Project 3 “Speedy Recovery” – Final

After the second rounds of feedback, I mainly worked on tweaking the graphic elements e.g. the position to keep the mechanism secure, the colour to ensure proper contrast in printing, text kerning, placement and size to ensure higher readability. For the paper stock, I went with a slightly textured, matte card as I like how the paper created a warmer and more homely feel to the design, (hopefully) making the viewer feel more at home and happy.

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front

front

 

back

back

 

 

 

inside (fully extended)

inside (fully extended)

 

 

outside (fully extended)

outside (fully extended)

 

Opening mechanism:

 

Hope your day goes swimmingly!! // another mod down wew #viscomm #popupcard

A video posted by Amy (@mtsfie) on Nov 6, 2016 at 6:50pm PST

Project 2 “Combating Zika Outbreak” – Final

After the second round of edits, feedback was given that:

hierarchy/ negative space needed to be stronger
smaller text/ text did not have to be so huge to show emphasis
sweet spot of placement – the placement of the text was a little awkward and clunky
placement of mosquito bite – not very realistic

Feedback was also given that the image still looked too sexualised, despite the cropping.

 

Thus, I made some changes to the layout and central image to create the final:

zika2_edit-revised-final

The central image was changed into something more neutral, although the same treatment was applied to it.

The placement of the main slogan was changed as well, leading vertically along the neck of the female down to the mosquito bite, to create some kind of flow of reading for the eyes (instead of being a static horizontal block).

The secondary slogan and extra information were kept to the right of the poster (but not flush left) to continue on the reading flow from the mosquito bite, but still ensures that the text is easily readable.

 

Project 1 “Therapeutic Graphics” – Further Exploration and Final

After getting feedback from the class, I decided to do more research on the kinds of landscapes that could inspire me to create new forms of therapeutic art.

I turned to Japanese woodblock prints, both traditional (e.g. Hokusai) and modern as I felt that the clean shapes and natural forms depicted in the prints suited the style of my work.

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While both styles of Japanese woodblock prints often derived inspiration and subject matter from scenes in nature, he more modern woodblock print works were even more simplistic in style than the traditional ones and often reduced the landscape into simple silhouettes.

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bird-with-trees

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There were also a lot of overlapping shapes and colours to create texture. Hence, emulating that, I created my piece based on the idea of depicting one of the 4 seasons, spring.

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Spring – Field of Flowers

For this piece, I chose to depict spring as I wanted to explore a series based on the 4 seasons, and I felt that spring fitted the purple colour scheme the most. I played around with the various opacities and colour combinations to create variation in the work while still maintaining the clean cut shapes similar to the style of the woodblock prints.

 

I also explored an alternative composition (Summer) to explore the possibility of developing the format of the work into a series.

summer-01

Summer – Dunes of Sand

 

Assignment 3 Final Project – Research Essay, Process and Final

Experiencing Dakota Crescent – Research Essay


Concept

Experiencing Dakota Crescent is an experimental and experiential film that aims to capture the atmosphere, mood and essence of the old Dakota Crescent estate before it gets fully reclaimed by the government for redevelopment. Through this film, it is hoped that the slow, leisurely lifestyle of the old estate so rarely found in the fast pace of Singapore can be accurately documented, while also showing how the modern pace of Singapore have affected the lifestyle of Singapore’s old estates.

The film is presented with the Google Cardboard in the style of a Virtual Reality (VR) experience, in order to create a totally isolated head space for the viewer to watch the film with minimal disturbances, and to ensure maximum levels of immersion. Video moshing, a glitch technique previously discussed in class, is also employed as a commentary on the limitations of such forms of documenting experiences, as well as the impermanence of digital memory.

Relationship between content and form

The clips themselves are shot in a roving, meandering style to create the immersive experience as naturally as possible by creating the illusion of a direct first person’s viewpoint of walking through the estate. Familiar public and shared spaces of the traditional HDB flat, such as the corridors, playgrounds and void decks are shot to build a sense of nostalgia for the viewer. At the same time, these shots of people’s living spaces are juxtaposed with the shots of empty lots in the old estate as a result of the redevelopment plans – showing not just a mere physical deconstruction but also a spiritual deconstruction of the Dakota Crescent estate. Certain iconic landmarks of the estate such as the Dove playground and the provisions shop block are also documented with a static camera shot to capture the atmosphere of the place accurately.

