In the initial stages of creating a series of images with a narrative I’ve found the simplest way to generate ideas is brainstorming. Get a pen, a pad and a timer. The reason I use a timer is firstly it gives a structure to the session and also kinda forbids you to give up before the time is done. I set it usually for about 5 minutes, which even though doesn’t seem a great deal of time, it is when there’s a blank piece of paper in front of you. Try it!
Having looked at definitions I posted in the last blog post I had some ideas of where I wanted to go, and the symbols chosen are ones I’ve used before. It’s useful to just allow thoughts and images to come, think about the seasons, maybe about inside or out, costume/wardrobe , flights of fancy ‘if I could do anything what would I do?’ - This stream of thinking can be sifted through later as you galvanise the idea, so welcome surprises.
The words I wrote were ;
empty chair,dark clothing, feathers falling, mist, sea, lake,statue, memories, hands,distance, empty,loss,yearning,empty bed, dandelion pappus ( the floaty crown of a dandelion), dancing with nobody, joy in memory, younger days, childish things,longing,ache,reaching,stretching.
I’ll then live with these words for a while and see what images they create and add to them if I feel I want to.
The one thing which was a ‘surprise’ to me in this brainstorming session was the idea of ‘childish things’ and so spent a deal of time dreaming on what childish things I used to like. Eventually I settled on sci-fi. Quite a boyish nerdy like which I have carried with me into adulthood. So armed with this I imagined a time traveler spaceman revisiting memories in real time to find the people within those memories had gone and came up with the working title ‘Starman’.
In the next post I’ll share some of the sketches I created based on this idea.
After a few requests I thought I’d set about creating a few blog posts on how to develop from sparkling idea to a series of images.
The base idea for this particular series comes from the resonant feelings derived from my lock-down. That of ‘Absence’. Being without people, without social contact, being as it were stranded in a bubble of health for the duration. I thought it might be something which resonated with others.
The idea of ‘Absence’ though will develop and shed being permanently tied to a particular moment and more refer to the human condition of being away from a moment or time which we remember and the absence of players in our life, who have simply disappeared through time and tide. To be seen again? To have been scrubbed forever by the sea of moments? We shall find out.
I shall be posting , words, images, maybe video if it’s appropriate or useful and of course the final images, so hope on and look out for future posts called ‘Star Man’.
ABSENCE : The state of being away from a place or person
SAUDADE : Saudade is a deep emotional state of nostalgic or profound melancholic longing for an absent something or someone that one cares for and/or loves while simultaneously having positive emotions towards the future. Moreover, it often carries a repressed knowledge that the object of longing might never be had again.
HIRAETH : A homesickness for a home you can never return, a home which maybe never was; the grief, the nostalgia , the yearning for lost places of your past.
If there’s anything else you’d like to see included, whether that be Photoshop or kit lists or/and/or , just add it in the comments
Fingers crossed the images will be available for sale upon completion.
Just a quick tutorial for any of you,like me , who’ve avoided creating their own brushes in Photoshop. I’ve chosen a ‘fog’ brush using a cloud image as a base. It could of course be used for anything else like smog,smoke,mist ..really any number of uses. The process would be the same if you wanted to create a brush using any base.
I use a Windows PC so instructions are generic for that but I believe Command can be interposed with Control if you’re on a Mac. Enjoy, comment and subscribe to my You Tube as I’m sure there’ll be more delights coming your way.