I Wish I'd Done This

David Hughes

 The image I have chosen to reflect upon is this image by one of my influences, David Hughes. It isn't an image of his I've seen before, but its compostion, style and context emit qualities that relate to my working method. Many of Hughes' work have this impact, but this one in particular stands out to me more so.

 Firstly its style consists of a scratchy black line technique, which is done no doubt by using a nib/pen and a pot of ink. His method displays various depths in each of the drawn lines. The lines that appear thin acquire the ability to swerve in and out of the figure's faces, in turn creating facial features such as wrinkles and muscles. These details appear mostly around the figure's eyes: the brows and the bags underneath. What the thin line does most importantly is create each of the cast's outlines. Their raw and aggressive nature is a definite influenetial quality seen within my own work.
 The other type of line seen within the image are the thick ones, which are used to create the image's constructive border. They appear less, compared to the thin ones, because they are possibly deliberate mistakes made by Hughes and his penwork. The flicks of ink too can be seen scattered throughout the composition. These are also more qualities I find within my own work, which adds to the rawness. The ink too has been possibly used to fill in areas, such as the boots of the figure on the left and the bombs dropping from the sky.
 Going back to the detail element within each of the figure's faces, I notice that another method has been used to create shading. I imagine pencil has been used for this. It is subtle and compliments the scratchy lines in that it looks as though Hughes has gone to the effort of making the ink lines miniscule!
 As well as the use of line within this image, colour has been used to make the image more aesthetically appealing. The colour template conists mainly of various shades of murky yellow. The paper Hughes has used to present this image on plays as the catalyst for other uses of colour. It's beige tone plays as the background, whilst the colours layered on top are darker creating a sense of depth. The other shades of yellow/mustard emphasise various shapes that Hughes has featured, including the hammer and sickle and hats. Other colours are used also, such as white, kharki green and an orange/pink blend. The most noticeable colour used is the striking red in the top left-hand corner of the image. Its colour relates to the image's context in that it colours a Nazi swastika flag.

 Furthermore, the image's composition consists of six casts: The bull faced figure on the left, the bull faced figure on the right, the camera headed figure stood on a box, the falling bombs, the windmill and the Nazi flag. They are all enveloped inside a basic sqaure-shaped border which sets a narrative or scene. Also there is a sense of hierarchy from how I listed each of the casts. The bull faced figure of the right appears most prominient as its head is the largest. The other bull faced figure comes either second or third due to the strking colour of the Nazi flag. The other three casts are presented within the background and prove they're lower down in hierarchy.
 Another potential cast would be the mustard coloured sky at the top of the composition. Its role develops the narrative of the image into having a sense of place and environment. The sky hints that the area in which the other casts are placed is some sort of flat plain. This reminds me of my animation for the mythological creature project. The use of a single horizontal line sets a basic but effective landscape in that it can behold infinite possibilities in size and scale. It plays with the idea of perspective and distance too. I have used this quality in the past a lot to create my narratives, i.e. when I was a child. The other use of lines towards the bottom of the image create the sense that the cast members are on some sort of stage. This relates to the context of the image which I will be discussing next.

 Finally the context of the image presents many ideas and themes that I take general interest in. The first quality to be noticed is the swastika. This immidiately brings to the attention of what context this image is in. The context is obviously not pro-Nazism: it is historical. The larger bull faced figure on the left is holding the flag and appears to be in the attire of someone from the SS. This cast member represents a Nazi. The smaller bull faced figure on the right is holding a hammer and sickle and is dressed in workmen's dungarees. This cast member represents a communist (most likely Soviet). In historical context, these two extreme political powers were against each other during the course of WWII. The figures both stare at one another with mean intensity which represents their conflict.
 The reason why the communist figure is smaller is due possibly to the spears going into its back; otherwise, it's unclear. This could however bring in another historical context: the Spanish Civil War. The bull is a prominent symbol of Spain and is involved within their national sport of bull fighting. The bull fighter, if the chance is given, stabs the bull in the back with his sword of lance. This is possibly what is represented here, in that the communist rebels of Spain were depleated by the fascist state (in which the Nazis also helped fight against). Perhaps even that the so-called 'Nazi bull' is instead a fascist and is luring the communist into the its fatal trap with the red flag (as they do in the performance of the sport). Also what is noticeable is the direction in which the bombs are descending. A curved dotted line hints that the bombs are swaying towards the flag, implying even more destruction. This brings to the table that the context represented is perhaps a mixture of things which have occured in the past between the two political sides instead of it just being about WWII. However another element of the piece informs connotation with European culture; this being the windmill in the background.
 The final element to be discussed is the figure in the background with what appears to be a camera for a head. The figure's attire connotes that of a film director. The figure is also holding a megaphone, as though he is about to direct what is happening in the foreground bewteen the two bull faced figures. This also brings up the idea again that the bull faced figures are stood on what appears to be a stage platform, due to the lines drawn underneath them. Does this evoke that the battle between these two sides of politics is almost like a drama? Or even that the battleground is somewhat like a theatre?