dhanusha001 – Page 2 – Just another Open Source Studio site

Magazine cover: “Style” inspiration

For this magazine cover I have chosen the word style and I’m interested in exploring the combination of two different styles to form another.Combining photography and illustrative overlay, it gives this playful artsy vibe to the work and also more visual interest in terms of texture.the illustrations allow me to explore the different textures I could work withIt makes the piece look more modern/street,depending on the kind of illustration that’s being explored.Here are some inspiration images below.

These first two images look more dreamy and playful, as the illustrations are more realistic(fishes, seahorse corals),whereas in the image below, its more abstract as lines,organic forms and solid colours are being used.

Related image

Im very inspired by this artist named Ana Strumpf, http://www.anastrumpf.com.br,but her works normally features very feminine girly designs on women.Although I know what style im going for im not sure of the composition, and how to include the elements I want to.I need to choose a dynamic image of Gordon Ramsay first and then consider how im going to illustrate over him.The article I chose mentioned certain elements like steak, sea bass, wine etc. But, im unsure of how to tie the whole thing together.I feel that illustrating over gordon may risk me losing that more classy looking vibe I was going for initially for my cover.I want it to look more avant grade/street yet maintain that elegant vibe.

Fun Magazine Cover Doodle Art by Ana Strumpf & Hattie Stewart

Options for the base of my cover:

http://www.officalcharts.com/gordon-ramsay-cookware/gordon-ramsay-cookware-terrific-maze-white-covered-casserole-discontinued-gordon-ramsay-by-royal/

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjnvc72i7LgAhVGfCsKHcaHCewQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.com%2Frootsartskyart%2Fsky-art%2F&psig=AOvVaw1G8ZjI4CwkTKTRiQXN26JS&ust=1549919922677342

https://www.seattlemet.com/articles/2010/1/12/masterchef-seattle-011210

https://www.pinterest.com/mei7272/.

Stylized self portrait

My interest lies in collaging images to create my own artwork.I normally find these images in magazines and comics and I usually bring them together in my own vision.I thought applying a similar concept for my assignment would be true to me and at the same time I would enjoy doing it. I find myself to be a patchwork of a lot of different things , so the idea of collaging also sat well with me. Since there is a subject for this work, my face, I decided to opt for a pixellated collage technique which allows me to control the image produced (usually for my own works I lay out my material and compose something out of that material, so I’m unaware of the end product) at the same time stylize it.Although it appears simple,I knew this technique would be challenging as there are many tones involved in making the pixellated artwork look identifiable in the end at the same time visualizing which tones go where and how to shade.I took inspiration from the pictures below as well as the Pantone artwork introduced by Lisa.

Word List:

Food

Healthy (salad, fruits, nuts, eggs)
Junk ( ice cream, cookies)

Gym

Leg and booty day
Weights
Feeling strong

Art

colourful
experimental/eclectic
Bold
digital/traditional

fashion

branded goods
girly/princess

Private

Pet

hamsters (nike and nugget <3 )

I decided to find icons in line with my wordlist as starting material to compose my final work and I’m using this selfie as reference.I collated some of the icons below.

Originally I used this image but it was not very compositionally exciting.Lisa told me to maybe add a prop like in this Audrey Hepburn image, where she poses with a super long cigarette.

So, I looked through my photos and found one where I was interacting with a chair and I thought that could be my “prop” and opted for this image instead.

I proceeded crop the image and then convert the colours into the primary colours using the threshold tool.This would minimise matching of pixels and icons I would have to do if I didn’t limit the colour scheme.I adjusted the threshold to 3 different levels and adjusted their hues and layered them back on to each other.

Then I experimented with a few different degrees of pixelation.

Cell size :170

At first I chose the cell size to be 170 as I didn’t want to deal with too many icons.

Cell size:130Cell size:40

After choosing the cell size I proceeded to patch the icons together and lay it over my pixelated image.

I realised that combining the icons and pixelation made it look very messy.Upon consultation I was told to reduce the pixel size so that it was obvious it was a persons face and also adjust the hue of the icon to match the pixel colour at the back to make it look more seamless.I reduced the cell size to 9 and then I started collaging the icons over the pixels and ended up with this.

I also changed the composition to landscape to provide more breathing space like in the Audrey Hepburn image.The icons blended better when they were changed to blue and red respectively, however their hue was too close to the original colour of the pixels.When I printed it out the icons would disappear.

I added a semi opaque white layer over the artwork to make the icons pop and it’s soothing on the eyes.

