Garfield Crumbie

Fahrenheit 451 Text

This artwork is designed to introduce a new concept into an original piece of work that people would have never thought of. It ignites a new form of art that can cause a viewer to have to think, and break down what they just read. Art pieces that are generally known as “Humuments” are where this work originated from, as it conveys its own unique message. This message is brought forth and detailed by using the correct colors. The saturation, value,or even tone of the colors can either take away or add significance to a piece.

My art piece in particular comes from the well known novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Specifically from the first page, I skimmed the paragraphs for words that I could place together to create a new sentence. I had to decide if I wanted my sentence to carry out the same message from the novel, or if it should take a different direction. After 5-10 minutes of selecting the right words, I found that it depicted a similar mood as the text it came from. The end result states, ” It was his head burning down, and the fireflies in the furnace died and grinned- Later, that smile never went away- he walked one inch along the Earth as he felt the air there, and detected the temperature rise ten degrees”. This sentence structure has a flow that is broken, but it still makes sense. The slight descriptive language is just enough to help the reader picture the scene.

In order to select the right color for this piece, I had to determine which color would best represent the message that is being conveyed. In the piece, there are numerous references to heat, which can portray a dark mood for readers. Specific words such as “burning”, “furnace” or “rise ten degrees”, let me know to search for colors that have high energy. The colors that immediately came to mind was red, yellow, and orange. Generally, these are the colors you see in fire or anything that involves heat, which can give off high amounts of energy. I chose to adjust these colors by using Adobe Illustrator and making a color palette as a guide for my process. This is the most interesting part of the art piece because it was engaging by allowing me to experiment with multiple colors. During the process of searching for the correct color, I discovered colors that were new to me and depicted what seemed like an illusion. I decreased saturation, and increased value so that I can have the appropriate tone. After this portion of the art piece was complete, I was left with the main colors red, red-orange, and yellow-orange.

Figuring out how to apply these colors to the actual art piece was another experiment within its self. I printed out multiple copies of the texts to do test runs on in order to see which one turns out the best. I decided to make an illusion by outlining the words of the page so that it seems as if the text is coming off the page. I used jagged edge lines to help it look more appealing to the reader. This technique is commonly used in comic book art to depict a shock or explosion which gives a boost to the readers imagination. The color palette served the purpose of indicating the dominant colors of the piece as it gradually decreases to colors that are used less. The main concept of this art work is to emphasize the mood of the text by highlighting key words that give it such a mood. And now, as you can see, the end result depicts a new scene for readers, and it holds a similar concept to that of the original text.