Illustration
Madame Veto Herself30.5cmx40.6cm
Colored Pencils on paper November 2019 Exhibition TextMadame Veto Herself is a diptych illustration depicting the values of everything and nothing, and how you are most fulfilled when the only thing you have is yourself. My piece is inspired by the life of Marie Antoinette (nicknamed Madame Veto for her low public appeal) and by the dramatic styles of the Rococo art style. The first illustration depicts a woman in typical Marie Antoinette attire, with different hands tugging at her hands, hair and dress. It is meant to show how when you have "everything", you really feel the most unsatisfied because you are simply surrounded material items. The second Illustration illustrates the physical "nothing", where you are with yourself and your thoughts. This is the point where you feel the most fulfilled.
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Planning
Inspiration
My first inspiration for my diptych illustration was the 2006 film Marie Antoinette, directed by Sofia Coppola. Sofia Coppola was born in 1971 and is the daughter of Francis Ford Coppola (director of the Godfather films). Her work in Marie Antoinette was nominated for an Academy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Costume Design, and Kirsten Dunst's acting as the title character was well received with critics. The film follows the rise and fall of Marie Antoinette, who was queen of France at just nineteen years old. Marie Antoinette was the last queen of France before the French Revolution, and undoubtedly one of the more interesting royals of Europe during this time. She was married to Louis XVI when she was fifteen years old, and crowned queen of France just four years later. Throughout her reign as queen, there was a lot of disconnect between her duties, and how the people saw her. In her many letters home, she would complain about her life as a royal; she once said "I put on my rouge and wash my hands in front of the whole world." The young queen was also seen as the poster girl for the bourgeoisie lifestyle, which had fallen out of positive light during the time of the French Revolution. She was executed at the age of 37, on October 16th, 1793.
My second inspiration for my diptych illustration was the rococo art movement, which started in 1707 and ended in 1780. It was concentrated on embellishments and decorative detailing, where the sole purpose was to give off the impression of luxury and higher class living. This is called aristocratic idealism. The development of this style was mostly in France, and formed a connection between fine art and decorative art. The specific piece that I am drawing inspiration from for this piece is Girl Playing with a Dog, by Jean Honore Fragonard. Fragonard was born in 1732 and died in 1806, who developed many different artistic skills throughout his lifetime. He was a painter, printmaker, and draftsman, mostly known for his playful take on the Rococo style and his many portaits of women (often showing their breasts or with their dog). He lived in Italy for a few years to study at the French Academy in Rome, and moved back to Paris in 1761. He had success in the earlier parts of his career, but by the time of his death, his work had lost its popularity with the changing of styles and techniques. |
Planning SketchesFor my first sketch about this project, I wasn't really sure about what I approach I wanted to take about the phrase "everything versus nothing". I thought about having a woman thinking to herself while walking home from somewhere, or with a figure strewn across some storage boxes. At this point in the process, I only really knew what I wanted my piece to mean, but not the visual I wanted to create to express this thought.
For my sketch, I decided to watch the movie Marie Antoinette (2006), and sketch scenes that I found interesting. I decided to use this movie as a source of inspiration because I really enjoyed the intricate costume design for each character, as well as Kirsten Dunst's acting in the film. I then knew that I wanted to use Marie Antoinette as my historical figure for the diptych, but during this step I still was unsure of how I was going to implement her into the final sketch of my piece. The third sketch is essentially a continuation of the first two, which focus on my brainstorming process. In the sketch I drew a more modern interpretation of Marie's extravagant bed, which definitely has less dramatic detail added to it. I had decided to draw this because I was playing with the idea of Marie being in her bedroom in the piece, maybe thrown across her bed haphazardly. I also drew another image of her on the bottom of the page, focusing on her feathered hat and curled hair. The bottom right corner has a very quick sketch of the bathtub that I saw in the movie. |
Process
Experimentation
The experimentation in the piece relied heavily on how I used my color pencils. Different parts of the illustrations required different levels of pressure from the pencil onto the paper, and using prisma color pencils was very helpful with this experimentation. It was very difficult to develop a technique on how to get a flat color on such a large amount of space, and my materials for this project really aided in the process. Prisma color pencils are soft core, so they are easily blended and are good for layering colors one on top of the other. I was able to layer many colors in the background of each piece to make it smooth and colorful.
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Process
The first step that I needed to complete was to sketch my illustration onto the sheet of paper. I did so lightly in regular pencil, marking off areas that I wanted to have certain shading. I wanted to start this piece in regular pencil because it is easily erased, unlike using color pencil first (which is more difficult to erase). While drawing I needed to have some references for how certain parts of the piece would look (focusing on the human figure). I looked in the mirror a lot for facial expressions and also took pictures of my hands to make sure my drawing was anatomically correct. I began to draw with a lighter layer of color on the piece in order to test things out. This was the first time that I had worked with color pencils on a project like this, so I was fairly cautious in the beginning. As I continued to color my piece, I realized that it would take more pressure to get the hue that I wanted in the end (which caused me to experiment in different pressures on the pencil). |
Compare and Contrast
Compare:
- Both pieces feature a woman in common 1700s attire, common for upperclass women of the time. For Fragonard's piece this was simply the style of the time, and so I emulated that into my work to simulate that same time period.
- both women are sat in front of the window (the window in my piece represents an inside look as to what the woman feels as she is surrounded by her riches. In my piece, I used different hues of color for the window to show the contrast between the bright, intricate design of the space and the negative feelings the woman is harboring inside. In Fragonard's "The Love Letter", the tone is much lighter and the woman is seen reading a letter from what is presumed to be her lover; the window shows a bright, sunny day outside and expresses the light feelings the woman has.
