The Olympic mascot embodies the designer's hard work. Han Meilin, a 69-year-old famous artist, is the leader of the mascot creation and modification team. Yesterday, the reporter interviewed the design hero.
About the design process
Take a cold shower and determine the best plan.
Reporter: How did you come up with the final plan of the mascot?
Han Meilin: The plan of five dolls was originally designed by Wu Guanying, a teacher from Tsinghua Academy of Fine Arts. After consulting with him, I began to repaint them into prototypes. It was February 2 this year, when the dragon looked up. I painted all night, and the effect was not good. Later, I couldn't hold on a little longer, so I just took a cold shower. A tingle made me think of an idea: put animal-shaped hats on the dolls! In this way, the five Fuwa came out in one go.
Tibetan antelopes provide sports inspiration.
Reporter: The most important thing about the Olympic mascots is the sports element. How is it reflected in creation?
Han Meilin: After the five Fuwa were designed, we consulted a lot of sports graphic materials and designed suitable sports for each Fuwa. Giant pandas are suitable for weightlifting, Tibetan antelopes are suitable for running, fish are suitable for swimming and so on. But when they appear in groups, their movements are too dull and ugly. After repeated comparisons, we still found inspiration in the Tibetan antelope. The finally designed Tibetan antelope appears in a running posture, so the overall presentation will be good. The most important thing in creation is actually the details.
There are as many as 4000 design papers
Reporter: How many times has the whole design process been revised?
Han Meilin: More than 4,000 manuscripts were drawn, and more than 60 revisions were made, including major revisions 10.
Reporter: The modeling action of the mascot needs positive action. How to do this?
Han Meilin: You need to understand children's feelings and be caring. None of my tens of thousands of paintings is pessimistic. It is not easy for us to live on this earth. We only live in this world once. Therefore, there is absolutely no sadness in the works. This set of mascots combines the images of animals and people, and the audience should be willing to hold them up.
Reporter: The creative style of the team is different. Is there any difference in creation?
Han Meilin: That's for sure. You say you like this color, others don't necessarily like it, and you say you like this image, others don't necessarily accept it. For example, the original rattle, if we have to add long legs, we will not accept it, and we have to give up if we can't draw any more.
About design life
In the meantime, I had a heart attack and had an operation.
Reporter: The design of the mascot is very complicated. You must have put a lot of effort into this.
Han Meilin: I am willing to do this for the Olympics. In the meantime, I dissolved the studio with a very good income and closed the door to create mascots. Later, the expert group simply moved from Huairou to my studio in Tongzhou. Creation itself is very complicated. At the beginning, in order to design the bell, more than 200 objects were collected nationwide.
Reporter: I heard that you were sick in the meantime?
Han Meilin: I had two heart attacks in Huairou. Fortunately, after the emergency operation, I was able to recreate it.
Reporter: It is said that your wife has also done a lot of work?
Han Meilin: We are a family story! My wife works in the large-scale activities department of the Golden Rooster Award Chinese Film Association. For me, she also put down all the work at hand and became the nanny of several designers, cooking noodles and stews for us and delivering fruit cakes. The whole family became our logistics support staff.
Will receive a one-yuan spiritual reward.
Reporter: Can you tell me how much BOCOG paid you?
Han Meilin: We didn't ask for remuneration, but also paid more than 400,000 yuan for the design work. BOCOG will reward 1 yuan as spiritual encouragement (hahaha smiles).
With regard to programme evaluation
It is a pity that there is no calligraphy art.
Reporter: Do you have any regrets about the final plan?
Han Meilin: Yes! The biggest regret is that the mascot can't be worn in the China Calligraphy Art Exhibition. We made thousands of attempts, and the results were not satisfactory. I also tried to use calligraphy on Fuwa's clothes, and the effect was not good. Finally, I reluctantly gave up what I wanted.
Reporter: In other words, the mascot is out of touch with the art of calligraphy?
Han Meilin: No, because mascots are made of various forms and materials, including cloth, grass, plastic and wood. We will try our best to add elements of calligraphy to the future deformation.
Tan said that Jing Yan Seji.
Reporter: Which of the five mascots do you like best?
