Pablo Picasso

When it comes to conveying emotion through art work an artist who comes to mind is Picasso.
Picasso's work changed a lot throughout his lifetime. A lot of his work is very strong and passioate. One of his earlier works 'Science and Charity' is particularly powerful. It is a painting of a sick man in bed. A doctor is sat one side of the bed and a woman and child are on the other side. I find the name 'Science and Charity' interesting as it is focusing on peoples reaction to the ill, rather than the ill person in this painting. The ill person is right in the middle, drawing our attention to him. The doctor is looking at a watch, recording his pulse. Although it is almost as if he is counting down the time the ill man has left to live. The ill man is being offered a drink but is showing no reaction or attention to the people around. The ill mans pose could work if no one else was in the room. The sad, blank stare of the ill man only amplifies his fear of death and loneliness. This realistic style draws you in and makes it feel 'real'. The green colour of the bed sheet reminds me of a sickly, ill feeling.

Science and Charity 1897. Pablo Picasso - Oil on canvas

Another one of Picasso's paintings that I find interesting is 'The Rape'. It was done a lot later and is not in the same realistic style as, 'Science and Charity', yet just as powerful.  The use of colour is much more obvious and vibrant. The red colour of the peoples skin shows aggression and lust. The paler background colours make the red much more powerful with the extreme contrast. There is less detail in the surroundings than the people, making the people in this painting the sole focus. This also amplifies the severity of the situation.

The Rape 1920. Pablo Picasso - Tempura on wood

Picasso's Cubism work did not fail to evoke emotion either. Picasso did a series of work called 'The Weeping Woman' in a lot of different styles. In his most popular 1937 version, there are a lot of vibrant colours. This painting is modeled on Dora maar who was close to Picasso at one time. He knew her as the woman in tears. In the painting the edges of her facial features are very jagged and sharp - perhaps to signify sharpness and pain. There is a definite sadness in her eyes. She looks distressed and worried. The tears seem to have stripped away the colour and left a blue coldness.

The Weeping Woman. Pablo Picasso 1937

All of these examples are interesting and useful to my work.  They are all made up of completely different techniques to convey emotion. The use of colour, shapes, layout and detail are all very vital in portraying the right emotions in the right way.

I tried to experiment with cubism and tried to convey the emotion 'sadness'. I used acrylic paint. The edges aren't really jagged enough to express ainful emotions without just looking randomly abstract and the features are off. The shape of the mouth is okay and the colours aren't too bad. It was interesting to experiment with a style completely out of my comfort zone.  It is definitely possible to convey any emotion with this style. The composition, colours and shapes just need to be more thought out instead of relying on an obvious facial expression.

Sources

Images

http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/pablo-picasso/science-and-charity-1897

http://blog.mailasail.com/beezneez/1302
http://www.inminds.com/weeping-woman-picasso-1937.html

Books and information

Picasso and Modern British art, James Beechy and Chris Stevens

Capturing facial expressions and emotions. (Fan art)

As an excersise to explore into different facial expressions, I created some fan art of some characters from different TV shows. This was an interesting thing to do and it makes a difference when you really know the characters personality that you are drawing. This will be useful for my own work and characters. I chose facial expressions that were quite complex and really captured the personality of each character. I chose characters from Breaking Bad and Dexter.

Gus Fring - pencil

These are drawings of Gus Fring,a character from AMCs' Breaking Bad. He was an important character and in this episode he had been tricked to his death. He was very proud and wouldn't show much emotion. Even in this situation.




Breaking Bad character, Gus Fring. From the episode (Face Off) Just after an explosion - pen and water colour

Gus Fring - I also created a much more cartoony version to compare the effect it has on portraying the emotion. I used entirely ink for this illustration. I think it still actually work quite well and it works well with the brighter colours in a way that wouldn't work for the more detailed pieces.

Breaking Bad character Walter White (Heisenberg) - Pencil

The skecth above is of the main character form Breaking Bad. The way his charcter develops throughout the series is incredible. His mannerisms and appearence change dramatically and it is interesting to study the differences. In the skecth above he has become quite evil and I tired to capture this in his expression. Whereas he started off as a quiet family man.

These are some of my sketchbook notes regarding character development in Breaking Bad

The images above shows some examples of the character development. The facial expressions have changed and also his appearence. It's surprising how much a face can say.



