Ego In Different Settings | Process and Final

Process

For this assignment, we are required to apply our understanding of colours and colour theory to visually represent the multifacted nature of our personality. I decided to start mind mapping the many sides of who I am. This alone was interesting because I see how different I am around different groups of people.

Mindmap

Based on the above mind map, I tried to represent myself using various objects. Below are the things that used for my final pieces.

 

 

Sketches

After doing the mind map and coming up with the situations, I started sketching out my ideas. I found that using colours in my sketches helped me to visualise my final pieces better. Even if I did not stick to the colour schemes, they served as a guide.

 

Some of these panels are rejected. Some were used but the colours and composition changed drastically!

 

I find that the sketches helped people understand my ideas better too. Ideas that people were skeptical about became clearer once I showed them the sketch.

From there, I chose and adjusted the colours for the final pieces as I worked on them. The colours that I use are generally bright and bold because I love vibrant colour schemes. I tried out some of the colour schemes covered in class — triadic, complementary, analogous and monochromatic. Below, I describe the my process according to the order that I did the panels.

 


The Shy Fox

The fox represents the shy side of me. Also, people have pointed out that I look like a fox. The situation I picked for the fox is a group of robots. The robots represent the uncomfortable social situations that I sometimes face. I’d then put on a facade, so the fox blends into the surrounds by pretending to be a robot.

I started on this set first because I had a clear idea of the style and working steps! Since I am from animation, I am influenced by animation drawing styles and our way of designing. But I’ve never tried photoshop’s pen tool to illustrate before so I decided to try it out! I watched a youtube tutorial on noise and grain. The person who made the tutorial shared with us his working steps which was very helpful! I find that I work faster by blocking out silhouettes. The lines appear much cleaner and I can edit without wasting time!

 

 

Me: A fox

 

 

The colours used here are complementary. Since the fox is a warm orange-red, I decided to make it stand out by using a cool blue.

 

Setting: An uncomfortable social situation.

 

 

I used Dice Tsutsumi’s painting as a guide for this panel. His colours seem to blend and create this really nice harmony even though some colours are contrasting. The colour scheme used here is triadic. The purple background contrasts nicely with the subject.

 

Reference image

 

The third panel below is more of a analogous colour scheme with a hint of the fox’s red fur peeking out of the paper and boxes.

 

Outcome: Blend in.

 


The carrot with another face

Carrot represents me because it is slender yet firm. I think everyone including me behaves differently in their home vs. outside, so I depicted a carrot lazing on a couch in its home, with its orange peel hanging on a hanger to reveal its true self — its purple self.

For this set I tried to use gouache, but I found that I didn’t like the outcome of the paintings. I lacked the patience and time to work on them (oops) so I improvised and edited the panels digitally on photoshop. On photoshop I had more freedom to control colours and clean up any edges that I don’t like. I like the final outcome. I played with a more muted colour scheme for this set.

 

Me: A carrot

 

 

Colour scheme used is clearly complementary. I made sure to retain the texture of the paint on paper — something that might be difficult to replicate digitally. Added the shadow to give the carrot more contrast too.

 

Original scan with edited edges. Colours unedited. Oh the power of technology.

 

Setting: My home.

 

 

This panel had a drastic change in colour scheme from the original painting because I decided I didn’t like the sky to be so dull. Colour scheme is triadic. Also, masking fluid is hard to work with. I need more patience!!

 

Scan of original painting. Again, with edited edges.

 

Outcome: Comfortable and relaxed.

 

 

Colour scheme use is complementary. I used warm colours to show how comfortable and cosy home is. Again, this panel was edited and cleaned up digitally.

 


The scared mango

I’m a mango because I’m soft and sensitive! And I enjoy watching movies alone. But not when it’s a scary film! So I depict the scared mango peeing on the ground. I think I enjoyed doing this set the most, especially the first panel with its bright vibrant juicy colours.

I used pixelpchan’s work as reference for this set. I used vibrant colours to depict the mango, and used a much muted, darker colour scheme for the cinema panels to create the scary mood. Colour dodge was used for the cinema movie screen glow for a more dynamic look, as opposed to using all dark colours. The colours for this set was pretty much restricted due to its dark setting but I tried to work around that.

 

pixelpchan’s work as image reference

 

Me: A mango

 

 

Colour scheme for first panel is largely analogous, with the blue and green as accents (does that make it triadic?!). Made sure that the lines were not black as that would make the look of the illustration “heavy”.

 

Setting: Alone at a horror movie.

 

 

This panel was difficult to execute because I didn’t like that the colours were so dark. But to create the setting / mood, it had to be dark colours. So I used colour dodge for the Sakako coming out of the screen. The bright blue stands out against the dark purple / red tones. Thank you Yan Ran for suggesting: “Draw Sadako, but cute.” ? My original Dracula idea did not match the cutesy theme so I changed to Sadako. I am pleased I asked for her opinion!

