Digital Illustration
Title: This is Not a Drill
Size: 8 in x 10 in Medium: Digital Illustration Completion: December 2019 Exhibition TextThis is Not a Drill was inspired by Celia Krampien and an animated story by Llama Arts. This piece was inspired by the fear around the amount of school shootings and threats being made recently.
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Planning
Inspiration
Krampien, Celia. “Code Red: My Three Minutes of School Lockdown.” The Globe and Mail, 12 May 2018, https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/facts-and-arguments/code-red-my-three-minutes-of-school-lockdown/article16204041/.
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I was inspired by this piece by Celia Krampien from an article about an incident with a code red at school. I really liked the ominous feel to it, and even though in the story, there was no threat, the image still illustrated the fear behind the unknown.
The author of the story told about a time when her school was put in lock down, and she had warned her husband about the danger, but it ended up being a drill. Although she laughed about it later, because she knew there was no threat and she had overreacted, while applying this story to now, we can never be sure. There is a scary uncertainty in the unknown, and when a drill is not explicitly announced, that uncertainty can turn to fear. |
I was also inspired by this animation done by Llama Arts. I was especially inspired by the images at 2:04 and 2:47. This story was also about a time when the narrator's school was put in lock down, but this time it was real. The animator illustrated this story through a pretty creepy video.
I was inspired by the artist's use of perspective, mainly because it was more from the students' eyes. Since he was the one in the situation, he illustrated what was happening through what he saw. Again, I really liked the dark shades and the different perspectives, which is what I wanted to translate to my piece. |
Llama Arts. “School Lockdown Stories Animated.” YouTube, 5 May, 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t281rgbCfLI
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Sketches
These were my sketches that I made before I created my piece. In the first sketch, I was experimenting with a more straightforward perspective, like Krampien's style. In the second and third sketch, I changed up the perspective to make it more like the animation. In all of the sketches, I knew I wanted very dark and ominous colors, and an element of mystery with the shadows inside of the room.
Experimentation
One thing that I had to experiment with was the way that the shadows would look. I took some pictures for reference to see how shadows could warp or change based on where the figure would be standing from outside of the door. I wanted to make sure that the shadows were drawn correctly, so I had to play with the positioning a little bit.
I also played around with transforming the image from the window to put it in the shadow below. |
Process
6. Then, taking shades of dark blue and black, I used the fill bucket to fill in the areas like the shadow of the figure outside of the door, the girl crouching, and the door and walls.
I also changed the figure outside of the door to make it more obvious about the topic and theme I wanted to get across. |
Reflection
Critique
Overall, I really like the way this piece turned out. I really wanted to capture the serious and scary themes in this, and I think that through the element of mystery and the hues, the message came across. I have noticed that I have gotten better at making the lines more precise in the program that I use, which was good. I also liked the way that the shadows turned out in the end, because I was worried about how they would turn out.
If I were to change something about this in the future, I think I would change the perspective of it a little bit to make it look more like the clip from the animated story. While I liked this perspective that I had, I think I by tilting it a little, I could have portrayed the ominous themes a little bit better.
This piece turned out pretty minimalist in the end, which was okay, because my inspiration pieces were pretty minimalist as well, but I think in the future, I would add more details.
If I were to change something about this in the future, I think I would change the perspective of it a little bit to make it look more like the clip from the animated story. While I liked this perspective that I had, I think I by tilting it a little, I could have portrayed the ominous themes a little bit better.
This piece turned out pretty minimalist in the end, which was okay, because my inspiration pieces were pretty minimalist as well, but I think in the future, I would add more details.
Compare and Contrast
Krampien, Celia. “Code Red: My Three Minutes of School Lockdown.” The Globe and Mail, 12 May 2018, https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/facts-and-arguments/code-red-my-three-minutes-of-school-lockdown/article16204041/.
Llama Arts. “School Lockdown Stories Animated.” YouTube, 5 May, 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t281rgbCfLI
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Similarities
Differences
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This is Not a Drill by Lexie Snyder 2019
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ACT Responses
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork.
My piece was inspired by the artists' color choices and perspective.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The overall approach the authors had while creating the pieces was to portray the mysterious elements of danger.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I can infer that in our culture nowadays, we are becoming more desensitized to school shootings and violence, but there is still a lot of fear that surrounds this topic.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The theme around my inspiration pieces was the fear behind uncertainty
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I can infer that while the artists had different stories that they based their artwork off of, the overall tone of their pieces were the same.
My piece was inspired by the artists' color choices and perspective.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The overall approach the authors had while creating the pieces was to portray the mysterious elements of danger.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I can infer that in our culture nowadays, we are becoming more desensitized to school shootings and violence, but there is still a lot of fear that surrounds this topic.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The theme around my inspiration pieces was the fear behind uncertainty
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I can infer that while the artists had different stories that they based their artwork off of, the overall tone of their pieces were the same.
Bibliography
Krampien, Celia. “Code Red: My Three Minutes of School Lockdown.” The Globe and Mail, 12 May 2018, https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/facts-and-arguments/code-red-my-three-minutes-of-school-lockdown/article16204041/.
Llama Arts. “School Lockdown Stories Animated.” YouTube, 5 May, 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t281rgbCfLI
Llama Arts. “School Lockdown Stories Animated.” YouTube, 5 May, 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t281rgbCfLI