The shots are edited such that the motion of the camera is continued through the different shots, with the static camera shots dispersed between them to creae a sense of variation and rhythm. Vide moshing techniques are also used both as a transition between shots and conceptually to create a jarring difference with the slow, atmospheric shots. The sound design of the film was kept minimal to minimize interference with the moving image, but with the sound of wind chimes added to create a sense of nostalgia and transience.

Experimentation and presentation

The main experimentation for this project came in the format of presentation – the shots themselves were not driven by a narrative, nor were they edited sequentially. While the static shooting style was largely influenced by the film 03-FLATS, the roving camera motion was something that was relatively new and familiar, and therefore challenging to pull off. Another challenge during the process was the shooting of such atmospheric scenes in a slow paced way, while also keeping enough content in to keep the viewer’s interest.

Experimental video moshing techniques were also applied post-production as transitional effects – this was achieved via old glitchy software and intentional creating errors in the video files by erasing keyframes. The method undertaken was extremely risky as the errors created were randomised and permanent; hence a system of trial and error had to be employed to get the most satisfactory result out of the process. The use of video moshing was influenced by Rachel Whiteread’s deconstruction of physical spaces in her installation works, thus creating the inspiration for the use of data corruption to deconstruct a space digitally.

The film was presented in the form of the Google Cardboard, a VR viewer – although the film was not shot to be a VR experience due to the limitations in time and equipment, risks were taken to develop the film in that specific medium as the creation of an isolated, immersive space was crucial to the communication of the film’s concepts and message.

Care was taken through the shooting process to shoot in a slow, sweeping motion – to allow the viewer to fully immerse themselves in the film while still providing some sort of direction and focus in the film. Shots such as the exploration of the empty lots was also planned out beforehand to create smooth transitions without stopping at a particular point for too long. The soundtrack for the film was mixed between ambience sound recorded on location and sound clips of wind chimes to create some sense of musicality and transience in the film, while retaining the experiential, naturalistic style of the shots.

 

Bibliography

Desmond Lim. “People behind the Old Charm at Dakota Crescent.” The Straits Times. 9 July 2015. Web. 5 Apr. 2015. <http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/people-behind-the-old-charm-at-dakota-crescent>.

Yuan Bin, Lei. “03-FLATS Official Trailer.” Vimeo. Web. 4 Apr. 2016.

 

EXPERIENCING DAKOTA CRESCENT – Process and reflections


While the initial conceptualisation for this final project went by really quickly, the process for this was one filled with trial and error – the initial idea I had for the installation was a full sized “experience booth”, which was unrealistic for a solo project under such a tight time frame. I wanted something that was deeply immersive as it was a crucial part of my work’s concept – but the technology available to me was limited. After doing much research online, I found the Google Cardboard – a VR viewer that on could create at home. While I was unable to film a true VR film, the Google Cardboard could still be adapted to show normal films while creating the sort of immersive experience I wanted. Hence, the Google Cardboard was chosen as my presentation form despite my inexperience with it (and thus the risks involved.)

For the filming of the film, I visited the location twice – once to recce possible shooting locations and once to shoot everything. The recce session was crucial to the filming as there were certain shots that I had to scout out beforehand, such as the interior shots of the apartments. It also helped me to determine the time of the day for the final shot – for my initial plan, I wanted to film from day to night but I realised after the recce that most of the activity and the mood of the place was in the late afternoon. Hence, the recce session helped to narrow down my series of shots and the focus of the subsequent shoot.

For the actual shoot itself, it mostly passed without much difficulties. It was the editing and post processing that had many challenges. While the cutting and piecing together the clips was relatively easy due to the pre-shoot planning, it was the creation of the video moshing technique that was hard to do. The video moshing called for the use of a very outdated version of freeware, which was buggy and crashed multiple times while I was processing the files. The technique itself was also randomised – hence I had no control over the results and I had to try multiple times to get the result I wanted. Despite the difficulties, I learnt a lot about experimental processing techniques and I found it a fun an interesting experience.

All in all, I really enjoyed doing this project, and the results that I was able to come up with. Doing this project, however, really made me feel the limitations of working solo – I had to cover all the bases myself and so was unable to do much in terms of scope and scale. Hence, I think working together in a team will be something that I would like to work towards for future projects.

EXPERIENCING DAKOTA CRESCENT – FINAL


Assignment 2 “Point of View” – Process and Final

POINT OF VIEW

stage – Michael Jackson – Nietzsche – urban dwellings – passenger – astronaut

Final work

 

Space from the point of view of a performer is a stage.