 

Original Dracula idea.

 

Outcome: I’m scared!

 

 


The dependent stick insect

My poly friends used to call me a stick insect (how mean!) and I love jogging so I merged the two ideas together. I also think that I’m a dependent person, so that is how I came up with the idea of a stick insect who loves jogging but in the end clings on to someone else instead of running itself.

I deviate from dark colours and used brighter, pastel colours. The style of this set is a fusion of the previous fox and mango style. It ended up looking very graphic design-ish. For this series I had a mood board as reference for the colours.

 

MOOD BOARD. Artwork from pinterest, and some pieces from Kiyomi Aritake.

 

Me: A stick insect

 

 

For this first panel, I tried to go for a dynamic composition because first panels tend to be a bit more static. I thought about what pose the stick insect should have and whether should it wear shoes or not.

 

Setting: A marathon.


 

Since the first and last panels are a bit more dynamic, I stuck to a static composition for the second panel for overall balance. The colours used are triadic.

 

Outcome: Clinging on to someone.

 

 


Final

Overall, I made sure that as a series and as a whole, the colours have a sort of unity and harmony. I find it interesting that some people pointed out that even though they understand that I attempted different styles, they still look “unified” or “the same” in a sense. Probably because of a particular style that I already have.


Thoughts

I’m happy that I was able to apply the things that I’ve learnt throughout the entire semester. I feel that the course has added on to what I have learnt previously and I am a bit more satisfied with the outcome of my work this time! This assignment was the most fun to work on for the entire semester for me personally.

Difficulties

Interpretation – Initially I was a bit confused about the assignment but by the second consultation I was much clearer about what I needed/wanted to do. I talked to some of my classmates too and bounced ideas around with them.

Painting – I was rushing for time and had no patience. This was resolved with the help of photoshop.

Takeaways

I discovered new painting steps through watching youtube tutorials which I am thankful for because I am going to incorporate those steps into my future animation concept art work in the future! This shows that things we learn in one field can be applied in another.

Combining traditional medium and digital medium produces an interesting look with texture. In future I might want to start illustrating traditionally first, and then edit the piece digitally. It has a great “handmade” yet professional look.

Even though I did not use Adobe Illustrator for this project, I still learnt some skills that I can apply in future. After showing people my sketches, including Shirley, they taught me how the same effect can be achieved in Illustrator. Things like the Line Weight function is quite useful even as a animator when I want to do line art for my work so I might actually use that personally! Image Trace is also pretty useful.

 

 

Project Ego | Research

COLOURS

I found this chart from Canvas.com, I think it summarises the colour harmonies simply and clearly!

Taken from https://designschool.canva.com/color-theory/

 

This chart shows the different moods and words associated with each colour, which can be useful when choosing which colours to use. I know my panels will incorporate a lot of orange and yellow hues because I am a cheery person!


ME + SITUATION + OUTCOME

Mindmap

For this assignment, we are required to apply our understanding of colours and colour theory to visually represent the multifacted nature of our personality. I decided to start mind mapping the many sides of who I am. This alone was interesting because I see how different I am around different groups of people.

Based on the above mind map, I tried to represent myself using various objects. Below are some examples that I thought off that I’d likely use for my final pieces.

Situations

Through the mind map and a bit of imagination, I came up with a few situations to pick from.

  • In a robot social gathering
  • At home after a long day
  • In the deep blue sea
  • Chilling on a leaf in a pond
  • At the movies
  • Cycling with friends

From here, I mix and match the different characters and situations to see what sort of interesting or funny outcome I can think of.

Artist References

1. Andy Harkness

He is a visual development artist at Disney. This particular piece is produced using watercolour/mix media. What I like about his work is his use of monochromatic colour schemes.  It is interesting how he used different shades of blue – greens, which gives the the piece a very calm and “quiet” — yet dynamic — feel. The lighting of his piece really catches my eye too. The shapes in the painting is stylised and designed using simple shapes which in my opinion is simple and appealing!

2. Dice Tsutsumi

Artist at Tonko House, he also plays with monochromatic colour schemes. His work is done digitally. There is no outline, just a play with light and shadow with fantastic saturated lighting, similar to Andy Harkness’s. We can see that he uses other colours like purple and green (local colours) for the environment, except that they are bathed in a red tint to convey the mood of this particular scene.

Adobe Colour CC helps to identify colours in photos and you can also check your colour schemes through here!

3. @pixelpchan on instagram

He is an artist that I follow on Instagram. He paints using gouache. All of his paintings uses blocky strokes which gives a very interesting look. I also like the fact that the colour payoff of gouache is usually very good and vibrant — perfect for this assignment. I have been wanted to try out his painting style so I think I’ll attempt it in this assignment!


