in My Work

Project 2 – Nursery Rhymes

Nursery Rhymes

Here goal is to manipulate, alter and deconstruct the give graphic imagery to transcend its original meaning through the creation of the indicated narratives. 

 Hey Diddle Diddle

The little dog laughed to see such sport

Research

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Experiment

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I looked up for pictures of dogs and tried to experiment with the Perspective and Skew tool of Photoshop to add interest to the image. I played around with the angles to give the animal more dimensions.

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Playing around with laughing smile, I positioned the smile to the dogs’ faces.

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I asked myself whose smile is iconic and memorable and I immediately remembered Marilyn Monroe. Hence, I tried to play around the iconic laughter with images of dogs.

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However, I felt that the final design that I produced is too literal and lacked interest to captivate the viewers. Hence, I decided to ditch the line and move on to experiment with other lines.

Humpty Dumpty Sat on a Wall

Research & Experiment

When I think of walls, I thought of The Great Wall of China, hence I tried to play around the image of the wall with Humpty Dumpty.

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I experiment the designs of the wall by rotating the directions and angles of the wall. Using what I learnt from class, I made use of the directional lines of the wall to bring my viewers’ attention to my subject (Humpty Dumpty).

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Experimenting with Skew and Perspective.

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Once again, I felt that my design is a little too literal for understanding. It seems too easy and achievable. Hence, I decided to abandon this line and went on to explore more lines.

Humpty Dumpty Had a Great Fall

Research

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When I thought of Humpty Dumpty had a great fall, I immediately thought of the act of cracking an egg and the raw egg falls out of the shell as gravity acts on it. I tried to create a symmetrical design of the egg being broken as it landed and many pieces of broken egg shells rises upwards from the impact.

Experiment

Setting the Threshold of the shell gave me a small degree of shade change of the eggshell. This is probably because the overall colour of shell is constant (White), hence it is not really interesting.

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I screen shot one side of the scattered egg shells and flipped it to create a symmetrical effect.

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I tried the idea of the raw egg falling out of its shell from the top. I also tried the idea of the egg hitting the ground and the raw egg raising up. In addition, I played around with brush tools of shattered glass to accentuate the severity of the impact.

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In addition, on top of shattered glass I also experimented with falling sparks brushes. I positioned the egg in the center and expands it from there.

Final Chosen Design

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My final design for ‘Humpty Dumpty Had a Great Fall’ is a combine of the different elements of designs that I explored. It is a mix of the shattered glass, falling sparks and splattered paint as the fallen egg received maximum impact of hitting the ground. The rising raw egg represents the soul of Humpty Dumpty as he was broken into two. The black circle of the raw egg represents the yolk of the egg. With the use of different brushes being splattered across the whole design, I am able to convey the phrase of ‘Had a Great Fall’ as the shattered pieces congregate from the start and scatter thinly as it rises upwards.

Couldn’t Put Him Back Together Again

Research

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My tutor mentioned that our designs is best not to be too literal. Hence I tried to avoid the idea of people trying to piece back the shattered pieces of egg shells together or anything related to recovery. I asked myself again, what will I feel if I know I’m physically broken permanently? I guess my heart will shatter together with my body. I know that the people around me and I will be devastated and there will be a lot of tears. Hence, I made sure to incorporated tears in my design.

I always have the same sentiments every time I broke something. Once, I discovered that there’s a crack on my iPad and I told myself that my heart had cracked together with my iPad’s screen.

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I came across this symmetrical smoke design online and felt intrigued by it. It was the choice of colours, movement and tones of the smoke that attracted me. Hence, I decided to try to incorporate smoke into my design.

Experiment

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I wanted to use this as my final design. However, after getting some feedback from my friends, I decided to modify the design a little bit more. This is because they noticed that the design above has no context and could easily fit into any lines.

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The round shape of the design above is meant to be the egg although it’s not too obvious.

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This was actually my final draft. A symmetrical design of two crying comic woman shedding tears (smoke) into the broken egg. However, my tutor mentioned that even though there is beauty in symmetry, it is always fun to play around with the on third rule and asymmetry. Hence, at the very last minute, I change my design and place the broken egg in the middle.