To a performer, the stage is a special and holy place kept close to the heart. To a true performer, any kind of space can be a stage for them to perform and create wonderful works. After all, isn’t all the world’s a stage?

Space from the point of view of Michael Jackson is a walk (in the park).

This is a double pun that I’m kinda proud of keke – the walk refers to the Moonwalk (hence the fedora on the moon) and it’s a walk in the park for Michael Jackson as dancing the moonwalk (and controlling the space) is so easy for him.

While doing this I learnt how fedoras are surprisingly hard to paint.

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Space from the point of view of Nietzsche is The Void.

This work draws from the philosophies of Nietzsche, and his famous line, “And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.” I wanted to try to create a visceral horror effect as the eye surfaces from the black void, hence the white lines to simulate goo.

Space from the point of view of urban dwellings is a luxury.

This was one of the compositions that I struggled with, but I eventually settled with this after the very helpful group critique! I wanted to created the feeling of cramped quarters, but also wanted to continue with my visual concept of images suspended in space (hah) so I decided to restrict the buildings to the middle. There are painted buildings camouflaged within the composition too, as physical space isn’t the only thing that is a rarity in an urban space.

Space from the point of view of a passenger is impossible!

Space from the point of view of a passenger is impossible!

I got inspiration from always being squashed in the mrt hhahaha. It doesn’t help that I’m short, which makes carving out my own breathing space even harder. For this piece, I decided to portray the idea of “sardines in a can” to evoke meaning of the idiom visually, instead of directly portraying people. Hopefully this makes it more interesting!

point of view (4 of 18)

Space from the point of view of an astronaut is exploration.

This was the easiest composition for me, and the first one finalised. It’s a more literal reading of the word space, but I decided to add a traditional oil lamp instead of just showing the astronaut hanging as I wanted to give the figure a sense of purpose, and to evoke the feeling of searching in the dark.

Process/concept

Unfortunately I don’t have many photos of the process (read: almost none ;_;) as I tend to bury myself in my work when I’m working and forget about everything else…

But here are some detail shots that I have!

fishies

These were a bitch to cut out.

For all of the compositions, I incorporated some form of photographic elements but I decided to go with a physical collage rather than a digital one (like my previous project) so I could add more illustration to it.

Fishies sitting in the can.

I also wanted to use traditional collage as I wanted to create a layering effect for the images and thus make it look more real and tangible, by the different paper thickness.

point of view (10 of 18) crop

point of view (9 of 18) crop

This also helps my images to pop up but just a little more so they looked more three dimensional and less flat, kinda like a pop up book.

All the photos/illustrations were stuck on with blu tack as well instead of glue as I felt that glue would stick everything together too well and not let them pop up as much.

Initial composition for Nietzsche

Final composition for Nietzsche

I decided to change my composition for Nietzsche as well, substituting the drawn iris for the photo one as I wanted to maintain the consistency in using photographs in all my images, and I felt that the photo iris was more descriptive and gives a better contrast with the drawn lines in the composition.

Reflections

Personally it was very satisfying to me how this turned out;  I really liked the visual direction that this project took (unlike the previous project which left me very dissatisfied) and I got to return to traditional mediums like watercolour which I liked and was more familiar with.

I also got to try out traditional collage which I must say I really enjoyed, maybe even more than digital collage (not that I still don’t love digital collage)! It was a little tedious at times, but I like the tactile nature of it and the kind of depth that it lends to my works. I will try to experiment more in that area in the future 🙂

Assignment 1 “Alter Egos”

 


Process

Character Profiling:

Personally, I found it pretty hard to find characters that I identified with (instead of merely liking them or them having traits that I admire) hence many of these lists will not be filled up; a detailed analysis for the characters instead!

From literature/fiction (fictional characters)

Lemony Snicket

(The Series of Unfortunate Events)

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  • Private/ Secretive
  • Introverted
  • Melancholic but optimistic
  • Slightly self- deprecating
  • Whimsical
  • Well- read
  • Sensitive

Lemony Snicket is a character and author of the Series of Unfortunate Events series – he presents himself as a private and secretive person, often going to great lengths to hide his tracks. He tends to go on off tangent rambles throughout his narration of the stories, showing his slightly whimsical side, and occasionally ponders and reflects on his relationship with his lover, Beatrice, which gives us an insight into his sensitive, melancholic personality.

