Twitter is getting shittier and shittier. We still have the joy of the weird Twitter comic personalities, the occasional celebrity slip up, and Cher. But we’ve been inundated with an influx of Pepe-avatared Nazis, Trump supporters misspelling everything more complex than an M, an A, a G, and another A, and the executive and design Twitter teams deciding the best way to take care of all of that is by changing the default avatar picture and letting more people to be @’d in replies.
Any time a celebratory event starts to turn the too’ls tide back toward its glorious and joyful past, our loathsome attention addict and Twitter-holic of a president chimes in and everyone just vomits.
And don’t even get me started on the thinkpieces.
But every now and then, Twitter randomly showcases its potential as an educational and engaging entertainment platform. And by “every now and then,” I mean, “When Guillermo del Toro talks on Twitter.”
If you like films, or fantasy, or art, or thinking and learning, there is a good chance that Guillermo del Toro is the best person you could possibly follow on Twitter. The famed myth-making, world-building, aesthetically ingenious filmmaker has used his Twitter timeline to toss together a syllabus of film-making philosophy and art history, a near-daily stream of reading and watching recommendations, and a library of first person knowledge from not just one of the world’s greatest directors, but one of the world’s sharpest film fans.
This holiday weekend, del Toro, who’s proven to know a thing or two about monsters and beauty, shared some thoughts and facts on conceptual monster making as well as a short treatise on aesthetic philosophy, artistic history, and the beauty of the temporal.
You can enjoy both discussions below, but you can also just follow @RealGDT and enjoy this kind of thing every week.
13 Tweets about monster creation. 1: When an artist has an imbalance between beauty and tragedy, or rage, in his/her sense of self-
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) April 16, 2017
@RealGDT 2: it becomes quite likely that she/he will look inwards and find monsters as a way to reconcile the two.
Monster creation, to me-— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) April 16, 2017
@RealGDT 3: -is one of the hardest forms of creation. When they are good and powerful they need to draw from a multitude of sources: Myth-
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) April 16, 2017
@RealGDT 4:-literature, nature reference and our own spirit. An important distinction is tonal: the monster design must be of a piece with-
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) April 16, 2017
@RealGDT 5: -all other elements of the picture- both visual and aural. Imagine designing a fish and not providing it w a proper acquarium-
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) April 16, 2017
@RealGDT 6: Such is the delicate task of designing a monster and its environment. It is a multi-layered task and one that uses image as-
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) April 16, 2017
@RealGDT 7: -a storytelling device. Like a piece of art, a glance at the monster tells you its story and purpose and what it represents.
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) April 16, 2017
@RealGDT 8: No element must be accidental. First shape and outline, then it must be entirely expressive sculpturally. Painting comes next.
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) April 16, 2017
@RealGDT 9: and it must be counterintuitive to sculpture- at odds with it sometimes. Remember: painting is 80% underpainting and layering.
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) April 16, 2017
@RealGDT 10: All painting and sculpting must be “proofed” from all angles by using a movable worklight. And front profile and back must be-
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) April 16, 2017
@RealGDT 11: interesting on their own. Full body and bust composition must reveal new values and then comes movement.
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) April 16, 2017
@RealGDT 12:Direct the actor like a performer and not an impersonator- give emotional, concrete cues: arrogance, innocence, majesty, etc
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) April 16, 2017
And then this…
13 Tweets about desirable imperfection. 1: The notion of impermanence and the transitory nature of beauty exists in the West since-
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) April 17, 2017
-at least the Middle ages. In medieval art, subtle symbols (a peach, a rose) signalled the impending whitering of youth and-
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) April 17, 2017
-above porticos and refectories in monasteries and abbeys one could find ellaborate “memento Mori” sculptures. Death walking side by side-
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) April 17, 2017
-with life. But starting with the “graveyard poetry” and Pre-Romantic poems of the 1700’s the West starts to behold death and decay with an-
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) April 17, 2017
-eye towards the aesthetic. A more turbulent way to view the “different” and the “decayed” which was norm in the East since time immemorial.
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) April 17, 2017
In the East, in Japan particularly, the notion of Wabi-Sabi- the precious nature of the marred, imperfect, impermanent and incomplete is an-
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) April 17, 2017
-aesthetic norm. Esier to feel than to sum up. A notion, a sentiment or an impulse which co-mingles the materially terrible with the sublime
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) April 17, 2017
This emotion, this feeling, does not have the stern condemnation of the Western Memento Mori and it is not the fruit of guilt or denial.
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) April 17, 2017
It is perhaps just the serene embrace of the forces of creation and destruction thet comingle in nature. And in the fantastic genre in all-
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) April 17, 2017
-its variations one can encounter those who have that affinity. The adoration of the bizarre in a truly serene and beautiful way.
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) April 17, 2017
I can find it in Les Poètes maudits or I can see it in the figures of Kali, Minos, Talos or the reanimated masthead in Harryhausen.
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) April 17, 2017
In creating a monster or a character or a set. We must strive to find the dents, the scars, the missing bits, the prosaic decals on a-
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) April 17, 2017
-hit-tech machine. The poorly repaired bits, improvised solutions and worn down, rusty corners. For the true proof that something is real-
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) April 17, 2017
-lies in decay. And age and weathering give nobility and theatricality to the most imposing design.
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) April 17, 2017
Sorry- it was 14.
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) April 17, 2017
Featured Image: Warner Bros.
