Age UK Submission

Over the weekend and today I have been focusing on getting my final Age UK image ready to submit on Friday. The review tutorial today was really helpful as I knew the piece I brought to it wasn't right but couldn't figure out why. The advice helped and I went away and finished it to a much better standard.

Discussion Forum 25/1/13

Yesterday Corina, Roush and Matt lead a discussion forum based on the relationship and differences between personal and commissioned work amongst illustrators.

The following are the notes I took at this.

• Matthew Richardson
• fine art work - personal
• illustrations - commisioned
• He prefers his personal work to that he is commissioned to do
• Bhushan
• believes there is only conceptual restrictions on commissioned work
• commercial work - conceptual restraints
• personal work - good to limit your media or colour
• with personal work it doesn't matter how the viewer reads it
• with commissioned work  it is a failure if the viewer doesn't read it the way you intended
• Rawle 
• constraints make you more creative
• Authorstrator
• create their own narrative
• allows you to have the benefits of personal and commissioned work
• Foster
• no difference between personal and commissioned work
• sets himself limits
• doing this is a form of self-improvement

We then discussed our own opinions of these ideas and how we work best. There was a range of different ideas, but we all agreed it is good to things you are not completely comfortable with as you learn your strengths and weaknesses. I said that I think I work better within some restraint as if I work to a really open brief I go off on tangents and tend to lose focus. Overall I found it really interesting hearing other peoples opinions and how they differ from my own.

25/1/13

Today I had a discussion with Rick to talk about my research and beginnings of sketches. I talked about what I had found interesting after reading and researching The Big Sleep. The orchids and greenhouse really stood out to me as I think the idea of the "jungle" of orchids represent the plot of the story as confusing, uncomfortable and difficult to manoeuvre around, with characters who appear beautiful and appealing, but actually have a deceiving nature and end up evil and dark. I have started to draw orchids but cannot seem to get them to reflect the story the way I'd hoped.
Advice from Rick

• Choose a colour scheme to reflect the atmosphere of the story. This will hopefully add to the drawings to give more of an understanding of what I'm trying to communicate
• Look further into orchids and research them to get an accurate representation in relation to its role in the story
• Think about other ways of showing rainy weather to create a mood rather than just cliche raindrops

I am going to take this advice on board in the next couple of weeks as well as explore some other aspects of the themes and motifs.

PLAY!

We have been instructed to start the drawing stage of the project by not thinking about the book cover side of it, and just generating imagery based on what we know about the topic. I think this is a good way of working and am hoping to fill a sketchbook in the next week and half.

These are some of the things I will focus on for now:

·         Chessboard

·         Knight

·         Rain

·         1930s LA

·         Characters

·         Money

·         Guns

·         Greenhouse

·         Orchids

·         Stained glass window

·         Roulette 

·         Playing cards

My thoughts after reading The Big Sleep

• Focus is not so much on the actual solving of the case, but the role Marlowe has in the community and the way he interacts with the other characters.
• Corruption at the time is a big theme, particularly corruption in Los Angeles where the story is set.
• Everyone seems to be a "grifter" or involved with something seedy or morally wrong - men and women - which highlights Marlowe as the odd one out rather than the other way round, the way it should be.
• Raymond Chandler is one of the most descriptive writers I have ever read, everything Marlowe sees is detailed so well, it gives the effect of showing what a detectives mind is actually like (noticing every little thing).
• Metaphors are a very oft-used tool in the writing, which has lead me to the idea of using metaphors for my cover design rather than being blatant with my choices of subject. 

The Big Sleep - Book

I have just finished reading The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler. I really enjoyed the book and agree with every bit of praise I have seen about Chandler's writing style, particularly his character development and real sense of place which is created through very detailed description. As I was reading I could really see all the locations and what the people looked like. I haven't decided whether to watch the 1946 film yet, as I don't want it to influence me too much.

I have made some notes to identify the main characters/places which I'm then going to print and make notes about each of, and maybe read through the book again to find quotes based on them.

