Humour

I want the humour in my sketch to be quite dry and simple just to make people chuckle. I think this is the right approach to to my little comic as it means it is 'easy reading' By this I mean that you could sit down on the buss or on a break and quickly have a read of it to give someone a bit of a laugh. This is partly why i have had the idea to keep the images as pen sketches and avoid color if i can. With this being a college project I am aware that with me wanting to do toilet humour, it might not be appropriate. However i am going to try and get round that in a subtle way so that i can suggest something without actually putting it so people can interpret it as they wish. Also by using this i might help my comic work on two levels. A bit like doctor who or simpsons in a way. Were adults can watch it and get the more adult jokes and be more aware of maybe political jokes in it for example. Which the kids just laugh because of the slap stick humour.

This is a good example. This is a simpsons episode where they go to live in this house in a ski resort for the winter season, but because homer has had no beer or tv homer has gone crazy. Kids however will find this funny for different reasons that the adults do. This is because it is actually doing a parody version of the Shinning were he does crazy. So most adults will have seen this as it is a iconic movie. But kids will find it funny because of little things like him looking in the mirror and scarring him self. So in this episode you could argue that the adults are the primary audience and kids the secondary. However usually with the simpsons kids are the main audience.

Target audience.

My target audience for this project are more mature teens and adults as I would the humour to be very subtle and dry. Which children might not get. However I am going to try and make it if i can so it works on two levels with adults being my primary audience and kids secondary. This means maybe have a slap stick scene of someone tripping up and face planting for example but having a underlying joke.

The reason why i won't to make it a more adult comic mag is because you don't tend to get many out there other than viz which is all i know.

Brian Bolland

Brian Bolland is a extremely well known British comic book artist who took over the comic scene in the 1980's doing artwork for camelot 3000 and DC with comics like judge dredge and batman. Brian studied graphic design and art history before working on comics such as oz and time out, But was soon spotted by dc and was given the option of working on any DC comic. This is where he worked alongside Alan Moore in the most controversial batman. Batman: The killing joke. Which his portrayal of batman remains one of the most iconic comics images ever.

He has also done artwork like

Viz comics

Viz is a comic book that has a very adult twist from the normal conventions. It took the standard formate for comics but added a dark humour to it so that it would appeal to the older generation. It storylines were usually very dark, crude, incorporated puns and old celebrities to make fun of. The comic was created by Chris Donald in 1979 along side his brother and friend. Which started out as just a a few copies being made in his bedroom to in the late 80's and 90's suddenly taking off and selling lots of copies. 

All the sketches are very simple and basic but it relies on its humour. However i really like the simpleness of the sketches as i think it makes it easier to read and follow, Which is something i think my comic is lacking as the colors are to busy and complex. 

Heres some example of the sketches...

Whirl pool.

This design is one of the first few I have done, however i really don't like it. Hence way its not fully completed. The design really isn't my style at all its far to fussy, twee and old for my liking and there wasn't much to do to save this design.

This design started off as development work that then ended up into a design which i drew up in pen and then scanned into the computer. Once i had played with the levels to get the background pure white i then colored the sections up. I knew at this point that the design wasn't really my style and that i didn't like it. I then decide to add a twirl distortion onto the design to see if that gave a more interesting spin on it, but that didn't really work.

I think it hasn't worked because of the fact that i have tried to much to mimic the style of alice and wonderland, that is a style that i really don't like and isn't me. However from this i know i have to try and do design work that is more my style and see how that could incorporate into the festival feel.

Mad hatter poster

This design is getting there in terms of fitting in more around the style that i personally like. However i still feel it is not really working to the style or standard that i want in my work. It doesn't look clean, sharp or bold enough to actually be used as a poster, and the colors just don't stand out at all. Its muted and simple but not in a way to make it interesting and engaging! Also the way the hat, tea pot and liquid do not stand out from the background to really grip the viewer into looking at the poster. As i judge my work by thinking if i was to walk past this would i stop and look? Which for this design is no, so it's not doing the job or meeting the requirements for my brief!


As for the quality of the image it is reasonably good and doesn't look terrible or anything. But yet isn't at that professionally quality i would expect from a graphic designer- Which is what i want to do. For example like my tutor pointed out the tea doesn't look like tea it looks like a thick, gloomy liquid in the way it falls. Which i agree with.


From doing this i am now going to have a rethink as to what other angles i can pursue this poster idea from, so i engage my target audience easier.

Uncle sam poster

Uncle sam poster.

This is one of the most famous posters of all time! It is extremely iconic and captures exactly what propaganda is all about. This poster i think was so successful which has led to it being copied and repeated countless times, because it is so classically american and patriotic that its become a classic. It was done by a american illustrator called James Montgomery Flagg from new york city as a recruitment poster for the U.S Army during world war one which was then adapted for WW11.

I have looked at this poster as it has given me some inspiration as to what my posters could be like for my mad hatter tea party, which propaganda could fit in quite nicely into the crazy world of Alice and wonderland.

only fool and horse. Open 24/7

this is just a quick clip i found of another only fools and horses episode that is very simple but very funny. Which is the reason why the series was so loved! Using little jokes like this in mine will really lift it and give it a edge.

