FD Drawings

Week 1 : Still life

Week 2 : Compositions

Week 2+ : Model Drawing (Kim)

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Week 2 Homework: Still Life

Week 3 : Model Drawing (Eddie)

Week 3 Homework: Starbucks

Week 4 : Chair Drawing (perspective)

Week 4 Homework : 1 Hour Model Drawing (Jack)

1 minutes:

 

5 minutes:

 

Week 5 : Kopitiam (+ improved hands)

Week 6 : Accurate Perspective Drawing

Drawing boxes accurately (warm up)

Drawing straight lines

Perspective drawing of boxes, paper bags, and chairs

Week 6 Model Drawing : Nina

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10 minutes
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Assignment 1 : Visual Narrative

Week 10 Model + Other drawings


Assignment 2 : Diptych

4D Assignment 1

The semiotics in my images here are not very obvious. I am a logical person, so my approach to this assignment is to take it literally, but also, let people infer what are the things I love doing, my identity, and my lifestyle through my placement of objects and choice of items.

Death by jogging // I love to run, and when I run, I run fast. My goal for 2.4km used to be 10 minutes, and so I know my running pace well. This image depicts me disappearing while running. The clothes are separated in the way I imagine my clothes to spread when I run. I’ll be listening to music while I do so, which explains the earpiece. If you look closely, my phone is in the shot too. The phone weighs my pants down, so it drops quite a distance away from the shirt. I tried using action space at first for this picture, but it doesn’t work as there is too little subject. I tried leading lines, which leads the eye from the bottom left to the middle (shoes). I chose this spot to take the picture because the background has winding road which makes the image looks more interesting (although it failed because this shot isn’t high enough)

Death by mirror // I happened to see this mirror and I like the environment, so I thought to give it a try. The pavement is very busy, as it was a Sunday evening. I had a lot of trouble taking this shot, trying to make sure I don’t block anyone or my stuffs don’t get crushed. Little time was spent here due to the traffic and so I didn’t take a good picture. If only there is more time spent here… I tried to frame my clothes in the picture, but once again, the subject is too small.

Death by stairs // I thought this was my winning shot, but many people like other shots. This shot, I tried leading lines. The eye will scan from the clothes to the top of the image, which goes to the people looking at what I’m doing (Getting so judged right here). The people’s eye will lead our eyes back to the pile of clothes. Thats the effect I’m trying to get. I also used rule of thirds in this shot, as well as a bit of strong (weak) diagonals. Weak, because it wasn’t enough diagonals. What I’m trying to portray here is my love to just go out and chill. I’ll be listening to music and using my phone, and I’ll opt to take a walk down the stairs instead of using the escalator.

Death by brunch // Here is a depiction of another thing I love doing — chilling. Eating brunch is so relaxing, especially when there is a friend to talk to about things. I don’t think I used any photography methods here, which is why the shot don’t look that good.

Death by Netflix // I like the lighting here. I tried to use leading lines with my bed’s edge and my clothes to the phone, showing my favourite show as of now, Rick & Morty. There is a bit of framing as well, on the phone, due to the shelf. The idea behind this image: I love to watch rick and morty at night, and other youtube videos. I’ll plug in my ear piece and watch it at the side of my bed, like I do here. You can also spot some of my own stuffs like books, watch, charger. The placement of the items there depicts my lifestyle in some ways, but also hidden in a way.

Death by bridge // I tried using rule of thirds and framing (Which failed because my clothes are not in the space). I love to go out to the park to walk. This bridge has a meaning to me in particular, because I used to be from the Air Force during my NS. I like to stand here and look out to the reservoir, and watch the F15-SGs taking off / landing at Paya Lebar Air Base. This is a good spot to watch.

Death by transport // I want to try taking a shot inside my dad’s car while going to NTU. It’s a part of my life now since I’m here. I’m trying to depict the night setting, me and my bag which is fat and contain lots of stuffs. Using my phone (on whatsapp). My dad’s face at the moment I disappear (not so convincing, though haha). The reason I want to try this shot is because I like how the lights inside the car creates a certain serious mood. However it isn’t captured here. I tried using leading lines from the end of the lorry (doors) to the phone.

