David Foldvari - “Marmalade” Magazine (Unity)

“As far as I can tell, we’re in the middle of another turning point: purely digital images are no longer relevant, which has resulted in a return of traditional working methods – drawing, painting, printmaking. We are no longer interested in Photoshop colours and vectors, but at the same time we’re not retreating back to the 1980’s. Using computers is easy – working with your hands is hard. But it’s the only way forward.” (Contemporary Graphic Design, Book)

I think this image suggests unity in a stereotypical form. Is shows groups of people all of which you could relate the words ‘yob’, ‘disrupted youth’ and ‘criminals’ to. This image I think has been produced using pen and inks. I have no proof of this however from looking at what the designer has said and the marks made in the image it looks as if he has shaded the black using just an ordinary black pen because there are bits of white showing through. It does not look digitally rendered when looking closely. There are also smudge marks over the image giving a certain element of personality in the picture hinting a hands-on-approach.

The method in which he has created this image, suggests to me, that he has had a personal experience of what is being represented in the image, due to the fact that it has been personally developed using traditional methods. With a more hands-on-approach I feel more emotion can be developed.

Anyway, back to the symbol of unity shown within the image. The illustration groups together a stereotypical set of characters all merging into one another through the colour black. This hints at how all the people are united in some way. The people in the image all look to be youths, however the centre figure is a policeman in riot uniform. The policeman is what suggests to me that the image is about criminals all united, rioting against the police or maybe some ulterior motive.


My Response


I really liked how using traditional media, such as black pencil crayons provided me with the material to create a piece that looks quite rough and sketchy however still controls a strong meaning of unity. The sketchbook look of the image I think adds to its symbolism giving the impression that it is a thought simply needed to be recorded visually for others to see and create an opinion. I think it is like a silent discussion. I decided to create this image of protesters uniting around George Bush showing a strong unity of people protesting against somebody else just like in the image by David Foldvari.

What has let me down in this image is that there are no strong figures or characters representing the protesters however I do like the signs rising up from behind George Bush. Without the signs the images would not be recognized as a protest against War.

The reason for putting an arrow through his head is simply to give a visual representation of how the protestors feel about Bush. The colour used within the image helped me to highlight a key feature, the arrow, but also the colour red to provoke anger within the image. If you look close I have coloured small areas of the protestors red also just to show that the anger is running through the people. As for the colour blue that symbolises a cold and depressing situation. The bubble looks to be spreading out into the illustration, showing that the emotion is only going to spread and get worse if a War continues.