Daredevil: Design research

For my interpretation on Daredevil, I want to design a suit made from martial arts equipment and mainly boxing orientated, to reflect upon his father.
To do this I searched through a martial arts equipment catalogue to find the appropriate costume elements that would provide both function and style to the character. It's a area between the comic book interpretation and real world elements.

Gloves:

Kali Gloves

Kali gloves protect the hands from blows yet still allow free movement and great grip.

 Kali is a martial art that mainly focuses on escrima stick fighting. This make the gloves suitable for Daredevil who is a stick fighter as well as aesthetically they look the part and unlike the other gloves support open finger protection. /

Everlast grappling training gloves

Full wrist strap provides superior wrist support and allows for a more customizable fit. New design with refined MMA glove shape for improved finger flexibility and hand protection. Articulated finger ridges for ease of movement. Grappling training MMA gloves perfect for grappling and mitt work.

 Comparing these to the heavy bag gloves, these seem more suitable. There are more articulate for grappling whilst the heavy bag gloves are more suited for durability based on what they're used for. These gloves fit the bill I'm looking for. /

Everlast MMA pro style grappling gloves

Premium synthetic leather along with excellent glove construction provides long lasting durability and functionality. Full wrist wrap strap provides superior wrist support and allows for a more customizable fit. New design with refined glove padding silhouette and a more ergonomic fist shape for improved comfort and flexibility.

The first issue I notice with these gloves is that there appears to be no thumb guard and leaves the thumb exposed. They don't provide the same amount of coverage as the grappling training gloves do so these ones aren't right. X

Everlast MMA gel training striking gloves

EVERFRESH™ anti-microbial liner. 18" hook & loop wrist strap closure for extra support and protection during training. Reinforced finger loops. Anatomical thumb padding to provide increased protection without sacrificing mobility and comfort.

I'm comparing these gloves against the heavy bag gloves now. The main issue with these gloves is the sides. The back of the fist is padded but the sides are not, so any slipped punches could injure the hands. That being said these gloves say they're more articulate that the heavy bag gloves and they look a lot more like boxing gloves. I have settled on these gloves as my third option, because a professional fighter wouldn't throw many slipped punches, making the padding not an issue. And also as his father was a boxer, these pay better homage to that and would be something more easily acquired by the son of a boxer and easier to adapt to. /

Everlast wristwrap heavy bag gloves

Premium synthetic leather along with excellent glove construction provides long lasting durability and functionality. Anti-microbial treatment fights offensive odors and bacterial growth keeping your products safe and smelling fresh. Full wrist wrap strap provides superior wrist support and allows for a more customizable fit.

When compared to the gel training striking gloves, these gloves are more durable and better protected, but not as articulated. I need to consider which is more important for what I'm after when looking at these two, function or protection. I think if Daredevil would be trained as a fighter the protection wouldn't matter as much because a professional fighter would rarely throw a bad punch. In the conclusion I will vote the gel training gloves over these ones. X

here are my three selected gloves. I have chosen 3 because I would like to explore an evolution of the charcater's costume. There's a quick black costume that was improvised, here he carries a police baton as a weapon.

The second being his first appearence costume in 1964 which was a yellow and maroon colour, around this era his billy club also had a hook on it from his walking cane so I can interpret this as part of the evolution

Finally there's the iconic red suit that has been around since 1965 and after a few short term variations is still used to this day unaltered. This Daredevil carries a standard cylindrical shaped billy club.

Helmets:
The appropriate head gear needs to be boxing influenced but not too bulky.

Venum Elite Head Guard:

built with skintex leather – well known for its durability – its features a triple density foam for a better shock management. All the face was design in order to combine a full cranial protection and a 180-degree vision. Because an elite fighter always heading for success. Technical features: - 100% Skintex leather construction for great durability and high fighting performances. - Ultra lightweight to allow faster head movement. - Specific face design for a perfect protection and a open 180-degree vision. - Triple density contoured foam for ultimate shock absorption. - Reinforced ear cover. - Open-Top design with mesh for a better evacuation of perspiration and moisture. - Flexible 2-ways Velcro closure for a customized no-slip fit. - Handmade in Thailand.