Death by game // I love gaming. I’m good with shooter games and I take pride in it. In the screen, I’m playing Overwatch, my favourite game now. I’m playing my favourite character, Mccree, and depicting a part where I’m on fire, which shows I’m doing well, but because I disappeared, I am taking damage and just standing still, which can be seen by the red colour border in the screen. The objects around the table are really stuffs on my table. I often eat snacks while gaming so I have the snacks packet on the table (hard to see cos of the angle). My headphone dropped on it while I disappeared because of the way I position it and the way I always move forward to my screen when the game gets intense. I opened the drawer a bit to create a more interesting shot. Well, but overall the photo isn’t very interesting.

Death by bike // I took a long time with this shot. I tried to use leading lines to lead the eye from the bike to the clothes, then to the curious kids. The eyes of the kids will lead the eye back to the bike. Also, I tried to do an extreme closeup of the bike and also tilted the image to as such to play with the perspective. The bike looks like it is standing up, but it is actually lying down. I threw rocks around to create the effect that it crashed. So yeah. Oh, and also, bike because I love my bike and I love biking.

Death by bike 2 // same thing, different angle, same leading line i’m creating, less successful.

Death by bike 3 // This isn’t as successful too, even though I tried using the background as a leading line. The overall image is just too plain, although the lighting is better.

Runner up: Death by Netflix 2 // Same semiotic, different angle. I really like using my book shelf to create the framing. But if I get too close, it loses the the overall mood of the whole image becaus the image will look too plain and so doesn’t really convey much meaning. Too far, and the image will lose its focus on the framing. This image is alright but I think I might have made it too dark on the right side, which creates a lot of weight on that side, something that will distract from the frame. The frame is also too plain, I feel, which is why I didn’t choose this for my final. I want to take a picture at this distance so I can show the other parts of the room not within the frame, which also adds in to the lonely mood. In this shot, a cup can be seem, as well as some more items around (see previous shot, which don’t show that much), just that the way I play with the contrast sort of covered it up (bad.) Anyway, framing, a love for Rick and Morty at midnight, my stuffs lying around.

Final choice: Death by book // This is the clearest depiction of who I am and also looks interesting. Firstly, I like to read books, specifically non-fiction (which is what I’m reading here, an autobiography / biography cos the dude died while writing but yeah its called Breath Becomes Air) ANYWAY. I like to eat while I read, and LOVE to have coffee with me. Basically, chill. I love doing it in my living room because of the space, the light, the fresh air. My sofa is comfortable too, with cushion and stuffs. I’ll lie on it while I read.You can see my clothes at the bottom right, which I left behind while I disappeared, so you can imagine the way I lie on the sofa before I disappeared. Oh man, the cushions are so soft. My table has tissue, and a fan remote controller, and some of my stuffs like my earpiece, my phone on instagram, cookies which I eat. Basically, what I use while I read, chill. (except for the tissue which is permanently there) I LOVE music too, and have a collection of vinyl albums. I’ll take them out and listen once in a while, but in this picture, I just sort of take them out and never play them, spread them around while I’m choosing the music but I’m distracted by the book. Overall, this creates a frame for the book, which is my main objective when I was taking the photo. I’ve also taken a bite on the cookie before I disappeared, leaving crumbs on the book. So yeah, this is the depiction of my perfect afternoon, IF I DIDN’T DISAPPEAR. The main thing, the book. The side things — a depiction of who I am, at the corner, creating the frame.

Anyway, I wanted to make the image not so perfect, because life isn’t perfect. You can’t have everything arranged neatly. The image’s saturation is also lowered slightly, so as to create a more soft feel.

