【Hundred Dao Editor's Note】Mention the iron man, everyone will think of the image of the oil worker who mixed cement with his body and suppressed the blowout, in order to make the spirit of the iron man more suitable for children's psychology, the China Children's Press and Publication Corporation published "Iron Man King Jinxi", which is the first domestic iron man biography picture book. Baidao Network interviewed Li Chen, the author of this book, and Ji Xu, the editor-in-charge, to listen to them talk about how to deeply interpret the spirit of iron man with careful design and shocking pictures, and how to infiltrate the power of struggle and dreams into the works, so that young readers can cherish the present and look forward to the future in the understanding of history.
"Iron Man King Jinxi"
Publisher: China Children's Press and Publication Corporation
Author: Li Chen, Ji Lu
Publication date: August 2021
In the more than 70 years since the founding of New China, under the strong leadership of the Communist Party of China, the Chinese nation has ushered in a great leap from standing up and getting rich to becoming strong. China has written one great miracle after another in the history of human development, and behind this is the generation of Chinese rooted in their respective undertakings, shining and unswerving. Among the countless strivers who work hard in exchange for the vigorous development of the motherland, there is a resounding name, who has created outstanding achievements in the history of the development of new China's petroleum with the spirit of selfless struggle of "preferring to live for twenty years less and desperately trying to win the big oil field", and this person is the "iron man" Wang Jinxi.
Published by the China Children's Press and Publication Corporation, Li Chen and Ji Lu wrote the picture of "Iron Man Wang Jinxi", which truly tells the story of Wang Jinxi and the first generation of oil workers in New China, vividly reproducing the struggle process of Chinese Minyan Road and cutting through thorns, which is also the first iron man biographical picture book in China.
Li Chen is the painter of "Iron Man King Jinxi"
Ji Xu is the editor of "Iron Man King Jinxi"
The form of picture books makes the inheritance of the spirit of Iron Man more appropriate to children's psychology
According to Ji Xu, the planning of "Iron Man Wang Jinxi" originated from Miao Wei, director of the Book Center of China Children's Press and Publication Corporation, who proposed to publish a picture book with Wang Jinxi as the protagonist many years ago. Wang Jinxi has made immortal contributions to the development of the motherland's petroleum industry and socialist construction, and while creating tremendous material wealth, the spirit of Daqing and the spirit of iron man have also become valuable spiritual wealth that illuminates the young generation to march forward. "Wang Jinxi's deeds and spirit deserve to be told to children in the form of picture books that contemporary children like to hear."
Miao Wei's idea was strongly supported by the whole society, and the creation of picture books was immediately put on the agenda. However, considering that this is a work that shows the style of oil workers, the interpretation of "sense of strength" will self-evidently become the main tone, and who will be the painter will become the main consideration of the head office of China Children's News Publishing House.
Li Chen is a recognized pencil painter in the contemporary Chinese painting world, rigorous creative attitude, unique artistic style, superb painting skills, under his brush, the birth of a solemn and delicate illustration and comic strip, the characters he portrays have the courage of the statue. From the illustrations of "Reader" to the children's language textbooks, Li Chen's works include the conveyance portrayal of classic characters in literary works, as well as the re-enactment of revolutionary and heroic figures. At the end of 2019, Miao Weili invited Li Chen to participate in the creation, and Li Chen gladly accepted, saying that he had always wanted to paint Wang Jinxi. So, what kind of "obsession" does Li Chen have for Wang Jinxi?
"The iron man spirit is an important part of the spirit of the Chinese nation and the concrete embodiment of 'patriotism, entrepreneurship, truth-seeking, and dedication'. Wang Jinxi is known as a national hero and an immortal spiritual monument of the Chinese nation. As a contemporary art worker, I have the obligation to use the form of painting, fully based on the iron man spirit, a cultural resource with a glorious tradition, through the objective artistic reproduction of characters and events, and with a variety of media publicity methods, not only let this set of paintings become the visual enjoyment of the viewer, but also let the ideological connotation of the work penetrate into the hearts of children and young people, so that they can more deeply understand the patriotic feelings, so that the iron man spirit can be carried forward and inherited. Li Chen said.
Under the common goal of "telling Chinese stories well with excellent spiritual food and helping children to forge ahead", China Children's Press and Publication Corporation and Li Chen discussed many key issues in the spirit of excellence, such as the style of picture books should be magnificent and full of tension; strive to shape the characters to be plump, three-dimensional, and real, to see the big in the small, select stories that are humane and touching; through the depiction of the white mountains and black water, the iron will of the characters, etc., In the end, a clear main tone was anchored for subsequent creations.
Each takes its own strengths to make a shocking picture and a vivid narrative
Born on October 8, 1923 in a poor peasant family in Yumen County, Gansu Province, Wang Jinxi begged for food with his blind father at the age of 6, herded cattle for landlords at the age of 10, carried coal in a coal kiln at the age of 13, was arrested at the age of 14 to build roads, and worked as a coolie at the old Yumen oil mine at the age of 15. In 1950, Wang Jinxi became the first generation of drilling workers in New China, and the dream of "holding the brake of the drilling rig and drilling out an oil well" became a reality, and in the following ten years, Wang Jinxi used his youth and life to exchange for the rapid development of the petroleum industry for the motherland and the people.
