PhD sketchbooks: A4BD (August 2020 - March 2021)

Not very precise with the dates compared to some of my other sketchbooks! This one mainly contains a lot of final artwork for Disorder. (Timelapse video of this one here!)

The inside front covers of all my PhD sketchbooks carry details for returning them if they go astray. On the right, there's one of Mary Ann's pages, which I planned and analysed in IBH.

Left: planning for a couple of Bridget's pages, with images that never made it into the final comic (William on the anchor and Bridget's heart on fire); this page also has one of the originals for these free printable bookmarks. 

One of the boys' pages from Disorder. The large canine (wolf? dog? barghest?) is partly made from bits of a newspaper article about the ophthalmia trials (from the Bury & Norwich Post, 5 November 1823) laserprinted and smeared with black ink. 

Another of the boys' pages. Part of the image is made from another laserprinted newspaper article (titled "Cruelty of a Schoolmaster", from the Hull Packet, 10 November 1823) with wax crayon over the top. Some of the other components are made from my old schoolwork. Presence of the researcher's own experiences!

Left: some of my notes discuss turning (what was then called) Despaired Of into a game by printing it out, cutting it up, cropping images to emphasise different parts, writing your own speech bubbles and gluing them on, etc. This ended up being one of Disorder's main themes: audience interpretation. 

I like to include notes on how I made each image, which will be useful if I have to make something similar again. I learnt stuff about working with each medium I used for Disorder while I was making the images. I also had ideas about the content and how I was communicating it and similar stuff - one of the notes on the left page reads "I do not necessarily aim to be renowned for my material accuracy - my work is more about evoking the vibe than 100% realistic reconstruction". (This one also appeared here with pencil for scale)

Drawing this page made me realise that Benning needs to be in the introduction somewhere, otherwise he just turns up on this page like some randomer and the audience wouldn't know who he is. 

I finished the comic, then realised I'd missed something, so I made two more pages in William's visual language (drawing style) and they're my favourites of the lot. This is the first of them. (You'll have to see Disorder itself for the other! It's like this but even more chaotic/ horrific) 

Right: the image of Benning that appears in the introduction of Disorder, and media tests with Charley for the visual language in Disorder's introduction and conclusion.

Stay tuned for more (such as the next one)! Or head back to the sketchbook index.