 

SO YEAH. THAT’S ALL FOR MY ASSIGNMENT 1 🙂

Forrest Gump – Process, Research, and Final

Quotes

Image taken from http://www.nerdophiles.com/2014/03/06/discussing-dreams-and-reality-with-the-wind-rises/

Airplanes are beautiful, cursed dreams, waiting for the sky to swallow them up. – The Wind Rises

She was beautiful, just like the wind. – The Wind Rises

Every engineer has his 10 years in the sun – The Wind Rises

Image taken from https://shmlive.wordpress.com/tag/2001a-space-odyssey/

I am afraid I can’t do that Dave. – 2001: A Space Odyssey

I’m afraid. I’m afraid, Dave. Dave, my mind is going. I can feel it. I can feel it. My mind is going. There is no question about it. I can feel it. I can feel it. I can feel it. I’m a… fraid. – 2001: A Space Odyssey

Image taken from http://whatculture.com/film/what-does-the-ending-of-the-prestige-really-mean

Which knot did you tie, Borden? – The Prestige

That’s why every magic trick has a third act, the hardest part, the part we call “The Prestige” – The Prestige

Image taken from https://inktoimage.wordpress.com/2015/04/22/the-perks-of-being-a-wallflower-editing/

So, I guess we are who we are for alot of reasons. And maybe we’ll never know most of them. But even if we don’t have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there. We can still do things. And we can try to feel okay about them. – Perks Of Being A Wallflower

Right now we are alive and in this moment. I swear we are infinite. – Perks Of Being A Wallflower

Image taken from http://testingtheglobe.com/trumanshow.html

We accept the reality of the world with which we’re presented. It’s as simple as that. – Truman Show

Image taken from http://www.foxmovies.com/movies/the-martian

In your face, Neil Armstrong! – The Martian

I’m going to have to science the shit out of this. – The Martian

Image taken from https://wall.alphacoders.com/tags.php?tid=57303

Let’s write our names on each other’s palms – Kimi no na wa

Please make me a handsome Tokyo boy in my next life! – Kimi no na wa

Image taken from http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/arrival-2016

Despite knowing the journey… and where it leads… I embrace it… and I welcome every moment of it. – Arrival

“Language is the foundation of civilization. It is the glue that holds a people together. It is the first weapon drawn in a conflict.” – Arrival

Abbott is death process. – Arrival

Coffee with some aliens… – Arrival

Image taken from https://cinemashock.org/2012/06/16/visual-storytelling-in-shutter-island/

I love this thing because you gave it to me. But the truth is… it is one fuckin’ ugly tie! – Shutter Island

Which is worse, to live as a monster or to die as a good man? – Shutter Island


SELECTED QUOTES

Those aren’t mountains, they’re waves. – Interstellar, 2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Hf_XkgE1d0 01:39 

You see things. You keep quiet about them. And you understand. You’re a wallflower. – Perks Of Being A Wallflower, 2002

Mars will come to fear my botany powers. – The Martian, 2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KsVojEaoms 00:34

Good morning, and in case I don’t see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night! – Truman Show

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_zYn-HHcyA 03:57

Abbott is death process – Arrival, 2016

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-o0MwXqS0Q4&t=558s 08:59


 Alright, with these quotes, let’s break them down!

1. Mountains, waves, doubt, fear, reaction.

  • Mountains: Rock, giant, wall,
  • Waves: Ripples, fishes
  • Fear: Constricted eye

2. Sight, quiet, understand, wallflower.

  • Sight: Eye, bird, light, camera (without button),
  • Quiet: Lips closed or covered, water,

3. Fear, botany, powers, mars, plant.

  • Fear: retreating action, constricted eyes,
  • Botany: Plant parts / whole plant, soil, spade
  • Powers: Electricity, muscles,
  • Mars: Ares, chocolate bar, rock, boy, curiosity

4. Morning, speculate, afternoon, evening, night.

  • Morning: Breakfast, sunrise, 8am, people going one direction, (transport)
  • Afternoon: Lunch, sun high, 1pm, people at work (work)
  • Evening: Dinner, sunset, 6pm, people going the other direction (chilling)
  • Night: Bed, moon, 10pm, people at home (home)

5. Abbott, alien, heptapod, death, process.

  • Abbott (alien): alien crab, octopus,
  • death: corpse, skull,
  • process: duration, 4th dimension,

Compositions and detailed explanations

First composition: Mars will come to fear my botany powers. – The Martian

I’ve gotten an idea from the quote ‘Men are from Mars, women are from Venus’. Upon further research, I realised tha the male symbol is the same as the Mars symbol:

Image taken from http://downloadicons.net/male-symbol-icons

So, I used a man to represent Mars.

