Narrative Illustration - Communicating Characteristics and Symbolism.

Aside from Napoleon and Snowball, there are many other characters in Animal Farm and almost all represent a person or event. Some (like Boxer) easily communicate their meaning.

"Boxer was an enormous beast, nearly eighteen hands high, and as strong as any two ordinary horses put together. A white stripe down his nose gave him a somewhat stupid appearance, and in fact he was not of first-rate intelligence, but he was universally respected for his steadiness of character and tremendous powers of work."

The description for Boxer is easily followed and to communicate these traits, an illustration of a large horse, brown with a white stripe down his face.

Early sketch of Boxer

Other characters in the book are a little harder to communicate their meaning. Characters like Moses the Raven, who represents the Russian Orthodox church. Initial research showed no connection between the creature and the established religious sect of Russia, leaving me with few options on how to connect Moses to what it was he is meant to symbolize. This meant I had to conduct research on the Russian Orthodox independent of any information on Animal Farm or Ravens. Of all of the symbols and artifacts of the church, one proved both recognizable the world over, while at the same time being unique.

Research page from my sketchbook on Moses the Raven

The Russian Orthodox cross is very recognizable as it has a third horizontal bar at the base which sits at a slight angle. After drawing the basic shape on the left page (above) it struck me that it looked almost like a fence when rotated. This realization then inspired the sketch to the right in which we see the dilapidated fence in the shape of the Orthodox cross upon which, Moses is perched, while in the back ground, a mountain towers above the scene. I feel that this is a most effective way to link the character to what he is meant to represent.

Another of the more complex characters, are the dogs. The nine dogs represent NKVD, the private police force of Stalin's said to have committed murders and espionage for the Russian dictator. They also operated as his personal guard as the man became increasingly suspicious of plots to kill him.

At first I looked at vicious dogs, and images of dogs snarling, trying to communicate the tenseness of their bodies and the anger in their eyes.

Sketch of a snarling dog, barking and baring its teeth.

But the brutal nature of the dogs was not the only one depicted in the book and Orwell was very clear on how and why the dogs had been corrupted.

"The education of the young was more important than anything that could be done for those who were already grown."

"As soon as they were weaned, Napoleon took them away from their mothers, saying that he would make himself responsible for their education. He took them up into a loft which could only be reached by a ladder from the harness-room, and there he kept them in such seclusion that the rest of the farm soon forgot about their existence."



The two quotes are taken from the book (Animal Farm) and they reveal that the nature of the dogs was manipulated by Napoleon. Orwell understood how a young, impressionable minds could be trained to think a certain way, and having only known the boar's teachings, this was the dogs truth truth. He became not just their teacher, but their master and it is later noted that the dogs wag their tails for Napoleon in much the same way their parents had done so towards Jones.

Detailed sketch of a puppy

Quick sketch of the puppy first
attempt at a
charcuterie   

This was a deliberate, diabolical process by Napoleon and the dogs are, in actual fact, the first victims of his schemes. I feel it is an event in the book that needs to be communicated in a better way, than simply portraying the dogs as mindless killing machines. They are potential used in the most negative way possible and likely answers an age old question. Nurture or nature? In this case it is nurture as the dogs could have grown to be like their parents if Napoleon had not spirited them away.

With all of the characters so far I have looked at source material of the animals themselves and attempted to break them down to their more basic forms without loosing flow and expression of movement. Each study starts with rough and detailed sketches, with further exploration and refining with a fine liner. This is the most comfortable way for me to work. The sketches with graphite allow me the option to correct any serious mistakes while the fine liner helps me to define and finalise the line work. Any colour that has been added and used at this point is simple washes of watercolour, which add tone and help to illuminate or darken. The colours used have been understated and suited to the animals themselves, but these muted realistic hues do not have the eye-catching effect I am aiming for. My work takes inspiration from the propaganda of the Russian revolution and the Stalin years that follow, all of which use bold primary colours of red, blue and yellow.