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Graham Johnstone art

Recognisability of characters.

26/6/2017

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It helps in comics to make sure that your characters are recognisable, even when they are drawn small. A device I picked up some years ago from the work of (Corto Maltese creator) Hugo Pratt, is the use of hats. This might be implausible in a contemporary story, as hat wearing is less common, but in a renaissance story it seems natural, and indeed is a helpful signifier of period. There are six main characters in my story, plus a further six that only that appear in one or two panels each, and I've given them all distinctive headwear, based on either period images, or reproduction period hats. The exception to this is Cosimo Medici's assistants - I gave the two the same hat, a variant on their master's, which matches them being giving matching walks.

​Below are some examples of my characters' hats, and at bottom, some reference images of period replica hats.
​
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
The hats above and below are seen on the witnesses on my first page, above.
Salimbini, the patron's hat was based on the top right, and his man Rocco's on the lower left - though I changed both to be clear in small drawings.
Picture
I've also tried to give the characters clothes that are distinguishably different, even before the colour, though I am also giving them distinctive palettes
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    Graham Johnstone ~ Master of Design - Comics and Graphic Novels student 2016-17

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All original Images copyright Graham Johnstone, or, where applicable, their respective creators. 
  • Landing Page
  • Francis Bacon
  • Uccello
  • Vermeer
  • Tangled Tales
  • The Curse of the Yellow Book
    • Introduction (1912)
    • More Pages
    • A Found Object
    • The Intermediate Functionary
    • The Book and the Curse
    • Synopsis
    • Dead Trees >
      • Dead Trees cover gallery
      • Sample Issue
      • Contributors
      • The Library (complete)
    • New >
      • Chemistry
  • More
    • The Chimera Tree
    • Reviews
    • Reviews - More
    • Dead Trees Lucky Bag
    • The Eyes of the Artists >
      • A Different Story
      • From Dead Trees >
        • Home
        • Contact Me
  • Rare
    • Create / Destroy
    • Seen From Here
    • Dead Trees (from 'The Outsider') >
      • More on Dead Trees (from 'The Outsider')
    • For Films
    • More For Films
    • Realism
    • Links
  • Blog