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One of the things that my group had to take into consideration most during this activity was the placement of our quotation on the page from “My Name is Red”. While we haven’t actually made the print yet, we had to decide if we should center some of the lines or keep them aligned all the way to the left side. It made me think about how the way in which something is printed can affect its reading and interpretation. Top of the page or bottom, positioned toward the left or centered, quotes can be given different levels of importance. We decided that we will probably place the quote all the way to the top left, so that it catches a viewer’s attention immediately but does not necessarily dictate how they interpret picture that we will draw below it in the way that a centered quote might. We thought putting it to the side may imply a more loose or even fluid connection between the two ideas.

Our quote from “My Name is Red” is: “Try to discover who I am from my choice of words and colors, as attentive people like yourselves might examine footprints to catch a thief.”

The connection between this quote and the picture we plan to draw is the concept of differing perspectives, opinions, and writing/artistic styles of each of the characters that we read the narratives of throughout the novel.

As we’ve been talking about and reading Don Quixote, I’ve been wondering why the most well known scene from the book is when he tilts at windmills. Even as a kid, not having read any of Don Quixote, I was aware of that scene, and aware of the expression “tilting at windmills” even though I hadn’t read the book. It is clear the windmill scene is the most illustrated part of the book – I wonder why that is when the larger message of the book is concerned with numerous other themes, including the rise of Spain after the Reconquista, as well as the question of whether the book is a novel, satire, or picaresque.

An easy initial answer may be that it is the concrete nature and physical size; after all it is much easier to draw a physical object than say an abstract notion of social commentary. However, the windmills might represent other more abstract ideas within Spanish society – perhaps they represent a cyclical nature of life and history? Seeing as the Spanish had complete the Reconquista, maybe the commentary is that Quixote represents the Spanish nation galloping towards goals or possible achievements, even if they are too grandiose to achieve.

I don’t believe it’s necessary a bad thing that the most well known scene is the windmills. Even Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” is the most well known of Hamlet, that does not mean the rest of the play is somehow lacking in significance or brilliance. Don Quixote is certainly full of other stories and scenes that carry similar weight of importance. My project will actually be about the windmills, and I wonder how my group can make it different from others before us.

I was really fascinated by our discussion of the new illustrations of Don Quixote done by Eko. His illustrations were so unique and unlike any of the other illustrations we saw that all, in some way or another, resembled each other. Even in class today when we tried to come up with our own covers, even though they were all different in composition, colors, etc. there were some common themes throughout such as that of the old man, windmill, etc. Eko’s illustrations alone are eerily different and purposely reimaged in a completely different way. This prompted me to learn a little more; after some digging I found this interview of his in regards to his Don Quixote illustrations: http://www.restlessbooks.com/blog/2015/5/26/reimagining-don-quixote-an-interview-with-the-artist-and-the-publisher.

I would highly recommend reading the interview if you’re interested! It was fascinating to learn about the illustration from the perspective of the artist, to see what he intended and compare it to our own interpretations. The hand, for example, is actually symbolic of Cervantes’ own hand that he lost off at war. So Eko was actually placing Cervantes straight into the illustration of Don Quixote; a very interesting choice indeed. We had never discussed explicitly in class considerations of Cervantes himself in the illustration but had nonetheless come up with meanings and interpretations behind the hand. It’s always fascinating to see how a different audience can read illustrations in very different ways, no matter how purposeful the original illustration.

After learning about this debate in class today, it was something that I found incredibly interesting, and I wanted to do more research on the subject.  There have been opposing opinions on either side of this debate, and I feel as though each of their arguments do make a fair case to either justify or condemn the Chapman Brothers’ adjustments to Goya’s famous pieces.

One of the first articles I read was from The Guardian, where they felt as though these adjustments were disgracing Goyas memory in his death and that they were uncalled for.  However, I do not feel the same way that the Guardian does.  I look at the example of Bansky’s street work across the globe where people feel as though it is vandalism.  Taking the same approach to understanding this artwork, I do not view the Chapman Brother’s work as vandalism.  I think that they are reproducing in image in the way that it has affected them and their culture and ideas, just as Banksy depicts his opinions of society on street and city walls.   I do find the images to be rather creepy, but in that sense they are still beautiful.

What is your opinion?  Is this just another version of vandalism or do you think that it is artistic genius?

Since class on Monday, I’ve been thinking about  the question that was raised regarding whether or not there are any books/poems/etc. that should not be illustrated.  I’m somewhat caught in the middle with regards to my thoughts on the issue. In certain cases I feel as if artwork can fully capture the essence of a story or a scene within a piece of literature, and even add to it. Anyone who has reads pieces such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn or Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and seen the illustrations that accompany these novels would understand that the artwork serves not only to enhance the aesthetic appeal of the novel, but also to add meaningfulness to the story itself. I believe that the relationship between art and text is beneficial for both parties, but I remain skeptical as to whether or not this leads me to believe all novels or poems should be illustrated.

