP was going, I mentioned to her about the topic I was working on (Castor and Pollux) and she told me she was not aware of the myth. So, using Candice’s comments as a benchmark, I’ve re-geared my presentation to begin with an overview of the myth and a focus on the death of Castor as the springing point for the trajectory of my project. This should help with immediately signposting my themes and ideas for those who may not know the myth.

It’s not all too surprising that people may be less aware of Castor and Pollux compared to other mythology stories that are more known. I watched Kingsman with someone who had zero knowledge of the Arthurian myths (which makes the entire film a lot less enriching, if you ask me). But I’m sure that the Avengers franchise has brought Norse mythology a bit closer to the fore. Greek mythology is a central element to Neil Gaiman’s seminal Sandman series, and I don’t think it’ll take much convincing to prove that this topic is worthy of an FYP.

Slides

Here’s an overview of my presentation so far:

Castor and Pollux – introducing the myth, which grounds the entire project
Duality – introducing the theme underlying the project
Reading – archetypes, twinless twins, human chimeras
Influences – books and artists that have influenced my approach
Mapping – the theme map I did earlier in the semester
Past projects related to Castor and Pollux – to show outcomes I’ve explored and ideas/work I’ve already looked at; Y3S2 projects, B’s birthday book, unfinished tarot deck
Timeline – showing planning
Bibliography – I failed to include this the last time round with the seniors!
Suggested questions – learned from Mindy’s presentation

I am including a lot of my past drawings in the slides and adopting the same type/grid approach I used for the calendar project. I use this a lot in my work and personal projects and it’s the most intuitive way for me to present my information in an organized manner that embodies the feel of my project. I’ll share more of my slides on Friday, and I’d welcome any feedback that helps me plug any gaps.