Just a short one today. I missed last Friday’s blog post because I took a day trip to Yosemite (which I’ll write about later, complete with sketches!), and I just didn’t finish the post earlier in the week. Since then, I’ve wanted to write about a number of things.
I love black and white illustration. To me, it’s powerful, raw, and visceral, even when the content is “even” or serene. Despite however complex the illustration might be, when I look at a black and white illustration I see something so basic, so simple in nature. All the artist had to do was pick up a pencil, pen, or brush and just start drawing.
Simultaneously, black and white illustration is also very complex because the artist has to imply grey tones, and even allude to color. With ink wash, diluted black watercolor, and/or grey markers or color pencils, the artist can turn a black and white illustration into something multi-hued while still keeping that black and white look, which I also love, but working only with black and white values challenges the artist to imply grey. This is why feathering, hatching, cross hatching, and even zip-a-tone were invented.
Quick tangent: I was driving around yesterday, listening to NPR, and thinking, yet again, about how black and white our social issues and politics are, at least by way of general view. Which is ridiculous because there’s always a grey area. There’s always context and rhetoric to consider. But, our politics usually get boiled down to its most simple state, even, so it seems, amongst our highest level politicians. At least when they speak to us and, often, publicly to each other. The grey areas are dismissed. This is why politicians running for office can take a soundbite out of context and use it to their advantage. This is why the public can side with a politician, simply because of a headline. This is why people are generally either for or against an issue without realizing that blanket solutions can have a negative impact situations that don’t completely meet a set of criteria. There’s always an “if”, “and” or “but”. And while the law can’t account for every “if”, “and” or “but”, there are always grey areas that stand out more than others, and those can be used to provide context and to create a generalized grey area that can be used to measure the more extreme, black and white points.
One can look at a black and white illustration and acknowledge it as black and white. But they’re subconsciously taking in all of those implied grey areas. Some even acknowledge those grey areas, despite there being no actual grey. Either way, those grey areas are being noticed because the viewer can’t help it. It’s there, right in front of them, plain as day: all those black lines and white space, and yet, somehow, there’s a sense of grey areas.
Our politics are not that way. I don’t know if there’s an extra special effort to take out those grey areas when speaking to the masses, or when the masses think about an issue. But it seems the grey areas are only discussed on a small scale, amongst friends or in local groups. This makes sense, I suppose, since it follows a typical mass communication model: the larger the audience, the more details get left out. But it’s also sad. And frustrating, especially today when information and opinion gets around so fast.
When a black and white illustration is seen by the masses, all the feathering, hatching, and cross-hatching don’t get erased before presentation. The masses see the piece for what it is.
Does the mass communication model have to be the way we present such important information? The larger the audience, the more generalized the message? What if we were presented with a few more essential details? What if we were presented with context and facts and reasons why? What if the masses were challenged to think beyond black and white? We might have to sit through a longer message, but if presenting some detail were common, those grey areas that now get dismissed would be there, hard for us to avoid.
But, I guess art is prettier than politics, and easier to acquire than power.