Najiha Puteri – Page 11

Project 2: Progress

poster-1cb84c07-8f89-48a2-be3b-b87d697bc4c3-1 — The movie poster.

“I had a dream last night. I was dancing the White Swan.”.

-Black Swan(2010)

These are what I picked out when I was searching for visuals relating to the quote:

Dreams, sleeping, swans, and girls dancing, ballerinas.

Eventually I came up with these compositions…

After asking Ms Ina what she thought about those, I decided to just choose one out of these. I think they’re somewhat similar so I can’t pick them all out at once.

Sample 1 was out of the picture because the head was being chopped off and Ina didn’t like that lol. But what I liked about this one is putting a swan in the ballet shoe. I like to merge pictures together , so I thought it’d be nice to fit the swan inside the shapes, so that there’s meaning behind it. Swan + ballet shoe = dancing the White Swan, as portrayed in movie!

It was fun making Sample 2 because I loved the 3 dancing ladies. I didn’t want to put them around the shoe or elsewhere because I think it’d be a bit “off”. Again, I merged them with the ballet shoes and put them somewhere in there. Overall, not as simplistic as Sample 1 and it’s very literal.

Similarly, Sample 3 was done the same as previous. I guess I wanted to add a bit of depth to the composition. I just double the sleeping lady, and changed the way the ladies are put in.

Done some more research and googled “old engravings stages”. I wanted to add a setting so there’s a base I could work on. I did some silkscreen printing on the previous 3 samples, but there something I didn’t like about the outcome. It was kinda meh…..

So, after much photoshopping, I came up with these. They’re my finals.

I tried to use emphasis on the 2 dancers, through the use of scale. By upping the scale a bit, it will focus your attention more on them as the main people in the picture. Sincee there’s this mirror effect going on with the 2 ladies, I had to choose a background that is similar as well. Something like Symmetry.

The movie Black Swan had characters where dancer would dress as either White or Black Swan. And their ballet costumes from their tutu to their masks and their hairclips all resembled to that of a swan. So with Photoshop, I played around with the head of a swan and overlap it on the subjects’ faces. That was fun to make, because it really did look like they are wearing masks. It was fun to adjust the swan’s eyes and matching it with the other features of the subjects like her lips and nose. It matched so that’s awesome.

The least obvious part, I think, was the hairdo. If you notice the swan heads are actually part of the hairdo. Their heads kinda stick out of the dancer’s hair, looking like a bun. These pictues below are the original ones. It’s not that obvious.. but you can make it out in the picture.

Golden Ratio, Balance, Asymmetry, Emphasis, Unity!

Exactly like pi, it is an irrational number

To get this number it involves maths but since im bad at maths, im not really gonna touch a lot on how to get that number. But basically to get that golden ratio number iits based on a specific formula

Imagine u have a finite line called a. And there is a random point on a that separates the lines into two different lengths. We r gna call the longer one b and the shorter c. now if u were to divide the length of b by c and its equal to a/b then those two numbers will be in the golden ratio

Based on that ratio u can create sth called the golden spiral. It serves as the basis of the golden ratio tool

The idea is that when u overlay the golden spiral on top of the artwork, im taking leonardo da vincis mona lsia as an eg, you want the focal point which is her face to lie in the intersection of those two red lines. So for eg, if u want to take a portrat pic of soemone u would want the eyes to be around that line

the top of the columns and base of the roof line are in a close golden ratio proportion to the height of the Parthenon.This demonstrates that the Parthenon has golden ratio proportions because the focal point that is the frieze (the part above the column) lies around the intersection of the red lines and the columns that is the secondary focus lie on the rest of the golden spiral

Golden ratio is everywhere around us. As u can see on this twitter layout, the tweet which we click on acts as the focal area as it is on the intersecting rlines. The rest of the secondary tweets which we r not reading flow out around the ohter parts of the spiral

As you can see int his Great Wave painting our eyes are immadiately diverted to the area around the red intersecting lines and then it slowly flows to the other areas of the golden spiral. This makes thw whole painting aesthetically pleasing and not too overwhelming on the eyes

When it comes to symmetry theres two types symmetry and asymmetry. Ill be talking abt symmetry.

U can easily imagine that if a line was drawn in the middle, the left side would be virtually identical to the right

There is a same cluster of subject matter on both side of the artwork

Did this for a levels. If u were to cut the mandala into a quadrant and repeat it, it mirrors the exact image

Each side of the design is different one huge tri on the left and 3 small tri on the right yet still balanced

Symmetry and asymmetry are similar because they both exhibit a sense of balance.