 

He also has this other “jelly” style that I like. Colours are vibrant and the weird jelly look would definitely make illustrations stand out.

 

4. Ira Sluyterman van Langeweyde | @iraville on instagram

She uses gouache for her illustrations, and simplifies complex shapes in an effective manner. The colours that she uses are generally on the muted, darker side, but there is good contrast. I love the texture produced by the combination of paper and paint.

 

 

Forrest Gump Final

Compositions

The seaweed is always greener, in somebody else’s lake. – The Little Mermaid (1989)

The keywords are “greener” and “someone else’s”. To show “greener” I used contrasting values — black and white. I interpret “someone else’s” as something territorial. I chose a frog for my subject since they are known to be territorial. Instead of using an image of a pond or lake, I suggest the idea of water through the engraving pattern running through the middle of the composition. “Seaweed” is replaced by the wrapped tadpoles.

I placed the elements in a dynamic manner to prevent the composition from looking static. I applied the following principles of design: contrast, texture, rhythm.

 

 

Fish are friends, not food. – Finding Nemo (2003)

For this simple quote, I used sushi to merge “fish” and “food” together. I chose a penguin as their main diet consist of mostly fish. I wanted to convey irony, since the character in the movie who said this quote is a shark that eats fish (or attempted to). The sushi is half black, half white — to suggest whether the fish is friend or foe. To depict the “friends” part, I included a circle in the composition, which is actually a photo of the earth that I changed into an engraving in photoshop. Th earth is used to show that we are all on the same planet, hence the “friends” part.

The following principles of design are applied in this composition: Rule of thirds, balance, scale (big circle, small circle).

 

Anyone can cook but only the fearless can be great. – Ratatouille (2007)

Anyone can cook“, means the dumbest of animals can cook! I used a panda in this composition as it is ranked the number 1 dumbest animal on some websites. “Fearless” is shown through the cloud motifs. I interpret that only the fearless would dare to reach for the skies, so the panda is in the sky. “Can be great” is shown through the stacked pots and pans. The panda is at the top of the pyramid. In this composition I attempted a more symmetrical design, with only the panda’s pose to offset the symmetry.

I applied the following principles of design: symmetry, hierarchy.

 

The past can hurt, but the way I see it, you can either run from it or learn from it. – The Lion King (1994)

I kept the overall look of the composition dark to portray a dark past. “Run” is shown through the horse. The spears convey “hurt“. I arranged the spears such that they lead the viewer’s eyes to the horse. It also creates a more dynamic and less static composition. This design principle also helps depict the “learn from it” part. We learn from our journeys, hence I used the pathway to signify journeys. The white smokey path further accentuates the leading lines created by the spears.

The design principles applied are: Repetition, rhythm, scale, balance.

Final Print

I managed to get a perfect print on my third try! The engraving showed up well so I’m glad I added that into my design.

Reflection

The most challenging part of this project was to not be literal. I think I could have done a better job in choosing the images or elements. I think some of my designs thread on the fine line of being literal. I think for future projects, I need to try to see things from another perspective. Another problem that I had was, after arriving at one composition, I have the tendency to stick to it and run out of ideas to create a completely new one. Which is probably not good as an artist.

In terms of design principles, I think I have took risks in one or two compositions by steering away from safe design principles.  I focused mainly on avoiding symmetry for most of my designs. However I think I could have experimented with other design principles grouped under the gestalt theory, such as similarity and closure.

The silkscreen process overall was very good experience. It is something completely new that I had never done before, and the end result is satisfying after all the tests. I found that it helps to observe other people doing their printing. And try to mimic the actions of those successful. It was tricky adjusting the pressure exerted and motion of the hand. The amount of paint used matters too.

In the process of this project, Photoshop corrupted one of my files (ironically, while I was saving it). Though I managed to redo my work quickly, it was a reminder for me as an artist to always back up my work.

The outcome of the “class voting” was not surprising to me as I know which composition works well and which doesn’t. My classmates liked the frog and horse one the most. I think I’d need to improve more on idealization and conceptualisation more. I can start by making mind maps for my next assignment!

 

Forrest Gump Process

I document my designing and silk screening process here!

Compositions
  • The seaweed is always greener, in somebody else’s lake. – The Little Mermaid (1989)

As explained in the previous post, I wanted to show contrast in the image to convey the idea of “somebody else’s”. However, I made the mistake of starting off with a pretty literal choice of image which is the water / lake. The line going across the page made the composition very static. I chose a frog as my subject since it is known to be a territorial creature. After combining the two elements I could not think of other images to include. Hence I ditched this composition totally.