With this being a branded head guard, there's a lot of description and technical points to sell it on. Ignoring that, this helmet is durable, lightweight, and articulate. My main issue with this is that it covers too much. The design isn't all too different from the UFC MMA Head Guard but this helmet is more fashion than fuction so I plan to drop this make. X

UFC MMA Head Guard:

High density foam. Soft leather upper and PU inner layers. Gel reinforced forehead panel. Adjustable chin strap.

Although this is an MMA head guard, it bares resemblance to boxing head gear. The difference between this and boxing head gear is that this is sleaker. Although this means there's less padding to protect, it means it provides better sense of vision and less weight.

UFC Head Guard:

Leather upper and PU inner. Anti-slip technology for greater comfort. Pre-moulded foam offering extra protection.

The same as the MMA Head Guard but minus the chin strap and slightly different forehead shape.
Between the two of these helmets I'll have to play about with which helmet to choose, whether it has a chin strap or not. The chin strap forces the guard to cling to the face, whereas this one will be more less restrictive. 

Dipped Foam Hood:

Light and safe our dip foam head guards are easy to put on and remove, one of the most versatile head guards around. Can be used for any martial art including karate or semi contact training and competitions. The head guard has air holes throughout to reduce sweat and a velcro fastening chin strap.

The key thing I noticed about this is the ear coverage. The helmet is designed off the rare occasion Daredevil would get hit in the head so the key is protection, but for a blind man his hearing would be key to protect too. People familiar with the comics would know that this is one of DD's weaknesses so coverage of it, but also allowing gaps for better hearing would work great.

In order to keep the Daredevil look, I plan to add small foam-like or leather horns to the brow of the helmet and some kind of thin mask design or facepaint underneath the helmet.

Body Armour:
I'm not sure yet whether or not I plan to include body armour as an overlayer or just imply it's worn under the costume, but regardless if I go with the overlay route here is my research.


Kali Body Armour:

A tough reversible jacket able to withstand substantial punishment. Red one side, blue the other makes it ideal for competitions. Padded design allows unrestricted movement.

This padded jacket allows for great articulation and protection but the reason I'm not going to use this design is because of the style. It looks very Japanese which isn't the approach I'm going for so I do not plan to use this type of armour. X

Coaching Body Armour:

Sturdy and robust, it absorbs those hard body strikes. Made from leather it has a raised side and mid-section, excellent for knee, round kicks and other undesirable blows! Extra thick ranging between 3 to 4 inches.

The coaching body armour by blitz has a very basic design, it doesn't look too bulky and would be very easy to acquire. My main struggle is where to place the DD emblem. Will it be too high on the body if it goes on the top section, and will it be too low on the bottom section. Ideally I'd look to place it between the two sections but based on the ridges that would prove difficult. I'm on the fence with this piece depending on if the emblem works.

Wacoku WTF Approved Reversible Competition Body Armour:

The ultimate approved reversible body armour, blue one side red the other, contains a shock absorbing EVA pad which is approximately 13mm thick. The shock absorbing pad of the protector also contains a sponge to protect the wearer from the shock of attacks. The armour is secured by reinforced cotton straps which are tied at the rear.

The main issue I am aware of with these chest guards are that the groin guards restrict movement. If I opt to use one of these designs I plan to remove this element. What I like about this guard is the leather shine effect which aesthetically looks boxing influenced. The details in the piece are also interesting as it stops the piece being a simple flat design, but also I think these ridges are creases to allow movement.

T-Sport Body Armour:

T-Sport Body Armour - Red. Moulded design. Cut profile, Soft fabric cover. Covers the sternum, solar plexus and ribs. Comfortable and lightweight for excellent mobility. Available in Sizes Junior & Senior in Red or Blue.

My choice for this body armour is mainly the centre piece. This would provide a good location for the DD emblem. Like with the previous body armour the groin guard would be removed but between the two I like both so far.

Ampro MKII Ultimate Advanced Body Shield:

Ampro MKII Ultimate Advanced Body Shield. Unique anatomically curved design body protector with molded “rib” insets provides excellent freedom of movement for full contact training and sparring. This product is infused with more than 2.5” of three Ampro precision placed inner foams for the ultimate in impact dispersion which helps to create the most comfortable, impact resistant durable design in the world. Complete with two adjustable hook-and-loop rear straps and two shoulder straps for a custom bespoke fit for any trainer or boxer. Ideal for coaches that want a bit more movement in the ring and to feel some of the punches Freddie Roach style or for a boxer carrying a slight injury that needs protecting. One Size.