Han Meilin: (Ha-ha-ha smiles) I drew these five little things myself. I'm like their father. As the saying goes, parents love the ugliest baby, and I like all five. They all have different meanings and represent the history of China from ancient times to the present, so they have no preference. Speaking of which, the color of Jingyan matches well with the green in the Olympic rings, which makes our design team spend a lot of effort. It is said that the color of Jingyan is somewhat inferior. But the overall effect is still very good.
165438+1October 13, the day after the release of the Olympic mascots. With the early winter night in Beijing, 35 children of the "China Mobile Beijing 2008" Olympic mascot, the Western Ambassadors Observation Group, took five furry little "Fuwa" by bus to the Han Meilin Art Creation Studio in Tongzhou, Beijing. Famous artist
Han Meilin is a graphic designer of Fuwa. Just got off the bus, Han Meilin was waiting outside the door, warmly greeting the children.
Han Meilin is a professional writer in the Creative Research Department of Chinese Writers Association, a national first-class artist, an artist enjoying special allowance from the State Council and a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. Painting and sculpture are mainly based on animals and figures, which skillfully blend eastern and western arts. His animation design "The Fox Beats the Hunter" won the Best Art Award of Yugoslavia International Film Festival from 65438 to 0979.
In the art showroom on the second floor, Han Meilin looked at these happy children and said, "I have been a bitter child since I was a child, brought up by my poor mother. Therefore, my works will never forget my love for my mother and my deep affection for my motherland and people. You are the future and will definitely surpass me in the future. " Han Meilin showed sincere feelings in his speech, which infected everyone present.
After the children presented gifts to Han Meilin, the reporter took the children to the exhibition hall on the third floor. I have seen that apart from the vivid objects made of ceramics and metals, the most eye-catching thing is probably the hundreds of cloth tigers with different sizes and strong folk styles on the table. At this time, the staff whispered in Han Meilin's ear: "What gift to give the child?" Han Meilin said, "Everyone has two cloth tigers." "Where are the books?" The staff asked. "Three copies each." Han Meilin replied brightly. When the staff came to the children with a tall stack of books, Han Meilin signed them one by one with an ink pen in his hand until his hands were exhausted.
The children strolled in the exhibition room of Han Meilin and felt the happy time brought by the art palace. Finally, when the reporter came to Han Meilin's studio, I saw all the images of Fuwa, the mascot of the 2008 Olympic Games, hanging on the wall and on the painting. Han Meilin told reporters that this time, as the leader of the expert group on graphic design modification of "Fuwa", he made six major changes to "Fuwa" and made a difficult choice in constant weighing. It is difficult to integrate the traditional culture and national imprint of the motherland into it. Therefore, as the main creator, I have many regrets in my heart. Han Meilin looks tired. He just had heart bypass surgery, and he only slept for two hours a day when he was most nervous about writing. He just got back from recording a program on Beijing TV. He had something to eat and came to see us. Face to face with him, I seem to understand him in an instant, a person who has grown from a bitter child to an artist, and a person who pays back to the motherland and the people with his heart.
three
1 1 day, the Olympic mascot "Fuwa" was born, and the designer of "Fuwa" was the famous artist Han Meilin.
Before that, few people knew about Han Meilin, but when it comes to Master Han's works, everyone is quite familiar with them, such as the Phoenix logo of China International Airlines, the logo of China's 2008 Olympic bid, the pioneer cattle in Shenzhen and the tiger in Dalian Tiger Beach.
Sculptures, as well as the Kowloon Baoding, which was everywhere at the Spring Festival party in 2004, were all created by this artist. A few days ago, the author interviewed Han Meilin.
Real art comes from the people.
Author: "Fuwa" was very popular as soon as it was listed, and it was out of stock in many places. You must be very happy, right
Han Meilin: Well, I'm glad everyone agreed. After all, a good harvest is not a waste of effort.
Author: There is always a problem. There is usually only one mascot. How can I do five at a time?