Eg. Emphasis creates a focal point in a design; it is how we bring attention to what is most important. Emphasis is what catches the eye and makes the viewer stop and look at the image. Without emphasis, without getting the viewer to look at the image, communication cannot occur.

You see a person hidden under a rainbow coloured umbrella. She’s walking in the snow. Everything else is covered in white except for the umbrella. And the thing that pops in your eye is the umbrella. This shows how that emphasis is placed more on the rainbow. Contrast in colours is being used, to show emphasis.

Similarly, contrast is being used here. What is being emphasised in the small dot , in a midst of big black dots of similar size and colour.

Emphasis can also be created by placement. Placement meaning the way some elements are being put also creates emphasis as well. We see a row of soldiers holding rifles standing side by side. As rifles are directed towards one directiom, that is a form of emphasis. Emphasis is put on the men in white with his handup in the air. Implied lines all directed toward the same place can create a focal point there. Isolating an element from the others by its position in space will also create emphasis.

Implied lines, which also come in the form of subjects, all directed toward the same place can create a focal point there. Isolating an element from the others by its position in space will also create emphasis.

An important thing to remember about emphasis is that if everything is emphasized (all text is large and bold, all images are animated or flashing, everything is in bright colors) then nothing will stand out, nothing will be emphasized, nothing will grab the viewer’s attention. Everything that you see has no focul point, and it becomes super messy.

Fashion no-no’s: Too much emphasis as seen here. These two appear to be wearing lots of gold. Even if you look at them indivudally, your eye tend to wander around the gold. There’s no focal point, so you don’t know what is being emphasised here.

Both of these girls covered in jewellery but not as much as the ones before them. A good amount of emphasis put on the way jewellery is being put in model’s hair. Your eyes are much directed to her hair, her focul point. Then it drops down to her earings, her necklace and then those 2 small rings on her finger. So, there’s emphasis on the jewellery, your eyes are working around from top to bottom, making it easy on the eyes

Similarly, as we see in someone’s neckline area, we see heart shaped necklace. What draws our attention is the the thing that stands out the most, that is the little heart shape here.

There’s this theory called gestalt theory of visual perception. What it means is basically our eyes, by default, tend to find meaning when seeing elements placed together. This means that you as a person, is actually looking for a connection, and for unity in the designs. So when it comes to unity, there are 3 ways our group elements together and form a whole. Proximity continuation Repetition

Proximity is based on grouping by closeness; the closer elements are to each other, the more likely we will see them as a group. Proximity is one of the easiest ways to achieve unity.

Continuation means that something (a line, an edge, a curve, a direction) continues from one element to another. The viewer’s eye will follow the continuing line or edge smoothly from one element to other and the mind will group the elements because of this connection. Implied lines are one example of continuation.

Repetition is based on grouping by similarity; elements that are similar visually are perceived to be related. Any element can be repeated – line, shape, color, value or texture – as well other things such as direction, angle or size. Repetition helps unify a design by creating similar elements and is one of the most effective ways to unify a design

References:

https://blog.psprint.com/designing/golden-ratio-apply-graphic-design/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CiS3SU4lk0
https://www.designbyday.co.uk/golden-ratio-graphic-design/
http://study.com/academy/lesson/symmetrical-balance-in-art-definition-examples.html

Actual Slides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Lkkd1W_Yn2QOU2dvxr-cgETTO851uVE54dnoVSFOf7I/edit#slide=id.g16c1aa74c8_0_109

Planar Construction: 3D Sketch Models + 2D Analysis

legend — Voids are white in colour. Correction tape is used to show void.

MODEL 1: “THE SNAKE YOU NEVER TAME”

MODEL 1: “THE SNAKE YOU NEVER TAME”

Named this after I realized this looked like a snake coming out of this shell. A snake doesn’t like shelter. It stays in the wild, and it looks like it’s trying to reach out of its shell, to escape into the wild.

Voids:

D: below the arch

SD: shares the same void as D, but other 3rd is its own void

SO: shares a bit with D, but has its own void at upper 1/3

Improvements in voids:

More of SD to extend out of D. So that they don’t share same void.

1/3 Rule: SD starts from bottom 1/3 and stretches sideward by 1/3. Extends to the right.

As right side has a lot going on, the left needs the same as well. Without adding symmetry, SO’s thinner and longer shape is pierced out from D. it is pierced out from 2/3 of D and towards the left, which is empty. It spirals out to give its distinctive look from others.