While looking for a suitable frog image to use in this composition, I came across a good photo so I imported it into photoshop and edited it to become an engraving. It was a happy accident that the background become a nice engraved pattern. So I thought of using it to suggest the idea of water, instead of literally using images of ponds and lakes. I erased some parts so that it’d look more graphic. The engraved pattern provided good separation between the black and white areas, so I decided to keep that in the composition. I inverted the colours of the seaweed so that it’d stand out against their respective backgrounds. But admittedly it was too literal. During consultation, Shirley suggested using something  else to represent the seaweed, like tadpoles maybe. Below is the design that I worked on before the final.

 

  • Fish are friends, not food. – Finding Nemo (2003)

My initial design was a bit too literal again since it is a fish, that seems to be a problem for me. I liked the irony of a fish eating another fish though. Composition wise, I like its simplicity. But I think this design would not have printed well so, rejected!

 

 

Since I liked the simple composition, I tried going for a similar concept. I tried replacing the fish with something else. I looked up animals that feed on fish. A lot of them were birds and bears. I didn’t want to work with a bear because I already have a panda in my other quote. I opted for a penguin and came up with the composition below. But I didn’t like the  final outcome. Something about the penguin puts me off. So rejected.

 

 

  • Anyone can cook but only the fearless can be great. – Ratatouille (2007)

Photoshop messed up my file for this composition! I pressed SAVE but it corrupted the file. The irony. So I redid my work, and thankfully, it actually turned out better than what I had originally.

THE CORRUPTED FILE. Sigh.

 

This is the new and improved design of what I had originally. I think the image is quite reflective of the quote. I didn’t chose this because it doesn’t convey the “can be great” part very well.

 

 

  • The past can hurt, but the way I see it, you can either run from it or learn from it. – The Lion King (1994)

I used a  horse to substitute the word “run”. The difficult part about this composition was finding suitable images. I couldn’t find an angle that I like initially so I warped the horse image but that was a bad choice. It looked amateurish and bad overall. So I decided to ditch this.

 

After I found a suitable image and combined the elements of time and hurt, I worked on the “learn from it” part. I chose to create a pathway with knives because paths represent journeys and journeys are our learning processes! The next step was to think about the background. It was hard thinking about what elements to introduce into the compositions. The branches are supposed to show the passing of time too but it turned out to be very awkward in this composition.

 

 

I tried going for a simple approach too, by using a solid black path. But I’m not sure about all the abundance of white. I think it’s more interesting to have an actual background. So I rejected this too.

 

Silk screening process

The fun part! First, we had to print our design onto transparency. After we have coated our silkscreen with the blue emulsion, we let it dry. We then place our transparency with the design on it and expose it to light.

After scrubbing off the unexposed parts, this is what I got:

 

Pleased that it turned out fine. I proceeded to do some test prints on paper. At first I thought “Wow, so simple”…

 

 

I WAS WRONG. I attempted a print on my personal tote bag but it failed. I went over my design too many times because the ink wouldn’t distribute well. If we compare it with my final design, we can see that some of the tadpole in the black background and the engraved pattern didn’t show up. The bottom part of the design is faded. The white details against black backgrounds didn’t show up well. I guess the trick is to have the right amount of paint, and the right “feeling” as you drag the swipey thing down once.

 

Left: personal tote bag print, right: design

 

Placing the paint. We masked the edges of the screen with tape to avoid smudges!

 

Then using one swift motion, we drag the paint down. My second try, with the provided tote bag this time.

 

Is it a success?!

 

Final designs and final print to be revealed in final submission post!

Forrest Gump: Research

This assignment requires us to come up with interesting compositions using dingbats based on movie quotes! It seems a lot harder than it sounds.

My chosen quotes are:

The seaweed is always greener, in somebody else’s lake. – The Little Mermaid (1989)

The key words are greener and somebody else’s. In this composition, I knew I wanted to show distinct contrast by using positive and negative space to depict “greener”. “Somebody else’s” suggests a territorial space to me. So I think I would want to create an environment in my composition. I might stick to the seaweed part, though I’ll need to be careful to not be literal.

 

Fish are friends, not food. – Finding Nemo (2003)

Keywords are friends and not food. It is a fairly simple quote which might be difficult to make less literal. I can substitute fish for something else — another animal perhaps. I searched for animals that have fish as their diet, and then I realised there’s actually quite a few choices. Birds, sea otters, penguins, bears just to name a few. As for the food part, I thought of using sushi images because it is related to fish but not too literal in terms of visuals.

 

Anyone can cook but only the fearless can be great. – Ratatouille (2007)

This quote is interesting because I can easily depict this in my composition. “Only the fearless can be great” can be seen through hierarchy. So in my composition will make use of that design principle. Leading lines can depict this phrase too. Keywords are anyone and cook. To me if anyone can cook, it means the dumbest of animals can! So I researched on the dumbest animal on earth and it seems that it is the panda. So I might want to play around with a panda attempting to cook.

