Something which they thought my work was lacking was sound, I agree with this. Sound is so essential to film and adds to the narrative, I really like this which was suggested to me since it has no clear meaning or direction. I love the noise and the sound, the way it can bring more to the darker side of my narrative, if I keep the animation I do in a naive style then having this kind of sound over the top will highlight the darker undertones in my work. I will have to play around with certain software to create the audio that I desire and this is something I will look into.

Robert Crumb was also suggested to me as someone to consider. His political cartoons span a wide range of subjects and themes. Looking through his work, what I like the most are his characteristically powerfully thighed women and his fascination with eroticism.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/24/robert-crumb-interview-art-and-beauty-exhibition

One artist who really stood out to me who I did not recognise until I was shown his work was Terry Gilliam, what resonates with me is the beginning sequence he did for The Life of Brian which I remember from watching it with my parents a few times. Paper animation is definitely something which I want to experiment with, then combining it with my own style and having a blend between drawn and digitally rendered pieces is something which is catching my attention at the moment. 

Thinking on these absurd ways of working I considered Surrealism, and potentially researching this and working with this will inform my work in a better manner. The absurd is something which I enjoy depicting.

Another artist who was suggested to me was Robert Rubbish http://robertrubbish.com/. His work maintains that childish and naive drawing style which is a common theme throughout my own work. I like this style since it keeps a more light hearted element to work which has darker undertones and themes, since there is a danger to become to pessimistic and depressed when thinking on certain subjects, especially with a critical political mind it is easy to get caught up in the negative details.

James St. Findlay was another artist suggested for me to look at, briefly looking at his page http://jamesstfindlay.com/. I can see the bizarre and crazy nature of his work. There is something about work like his which I enjoy and will look at for hours as it has a different kind of narrative to it, its bizarreness leaves so much room for interpretation and a untold story which is not blatantly true. There is a lot to look at and I will slowly research his work over the next few days. They way that he is not afraid either to depict passionate and sexual scenes is something which I admire. Looking at his work too makes me realise that I need to broaden the type of pens I have and the way I can make marks.

http://jamesstfindlay.com/i-went-down-and-got-it-for-you

I really loved the aesthetic of this piece of performance art, this gives me ideas for characters that I might create.

However, right now I am thinking the anchor point for my FMP presentation will be ‘The Absurd’.