Tiffany Aching

(Discworld series)

Front_cover_of_the_book_The_Shepherd's_Crown_by_Terry_Pratchett,_drawn_by_Paul_Kidby

  • Independent
  • Spunky, knows when to have fun
  • Level- headed
  • Eager to learn

Tiffany Aching is a training witch from the Discworld series, and was thrust into the Wee Fee (a type of fairie) world when she was nine to rescue her brother, armed only with a frying pan. She is a spunky, strong and independent character that is not easily swayed by others.

Leslie Burke

(Bridge to Terabithia)

leslie-burke-profile

  • Imaginative
  • Not bothered by social conventions
  • Independent
  • Playful
  • Outgoing
  • Free-spirited

Leslie Burke from Bridge to Terabithia is a bright, imaginative girl with a sense of adventure. Although I’m not as outgoing as her, I love her sense of imagination, creativity and free- spiritedness and I identify with that part of her.

Kieren Walker

(In the Flesh)

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  • Private/ introverted
  • Unassuming
  • Passive
  • Troubled but tries to stay optimistic
  • Sensitive

Kieren Walker is a troubled teenager from the series In the Flesh where he took his own life, only to rise again as an Undead. Throughout the whole series, he struggles to deal with issues about his sexual orientation, the opinions of those around him, and his desire to protect his loved ones. I identify with the brooding, private nature of his character and how he tries very hard to avoid conflict, sometimes even sacrificing himself and therefore seen as being very passive.

From public figures

Nicki Minaj

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  • Contrast between her onstage/offstage persona
  • Outlandish appearances/performances vs serious attitudes towards important issues

Personally what I found really interesting in Nicki Minaj is the large contrast between her very loud and flamboyant (almost crazy) stage persona to her serious personality especially with respect to important issues like black and female rights. Being a really prolific celebrity, she does not hesitate to point out important social issues and thus I find her to be a very strong role model. This contrast between her outer/inner personas is something I identify with as well and I find it really interesting.

Tablo (Epik High)

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  • Goofy but also serious
  • Introspective
  • Onstage vs offstage personality

Tablo is a korean rapper that also holds a degree in English and English lit at Stanford University, has been known to showcase not only a goofy side to him (shown in his conversations with his daughter and his drunk freestyle rap), but also a very introspective, reflective and dark personality, as seen in the lyrics of his songs where he often talks about very dark internal struggles and social issues. This contrast is something that I find to be similar to myself.

From people I know

My mum

Being raised my her, I would say that many of my personality traits come from her – she has a very cynical/ practical world view, which I tend to have too sometimes.

My sister (starring in the video!)

Being my twin sister, we grew up together and so we have many similar and contrasting personality traits; while she is practical and organised, I like to daydream a lot and is very messy. However, we both tend to be more introverted in our mannerisms and straightforward in the way we talk.

Mr Teh (Highschool history teacher)

Mr Teh is a teacher that inspired me and influenced me alot throughout my years in high school. He has a very jaded world view and often cracks us up with his dry, cynical sense of humor. At the same time, I feel that he is very earnest in his teachings and puts in a lot of effort to help his students, something that I feel I share (or at least I hope so) with him.

Common threads:

  • Contrast between public/ private personas
  • Introspective/ private personality
  • Whimsical, imaginative

The alter ego that I chose to portray is a mishmash of all these traits, and is mainly derived from Lemony Snicket and Leslie Burke. But I tried to portray the other character traits that I identified with as well.

To portray the contrast between the public/ private personas, I cut between 2 scenarios: one with the girl playing alone in the playground (tinted with a purple tinge) and one with the girl with the candle (tinted with the warm orange tone). Despite being alone, the girl in the playground is still seen having a lot of fun (showing her imaginative and fun side); while the girl with the candle appears to be bright and cheery inititally, she turns serious when she decides to blow out the candle. In this way, I tried to portray the public/ private personas and how they merge into one another.

I decided not to put in any dialogue, instead only using one word “Goodnight” as I I felt like it would not fit with the scenes I wanted to create and I did not want the dialogue to sound too forced. I decided not to add any backing soundtrack as well, opting for just filtered ambient noise to give the video a more natural feel.

Reflections

Personally, this was a project that I found really hard to conceptualise – I found it really hard to turn and present abstract personality traits into very visual terms in video. It was also my first time directing – i had to express my concepts in very literal terms so that my sister could understand and act it out accordingly (not to mention the fact that she got impatient really quickly). All in all, this was a very different and refreshing experience for me.

