Keywords

1 Introduction

Chinese opera culture boasts a long history and rich essences as an important component of Chinese culture. However, since it does not make progress and is divorced from today’s aesthetic demands, it is gradually faded into oblivion. The governments have tried to rescue Chinese opera culture, but no big success has been made. With unique elements of exaggeration, abstraction and fun, cartoons are popular among the youth, whose derivative applications also echo with artistic creation or design creativity [1]. However, while cartoons develop rapidly, they are faced with increasingly serious problems such as homogeneity of contents and visual styles and low ages of the audience. It has become hot topics discussed by the society today how to revitalize the opera arts through new paths and how to extend and innovate cartoon arts in terms of themes and contents. This is not only necessary for the inheritance of opera culture, but also necessary for the diffusion and development of cartoon arts today [2].

Cartoon is a form of arts and an important way to express emotions. It is an interesting, complex and dialectical topic worth exploring how the authors of cartoons express their creation concepts with external forms, guide the audience to understand the works and realize communication between the authors and audience [3,4,5]. For a long time, the communication model for artistic works is mainly explored and interpreted from the perspective of abstract aesthetic feelings. Most Western philosophers of past times opposed to conducting a rational research on the issue from the perspective of cognitive pattern. However, Efland believed that without the use of cognition theory, it is impossible to study the communication model [6]. Therefore, based on the cognition theory, this research attempts to achieve a marriage between operas and cartoons, blend the elements of Chinese operas into the creation of cartoons, apply the principles and categories of Chinese classical aesthetics such as form, spirit and freehand to mine the rational principles behind the perceptual forms of traditional operas. Starting from the external characteristics of roles in operas, the research attempts to analyze the semantic directionality of dressing-up and actions of characters in the operas, create opera cartoons following the principles of Chinese aesthetics and aesthetic paradigms of traditional opera culture. From the perspective of cognition and communication theory, the research explores the factors that influence the aesthetic experience, preference and cognition of the audience and explores the perceptual aesthetic experience through rational cognition, so as to make up the gap of exchange between the authors and the audience [7]. It is also an important aspect explored by the research how the authors of cartoons express the context and conception of creation and how the audience perceive and understand the creativity of the authors. The essence of creation is the core thinking in the creativity of the authors. Cognition is a process for the audience to understand and feel the works. Cartoon works set up a bridge between the authors and the audience.

Nowadays digitization has brought numerous forms of arts to enrich our audio-visual life. Our aesthetic mindset is also changing quietly. The cultural forms inherited from Chinese civilization over thousands of years are now subject to an unprecedented impact from such forms of arts ranging from deep and immersive experiences to fast food style stimulus and enjoyment. It has become a mission and responsibility of every Chinese to carry forward the traditional culture and revitalize Chinese culture in the new era. This research attempts to apply the traditional esthetic philosophy of China in the expression methods and spiritual content of cartoon creation and innovate the creativeness of opera cartoons to enhance the methods, strategy and artistic state of opera cartoon creation, with an expectation to provide helpful experience for the diffusion and development of cartoon creation and operas.

The two major purposes of the research are: (1) Exploring how to transform the thoughts and principles of Chinese classical aesthetics into specific creation architecture; (2) Understanding the sympathy of the audience in the “flexible adaption” and providing references to the authors of opera cartoons.

2 Literature Review

Opera arts blend literature, dancing, music and opera, while cartoon arts integrate story, exaggeration, comedy and imagery. The former reveals details in movement, while the latter manifests feelings in stillness, each carrying its own fun. The two forms of art evolve with the passage of time and can spread and manifest the cultural spirit and aesthetic styles of Chinese people, both of which are related and connected with the core spirit of Chinese aesthetics. Therefore, by referring to Chinese classical aesthetics and the categories of aesthetics such as form, spirit and conception, the research will analyze and develop the creative concepts of opera cartoons.