Dexter from Dexter - pencil and watercolour

The work above is of the main character from the TV series Dexter. He is a blood splatter analysisit and also kills bad people without anyone knowing. I don't think I captured the severity of the emotion in the drawing above and the colours are quite pale. I think he looks a bit washed out although it does make the blood stand out more.


This was a useful exercise that allowed me to capture emotion in more detail with familiar faces as visual reference.  I also tried to use different styles in order to experiment with style and subject matter. They all have a slight unrealistic edge to them apart from the Breaking Bad sketch of the main character. I think this was a good choice of style for the particular character and expression. You are instantly drawn to look into his eyes and it feels very serious, real and deep seated. Whereas the other images sort of speak for themselves.

Experimental drawings for character design

I want to take a look at sequential art, and create a small piece of sequential work myself in order to experiment with conveying an emotion with narrative.  

These are some of my first rough ideas for my short graphic story. The main character design and some experiments with wordless sequential narrative. I chose for it to be wordless because it will put more focus on the main character,(her body language and facial expressions) instead of ever being able to rely on text. I also experimented with style and colour.  When it comes to conveying a certain emotion through art, it is probably more powerful when there is a narrative. This is because there is time to build an emotional connection with the character(s). That being said, there are some powerful pieces of artwork that work on their own. The interesting thing about TV series/comics/illustrated books etc is that a character can develop and change over time. Be it physically and/or mentally. This can be a very powerful thing; watching your favorite character slowly change for the worst or better. I will research more into narrative later. The images below are character designs for my short narrative piece. I mainly wanted to focus on drawing my character with certain body language that makes her look troubled.

I feel that, depending on the length of the story,  the main characters appearance may change as the story goes on. This way I will be able to further emphasise how she is feeling. I will be studying how our posture and mannerisms allow an insight into how we are feeling, and will use this in my graphic story to make my character more realistic and convincing.

In this instance, the narrative itself is almost uninportant. What I want to experiment with is empathy with a character, and creating a convincing character that expresses the right emotions.

Character deign - pencil

In the sketch above, my character is at her worst. Her situation and background help to convey this and I also tried to show it through the way she is laid.  Almost as if she has passed out. She doesn't look 'peaceful' in the typical sense but she does look in a deep sleep. The way she is almost curled up, but not quite, is supposed to make her look vulnerable.

Character design - pencil

Character design - pen

The body language in each of these is supposed to convey that she is lost and alone. Distressed in some way. This relates to my final major project as it is almost a representation of some of the people I want to try to reach out to with my final major project. Although the age is slightly different.

Character design - pen and water colour

Character design. Poses - pen and water colour

Character design. Experimenting with style - pen

The drawing above is a quick experiment I did with style. I quite like this style yet I do think it can potentially effect your emotional engagement with the character. At least as a stand alone piece. The simpler it is, the less of the emotion you capture. Although I'm sure there are ways around this.

Character design - Pen and watercolour

The image above is a close up of my characters face from part of my sequential piece. It is the moment she realises she has lost her mind. It isn't very extreme and I'm undecided on whether to make it a more dramatic expression. It is seconds before she breaks down. It is supposed to convey a mixture of shock, fear and sadness/disappointment. It's hard to create a specific facial expression and I will have to practise them further.

Sequential - pencil

These are the pencil versions of my short sequential piece. The narrative is essentially that she wakes up to a lot of load construction noises outside her house. She doesn't think much of it and goes to make tea. Then there is a loud crashing noise right infront of her window, shaking the entire house. At this point she goes to the window, draws back the curtains, only to find that there is nothing there. And suddenly everything is silent. I know this may not be obvious by the way I have dcreated the story. Yet the storyline is merely a platform to experiment with my own character, body language and facial expressions in a sequential way.

Sequential - pencil

Part of sequential - Pen

Part of sequential - pen

Rough experiment with wordless sequential. Colour experiment. Blue and purple.

These are two of my first colour/tone experiments.  I quite like both, although the colours I chose above (blue and purple) just make it look as though it is night time. Which is a useful thing to know. I quite like the effect of just using black water colour (below). Somehow it seems to give it more depth, despite only being one tone not two.

Rough sequential. Black and white 1

Rough sequential. Black and white 2 

Overall this has been a useful excersise. I had to think of the facial expressions and body language instead of just recording other people's. This forced me to think about how we portray ourselves and how to convey different emotions.