Tutorial 77 - Serious Comedy
Added 2016-03-18 10:34:43 +0000 UTCIn a previous tutorial (tutorial 8) we talked a bit about humor and how jokes often need contrasting elements to be combined in interesting ways that play with our expectations. We also know, in painting, the eye is naturally drawn to the highest contrasting values and colors. A pale face surrounded by deep black hair, for example.
In this tutorial, I'm attempting to explore the contrast of elements on a more metaphorical level. I've sketched a cartoon of a chimpanzee having a good old time playing with fire. Which in itself has some meaning to us, as humans who evolved from apes. It might encourage us to ponder on millions of years of evolution, our origins and our relationship with nature. On second pass, the viewer might notice the fire is actually a miniature atomic explosion and the title of 'the scientist' (perhaps a little too explicit a title) now takes the description of a chimp playing with fire to another level of meaning. The viewer might now be reading this as a commentary on our current haphazard approach to technology, weapons and power, raising a question; Are we still just apes playing with fire?
Think about contrast on as many levels as possible. Figure out what it is you want to say. If you can answer that question confidently then you've won half the battle.
I can't take full credit for this idea, which was given to me by a good friend (a wonderful physics professor, and one of my earliest Patrons). Thanks Tristan Ursell! - observenature.tumblr.com/