“Form” represents the body of a person, the material body of a life and the physical features of a character. “Spirit” represents the mind of a person, which is the commander of life and the inherent spirit of a character [8]. “Conception” is a topic with a long history in Chinese traditional aesthetics, which conveys the unique principles of Chinese traditional aesthetics and its aesthetic charm valuing the artistic conception from the perspectives of its functionality and the aesthetic flavors of the authors. In the process of creation, the authors of Chinese paintings focus on expressing their subjective feelings in the objective world. They do not pursue “formal” accuracy, but pay much more attention to the expression of “conception”. However, the authors of cartoon works pay more attention to the presentation of skills and techniques but neglect the substance of creativity in the process of creation [9]. The communication model between authors and the audience is exploring the “substance of creativity” from the coding of creative conception to decoding of cognition and feelings. The authors present their “creativity” from a concept, while the audience interact with the works and develop semantic cognition in the works based on their own cultural background and experience. This is a complex cognition process [10].

The roles of operas have undergone an evolution of different stages in history. At present, most operas feature four basic roles, which are male roles, female roles, painted roles and clown roles, of which female roles display distinctive characteristics, which are generally played by young females. Such type of roles usually features a smart and charming figure. In the process of performing, they can reflect the softness, lightness and flexibility of the roles, which are very suitable for cartoons. The image of female roles is summarized by Bai Yunsheng, an opera master, as “tender”, “lively” and “genuine”. For this reason, the research selects the female roles in operas as the main object of research to create cartoons, which makes the cartoon works closer to life and humanity [11]. Following the three levels of the “essence” of artistic works, namely, the technology level of appearance and perception, the semantic level of cognition of the meaning, and the effect level of inner feelings [12, 13], the research starts from the image building of operas and apply the techniques of cartoons to manifest the form and spirit of opera characters. How to realize form and spirit can be analyzed from the practice of cartoon creation. Following the four steps of creation proposed by Lin, namely, setting the scenario, telling the story, writing the play and cartoon creation [14], the research creates cartoons containing opera elements by reflecting form with form, reflecting spirit with form, expressing conception with spirit [15], extended to a creation model of reflecting the conception and neglecting the form.

2.1 Reflecting Form with Form

Shi Zhang of Qing Dynasty proposed in Painting Theory, “For a beginner of imitating, it’s forbidden to separate from the antiquity, otherwise form will be lost.” By observing and imitating the features and posture of the characters, the authors of cartoons try their best to approach the dynamic posture of the characters with their skillful painting techniques and observation and mastery of the images of operas. By observing the characters, the authors turn their features into the attributes of the cartoon. Their core thinking is objective depiction and direct expression, emphasizing the basis of form and respecting the form of the object. Such a way of manifestation aims to achieve a vivid resemblance with the “form” of the characters, also known as “reflecting form with form” (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1.
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Creation concept of reflecting form with form

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2.2 Reflecting Spirit with Form

It is recorded in the article Craftsmanship in the book A New Account of the Tales of the World, “When Gu Changkang was creating figure paintings, he did not paint the eyes for some figures over the years. When asked why, Gu answered, ‘The beauty or ugliness of the body is originally unrelated with the eyes. To make the figure lifelike, the key lies in the eyes” [16]. Generally speaking, form is the carrier of spirit. Without the form, spirit will not be conveyed at all. Form and spirit are in a precedence and subordination relationship. Kaizhi Gu, a painter of Eastern Jin Dynasty, pointed out that the core of figure paintings lies in conveying the spirit of the figure, or “vivid portrayal”. He stressed that a painter must respect the object on the basis of form and continue to refine and recreate to convey the spirit while achieving an aesthetic effect in the form. The painters should manifest the inherent essence of a figure and pursue the spirit through the form of painting. The portrayal of “form” surrounds and serves the center of “spirit”, whose substance is emphasizing likeness in spirit. Its value lies in highlighting the spirit of the figure rather than simply be overcritical with the resemblance in appearance, which is also known as reflecting spirit with form (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2.
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Creative concept of reflecting spirit with form

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2.3 Reflecting Conception with Spirit

