Beautiful Minds Think Alike

The various narratives created in our project do well at preserving the initial topics addressed but vary widely in the thematic approach applied to the story. These themes or emotional perspectives morph from playful, to sorrowful, to serious, and right back to playful again. Each writer and illustrator took his own reading of the tale and redirected the narrative according to his personality, preference, and initial impressions. No single writer approached every work the same way. There wasn’t one of us who always made a story funny or always made it moody and dark, each and everyone us took a fresh approach to each piece and added or emphasized the emotional ideas we found most compelling or appropriate.

            Writer Paul D. Miller commented upon these characteristics of collaborations by stating that such practices make “the creative act a symbolic exchange between players.” A game of will and control only to be exercised in specific parameters according to the provided material. The Exquisite Corpse, or practice of finishing one another’s work to create a greater whole, is the artistic example of human interaction. The piecemeal amalgam of ideas and inspirations show both artist and viewer the lens by which they perceive and create. The fruit of our project is not always the actual pieces, but the personal realization every artist comes to concerning their own habits of synthesis and adaptation.

It was interesting to see that even though it was created by several minds. Some of the stories actually flowed into a complete narrative. Some of the other round robins we saw turned into something completely different than what they started with, so what is the difference? We think topic is very heavily related, the more interesting the topic the more interesting it was to contribute to the initial narrative. What was most surprising to us, was how the overall visual style changed throughout. We think this comes back to the fact that when a topic for a narrative becomes broad, it is more open to interpretation, and is altered by the different minds that contribute.

Ali Jabbar is a graphic designer and artist. He loves to do a simplistic illustrator style for online graphics. The lack of faces or other details is typical of Jabbar’s work. This distinct style created an internet phenomenon and reminded us of the round robin. Others would use his style to create something with a different theme or expression, similar to how the round robin assignment worked. This created a new development for both the narrative and the drawings in the assignment. The story and drawing would evolve as it progressed.

People in Group:

Graham Walker

Benjamin Thevenin 

Jesse Baird 

Jase Van Meeteren

"The Stars needed Gabby to help them. 

 They were under attack by the evil Kromblorexus, and only 

the Sarvoulian Commander Gabby could save them.”