For this exercise, the task was to build up a reference set for the 1950's. I noticed something about how previous students had approached this exercise. A lot had used Pinterest as a way of collating and curating reference material.
I had not used Pinterest a lot in the past, but I thought it was a good approach to supplement the image reference folders I had been building up offline. I also didn't want to have to sift through a lot of physical media to find the references, as it wouldn't have been very time-efficient.
I did note, however, that going to physical sources would be a time-efficient when the subject area was confined, like National Geographic for example. Had this been client work, I would have liked to have sources some books and magazines from the 1950s to get an authentic impression.
Looking to a lot of the research of other students, there seemed to be an overwhelming bias to a stereotype of the the 1950s - predominantly the culture in 1950's America. My mum was born in 1953, so I asked her about her memories of that time in the UK, and there seemed to a contrast between the US, with it's pastel colours, atomic preoccupation and chrome. The UK was still using rationing until 1954, its outlook was far less grandiose. So I decided to focus my research on the 1950s from a UK perspective. This did include some US content, especially influences from design, media and advertising.
In the UK there seemed to be a juxtaposition between the traditional and the new. This contrast also happened in the US, but in the States there was much more of a feeling of optimism. The advent of the nuclear age was reflected a lot in the style and designs of the time, with influences of atoms, starbursts and simple line art featuring heavily.
When I researched decoration in the UK, there was a definite learn towards simpler colours and geometric design, but there was surprisingly also still a lot of patterns influenced from the 1940s. Floral wallpapers seem to have been common.
I really enjoyed researching about graphic design, there seems to be so many designs and styles that would not look out of place today, which shows that the time period has a strong influence even now. I saw examples of asynchronous composition, bold block colours and a huge variety of typography.
The emergence of more abstract art movements influenced design and illustration in the mainstream. Whilst not always as full-on in those mediums, one thing that did stand out to me was the use of block colour that wouldn't make sense by itself. With the addition of black ink lines, however, the composite picture emerged. This was something that really interested me. I played in my sketchbook with turning amorphous coloured shapes into animals. I liked the idea so much, I wondered how I could take control of the blocks of colour, and think how to balance colour, line and negative space.
New architecture in the 1950s Britain was heavily influenced by Brutilism, but also a need to erect quickly after the devastation of the Second World War. Within that speed there was an optimism for new ways of building, designing and planning the buildings of the future.
I grew up in Devon. Plymouth was devastated in the blitz, and was almost completely rebuilt in the 1950s. This kind of architectural approach is very prevalent there and I took time to research places I was familiar with to see their original implementation. Honestly, I was shocked by the contrast. The open, optimistic and forward-thinking original implementations compare dramatically to what those areas became in the future, as the population increased and the numbers of cars increased exponentially.
In the UK, one of the emerging divides between the adults and the young expressed itself in the Teddy Boy culture. Harsher, and (dare I say more 'punk') than the American comparatives, the UK Teddy Boy scene was rebellious, cool, and edgy. Although there were similarities with the US Rock & Roll aesthetic, The teddy boy style has underpinnings of Edwardian styling. In the US, Rock & Roll styling was very different between men and women (referring to rockabilly styling) but in the UK the Teddy Boy had its own female subculture, with women taking on very similar attire to the men. In that regard, it feels more progressive than the US.
For my illustration I wanted to draw on the conflict between the old and the new, and the generational gap. My Dad's family were coal miners, and this industry was still going strong in the 1950s. But this is also when the generational gap emerged, with the younger generation looking outwards, and not wanting to always follow in family footsteps.
I started with thinking about more traditional ideas, this was to demonstrate the time to others.
But I didn't like the idea of just creating a canvas in which to stick in people and paraphernalia of the time like a scrapbook.
I really felt that the image needed to tell a story as well. I had the idea in my head to represent the tension between generation, and the juxtaposition between tradition and progress.
So I started to think about what it might have been like for my Dad if he had been a Teddy Boy. How might his relationship have changed with my miner Grandfather.
So I got the idea to show this dynamic between a father and a son. The father a hard-working miner and the son a Teddy Boy looking for independence. Underpinning it would be the Edwardian styling from both perspectives. So I decided to place the scene in a traditional Edwardian British miner's house, and then include the Teddy Boy style on the son.
My last thumbnail seemed to have a composition with much more energy than the other, which seemed to be more artificially posed. I wanted to experiment with the colour/line/space style I had seen in my research and experimented with in my sketchbook. So I did my rough using acrylic on acrylic paper, to see what the composition was like. I also wanted to use a limited palette.
This made me think of overlaying colours to make the most out of using just two colours, like I was screen printing. I chose two colours which I thought might be interesting, but when I combined them they came out dirty, and even the other layers seemed inconsistent.
But I did learn that overlaying the colours could definitely work, and the composition as a whole should work.
I wanted the walls and floors to show some of the 1950s design influences. To show the modern on the top of the old. So I wanted to use a wallpaper with a geometric pattern, similar to one I had found in my research. And then to use the black chequered lino flooring in the kitchen.
Getting the perspective on this kind of pattern would be very difficult for me to do by hand, so I decided to move to the computer, to allow me to transform a pattern effectively. I created the pattern using the two colours I had changed to, as their combined colour (purple) would be more effective in the overlaps. The pattern was inspired directly from reference.
So, for the final piece I painted in the colours for the blocks, using my roughs underneath for reference and to assist placement. After that I removed the reference and added in the ink by (digital) hand, like I would have done on top of a screen print.
The last, most digital part was to add the wallpaper, manipulating its shape to get the right perspective, and align to the front-facing section.
I am generally very happy with the illustration. I put it onto the OCA Illustration Discord channel for feedback from my peers. It was generally positive, but some of my fellow students did give me feedback about putting something else in the hall.
I think they are right, and if I were to come back to this illustration, I would add something like a side table in the hall with something like a radio and/or telephone of the time to fill the space and seat it more firmly in the 1950s.
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