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Entry One
Bas-Relief, as an artistic technique, is one of humanities most ancient tools. Certain forms of the medium possibly date back 30,000 years ago. This ancient form of art has long acted as a medium for story telling, and is a prime example of illustration and storytelling merging together, much in the same way a comic functions. Egyptians and Assyrians both were heavily involved in perfecting this process, by accompanying text alongside the images themselves, allowing viewers to more easily comprehend the messages being expressed. Often the illustrations of these large reliefs were not chronological, leading to multiple events being illustrated simultaneously. The accompanying text would often act as way to decipher the art, taking the viewer through the piece step by step.
As history and culture progressed, the long standing traditions of bas-relief would follow, finding representation in vast majority of ancient cultures at some point. During the medieval era, the church was especially interested in bas-reliefs, as they allowed for illiterate individuals to be able to glance at cathedral walls to better understand stories being told to them. In my own work, I aim to copy certain parts of this storytelling technique in my initial pages, using it to set up a prologue of sorts, thus paying homage to the ancient nature of both the story of Beowulf, and the origin of modern graphic storytelling.
Source Article:
History and Examples of Bas-Relief Sculpture
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Entry Three
Celtic knots are a design deeply engrained in the artistic traditions of the Norse, Celtic, and English. They are the result of the very same cultural clash that has resulted in Beowulf. Originating in Scandanavia, Celtic knots began to appear as Vikings pillaged and eventually assimilated into the larger cultures of the Europe. They are especially engrained in the artistic traditions of the English and the Irish, as the two isles were used as a prominent trading post by Vikings in order to transfer goods and establish future trade and raiding routes. Dublin, the capitol of Ireland, has been noted to have been heavily occupied by the Norse Vikings, and as a result, saw its culture merge into them greatly. In the same way, the Saxons, from which the Anglo-Saxon name takes its latter name, were heavily rooted in Norse culture. The designs of the Celtic knot can be made into various recognizable symbols, the Celtic trinity being a particularly well-known symbol amongst Christian groups. Incorporations of these designs into my own work on Beowulf will be a great cultural tie to a story already rooted in cultural merging and will help add artistic flare to the book so that it has its own personality, rooted in the designs that made the same cultural journey as the original story.
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Entry Two
Angel Medina is comic artist most well known for his work on the dark horse series "Spawn," which follows a demonic superhero as he hunts demons. His style lends itself well to over the top and stylized styles of anatomy, making his figures extremely angular and having them almost appear as caricatures of their original design. This exaggeration lends itself particularly well to the demon designs featured in "Spawn," and may work as good framework on how to approach the design of Grendel in my own comic, who already seems to feature certain exaggerated aspects of this style.
Angel Medina has also done work for comics such as "Spiderman," using his exaggerated style to add an incredible acrobatic and kinetic sense of movement. In relations to my own work, I will most likely incorporate small doses of this, but I want to try to keep a heavier weight to my designs. His designs for the Hulk may work as good bridge for body language here, as Medina seems to depict the character in a more hunched over stance, giving him a sense of power that is barely contained, making moments of explosive movement, like his Spiderman illustrations, all the more impactful.
Medina's use of heavy shading is also a hallmark of his style, using the shadows to emphasize the angular nature of his own designs. There is a deep sense of energy and brooding that this creates, which is further elevated when he is depicting night time settings. His use of cloth capes and shadows create an appearance almost resembling shattered glass, directing the viewers eyes to focus of the page. Medina is able to leverage all of his style to his advantage, and does so in a way that always gives his illustrations a sense of energy and depth.
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Entry Four
Osprey’s publication, “The Vikings,” was gifted to me a few years ago, and has sparked my interest in Norse cultures ever since. The book is a relatively small and simple one but acts as a great entry point into various aspects of Viking culture and life. But its primary benefit for my project lies in its incredible wealth of images depicting Norse artifacts, European art, and common day to day structures of life at the time. In particular, the depictions of weapons and armor has been extremely helpful, and Vikings have long suffered from mainstream depictions being entirely inaccurate. Viking armor was a surprisingly diverse set. Like their culture, Vikings were highly individualistic, and their armor acted in the same way. The armors owner would often be at least partially responsible for forging or creating pieces of it, and a lack of uniformity amongst armies until later years was common. This individual approach will help add diversity to background characters in my comic and help to add visual interest and flare to people that otherwise may be unremarkable.
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Entry Five
Guiley’s “Encyclopedia of Demons,” has proven to be an invaluable resource on occult culture and behavior. As the name implies, the book focuses on a vast variety of demons, ranging from multiple faiths and cultures, in their literary history, as well as cultural significance and mythology. For my purposes, I focused on the Judeo-Christian demons for my research. Their appearance was often embodied in strange combinations, made to look as unappealing as possible. This kind of monstrosity and behavior was what I wanted to root my interpretation of Grendel in, as it focuses on drawing attention back into the Christian influence of Beowulf. A particular demon of interest was Lucifer himself, who in many traditional Christian art forms, especially of the Byzantine variety, too the form of an emaciated goat headed abomination. My primary inspiration for Grendel is linked to this depiction of the devil, as it helps to add to the depravity of the character, and as a common western symbol, Lucifer acts as an easily recognizable analogy for evil, which will help quickly build a character around Grendel’s visual design.
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Entry six
An often unexplored and unconsidered system when designing graphic novels is the standard of print that they are presented in. Works such as Frank Miller's "300" chose to break standard convention by presenting his graphic novel as an elongated book that was, when compared to other comics, absolutely massive. The overwhelming size gave the book a gravity and made it a show piece in addition to a novel. Standard comics are created in a tabloid printing format. They are usually drawn on a 11 x 17 paper, which scales perfectly down to this format. But as stated above, breaking this format can draw a viewer's attention, and open avenues for the art of the book to speak for itself. To investigate which size I will choose on my own work I am researching several standardized print scales, to see which size best accommodates my novel.
As a resource, papersize.io has been invaluable in this endeavor.
Source:
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Entry Seven
Illuminated manuscripts, much like Bas Reliefs, are ancient predecessors to graphic novels in terms of linking literature and art together. Originating in the middle ages, these books were created as intricate works of art, sporting highly detailed images accompanied by hand lettering, illuminated manuscripts were a luxury afforded to the nobility of Europe, both as a way to teach the stories of Christianity, but as an artistic symbol of one's status. These books were often formatted with a page of text accompanied by a page of illustrations, but would sometimes mix the two pages together. The publication of these works of art was before the printing press, and as a result, each work would be a hand-crafted unique piece onto itself. The illustrations from illuminated manuscripts have become so embedded in Christian culture that their style would continue on into the present day in many churches. The connection these would have to my own work would not only be in their artistic techniques, but also their religious link. Beowulf is a story of medieval Europe, and these would be of the exact time that Beowulf would take place, and serve to show the clash of Christianity and Paganism in these cultures historically, and in the story itself.
