Coop Self Generated Project

I was inspired by the animation characters created by Alison Schulnik and it made me think about cartoon characters. I took an interest in how simple the forms of the characters were. When I started to make my sculptures I cut the clay into equal sized pieces so the sculptures would have an equal presence.

I tried to acquire the mindset I have while I’m doodling  in class when I was making these sculptures. That is to detach myself from making something detailed or realistic and make really simple, mindless shapes. When I added the small eyes and mouths to the shapes they started to look more like cartoon characters or animation. The forms are androgynous but have familiar qualities as cartoon figures. In the drawing the characters are interacting with each other in humorous and friendly ways. I’ve never done a drawing like this before and was focused on maintaining an open attitude through the process.

This piece is also personal because I relied heavily on my own imagination intermixed with images of Dr. Suess characters and cartoon shows like Adventureland. I think these types of shows as well as Dr. Suess are very successful in creating characters that are fantasy-like and unique but also simple and obscure. The characters I made were more simplified then Dr. Suess characters. My sculptures are comparable to the simplest form of a thumbnail for a cartoon drawing. Although the shapes were formed without preplanning, the final shape of the sculpture influenced what type of facial expression the shape would acquire. For example on the round shape in the foreground the eyes are large and round and the mouth is big and smiling. The square has a neutral almost expressionless look.

The sculptures were personified and re-contextualized into a charcoal drawing. It now has a comic book appearance or a rough storyboard slide for a cartoon. I arranged the characters into a hilly landscape so they interact with each other. The sculptures were used to influence the landscape itself and the scene created. One sculpture turned into the indifferent mountain face. Another became the upside down clouds. The others became life forces, walking around the earth in a comedic way. The expressions are also humorous, some are shocked and others happy and droopy eyed.