applied illustration: FINAL

campaign posters

 

individual pieces

the theme revolving around Incas is ‘love’! because his mate—Lady Jane—left him, he died from his broken heart 🙁 i tweaked Incas’ feathers into heart shapes, along with the usage of bright pinks to show this theme. the flowers featured for Incas are globe amaranth, which symbolises immortal love.
Benjamin gets warm colours all around with a hint of cool on his stripes, because he froze to death from his zookeeper’s ignorance. his choice of flowers are the dandelions—strong and hardy, representing overcoming hardships.
Booming Ben is prideful, exuberant, confident—a range of vibrant colours put together to show off—if only there were anyone of his kind left to impress. he spent his last days crying out alone. carnations are used for Ben to symbolise pride and beauty.

 

tote bags

a complimentary tote bag for people who come to the event and buy at least one souvenir item (to put the things they bought inside!)

((initially i did one tote bag and it looked really nice, so i just went all out and put all of them lol))

 

notebooks

 

enamel pins

 

 

applied illustration: sketches and process

introducing the models

i’ve chosen three endlings as the models of my whole campaign:

Benjamin the Tasmanian Tiger
Incas the Carolina parakeet
Booming Ben the heath hen

there were a few other choices, but i deliberately chose these three because they had names and tragic backstories. i want my target audience to feel guilty (haha) and empathise with these endlings. thus by connecting them with a name, it feels as though they were humans (just like my target audience) hence they empathise better—in contrast to just calling them with their general species names i.e. Tasmanian tiger, Carolina parakeet, heath hen.

 

thumbnail sketches

initially i wanted to play with the concept of juxtaposition between monochrome, hand-inked drawing and vibrant, digital art. so my thumbnail sketches (right image) consisted of compositions with a strip cutting in the middle of each page. the black represents the monochrome drawing while the orange represents the colourful rendition.

from these sketches, i moved to a more refined pencil composition of just the animals and rendered them digitally, keeping in mind that the colour palette i wanted was something more fantasy-like and out-of-this-world.

 

 

process to the final

trying out the juxtaposition

firstly i drew the monochrome parts of the endlings and scanned them

and then juxtaposed them to the coloured piece

but the combination of the two looked terribly off 🙁 maybe it would have worked better with a photograph instead of inked drawing. i had to scratch my initial idea and go with a simpler concept instead: illustrating these endlings into fictitious-looking creatures by using vibrant colours and exaggerating certain body parts.

 

i don’t think i’ve ever illustrated anything with SO much colours in one composition before, so this was definitely an eye-opening experience for me. combining colours is HARD. i resisted the urge to keep a minimal colour palette and just threw in all the colours i could think of (while still considering the harmony of the combinations).

so without further ado, here are my final compositions before i edit them into the mockup layouts!

final pieces

campaign poster
for the poster, the strips are made to flow smoothly when the posters are placed side by side in this order. i shall talk more about each piece in the next OSS post for the gallery!

 

blob rendition
for this version, i changed the stripes at the back of the subjects into blobs. this is mostly used for the souvenirs to be sold at the fundraising event, so that the compositions can stand alone in most souvenirs without the awkward cut of the stripes like in the posters.

 

poster draft 01

hello this is our first draft of our poster. any feedback would be appreciated!

note: realised i missed out 2D drawing/measurements, will add in later

another important note: TITLE IN PROGRESS. its almost 5 am jeremy is knocked out and i am incapable of naming things properly. will edit when both our brains work again.

wk12

feedback from last week:

  • angles and proportions need to be justified and measured properly
  • think more specifically about the choice of material

 

revised proposal

1

optimal viewing distance: 5 metres

proposal 1 is true to size and accurately depicts the distorted perspective. we found the proportions to be too jarring, so we tried to minimise the angle in the next proposal.

 

2

optimal viewing distance: 15 metres

for both proposals, the metal structures are positioned and angled in such a way that when seen from the optimal position, they align with the edges of the canopy and the two poles behind are hidden by the front two.

 

vinyl stickers/indicators

different variations of indicators for optimal viewing position. echoes the shape of the structure

 

materials

 

 

 

wk11

feedback from last week:

  • many of the structures proposed the previous weeks were too complex and dominates over the shadows i.e. viewers focus on the form rather than the shadows
  • keep the structure of the installation simple
  • use a combination of opaque and translucent material instead of only translucent to show more contrast

 

references

James Turrell

 

Felice Varini

 

on-site measurements

existing canopy (with similar shadow effect)

 

proposal

 

  • by pushing the supporting structure towards the inside, it creates a cantilever effect and viewers are more inclined to look upwards
  • the structures are angled so that the form does not blend in with the surrounding and overlooked, and does not look like the existing canopy
  • the panel is angled slightly on one side for easier viewing
  • the panel is inclined in this direction as it catches most of the sunlight, thus shows the most amount of shadows throughout the day
  • the size of the panel is set such that it covers the whole width of the corridor so that no shadows of the foliage shows at the edges, while maximising the stretch of the site
  • the shape of the translucent material in the middle plays an optical illusion such that it looks like a square from certain perspectives

 

simulation

simulation of material and distance.
from top to bottom, the distance between the light source and the panel increases, the shadow cast gets more blurry and less distinct.

