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A PANTHEON OF GODS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

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INSPIRATION I am genuinely inspired by a lot of the graphic art out there. Here are just a few of the bit and pieces that catch my eye.

Through-out the project I was particuly inspired by ‘Otto’ and his printmaking appraches to the design of the illustration.

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OTTO the ILLUSTRATOR www.ottoillustration.com

SARA FINELLI www.sarafanelli.com

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SECONDARY RESEARCHI began by broadly looking at all Gods, I visited the V&A with their rich collection of cultural relics and sculptures. I also Visited the British museum for their focus on Egyptian and Persian culture.

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Greek Gods

OBSERVATIONAL RESEARCH

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Lau-Han Buddhist Monks

Sandi odit alit, que volorpori alitis ea incte dictur aut eatus rest, suntiuscit et del expello rerrum quam facerem fugita comnihil enisciis consendant ullam il et offic

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21st CENTURY RESEARCH

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COLLAGEGoing on suggestion, I looked at a lot of reading material I never would normally read; I loked at ‘Take a break’ ‘Heat’ and similar trashy magazines. I used these as collage too with current news stories and existing religious imagery.

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DAY OF THE DEAD: MEXICO

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OGOH-OGOH: BALI

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Visiting incredible religious sights and being in a completely different culture had a great impact on my work and understanding of the modern day application of deities in contrast to myown culture

PRIMARY RESEARCH

I was in the lucky position of being able to study in China for 1 month. This was an excellent opportunity for me to really dig into Tao and Buddhist Deities, and culture. visiting incredible religious sights

CHINA

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These images are pasted

onto doors. The art is

fantastic and each

character represents

a deity of some issue

of life; protecting the

household from evil, to

inviting good fortune etc.

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COLLAGE: double exposuresUsing a film camera i “collaged” elements of 21st century with religion and the different cultures.

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INITIAL IDEAS

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My inital ideas revolved around the smaller, unimportant aspects of 21st century life. Such as having Deities for getting your voicemail in time before it gets deleted.

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INTERVIEWSBecause of the position I was in being in a foreign learning environment and coming into contact with foreign and British students, I used that opportunity to interview as many people as possible

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SURVEY

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DEVELOPMENTI spent a lot of time developing my characters from scratch. Using suggestions from our crits i tried an approach brand new to me, using Ink and Brush to draw the ‘fills’ not the outlines.

Using this new tool greatly informed the way I approached my illustrations. As with each, i tested different media i felt appropriate to communicating a character further.

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FINALISINGOnce I knew how the image would work, I spent time revising the aesthetic for each deity.

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bENJAMIN RIDERwww.benrider.comissuu.com/benrider