Research – Najiha Puteri

2D Zine (Process)

I was given feedback to work on my layouts and provide more sketches for my zine. I’m planning to use traditional mediums, like water colour and colour pencil. It’s quite hard to figure out what style, colour and illustration to work on, as requested by Ms Mimi. I wasn’t so familiar with different types of illustrative styles by artists and how they tell a story. I only knew I could use those mediums and make subjects appear realistic. So, I had to do my own research and search for artists, whose works and styles would be quite interesting to follow.

Just to recap on concept;

– “Urbanature” is title of my zine
Tells a story about Punggol
Removal of trees and forested areas to make way for tall flats
Tall buildings appear dull and boring, but high and mighty
Trees and habitats are left with little space, due to construction
Ending: Tall buildings and nature can live side by side
Moral of story: Punggol residence shows how man-made and nature can live can co-exist
Aerial view of Waterway Terrace

I’m planning to work this colour theme. I got them from Adobe Kuler and played around “triad” colours.

Or maybe this one. Because they have warmer tones to it, which I’d like to have for some colours used in my zine.

Found from Pinterest:

The layouts are a but too stuffy, but I plan to make the sides bleed out.

The 1st pic, with the landscape shot of buildings, will be something like what I’m gonna do towards the end page of the zine – a landscape of Waterway Terrace.

Artist Ref: Alina Chau

I like the impressionistic style Alina uses for her work. It’s playing around with the colours to create the look of the subject.

The added use of pen brings out the look of the buildings. It directs viewer’s attention to it. Maybe I might wanna try using pen over watercolour??

Artist Reference #2: Rosanna Tasker

Approach

There are two main elements to Rosanna’s approach. The first stages of her work are created using natural media – pencils for the line work, and gouache paints, applied to separate layers using a light box. This, and the rich papers she uses, gives her work its unique, handcrafted feel. Images are completed digitally, using Photoshop to clean them up and add the finishing touches.

Style

Delicate lines and gentle textures are woven together to depict elegant, elongated figures and forms. She loves to experiment with scale, and nature usually plays a big role in her art. Rosanna chooses a limited palette for each piece, sometimes punchy, sometimes subtle, but always in keeping with the brief.

Source: http://www.illustrationweb.com/sg/artists/RosannaTasker/view?agenthelp=2

Rosanna’s works are quite interesting, especially with the use of colours. Her colour palette seem to be very limited, consisting of only blue hues and a bit of yellow to complement it. The use of yellow, actually brings out more emphasis on the subject matters.

Her style is simply a mix of traditonal and photoshop to make it neat.

I decided to go for a more warmer tone for the colour scheme. After scanning, I edited those pictures using photoshop.These were the outcomes:

Zine Research: Punggol

‘Punggol’ is apparently a Malay word. It means to ‘hurl sticks at branches and fruit trees so they fall to the ground.’ It also means the stump of a tree, like this.

PErhaps Punggol had a lot to do with nature. After learning more about Punggol’s history, it actually is strong roots to nature.

Back then, way before even Stamford Raffles (founder of SG) came over, Punggol already existed and had her own community of people. Back in early 1950s, Punggol was a fishing village where fishing docs were set up so fishmongers can make a living, kampongs (villages) were nearby, fruit trees were planted, and they had farms to look after pigs and other animals. (Picture shown later below)

First Impressions

I alighted at Punggol MRT station and walked in to Waterpoint Mall which was nearby. The mall looked quite new; they had a lot of stores, high end stores especially, which wasn’t surprising. It was clean. It was in the morning so it wasn’t crowded or anything. I had a hard time searching for the recreational space that was suppose to be somewhere nearby. Got lost along the way, but I eventually found my way through.

New, tall buildings across the field from Punggol MRT.

The “Arc” Bridge from outside Waterpoint Mall.

Another view of Arc Bridge from Waterpoint Mall.

Punggol area from bird’s eye view. Like any other place in Singapore, it has a lot of tall buildings.

Walking Along Arc Bridge

Too many tall buildings to count.

The waterway terrace was interesting. I like the look of it. It had green and white walls. And the white pillars aren’t flat, they actually jut out, like a wing, and have this wave like pattern to it (if you look closely). The leaf motifs on the white walls are quite interesting too. It’s not commonly found in HDB flats because it’s always a solid colour with no pattern to it. I guess Punggol flats are starting to develop it’s own nature-friendly character through it’s designs.

The Waterway Park

The place was really beautiful, very nature-friendly and there some nice architecture – such as that Kelong bridge. ‘Kelong’ is wooden blocks in Malay – they’re used to build bridges where fishermen go to get their fish. It’s like a dock. I liked how they remodified this Punggolian thing into a Kelong bridge for people to walk by.

Research Presentation

This was the Kelong Bridge I was talking about. Punggol is actually one of the few places in SG, where they have ‘kelongs’. In fact, the real actual kelongs can only be found in SG, Malaysia and Indonesia. Because of urbanization, it’s disappearing.

The 1st 2 pics from left is known to be that ‘Instagram Tree’. I dont have IG so I’m not sure what’s the buzz about. But reading about it online, the IG tree was just a famous hotspot for people to take photos, because of the nice backdrop and it’s lone position. the one that I took (far right) is newly grown, apparently.

Feedback From Research Presentation

My concepts weren’t strong enough, it’s vague and too broad, so I need to be more in depth with my findings
Pictures were nice, but not enough to show concept
Can’t use cut outs with leaf motifs ( my plan for design), so I might turn to photography instead
Can’t use Punggol’s ring trademark for actual ring binder for the Zine, so I have to scrap that one out
Research more on Punggol’s trademark (like ring)
More visits to Punggol again

2D: Typography

In summary, this project is about Typography. We have to create our own fonts, and use that for our names. We have to create it in such a way that it reflects a job that we want to have in the future.

I made use of Bahaus movement as part of my references. The simple use of Sans Serif, and the lines, basic shapes (trianges, circles and squares) are art of the trademarks of that movement. Kassily Kandinsky, a Bahaus artist is one that inspired me to make use of simple lines, and play around with them to make out a typeface.

I have little background on using digital softwares, so I had to rely on my drawing skills. Other mediums used are water colour and pen. And some photoshop in terms of scaling.

The following are in order, and my final pieces are right at the end of each order.

1) Writer
2) Mother/ Babysitter
3) Zookeeper
4) Performer