 

Assignment 3 “Ego” – Final

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The first equation: introversion + eccentricity = me

Introversion: To create the image of introversion, I tried to juxtapose the element of the little doll (representing me) and her surroundings by varying things like colour (contrast between warm and cool colours) as well as scale. The blue birds were also added in overlay to emphasize the small size of the doll and the contrast between the warm reds and cool blues.

Eccentricity: For eccentricity, I wanted to express the concept of different weird and interesting ideas popping into my head at random – hence I tried to vary my use of colour instead of restricting it to a specific colour palette to reflect the diversity and eccentricity of thought. More vibrant and saturated shades of colours were used as well, including bright crimson, yellows, purples, greens.

Me: To reflect an amalgamation of the concepts in the previous two compositions, I adopted the red/warms colours-blue/cool colours contrasting palette with the main figure in black and white to stand out by contrast. The black and white of the figure was also adopted to imply the versatility of the self; to become one projected image or another (represented by the different colours) but still maintaining an inherently core essence. I felt that the black and white also helped to bring out the red blue contrast as well.

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The second equation: social circles/sociability – anxiety = a better me 

Social circles/ sociability: For this composition, I tried to go for a more quirky, light-hearted colour scheme to match with the whimsicality of the vintage collage image (of the group of friends at the table). Hence, I picked pastel, lightly saturated colours that still had a strong contrast with each other (mint green/rose pink) to invoke the playful mood that I wanted the image to have. The playfulness was also recreated in the use of kaleidoscopic triangles and polygonal shapes, as well as the jagged lines in the background to inject a sense of energy into the composition.

Anxiety: To express the feeling of anxiety, I picked three colours – grey, blue and yellow. The grey was supposed to be the dominant tone of the composition – to create a hazy muddy effect to express one’s unclear mind when being anxious. The blue was used to signify the negativity and loneliness when being anxious, and also to project an overall cool tone to the image. The yellow was an interesting experiment for me – I wanted to use the colour yellow as I liked its association with cowardice (I felt that it fitted well with my concept) but I was worried that the brightness and positive vibe of the colour would change the meaning of the image. In the end, I chose to tone down the saturation of the yellow a lot, almost mixing with the grey tones and thus allowing the more saturated blue to take dominance.

A better me: Although I also used grey tones and blues in the composition, I tried to use them with the elements in the image to portray a different concept. For this image, I wanted to portray a feeling of comradeship and new found confidence – the blue and greys in this image thus referred to the calm, cool and impassive demeanor of the little kid in the centre of the composition. The kid is also flanked by chickens (representing a coop of friends) and I used a bright red to bring some positivity to the image and invoke some sense of camaraderie. At the same time, the purple in the heart is used to symbolise a mixture of the two colours (red and blue) to represent the best of both worlds.

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The third equation: time management + curiosity = an ideal me

Time management: To create the impending rush of deadlines, I juxtaposed clocks of various types, sizes and scale to create an illusion of depth. For the background, I chose to adopt a cool colour palette with dark blues and greys to contrast with the warm tone of the clocks in the foreground. This allowed the clocks to pop out more despite the chaotic nature of the composition. Some clocks were also intentionally desaturated to bring down the colour contrast and to make it belnd more naturally into the background to create a sense of depth.

Curiosity: For this composition, I tried to my own interpretation of the saying “curiosity kills the cat” – I contrasted the bright purple/violet of the forest background with the green items in the closet to create a strong contrast and thus invoke a sense of curiosity. Conversely, the cat and the closet, being lesser subjects in the composition, had more natural, less saturated contrast to maintain the focus on the green/purple.

An ideal me: I wanted a feeling of positivity and energy for this composition; thus the use of red hues and overall warm tone of the composition. As the books and macaroons represented work and play respectively, I made the macaroons a bright cool turquoise to show how too much play can subtract from the ideal self (represented by warm tones). The area around the doll was also intentionally made brighter to place focus on the doll and her mischievous expression.

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The fourth equation: wanderlust + self-exploration = me in five years

Wanderlust: For Wanderlust, I didn’t want to use the typical green-blue tones of the world map/globe to represent as I felt that it was too restrained and didn’t really fit with the concept of wanderlust I wanted to portray. Hence, I decided to go with a bright coral to invoke the feeling of a setting/rising sun and the cool tones in the foreground and lines to balance out the large portions of red. For the background, I used a map with bright colours but amped up the white balance such that the colours appeared pastel and overexposed; this was to maintain the brightness and variety of colours in the background, while not allowing it to dominate the foreground image and thus make the focus of the composition too muddy.

