Work influenced by the last few posts

Images from the book and my sketchbook

Here is some work I have created influenced by images from Where the Wild Things Are. As you can see from the amount of posts i've posted on this its been a huge influence on me this summer!

I used different piles of fur to create different textures on the animals and I really think they work together well to create a subtle contrast. 

I have discovered through these experiments that I really like the contrast between the different piles of fur rather than the different colours of fur together.

I have also started messing around with design concepts but I haven't got anything that I think would really work as a concept so far. Hopefully I'll manage to work out some concepts that work from the images in the book and film and be able to work it all out. 

Where the Wild Things Are part 3

This is an image taken from my research book.

Nearly at the end of my posts about this! 

This is my ultimate favourite quote from the film and therefore it deserves an entire post!

This quote is from the film version of Where the Wild Things Are and it is said by the beasts when Max decides to get in his boat and leave the animals. They totally confuse their emotions like children and confuse their sadness with anger. They do not know how to express themselves which is the recurrent theme throughout the movie and they threaten to eat Max as this is the only way they know how to express their emotion, they are so taken over by love they want to consume and absorb it. 

I can relate to this as I often get this overwhelming surge of emotions, but it definitely doesn't make me want to eat people! It just makes me want to cuddle people really! All in all it sums up the innocence of childhood emotions again.

This quote made me think of the swirls and the pattern around the quote as I like how the emotions in the movie make you go through highs and lows and round in circles again. I used the different colours to represent the mishmash of characters and textures within the movie. 

Thats the last of my posts on this movie but if you haven't seen it yet it's a must! On a dark winters night get snuggled up with a hot chocolate and indulge in this fantasy world.

Where the Wild Things Are part 2

In this post I'm going to talk more about the film adaptation than the book as they do vary in the depth of the story and I think the film is more of an adult fantasy film than a child's film. 

I love the beasts within the story. In the book the illustrations are beautiful. The beasts have a real human cross over. Some of them have human feet but are then covered in fur where as others have horns and chicken clawed feet. They are totally brought to life in the movie and its so worth a watch! It will open up your imagination and heart. 

Plastic dolls of the beasts.
Courtesy of Doobybrain.com

The main difference in the film is the depth that Jonze takes the beats personalities. 

They are very reflective of human emotions and when you watch it you will so be able to relate to most the situations and emotions! 

They are vast, feathered, horned, clawed, beaked and definitely wild — irrational and dangerous, even when showing affection.

You've got Carol, who is an impulsive wild thing,

KW is a loner,

Douglas is a peace keeper,

Judith is a pushover,

Ira is an aggressive and suspicious girlfriend,

Alexander is ignored, belittled and mistreated

and Bull is a quiet intimidating but hulk of a beast.

The film has many positive quotes through out it and this is one of them. We should never stop dreaming, hoping and imagining. This is something that we sometimes loose sight of when we grow up but we should never stop and this film really hit this home for me so I decided to right the craziest ideas and hopes down and I am going to do something about every single one of them!

My favourite quote from the movie.

I also think that the story is empowering to children and is the opposite of a nightmare or Brothers Grimm story as it is enabling children's imagination in a positive way as Max overpowers the beasts are scared of him and he is brave and no harm is done. 

I would like my designs to reflect this mismash of emotions and contrasts in behaviour and also aesthetics. I want something colourful but dark, warm and protective, textured and smooth, big but also small. I wonder if this is possible?!

My favourite image from the entire movie when all the animals and max are at one with each other.

Not so secret garden party part 3

Ok so this is my last post about this festival now!
The had a whole range of entertainment at the party including a paint throwing sub-party where people bought bags of powder paint and were able to throw them and cover people in gorgeous paints, this is very similar to the Indian festival of 'Holi". 


By far my favourite section was the adult toys section! This isn't as rude as it first sounds it was pure and innocent fun. They set up adult sized playgrounds which made you remember your childhood innocence and you couldn't help but get carried away and become as free and easy as a child. I loved this section of the festival as it was just amazing to watch everybody's transformation and seeing people have fun by improvising and using their imaginations. 
The quote in the image below summarises this for me. 

Image Nick Caro.   King Stag with tribal twist.

The theme really fitted in with my research and I was fascinated with the realisation on how we prepare our children for adult life as soon as we can and then as soon as we become adults with responsibilities we want to escape them all and become children again. We love nothing more than to dress up and swing around in playgrounds! We don't get to do this in the real world as society would think we were a bit strange so this weekend enables those wishes so we can become like children once again. 

 Everybody just let themselves go and didn't think about the stress of reality. I would totally recommend this festival to anyone who wants to just get away from it all for a weekend. You can be anyone you want to be and everyone is so open minded, anything goes its incredible! Just leave all of your sensible and rationale self at home as you wont need it for this weekend.

The Stuff Of Nightmares

Continuing with the nightmare theme from the last post this is an exhibition from the V&A Childhood Museum in London. It is on until February and is really worth a visit as it feels like a raw and expressive exhibition, very far away from the polished and carefully planned exhibitions usually put on.


This instillation was made by local schoolchildren working with artists to recreate things they have seen in nightmares. It takes a closer look at the playthings of innocents.
The imagery was very strong and it messed around with innocent looking toys that were made harrowing by the surrounding scene and the context they were placed in. The children and artists played with scale, theme and textures.

http://www.vam.ac.uk/images/image/71358-small.jpg

 Imagery taken from a Brother Grimm fairytale

 Terrifying human bunny

Love the fragile and virginal white crochet blanket with the contrast of the dirty back drop.

 Mish mash of themes and objects, animals with creepy doll heads

 Birds were constant throughout the exhibition along with long noses which are often prevalent in scary stories and fairy tales representing evil

When walking around the instillation it felt like you were in a hallucinogenic state as there were bright colours and toys that had their heads replaced with dolls heads and toys that only had one leg.  

 The overall exhibition

Toys in a line up that had been created by the kids to have scary legs and faces

The exhibition also said that it is good to tell children these tales in order to prepare them for the real world and to teach them right and wrong and what is dangerous. I think it was a very effective exhibition and it helped the children to put their fears into 3D form and to face up-to them and realise they are not as scary as they first thought. 

For more information visit: www.vam.ac.uk/moc/whats_on/exhibitions_and_displays/the_stuff_of_nightmares/

Fever Ray

I was shown this video at the start of the summer and it quickly stuck in my head and gave me nightmares for weeks! It plagued me when I was awake and when I was asleep.

I have now grown to love it and in particular the imagery within the lyrics. 

The video portrays a wild girl lost in suburbia. She has come from the surrounding forest and stumbles across a pool and is totally confused by civilisations mod cons. She is used to water in rivers and lakes, not crystal clear blue water. Her inner energy forces her to react in a jolted and convulsive way. 

What I am particularly inspired by in this video are the textures and colours. I love the fur and feathers concealing the nakedness of the wild child. The colours of the fur contrast against the foggy wilderness behind.

The lyrics are also as beautiful as the video. 

"When I grow up, I want to be a forester, run through the moss on high heels.

When I grow up, I want to live near the sea Crab claws and bottles of rum.

I never liked a sad look from someone who wants to be loved by you.

Waiting for you to embrace me I wait for him to catch me"

I think the lyrics are immature but in an innocent way. They are about love and life and also the innocence and fragility of emotions, especially when it comes to love. This girl just wants to be loved and saved. The imagery is incredible and I think that it could influence a beautiful photoshoot.