Dr. Doom Research

Initially, my thoughts of doing artwork based on Doctor Doom was to explore the theme of evil and create a comparison between fictional evil and evil in the world we live in. The problem I have with visualising this is how I would manage to do a piece like this, without glorifying evil and at the same time portraying the comicbook character. Upon later thought into the character, looking at the elegance, the way he dresses and the power he represents, I see him best to be represented in a style of Caravaggio.

For my research into Dr. Doom, I plan to look into more Caravaggio paintings and look at how he portrays figures and material. I also plan to research mask of history including Japanese masks, African masks and assorted war masks. At the same time I plan to try to incorporate some ideas linking it back to my original plans of relating the pieces to world evil and politics, based on the character's diplomatic background.
I also plan to look into H.R. Giger's work to create a face mask inspired by his biomechanical style.


Carravagio:

St. Jerome

Judith Beheading Holofernes

John The Baptist

Masks:

African:

African masks tend to have a circular and ringed them to their design. The form of the piece is very crude and facial features are misshapen and abnormal. A lot of their influence comes from piercings and body modification.

Persian: (from '300' movie)

Although this is a film designed mask, there is evidence of historical context. The overall design of the mask is remenicent of Japanese design known as Mengu but without the patterns of Japan.

Japanese:

 Common themes amongst Japanese masks include dramatically emphesised facial features including snarled noses, arched brows, open mouths usually including fangs and wide eyes. They also feature circles and swirls prominantly in the design as a culture element. These masks are design to be fear striking because of their human like and demon like qualities combined.

Roman:

Roman helmets (this one in particular from 'Gladiator') are quite an interesting design for a historical garment. Most helmets of this time period don't focus on aesthetics and more so rely on fuction, but this helmet has an intimidating look as well as being functional.


H.R. Giger

Giger is a surrealist artist who has worked as a designer on films (working on sets and model making) and as a fine artist. His work has been described as Bio-Mechanical and he has been called the Hieronymus Bosch of his time. His work often reflects human nature and sexual imagery in a style that looks man made and engineered. His work is very detailed and realistic and captures excellent tonal and line qualities, common themes that appear in his design technique is the use of tubing, ridged areas, skeletal systems, phallic imagery and domes. This reflects upon the science fiction element to his illustrations, and which made his work define the Alien film series. I chose to research Giger as a suiter for my Dr. Doom work on a impulsive thought of combining his bio-mechanical style to Dr. Doom's mask.