Used: Wedging, piercing

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MODEL 2: “NICE GUYS FINISH LAST”

MODEL 2: “NICE GUYS FINISH LAST”

The blue and red seems to look like 2 big guys fighting for that one girl (in yellow). As alpha and “dominant” the red may be, the nice skinny nerdy boy in blue takes home the prize. From the side view, you see the blue standing on top of the defeated guy in red. Then he hugs the beautiful girl in yellow. Moral of the story: Nice guys finish last!

D curves at every 1/3 of base.

Improvements in 1/3 rule:

SD’s length is too long. Trimming it shorter and piercing more of its portion out of D would be better. Also, it would have its own void as well.

Improvements in Voids:

SD and SO might share the same void. SD can develop its own void by making SO shorter. This allows SD more void to take up on its own.

1/3 Rule: SD is wedged at D’s 1/3.

SD could be better improved by intersecting at SO’s upper third.

SD to be trimmed to 2/3 as it looks similar to SO and SD.

Additional: Wedging, piercing

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MODEL 3: “THE NO RIBBON PROJECT”

MODEL 3: “THE NO RIBBON PROJECT”

All three elements follow the same oval shape. With similar intersections, it looks like a ribbon tied up. Since there’s no application, I named it the no ribbon project.

Voids to be improved:

SO shares same void as SD, so by putting it up like a spiral pointing upwards, this creates void on its own.

1/3 rule to work on:

Lengthwise, D should be longest, hence SD needs to be shorter ( by folding it further to appear shorter than D).

Height wise, the SO needs to extend it’s spiral upwards, to give height. Also, this create 1/3 rule where D is below 1/3 and SO is upper third.

Wave-like cuts at bottom of D. This removes flat surface of D, giving viewers other elements to “peek through” with holes at bottom.

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The end.

Najiha

Final Application: “Chocorn Froyo” + “Ham-Ground”

Final model. (Update as of 16/9, the SD is thinner due to similarity in terms of volume to SO.

Above application is Model 2. Below are my applications for Model 2.

First one is called “ChoCorn Froyo”. In short for Chocolate + Corn + Froyo, this hot-cold dessert is made up of a grilled corn-on-the-cob, and it is topped with froyo ( frozen yoghurt ). A wafer stick is planted at the side and a ferrero rocher is placed in between. I thought this hot-cold dessert would be good because it’s shape is different from any other typical food desserts which are normally flat. The SO that is the ferrero rocher, would give a chocolatey taste on top of the warm corn and cold yoghurt, thus adding a bit of chocolatey + crunchy taste!

application-final — “Chocorn Froyo” designed in Photoshop. After review with Ms Cheryl on 16/9, wafer stick should be smaller. This makes the rocher bigger and more prominent than the wafer stick.

Also, another application would be a playground specially for hamsters – “Ham-Ground” for short. ” Ham-Ground” is sketched out as seen below. Wood is used for both D and SO because it has rough texture and doesn’t get hot easily. That makes it hamster-friendly because they can easily climb up and down the “hill” with their small and fragile legs.

Next, a “bridge” and “food corner”, that is made up of a wooden SD and metal SO respectively. The slanted bridge would be for the hamster to get a good view of the top or maybe slide up to down for a cheap thrill. After a tiring workout of climbing up the “hill” and playing “slide”, they can take a break in the food corner, where it is a metallic sphere containing all their favourite foods. I think the metal adds a bit of contrast to wooden material, and it would be good in keeping their foods or themselves warm and some physical protection ~~from annoying human fingers~~.

The ground of the cone, would be made up of soft rug/fabric. This would allow a hamsters a softer feel of their legs after a hard workout climbing around. It is also a good hideout to rest.

x
Najiha

Curvilinear Volumes: 2D Sketches

Model 1 View A + View B

Change of position of SD – from mid centre of D, to upper right centre. Sd is now placed at upper 1/3 of D 1/3 of Sd is removed, so that SD’s deimater is not similar to SO. Change of position of SD – from mid centre of D, to upper right centre. Sd is now placed at upper 1/3 of D 1/3 of Sd is removed, so that SD’s deimater is not similar to SO.

SO and SD are switched.. Now the sphere is SD, cone is SO. Instead of placing it near SD, it is placed on its opposite side.

SD appeared too distinct and too long, hence I cut it short. The length of Sd is now 1/3 of diameter of SO. To give asymmetry to overall look, SD is slighty elongated, at one side. This gives balance to D that mostly titled to right. So SD balances that out.

Final model. (Update as of 16/9, the SD is thinner due to similarity in terms of proportion to SO.

