1. Narrative Illustration Project
Key Words
• Narrative
• Illustration
• Illustrator
• Silhouette
• Paper Cuts
• Atmosphere
• Mood
• Light and Shadow
• Contrast
• Character
• Roughs and thumbnails
Geoff Grandfield

2. NARRATIVE ILLUSTRATION
by John Vernon Lord
The main function of the
narrative illustrator is to
represent, interpret, and
heighten the meaning of
a selected passage of
text (in a complementary
way) by means of
pictures, with the aim of
contributing to the
reader's appreciation of
the narrative.

3. Ideas
• Ideas in illustration may be generated in several ways:
• ideas are required to solve particular problems;
• ideas are required in selecting and composing the
elements of a picture;
• ideas can come from inventing a new visual language or
by an original use of materials.
• Ideas may take on the form of the visual clarification of
something that cannot be expressed in words or seen in
the normal way.
• Visual ideas may complement words.
• Pictorial ideas may show what the world is like in the
present, what it used to be like in the past, and what it
could, should or might be like in the future.

4. The Text
• Which individual passages of text shall be selected to
illustrate and how do the pictures relate to each other to
attain a satisfactory sequence?
• What pictorial properties should we consider when we
are illustrating in series?
• Chapter 1 Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka;
• http://www.online-literature.com/franz-kafka/metamorphosis/1/

5. The Frozen Moment
• At what precise moment do we choose to stop the
action when the events in the narrative take place?
• Catching the fleeting moment when an event has just
happened, or is about to happen, and that will, in the
next moment change.

6. Mood and Atmosphere
We need to consider reflecting the tone of a narrative
by extracting the appropriate sense of mood and
atmosphere from its content. Our intention might be to
create a sense of drama or humour, suspense and
surprise, or joie de vivre etc.
Nature and action of the characters
The nature and action of the characters who are
participating in the narrative have to be considered as
well as registering their physical appearance, (features
of face) and their momentary gesture and expression -
not just what they are doing. Maintaining the likeness
of individual characters throughout a story might be
something that has to be handled.

7. http://www.randomhouse.com/crown/metamorphosis/

9. Learning Objectives
• Understand what happens to the main
character at the beginning of „The
Metamorphosis‟.
• Create a character design to help visualise
what Gregor Samsa might look like.

10. Franz Kafka
• Franz Kafka, b. Prague, (then
belonging to Austria), July 3,
1883, d. June 3, 1924,
• One of the most influential
writers of the 20th C.
• Virtually unknown during his
lifetime,
• The works of Kafka have since
been recognized as
symbolizing modern alienation
in an unintelligible, hostile, or
indifferent world.

11. The Metamorphosis
When Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from troubled
dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a
monstrous insect. He was lying on his hard shell-like
back and by lifting his head a little he could see his
curved brown belly, divided by stiff arching ribs, on top of
which the bed-quilt was precariously poised and seemed
about to slide off completely. His numerous legs, which
were pathetically thin compared to the rest of his bulk,
danced helplessly before his eyes.
“What has happened to me?” he thought. It was
no dream.
(Full text: http://www.kafka.org/index.php?aid=164)

12. The Metamorphosis
• View the clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DfrBcjisVo
Where is Gregor?
What has happened to him?
Who comes knocking on the door?
How do the people react when they see Gregor?

13. Character Design
Create an annotated character design showing the main character.
Task
Fill up two pages in your sketchbook with a range of different
designs for your main character in your fairy tale.

14. Paula Rego

15. John Stezaker

16. John Stezaker

17. John Stezaker

18. Lynn Hatzius
http://www.lynnhatzius.com/lynn.html

19. Lynn Hatzius

20. Composition Here are a few headings to think about:
• Tone and colour contrasts;
• Figure and ground possibilities - dark against light and light against
dark;
• Contrasts of scale and proportional changes;
• Different perspectival views;
• Opposites - near and far;
• Simplicity against complexity;
• Passive and active;
• Vertical, horizontal and diagonal stresses;
• Curved and angular shapes;
• Using constants (ie the grid) as a means of orchestrating
compositional elements;

21. Visual Reference
Visual reference has to be gathered as an aid to
creating the illustration -
1. From direct observation;
2. From visual memory and drawing from the
imagination;
3. Adapting information gleaned from other forms of
pictorial material.

22. Draw one of the insects above in your sketchbook.
Fill up a whole page.
Use cross hatching technique to add tone to your drawing.

23. http://www.entomology.umn.edu/museum/links/coursefiles/ENT 5051/Gallery/source/roger_blahnik.html

25. Scene Setting
View the documentary on storyboarding:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3q4Y2Lqvq2o&feature=related
Create thumbnail sketches for one
scene you wish to illustrate from your
story:
Emphasise mood and expression as well
as a sense of movement in the picture.
View Point
The choice of viewpoint (angle of vision
or eye-level) has to be established for
each picture.

26. Roughs and Thumbnails
http://monkeyandseal.blogspot.com/2009/11/process-seals-90-thumbnails.html

27. 'An Ode to Kafka: Illustrations
inspired by "The
Metamorphosis"'
Eda Akaltun
http://www.edosatwork.com
23 June 2007
3 from a series of 7 screen-
printed images inspired by
Franz Kafka's infamous short
story 'The Metamorphosis'.
Illustrations were meant to
capture the black humor and
the claustrophobic
atmosphere of the story
rather then its narrative.

28. 'An Ode to Kafka: Illustrations
inspired by "The
Metamorphosis"'
Eda Akaltun
http://www.edosatwork.com
23 June 2007
3 from a series of 7 screen-
printed images inspired by
Franz Kafka's infamous short
story 'The Metamorphosis'.
Illustrations were meant to
capture the black humor and
the claustrophobic
atmosphere of the story
rather then its narrative.

29. 'An Ode to Kafka: Illustrations
inspired by "The
Metamorphosis"'
Eda Akaltun
http://www.edosatwork.com
23 June 2007
3 from a series of 7 screen-
printed images inspired by
Franz Kafka's infamous short
story 'The Metamorphosis'.
Illustrations were meant to
capture the black humor and
the claustrophobic
atmosphere of the story
rather than its narrative.

30. Narrative Illustration Project
Draw 3 different openings.
The idea is to show the story from the
viewpoint of an observer.
Think of ways of creating a sense of
suspense in your images.

31. A silhouette is the image of a person, an object
or scene represented as a solid shape of a single
colour, usually black, its edges matching the
outline of the subject. The interior of a silhouette
is featureless, and the whole is typically
presented on a light background, usually white,
or none at all.
Lotte Reigner

32. Kara Walker

33. Shadow Catchers at the V&A

34. Dark Materials
Puppets from Gregor Samsa‟s dream, adaptation of
Kafka‟s The Metamorphosis, 2010.
http://puppeteersofpugetsound.wordpress.com/category/gallery/

35. Dark Materials
Puppets from Gregor Samsa‟s dream, in our adaptation of
Kafka‟s The Metamorphosis, 2010.
Photo by Wilder Nutting-Heath

36. Christian Boltanski

37. Student Work
Students responded to Shakespeare‟s Hamlet, recreating a scene from the play.
The silhouettes are put on a background image and placed over a light box.