For the appropriation project
I was originally planning to pick an artist and do an illustration in the style of their work. I have recently been watching a lot of old films so I thought i'd use an old film as one of my themes, instead of using somebody elses style i decided to keep to my own and just use the film subject matter as the appropriation. I chose to use the Wizard of Oz as my chosen film. It was always a favorite of mine as a child and has lots of interesting aspects to draw. The illustration is of Dorothy, the main character. I feel she is a vulnerable character, she is a young girl away from her home and is a well loved character a lot of people have grown up with. There are two main witches in the story: the good witch and the bad witch. I have drawn the bad witch on the left side like the devil on her shoulder and the good witch on the right like a guardian angel.
The emerald city which is behind Dorothy i have drawn a penis shaped tower as a subliminal messages to represent the gay references and metaphors throughout the wizard of oz film. 'Friends of Dorothy' is a known phrase to associate with somebody who is homosexual which originates from the film. It is also discussed that the whole journey of Dorothy coming out of her reality a boring sepia world and embarking on this colourful experience for her and her friends to find out who they really are is a metaphor for somebody coming out of the closet.
Here is my original drawing from my sketchbook drawn in pencil and fineliner. This was everntually turned into a screen-print dont in both black and white and rainbow colours.
I also experimented with the image on photoshop, i'm not really too happy with the end result but it's defiantly something I will come back to.
I also visited the V&A because they had an exhibition on Hollywood costumes and I wanted to get a proper look at Dorothy's dress. Some of the costumes they had in there were amazing. They had robes from Harry Potter, Jack Sparrows Pirate outfit from Pirates of the Caribbean, all the fabulous threads from 'The Addams Family' and of course Dorothys blue dress and ruby slippers. You weren't allowed to take photographs in there but I managed to get a sneaky one.
