Iron Graphics, Illustration and Visual Communication Design · 2023
Henan Illustration Culture Propaganda
by Wang Yisu
- A' Design Award 2023 Iron Winner in Graphics, Illustration and Visual Communication Design
- Awarded April 15, 2023
- CLIENT: Northeastern University
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 9,615
- Verification code F1CBAB2767 · Verify this award
About Henan Illustration Culture Propaganda
Henan Illustration is a series of five illustrations based on the traditional woodblock New Year pictures of Zhuxian Town in Henan Province, China. The series reinterprets classic figures from these prints in a flat hand-drawn style suited to younger viewers. Character lines were drawn on a tablet with a hand-painted board, then edges and colors were completed in image editing software. Highly saturated yellow and blue tones create contrast, and each figure carries a different facial expression. The aim is to renew public interest in a fading folk art.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- New Year pictures have a long history in China, but fewer and fewer young people have seen or like New Year pictures. By adding their own imagination and understanding, the author recreates the figures in the pictures to better meet the aesthetic preferences of young people, and wants to activate these vivid images again, so that more young people can see the beauty of New Year pictures.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Width 304.8mm x Depth 304.8mm x Height 304.8mm
- Tags
- National tide,flat style,Henan,Henan Pictures,hand-painted
- Production Technology
- In the early stage, The team drew character lines on iPad with a hand-painted board, and in the middle stage, then author transferred them to PS to draw edges and fill in colors.
- Design Challenge
- The most difficult part is the control of characters, because the image of Zhuxian Town New Year wood-plank pictures is too deeply rooted, so when the team wanted to create a more novel illustration image, they could not help but deviate from the previous image, so that the painting is too similar.
- Project Duration
- The project started in December 2022 in Linyi city, Shandong province, and will end in January 2023 in Zhuxian town, Henan province
- Operation Flow
- Design works has a total of five pieces, showing the classic images in the New Year pictures of Zhuxian Town, Henan Province, like Nianianyu, King Firewood cart, ghost and other images. The overall illustration style is a highly saturated yellow and blue contrasting color, looking carefully at the facial expressions of the characters are different, as if they want to tell us a story.
- Research
- Zhuxian Town in Henan Province is a wonderful page of China's intangible cultural heritage. After field research and experience, the author had an in-depth understanding of the New Year wood-block prints in Zhuxian Town in Henan Province by taking photos, interviewing folk folk and visiting local museums. The tools used during this period included a camera and a sketch book, The team is one person. With the progress of the project, author hope that the final research results can bring positive effects to the publicity of Henan New Year Pictures.
- Inspiration
- By chance,the team went to the town of Zhuxian in Henan Province, where the New Year pictures are the precious intangible cultural heritage. During the next trip, The team collectedtook a lot of photos about the wood-block New Year pictures.
- Image Credits
- Image #1 : Illustration Wang Yisu, 2023.
Image #2 : Illustration Wang Yisu, 2023.
Image #3 : Illustration Wang Yisu, 2023.
Image #4 : Illustration Wang Yisu, 2023.
Image #5 : Illustration Wang Yisu, 2023.