"Play"—A Study On The Modality Of Charactersin He Youzhi’s White Light

He Youzhi was an artist who devoted his entire life to the creation of pocket-sized Chinese comic books(lianhuanhua),and his work had a profound influence on the creation of fine arts in China after 1949.Based on the novel of the same name by Lu Xun,published in 1922,He’s comic book The White Light vividly depicts a failed scholar in 36 pictures.The most striking and artistic feature of The White Light is that the artist actively draws from the details of everyday life,and making bold innovations and explorations while remaining faithful and consistent to the original work.Using The White Light as the research object,this article focuses on the character expression within,or in other words,acting.It introduces He Youzhi’s achievements in life,as well as the creation background and innovation of The White Light,and investigates the rationale of the characters and acting basis.According to the standard of “acting”,the article elaborates on The White Light from the perspective of the characteristics of character expression and posture design: how the characters’ emotions and relationships are conveyed through their facial expressions,and how the design of characters’ movements is extended further from the original,thus depicts relationships of characters not explicitly stated in the original.It also analyzes the use of freehand technique in the design of characters’ postures,and explores the role that situations play in the representation of the characters’ mood.The article finally summarizes the prominent characteristics of character expression in The White Light,and provide insights for exploring the language of character portrayal in Chinese local picture books.