Style Wheel Question
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Hello all,
I am starting the Stylizing Human Characters course and I am trying to wrap my head around the style wheel.
I understand the three primaries: figurative, abstract, and symbolic. I know what they each represent, but I get a little bit confused about placing different designs on the wheel.
Main question: won't any simplified human form be symbolic?
Is there any way to have only figurative and abstract? In other words, once you've applied abstract shapes to a character, haven't you started symbolizing? I know Jake put a character in that range, but I can't help but think that they should all have this symbolic component to them.I may be thinking about this too much. Jake uses the phrase "relying on" a lot, so maybe it's more about what the artist is emphasizing than what is literally present in the image, but I want to make sure I'm understanding.
Thoughts?
Thanks!
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@skeletortoise I think that leaning towards either the Abstract or the Symbolic corners means simplifying shapes, but they can be different.
My understanding was that Symbolic means leaning into drawings that can be 'read' with reference to our cultural understanding of what a simplified version of the person or thing is expected to look like - so for example, using crosses for eyes to mean the person is dead in cartoons? Another one is when I was a kid, we all used to draw birds in landscapes the same way - as a kind of stretched m shape. I think that's symbolic.
On the other hand, Abstract means leaning into shapes, but not necessarily in a way that makes it easier to 'read' what the thing is. It is perhaps more individual and imaginative, and adds beauty and coherence within the drawing. Maybe you even look at the picture and think "what is that supposed to be?" and then are like "oh!", and it challenges you to see the object in a way you hadn't before.
I could be wrong though! That's just how I understood it.
ETA: I might be wrong, but I tried to think of pictures that might fit in the Abstract/Figurative end, and I think sometimes Jeffrey Alan Love's illustrations might do that - he illustrated a book of Norse Myths that my son has. Also, the first picture here:
https://www.jeffreyalanlove.com/illustration
the cover of Dark Stars seems to fit - the shape of the skull is shown with light and dark, and there's shapes, but they don't really match any symbols that I have that much? Maybe... I'm not confident in this either. -
@lucy_gow Thank you! I think you're onto something with the whole "easier to read" thing. I really like the example you gave too; thanks. I think it's a little tricky like all things with art, but your explanation makes a lot of sense.
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@skeletortoise Hi. I'm doing the class Exterior Environment Design and there's another video about the style triangle in it (called Style) where Jake explains it more. He shows examples and one of them is between Realistic and Abstract.
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@lucy_gow Awesome thanks so much! I'll check that out.