"Iron Man King Jinxi" shows Wang Jinxi's growth process from a difficult childhood to aspire to become a driller to realize his dreams, in the deep meaning of tying personal fate and the fate of the country, the book also presents Wang Jinxi's personal portrait in three dimensions through a touching and profound representative story such as "people pulling shoulders", "jumping mud pool" and "taking water to dig a well". Therefore, this book does not blindly talk about the spiritual connotation, but uses a knowable and perceptible story to lead young readers back to that barren land, to see how the older generation has made Daqing a hot land that has stood up half of China's petroleum industry with tireless energy and undaunted fighting spirit. After the book, Wang Jinxi's life is also sorted out with a timeline, and young readers can clearly feel how this "iron man" contributed his enthusiasm to drilling and oil.
The shaping of the characters in the book, the presentation of the picture tension and the rendering of the story atmosphere are inseparable from Li Chen's unique painting language. With a small pencil and black, white and gray tones, Li Chen not only restores the historical scene, but also internalizes the inspiring spirit of the iron man in the language of the picture and passes it on to the young readers. In the interview, Li Chen introduced the creative ideas from the perspective of the natural connection between comic strips and picture books.
Li Chen has been engaged in the creation of comic strips for decades, and has experienced the long process of traditional Chinese comic strips from prosperity to gradual decline, and now, entering the transformation of traditional comic strips into "Dalian ring paintings". As Li Chen said, comic strips have an endless artistic charm. Under the concept of contemporary "Dalian ring painting", picture books with the theme of storytelling can be said to be a form of comic strip. Picture books and comic strips are different in terms of social function and aesthetic experience, but they have great compatibility in techniques and content themes and creative forms. Comic strips interpret pictures with text, have a strong literary nature, picture books focus on chart meaning, text becomes auxiliary, picture book pictures are more emotional, more representative, so it also attracts more and more audiences. Whether it is the childish enlightenment, edutainment and education in the children's world, or the praise and praise of the adult world, there is no shortage of touching comic strips and picture book works.
Li Chen said that the overall creation of "Iron Man King Jinxi" is actually a combination of comic strips and picture books, or each has its own strengths. This book is created by combining the artistic thinking of comic strips with the artistic expression of picture books, and then presented to readers in the form of picture books published. "Iron Man King Jinxi" tells stories in comic strips, with the beginning and end of comic strips, but it is not narrated step by step, but is more inclined to express the atmosphere and emphasize the feeling of the picture. In this regard, Li Chen took advantage of the broad field of vision of the picture book composition to fully expand the reader's imagination space on the screen, and timely launched some detailed close-ups to emphasize the expressions or actions of the characters. This treatment not only intuitively closes the distance between the picture and the reader, but also increases the appeal of the plot. It can be said that this work has the objectivity and rigor of a comic book narrative, and it also has the exaggeration and interest of a picture book.
Seiko makes creating picture books a way to create beauty
If the ironman spirit of Wang Jinxi's desperate efforts to dig a well infects every oil worker in the oil field, then the sense of strength and perseverance that young readers burst out through the picture of "Iron Man King Jinxi" will also feel the ironman spirit that is poured with faith and energy.
Li Chen's creation perfectly integrates the magnificent structure with the delicate portrayal, which condenses his meticulousness and dedication to creation. In order to restore the historical scene and complete the realistic creation, Li Chen specially purchased costumes and props from Daqing, and asked his students to be models, and then combined with the picture book script and historical materials, corresponding to the completion of the composition and portrayal. In the book, the pictures such as "people pulling shoulders" and "jumping mud pool" are repeatedly conceived and completed by Li Chen, with the design of the left and right double pull pages, giving people a strong visual impact, and the scene is full of momentum.
Li Chen said: "As the advocate and creative leader of the concept of 'Dalian Ring Painting', we should uphold the charm of hand-painting, pursue aesthetic and healthy visual experience and profound and elegant ideological connotation in creation as always, and always grasp the relevance of contemporary comic book creation research and talent training, and keep this artistic base area with lofty aesthetic values." ”
When the magnificent paintings were completed, the China Children's Press and Publication Corporation faced another thorny problem, that is, how to reflect the layers of black, white and gray and the texture of the pencil drawings through printing, which was also a huge challenge for the printing process. In this regard, before the official on-machine printing, Ji Xu and the designer Qu Zhonghua and the printing service walked into the printing plant, tested the ink ratio, contrast and other processes with the printing factory master, and several rounds of the program came down, and then selected a relatively better printing program. In addition, in the binding design, in addition to the main color of black, white and gray in the painting, the designer Qu Zhonghua also added a stable and atmospheric red, echoing the "blood of the industry" of petroleum. To highlight the power and texture of the cover, Qu Zhonghua also designed a blunt-angled red cloth surround at the spine of the book, which was inspired by oil drills. It is worth mentioning that the book also comes with a "Secret of Oil" wallchart, which tells the history and importance of oil from the perspective of science popularization, so that young readers can understand the significance of the oil industry from the two-way perspective of cognition and emotion.
Ji Xu said: "We hope that through reading this picture book, children can experience that a happy life is not easy to come by, stimulate their motivation to create a better life in the future, and let them understand that beauty is created." ”
As it is written at the end of the book: "Generation after generation of oil workers, like the Iron Man King Jinxi, regarded the oil well as their own life and the oil as their soul." After the Daqing oilfield, the mainland has successively developed and built a number of oil fields, and the spirit of iron man has inspired oil workers across the country to work hard to start a business and dedicate oil to the country. To this day, the Iron Man spirit is still an heirloom of the relay struggle of oil workers, shining brightly. ”
Next, The China Children's Press and Publication Corporation will continue to launch other biographical picture books depicting the struggle of Chinese people, so that the immortal deeds and their spirits will become rich nutrients for the growth of children and young people.
Author: Wang Ran
Edit: Daozhi
Final: Ling Jia