A Clockwork Orange – Chapter 3

In the first part of chapter 3 Alex is released back into the world, the first place he goes is to a café. The place is rather dirty and he points out the grubby light bulb. This seemed like a nice image as it shows something that should be light and shiny but it is actually grubby. The wire is a bit wonky but this isn’t too bad as cables of this sort can be quite stiff.Following that Alex goes to his milk bar, but having gone through his conditioning it doesn’t go down to well. The bar has a red cow wallpaper which I have used to give an intimidating feel, the cow heads also give surreal element. I think this goes well with his bad drug experience. The painting in this is a bit unfinished, it doesn’t matter too much as they aren’t actual cows, they are just wallpaper. I quite like the contrast between the black and red with the white milk.Following a fight in library with the old man he assaulted in the opening section he is taken away by the police. The police men are his former associates who he wronged, they take him to the countryside where they beat him, before doing so they take off their hats and jackets. We see their garments as out of the frame of the picture the violence takes place. The setting sun gives a sense of atmosphere but I’m not sure its painted that convincingly. Actually I’m not sure if any of the elements are that well painted, they don’t really go that well together.

Alex then staggers to the nearest house which turns out to be the house of the writer whose wife he raped. At this point it seems Alex has reached somewhere safe but danger is just round the corner. We are given a rather relaxing view of the bath but I think the colours I’ve used give some sense of unease or at least don’t make it look to luxurious. I mad the taps up so they don’t look too convincing but i do quite like the tiles.
After discovering Alex’s identity, he is locked in a room and tortured with the music he once loved. While there he sees a leaflet on a table which says what the painting above says. Intended as a message of self improvement, Alex takes it literally and jumps out the window to escape his torturous captivity. Trying To paint the lettering was a bit of a pain and it made it hard to get a consistent surrounding colour. Getting the paper to look slightly three dimensional and real wasn’t too easy, I probably should have got a piece of paper and given it a bit of wear to use as reference. 
The jumping out the window leads to Alex ending up in hospital, covered in bandages, casts and splints. I have just shown the hand to keep the image simpler, it also has the splints from the fingers which look a bit dystopian. Originally the strap was more brown but I darkened it a lot so it looked more industrial and a bit cleaner. Again here I have had to resort to showing the character, but I have kept it a minimum so as not to ruin the image of the main character the reader has built up over the course of the novel. The metal bar is a bit wobbly and the fingers are a bit indistinct but I think the composition is quite nice.In the last section Alex has been cured of his conditioning and is no longer made to feel sick at the thought of violence. But having gone through it all he comes to realise that he doesn’t want his old life back. He goes to a nice café and has a cup of tea, while there he meets his old friend George who has moved on to a normal life. The image is gentle and calm to fit with the happy ending of the story. I would have preferred to have had flatter colours so that it looked cleaner.

Of the 21 images I have done for A Clockwork Orange not all of them have been successful, I think I shall edit them down to a more selective group. I should probably also do a cover for book to complete the set.

A Clockwork Orange – Chapter 2

In this image we are introduced to Alex’s time in prison, the making of matchboxes being part of tasks that he is forced to endure. The stack of matchboxes look rather imposing drawn from this perspective, this gives the feel of Alex being overwhelmed by the situation. My favourite part of this picture is the colour palette as they all seem to work together. I would have liked the colours to have been flatter and the edges to have cleaner. I’m not sure if it is immediately clear that the picture is of matchboxes as they don’t have any design on it, but I quite like the almost abstract nature and I think with text it would become clear.Next we are in Alex’s shared cell at night, lit by a small red light. The tin mug is one of the only objects mentioned in the section and is also the weapon by which the new addition to the cell is murdered. I think the colour of this image works well to create a feeling of danger, violence and threat. I found painting the mug quite enjoyable, trying to make the reflection seem realistic. The simple colour scheme also let me concentrate more on the painting and composition. In this section we are first taken to the establishment where Alex is subjected to conditioning. Trying to show the new clinical area he has entered I have made the palette quite light and clean. I don’t like this image as it doesn’t seem to do anything, the dressing gown and slippers don’t really look like anything. All perspective is gone and there doesn’t seem to be an overall composition. The light and cabinet don’t also seem to be in proportion to the green clothing.In this section we are shown the place where Alex undergoes his extreme reformation. The scene is described in quite a lot of detail so the details to include were fairly obvious, but I didn’t want it to look too similar to the film as this scene has become quite iconic. I’m quite pleased with this illustration, its triangular composition leads the eye nicely and the palette is nice and simple. I would have preferred the headpiece and the wires to be more detailed and the dials to be more defined. I think this cold and industrial image fits in very well with the theme of the novel.In this next section Alex sees the bars on the window, realising that his current situation is no better than prison. The darkness helps to create a sense of doom as does the image of prison bars. The image is a little simple and maybe the composition could have been changed up a little.Here we are once again shown the chair, there was very little else mentioned in this section. I have shown it from a different angle so that it is not the same as the previous chair image. We are also shown a partial view of the screen, which as on it horrific images which are described at length in this section. To have shown the horrific image would have ruined the effect as they wouldn’t have looked as borrowing as the images the words conjure in your mind. I’m not particularly keen on the fact that this image contains a person but I have shown as little as possible.In this scene Alex is paraded on stage to show the effectiveness of the treatment, being confronted with a violent men and a sensual lady, both of which cause him to feel physically sick. The image is of the stage light shining into his face and puts you in the place of Alex as he is being watched. I’m not a fan of how it is slightly off centre and also the blue colour doesn’t seem right.