This is how it turned out

Working with primary colours has helped me realise that its important to achieve balance using it, if not it would be too jarring.Personally a ratio of 3:1:1 of the stated colours work best . what worked for me was using blue as the shadow ,red as the mid tone and yellow as the highlight colour, or the main colour.I wanted to create a more uplifting vibe to my final work.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/281052832973678761/

http://gimpchat.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=12379&start=190

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/30117891228460898/?lp=true

http://www.analog-pixel-art.com/gallery_2.html

Hyperessay:Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirrored Room – The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away

Image from: https://www.thebroad.org/art/yayoi-kusama/infinity-mirrored-room-souls-millions-light-years-away

Yayoi Kusama, born March 22 , 1929, grew up as the youngest of four children in an affluent family. She is a Japanese contemporary artist who was a self-described “obsessional artist,” known for her extensive use of polka dots and for her infinity installations. Her father, spent most of his time away from home womanizing, leaving his angry wife to physically abuse and emotionally torment her youngest child.Kusama began painting as a child, as a coping mechanism from hallucinations she began experiencing that often involved fields of dots. Those hallucinations and the theme of dots would continue to inform her art throughout her career. Obsessive repetition continued to be a theme in Kusama’s sculpture and installation which were the primary forms of her artwork. Kusama was also inspired by artists across a variety styles including pop, minimalism, and surrealism.The artwork I chose for this hyper essay is Yayoi Kusama’s infinity room, specifically, the one titled The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away.

Introduced in the 1960s, the Infinity mirrored rooms are interactive, large-scale pieces invite viewers to wander through surreal environments. Although it is different from her famous polka dot patterns, the concept of repetition is reflected in her infinity rooms.A room is completely covered with mirrored walls and filled with thousands of small LED lights hang from the ceiling ,which appear as pulsating dots. The floor is covered in a shallow pool of water, except for the standing area in the middle.As the multitude of lights reflect, they accumulate and expand exponentially. It is a mesmerising immersive artwork that surrounds the viewer and encourages them to explore space and time. The closest thing to experiencing these artworks in person, would be a virtual reality simulation that would replicate its visual elements within a headset. The 360-degree experiences of Kusama’s “Infinity” rooms are similar to VR technology. By leaving the space of ones usual sensibilities in the ‘real world’,one enters into communication with a space that is physically innovating, in turn creating an alternate reality for the viewers. Infinity may be a difficult concept to grasp, but it is easy to contemplate when you step inside one of artist Yayoi Kusama’s iconic Infinity Mirror Rooms. It’s her way of describing the experience of being alive, because the concept of infinity reflects the idea of locating yourself as an individual within an infinite time and space. After all, her art depicts the psychotic hallucinations Kusama has endured since a childhood of abuse and neglect. “I felt as if I had begun to self-obliterate, to revolve in the infinity of endless time … and be reduced to nothingness,”.It’s almost as though you’ve been instantly transported from a gallery into Kusama’s obsessive mind.

When you peer over the solid platform inside the room, your knees wobble and your stomach sinks, as the sides of your vision blur, your image is reflected across the mirrored planes, and you lose the certainty of where your skin ends and the art begins.With her mirrored rooms, she seizes control of the gaze to disorient viewers. She wanted to shift the focus away from the viewers having an authorial master perspective.Power, authority and totalitarian regimes were being questioned.It allows one to reflect on their relativity within this vast universe and be able to be represented or even at peace with the insignificance of yourself in relation to it. That destabilisation of perspective and maybe even fragmentation of the self was something that was very much embraced. The quiet, meditative space is a reflection on life and the inevitability of death- subjects that have fascinated Kusama since she was a child. She explains that her work “does battle at the boundary between life and death, questioning what we are and what it means to live and die”.The seams of the mirrored walls blend in with the hanging lights, gets you the closest to obliteration, with the lights even shutting off completely during your stay—but flicker back to life, lest you feel totally expunged.The lights and objects in the rooms represent her anchors to reality as Kusama guides you along her stand about self-annihilation. By encouraging visitors to contemplate their existence the artwork emphasises the interconnectedness we have to each other and the universe. Kusama said,”By using light, their reflection, and so on, I wanted to show the cosmic image beyond the world where we live”. Infinity is an impossible concept, And the flip side of infinity is mortality, and so her work is about confronting and overcoming that we as human beings are bound to die.