 

The past can hurt, but the way I see it, you can either run from it or learn from it. – The Lion King (1994)

Keywords here are past, hurt, run away, and learn. “Past” can be conveyed through items related to time like clocks and hourglasses. “Hurt” can be seen through jagged lines, or sharp objects like knives, spears, arrows etc. Wounds and bandages might be possible signifiers too. I wanted to portray “run away” through an animal because having a living thing as a subject serves for a focal point in the composition in my opinion. So I thought of horses and cheetahs. “Learn” is a tricky keyword to portray. I researched on signifiers for learning and knowledge, but they were mostly generic stuff like books and brains. Learning is a journey, so I can probably signify that using a pathway.

I also did a simple search on what silkscreen artists are producing and found one that I can learn from. Below is illustrator and screen printer, Rob Corradetti’s company Killer Acid’s piece. The composition has a balance of white, black and “grey” areas, with the grey areas being lines. There is more white areas than black areas, so that the ink will show up better I think. Plus it gives the overall composition some breathing space in the chaotic design.

Taken from http://www.peopleofprint.com/general/people-of-print-20-screen-printers-you-should-know-about/

 

Here are two works that I can gain inspiration from. I like the composition below because of its use of negative and positive space complemented with a touch of engraving. It really draws my attention to the moon. There is balance in the entire composition as well. It’s a simple statement.

Taken from Pinterest.

 

Compared to the simple image above, the illustration below is very textured. There is application of design principles involved — such as asymmetry, and there is a good balance of textures and white space.

Taken from Pinterest. The Devil Makes Six (detail), ink on Bristol, 2016. Aaron Horkey art

 

Compositions and silkscreen process to be documented under Process.

My Line Is Emo

Foundation 2D: Project 1 Final Submission

 

Here are my explanations and personal interpretation for each panel. My understanding is that although this is a 2D assignment, we are allowed to experiment with textures and protruding elements. I made sure that the 3D entries still conveyed their emotions in a 2D form, i.e. a photograph.

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ThrillSudden feeling of excitement. A wild wave of emotion that “moves” tremendously. 

The keyword here is wild. I associate it with giddiness, which is why I tried to make dynamic circular strokes in the print. There is a focal point in the swirl, making the strokes seem like they are spiralling outwards.

 

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LoveThe feeling of affection and care for someone that grows even in dark times.

I tried to imagine flowy, elegant lines. I found this easier to achieve using sheer organdy cloth. In order to create rhythm, the flow starts out thin, then slowly bellows out. This portrayed growing love effectively. The soft material is effective in portraying gentleness and care.

 

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Sadness – A quiet and lethargic feeling of helplessness. Grey, rainy mentality.

I tried to portray a quiet sort of sadness. I used a lot of water for this emotion, to water down the intense black ink. The use of watercolour paper produced interesting patterns resembling tear stains. The white areas represent periodic emptiness.

 

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Uneasiness Discomfort in both body and mind. Inability to relax. 

I tried to show how thoughts run through our mind when we’re uneasy using repetitive tiny dot like marks. The random splatter of paint reminds me of sweat stains – physical discomfort. The voids at the side of the paper also makes me sort of uneasy.

 

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Suffering – A conscious endurance of pain. Emotional baggage.

I wanted the look of this emotion to be “heavy”. The hardened wax represents the emotional baggage we carry. It is latched onto our heart. It accumulates over time as we suffer. I layered a bit of black paint over the wax to darken the overall mood since it is a negative emotion.

 

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Bitterness – A form of anger and resentment that starts out small and burrows its way into our hearts.

The stabbing/digging of the styrofoam progresses from left to right to match the definition of bitterness eating away at our hearts. I experimented with layering black / grey paint over the texture, but for some reason black paint  took away depth and distracted the viewer from the texture of the styrofoam.

 

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Thoughts

It bothered me that the outcome of some panels aren’t what I originally intended them to be.  Sometimes they turn out better than the original intended emotion, sometimes they turn out worse. It made me explore other emotions, to see what else I can improve on to make the pattern convey the emotion better.

Before the presentation, we went around looking at everyone’s work and tagging our favourite pieces. It was interesting to find that “love” resonated with my classmates the most. I guess out of the six pieces it does convey the emotion more accurately and strongly. The material and how I arranged it probably caught people’s attention.

As suspected, “uneasiness” was not popular. I asked a lot of people about my portrayal of this emotion before submission and it was either a hit or miss. Some people agreed with my interpretation and could feel the uneasiness, while others were unsure. I suppose it really is up to your own personal interpretation. But it does feel good when people agree unanimously to a particular interpretation.

 

Mark Making Process

We spent class time to do some mark making so here is the documentation of the process! I brought a variety of materials – mostly organic because from my research I found that the textures created by organic materials are very appealing in general and are very versatile. I made sure to use different techniques to maximise the potential of the tools.

