The most influential aspect of my designs come from folklore. Understanding the bridge between real and imaginary, conservative and dynamism and explore what we know and what we can't explain to me has been a way to enjoy art in all forms. The books I read when I was a child were from northern Europe and the stories we can trace to that specific time and place, but one important aspect is that there is not one specific author, writer, designer, story teller that is correct in portraying their topic. In my opinion taking a cultures traditional folklore and creating parts of it is the same as history had changed stories, it's needed. The adaptation in my opinion helps sustain and re-tell important areas that other cultures and people may be unaware of. In these stories, and even snippets of past events or traditional tales I want to give them life again but through a new manner if art. We have Hollywood and Ghibli studio among the best to create movies that grab our attention. There are numerous children authors, manga comic book creators, and even traditional artists in Japan that continue their methods of story telling, and I applaud them all for inspiring me combine my ideas, art, and stroy telling methods to give life or even a spark to these folklore stories again. Through these stories and individual pieces I will explore and engage these stories from Japan, Taiwan to Indonesia.
Character development is vital for any story and each one on the different pages will be part of one or many. These stories boards, images will all depict one moment, an event or experience from a traditional story or one that I have experienced or created from an event that may seem surreal. The most impact the reader or observer will encounter is the imagery, colorful, surreal, eerie and yet human like in form so we can make connections.
A good quote from a book, "The Book of Yokai", Yokai begins where language ends. One sentence that needs some thought as you get into this area of art/folklore.