 

 

applied illustration: audience, moodboard and ref

target audience

basic demographic:

  • 18 – 35 years old (students and/or working adults)
  • well-informed or at least aware of current situation on environment; a bonus if environmentally conscious or cares for animal rights
  • care to make a change for future generations??
  • probably with higher-paying occupations

 

user persona 1: Nyle

the one in front in grey…. maybe

Nyle is a 25-year-old travel agent, though he doesn’t like planning trips for himself and prefers to spontaneously find places to visit. he likes nature walks and long hikes with good company. recently, under his girlfriend’s influence, Nyle has made efforts to be more environmentally-conscious, starting small such as bringing his own tumbler and refusing plastic bags when not needed.

spontaneous // expressive // well-informed // open-minded // likes to engage in meaningful conversations and discussions

 

user persona 2: Marie

Marie is what you would call a typical 47-year-old ‘auntie’. she is a stay-at-home mother of two children and professional nagger. when something is broken, she doesn’t bother to fix them and would rather skip all the hassle by just getting a new one (courtesy of her husband’s income). she spends half of her time at home watching Taiwanese dramas.

stubborn // impatient // fixed mindset // wants to live a peaceful life // but makes sure everyone else doesn’t have a peaceful life by nagging at them

 

moodboard

i had a few choices of colour palettes, but since the last two assignments i worked with muted and much darker tones, i think i’ll try to take the challenge of incorporating bright colours instead. also the brighter tones fit my concept and keywords better.

 

references

Juliette Oberndorfer

i love how the colours in which the artist uses in these illustrations doesn’t conform to the real world, making the composition seem more fantasy-like. the bright and saturated tones also adds to the fantasy effect, almost as if they came out of Harry Potter.

 

Mark Conlan

what draws my attention to Conlan’s works are the ‘strips’ of imagery that leads the viewers’ eyes across the composition. the juxtaposition of colours and contrast also gives them a dream-like effect.

 

Lieke van der Vorst

this illustrator makes effective use of monochrome, sketchy drawings of animals with the combination of cleaner, brightly-coloured elements around the animals. the colours surrounding the monochrome subject of illustration makes the animals pop out even more.

 

applied illustration: research and concept

two weeks ago, i saw a few posts on instagram about the passing of Sudan, the last male northern white rhino, and this got me interested in delving deeper into this topic! so i started digging around for more information on extinct animals, or more specifically individuals like Sudan who are the last member of their species.

my concept is basically a fundraising / charity event to prevent endangered and threatened species from becoming extinct, by putting these survivors of their entire species in the spotlight and gain empathy

 

endling

after some digging around, i found that there is a term used to call these creatures who are the last survivors of their species: endling.

endling was coined in the mid-1990s by Robert Webster. there were also alternatives such as ender or terminach. but none of these terms are used often or even listed on the dictionary, so people are unfamiliar with these words.

i wanted to try changing that. i want to let more people learn about the term endling, and maybe from there learn more about the endling situation!  i was thinking of using the term explicitly for the event name, like “The End of Endling” or “An Ending to Endling” and maybe use them as a hashtag as well to raise awareness of the term, at the same time tying it back to the event

inspiration

i found an article that became the base of my inspiration. it was such a good read, very well-written, and gave me new insights that i think more people should know about!

The Sense of an Endling

to summarise, the text lists a number of endlings with their own sad stories, which would be my main inspiration for the campaign posters. they had also described the story of Celia, the last Pyrenean Ibex, and her last moments, as well as how scientists had tried to bring back Celia’s taxon from extinction. one quote within the text struck me:

“At this very moment, brave conservationists are risking their lives to protect dwindling groups of existing African elephants from heavily armed poachers, and here we are in this safe auditorium, talking about bringing back the woolly mammoth; think about it.” 

this statement is the reason why i want to dedicate the fundraising event to endangered and threatened species instead of bringing back what we have already lost.