As the top of “six techniques” proposed by He Xie, “lively spirit and charm” is the first aesthetic principle for the evaluation of paintings. “Spirit and charm” refers to the inherent spirit of the paintings. The expression of artistic conception emphasizes the exhibition of spiritual temperament, which focuses on the liveliness and vividness of the figures painted. Traditional Chinese paintings reveal that due to the subjectivity of “freehand”, different painters have different understanding and cognition in “conception”. The artistic realm originates from imagination and goes beyond the image. Therefore, painting should value the artistic state rather than resemblance of appearance [5]. Freehand is one of the important techniques of Chinese painting. A freehand painting does not pursue vividness of details, but manifests the fun of the object and interest of the painters with simple and vigorous painting techniques [17]. Conception is a topic with a long history in the Chinese traditional aesthetics, which conveys the unique principles of Chinese traditional aesthetics and its aesthetic charm valuing the artistic conception from the perspectives of its functionality and the aesthetic flavors of the authors. When cartoon creation encounters implied opera elements, naturally it will add some semantic effects. The form and spirit of operas will form some symbolic visual images and highlight the implied characteristics of opera culture, which is also known as reflecting conception with spirit (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3.
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Creative concept of reflecting conception with spirit

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2.4 Expressing Conception and Neglecting Form

Chinese traditional philosophy is a poetic philosophy and artistic philosophy, pursuing “implication beyond the lines”, “image beyond the images” and “purport beyond the tastes”. The ideas of Confucianism like “comparison to virtues” and “expression of aspiration”, the ideas of Taoism like “Tao models itself after the nature” and “great resemblance is formless”, and the pursuit of “realm” by the Chan sect of Buddhism, and the like, are all an interpretation of the Chinese aesthetic philosophy that values conception but neglects form. Ouyang Xiu, a poet of Song Dynasty, also took the spiritual substance as the fundamental, but paid little attention to resemblance of appearance, claiming, “The ancient paintings pursue conception and neglect form”. Kaizhi Gu, a painter of Eastern Jin Dynasty, proposed “imagination” in the Comments on Painting. He argued that painting required a process of “imagination” and blended the subjective and objective world on the basis of grasping the appearance features and spiritual essence of the object to create a wonderful artistic image. How to convey the rich essence of operas to the audience without any loss by simply drawing the lines of the figures? By reshaping the figures in reality and simplifying the object with an attitude of aesthetic feelings, the cartoon creation restores the full picture of the spirit of operas. Reflecting the conception and neglecting the form, the cartoon becomes a recreation of the objects and a symbolic image (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4.
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Creative concept of reflecting conception and neglecting form

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3 Methodology

3.1 Creation and Analysis Model for Cartoons

The creation of opera cartoons also has to follow certain methods and procedures. It builds its own languages from the aesthetic principles unique to arts such as harmony, symmetry, balance, comparison, changes, mildness, spirit and charm and artistic rules such as circular and curve, movement and stillness, fullness and emptiness, high and low. Conscious transformation is performed on the basis of observing. The final cartoon effect is created. The specific method and process as follows. The process can be roughly divided into two stages, i.e., operating interface and process analysis. The author searches for the elements that can best reflect the characteristics and traits of the object such as identity and manner, costume and head-wear, movement, facial expressions and charm by observing the visual feelings, inner feelings, actions and facial expressions and personality of the object and figure, and create the cartoons by means of observing and imagination, construction of scenario, reflecting the spirit with form, making choice and refinement, so as to realize the effects of harmony and symmetry, balance and changes, emotional appeal and cultural implications. Now the creation and analysis model for opera cartoons is briefly introduced as follows (Fig. 5).

Fig. 5.
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Creation and analysis model for opera cartoons

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After evolving for hundreds of years, the actions and body languages of roles in operas imply a high refinement of beauty. The cartoon creation not only should create vivid and lively figures, but also should be particular in the aesthetic effect of painting. The audience should be able to perceive the external images of opera cartoons and taste the aesthetic effect of the modelling of cartoons. The cartoons should manifest the elements of operas with a form suitable for the contemporary context by combining the creation thoughts and essence, so as to enable the audience to understand, recognize, accept and widely apply the works [18].

