Exercise: Reading an image.

Questions.

• What is the image about. What is it saying?

This image tells a strong narrative and is easily determined by examining the constituent parts. The purpose of the image seems to be illustrating part of a story, or telling a story in its own right. There is a very strong use of hue contrast which has a strong bearing on the readability and metaphorical component of the image. It seems to be saying to me “adventure”, “danger”, “treasure”, “fantasy”.

• Work out the narrative and identify the story.

The two protagonists are entering from the left. One is brave and the other is timid. They appear young and headstrong. They enter the cave or lair of a sleeping dragon, nestled on a mass of gold treasure. The cave is dark but the leading character wields a torch. There is the discarded remains of would-be dragon slayers littered around the entrance, armour and weaponry.

• Describe the palette and tonal range which has been used. Note if the colours are hot or cold, whether the elements are detailed or textural, and where these approaches are used.

The palette goes from very hot colours to very cool colours, bright reds and languid blues. The dragon is a bright red, prompting a strong visual contrast and evoking danger. The torch that the lead character is holding is illuminating the entrance of the cave in fiery reds and yellows. The rock formations on the ceiling of the cave are rendered in more detail closest the torch. The seem to be almost molten and dripping. Again this evokes danger, entering the lair of the beast. The red dragon sitting atop to the yellow golden treasure shares its colour scheme with the fiery ceiling, suggesting the dragon of a fire-breathing variety. The blue tones around their feet and the remains of erstwhile adventurers seem to suggest almost melancholy, standing out in sharp contrast to the dangerous hot colours that surrounds it. The flesh tones and hair of the protagonists represent their own microcosmal contrast, their own little bit of fire and bravado in entering the cave.

• Is there any connection between hot colour and the importance of the element in telling the story?

I think the hot colours are key. They scream danger. They evoke excitement, risk and reward. Importantly their impact is strengthened through the effective use of contrast. They add to the suspense and narrative fidelity of what is being presented in the image.

The image is intended to be read left to right. We can see this in how much of the detail and action takes place on the left side, while the right seems to recede into the darkness of the cave. The mind naturally finds movement from left to right comforting, familiar, it tells a story. (Interestingly this is true regardless of the directional orientation of your native language!) So it’s easy to identify the two adventurers as the heroes of the story. The dragon represents the other, the obstacle, the adversary.

It’s pretty clever that even though the dragon takes up the majority of space in the picture, showing it’s menacing size and adding to the sense of danger, the visual elements have been arranged and coloured in such a way as to focus our attention on the heroes. I think really, if you cropped the image nearly in half, it would have the same visual information, but by making it this big wide-angle with the dragon obscuring into the dark recesses of the cave, it successfully communicates the dragons imposing size and stature without sacrificing the hierarchy of the image.

I find the decision to place the dragon further into the foreground than the adventurers interesting. Maybe it’s to present a more appealing angle to draw the heroes, more front-facing. Also interesting that the characters shadow is facing the wrong direction, perhaps to really hammer down them advancing into the cave.