Overall, I chose Model 2 because I could visualize something good out of it. I thought of a hamster playground and some dessert to make out of Model 2. The dominant cone would be quite exquisite in terms of the way it would show food, when normally food is presented flat. On the other hand, the spherical shape reminds me of a hollow ball I used to buy for my hamster. Just like a hamster wheel, the ball contains the hamster and it gets to roll around the house whenever and wherever. So, that’s why I’d make Model 2 into something useful for hamster- like a playground of some sort. 🙂

Fire and Ice

“From what I’ve tasted of desire, I hold with those who favour fire.”

“But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate”

“To say that for destruction ice Is also great”

Props As Signifier

Pictures Signifying Signifier

You need some help with that? No worries I GOT YOU.

Nothing’s gonna happen, Natasya. We’re in school, you know.

Pictures Signifying Signified

They say you have to carve out your own success. Don’t know what that means. But does it mean I have to dream big?

‘Cher, giving us printed assignments is just as harmful as cutting down trees! And you taught us that!

What did you say just now? Come here let me sharpen that tongue of yours! Come here you!

Project 1: My Line Is Emo

Anger:

This is irritation. The little specks of white dots that form little lines, and droplets remind me of those cone shaped ice solids. The ones that you find in the frozen water droplets.. This was done using monoprint which covered paint marks. I switched the colours around and gave out this look. This is the irritation.

This would be envy. At first I thought they resembled cockroaches with their oval shaped body and antanneas popping out of it. It’s horrid look which is placed in neatly alterantive places, makes it portray emotion of envy. Method: Monoprint over feather duster, photoshopped the end of the feather, as seen in delicate ends of the feather.

This is definitely rage. From afar this looks like a camera zoomed in to the moment where it snaps the shot of water being splashed. There is some commotion and chaos in this pattern because of its irregular shapes, and lack of rigidness. I thought Rage would suit this well. Again, monoprinted over plastic wrapper, and used photoshop to merge different parts together like a rope.

Fear:

This would show horror the best. There’s somethign about the delicate ends stretching out to the middle part, that makes it look very creepy looking. It’s like small little arms stretched out from the sides, ready to rip you apart. Again this was used using the feather duster where I edited out the ends. This gives it the look.

This would be nervousness. The crammed spaces being filled by this big patterns of something all huddled together, one side more than the other. I thought this was a good choice to show nervousness – in which normally you would feel a little uneasy and tight.

Joy:

Relief: The soft gradient from white to black, and folds of the gauze give off a soft emotion- relief. Method: Monprint over Gauze, PS

This is pride. The contrasts are strong and some are faint. they are neatly layered side by side, but still a bit relaxed and a little slanted off to the sides. Thiss reminded me of pride, because those lines look like they are reaching up. Method: Straws cut in small strips and lined together. Monoprinted over straws, and use of repetition in PS.

This is Euphoria. The large balloons overlapping each other in large scales. they take up a lot of the spaces. That shows a lot of positive emotions and that includes euphoria.

Love:

Affection. At first, they look like stick figures doing a tribal dance – holding hands, and shaking heads all at the same time. The faint lines which overlap each other, and the turn of the lines gives a sense of softness to this line pattern. I thought the softness showed affection. Method used: Monoprint over folded plastic wraps.

Longing. The overlapping of big lines and the strong contrasts, and the alternate patterns give a sense of longing for something or someone. Kind of like an attachment. Method: Raffia strings in monoprint.

Fondness – because I think the squiggly lines and maze-like patterns gives off a nice overall look to it. Some are bolded bits and some are thin, adding variety to this pattern. Thought it reminded me of those Eqyptian tribal patterns that has a meaning I don’t understand. Method: Handrawn.

SADNESS:

The little specks are like rain droplets – small but significant. the faintness of it also adds a layer of meaning to this – it is hopelessness.

This would be sympathy. The layering of leaves, on top of the other, creating a darker contrast compared to the rest resemles to that of a shelter- a shelter from harm. I thought sympathy would greatly match this. Method: Painted over leaves and paste it over paper and scanned them. This is different from monoprinting where I get to control amount of paint and control contrast in producing this effect. This is sympathy.

SURPIRSE:

This would be astonishment. This pattern reminds me of a maze within a maze, where sometimes you bump into road blocks (black) and some shortcuts that makes your walk easy and smooth ( faint). Method: I used a makeup wedge-looking sponge, cut off some holes in one section till it looks destroyed. Those holes and (lack there of) makes up line patterns, when monoprinted over. Thus, giving this pattern/

Surprise. By far, not my best, but this was difficult to tell what emotions it showed.