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Body Scrub

The first tool that I experimented with was a small body scrub. I dipped it in Chinese calligraphy ink so that it would soak up the ink.

I tried to manoeuvre the scrub differently on the paper to produce different textures. I used different stamping and swiping motions to achieve the results below. I find that it is a very versatile tool that can convey a variety of emotions.

Left: Stamping. Middle: Swiping. Right: Stamping while holding it vertically.

 

Silkworm cocoons

Next, I used some silkworm cocoons. Again, I tried to use different techniques with this one too. I tried rolling these around on paper, attaching them to my hands to tap on the paper, and even attaching one to a stick to see if the different movement would produce different results.

Slikworm cocoons

Attaching it to a toothpick produced a different movement over the paper which created different textures as opposed to just stamping.
Rolling around silkworm cocoons on paper.
Left: Rolling on paper.
Middle: Attaching a toothpick to one.
Right: Putting on fingers and using a tapping motion on paper.

 

Masking Tape

I said in my first post that I’d bring tape so I did. I brought masking tape so that I wouldn’t struggle with the adhesive and have problems like it ripping the paper. I tried stamping patterns using crumpled tape and some acrylic paint. The pattern produced at a good variety of small and large splotches.

Crumpled tape
Stamping on paper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stamping using crumpled tape.

 

Airplane socks

I found some airplane socks so I rolled one up to create a stamper. I swiped it across the paper too, and it produced strokes that resembled a paint brush. In the third column I flung the sock on the paper. The loose threads created long tense looking lines that reminds me of the emotion “frustration” so I may want to consider it as one of my final pieces for that emotion.

Rolled up sock.
Left: Stamping.
Middle: Swiping.
Right: Flinging.

 

Seashells

Using seashells didn’t exactly produce the results that I wanted. It’s shape covered a very small surface area and the paint was very concentrated. The patterns do convey enthusiasm to me, however I may want to experiment with them some more. The shell with protruding jagged points convey “timidness” to me as it produced these small clutters of lines that seem to fade away.

Shells
Attempt to stamp using the back of shells.
Left: Spiral seashell.
Middle: Shell with protruding jagged points.
Right: Smooth regular seashell.

 

CD

The CD was one of the few hard surface objects that I brought. It produced very hard-edged prints. Cutting it up was a challenge. I was inspired by the torn paper collage technique and tried to use shattered CD bits but it was difficult as cutting up a CD was not easy. In the end I cut just enough to see if the idea works. The print had more defined shapes as compared to the other prints.  tried using the shattered edge of the CD as a brush too – this worked pretty well. The unusual strokes produced are not easily replicated by other objects in my opinion.

Cutting up a CD!
Printing using a CD.
Left: Scattering CD bits.
Right: Using shattered edge of CD as a brush.

 

String

I brought two types of string to play with. The fluffy string produced textures similar to the sock. It conveys “panic” to me. The paper string conveys “apprehension” through the thin strokes produced.

Fluffy string
Paper string
Left: Swiping motion using paper string.
Middle: Stamping using paper string.
Right: Stamping using fluffy string.

 

Hair roller

The hair roller produced patterns that would be difficult to replicate as well. It reminds me of “sadness” when I look at the print. A child-like sort of sadness if you will.

Hair roller
Left: Rolling motion.
Right: Swiping motion.

 

Cling Wrap

In school I tried stamping using cling wrap. But at home I tried to do it the other way instead. I laid out my cling wrap and put paint on it first. I then placed my paper on top of the cling wrap.

Left: Stamping using cling wrap.
Right: Secondary stamping using the same cling wrap.

 

Ink on cling wrap using cotton ball.
Outcome of the ink placed on cling wrap using cotton balls.
Ink on cling wrap using body scrub.
Outcome of ink placed on cling wrap using a scrub.

 

Using a press

The first time I used the press was a fail because the paint was too thinly spread that it didn’t seep through the tiny holes of the cloth. However I improvised and stamped the leftover paint on the board onto the paper which showcased the texture of the cloth better. I then tried again with cotton fluffs instead. The paint didn’t seep through either, but instead gave me a print with negative space.

Stamped using a textured cloth with the help of a press.
Fluffs of cotton on top of block printing ink.
Marks from the objects with ink resting on top of it.

 

Foam pieces

I picked up from foam pieces from Foundation 3D class because I noticed that they were uniquely textured! One of the pieces had this rounded pattern already on it, the other had imperfect machine cutter marks. I tried both stamping and dragging the pieces. Both performed well and I am pleased with the outcome of the prints.

 

Glue on cardboard

I tried using glue to create some negative space in my prints. I put the glue on a piece of cardboard and waited for it to dry before putting some ink on it and pressing a piece of paper over it. Some of the cardboard texture got transferred on it as well, which gave an interesting look.

Glue on cardboard.