Now what I like about this chest guard is the fact that the different sections allow for free movement. my issue with this guard however is that it looks too bulky. When compared to the other guards this is the largest one other than the Kali armour which I have already decided against using. For what I'm looking for I need a sleeker chest guard that this. X

I plan to draw up a few concepts of how my selected chest guards will look on the character. I need to make sure the emblem looks like it's placed correctly and that the chest piece doesn't look odd or too bulky. If these designs don't work I also plan to design the suit without a chest guard, implying there's one under the costume to see which looks best.

Finally
Leg protection:
For the legs, normal track pants would be worn along with trainers, but shin padding and kickers to armour the leg.
Firepower Leather Shin and Instep:

High quality leather. The new shin & instep offers three levels of varying types of foam which gives three times the amount of absorption compared to the standard shin & instep. These are of the highest quality and design and compete against many expensive counterparts from Thailand and the Far East.

To me these shin guards look too soft for what I'm looking for. They have foam padding and leather exteriors like the other two, but compared to my other selections they look like they're just used for practice work.I'm sure these would be able to take impact, but I'd imagine a scratch to the leather would break down the foam. I won't be using these guards.

Venum Predator Standup Shin Guards:

Handmade in Thailand with the highest quality material and conception, “Predator” shin guards are just at the highest level of boxing equipment chain! Triple reinforced front panels both on shin and leg protection offers you supreme protection on impacts. Its anatomical pre-curved design offers you the perfect fit: your comfort is better and your mobility is upgraded! Carlos Condit, Lyoto Machida and Wanderlei Silva are using it during their preparations for UFC fights! Technical features: - Innovative blend of Skintex and Buffalo leather offering the best fighting experience. - Velcro enclosure. - High density foam with additional padding across the shin and instep. - Lightweight for upper mobility and speed. - Embossed label and slick graphics. - Handmade in Thailand.

These shin guards look a lot better, the material looks tougher, the design is sleeker and they look like can take scratch damage along with protect impact damage. The padding design offers a better aesthetic than the Firepower shin guards. It's most likely that I'll be using this as choice of guard depending on the next ones.


Bad Boy Training Series MMA Shin Guards:

Bad Boy have developed a Training Series range aiming to bring fighters the best quality fighting and training gear at affordable prices. Designed with the comfort and development of fighters in mind, these shin guards are a must have for any serious MMA Fighter.
The pre-curved structure ensures they will not lose shape, even after time. Whist the multi-layer padding offers better fit and protection on impact, both when giving or receiving kicks. The adjustable hook and loop closure holds pads securely to the legs to prevent movement in training. Also new elastic strap on heel and under sole is further guaranteed to hold firmly to your shin and for reduced movement.
The padded in steps offer further protection to your foot for inaccurate strikes. All this, with brand new design, black and red pin totted PU leather for ultimate durability. With letterbox Eyes on the insteps and the training series logo on the strap, these are the both stylish shin guards Bad Boy have made to date!

These shin guards look to be smaller than the Venum ones, I think I'll use the Venum ones over the other two, but might use this one for one of the other iterations of Daredevil, perhaps the yellow suit. These hold more of a boxing creased leather look which works well and they look a lot tougher than the Firepower shin guards, but not quite as good as the Venum guards. I'll use these, but only to see how the designs turn out.

Project begninnings

After thought and research, I've come to a decision on around 5 characters to start my project on.
I plan to focus my work on the elements of these characters often overlooked and I'm reading between the lines of these characters. Because Superheroes and Supervillains are exadurated characters, their psychologies and insinuated thoughts are often overlooked by the costumes or powers. With most comic book characters, because they have been evolving over around 70 years or so, there's a deep psychology and real character depth to these fictional people. Back in the late 30's when Comics where first appearing, starting with Superman back in 1938, these characters have been built up to reflect the times they are in and are still being defined to this day. By this I mean in the midst of World War II comics of the 40's were very much based on propaganda, causing the birth of Captain America. The 60's comics were often focused on nuclear testing, fears of radiation and drug use. 80's comics were very political, looking into fascism and government conspiracy's. With every era changing the characters had to change with these and now the modern world of comics we live in is very much influenced by the comic book films of late, the stories reflect a dark realistic world filled with themes of murder, drugs, torture and terrorism, whilst at the same time being exadurated as the comic book world they are set in. This gives me a large range of time to work with, as well as a sense of the characters that has been overlooked due to this time. Here are my 5 starting characters and the paths I plan to take with these.