Image taken from https://openclipart.org/detail/220390/terrified-man

 

Next, botany is the study of plants, so plant designs will suffice. I used an alien gun to represent the main character in the movie, who is a botanist stranded in Mars. I like the idea of using a man to represent Mars, and an ‘alien’ to represent the human, who is really an alien to Mars. By using the alien gun shooting plant parts to ‘Mars’, I want to create the idea of an invasion, man invading Mars with botany.

I further enhance the idea of an invasion by spreading electricity in a circular manner, making it look like the powers are spreading across the whole of Mars. I tried to arrange the bolts in a way that makes it look like it is coming from the flowers, instead of the other way round. It works by making the flowers big and having small bolts overlapping the flowers, making it seems like it’s coming out from the flowers.

Then, I added an eye, covering the entire face of the man representing Mars, and constrict its pupil to represent fear itself.

Although the meaning is present, the composition looks a bit plain, so I added the symbol itself to enhance the identity of the man being Mars.

And there we go. The first composition, filled with meaning, but lacking in composition.

Here are thumbnails of my work process / variations

Composition 2: Those aren’t mountains, they’re waves. – Interstellar, 2015

Initially, I wanted to use giants or fences to represent mountains, but I ended up using cows, as cows’ bodies have interesting shapes that looks like mountain. Cows are also grounded and strong, so they are good representation of mountains.

Image taken from http://animalia-life.club/other/milk-cow-drawing.html

 

Image taken from http://clipart-library.com/picket-fence-cliparts.html

To represent waves, I use fishes and sea creatures, because they’re not just a part of the ocean, their movements are also like waves, left and right.

Image taken from https://thegraphicsfairy.com/vintage-clip-art-image-wonderful-octopus-or-cuttle-fish/
Image taken from https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-illustration-tarpon-illustration-vector-monochrome-image70158276

At first, I wanted to use an octopus to represent the waves, hiding behind a cow. But it’s very odd. I decided to have a fisherman, because I just like the idea of fishing.

Image taken from https://www.educima.com/dibujo-para-colorear-pescador-i28085.html

I think it adds on to the whimsicality of the whole composition, and it is also very symbolic. In the movie, the characters are like the fishermen, trying to find the source of a GPS signal in a planet filled with water. Their spaceship is like the boat, and they are the fishermen, fishing for the GPS. They looked afar and saw mountains, which, upon closer inspection, are huge tidal waves.

In the composition, I used the sea of cows (strong foreground) to represent the water world, and the fishermen are fishing within the cows. (if you look from far, the cows do look like mountains) But to their surprise, a fish came up, and sea creatures crawled upon the boat, causing havoc, like the waves in the movie. The fisherman, conveniently wearing a space helmet, has eyes that expresses fear, like in the movie.

The composition is designed to bring the quote to another context, while maintaining its meaning. For instance, the mountains are usually on the background, but I’m using it as a foreground in this case. This also creates a visual hierarchy, fish, fisherman, cow.

I applied rule of thirds to the fish, making sure that the focus is the fish, even though there are other elements fighting for attention. I also arranged the elements around to lead the eyes from the fish to the fisherman, through the curves and the movements of the tentacles.

So there we go, the most precise composition I did, the one I am most proud of.

Other variations:

Composition 3: You see things. You keep quiet about them. And you understand. You’re a wallflower. – Perks Of Being A Wallflower, 2002

The initial idea is to literally have an eye, mouth, zip on mouth, connected to a brain. The idea is too literal, despite how nice I could imagine it to be. I scrapped the idea completely, and went on with something more in depth.

I liked the idea of having a prism. A prism captures light, then refracts it internally, and then spreads the light out into a rainbow. In a way, it can be a metaphor to the whole seeing and talking and understanding thing.

Image taken from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQu7XVVDulw

I’m inspired by this fanart of Pink Floyd’s album ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’, which showcases a prism spreading light. The prism basically ‘sees’ the light by absorbing it, processing it (understanding) by refracting, and then spreading it out into a rainbow, like when someone talks about something they see, it tends to be a bit different from the original.

For my composition, I’m using different elements to craft the idea of seeing, keeping quiet, and processing. Oh, and the last part, wallflower.