 

concept: fact or fiction?

as i was looking for images of endlings and a few extinct animals, i found some of them looked like they were mythical creatures of some sort?? like they weren’t actually real.

especially the Tasmanian tiger!! (above)

so i was inspired to play with the concept of fact or fiction, history or myth, real or fantasy. there is also the underlying message that if we don’t put a stop to endlings now, these common animals (like the rhino) to our grand-grand-grand-children will look as if they are mythical creatures too!

to bring forth the idea of these creatures as mythical, i want to try using bright and fantasy-like colours (deep purple, bright pink, neon blue, saturated lime green) to depict these endlings. i’m also trying to play around with the idea of using juxtaposition between accurate, anatomical drawings in monochrome, and fun, playful illustrations in bright hues (see examples below)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

the items

some ideas of possible illustrated items for the fundraising event:

  1. campaign poster
  2. banner (describing the event details) maybe??
  3. thank you card… maybe?
  4. tote bag
  5. misc souvenirs, like postcard, badge, sticker, magnet, coaster, pouch, notebook, etc.

i was thinking of using a Patreon-style system, where you can donate a certain amount and the items you get accumulate depending on how much you pay (kind of like the one below!)

as for the choice of items to be given out, i think i’ll create a user persona first to decide what type of things the target audience would be interested in getting!

 

research on fundraisers

for now, these are a couple of examples of fundraising events that i can reference a variety of souvenirs from!

Charity Organisation ORANGE

 

Congo Children’s Fund

 

alright, that’s all folks! next up: moodboard, user persona and artist references!

 

list of references (more like a note-to-self):

  • http://metro.co.uk/2018/03/22/final-moments-worlds-last-male-northern-white-rhino-sudan-7408650/
  • https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/sep/29/earth-lost-50-wildlife-in-40-years-wwf
  • https://www.buzzfeed.com/katienotopoulos/5-animals-who-were-the-last-of-their-species?utm_term=.uxRZlDjk6#.wv198XJG1
  • http://www.lastwordonnothing.com/2017/10/19/the-beginning-of-the-endling/

wk10

feedback from last week:

  • the proposal last week was too much like a shelter; not intentional enough; people passing by will look at it as a ‘shelter’ and not a medium to frame the shadows
  • suggestions: maybe add holes or use repetitive shapes, something that is more intentional and will let people think that it’s not just a shelter
  • how do you utilise holes without them blocking the shadows?
  • another suggestion: research more into interesting materials that possibly interacts with the light

 

references

Rabbit and the Tortoise collection by Studio Juju

 

Manta by Ross Lovegrove

 

Fata Morgana by Teresita Fernandez

 

La Pineda by Javier Mariscal

 

Playground for Machida Kobato Kindergarten by Etre Design

 

material research

1   fluorescence

Fluorescence is the emission of light by a substance that has absorbed light or other electromagnetic radiation.

In most cases, the emitted light has a longer wavelength, and therefore lower energy, than the absorbed radiation. The most striking example of fluorescence occurs when the absorbed radiation is in the ultraviolet region of the spectrum, and thus invisible to the human eye, while the emitted light is in the visible region, which gives the fluorescent substance a distinct color that can only be seen when exposed to UV light.

Fluorescent materials cease to glow nearly immediately when the radiation source stops, unlike phosphorescent materials, which continue to emit light for some time after.

type: luminous

characteristic: lightly visible under sunlight, no effect in the dark or at night

 

2   phosphorescence

Phosphorescence is a process in which energy absorbed by a substance is released relatively slowly in the form of light.

natural phosphorescence

 

Image result for glow in the dark

This is in some cases the mechanism used for “glow-in-the-dark” materials which are “charged” by exposure to light. Unlike the relatively swift reactions in fluorescence, such as those seen in a common fluorescent tube, phosphorescent materials “store” absorbed energy for a longer time.

type: luminous

characteristic: clear in the day, visible in the dark or at night

 

both fluorescent and phosphorescent effects can be achieved by luminous paint – easily found in Singapore paint shops, Art Friend, Spotlight, Lazada

 

 

3   photochromic

Photochromic materials are colorless in their inactivated state and become colored when exposed to an ultraviolet light source. They will respond to natural sunlight, and darkens as the light level increases.

Common applications of photochromic materials include sunglasses and spectacles.

type: darkening/colour-changing

characteristic: visible under sunlight, clear in the dark or at night

effect of photochromic ink

online products:

Solarmax Series ink (used in the video)
SFXC UV photochromic plastisol

 

4   coloured glass

Colour Glass collection by Scholten & Baijings for Hay

coloured glass suppliers in Singapore:

LLumar Decorative Window Film


https://www.carltonglass.com.sg/painted-glass
http://www.synergraphic.com.sg/synergraphic/public/productMain.jsp ???

 

form development

 

similar concept to last week’s, but the shape is curved upwards to make the form more intentional and deliberate, unlike conventional shades

 

 

irregular and organic forms intentionally designed so as to not resemble a conventional shade/canopy

 

  • draped fabric to show interplay between positive and negative spaces
  • also allows interaction with the wind as the fabric is hanging freely
  • the shadows interact with the curved planes and are distorted to give a different perspective and dimension

 

reference photo for proposal above:

by James Turrell
Garden Pavillion by Kersten Geers David Van Severen
Sky Tree bus shelter by Atelier “DEN”