Daredevil:

The main trait associated with Daredevil is that he's a blind superhero, this isn't something I want to overlook but it's something that's become over enforced so I want to look at dialing this back. Daredevil's origins are very much revenge based. A truck carrying radioactive materials was about to hit a blind man until Matt Murdock pushed the man aside, but as a result the radioactive waste spilled into his eyes, blinding him but also giving him a radar sense based on his other augmented senses. Matt Murdock's father was a boxer who also worked for the mafia as an enforcer and later in life his father learned his fights had been fixed. When he was told to throw a fight, refusing to lose the boxing match in front of his son he was killed that night. Since then Matt became a lawyer by day in Hell's Kitchen, New York and the vigilante Daredevil by now.


My approach to Daredevil is going to focus heavily on the boxing elements to the character. His build in the comics is usually very slender and he's very acrobatic. I plan to loose these elements in favor of a top heavy build and re-design his costume into one more sports based. To do this I plan to research fighting gear, mainly boxing based including helmets, gloves and padding.
I also want to reflect on the location of Hells Kitchen. Hell's Kitchen is an area in New York City, known as 'Clinton' or 'Midtown-West' by real estate developers, but the colloquial name of 'Hell's Kitchen' is what it's most commonly known as. After some quick research into Hell's Kitchen, I found that it's influenced heavily by 1970's New York, so I plan to research that. Hell's Kitchen was chosen as the location for the comics for the reputation the area had. The location was referred to by the New York Times as "the lowest and filthiest in the city" and it has seen its share of riots and crime. I can't exactly take photographs from New York without incredible difficulty so to fix this problem I will find the closest location like this to home. My area of residence isn't the nicest place to live, nor are the surrounding towns, so I will plan around my local area to replicate a location of grit and violence.

Wolverine:

Wolverine's Origin is a huge tale that I couldn't be able to re-inform or even begin to explain so this is a character that I'm still working on. Since the X-Men movies Wolverine in the comics has taken on more of a resemblance to Hugh Jackman which is where I plan to counter this. In his early forms, Wolverine was a short, angry man who liked to smoke cigars and drink heavy liqueur. I prefer to think of Wolverine as a brawler, bar fighting man than the kind of body building martial artist that the movies have portrayed. Like my thoughts on Daredevil I want a top heavy Wolverine with a stocky build.
My thoughts into the themes of Wolverine I'm still working on, but I'm thinking of working the ideas of the Kitchen Sink movement into them. The idea of angry men and pub drinking is something that reflects heavily on Wolverine. I'm also considering some deeper themes to him like his age (in that's he ages slower than normal people), the fact that all his past relationships have ended in tragedy or possibly reflect on his memory loss or time in the wars like how soldiers can get post traumatic stress disorder. He's still a character I'm thinking on.


Silver Surfer:

The Silver Surfer's tale is filled with woe and here's a quick summary of this. A man called Norrin Radd lived on a peace filled planet called Zenn-La and was in love with a woman named Shalla Bal, until the day a god-like entity called Galactus came upon the planet. Galactus survived by feeding on planets and planned to destroy Zenn-La to quench his hunger, all until Norrin Radd made a deal with Galactus and bargained to save his planet and his loved one. He agreed to become Galactus' herald and locate planets for Galactus to feed upon. He was transformed into the Silver Surfer, gifted with invulnerability, cosmic powers and a board that would fly him through the cosmos. Unbeknown to the Silver Surfer however was that Galactus had wiped his memory of Zenn-La and who he really was. In later stories, the Surfer learned of his past and turned on Galactus for erasing his memory, but when he went in search of his home planet, Galactus had hidden it from the Surfer's discovery. The poetic tragedy of his tale is that to save his planet and the woman he loves, he must now spend an eternity of loneliness in outer space.