Image taken from https://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-image-open-zipper-image25016246
Image taken from https://www.pinterest.com/pin/296674694184501299/?lp=true
Image taken from https://avopix.com/premium-photo/451601695-shutterstock-seamless-pattern-with-black-sexy-lips
Image taken from http://monardo.info/drawing-of-human-brain.aspx

These are some of the images I intended to use for my composition. After some iteration, I decided to drop the zippers and the brain, and add in some dingbats of eyes, locks, and keys, which I feel enhances the overall idea.

The eye enhances the idea of sight. The lock is used to lock away the scattered beam of light, and the keys are behind the prism, suggesting that the keyholder has the power over the light scatter but it doesn’t do so. Finally, a flower is in the background, representing the wallflower.

The overall composition is framed around the prism, which is the representation of the main character in this quote. The rest are just supporting elements. I want to use lock and keys to create some distortion of reality, so as to make the overall composition more interesting, and also break away from any literal meaning in the composition.

Other iterations:

Composition 4: Abbott is death process – Arrival, 2016

This is a tricky one, but I am not daunted! I really like this quote for its sheer simplicity and its meaning is so strong and whole, it’s one of the most impactful quote in the movie. This quote leaves the viewers in the mystery of what it means by ‘death process’, and makes us wonder where did Abbott go in the movie. Did he really die? Why can’t Costello just say that Abbott is dead? Is it because of the lapse in understanding between the alien language and the human’s? Or is it a way of saying ‘death’? (turns out, it’s the last one).

In the movie, the alien don’t see time as we humans do. They see it as a whole, and they know the timeline of themselves and everything they interact with. To them, time is like space, you can always revisit yourself in another time. In short, they live in the fourth dimension, where time is just like another spatial dimension.

Okay, I digress. So these aliens look like octopuses because they are squid like creatures with 7 legs (named heptapods). Initially, I wanted to create a heptapod out of insect limbs, and then remove them along a path, like in my sketch.

Image taken from https://thegraphicsfairy.com/vintage-clip-art-image-wonderful-octopus-or-cuttle-fish/
Image taken from https://www.colourbox.com/vector/rhynchites-beetle-isolated-on-white-vintage-engraving-vector-4869827
Image taken from http://clipart-library.com/starfish-drawing-cliparts.html
Image taken from https://www.pinterest.co.uk/tashunko/graph-co/

Here are some examples of images I used. I was also inspired by the image of evolution:

Image taken from https://steemit.com/science/@herpetologyguy/the-biggest-misunderstandings-about-evolution

However, I try to break away from creating a linear design because I want to amplify the idea of the creature’s perception of time. I want something that is happening all at one time.

This was my first lazy design. It wasn’t that great even though the background is pretty cool. Now, I’m thinking of creating something more surreal.

Image taken from https://free.clipartof.com/details/744-Free-Clipart-Of-A-Hen-And-Rooster
Image taken from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chick_(PSF).svg
Image taken from https://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photo-empty-eggshell-image13135085

I’m using chicken as the subject. Why? I am inspired by how every part of the chicken, from the unborn to the adult, can be killed for food. I am also inspired by the question ‘which comes first, the chicken or the egg?’.

All these properties of the chicken describes the character in the quote, Abbott. Abbott cannot see time, therefore he is the unhatched egg, the chick, the chicken. I want to show here that every version of Abbott is dying, thus him being in ‘death process’.

I wanted all of Abbott to be in the frame, and all of Abbott to be dying, that’s the idea. Although it isn’t really the same as the exact meaning in the quote (which is that at that moment in ‘time’, Abbott is dying), I feel that this composition holds the meaning of the quote out of context and in its own interpretation.

Anyhow, I use leading lines and rule of thirds to lead the eye to the chicken.

p.s. now come to think of it, it may look funnier to have the chick lie down instead of standing up. I guess I’ll consult first and edit it in the refinement.


Refinements

Composition 1 improved: changed the background to more consistent lightning bolts, to create more density and depth. Changed the flowers from ding bats to an image, which works better as it makes the composition more ‘whole’. Made use of negative space within the lightning bolts to create the effect of an energy ball coming from the gun. Overall give a more powerful feeling, less bland. Satisfied.