 

Styrofoam

I got myself a styrofoam board to play with since it is a very textured material on its own. I first jabbed it using the end of a paintbrush to further texture it and then stamped the ink onto paper. I really like the outcome, I think it is a good interpretation of depression. I then jabbed a pair of scissors into it to create “crumbs” of styrofoam and printed with that too.

 

Ice

I froze some ink water because why not. Since I had no control of the ice melting, it gave wonderfully flowy results. The ink did come out diluted though, which is why I decided to go over the paper a second time after the first layer dried. That produced contrast. The advantage of using water colour paper was that the texture of it shows through the print.

Ink ice on cardboard.

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After looking at what sort of patterns and textures can be produced by different materials, I started to narrow down on the choice of emotions.

Here are the emotions and their definitions that I try to portray in my mark making.

Love: the feeling of affection and care for someone that grows even in dark times.

Thrill:  a wild wave of emotion that “moves” tremendously.

Sadness: when you’re sad your outlook is kind of grey. When I think sadness I think of rain.

Uneasiness: uncomfortable in both body and mind, pacing

Bitterness: a form of anger and resentment that starts out small and burrows its way into our hearts.

Suffering: conscious endurance of pain, a feeling that hardens your heart.

 

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Some of the textures above convey these emotions, but some was questionable so I had to go make more stuff focusing on those emotions.

 

Thrill

The dynamic shapes produced by the broken CD was great for expressing thrill. It just lacked circular motion to convey the “crazy” and “excitement” element, so I made a few variation prints at home and picked one best one for my final submission.

Printing using a CD.
Two variations of “thrill” excluding final pick.

 

Love

At first I wanted to go for a passionate sort of love and came up with this, but it did not translate very well.

Since we are encouraged to experiment with 3D methods too, I tried to look for soft, white material to manipulate on a black background to fit my definition. I found this cloth called organdy. It is a very sheer and crisp type of cloth. I thought it would be perfect for “love”. I cut off a strip and twisted it to create wave like patterns on a black board. It was actually a very difficult material to work with, because glue didn’t adhere very well to the fine cloth. Final outcome in final submission post.

Organdy cloth.

 

Sadness

I had two prints that portray different forms of sadness. First one is a more aggressive sort of sadness, and the second one is one that is more quiet. Second one produced very interesting textures that resemble tear stains. Plus the grey tone went went with the definition of sadness. Hence I chose the second print.

Printing using styrofoam. It looks like a heavy downpour almost.
Dragging the ice block of ink on water colour paper.

 

Uneasiness 

I had a few prints to consider for uneasiness. First one makes the viewer pretty uncomfortable. It does convey the emotion, however the look is constant throughout and kind of boring. Second one shows pacing which is nice, but I think it’s a pretty common portrayal. I chose the last one because it had the best contrast in terms of patterns. There are many small tiny dots to show the thoughts running through my mind. The little random splatters kind of reminds me of sweat – which is possible when you’re uneasy.

Rolling around silkworm cocoons on paper.
Monoprinting.

 

Suffering

For this one, I had no intention to create the emotion suffering, I was just experimenting with melted wax because it produced beautiful textures. I melted the wax on top of both white and black paper to see what difference the background makes. I initially couldn’t interpret the emotion from both at all. Then I thought about how your heart and mindset sort of “hardens” in suffering. So I decided to do one extra step and layer black paint over the wax to make it less white and blend in more with its black background. I made sure to leave some whitish areas for contrast. That helped add darkness to the overall look and convey “suffering” better.

Melting wax.
Outcome of melting wax.

 

Bitterness

I was going for the emotion “frustration” in this one, but after looking at the outcome, I adjusted it to “bitterness” as it is more accurate. I had a styrofoam board that I used for mono printing but why not use it for the actual work instead. I tried different ways of stabbing and digging at the board. I thought of the emotion which to me sort of builds up with time so I knew I wanted a progression of stabbing/digging. After I decided on how the digging should look like, I tried to put black paint over it, since it was a negative emotion. However the black paint distracts the viewer from the textures, so I opted to go with the clean, white one instead for my final piece.

The black paint was too distracting and didn’t let the texture show through.

Mark Making Research

Before experimenting and trying out mark making in class next week, I thought I’d go do more research on it so that I am aware of the possibilities of this form of art.

Mark making is used to describe lines, patterns and textures on any surface of our art piece. I suppose any form of mark – be it a dot, scratch or smudge – is deemed mark making. It is interesting that although a mark on its own may be insignificant, a series of markings may mean something. It is able to express emotion, be conceptual or symbolic.

I found an article on thoughtco.com about how marks are used in paintings which I thought was interesting and not exactly what people think about. I learnt that the different styles of artists can originate from a simple mark. For instance, the example given by the website is Vincent Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” (1889) and “The Bedroom: (1889). The paintings are completely different. Different themes, different colours. However it is still recognisable as Van Gogh’s work because of the distinct layers of strokes that he uses. Another painter with distinct strokes or marks that I already know of is Claude Monet.

