Finally Done!

Tags

Bangalore, Comic book, Commercial Spaces, Creating narrative, Illustration Style, Mapping, Metro Scrapyard, Monotony, Namma Metro, Peenya

So my Diploma Project has finally come to an end. You can see the final comics on my Behance page:

Also, some mock ups of how I would have liked to see the project executed in the Peenya station if we had managed to get funding 🙂

Developing the Final Style

Tags

Comic book, Creating narrative, Illustration Style, Metro Scrapyard, Monotony, Peenya

I wasn’t very happy with the style and wanted to add more line detailing to the frames. Also the water colours and brush work didn’t give the spreads the finish I was aiming for. 

I decided to add more pen detailing and work with a combination of water colour and digital colouring.

I felt that the rabbit trail being red didn’t suit the mood of lingering I was trying to establish in the comic, and decided to switch to a more subtle yellow.

Style iterations for the Scrapyard comic

Tags

Comic book, Creating narrative, Illustration Style, Metro Scrapyard, Peenya

Style Iterations for the Scrapyard comic. I wanted the rabbit’s movement to appear as a trail, weaving in and out of frames. I worked with fine liner pens, water colours and water colour pencils.

Storyboard Iterations for the Scrapyard Comic

Tags

Comic book, Creating narrative, Metro Scrapyard, Storyboard

The Metro Scrapyard

Tags

Bangalore, Comic book, Metro Scrapyard, Monotony, Namma Metro, Peenya, Peenya Industrial Area

 

The Metro scrapyard is a vast plot of land strewn with every conceivable kind of scrap. Navigating through the vast scrapyard is rather like exploring an industrial wasteland, with rows of towering piles of sand or junk.

I decided to use the scrapyard as the site for my second narrative. In this story the caretaker’s daily routine is interrupted by a sudden glimpse of the strange rabbit. Unsure of what he has seen and whether it is real, the caretaker decided to follow the rabbit.

Final Characters

Tags

Character Exploration, Comic book, Creating narrative, Illustration Style

Changes & Way Forward, Post Ksana

Tags

Abandoned Plot, Character Exploration, Comic book, Creating narrative, Feedback, Illustration Style, Ksana - Finding Interludes, Namma Metro, Peenya, Peenya Industrial Area

While reflecting on the feedback received after the exhibition and contemplating the way forward, I was taken aback at how much had changed since I had written my project proposal. I became increasingly apprehensive about whether the map of the abandoned plot was indeed a “map.”

I referred to my project proposal and the definition of map I had included which described a map as “a symbolic depiction highlighting the relationship between elements of some space.” This was an appropriate description of my map for the plot but the project as a whole still had a lot of loose ends to tie up.

I consulted Amitabh and we discussed the possibilities of maps and narratives in other spaces we had explored and documented in Peenya. We agreed that the form of map and comic complimented each other in the telling of a narrative of the space. The comic for the abandoned plot needs to be reworked and given more structure to better tell its story.

We also decided to maintain the characters of the caretaker and the rabbit and the interaction between them. The caretaker’s persistent conflict of whether the rabbit was real or imaginary posed itself as an interesting tool to narrate stories within chosen spaces, thereby providing the audience a lens through which to perceive each space.

I created a few iterations of each character before deciding on the aesthetic of the final characters.

Caretaker, Iteration 1

Caretaker, Iteration 2

Rabbit, Iteration 1

Rabbit, Iteration 2

Rabbit, Iteration 3

Feedback, Post Ksana

Tags

Abandoned Plot, Feedback, Ksana - Finding Interludes, Peenya

The exhibition provided an opportunity for us to present our work-in-progress to the public and our colleagues and faculty. Feedback at this stage was immensely helpful, letting us step back from our projects to examine our process critically with the eyes of a stranger.

Alison liked the use of shifting viewpoints as transitions and that the story was not dependent on language. She wanted to know if it were to become a series, and asked me how I see the project in the space and what methods of replenishment and distribution I would use. She also suggested creating titles that were symbolic, making the project entirely independent of language.

Narendra urged me to explore a form other than a book and mentioned that the illustrative possibilities of a large space get lost in the small book format. He added that if I wanted to maintain the book form to consider the idea and form of the metro and its usual aesthetics to be translated into the book, story and style.

Ksana – Finding Interludes

Tags

Bangalore, Ksana - Finding Interludes, Namma Metro, Peenya, Peenya Industrial Area

Our first exhibition at the Peenya metro station was a work-in-progress display of our projects thus far, process and proposals for the final artwork in the station.

 

Photo Credit: Aroushka D’mello

Close up of the centre spread from my comic book.

 

 

 

 

Abandoned Plot Final Map

Tags

Abandoned Plot, Bangalore, Comic book, Creating narrative, Illustration Style, Ksana - Finding Interludes, Mapping, Namma Metro, Peenya