This is my final one for print. I only resized some elements slightly and added a black background to make the fish more outstanding, and also dampening the other elements that are fighting for attention.

Unfortunately I have printed the wrong version for silkscreen, so for the test print I will just do the one I printed, and I will redo this during recess week. (cons of having too many versions 🙁 )

Silkscreen Trial and Process

It was hard for me to decide which composition to use. I grew attached to the right one, but I like the overall composition of the left one!!!

In the end, after asking for different opinions, I chose the one on the right, as it explains more about the movie and has decent composition.

After drying the silkscreen board, coated both sides of the board with emulsion, drying it again before sticking our transparency onto the front of the silk screen board.

Emulsion

Next, we send the silkscreen into the UV light machine thing, which uses UV to harden the parts that aren’t covered by the black ink in our transparency.

After that, we sent the silk screen to wash. Here’s a video of the process:

Shag face aside: Yay! My silkscreen is ready.

It was at this point when I realised that I printed the wrong design, which means I have to redo it on recess week.

Once the edges are taped off, coins are used on all 4 corners of the screen to create a gap between the screen and the medium that is to be used for the print.

The next few shots are taken by Claire, and Tiffany helped with holding the board for me. The MVPs!!!

Aligning

Spreading ink like butter

Here we gooooo

The outcome

A failed attempt

Takeaway from this is, the first print will always be bad, so there is a need to ‘season’ the silkscreen first to allow the ink to be spread more easily on the second attempt. It’s best to nail it on the second or third attempt, because the ink will seep through the board if there’s too much ink (too many attempts).

The squeegee should glide across the board, not pressed down hard. It should be one motion, swift and accurate.

I’m looking forward to printing this on my tote bag, and also on a spare t-shirt. Actually, I might use both designs and see which works best. I may also want to try my own designs!!! A bit xiao exciting 🙂

Silkscreen Final

Before I go with the final prints, I wanna show some of the other prints made on newsprint which I find successful and worth showing hahaha

I decided to try printing my other design on my tshirt as a trial, since I feel that it is visually more appealing than my final one, even though my final one is more meaningful.

Turns out so well! I’m really proud of this. Unfortunately, this isn’t the print that I’ve chosen for my final. Because I love this design so much, I’ve made it into my own tshirt 🙂

But then, there’s new instructions that there isn’t a rule that the design must be on a tote bag, so yay! I’m gonna wear this during submission and bring my tote bag as well!

IT DIDN’T TURNED OUT WELL D:

The tote bag was too uneven, and the design seems to be too complicated, so the results ended up wonky. It is hard to gauge how much ink I need, and my design on emulsion wasn’t aligned well on the screen, basically everything was wrong.

Here’s the video of the fail:

I had to go get another tote bag. I’M REALLY GRATEFUL TO JOY (not the teacher) FOR PROVIDING ME WITH HER TOTE BAG TO PRINT T . T

I went to try again, this time, pressing harder, using more ink, and aligning better

AND YES. IT TURNED OUT WELL

There we go.

My A4 printed pieces:

That’s this assignment, all done and well. Yay!


Before I end off, I’d like to share some extra stuffs we done too!

Making of the basement crew tshirts (2 different designs)

Outcomes

Timelapse of printing:


Final thoughts

What I learnt from this: I did silkscreen before in poly, using stencils. This time, I learnt that there is another way to do it, which is much simpler and more effective, that opened my eyes to new processes I never seen before. Also, I learnt to be more flexible with my adobe programs, as I have learnt photoshop now, I can mix both photoshop and illustrator skills together to create more things.

Working on silkscreen is so fun, especially when you get to keep what you make! The satisfaction from a successful print is like… woooooooooooooowz.

I also enjoy the process of creating the visuals from the quote. It is fun to conceptualise and create something unique and holds meaning too.