Characters

·         Phillip Marlowe

·         General Sternwood

·         Carmen Sternwood

·         Vivian Regan

·         Rusty Regan

·         Eddie Mars

·         Joe Brody

·         Mona Mars

·         Owen Taylor

·         Bernie Ohls

·         Harry Jones

·         Arthur Gwynn Geiger 

·         Lash Canino

Places

·         Marlowe’s apartment

·         Marlowe’s office

·         The greenhouse

·         The Sternwood mansion

·         Geiger’s store – Hollywood Boulevard

·         Geiger’s house

·         Outdoors

·         In Marlowe’s car

·         The pier at the docks

·         Cypress Club

·         Joe Brody’s apartment

·         Oil fields

Group Session

Here are some notes from a group tutorial that took place yesterday with my tutors and the 5 other students who have chosen this brief. 

17/1/13

·         Pathetic Fallacy – Rain/Darkness/Cold

o   Throughout the book

o   Often when a murder is about to be, or has been, commited

·         Money motivates everything and everyone

o   Twisted morals

o   Main character is the opposite of that idea

·         Contrast between grand mansions and dirty oil fields where the money was made

·         Chronological order

·         Chivalry of main character

o   Seems to be the only gentleman in the whole book

o   Sympathetic and sensitive towards women

·         Superficiality

o   Optimism during the Great Depression

o   Money and looking good and living well is something to hope/reach for

·         Pursuit of honesty/truth – driving Marlowe’s actions

·         Innovative novel

o   Twist ending

·         General Sternwood

o   Naïve

o   Optimistic

o   Caring in some ways

o   Money-orientated

·         Vivian Regan

o   Not as “femme fatale” as she’d like to think

·         Carmen Sternwood

o   Wild

o   Unstable

o   Dangerous

o   Forward

o   Spoilt brat

·         Symbols/Motifs

o   Rain

o   Knight

o   Chess

o   Orchid

o   Oil field

·         “Knights had no meaning in this game. It wasn’t a game for knights…”

o   Turning point

o   Starts carrying a gun

o   Realises he’s going to have to bend the rules to “complete the game”

·         “You were dead, you were sleeping the big sleep, you were not bothered by things like that. Oil and water were the same as wind and air to you. You just slept the big sleep, not caring about the nastiness of how you died or where you fell. Me, I was part of the nastiness now. Far more part of it than Rusty Regan was.”

o   Freedom in death, better than being alive

o   His surroundings didn’t matter anymore as he was sleeping the big sleep

o   Nastiness = the crime, the family, the world.

Sense of Place - The Big Sleep

On Tuesday Jo asked us to have our individual boards full of  sense of place images for this project by Friday. This is a selection of some of the ones I have gathered so far.

The Big Sleep - Initial research

I have decided to begin the project by researching the plot, background, and themes within the story. I plan on reading the book over the weekend, so that next week I can get started on image making with as much information as possible. From what I've read so far the book should be a good read with a wide range of routes I could take to create artwork for it.

Wikipedia Plot Summary

"Private investigator Philip Marlowe is called to the home of wealthy, elderly General Sternwood, in the month of October. He wants Marlowe to deal with a blackmail attempt by a bookseller named Arthur Geiger on his wild young daughter Carmen. She had previously been blackmailed by a Joe Brody. Sternwood mentions his other, older daughter Vivian, who is in a loveless marriage with a man named Rusty Regan, who has disappeared. On Marlowe's way out, Vivian wonders if he was hired to find Regan, but Marlowe won’t say.

Marlowe investigates Geiger’s bookstore and meets Agnes, the clerk. He determines the store is a pornography lending library. He follows Geiger home, stakes out his house, and sees Carmen Sternwood enter. Later, he hears a scream followed by gunshots and two cars speeding away. He rushes in to find Geiger dead and Carmen drugged and naked in front of an empty camera. He takes her home, but when he returns, Geiger’s body is gone and he quickly leaves. The next day, the police call him and let him know the Sternwoods' car was found driven off a pier with their chauffeur dead inside. It appears that he was hit before the car entered the water. The police also ask if Marlowe is looking for Regan.

