6. ‘Production & Outcomes’ influences & reactions

It is common for all work to echo that of which the time period in which it was made in. This is called "Zeitgeist", an idea that is altered and influenced by the events and happenings of their current time. To illustrate this point further I'm going to compare two different Alice in Wonderland films from different times, not only am I going to look at what influenced the films, but what techniques were available at the time thus changing the outcome.
First of all I will look at the 1988 version of the film by Jan Švankmajer, it is known for being a even more bizarre take on the novel. It uses stop-motion animation for most of the non-human characters, which I feel reflects the time in which it was made heavily. The dark nature of the film could also be reflecting on the fact that the film was released the year before the fall of the berlin wall.

Now if we compare that to the recent release of Alice in Wonderland directed by Tim Burton, we can see that techniques have clearly changed along with the overall feel. This film gives off a different atmosphere with its bright colours and state of the art special effects. The film somewhat reflects our time, as it's heavy use in CGI and it's IMAX 3D cinema release shows. 90% of the movie was shot in front of green screen which says a lot about our time saving attitude we have today.



Working methodology, working with different techniques and exploring for the best outcome helps illustrators work professionally and independently. To show this in action I will show how I used the process in my work.
For my brief, I decided to look at image manipulation, by all means but digital, I wanted to do everything by hand at first, so I looked into and studied a small art movement called Suprematism.

I then started to find different ways to manipulate observational drawings with Suprematism. I then explored into alternative digital manipulation, such as animation, moving photo's while photocopying, making people out of other photos and folding photographs. I made myself practice these techniques until I found the right one that suited my idea.

In the end I digitally distorted my observational drawing and painted them onto wood, combining both hand made and digital. Without all the previous exploration, I would've stayed with my original idea of having a handmade only outcome, exploration helped me stay open-minded through my project as well as give me ideas for a final piece.