Mark Making Final

Final Pieces

So, crit is over, and here we have what I submitted. My ‘Anxiety’ piece is the one most liked by everyone, even though I feel that my best work is ‘Longing’ and ‘Captivate’. Still, thanks everyone for the loves there :’)


Submission descriptions

Board 1

 

Optimism. Optimism, to me, feels like rhythmic pulses of positive energy, which is depicted in the waves as seen on the image. It is full of power, so its whiteness is intense. The stroke shows direction, moving from down up, which represents the upwards feeling from optimism. This piece is inspired by the song ‘Miracles (Someone Special)’ by Coldplay, which upon listening, had me knowing I can go on and on, to not give up.

Captivated. Captivated means to be completely drawn by something. I used fabric to depict this emotion because fabric flows, and has creases which can lead people’s eyes to the center. To me, being captivated is to be blind to anything else, which explains the pure blackness and the single white focal point. The crease allows the piece to be full black, while still create a way of drawing people’s eyes to the middle. It represents the tunnelling of the vision to the focal point without the use other marks. This piece is inspired by the song ‘Captivate’ by Midst, which has instrumentals that depict what it’s like to be captivated (muffled and spiralling sounds).

Regret. Regret is a process to me. It starts from an event which happened, which can produce a certain effect to the person. To me, that effect is something dreading, and it lingers. This is depicted through the smoky marks made by a candle flame. The next stage of regret is the thought processing. When the person thinks back on the event, and the feelings. This makes the person feel more uncomfortable, and is depicted by watered ink, dabbed in a manner to create a clearer smog. Finally, the regret hits the person hard, and the person feels a very intense and somewhat aggressive feeling, which is depicted through the jagged and solid marks. This piece is inspired by the song ‘Talking with Strangers’ by Miya Folick, which has a similar flow of emotions depicted here. In the final chorus, she sings with great pain ‘how did I miss this lesson when I was young?’ which was very intense and haunting.

Board 2

 

Longing. Longing is an intense, achy, yet somewhat sweet and gentle feeling.  The reason why I use tissue is that when ink dries on tissue, it create little creases or wrinkles that creates a feeling of the aches in longing. I use solid ink on the tendril looking mark as longing is an intense emotion. Yet, the emotion dances within the heart, which is depicted by the gentle curves of the stroke. The smoky parts are made of watered ink, which depicts the lingering feeling of longing someone you miss. The tendrils are made in a way that it depicts a longing for joining together, but it is broken by the boundaries of the torn tissue. This piece is inspired by the song ‘Touch’ by Shura, which had always made me feel bittersweet when I listen to it.

Fury. Fury is a very intense emotion, an intense emotion of hate. But for a person to hate someone, there has to be a back story. In the background, I used watered ink to create a cloudy mark, which symbolises the turmoil that a person have to bear before getting angry. Then, fury strikes down hard. Intense and sharp lines are made, focusing into the middle as if clashing down upon something. This piece is inspired by ‘Free’ by Broods, which isn’t about fury, but it creates a fiery feeling, and it feels like she is ready to strike down on someone.

Anxiety. Anxiety, to me, is an invisible thing on the big picture. It seems small and calm, which is depicted by the horizontal stroke in the middle. Then, the anxiety builds up, and reaches the point where the person breaks down, depicted by the disturbance in the middle. But upon closer inspection, one can detect the jaggedness of the strokes, which depicts the jittery feeling of anxiety, quite often missed by observers. The strokes are also covered in coarse salt crystals, which depicts the inner jabbing feeling in a person with anxiety. The white clouds can be seen when looking at the piece closer, which is something invisible seen from far. This is to enhance the idea of anxiety being invisible, but within, it is lingering around. This piece doesn’t have a song, sadly 🙁


Reflections

I have mentioned about material exploration in class today during my presentation. To me, material exploration is the most fun part of this activity because I really like playing with those stuffs and seeing what each creates. Unfortunately, I had wasted a lot of time on doing that and planning my experiments, that I did not spend enough time developing on what emotions I should work on. Partially also because I feel that doing the emotions first will seem like ‘working backwards’ to me, which I would avoid doing. I thought I could feel the emotions through the materials I use, but it didn’t happen.

I also have spent a lot of time on one piece, Captivated, which all failed and I reused the original work. I had to move on because I really was spending too much time on that. What I learnt here is to be ready to work on the same thing multiple times, and work earlier.

That’s all. It’s been a tiring but fruitful project 1. Looking forward to project 2!