Project 1: Picture Story – Curating Self

From these 3 pics, you see me walking up the stairs, a landscape shot of HDB flats, and a window frame with clothes hung over it. From this order, they kinda reflect the traits that I have in me. First off, I’d describe myself to be a very explorative person, explorative in learning about new things, new beliefs, new ideas and learning about people and places. Explorative could also come in learning about the mysterious, and the taboo.

I am quite a reflective person myself. I like to have a bird’s eye view of what’s going on in my life, my habits, my work, school, , everything! Especially when I consider myself to be always on the go, always on the rush, always looking forward to something, it helps to kinda take a step back and relax.

The window frame you see with clothes hung over it- they’re not mine lol. But it shows the private person that I am. I value privacy, and my personal space, because I think I’ve come across way too many incidents where people have crossed the line, which brings me to this story I’ll share you one.

One night I was laying down in my bed, and from across the window there are HDB flats too. While I was laying down, I looked out the window and saw a black figure standing by the window. This window was from across the block, but I could make out a human figure from it. When I got up to look out the window and watch this figure, “it” moved off.

Worst case scenario; it was a man creeping up on me through my open window.

That pic I took reminded me of how from then on, that’s how I’m gonna fill up the spaces on my open window. It also carries the meaning of “leave-me-alone” kind of privacy.

The object I chose is the headscarf. For those of you who don’t know, wearing the headscarf and dressing modestly isn’t a Malay thing, but it’s a Muslim thing. On top of wearing loose clothes, Muslims also wear the headscarf because it’s an Islamic obligation. So for me, the moment I walk out the gates I wear the headscarf, because I’ll be out in public. At the same time, the moment I walk in to my home, I rip them off. What’s special about this is because it’s a big part of my appearance – an extra layer of cloth over my head and wearing them out in public, and in the heat. It’s quite a hassle but it’s something that I have to live with, anyway.

The next picture reflect the struggle I have with pinning up my scarf, especially when it goes messy. Not always the neatest, but the annoying heat and hair coming out of it – that’s the look I give when I’m annoyed. Annoyed by the struggle that comes from sweating a lot and fixing you “hair”.

Next, this brings me to the vanity that comes with donning the headscarf. This vanity of wearing the headscarf from dressing like a model and wearing it for the latest godforsaken trends, esp on social media. It can be quite demoralizing when I have to wear it to look trendy. So I tend to feel self-conscious because of that. There are days where I’m suppose to wear this out of respect for a religion, not for some lameass beauty standard. Nevertheless, the vanity that come with wearing it, stays there.

Cindy Sherman’s artworks like “Untitled Film Stills” was a good reference for me to show that “vanity” photo. Mirrors are a good prop to show that so I used tha. With the slanted medium shot, it would give off that “how will people think if I look like this?” kind of setting.

Over here, the places which means a lot to me are the local market place, and the walkway to school. Both places bring a lot of memories for me as a child because the market, which was just asit was back then, reminds me of my days tagging my mother along to the market. From watching her pick out gross wet fishes, picking out the most orangest orange and watching my mum bumping into her neighbours and doing the usual “hey how are you” ( in malay) at the local market, was something which happened a lot back then.

As for the walkway to school, the pathway brought back a lot of memories of me walking to and fro to school with my buddies. the fact that it was a loong walk kinda reminded me of how back then it neveer felt like time flew by fast. But now as it is the path that connect itself to a jogging path which I visit often, the place is simply like a trip down to memory lane.

The pic with the vending machine also adds on to the meaning of the walkway to school. It was a frequent stop where me and my then, friends would pick out snacks and buy drinks and “lepak” around that area til the sun went down. With the way it was captured, with the white space, and empty seat, I think it does reflect the emptiness of the place and nostalgic element of the picture. I guess it does reflect a bit of the current nostalgic feeling I’m feeling.

Najiha

D, SD and SO in honey cornflakes!

D- The yellow cornflakes. They’re covered in honey, sugar and butter all melted and mixed in a pan, where they get scooped into little cups, smelling sweet as honey!

SD- The little white cups that gives the cornflakes it’s shape. Also adds a bit of decoration with it’s white, pleated cups.

SO- The rainbow sprinkles and the chocolate rice on top of it all! They add a bit of charm and colour to the yellow cornflakes. This SO makes a lot of difference to an otherwise dull honey cornflake.

They’re all in my tummy now.

Najiha