Contrast:
- My piece is an homage to the historical figure Marie Antoinette, while the piece by Jean Honore Fragonard is of a random woman.
- The emotions of the piece are different: mine shows tension and sadness, and the piece by Fragonard displays a sensual and content facial expression.
- this part of my piece uses cool toned colors, while the one by Fragonard uses warm toned colors. This further pushes the emotions of the piece (which are contrasted).
- Both pieces feature a woman in common 1700s attire, common for upperclass women of the time. For Fragonard's piece this was simply the style of the time, and so I emulated that into my work to simulate that same time period.
- both women are sat in front of the window (the window in my piece represents an inside look as to what the woman feels as she is surrounded by her riches. In my piece, I used different hues of color for the window to show the contrast between the bright, intricate design of the space and the negative feelings the woman is harboring inside. In Fragonard's "The Love Letter", the tone is much lighter and the woman is seen reading a letter from what is presumed to be her lover; the window shows a bright, sunny day outside and expresses the light feelings the woman has.
Contrast:
- My piece is an homage to the historical figure Marie Antoinette, while the piece by Jean Honore Fragonard is of a random woman.
- The emotions of the piece are different: mine shows tension and sadness, and the piece by Fragonard displays a sensual and content facial expression.
- this part of my piece uses cool toned colors, while the one by Fragonard uses warm toned colors. This further pushes the emotions of the piece (which are contrasted).
Reflection
Overall I really enjoyed this project. I have been interested in illustration for a very long time, but never really did any deep research or any serious projects around the topic until this project with UWM came along. I've loved coming up with characters and different designs since I started drawing in middle school, and this project was a great way to visualize how far I've come and how much my technique has developed. Working with color pencils for the final sketch was something I had never done before. I wanted to use the color pencils and different colors to contrast the emotions of each piece. This proved to be a bit of a challenge, but I enjoyed the experience of learning about how these mediums work and how much effort it takes to create a fleshed out piece. The pressures I used on the pencils also shaped the piece as well. The main problem that I had with this project was the changing of idea for me in the beginning. I had actually begun coloring in a version of my final sketch that I ended up scrapping and starting over, but I did this because I was really passionate about taking inspiration from Marie Antoinette's life and how I could apply that to the ideas of "everything versus nothing".
ACT Responses
1. Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon you art work:
Both my inspiration (Rococo piece) feature a woman, as well as extravagant and dramatic detailing.
2. What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Jean Honore Fragonard liked the Rococo art style because he was able to express the joy of simple but upper class living, which is seen in my piece through my design of Marie Antoinette's bedroom.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
After conducting my research on the Rococo art movement and the Marie Antoinette movie, my inspirations have both stemmed from the exaggeration of self expression and the idea that you need grand material items in order to feel fulfilled.
4. What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The main idea of my piece was to show people that even when you have everything you want in a material sense, you never feel completely fulfilled until you learn to accept yourself and your flaws. I used what I learned in my research to display this in my piece through stylistic choices such as color palette and detail.
5. What references did you make while reading your research?
I could infer from my research that the approach Rococo artists took on their pieces was focused more on the embellishments and look of the subject matter in the moment, with dramatic composition (such as the girl in the Jean Fragonard piece, laying in a bed full of different blankets and draped clothing).
Both my inspiration (Rococo piece) feature a woman, as well as extravagant and dramatic detailing.
2. What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Jean Honore Fragonard liked the Rococo art style because he was able to express the joy of simple but upper class living, which is seen in my piece through my design of Marie Antoinette's bedroom.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
After conducting my research on the Rococo art movement and the Marie Antoinette movie, my inspirations have both stemmed from the exaggeration of self expression and the idea that you need grand material items in order to feel fulfilled.
4. What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The main idea of my piece was to show people that even when you have everything you want in a material sense, you never feel completely fulfilled until you learn to accept yourself and your flaws. I used what I learned in my research to display this in my piece through stylistic choices such as color palette and detail.
5. What references did you make while reading your research?
I could infer from my research that the approach Rococo artists took on their pieces was focused more on the embellishments and look of the subject matter in the moment, with dramatic composition (such as the girl in the Jean Fragonard piece, laying in a bed full of different blankets and draped clothing).
Bibliography
-“Marie Antoinette.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 10 Sept. 2019, https://www.biography.com/royalty/marie-antoinette.
- “Sofia Coppola.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 17 Apr. 2019, https://www.biography.com/filmmaker/sofia-coppola.
- “The Love Letter, Jean Honore Fragonard.” Metmuseum.org, The Met, https://www.metmuseum.org/en/art/collection/search/436322.
-IMDb. “Marie Antoinette.” IMDb, IMDb.com, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0422720/mediaindex?ref_=tt_pv_mi_sm.
- “Rococo Movement Overview.” The Art Story, The Art Story Foundation, https://www.theartstory.org/movement/rococo/.
- “Sofia Coppola.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 17 Apr. 2019, https://www.biography.com/filmmaker/sofia-coppola.
- “The Love Letter, Jean Honore Fragonard.” Metmuseum.org, The Met, https://www.metmuseum.org/en/art/collection/search/436322.
-IMDb. “Marie Antoinette.” IMDb, IMDb.com, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0422720/mediaindex?ref_=tt_pv_mi_sm.
- “Rococo Movement Overview.” The Art Story, The Art Story Foundation, https://www.theartstory.org/movement/rococo/.