Visit to Society of Illustrators

  

On second of July, the class visited 'Society of Illustrators', where a lot of impressive illustrations from all genres were exhibited. 

As our homework, we were told to choose one of the works we liked the most. The attached image, "Little Nemo in Slumbraland" by Winsor McCay, an American cartoonist, appears to be the most unique and interesting piece of work out of all.

Like most of the comic pieces, this piece of work is also created in the grid form. It is mainly divided into twelve grids, which the first three is separated from the story portraits inside the nine grids at the bottom, although as a whole it's a continuous story line.

The major reason why this selected episode from "Little Nemo in Slumbraland" is how Winsor McCay has not only gradually built up an interesting story line within the nine grids at the bottom, if you look closely, he has also combined the nine grids and make them as a complete imagery. Even more, after a further background research on the illustrator himself and the summary of "Little Nemo in Slumbraland", it immediately helped me to understand the story in a much deeper level. The research has also made the last panel, which Nemo sits in bed with annoyed facial expression, make much more sense to me.

Despite the unique way Winsor McCay has presented this specific episode to the audience, the colours he chose to present on each character in the story has obviously made specific character(s) stand(s) a superior status. In this piece of work, since Nemo is the main character, therefore he is the only one being fully coloured; apart from him, the other none human figured monster like characters are all being given one simple colour, such as red, green and yellow. The simplicity in his choice of colour has somehow balanced out the complex movement and lines with the grids.

The story being told in this specific episode is a symbolism for changed in attitude towards things that are more sexually related in the society, which is also a sign of change in generation.