I was given a copy of one of my favorite books, A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, by my grandfather in high school. It was a plain, hardcover book with just the title and the authors name on the spine. There were no images in the book, no illustration on the cover, and I had never seen any images depicting scenes from it prior to my reading. It remains to this today one of my most enjoyable reading experiences, and I believe this can be at least partially attributed to the fact that I was able to craft for myself, with the help of Hemingway’s language, the images being played out in the text. I imagined for myself what Fredric Henry, the protagonist, saw and experienced during World War 1. I gave meaning to the words on the pages, and was able to do so without being guided by images of what others believed I should be seeing while reading.

I have had experiences where images have added to the literary experience for me, and others where the lack of imagery has made my experience more enjoyable. I’m still torn between the two sides, and as so I think I will have to remain agnostic when it comes to this issue. I’m curious to know what other people think regarding the question that was raised on Monday.

Before Monday’s class, I had never particularly given much time into thinking of the role and significance that a book cover holds. I came away from class concluding that the cover is essentially the introduction to the book. Before even reading a word, the reader’s mind has made some conclusion as to what the book’s content will entail. However, our examination of the very different book covers pertaining to Don Quixote left me feeling rather confused at the role a book cover should have. Whether it be the Spanish looking windmill cover or the westernized, metallic black cover, these illustrations were extremely different. While they differed, the content of the novel obviously stayed the same. The point I am getting at is before reading a single word Cervantes has written, an artists portrayal of his book has shaped the readers mind to form an opinion of Don Quixote in a manner that the author may not approve.

 

While the entire class agreed that the boring Penguin version was our least favorite, I think this cover might provide the most service to the actual text. As we concluded, the reader will pay no attention to the cover and will immediately divulge into the text. I would obviously prefer to have a wonderful and exciting book cover but it is important to think about the fact that an illustrator might not be capturing the essence of the text in a manner the author would have liked.

Letterpressing was developed in the mid-15th century and remained popular until the second half of the 20th century, when offset printing was invented. Not until recently has letterpress printing had a revival as an art form. The second video we watched today showed a women making a career from letterpressing, crafting mostly wedding invitations and formal business cards. Doing some research, however, I learned that the modern attraction to letterpress printing was just the opposite of what the technique used to try to accomplish. The goal of letterpressing used to be not to show any impressions and to “kiss” the paper as lightly as possible. This varies today in that now the goal is to have a distinct imprint so that it is evident letterpress printing is being utilized.

Does this difference in final outcome goals of the technique affect the authenticity of the revival of letterpress printing? This is similar to the artwork we looked at in class today as well. Does painting over an authentic piece of artwork make it less valuable? Technically it is the same piece of work, the difference being the subject valued or stressed.

This is the cover Marie, Jack and I designed for Don Quixote in class today. At first,  we were thinking about drawing the typical scene– Don Quixote holding the shield and the spear on a skinny horse and his servant Sandro on a donkey. But then, it turned out to be really difficult to design a unique one without destroying the theme of the cover, so we decided to show the scene when the priest burned Don Quixote’s knight novels without notifying him.

According to the book, Don Quixote was not supposed to know what happened because people who burned his books told him that, there were never books, but they did only leave some of Don’s collections and hid them in the sealed library. However, we still decided to draw Don Quixote on the left bottom of the cover, waving his hands and legs in bed to show his anger. The fire and the burning books take up most space on the page, because we want it to be Don Quixote’s perspective of witnessing the fire. His fear of losing his books and dream enlarge the size of the fire as if the fire is burning on his heart.

Due to the time limit, we did not have time to write the title on the cover. Our idea was to fill the book title on the bottom right corner. What I like about this cover is that, it is not a typical Don Quixote’s cover. It doesn’t include windmills, or the horse or any of the popular scenes in the story, but it still reveals a certain aspect of Don Quixote’s craziness and the mockery of his knight dream. The burning fire also implies the ending of the story that, his dream to a knight would never come true.

 

When asked to draw a cover of Don Quixote in class today I didn’t really know where to begin. As we have talked about before, illustrating for a book is more challenging than one might initially assume because understanding the most important and intended themes, symbols, characters, genre, setting, and plot are necessary for creating an accurate depiction of the author’s story. Once my partner Will and I started brainstorming, we knew we had to include books, windmills, and Don Quixote, for they are main elements of the story. We also wanted to incorporate other parts of the story that seemed important such as Dulcinea, Don Quixote’s envisioned love, as well as Rocinante, Don Quixote’s horse who accompanies him on his journey. While we may not have the best artistic execution, I think our attempted cover still shows the themes of adventure, delusion, and imagination that we read about in the novel.

The Chapman brothers decision to revamp Goya’s The Disasters of War was very controversial. The brothers were accused of vandalism and faced harsh criticism from many of their peers in the art community. However, their intention was never to ruin Goya’s work, but to challenge people to think about it in a new light.

The images that Goya etched were dark and disturbing to begin with, but the use of colors added details that enhanced these feelings. The light blue color draws emphasis to the faces, making them pop and highlighting the emotions that they are conveying. The clown-like faces add a sense of eeriness, while also heightening the theme of a nightmare. The brothers addition of color modernized Goya’s work and added a 21st century spin on the etchings. The act alone of drawing on Goya’s artwork causes the audience to debate whether or not the meaning of what Goya was trying to depict was lost or enhanced with the new additions.

Do you think that Goya would approve of what the Chapman brothers did to his work?