I was so happy with the result that I wanted to do more. The piece I am writing about here, below, is in the same vein, but with a few important differences. Inspired by Mondo Tees, a company that remakes old movie posters, I came to the idea of doing a print based on literature. I think that prominence of skulls in day of the dead art led me to do a piece inspired by Hamlet, that and my level of familiarity with Shakespeare. The connection of course being the famous visual of Hamlet in which the title character comes across the skull of the old court jester Yorick in a graveyard as he returns to Denmark to kill the usurper king. So I've done a sort of visual representing Hamlet, and specifically his monologue on Yorick in Act V.i.
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| Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy; he hath borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is! My gorge rises at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know not how oft. Where be your gibes now? (Hamlet, V.i) |
The result is a piece that blends the Day of the Dead style and aesthetic with the aesthetics of early modern blackletter type. It's surprisingly how well the two work together, at least initially. While day of the dead art is an art of the people, made by everyone and anyone, this gothic typographic look is highly controlled and rigid. And yet, each style is highly ornate, and interested in basic line art, patterning, and symmetry.
The Day of the Dead seemed suiting to Hamlet (specifically this scene) for more reasons: both are about the dead and about remembering the dead. Each uses colorful figures to depict death as well, although in Hamlet Yorick's "infinite jest" adds to the melancholy of remembrance rather than negating it.
The almost paradoxical nature of the jester and the skull - the funny and the melancholy - seems suited to Hamlet, whose mistaken killing of Polonius drives him merrily into a thirsty bloodlust that ultimately produces his own doom. Because of this, I wanted Yorick's skull to be hypnotic, and likewise self-contradictory.
This led me to my color choices. I went with circusy primary and secondary colors and paper white. Not only are these reminiscent of the Day of the Dead, but they evoke the jester, celebration, and good times. And these bright colors perform this function against my base colors: red and white, for blood and bone. These are colors that catch your eye in their simplicity, but keep your attention as you realize their tensions. My design of the skull eyes further draws you in, as the insanity of death drew in Hamlet.
If you notice the structure of the colors in the artwork again, the main colors might be said to be red, purple, and gold, as well as the paper white. The red I chose again for blood, while with the purple and gold I try to evoke royalty.
In terms of what I learned working on this, I think I've found a great balance between working on paper and working on the computer. The computer is great for finished artwork and hand drawing is the only way to really design effectively. But there's more to it: the computer is great for establishing margins, guides, and proportions to aid the design. This design is based on the golden ratio, a recent favorite of mine, but only because I was able to work from guides I plotted on the computer. This really focused my artwork, and I think that for the foreseeable future I will lay down proportions shortly after my first sketches are complete.
I didn't really learn anything new on Illustrator this time around, which was kind of a let down, though I did get to do some problem solving working with pathfinder and gradients.
Finally, I got the idea as I was drawing this to try my hand at setting a book with this play, the illustration as the cover. We'll see if that happens but let's hope so.
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