Exed out and iconography play

Surrealist atmosphere in X-ed out and how we react to things differently though the use of shifting style.

Xed out is a Graphic novel written by Charles Burns  in 2010 it is the first part of a trilogy. X’ed out follows the story of a man called Doug, it uses dream states to give us jumping off points on how we are introduced to Doug’s past, there is a very clear divide in X-ed out on the difference between how we view Doug outside and inside of the dream.

We are introduced to the visual parallels between Tintin on the cover as it references the 1941 cover “Shooting star” we are already introduced to the TinTin’s ideals being contrasted with the darker nature of the Charles Burns style and content.

There is a great contrast the two dreamlike states in E’xd out are presented to us in a Tin Tin esque style, however they are mostly limited to Doug’s facial expressions.

Burns stills retains his detailed character designs and backgrounds, large changes are in the contrasting colour pallets between the two worlds. A Lighter and brighter colour palette is used in the dream and this is contrasted with the dull or oversaturated colours within the flashbacks.

The TinTin style is emulated mostly through Dougs body and in later books other peoples, this communicates an underlying sense of adventure with it being displayed, Authough Doug is ultimately shocked and disturbed, it does not have the impact that it may once have if he where to keep his usual face.

It largely acts almost mask like in nature with the world around him having largely the same level of detail sans Doug.

so, how can a shift in style, change how we see a character, and how we see overall narrative in my own practice?

 If we take this picture to have the character "on model" we can see from the following pictures that the more cartoonish style shift ultimately makes them appear less grounded in their own reality, they appear to be more familiar with the overall softness of the figure.

 

 

 

ultimately the shift from realism toward iconography makes creates a less confrontational picture than it would be if portrayed realistically. This largely makes the character more relatable, we see the character more as ourselves than the "on model" character above, through the simplification of the figure. Thus when the Character goes through trauma of any kind, it is not as grizzly as it could be presented in a real context gains symapthy rather than shock. And alternately when images shift back "on model" there is a sense of dissonance between the two versions of the character, we want the more recognizable, character we can more easily see ourselves in.

So how are we affected differently when we are presented with many different styles? 

Disney's cookie carnival 1935

Both connotations of classic feeling, but not yet encroaching on a great large scale iconography. This kind of imagery may also be compared to the betty boop aethetic and other jazz era with this characters aesthetic.

X'ed out snap cuts it's transition to it's other style, what if we where to change this and have a distinct shift into a style change?

This changes how we see the character swell, leaving the ambiguity of the characters mental state bare and giving much more connotations that they might be seeing things in an altered state from reality. 

The Overall idea of shifting a how a character is a very expansive one, and an idea to be built upon more it's overall aesthetic leaves viewers easily interpreting things differently than having one style all the way through.

Family name, INITIAL(S). Year. Title. Edition (if not first edition). Place of publication: Publisher.

Charles Burns, C,B. 2010, X'ed Out. England: Jonathan Cape

Herege, H. 1941. The shooting star. France: Le Soir 

Scott McCloud. S,M. 1993. Understanding Comics. United states: Harper collins

The cookie Carnival. [Animation] Ben Sharpsteen. Dir. United states: Walt Disney.