Compose styles
Rather than blending styles toward a middle, this gives them roles. The first one carries the structure, the next comes in as the accent, and anything after that shows up in a single detail. Where they fight each other, it says so before you start.
How to divide the work
- Composition
- Follow Batik: Divide the whole cloth into pattern units, change rank at the border
- Type
- Set in Batik's manner (Any lettering follows the pattern grid and never breaks the repeat), and let Wayang Kulit's lettering (Treat letters as pierced holes, read from the leather left behind) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in Batik's material (Wax resist, then layered indigo and brown, washed keeping the crackle); bring in exactly one thing from Wayang Kulit (Pierce the hide to pass light, vary shadow density by rod angle).
- Colour
- Build on #e8dcc2, #7a4a26, #22354f and admit one accent from #dcc891, #946321, #140e0a.
Where they fight
These are already listed as related entries, so the join should come easily.
Caution
- Batik Using the patterns as decoration detached from meaning ignores who may wear them and on what occasion, which turns the cloth discourteous.
- Wayang Kulit Building the shadow as a plain black shape loses the information carried in the piercing, and nothing separates it from a cut-out silhouette.
Image prompt
Produce four original images that take their structure from Batik (technique, traditional–present) and their accent from Wayang Kulit (style, traditional–present). ## What to make Make the kind of thing Batik exists for: cloth and wallpaper needing a density only a drawn line produces, or formal and ceremonial textiles that respect what each pattern signifies. Choose one subject and hold it across all four. ## Structure comes from Batik - Crackle of the wax resist - The canting's line - Layered indigo and soga brown - A semantic pattern system Composition: Divide the whole cloth into pattern units, change rank at the border. Type and lettering: Any lettering follows the pattern grid and never breaks the repeat. ## Accent comes from Wayang Kulit, used sparingly - Pierced leather puppets - Stylized profiles - Shadow and light source - All-night performances Let one material quality come from it: Pierce the hide to pass light, vary shadow density by rod angle. ## Colour and feeling Build the ground on #e8dcc2, carry the structure in #7a4a26 and #22354f, and let a single accent come from #946321. These are read off real works, so a direction rather than a fixed palette. Feeling to carry: luxury, intimacy, calm, exhilaration. ## What goes wrong - Batik: Using the patterns as decoration detached from meaning ignores who may wear them and on what occasion, which turns the cloth discourteous. - Wayang Kulit: Building the shadow as a plain black shape loses the information carried in the piercing, and nothing separates it from a cut-out silhouette. ## Across the four Keep the roles fixed in all four. Vary the framing, the scale and the arrangement so the set shows what this pairing can do rather than four versions of one picture. ## Constraints - Do not imitate, reference or name any specific artist, studio, brand, character or copyrighted work. - Do not reproduce the composition of an existing work. - Produce original compositions in the general period languages described above.
Related entries
- Batik traditional–present / Technique / Textile Traditions
Javanese cloth resisted with wax and dyed over and over again. The line drawn by the canting builds a pattern system that also speaks of rank, region and rite.
- Wayang Kulit traditional–present / Style / Stage Design
Javanese shadow theater works pierced leather puppets between a lamp and a screen, and in doing so perfected a formal language of contour, silhouette and the stylized profile.
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