Han Meilin: Since the Sydney Olympic Games, combined mascots have become popular. Generally, there are one or two mascots, and at most three mascots. But can three mascots be so common? It's too difficult. After repeated consideration, we decided that the six images of giant panda, Tibetan antelope, rattle, golden monkey, Siberian tiger and dragon could not fully represent the Olympic image of China. Finally, we simply gave up the original idea and boldly created five "Fuwa".
Author: Where did the original idea come from?
Han Meilin: A folk participant drew five dolls of fire, water and earth in Jin Mu, from which we got inspiration. Real art comes from the people. I grew up in the soil of folk culture and art. Without folk art, there would be no Han Meilin. Unfortunately, there is no real folk art school in China!
Author: Why "five" and not others?
Han Meilin: Mascots should contain national culture. In China culture, the meaning of "Five" is very rich, such as the Five Elements and Five Blessingg, which echo the Olympic symbol "Five Rings" and have rich meanings.
Author: Then why give up the dragon? After all, it represents the Chinese nation.
Han Meilin: No way. The dragon is too serious. It represents the Chinese nation. It seems beneath your dignity to let it bounce, and your affinity is too poor. Besides, dragons are somewhat ambiguous in the west.
Author: So what do you think of swallows?
Han Meilin: This is also an act of God. At first, we used birds instead of dragons, which was very complicated. There are too many birds, but which one is suitable? At first, the voice of red-crowned crane and magpie was very high, but the slender image of red-crowned crane could not match the overall style, and magpie was not recognized in the west. Finally, I thought of Swallow, which was called Yanjing in ancient Beijing, and Shayan was a unique kite form in Beijing. It was the best choice, but it passed at one fell swoop.
Jiuxin Pill saved five "Fuwa"
Author: Are you nervous about accepting this design task?
Han Meilin: I must be nervous. This dish is not easy to fry. It must have everything. Meet the needs of all kinds of people, some like to eat spicy chicken, some like to eat fried kidney flowers, everything. Or on behalf of China? Can I not be nervous?
Author: Since it is so difficult, at the beginning
Why do you dare to accept it?
Han Meilin: This is an unshirkable responsibility. The reason why I boldly accepted this task is because I have been designing for decades and have been focusing on the word auspicious. There are tens of thousands of my works, and none of them complain. I, Han Meilin, have never put any guilt or frustration into my works. I have always been optimistic. This is a question of attitude. You are born to face many aspects of this world. The key to ups and downs is your choice.
Author: How can you remain so optimistic? You suffered a lot when you were young.
Han Meilin: Because I want to be a good person and a useful person. I have never looked down on suffering and always laughed it off. It is suffering that has made me who I am today. Thanks for suffering, thanks for life.
Author: Is the creative process very hard? I heard that I took several pills to save my heart.
Han Meilin: I was in a hurry. I was about to hand in my work, but we fell into a dead end of creation. But this artist is really under pressure. I took two pills and took two cold baths that night, shivering with cold. As a result, my inspiration came at once and I created Fuwa overnight.
The design mascot is only 1 yuan.
Author: The design process should be kept secret, so choose your studio?
Han Meilin: Yes, that's the only place that's kept secret. I dismissed the staff of the studio and concentrated on the design. Once the door was closed, no one could get in except the people of the Olympic Organizing Committee.
Author: What if a friend comes to see you?
Han Meilin: Outside, I also do arts and crafts. I know that mascots contain huge business opportunities. Once leaked, it will bring incalculable losses to the country. We must not be careless.
Author: What about your wife?
Han Meilin: Her? You can't close the door, can you? She must do logistics for us. My wife works in the large-scale activities department of the Golden Rooster Award Chinese Film Association. For me, she also gave up all her work and became a nanny for several designers, cooking noodles and stews for us, delivering fruit cakes and serving as a logistics support staff.
Author: The design is so sure, so much effort has been put into it. How much design fee did you get in the end?
Han Meilin: 1 yuan.
Author: 1 yuan?
Han Meilin: Yes, we didn't ask for compensation. When we signed the contract, even the intellectual property rights did not belong to us. 1 yuan is the spiritual encouragement given by the Olympic organizing Committee.
Author: Then why did you do it?
Han Meilin: Love this nation, love this country, love this country, it is very simple.