reapersun
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Giant 6/13 (Mini-zine)
🕑 Added 2019-03-04 19:42:56 +0000 UTCThe very long story I wanted to tell about the boy is that my original concept, before I wrote anything down, was for him to be a burger mascot 0w0 I thought it would be funny if David fell for a corporate mascot, but it could still have the same meaning in the end, as long as I could make the mascot nice to look at and not silly. But the truth is, I hated him.
I did a lot of iterations but here's the one where I tried to make Frisch's Big Boy sexy and there was just nothing I enjoyed about drawing him... Oh and yeah I switched to donuts then back again then back again... I also couldn't figure out what would make him "art".
I finally sat back and tried to think of something else that was a kind of antithesis to classic art but would actually look good next to David, and then it clicked.
What if David fell in love with a Banksy :))))
I didn't end up choosing an actual Banksy, or using any real street art, since a lot of people think Banksy is kind of full of shit, and I have mixed feelings about pulling from modern art, mostly that I didn't want to guess at what's going to end up being "important" centuries from now. It's complicated, basically. So I just looked at a lot of refs for style, and included a lot of meaningless (in this context) imagery; it's the amalgam of people, of shape and texture, and of culture that elevates him to art, not the actual intent of any of his artists.
I considered combining the concepts and just making him a burger boy who got vandalized, but I felt like maybe that was making it more complicated than it needed to be, and so I just put him on the side of a donut shop to give a little nod to that former concept~ Rest in peace, burger boy~
Comments
jemilia
Wow! He's a great embodyment of street art! I'm glad you put Burger Boy to rest - this is such gorgeous character. Also, his artform stands for the same things as Michelangelo's David - youth & resistance!
I enjoyed reading your creation process. The burger boy might represent some pop culture, but graffiti is all about innovation (in good hands). He will be a perfect partner for David.
Nina Bird
I absolutely adore the concept you decided to settle on! The original burger(/donut) boy concept would have been amusing, but making him a graffiti boy feels more appealing to me, especially from an artistic standpoint. True, some graffiti is made by bored kids or those who want to tarnish or devalue something. But there's also graffiti made by people who use it as a form of voice, who speak through it because it's how they feel they'll be heard; no matter how true that might be. Still, they put thought, heart, and often time into what they are going to mark up, and there's some graffiti I've run into that really has been absolutely beautiful. Whether in style or voice. Moral ambiguity of marking up property that doesn't belong to them aside. IN SHORT, I love the idea you settled with, and can't wait to keep reading!
