Universal Human

After experimenting with the medieval character I came to the conclusion that I wanted to focus on the original child-like character as I thought I could create a more interesting book out of it. The character is interesting because of the simple lines it is made out of, but also the message of worldwide suffering I can convey with it. The book I create from it can mean and communicate something, rather than if I had used the medieval character, which I don't think would have meant anything and would have just been there to look nice.

Firstly I tried redrawing the character with more detailed features, for example adding an eye. This made for a more comic book-esque style which I do enjoy visually, but I don't think this is most effective for the subject I have chosen. It does add emotion easily, as eyes are a very emotive body part. Much can be expressed through how an eye is drawn. However I do prefer the simplistic style of how I originally drew the character. The naivety of the drawing means I can create the image repeated in different mediums, styles and colours; and it would still look cohesive. Almost like a repeating pattern. Futhermore the simple, line drawn character is identifiable as a human, however it has no defining characteristics. This adds to the meaning of the suffering in our world, as anyone could project themselves onto the character. I want it to be a universal human, that anyone can see themselves in. I believe this would help the audience to empathize with the meaning of the piece, to think about their own struggles as well as the struggles of humanity as a whole, and the struggles of humans in different parts of the world.