Final Chosen Design

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In my final design, the broken egg is placed on the one third of the image. The addition of a shadow below the egg suggests that it is floating. It is broken into two and in it reveals the heart of the egg being shattered together with the body. If you noticed, the heart shattered into numerous pieces than the body. I was trying to covey the feeling of the heart being in more pain than the body experienced. I used scattered glass as holes within the broken pieces to accentuate the severity of broken-ness. In addition, I also use it as the fragments of the heart falling into the shell. I placed the crying women on the top left of the image as she looks down at the broken pieces. The position of the lady is also to direct the viewers’ attention to the egg. Tears of sadness represented by the smoke flows down into the eggshell as sadness bath within the shattered fragments of the broken egg.

And The Fork Ran Away with the Spoon

Research

When I encountered this line I asked myself,

What always come with fork? Spoon. What always come with spoon? Fork.

They are pretty much inseparable and they always come in a pair when we dine. Hence, I know it will be interesting if I were to use a couple to represent the fork and spoon.

In addition, another keyword is ‘Ran Away’. What could make a couple run away? Did they do something wrong? What are they running away from? Are they running away because they did something unacceptable?

I used Bonnie & Clyde as my subject because they are often used in popular culture as their wrongdoings became a fantasy for many couples. The act of being bad and doing it together with your loved one. I used the original image of Bonnie & Clyde.

This is an undated photo of bandits Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow. (AP Photo) --

These are some of the media references I got for inspirations.

Rihanna and The Lonely Island collaborated together to retell Bonnie & Clyde in a comical music video. 

Beyonce & her husband, Jay-Z based their ‘On The Run’ concert on Bonnie & Clyde. The theme was dark and they glorified criminalism.

Experiment

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I wanted to show the idea of the Bonnie running away from Clyde as he cheats on his wife; leaving the wife crying. I placed the couple around the crying woman making sure I left a small gap to represent that the woman will never have any contact with the couple.

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I played with sizes and expands the couple as they move from right to left. However, I left that the focus is more on the crying woman rather than Bonnie & Clyde and it does not represent the idea of ‘running away’. Hence, I decided to change the design.

Final Chosen Design

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In my final design, I played with different sizes of the couple as they expands with they move from right to left. This is to capture and direct my viewers’ attention to my subject on the left which is the biggest Bonnie & Clyde. I placed multiple couples leading along the pathway to symbolise that they came a long way from running away together. The birds at the background the freedom that they got from escaping. The sky lightens from right to left to represent that the birds and them are going towards a brighter future. Lastly, the heart-shaped tree represent the passion of their love.

She Had So Many Children; She Didn’t Know What to Do

Research

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I got my inspiration from Portis Wasp, A designer of MTV USA. He received a post on MTV about his designs. His designs are mostly juxtaposing Greek-like models to Disney theme scenes. I felt that mixing humans with cartoons gives a sense of surrealism. Hence, I tried to incorporate that in my designs.

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Experiment

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I thought of the Whistler’s Mother when I thought of Old Woman. Hence I tried to play around using two paintings of different drawing styles.

I am a big fan of Margaret Keane. She is an artist that loves to draw children and animals with big eyes. She even got a movie made about her life story. I decided to use the pictures of children that she drew and juxtaposed it with her.

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I left the middle blank to represent the phrase ‘She Didn’t Know What to Do’. However, I felt that it is too literally. Hence I decided to set this design aside.

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Final Chosen Design

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In my final design, I try not to let my designs to be too literal. Hence, I linked children to toys. I used the toys seen in Toy Story as they are relatable and created a symmetrical pattern. I played with sizes and tones of black and white. The biggest design on the edge before it shrinks as it moves to the center. In the middle is a blank brain to represent the phrase ‘She Didn’t Know What to Do’.

Reflections

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It is interesting to use different mediums and images as symbolism. It is also engaging to use graphic design to reinterpret poems in a fun way. It is important to note that there is beauty in both symmetry and asymmetry. One has to use it intelligently to manipulate and capture the viewers’ attention.