Category: AY2020/2021 DN1002-FOUNDATION 2D (TUT) G07

Foundation 2D – Forrest Gump

Foundation 2D: Forrest Gump

Artist Reference

Artush Voskanyan

A surrealist artist who uses his artwork to create an optical illusion for his audience. He took his inspiration from famous Italian artist of the 16th century, Giuseppe Archimboldo, who is known for using objects such as fruits, vegetables, flowers, fish and books to create imaginative heads portrait.

Artush Voskanyan/S. Daly’s portrait 60x80cm, oil painting, surrealistic artwork. Source from Saatchi Art.
Artush Voskanyan’s surrealistic artwork, The Cat. Source from Saatchi Art.

Roy Lichtenstein

An American pop artist who works defined the premise of pop art through parody. His works are greatly inspired by popular advertising and comic book style.

Crying Girl (1963), Roy Lichtenstein, lithograph on lightweight, off-white wove paper, 16 by 24 inches (40.6 cm × 61.0 cm)
Whaam! 1963, Roy Lichtenstein

Collage Art

Collage is pasting different photography or pictures from magazines, newspaper clipping, paint and more objects on another piece of paper or canvas. It is a technic where artist mixed different mediums, texture and pictorial images sticking together to create new artwork.

Collage artwork from Pinterest.

 

Collage artwork, Naughty Angel from Pinterest

Tattoo Sketch

A tattoo is a form of body modification where a design is made by inserting ink, dyes and pigments, into the skin layer to create a permanent marking on the body. A tattoo can be with just black outline and with black shading, or it can be colourful tattoo as well.

Tattoo design from Pinterest.
Tattoo sketch design from Pinterest.
Tattoo design from Pinterest.

Quote #1:

Sometimes it’s better to keep the genie in the bottle.

– Ed Warren, The Conjuring

The Conjuring is an American supernatural horror film of a paranormal investigator couple, Ed and Lorraine work together to help a family who was haunted by a dark presence in their farmhouse.

Concept Ideation

Final Concept

 

This concept is about how the wife is a genie to the husband, who can magically keep the house tidy and clean and always prepare warm and tasty food for the family. However, there is another different meaning for the wife. To the wife, being a housewife signified their life being locked up at home. They are like genie, who need to obey their ‘master’s order’.

Images Used In Composition

Progression

Using this picture in my composition as the background as I wanted to create an impression of the husband being a working businessman.
Experimenting with different bottles

 

Experimenting with bottle design and house icon

 

I also used the hair of another picture to blend in and made the man more united with the style of the background. I also used some line shading from the same picture to give the man a bit shading.
I found this bottle matches the style and I added an outer glow effect to make it looks more magical.

Final Outcome

This picture portrays a man showing off and boosting his wife to his colleague. The wife is kept in a bottle with a house and her child.

 

In this composition, I applied the design principle of proportion between the two men so to make an interesting visual composition, as well as creating depth in the composition. The principle of unity is also achieved by using a bottle that is more linear that fit in the picture as well as duplicate a similar pattern for the suits.

The meaning behind this composition is inspired by how society depicts the role of a wife and mother, especially the husband. To the husband, the wife is like a genie who is to be kept at home, worrying and planning for the family. Man always like to boast about how well behaved their wife is, how well they are managing the house, but I find it contradicting as the wife is the one who gave up their jobs and careers for the family. However, to the husband, the wife became their possession instead of an individual human being. To the man, especially those with traditional thinking, believes that once the woman is married and with children, it is better for them to resign and stay at home to care for the family. Thus, I arrived at this composition of “keeping the genie in the bottle”, where the genie is represented by the wife and bottle that contained and locked them up is her house and family.

Quote #2:

He was gonna violate me with a duck foot!

– Mob Member, The Lone Ranger

Adventures of a masked hero, who is an idealistic lawyer, and his Native American partner.

Final Concept

I chose this design because it is interesting and I am going towards a more pop art style for this composition.