3.2 Object of Research

Starting from the perspective of aesthetics theory and based on the analysis model for cartoon creation, the author sorts their relations into creative models, “reflecting form with form”, “reflecting spirit with form”, “reflecting conception with spirit” and “reflecting conception and neglecting form” and creates cartoons by referring to the pictures of opera figures. Four cartoon works are created for each picture, which cover the four said processes. So 16 works are created in four groups, which are respectively labeled from 1 to 16, shown below.

3.3 Questionnaire Design

Taking the creative models in Fig. 6 as an architecture, the research studies how general audience understand and perceive the creative concepts of artists and the essence of creative models [14]. The stimulus samples are the 16 works listed in Fig. 6. The evaluation methods for two stages are proposed. In the first stage the creative attributes of cartoon works was explored and the appropriateness of transformation according to creative thinking was evaluated Table 1. The understanding and preferences of respondents in the opera cartoons were evaluated in Q1 to Q5. Four questions easy to be understood by the public were raised based on the creative thinking models from Q6 to Q9 to evaluate the creative thinking model of the cartoon author and the sympathy of the audience.

Fig. 6.
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The four creative concepts

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Table 1. Evaluation attributes of cartoon works
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Respondents were asked to score the 16 cartoon works in the second stage on a 5-point scale, 5 points given to the works that is most consistent with each evaluation factor and 1 point given to the works most inconsistent with evaluation factors. The evaluation factors include concise appearance (D1), mastery of facial expressions (D2), bold exaggeration (D3) and creativity (D4) (Table 2). The stimulus samples are the 16 cartoon works shown in Table 2.

Table 2. Questionnaire design for the evaluation of opera comics
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3.4 Respondents

With the aid of an online questionnaire survey, the research has collected a total of 176 questionnaires, of which 163 are valid. Among the respondents, 48 are males (29.5%) and 115 are females (70.6%). In terms of ages, 35 respondents age below 20 (21.7%), 104 age between 21 and 40 (63.8%), 19 age between 41 and 60 (11.7%), 5 age older than 61 (3.1%). In terms of education background, 28 respondents are postgraduates (17.2%), 91 are undergraduates (55.8%) and 44 are from other education backgrounds (27.0%). As to professional backgrounds, 69 respondents are related with the field of arts (42.3%), 64 are from the field of design (39.3%), and 30 from other fields (18.4%).

4 Research Results and Discussion

4.1 Evaluation in First Stage

In the first stage, frequency was adopted to evaluate the selection of evaluation attributes of cartoon works Q1 to Q9 by the respondents.

The above table indicates that among the samples of attribute Q1, 18.2% selected “P10”. Among the samples of attribute Q2, 16.9% selected “P6”, among the samples of attribute Q3, 15.6% selected P14, and among the samples of attribute Q4, 29.9% selected P9. Among samples of attribute Q5, 22.1% selected P9 (Fig. 7).

Fig. 7.
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Top four of the 16 samples in terms of preference

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Among samples of attribute Q6, more than 20% selected P9. Among samples of attribute Q7, 29.9% selected P9. Among samples of attribute Q8, more than 10% selected P1. For Q9, the proportion of P16 was as high as 18.2%. In Table 3, the evaluation of Q6 to Q9 matched the opera cartoons with creative thinking models. Since the respondents were highly uncertain, or had different understanding of creative thinking model of the cartoon authors, significant inconsistency was observed between the matrix formed from the data of reference evaluation and the evaluation results of respondents. That is to say, significant difference was observed between the creative thinking models to be expressed by the author and the cognition of respondents. It is worth further exploration how to explore the factors for such difference according to these objective evaluation data.

Table 3. The selection frequency and percentage of evaluation attribute questions
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4.2 Evaluation in Second Stage

In the second stage, the scoring of 16 cartoon works by the respondents was evaluated with the “t appraisal” and “ANOVA” according to the evaluation model. Table 4 shows the mean value and standard deviation of all respondents for 16 works in terms of 4 evaluation attributes. For example, the mean value of appropriateness D1 of works 1 by all respondents (concise appearance) was 3.23, with a standard deviation of 1.16; the mean value of appropriateness D2 (mastery of facial expression) of works 2 was 3.29, with a standard deviation of 0.87.

