PROJECT ITEMS & MEDIA
BLIGHT
BY İREM KAYRA ASLANBRIEF
Blight is an illustrated book investigating the question “Do monsters make war, or does war make monsters?” through the creation of a story that revolves around innocence, loss of innocence and practicing innocence in the context of war and family.
RESEARCH
The means to recreate the dread of war with illustrations required an extensive research on actual warfare, which was explained best in war photography. The most distinct inspirations were from the Vietnam war through the lenses of Philip Jones Griffiths and Nick Ut. For the style of the illustrations, I chose one of ragged edges and expressive shapes with ghostly colours to create a sense of suspense. Furthermore, I edited my brush to create subtle, vertical negative spaces while painting, so the page could have a caged-in look, a metaphor for the trapped main character, who has a bird wing instead of a right arm.
VIEW THE MOODBOARDFUNCTION
The project’s goal is to invoke feelings of remorse and desperation in an adult audience, as well as challenge their general mindset of adults being exempt from innocence and children representing it. By assigning the metaphorical roles of the innocent and the evil to unexpected characters and concluding the ending with the war and the cycle of violence still going on, the story aims to shock the readers into taking action themselves and question what innocence is, and prompt them to practice it purposefully and responsibly in later life.
CONCEPT
Blight takes place in a fantasy world where humans have invaded a land called Tederook, home of monsters. A war breaks out between the two sides and humans, fearing extinction, create a hybrid species between human and monster. The main character Mook is a child hybrid, traumatized by the act and left to die when monsters raid the laboratories. Kanumaar, a hesitant enemy, takes him in and they become family. Their story is concluded by the death of one of them, which triggers the apocalypse the other brings.
BLIGHT VISUAL NOVEL
Blight is an illustrated book investigating the question “Do monsters make war, or does war make monsters?” through the creation of a story that revolves around innocence, loss of innocence and practicing innocence in the context of war and family.
BLIGHT POSTERS
I have also created posters to promote my visual novel.
