Sustained Investigation #1 

REFLECTION:

The very first thing that I decided on in this piece was the subject matter: I knew that I wanted to focus on the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots and conveying their story. I have always been very drawn to World War Two, specifically the propaganda posters of the time and the immense impact that they had on shaping the thoughts and values of general society, whether it be in Germany, England, or the United States. In looking at the WASPs and how they have been disregarded and forgotten throughout history, their important work ignored throughout history, it seemed fitting to design a propaganda poster that purposely misleads the viewer into thinking that the importance is placed on the male pilots flying overseas when in actuality, the message is to not ignore the women who did a lot of the work behind the scenes. In doing further research into the processes used to create the plethora of propaganda posters that were created, I found that a lot of them were created by use of lithography or gouache. Since lithography is a big process, one that I did not have the resources or time for, I decided to use gouache which worked well in achieving the bright appearance that would give the feeling of patriotism and optimism which was a common feeling the government tried to emulate when talking about the war. 

A lot of revisions occurred in making sure the anatomy and style of the women were correct. In many propaganda posters, the figures are highly realistic and also idealized. This is apparent specifically in women with heavy makeup and romanticized figures. This piece required many revisions to get the anatomy right, and also many layers of gouache to build that heavy makeup look of the 1940s, even during war times. Although most of my revisions in the piece itself were in regards to the women, this piece also required a lot of experimentation in my journal as I’d never worked with gouache.

I really enjoyed this piece and the research that went into it as well as the thought process behind coming up with the propaganda poster, a portraiture style that fit the time period very well. I am really looking forward to doing more research to discover new hidden figures and working with new art styles dependent on the time period. Although the medium will be heavily influenced by the art style of the time period, gouache was very helpful in achieving what I needed to and it was also a new experience that I really enjoyed and hope to find myself using again!