For the backgrounds of my work I can improvise and look into science fiction backgrounds and experimental and abstract interpretations of space. For the Silver Surfer in general I plan to look into how the greeks depicted their gods and artists like Carravagio. For the theme of work I plan to look into loneliness and portray how the Surfer is a tortured and isolated soul.


Nightcrawler:

Nightcrawler is a mutant member of the X-Men, he resembles a blue demon and his mutant ability is that he can teleport and cling to walls. For my work however none of this matters because his main quality as a character is his religious views. Nightcrawler is a strong Catholic which is ironic next to his demonic appearance. Being a mutant, this also gives me the prejudice and racism parallels also, how he is different and is hated and feared because of this. My research into this project will take my into religious paintings, Catholic traits and the same approach to my Rogue work from last year looking into prejudice themed photojournalism.

Gambit:

Gambit is another X-man and mutant, his ability is that he can charge objects with kinetic energy which explode on impact. My thoughts on taking on Gambit is mainly time based. The deep character of Gambit is that he's a thief, self centered and secretive so I will need to think how I can portray some of these ideas into a piece of art. My main focus for what I have so far is to set the time of my painting in a pulp noir kind of environment and to do this I plan to look into the work of Fabian Perez.

Pathways Week 3

This is where the final weeks on pathways jumbles a bit because I missed a session due to a job interview, BUT not to worry as this post will be completely understandable and overall the blog is organised.

3D:
In the 3D workshop, I worked on wire sculpture, more specifically drawing with wire. I have previously spot welded before so the skills acquired where still to my knowledge. Working from a larger image of one of my drawings in my sketch book, I created a flat wire sculpture of the drawing. To do this I used various sizes of wire, pliers, a spot welder and various techniques to sculpt wire.

Elizabeth Berrien:

Elizabeth Berrien is a wire artist working in both 3D wire drawings as well as 3D sculptures. She has really intricate detail and likeness in her work, knowing how difficult wire sculpture is these pieces are very skilled. I like in the fireman piece how she managed to create a sense of depth.

Laura Antebi:

Laura Antebi is a 3D sculpture artist who uses wire. most of her work is animal based where she uses recycled wire fencing to create her sculptures. I like how she used spray paint on her wire work to add colour to her wire sculpts. I also like how she works into her wire sculptures later with other materials like with the divers helmet where she has used steel bars.

I created the overall structure simply by tracing and welding the wire to form the shape. After getting the major areas in I treated the wire like a normal drawing and put in a center line to the head so I could attatch the face. After the face was finished I tied thin wire the top of the drawing and shaped it to form hair. Lastly I needed to emulate a beard and eye brow, to save time and repetativity, I took the initiative to create a technique that would cover a thicker area, to interperet a beard AND look like a drawing at the same time. To do this I curled wire around a pen into a coil and spot welded it to the sides of the face. I did this for 4 coils.
The finished piece is below, but what's better I personally think is the shadow cast by the drawing. The silhouette acts more like a drawing than the wire.

How the shadow casts the drawing

Textles:
For textiles we looked at Manutex printing, which is a style of screen printing using industrial inks. The process involves painting an image or pattern onto a silk screen with ink, turning the screen and scraping Manutex onto the screen which creates a transfer.

I couldn't find any manutex artists in general, but here are some silk screen printers who use the same methods.

Andy Warhol:

Andy Warhol is the biggest name in both screen printing and pop art. He often uses popular American icons such as Marilyn Monroe as the subject for his work and creates various coloured prints of his images. I chose to look at some of his pieces out of the main attention and picked these two pieces. They both have a macabre feel to them based on the subject and colour. These two pieces are good examples of how colour works, for example would these two pieces work as well replacing the red with a blue. The red is a warning for danger giving the two pieces their edge.



Ben Rider:

Ben Rider creates comedic and I would say commercial images. I can see his work being used for things like T-Shirt designs. what I like about his subjects is the humour and in the case of the Frankenstein prints I really like the background colours. The backgrounds are really bright and vibrant and make nice surfaces for the black print.


I worked on a few surfaces to create images from both dolphinholme and my research but not having much success with the method. Here are my unsuccessful results

I later realised that because I was working on a wet silk screen, the ink was bleeding. I finally dried the screen and tried 1 last time and it worked successfully.