Marlowe stakes out the bookstore and sees its inventory being moved to Joe Brody’s home. Vivian comes to his office and says Carmen is now being blackmailed with the nude photos from last night. She also mentions going gambling at the casino of Eddie Mars, and volunteers that Eddie's wife Mona ran off with Rusty. Marlowe revisits Geiger’s house and finds Carmen trying to get in. They look for the photos but she plays dumb about the night before. Eddie Mars suddenly enters; he says he is Geiger’s landlord and is looking for him. Mars demands to know why Marlowe is there, but Marlowe is unfazed and states he is no threat to Mars.

Marlowe goes to Brody’s home and finds him with Agnes, the bookstore's clerk. He tells them he knows they are taking over the lending library and blackmailing Carmen with the nude photos. Carmen forces her way in with a gun and demands the photos, but Marlowe takes her gun and makes her leave. Marlowe interrogates Brody further and pieces together the full story: Geiger was blackmailing Carmen and the family driver didn’t like it, so he sneaked in, killed him, and took the film of Carmen. Brody was staking out the house too and pursued the driver, stole the film, and hit him and possibly pushed the car off the pier. Suddenly the doorbell rings and Brody is shot dead; Marlowe gives chase and catches Geiger’s male lover, who shot Brody thinking he killed Geiger. He had also hidden Geiger’s body so he could remove his own belongings before the police could get wind of the murder.

The case is now over, but Marlowe is nagged by Regan's disappearance. The police accept that he simply ran off with Mona Mars, since she is also missing and Eddie Mars wouldn't risk committing a murder where he'd be the obvious suspect. Mars calls Marlowe to his casino, and seems to be nonchalant about everything. Vivian is also there, and Marlowe senses something between her and Mars. He drives her home and she tries to seduce him, but he rejects her advances. When he gets home, he finds Carmen has sneaked into his bed, and he rejects her, too.

A man named Harry Jones, who is Agnes's new partner, approaches Marlowe and offers to sell him the location of Mona Mars. Marlowe plans to meet him later, but Mars's deadly henchman Canino is suspicious of Jones and Agnes's intentions and kills Jones first. Marlowe manages to meet Agnes anyway and receive the information. He goes to the location, in Realito, a repair shop with home in back, but Canino, with the help of the garage man, Art Huck, jumps him and knocks him out. When he awakens, he is tied up and Mona Mars is there with him. She says she hasn't seen Rusty in months; she only hid out to help Eddie, and insists he didn't kill Rusty. She frees him and he shoots and kills Canino.

The next day, Marlowe visits General Sternwood, who is still curious about Rusty's whereabouts. On the way out, Marlowe returns Carmen's gun to her, and she asks him to teach her how to shoot. They go to an abandoned field, where she tries to kill him, but he has loaded the gun with blanks. Marlowe brings her back and tells Vivian he has guessed the truth: Carmen came on to Rusty and he refused her, so she killed him. Eddie Mars, who had been backing Geiger, helped Vivian conceal it by inventing a story about his wife running off with Rusty, and then began blackmailing her himself. Vivian says she did it to protect her father, and promises to have Carmen institutionalized."

Themes/Motifs I have read are within the story

The Great Depression 

Corrupt America

The symbol of the knight - representative of Phillip Marlowe's character 

Weather is used to reflect events. Dark/Stormy/Rain

A greenhouse/orchids - a metaphor for the "jungle" that is Los Angeles

A stained glass window showing a knight saving a woman from a tree.

Competition Brief - The Big Sleep

I have chosen the Penguin project which is to create a book cover for a new generation of readers of the book The Big Sleep.

Reasons why I chose this:

· “Choose something you know!” – On my art foundation course I worked on a Penguin book cover brief which included working to the basic Penguin template. It was one of my favourite briefs of the course so I was immediately attracted to this choice.

· Working to a specific size – In my opinion, I think I work best when allocating a certain size for the designs. The other briefs I looked at were more vague and open, which I don’t think is right for me at the moment, especially in the competition circumstances.

· Final outcome as a finished piece – Working towards one final piece helps me to organise myself better during a project, and allow for me to think about how my design is going to end up as I get closer to developing my ideas.

