part 2: ideas: meanings in imagery: visual metaphors

A metaphor draws a comparison between two apparently unrelated subjects. 

'A visual metaphor is an image that is imaginative but not literally applicable.  ...  This uses ideas and symbols of communication, illusion, symbolism and expressionism to create the complexity of meanings.'  OCA Level 1 Illustration notes

The course notes give an example of the Pudsey Bear image used by Children in Need.  Pudsey Bear is bandaged and suggests injury and care without direct reference to disadvantaged children.

I searched for examples of symbols that have become everyday representations of visual metaphors.

I then selected the phrase 'high achievement' from a given list and created a visual diagram to symbolise the expression.

I took three basic ideas - achieving height, achieving at height and the traditional symbolism of high achievement.

This exercise has shown me how it is possible to create an image that conveys a message with more subtlety and power, by using visual metaphors, than by literal interpretation.

Part 2: ideas - choosing content

The Brief
The requirement for this project was to create a simple portrait of a character from a given text.

The text is from The Daffodil Affair by Michael Innes, set in wartime London, 1945, in a bleak room at New Scotland Yard.

The character is an officer who, for 15 years, has controlled the police files that deal with the abduction of 'feeble minded girls'.


First impressions
After reading the text I envisaged the main character as a solid man, possibly 50 years old, maybe older.  Greying hair, tweed jacket.  I saw him sitting at his desk - a serious man.

The room was austere - painted walls and bare floorboards - bleak but functional.  A large desk and office chair, filing cabinets, paperwork, telephone.  Large windows with brown tape across them.


Development through research
I needed to find out what it would have been like in wartime London.

What did the men look like - their clothes and hairstyles?
What was the office like?  How was it furnished?

To get a feel for the era in which the text was set I searched the internet for images to make collages and mood boards.

I added materials like brown paper and brown sticky tape and took rubbings of wooden surfaces to add textural quality.

 
My interpretation

The room - bleak, austere - simply furnished.
Plain brown wooden furniture.  Basic items - a large desk, office chair, lots of filing cabinets.  Plus telephone, typewriter, desk lamp, fountain pen, ink.  Papers.
Light from one side.  Large windows with brown tape giving plenty of light.  On a bright day, the shadows would be deep, on a dull day, the room would be dark.

The character is more complex.
What would he be wearing?
Does he care about his appearance?  Is he clean, is he crumpled?
Is his hair short, kempt, ruffled?
Is he clean-shaven, does he have stubble, a beard?

What is he like?
From the text we know that he is angry.  But I think he is also tortured, sad.

My idea of the character is now of a troubled man, dishevelled, the emotional weight of his work permeating his whole being.

My intention was to show the austere wartime setting by using colour - brown and black - and by including filing cabinets, taped windows and war posters as a backdrop to set the scene.

I wanted to show the desperation and frustration on the face of the character, using deep shadows to accentuate the facial features.

 
Reflection

I'm disappointed with the style of the portrait, as I would like to have captured the illustrative style of the 1940s.

However, I feel that the colours and the depiction of the setting do represent the austerity of both the room and the time in which the text is set.

I also feel that the drawing expresses the angry, tortured and sad characteristics that I wished to convey.