Statement of intent

Over the course of this year, I plan to continue my work themes from my last course on l3 Art and Design, by using friends and family as models for my work and creating comic book inspired artwork most likely in the form of paintings, but advance this onto the next stage.
The reason behind this is that I was successful with my previous work and its something enjoy working on, but I think there's still a lot I can do with my general theme of work and this year will be the time to really finalize my theme.

My reason for choosing comic books is because I have a deep interest and passion for them, including the history of comics as well as the artists and writers who work on them. I have met many people who work in the comic book industry and I'm in touch with a few through social media. Comic books are very often shunned in the art world which was the statement I made about my project on my previous course. I produced distinction level work which is currently up in an Art Gallery all based around comics.

This year I would like to expand on this and take it a bit more back to fine art, by following up from my 'Acceptance' piece last year. I plan to create more subtle comic book artwork this year with a deeper meaning behind the characters. I'm going to explore narrative in artwork and focus a lot of my work into both psychology and history of various comic book characters and relate them to themes of socialism and historical context. I think a lot more of my theme this year will look at the man behind the superhero and reflect more on their roots (both in fiction and real life creations) to humanize the characters a little more and make them into something relatable on our levels.
I am aware it's difficult to produce work based on comic books without it coming off as amateur-like, but I am confident in myself that I can do this and I believe I have a working methodology behind this too.

My work plan will continue as it has before which is:
Artist Research > Thought Process > Contextual Research > Photograph Models and Backgrounds > Experiment ideas using different media > produce final outcome




This isn't a set solid method, but I should be covering each of these steps in my work.

The Plan:
First I will research Fine Artists (to pick up painting and drawing techniques), Illustrators (who have a unique approach to mainstream comics), Fine Artists who work with a similar approach to my own artwork (e.g. Jason Oakes, JKB Fletcher), Narrative artists and Photo Journalists (to support the meaning behind my artwork)

During this time  will also be arranging my 'castings' for the characters that I will be using for my work. This process is usually based on either characteristics or physique.

After casting I will look into how to incorporate said character into my theme of work. This will  delve into the character design and history, social context and/or historical context and character appropriate artist research.

I will then photograph both my models and backgrounds to work from (these usually end up as rough photoshopped compositions, occasionally supported by tweaking the model to resemble the character)

Working from my images I will produce some sketches and media experiments in my sketch book

Finally I will produce a finalized version of this piece.

When FMP comes, I will use the development I have produced over the year to settle on a piece to work on and do an in-depth, grand final piece.

As a side note to this project, I also have another project related to this which is a running work of art, but it's in the open world. With each piece that I'm doing, it's like placing the characters that I am familiar with, in the real world that I live in. By using real life locations in my work, I have continually been expanding my own world into that of something fantastical. To document this I have been creating a map online where I have been marking the locations that I use as a reminder and also  landmarking I suppose of my artwork. You can view the map here where it will constantly be updated
https://www.zeemaps.com/map?group=1154976

Artist Research

The artists that I research for inspiration and technique are predominantly fine artists (realist, fantastic, expressionist and surrealist) illustrators (comic books and graphic novels) and artists that specifically work between the two, such as JKB Fletcher and Jason Oakes.

Fine Art:
Cosmo Sarson:
Cosmo was a visiting lecturer we had who produces a lot of commercial artwork such as advertising and work on films. Cosmo's general theme to his own artwork is influenced by [...] and his pieces display a flair of drama and action in his work. His charcoal drawings remind me of the pencil sketches of comic book artist Alex Ross in his portrayal of figures and use of lighting and composition.

Cosmo creates these pieces using charcoal and working from images he creates himself, much like how I produce my work. He uses himself and others as models for his artwork and using props he creates dynamic images, in the case of these going to the routes of Greek mythology. Mythology isn't a whole lot different to comic book fantasy which links into my basis of work, but creating scenes like these never occured to me before. I should consider this year spreading my focus on more than the one model and produced some images using multiple models in a dynamic scene.

Another thing I'd like to try is that he created this interactive mural which when scanned with a smart phone plays a video. This could be useful to me creating a real life comic book world around me and perhaps use locations from my artwork to create an interactive augmented reality.