Penguin Design Award 2013

The brief from the Penguin website

http://www.penguin.co.uk/static/cs/uk/0/minisites/penguindesignaward/penguin_brief.php


The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler

More than simply a mystery novel, and first published in 1939, The Big Sleep has become a classic of American literature, with Chandler praised for his deft handling of plot, as well as his terse style and acerbic wit. In 1946, a film adaptation of The Big Sleep was released, starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, two of the biggest movie stars of the day.

In his introduction to The Big Sleep Ian Rankin writes:

‘The Big Sleep opens with my favourite paragraph in all crime fiction and doesn’t let up until a wonderfully written coda. It was one of the first crime novels I ever read, and is still one of the best.

‘The Big Sleep is a story of sex, drugs, blackmail and high society narrated by a cynical tough guy, Philip Marlowe. As such, it provides the template for much of the urban crime fiction which came after, as well as most modern Hollywood thrillers. What sets it apart from the crowd, however, is the quality of the mind which conceived it. Chandler’s pulp credentials show in the twisting of the plot, yet it reads with the simple inevitability of classical tragedy: General Sternwood, the ailing millionaire who needs Marlowe’s help, is a king betrayed by his unruly daughters.

‘When the younger Sternwood daughter turns up naked in Marlowe’s apartment, he concentrates instead on a chess problem, concluding that “knights had no meaning in this game”. Marlowe, however, remains a knight of sorts – tarnished, to be sure, a knight errant. The work he does is dirty, but he maintains his own moral code. Marlowe encounters damsels in distress and plenty of monsters (usually in the guise of gangsters and corrupt authority figures). All of which shows just what a firm, literate grasp Chandler had of the genre within which he worked.

[...]

‘Chandler described the American crime novel as being “dark and full of blood” (as opposed to its “lithe and clever” English equivalent), and said of Marlowe: “I see him always in a lonely street, in lonely rooms, puzzled but never quite defeated.” When he died, one obituary stated that “in working the vein of crime fiction [Chandler] mined the gold of literature”. Few writers have come close to matching him.

‘The Big Sleep, however, is such fun to read you probably won’t notice how clever its author is being. Chandler remains the king of the one-liner. An example such as “He wore a blue uniform coat that fitted him the way a stall fits a horse” is both witty and full of subtle meaning, telling us much about the flunky’s disappointed life. By the time Marlowe, at the end of the book, describes the “bright gardens” outside the Sternwood mansion as having “a haunted look”, we realise that sunny and prosperous California is a tainted Eden, a place essentially dark and full of blood.

‘It’s a world which has had no finer chronicler than Raymond Chandler.’
The brief

The Big Sleep is a serious and significant mainstream novel that just happens to possess elements of mystery and crime. The story is well known both in celluloid and print so it is essential to come at it from a fresh angle. Try to design a new cover for a new generation of readers, avoiding the obvious clichés. Originality is key.

Audience: all readers both familiar and unfamiliar with the text, male and female.

Message: there are many layers and themes within the book. Read it and discover what the book means to you.

Your cover design needs to include all the cover copy as supplied and be designed to the specified design template (B format, 198mm high x 129mm wide, spine 16mm wide).
What the judges are looking for:

We are looking for a striking cover design that is well executed, has an imaginative concept and clearly places the book for its market. While all elements of the jacket need to work together as a cohesive whole, remember that the front cover must be effective on its own and be eye-catching within a crowded bookshop setting. It also needs to be able to work on screen for digital retailers such as Amazon.

The winning design will need to:


have an imaginative concept and original interpretation of the brief
be competently executed with strong use of typography
appeal to a contemporary readership
show a good understanding of the marketplace
have a point of difference from the many other book covers it is competing against

Competition Brief

Today has been our first day back after the christmas holidays. We have been given a new brief as part of the last module of second year, Design in Context. This project is a choice of live competitions from D&AD, Penguin, YCN, and the Jewish Cultural Centre. After being informed of more details we have been left to research the different options and make a decision by Friday.

At the moment I am leaning towards the book cover options for either The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler or The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame.