Rage comic faces

Rage Comics were popular on the internet a few years ago. They are considered a 'meme'; an image or series of images which are shared widely on the internet and then manipulated by others. This repeats over- morphing, evolving and constantly generating more memes and funny pictures for people to share.

These 'rage comics' tend to have been drawn hastily on microsoft paint and all have a similar but not identical visual theme. Rage comics express extreme emotions that we all experience but struggle to actually express because they are so extreme. Take a minute to look at a few of these expressions, I'm sure you can empathise with how each of them feel even though their features are over exaggerated to the point of abstraction.

I used charcoal to sketch these 'rage faces' down. I chose charcoal because it's fast for getting your ideas down and the lines are nice and thick. If I was going to develop these (which I might) I would probably use a printing technique. I could use mono or lino printing but Greg has recommended screen printing them or maybe even animating them (inspired by Jeff Scher).

Screen prints are wonderfully flat and look almost digital. I could try using a bamboo ink pen or a nice long-haired brush and a pot of black sign painter's one shot.
Each of these three materials get a great hard-edged, opaque black line but each would come out differently.

If I did an animation I think that I'd use Microsoft Paint like the originals to make each frame, one by one.

Here are a few examples of screen printing they are by: Shepard Fairey, Andy Warhol and Jean Michael Basquiat. 

Artist Research: Jan Švankmajer

Darkness Light Darkness (1990) by Jan Svankmajer (mp4 360p) from Ron Schijfs on Vimeo.


Švankmajer has gained a reputation over several decades for his distinctive use of stop-motion technique, and his ability to make surreal, nightmarish, and yet somehow funny pictures. He continues to make films in Prague.
Švankmajer's trademarks include very exaggerated sounds, often creating a very strange effect in all eating scenes. He often uses fast-motion sequences when people walk or interact. His movies often involve inanimate objects being brought to life through stop-motion. Many of his films also include clay objects in stop-motion, otherwise known as claymation. Food is a favourite subject and medium. Švankmajer also uses pixilation in many of his films, including Food (1992) andConspirators of Pleasure (1996).
Stop-motion features in most of his work, though recently his feature films have included much more live action sequences than animation.
Many of his movies, like the short film Down to the Cellar, are made from a child's perspective, while at the same time often having a truly disturbing and even aggressive nature. In 1972 the communist authorities banned him from making films, and many of his later films were suppressed. He was almost unknown in the West until the early 1980s. Writing in The New York Times, Andrew Johnston praised Svankmajer's artistry, stating "while his films are rife with cultural and scientific allusions, his unusual imagery possesses an accessibility that feels anchored in the shared language of the subconscious, making his films equally rewarding to the culturally hyperliterate and to those who simply enjoy visual stimulation."[3]

Jan Svankmajer - Passionate Dialogue from xenatunda on Vimeo.