Edward Hopper:
Edward Hopper is a painter of the 1940's and his work represents this time period a lot. His themes generally revolve around the things he sees in life at the time. The information the paintings tell us is a reflection of the time period Hopper was living in and his focus on nightlife I think tells you about himself as a person.

'Nighthawks'
1942

This is Hopper's most recognized painting and it depicts a New York café at night with customers eating inside. Hopper made detailed notes on his paintings to enforce what he planned to produce such as 'light on metal tanks at rear right; brilliant streak of jade green tiles 3/4 cross canvas at base of glass of window curving at corner.' clearly thinking everything through and planning out his painting process before working on it. This where the painting gets it's name from as 'Nighthawks' refers to his not about the man in the dark suit calling him a 'Night Hawk'.

'New York Movie'
1939

 This piece represents a common past time of 1940's New York which was the old cinemas. I like the vintage feel to the piece and how the attention is drawn not to the cinema screen which is the realistic case, but to the usher instead. The use of colour as with all his pieces are brilliant and vibrant, well mixed strong colours which burst from the contrasting darkness in the piece. The use of lighting is really well also, how in the left darker section the brightest areas are the lights and highlights, whilst on the opposing side the woman's face is darkened due to the bright lights on her side.

Salvadore Dali:

The Hand

Soft Self-Portrait

Gala looking into the Mediterranean sea

Exploded Head

Salvadore Dali is the most well known of the surrealist artists. he is best known for his piece 'The persistence of memory'.
His work implores blank desert like landscapes, bright colours, smooth blending and abnormal shapes. His work is based on strange, dream-like scenes and tricks of perception. I think he has really nice paint quality and it's interesting how he makes surreal objects look real through his representation of light bouncing off objects.


Glenn Brown:
Brown is a controversial artist for his use of appropriation in his work, often being refereed to as plagiarism. To cover this point before getting into the artwork I like, I agree with this notion.

I believe there's a difference between this and most other appropriation artists that I have looked into. To use someone else's art to support you own is acceptable in my view, but in this instance it's more so a carbon copy with some improvement, rather than his own work. I wouldn't be happy if someone continued to work on one of my paintings and take credit for the outcome. Regardless it's his own work that I'm interested in.

These pieces I like, they have an eerie sinister look to them and are very monster-like. The colours are generally dark with bursts of neon-like colours and the brush strokes are really thickly applied. The shapes in his pieces are very expressionistic and have a great fluid motion to them.


Illustrator:

Mark Djurdjevic:
Djurdjevic's work is mostly digital, he is an illustrator who has worked as a concept artist on books, films and video games. His Comicbook Covers are what I like most.

I really quite like this piece. Firstly the placing of the composition is ground level, as if a camera is placed on the floor. I think straight away this takes the viewer into a closer relationship with the action as it's more a case of being involved in the piece itself rather than viewing it from a distance. I also really like the use of rain, how it looks like a sea scape on the floor based on the heavy down pour of rain, it seems surreal but it works really dynamically.

I like these two pieces because they relate to my meaning of work. They are both comic book illustrations and also historical illustrations. They tell the story of a young Magneto from the X-Men series, who was a survivor of the holocaust. The two pieces reflect on the boy's future whilst at the same time providing a historical piece about the concentration camps. The composition is very grim and empathy provoking and it border lines on what is perceived as superhero comic books and factual history based comic books.

I like these two Djudjevic pieces for their use of strong colors. He has two other pieces that go along with these but I feel these are the stronger of the two. The colors balance each other well and I think I've discovered I like artwork with strong vibrant colors.

I found this piece through primary research where I have this comic book, and what drew me to researching the artist is the styling and effects on the piece. Most of the background is blocked out by a vibrant red which suggests something of blood or violence (especially when supported with the character image) there are they scratches drawn over the top of the piece which gives it at first I thought a vintage theme, but after it now reminds me of broken glass. The piece as a whole I like because it is striking but there's not a lot more to say about the piece.