Link to the website: https://www.thoughtco.com/how-does-mark-making-affect-your-paintings-2577630

Van Gogh, Starry Night (1889) | Taken from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-dalio/starry-nights-from-the-film-touched-with-fire_b_9227378.html
Van Gogh, The Bedroom | Taken from http://www.jackygallery.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=498

Mark making is closely related to automatism (or automatic drawing) and mono printing. Automatic drawing is drawing without thinking, and avoiding conscious control of your actions.  Here are the types of techniques categorised under automatism (and my own explanations/definitions to refer back to):

  • Frottage – brass rubbing
  • Decalcomania – method similar to the ink blot test
  • Torn Paper Collage – torn paper randomly dropped onto canvas and then glued
  • Grattage – scraping wet / dry paint on canvas using a scraping tool
  • Sand Painting
  • Froissage – soaking a crumpled piece of paper in ink, creating a veined effect
  • Coulage – pouring molten metal materials into water to solidify into shapes

There is an artist that creates interesting, mystical images using the decalcomania technique. Oscar Dominguez primarily uses black gouache on canvas. He spreads the gouache thinly on a sheet of paper before pressing it to his canvas. Despite the lack of colours, the images created are fantasy like and show some sort of narrative. There are various textures on the canvas which bring attention to his work.

Oscar Dominguez, Decalcomania | Taken from https://decalcomaniaproject.wordpress.com/decalcomanias/art-2/
Oscar Dominguez, Decalcomania | Taken from https://www.pinterest.com/pin/134756213822517034/

A piece of work that is done using the frottage and grattage technique that I really like is Snow Flowers by Max Ernst (1929).  Though he uses colours for this piece, I can observe that the scraped white paint on the black canvas gives a very interesting effect, something that I may want to try for my own project.  Depending on the tool used for scraping, I think it will give different results every time which would be fun for experimenting.

Snow Flowers by Max Ernst (1929) | Taken from https://www.artsy.net/artwork/max-ernst-fleurs-de-neige-snow-flowers

André-Pierre Arnal is an artist that uses the froissage technique. It reminds me of tie-dye. What is interesting about the froissage technique is that you do not necessarily need any other tool other than your “canvas” to produce the patterns and textures. It shows that choosing the right canvas for your work makes a difference in the final outcome of the art piece. Combining the froissage method with decalcomania and frottage / grattage might produce more interesting textures in my opinion. 

André-Pierre Arnal, Froissage | Taken from https://www.ceyssonbenetiere.com/en-exhibition-Andre-Pierre-Arnal-2015-luxembourg-1011.html
André-Pierre Arnal, Froissage | Taken from https://www.wikiart.org/en/andre-pierre-arnal/froissage

Mono printing is similar to  stamping.  The following are the techniques:

  • Printing from glass
  • Printing from acetate
  • Overprinting
  • Linear drawing – paper placed over rolled out ink on a glass slab, use pencil to go over it
  • Developing textures – making blobs onto paper directly from the paint tube

I found artists that found their own method of making mono prints! Mitch Lyons dyes wet clay with paint, scrapes of some layers off of it and then lays his canvas on top of it to create prints. 

Mitch Lyons, Clay Mono print | Taken from https://www.pinterest.com/pin/477944579175418370/

Martha Castillow is another such artist that does clay mono prints. I never thought of printing this way before. It is unlikely that I am able to do something like that in a few weeks for my assignment, but I can definitely gain some inspiration from their technique.

Martha Castillow, Clay Mono Print | Taken from https://www.pinterest.com/pin/277745501997329908/

I also went on to Pinterest to gain ideas on what I can use for my mark making assignment. I created a mini board for some of my favourite images.

Looking through Pinterest, I see that marks created by organic items seem the most interesting, though marks created by hard surface objects can look interesting too depending on how you use them. Binding stuff together to make your own brushes seem to be popular.

I turned to Instagram next to see what ordinary artists / people like us are using for mark making. It does not seem to be a popular form of art on Instagram, but I found some images that I can gain inspiration from.

A number of people liked to stick materials to the ends of sticks / brushes to make their own custom brush, while a handful of people liked to use branches, twigs and leaves for their prints.

 

I really like this image above, because this artist used a variety of organic and inorganic materials. The patterns produced are definitely of interest.

After scrolling and looking at more work, I have some ideas for my tools but I’m still looking for an “aha!” material. Something that is different and fun.  I am going to bring organic and inorganic items to experiment during class time.

Other than the materials used, the techniques used can also make interesting marks. I am inspired by the Torn Paper Collage method and intend to experiment with broken CD parts instead of paper.  Combining materials is also something that I’d like to try.