Medieval punk
Lately I have been very interested in medieval art. I like the story driven and naive nature of it. I also discovered that it can also contain a lot of satire and was not afraid to criticise the establishment. I thought it would be a fun idea to have an anti-establishment medieval drawing on the back of a denim jacket, like what the punk movement did but with a 500 year gap.
When looking around I stumbled upon an 16th century French drawing (technically not medieval period anymore but still containing the typical symbolism and esthetic). It comes from ‘The drolaric dreams of Pantagruel’, a book that can be considered a spin-off from an earlier French folkloric story about a giant named Pantaguel, the son of Gargantua.
I wanted to embroider this on the jacked but next to some sashiko I share at r/sashiko I did not have any experience with embroidery. I love blackwork and it is my ambition to make a blackwork piece some time in the future but I still have a lot to learn.
For this piece, keeping in mind my limited experience, I decided to do it all in a blackwork inspired but dumbed down techhique and used the double running stitch. Mixing thread thickness and gradient to bring out the illustration.
It was quite the endeavour. I learned a lot doing it. My motto was “never let perfection stand in the way of perfection” and I carried on comforting myself with the fact that a medieval drawing is quite forgiving for my primitive technical skills.
I’m very motivated to start a next project, one where I could level up my skills and apply what I’ve learned in this one.
Feedback and tips are more than welcome, I’m here to learn.