Tim Bradstreet:

Tim Bradstreet's art is very similar to Jae Lee's work in that it has a high contrasting darkness to the piece. Facial features have heavy lighting on them to create a sense of tension I think. The two characters I looked at which Bradsteet is credited for illustrating (John Constantine and The Punisher) are both dark controversial characters and anti-heroes in their own rights. I think the constantine ones reflect well as they express the Kitchen Sink era of angry young men in Britain, whilst with The Punisher it's more like a combination between imagery from crime film and old westerns. I like the photorealist and comic book art combination in his work and how it looks like both at the same time. I think the themes and dynamics he explores in his work, like the pulp noir kind of vibe are really interesting and I really like the style to them.

Michael Del Mundo: 
There isn't much work by Del Mundo that I like but here are a few examples with annotation to support this.

This was the first piece I came across. The painterly quality is what drew me to the piece as I really like the motion effect the piece has. The brush strokes are a great representation of movement and expressionism.

This is another piece I found that I liked. The image is very dramatic despite there not being much subject in the piece. I also like how the rain breaks up the image as if it's scratched into the piece. The stone background has great texture behind it also.

This isn't exactly a piece that I like, but I collected it because it reminds me of John Stazinka's work where he finished a face portrait by using a building. This idea could prove useful in coming up with some future compositions.

 John Buscema & Ruby Nebres, painting by Rick Vietch.
This piece of research is specific to one piece in particular. These 3 artists generally have traditional comic book illustrations but for working on the book Epic Illustrated #1: The Answer. I found these images in a book I booked out from the library called 'Comics, Comix and Graphic Novels', which delves into the artwork of the comic book medium. The Epic Illustrated series lasted 34 issues before being canceled and was released in the 1980s as an early attempt at creating comics for adults, and pulling influence from music of the time.

I think the colours in these illustrations are really striking and eye catching. It reminds me of 60's lsd influenced artwork which works well in this sci-fi scenario. The basis behind my thinking is nobody know what outer space looks like or other galaxy's and this is a really nice interpretation in my opinion. The poses of the characters are really dramatic and I like how the piece looks between a painting and a comic book.


Gabriele Dell'otto
Dell'otto is an Italian illustrator who has a painterly quality to his work.

 I like the textures for each of these pieces. The characters themselves show a great sense of tension in their movements, like the hands. The colours are mostly dull except for the Phoenix piece which has a bright, vibrant fiery background. The images themselves are quite dark and gritty, and the colours remind me of Edward Hoppers work in the Spider-man piece. The issue with these artworks, like with most others I have found is that they are just poster/cover artwork. Although I can take influence and style from these pieces, I plan to put deeper meaning behind my work.

Simon Bisley:
Bisley is most well known for his work on Brittish comic book character, Judge Dredd.
His work, like Dell'Otto's is of a painterly quality but much more vibrant and strong in the yellows and greens and heavy in the blues.

His figures have great force and drama behind them, like for example the comic book panel of Batman punching Judge Dredd, the pose and impact created is informed with such great force. The backgrounds are nice painted surfaces and his use of drybrush works nicely in blending colours

Both:

John Aslarona:
Aslarona is a digital artist who draws with a graphics tablet so create visually dynamic images. In most cases I don't like digital art because it's easy to simply trace from a photograph by working over the top of a layer in photoshop, but Aslarona works both painterly and compositionally which is what I mainly like about the work. I think digital art is an easier tool to create more vibrant colors and smoother blending than with paint, which in some cases discredits the work as I think more effort goes into painting than digital work. The style of Aslarona's artwork does however have a painterly quality to his work and you can see paint techniques explored in his work, such as dry brush and over painting so I can use some of these techniques in my own work. I think he has a range of both good and bad work, his weaker stuff you can tell has less thought and time put into the work, but he has more stronger work and his use of colour interacting with the subject are some of his best pieces.

I really like this piece for the bold colors and the overpowering yellow. Looking at this I can't tell if it's a digital piece or traditional media. I'm inclined to think the former because of the even spread of the yellow, but that's why I like this kind of art when digital art looks like traditional art.

This was the first piece I came across which started me on the research path,  his artwork is like a mix between Alex Ross's  photorealistic style but with Jason Oakes' take on digital art looking visually like traditional media.

Like with the Wolverine piece, I like how colour and background work in this piece. The block colour acts as a mood colour, not only enforcing the colours of the character but it also has a sense of subtlety that wouldn't work with any other colour because it would stand out too much.