Reference Image

Images Used In Composition

 

Fonts used – Shaka Pow

Progression

At first, I tried using the same composition of “Jaw” poster as a reference. However, I realised the shark’s and the diver’s style do not unify with each other, thus I worked on another composition design.
Instead of following the center composition of the “Jaw” poster, I shifted both the shark and diver to 2 corners opposite each other.
I also changed the shark image to a more comical style to make the pop comic style more. The expression of the shark also looks more similar to the grievance after being slapped by the diver’s duck feet.
After consulting with Zel, she said that there is lack of element that shown the shark was slapped and I can add in the sound bubble like the comic. Thus I added this “slap” bubble element in after doing some research on how comic depicts sounds and action.
Later, I also used this zoom effect to create an emphasise to the slapping event that had happened
Lastly, I added a white border to the “Slap” by applying the outer glow effect

Final Outcome

 

A fun and interesting approach to the keyword of “Duck foot” and “violate” as I interpreted it as the shark feeling “violated” after getting slapped by the “duck foot” of the diver. I also inspired by the poster of “Jaw”, which is a 1975 American thriller film about a man-eating shark. Thus using these elements, I created my composition referencing to pop art and 90s comic style. I included many 90s comic and pop art elements such as sharp and clear lines, large patches of black and white as well as polka dots. I also applied the design principles of balance by placing both elements at each opposite ends of the composition. The radical line border is also used to emphasise on the shark and the “slap” bubble.

Quote #3:

I’m just a musical prostitute

– Freddie Mercury, Bohemian Rhadsody

The film is about the story of the legendary British rock band Queen and lead singer Freddie Mercury, leading to their famous performance at Live Aid.

Bohemian Rhapsody (film) - Wikipedia
Timeline – 1:30

Final Concept Design

Images Used For Composition


Progression

First digital composition of the concept, however, the middle finger do not blend into the composition with it pointing down. Thus after consulting with Zel, I decided to remove the middle finger.
Changing the image used for the rock hand sign and also collating 3 different images of lips and tongue to create the licking mouth. Colour halftone effect is also applied to both the lip and the hand sign to make it blend in with each other.
Guitar element is added to push the keyword of “musical” more and also to correspond to the rock hand sign.
A triangular geometry design is used as the background to bring out the idea of “as above, so below” rule of composition for tattoo design.

Final Outcome

This composition is created as a tattoo design as well as a front cover design of a musical album. The rules of balance are applied while placing the guitar at both left and right of the hand sign as well as the triangular geometry design at the back. The triangular geometry at the back also creates a movement for the audiences’ eyes to look from top to bottom or bottom to top.

This tattoo is simple with the licking lips representing the “prostitute” and the rock hand sign and guitar to represent “musical”. The licking lip not only to represent the meaning of prostitute but also to signify the meaning of “musical prostitute’ being used as a term to mock the music industry nowadays. As the musicians are like a prostitute that did the music for money, fame and sex instead of music and talent.

I chose to go with a lot of images with splash effects as this element brings out the crazy and rebellion feelings of rock music. I also included a crown at the top of the hand to pay tribute to the one who said this famous quote, the lead singer of Queen, Freddie Mercury.

Quote #4:

My father used to say: plant your feet and stand firm. The only question is where to put your feet.

– Mary Todd Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

A film which talked about the 16th president of the United State as a vampire hunter. He set his mission to eliminate all the vampire when he discovers that the vampires are planning to take over the United State.

Final Concept

I decided to go with the idea of a “human-plant” planting feet. However, according to lecturer Zel, my concept is a lack on “father” element as well “where” to plant the feet.

 

Images Used In Composition

All images from Pixabay.com

Progression

Forming a tree with human body parts, mainly focusing on feet. The brain is used to represent the soil and heart as the branches to form the trees up.

 

Repeated the trees to form a small hill. This will be used as the background.
I used a human photo as a reference and collage with different flowers and plants. I also took some line shading from other artworks to create some shadows and shading on the Father.
I did another small girl to emphasise on the “Father” element.
I added a sky in the background.
I thought of how the quote sounds like someone is saying a story to their child. Thus I make it looks like a page from a children storybook.

Final Outcome

 

I used repetition of the trees to create a background of a hill. The “Father” and the girl are also placed proportionally to create an interesting composition. So in my attempt, it is a literal interpretation of ‘plant your feet’, which I takes the word ‘plant’ as an action of planting as well as the creature that is planting. As I am using feet to represent the plant, I I collage many different types of plants and flower into the ‘human’ in this composition, while using human parts as the ‘plant’ as a contrast.

Reflection

At the beginning of this project, I have challenges breaking through the normal interpretation of the quotes with more literal meaning that still tie closely with the quotes. However, after consultation, I am able to pick some keywords from individual quote, breaking it down and use of to create interesting compositions and concepts.

I enjoyed this project as it helps me break through the boundaries of thinking inside what is given. With this saying, I have also master the skills of breaking bigger information up to smaller bits and pieces and start branching out from there. I have also push my limit to try collaging a composition with more than 10 images and harmonize it in the whole pictures with different Photoshop effects and blending layers.

Reference

IMDb https://www.imdb.com/?ref_=nv_home

Rotten Tomato https://www.rottentomatoes.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Lichtenstein