Self-exploration: The colours of this composition were blue, purple and green; the blue was used in the background to invoke the feeling of deep space and unexplored territories and the purple and green to represent the unknown – purple and green were a popular colour combination in vintage pulp fiction/ sci-fi book covers to depict weird creatures or aliens. Hence, I decided to use this highly contrasting colour combination to represent the unknown depths of the mind and the creatures that might lurk within. However, to keep things interesting, I tried to vary the hue, contrast and saturation of the colours used to still provide a sense of variety despite the binary colour palette.

Me in 5 years: The main colour palette that I chose for this would be orange, blue, green purple – this tetradic colour combination was designed as an extension of the colour scheme in the previous composition, but adding on layers of complexity to invoke the feeling of maturing after a 5 year period. The colour orange was chosen as a dominant colour as it combined together with the image of the terrain to create an environment similar to Mars (or some weird off-world planet) which was the emotion that I wanted to evoke as a symbol for charting new territories. The blue and green served as little balances on the cool side of the colour palette to prevent the heavily saturated orange from dominating the composition.

Assignment 2 “Nursery Rhyme” – Final

The cow jumped over the moon

The cow jumped over the moon

For this composition, I wanted to juxtapose the scale of the moon and the cow to emphasize the difference in size – I also decided to choose a realistic looking cow (instead of the cartoon ones) to contrast with the cartoonish style of the moon.

Initially, I tried to overlap the moon with the cow (to show the cow jumping OVER the moon) but I felt that it covered too many details of the moon and made the image very awkward. Hence, I decided to just use the cow to cover the space between the edges of the crescent moon, with many cows in different sizes to evoke the motion of jumping/falling.

The little dog laughed, to see such sport

The little dog laughed, to see such sport

For this image, I decided to combine an image of a baby figurine and the dog head to create a humanoid/animal figure instead of a simple dog as I wanted to bring out the fun (and almost bizarre) feeling of the poem. I rotated and reflected elements of image to create a kind of pattern similar to a kaleidoscope – to evoke the feeling of fun, light-heartedness and absurdity like that of the poem.

The rubber duckies along the side were also added to add to the fun feeling, to express the dog’s laughter and amusement. The opacity of the rubber duckies were toggled to make them part of the background pattern, preventing them from taking attention away from the dog humanoid, the dominant figure in the composition

She had so many children, she didn't know what to do.

She had so many children, she didn’t know what to do

To evoke the feeling of “didn’t know what to do”, I tried to juxtapose many children hanging over the old woman’s head to create a looming, overwhelming effect. The stacking of the baby patterns was also done to create a feeling of dizziness, to emphasize the dilemma of the old woman. The babies right in the middle of the composition, however, were not stacked but instead gradually increasing in size as they near the woman’s head , stopping right above her. This was to create an overall dominant figure in the composition in spite of the distracting patterns in the background and also to emphasize the relationship between the old woman and her children (children>old woman, overbearing and overwhelming).

The size of the baby patterns in the back ground were also varied to a smaller extent as they became further away from the woman’s head to create and emphasize the radial symmetry in the image; it was also to emphasize the woman in the middle of the composition but creating implied lines that lined up to point at her head.

 

Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle,

Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle

For this composition, I didn’t want to do the most instinctive interpretation of the nursery rhyme – which was to depict the cat holding or playing the fiddle in some way or another. While I was playing around with the different images, I realized that the image of the upright cat somehow resembles the thin, tall silhouette of the fiddle hence I tried to play up that similarity. By lining up the cat with three other fiddles in the foreground, I wanted to make the cat the dominant figure by making it the break in the lineup of fiddles. I decided to align the cat slightly off center, as well as to increase its size such that it was bigger than the fiddles beside it, to emphasize it even further. The organic, irregular nature of the cat’s silhouette also contrasts highly with the symmetrical, regular silhouette of the fiddle, bringing out their differences even further and thus making the cat even more obvious in its similarity yet difference from the objects around it.

In the background,the lineup concept was used again to echo that of the foreground and to create an overall pattern and harmony in the image – the opacity and size of the fiddles were manipulated to ensure that it stayed in the background as a pattern instead of dominating the foreground. The lineup was also made tighter in the background than the foreground to imply horizontal lines across the composition to create a strong, stable composition. A slight overlap was used as well between the foreground and the background to make the foreground stand out more and to make the break in the regular pattern (the cat) more obvious.