Asdfmovie

This is a youtube sensation which just consists of lots of little pointless but comical clips that is so simple just stick men and stick drawings. That could very easily be in a comic strip as well as a animated video. This slap stick comical humour is something i want to include in mine. Which is what i am trying to include in mine with the play on words and puns.

Classic comical scenes

Del boy falling through the bar. Only fools and horses

This is a absolutely classic scene. Where del boy and trig are in a wine bar trying to play it cool in front of the more upper class women. For any of you who haven't seen any of the only fools and horses ( Which you are extremely missing out!!) but del boy basically lives with his younger brother rodney and uncle Albert who are market traders that are wheeling and dealing try to sell knock off goods. However del boy try to give off impressions to people that he is a high flying business man or a 'Yuppy'. But this scene works on two levels as it has a primary and secondary audience that will find it funny no matter what. People who watch only fools and horses will understand and have got to know the characters and will know why it is so funny. But also people who haven't seen it as it is just a very light hearted but so simply comical that it is genius!

Chandelier cleaning Only fools and horses.

This is another only fools and horses classic scene where del boy visits this big manor house that needs its chandeliers cleaning. So del boy decided to pretend to be cleaner and do them. But this scene works again because people who watch all the time will have gotten to know the characters but also because of its little puns and jokes like " grandad do you want a jimmy" to which he replies " know i had one before i left" Which is such dry funny humour that i think is important in a comic strip or story telling as it is a good way to engage people. Also of course with this the big light falling down as he as undone the wrong one appeals to a wide range of people of all ages from kids all the way to adults.

Dads army- Don't tell him pike. 

Now this is a absolutely classic scene that everyone will find funny. This has taken on almost a pantomime approach on it. It was a show called dads army thats was on during the late 70s to late 80s  about the home guard that where the people that couldn't go out to fight and stayed on home turf. The reason this is so funny because everybody knows it is coming but slapstick humour people can't help but find funny.



The royle Family.  Battery remote.

I think the Royle Family was such a successful series because everyone can associate with  what is happening like never having batteries and them getting shaped from remote to remote. But they take it to the extremes so it is very very comical.



The reason why all these shows were so successful is that it is very easy watching and light hearted. So people don't have to concentrate to hard on it. But also its use of making everyday things very funny and allowing the audience to be able to associate with it. That consequently means they engage and capture yours target audience.

Nottingham Trent degree show

This is a price of the work I saw at the Nottingham Trent degree show. I unfortunately didn't get the name of the person who did it. There was a lot of work in the graphic design section that I really liked and were very bright however I saw this persons work and it really stood out to me I like the use of black and white as it give a contrast between positive and negative space which I think is nice. Also because it is only black and white it would be something that could be used as inspiration for the manifestations as it is simplistic look with very fine lines would compliment the glass space on the bus station. Also looking at it from a cost point of view having only one block colour is a very cost effective way of printing. I just didn't want to use grays and blacks so it was cheapest. But if you could use it to frame your image then I think it would look very bold and eye catching.

vw advertising campaigns - Doyle Dane Bernbach

The vw advertising campaigns i really love one because i love the beetle. But two because of how they advertised it, as they are so clever and simple. The beetle has been a timeless classic that was known for its very simple and basic design that hasn't changed from 1939 when it was fist produced to 2003. So in itself the beetle is a major design success which shows in its sales figures as it sold 21,529,464 beetles over its time, which is one of the greatest of all time. Some people might say that cars like the toyota corolla sold over 37.5m which is much more than the beetle. However that was the brand name that sold that many with lots of different designs mechanically and aesthetically over the years. But with the beetle the car design stayed exactly the same the same from 1939 when it was first released through to 2003, with the parts being interchangeable throughout! 

So for this amazing car they needed a amazing advertising campaign. Back in 1959 Doyle Dane Bernbach from new york won the volkswagen advertising deal and brought in a  radical new design approach. Eradicating the old outdated approach of illustrations that were a bit patronising, to make way for this radical new stripped back, basic and honest design approach. The most famous one of all is the Vw beetle with the caption 'LEMON' underneath. This design is very cleaver indeed. It works on a number of levels to engage its audience by first of getting there attention by having a big picture of a beetle with the caption lemon. Which are two things that you would never associate with each other, which consequently gets people confused and stirs their curiosity about what this poster is about. Secondly the whole point of the poster is about vws strict quality control and high build quality, but advertised in a unusual way. As it talks about how Inspector Kurt Kroner has rejected the particular car above due to a blemish on the chrome piece of the glove box. Which latter goes on and ends with the quote we pluck the lemons; you get the plumbs. Which means we pick out all the cars that we don't think fit out high standards, so you only get the cars that are faultless- meaning the plumbs. So peoples connotations from this advert are how tough and well engineered vw beetles must be and that they need little maintaining. The overall look of the poster also gives off this impression with its stripped back basic look with no use of color. This approach was replicated with future posters like these.

This was a very new and unusual way to advertise anything at the time but especially a car because you try to steer away from any negatives, and focus on positives! However Doyale Dane Bernbach identified the market it was selling it to and decided to go for the straight talking honest approach as it fitted in well with the ethos of the company and the car at the time. This new design approach paved the way for future advertisement.