Table 4. Mean value and standard deviation of 16 works in 4 factors
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Table 5 indicates: t was used to study the difference of evaluation attribute D2 by different genders for works P12, which showed distinctive difference in one factor only. The mean value of males was 2.65, which was higher than the mean value of female (2.06).

Table 5. Analysis of the difference of evaluation attributes of opera cartoons by different genders
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Table 6 indicates that according to an analysis of the evaluation difference of opera cartoons by different ages (ANOVA), a distinctive difference was observed in three factors, namely, D1 concise appearance in works P1, D2 mastery of facial expression in P9, and D4 creativity in P9. P1 (D1): (2) 21–40 > (1) below 20; P9 (D2): (3) 41–60 > (4) above 61 > (1) below 20 years > 21–40; P9 (D4): P9 (D4): (4) above 61 > (3) 41–60 > (1) below 20 > (2) 21–40.

Table 6. Analysis of evaluation attributes of opera cartoons by different genders (ANOVA)
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Table 7 indicates that distinctive different is observed in three factors, namely, P6 (D2) mastery of facial expressions, P6 (D3) bold exaggeration and P9 (D2) mastery of facial expression. P6 (D2): (3) Graduates > (2) junior college; P6 (D3): (3) graduates > (2) junior college; P9 (D2): (3) Graduates > (1) junior college and below.

Table 7. Analysis of difference of evaluation attributes by different education backgrounds(ANOVA)
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Table 8 indicates that distinctive difference is observed in two factors, namely, P12 (D2) mastery of facial expression and P16 (D4) creativity. P12 (D2): (1) Related with design > (2) Related with arts; P16 (D4): (1) Related with design > (2) Related with arts.

Table 8. Analysis of difference of evaluation attributes by different backgrounds (ANOVA)
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5 Conclusion and Suggestions

Following the creative thoughts and principles of Chinese traditional aesthetics, the research creates opera cartoons, establishes four creative thinking models. Using a quantitative research method of subjective cognition, the research proposes an operable evaluation model and makes an attempt to set up a bridge of communication between the author of cartoons and the audience based on the cognitive difference of preference evaluation. The main purpose of the research is to explore how to transform the principles and thoughts of Chinese classical aesthetics into specific creation architectures and understand whether the audience can reach sympathy with the creative thinking models for creation architectures. Though it is not so detailed, preliminary research findings will be provided as reference to the authors and audience of cartoons. The evaluation results of 16 opera cartoon works by 77 respondents indicate that:

  1. 1.

    Related data indicates that the consistency gap between creative attributes and preference evaluation is distinctive, which may be because the authors of cartoons do not thoroughly understand the creation principles of Chinese aesthetics, the creative thinking model is not so consistent with the forms of cartoons, the skills and experience of the authors are not rich enough. Too much stress is put on the concrete external forms. The essence of thinking model is not expressed in depth. The cognition is simpler than the understanding of intrinsic meaning.

  2. 2.

    The understanding of the audience in thinking model is different from that of the author. It is worth further exploration how the author can evaluate the external forms of opera cartoons with the intrinsic meaning of creative thinking model, how to explore the factors for the difference based on these objective evaluation data.

  3. 3.

    The mean score given by males to D2 facial expression of works P12 is higher than that of females. And no distinctive difference is observed between males and females for other works and questions.

  4. 4.

    The data indicates that the score given by older respondents is obviously higher than that given by younger respondents for works P1 and P9 in different evaluation attributes. And no distinctive difference is observed in other works and questions.

  5. 5.

    In terms of education background, the data reveals that distinctive difference is observed in different questions between works P6 and P9, which indicates that the mean value of graduates is significantly higher than that of other education backgrounds. No distinctive difference is observed among different education backgrounds for other works and questions.

  6. 6.

    The data indicates that the highest score of four questions: Q4. Which works has the best overall expression? Q5. Which works you like best in terms of expression approach? Q6. Which works do you think stresses the resemblance of “form” on the basis of form? Q7. Which works conveys the spirit with the use of skillful techniques and emotional experience? It also indicates that the favorite works and expression method of the audience is also the most vivid and lifelike works. The reason is worth further exploration.