Paper/assembly dolls

Barbie

Bratz

AGH

Maybe I’m thinking about this wrong! Maybe Alice and the dolls are actually entirely separate from each other, and I’m just associating them together for some reason. I mean I did look into Alice in Wonderland as a part of fashion spreads.. urgh oh jeez. Alright.

New plan: explore Drink Me and Dolls separately from one another. I can try mixing them together as well maybe just for visual experimentation, but we’ll see.

To Do List

For NP

• Visually explore dolls/alice
  • Fill sketchbook
    • Bottle designs
    • Doll designs
    • Explore different mediums
    • Key designs
    • Look further into relevant symbolism (library)
    • Adult makeup on dolls
    • Adult dress on dolls
    • Look into child beauty pageants?
    • Colour usage
• Visually explore magazines/advertising
  • Fill sketchbook
    • Magazine covers – graphic techniques
    • Different sorts of advertisement, poster placement and use
    • Binding techniques
    • Colour usage
    • Slogans
    • Typography
    • Different ways to incorporate text into project
    • Sketches for spreads
    • Sketches for covers
    • Sketches for posters
    • Digital media experimentation
• Decide which idea to follow
• Fill another sketchbook with visual development
  • Sketches for final designs
  • Colour palettes
  • Presentation ideas
    • Framed?
    • Bound?
• Create 5 final images

For EMP

• Write and hand in learning agreement (BY FRIDAY!)
• Explore facial moulds
• Research interactive exhibits
• Explore stylistic and media options
• Explore mask making

At an Impasse!

I don’t know what direction to take this in, and I really need to decide! Quickly!

OPTIONS..

• Dolls as ideals/Alice in Wonderland – “Drink me”
• Magazines/advertising/the sale of the idea

Pros of Dolls/Alice:

• Works as a good visual metaphor for ‘the ideal’
• Calls Barbie and Bratz etc to mind
• Value based purely on aesthetics; nothing else to them
• Childhood connotations; focus placed on the effect that intense scrutiny and early sexualisation has on young girls
• Mass manufactured
• Drink me/eat me: induces physical change in order to bring eater/drinker to appropriate size
• Key with Drink Me bottle could be symbolic in and of itself

Pros of Magazines/Ads

• Context is appropriate
• Text easily incorporated

Cons of Dolls/Alice

• Maybe too many ideas combined

Cons of Magazines/Ads

• Too obvious?
• Too preachy?

I’m really just going to have to start drawing these out and see where they go.

Masks and Faces

Something that occurred to me today during the group tutorial session.. incorporating masks into my final project. If I’m looking at identity, it would seem a natural direction to move in.

Here, I’ve found some information on plaster casting:

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Cast-a-Face-in-Plaster/

The end result of this tutorial looks like this on the website:

While these are more replications of faces than masks, I think this could be an interesting direction to go in as well. I could maybe create layers of each, or a row of the above faces, on in front of the other, following a change in someone’s identity over time? Need to sketch this so I remember what I’m thinking of tomorrow.

Update: Found a loovely mask making tutorial at Threadbanger’s Youtube.

I’m quite interested, at the moment, by the idea of creating tons and tons of masks that sit over a plaster face. Pretty excited by the idea of drawing all over and decorating each mask as well.. we’ll see where this goes.

Guerilla Girls!

Adbusters reminded me of Guerilla Girls, who have many lovely things on their website.

Though these are all on a single poster, it’s the bottom section that I find interesting, typographically, and I thought I should make note of it. Using text itself to convey scale is a technique I want to remember, so I’m just putting this in here for reference later.

Adbusters

Due to the nature of the project, I thought Adbusters would be an appropriate place to look for inspiration. Very luckily, in the preview of their current issue, I found this:

Key words from text: “The beauty industry has managed to persuade…”

The model in photograph is highly sexualised an a very stereotypical way, referencing the societal focus on beauty that the text suggests is a result of the beauty industry’s cultural influence. Bright red lips, open mouth – notably, no eyes, taking away a sense of identity. Her breasts bring implants to mind, and though her hands are covering them, the might red fingernail polish assures the viewer that the intent is certainly not to obscure them.

Overall, this is a really good example of the sort of imagery I was looking for. It references objectification as a means by which to criticise it.

The White Rabbit

• The white rabbit represents a chase, the search for something..
• He keeps eluding her – something unattainable?