"Be yourself. I much prefer seeing something, even if it's clumsy, that doesn't look like somebody else's work."

December 16, 2015

So it's the last week of college for 2015 and I'm starting out of the first section of my final major project. It's called "Realising Reality" and is focussed around the production of documentaries, both photography, animation and film-based. I'm looking to explore two main areas - cel shading/rotoscope animation and a continuation of my obsession with raw, black and white, colour-popped photography, such as the work of David Bailey.

My interest in cel-shading comes from a series of Belgian thriller comic books known as XIII (thirteen), which was adapted into a videogame of the same name in 2003. The integration of cel-shading to give the game a comic book feel worked superbly, creating an experience like nothing seen before (the headshot animations are to die for - sorry), and leaving a firm imprint on my artist's mind.

Additionally, I was introduced by my tutor to a new photographer - William Klein. Like Bailey's, Klein's work is very "real", embracing and elevating the imperfections of places and people alike, and coincidentally, most in New York City. Klein too has had commissions from a variety of high-profile sources, including Vogue magazine. While his photography may not be as revolutionary to the fashion world as Bailey's was, Klein's work is more challenging of politics and stereotypes, sometimes displaying extremely deep and controversial messages which have interested and viewed countless observers.

Here is a small collection of William Klein's work, with comparative images from David Bailey. The results are quite something!