points of view final illustrations

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Point of view 1: "boys will be boys"

Point of view 2: "not all men"

Point of view 3: "sorry i'm a man"

EXPLAINING THE PERSPECTIVES:

The first perspective “boys will be boys” aims to illustrate the classic tinder date profile picture, macho but nice guy trying to flex his masculinity by showing off a big fish he caught on a sailing trip with the boys two summers ago. The fish itself is a metaphor, and the fact that the three men are propping it up emphasises how men hold onto the same issue. For example toxic masculinity, mansplaining, sexism, etc. Another connotation of the fish is how some are predators, and some are fodder. Men are often the same. 

“Not all men” highlights a confused old grandma that you always argue at christmas due to conflicting political views. The use of grandma emphasises how her views are outdated! She doesn’t think that ‘all men’ are the same, or are predators and bad guys, similarly to most people. But I’ve drawn her confused, as she has simply missed the point. Saying “not all men” as a response to something is dismissive and oppressive, and my aim for this illustration was to hopefully change peoples minds. Maybe it isn’t “all men”, but it’s most of them.

The third and final perspective is "sorry I'm a man"s objective is to ridicule the 'nice guys', the feminist sleazy boys who cannot physically comprehend the impact of their actions, and only have the ability to half heartedly apologise just to make their lives easier. Details such as the chipped nail polish, raggedy hair, horrid hat, fag in hand and red wine on stand by, they accentuate the 'I'm not like other guys' persona.

STATEMENT:

I really enjoyed this project, mainly as it helped me explore and understand my own feelings towards 'some' men. I liked that I had the ability to explore a subject I'm passionate about and in turn, make a 'mockery' out of things that make me angry, for example when people say "not all men". My favourite thing about this project has been the freedom of being able to direct my project in any way, shape and form, and exploring a plethora of ideas with tutors and getting quite excited about the outcome. It was great that I could go onto campus during this dodgy pandemic time and meet other likeminded people on my course and see how they responded to my project.

My aim for this project was to hopefully change some peoples outlooks by making a mockery of things I don't like. Even through the making process of this project I've been able to alter some peoples' opinions towards my perspectives which does make me feel very happy as it feels like I do in fact have the power to make an impact with my art. Initially with the project I was struggling to clarify how I felt towards my perspectives, yet through research and sketchbook work I've been able to harmonise my feelings. I feel as if I did meet my set objective and achieved most of what I wanted to.

I learnt how to mature my art style a bit within this project which has then made my final illustrations less minimalistic due to my linear and dotty use of shading. I definitely now feel more confident in myself and my work as a result.

Next time, I would definitely have stuck to plan on creating 3 zines, each dedicated to a perspective. However I just felt slightly over faced and did not want to mess anything up by over complicating things. If I had more time I would have experimented with lino print to help emphasise blocked colour in my work and portray a beautiful use of line. Perhaps producing an etching print in the future would have turned out nicely, and would have been influenced by my artist research on my previous project. With more time also, perhaps I could have experimented with a wider colour palette, however black and white work is my go to and absolute favourite.