Word count:764

Bibliography:

https://www.theartstory.org/artist-kusama-yayoi.htm

https://uk.phaidon.com/agenda/art/articles/2017/october/19/when-yayoi-kusama-created-her-first-ever-infinity-room/

https://gizmodo.com/explore-the-extraordinary-glittering-infinity-rooms-of-1471382304

https://www.theartstory.org/artist-kusama-yayoi.htm

History of design

From my perspective, the concept of design can be seen in anything to everything.It ranges from fashion design,plating of food in the culinary world, architecture,Interior design and in advertisements, etc. Though I cannot place which of these forms that design made its ‘breakthrough’, it must have started during a pretty early period in time. The first image that popped into my head was the first airplane ever made, thus I have chosen to begin the history of design in 1903.

Zine : Dakota Final

In my last post, I made a presentation based off the first time I went to Dakota. Since then I have revisited the area a few times and have done more exploration/research. As needed, i’ll post the additional pics of my discoveries in this post instead. After exploring Dakota,I realised that there were many types of patterns,being repeated throughout the place I was inspired by the patterns and tessellations, to create my own collection of patterns and prints. I thought of making a catalogue, whereby each page is a pattern is dedicated to a particular observation and each catalogue, to a different location in Singapore.

Cover page and Back page – Map

My cover and back page will be my 2 page spread, which I chose to use to represent the map of Dakota.I thought since my entire zine is encompassing my observations of Dakota as an area, it would be quite apt to use the map print to “Encompass” the content inside my zine as well. I got a screenshot from google maps of Dakota and marked out the route I took on both the days i visited the place.Black would represent the first day,and red the second. While the yellow would be the areas i covered within the clusters of blocks aside from the streets that are visible on the google map.Then i sectioned out the area i would be using to based my design off of.

I decided to use the lines from the path i marked to create this pattern.

After creating the original design (no pic), I realised the lines were too thin and the corners of the turns were too sharp , at 90 degree angles. I felt that because of the thin lines there was too much negative space which made the pattern look imbalanced and the corners made my design look to rigid/tense. I opted for thicker lines and more rounded curves, in the picture above,to make it seem more cohesive as a pattern. I also opted for a beige background, to give that vintage/nostalgic vibe that Dakota has. The circle at the ends of each line represent the start and end points respectively.I used triadic colours,red,yellow and blue to make the coverage more vibrant .The font and placing was inspired by a few ikea catalogues I referenced,whereby the year would be placed vertically next to the bold yet minimalistic text. After consulting mimi, She suggested using a sub header, which would give viewers more insight into what the zine is about.I placed the text ‘Katalog 2018’ at the bottom right of the back page , so if it were on the shelf the viewer can see which book they’re reaching for. Also some fine print at the bottom of the cover page to mimic the ikea catalogue.

Page 2 – Metalwork/Dakota crescent

This page is represents the area Dakota crescent.I began by drawing out the shapes of the 6 types of designs I saw on the metal grills of the housing at Dakota Crescent as shown below. I chose the shade of orange as it was one of the most recurring shade of orange I saw in Dakota as a whole.Later I opted for a more muted shade of orange as I felt like the orange did not represent Dakota crescent as an area itself.It was not as lively and the colour scheme in that area was more subdued in nature.

After consulting Mimi,she suggested using a wider variety of colours. I used the colour of the metal itself as a background for each individual design out of the 6. The metals they used were mainly pastel pink and blue,the rest either brown or white.I generated a pastel colour scheme and used it instead.I decided to use this set of 6 as a repeated cluster throughout this page and proceeded to copy and paste them next to each other.I realised that the pattern lacked a sense of rhythm so it ended up looking messy.Hence, i aligned them in a fashion where the prints running diagonally alternate in colour.

Page 3 – Cats and tessellation

This page is also dedicated to Dakota Crescent.As the area is abandoned, many cats have occupied the area .Tessellations were also prominent in the area, the tiles on the floor, the patterns along side the buildings and within the decorative design of the neighbourhood itself. I combined these two observations together and came with a cat tessellation.I began sketching out a rough shape based of a cat I saw resting above an abandoned childcare and used this as my main unit in my design. I plotted the shape on graph paper to achieve more accurate/proportionate results.If one of the units were out of shape, it would not form a proper tessellation.Then I filled in the colours of the units based on the colours of the cats that I encountered,to achieve the final design.

Page 4 -Texture

There were many interesting and different textures all around Dakota, some of the few I decided to include in this pattern are listed below.

From top to bottom

Sand – seen at the dove playground , one of the few sand pit playgrounds left in Singapore (in dove pic below)
Blue mosaic tiles — these tiles covered the body of the dove at the playground
Paint on wall – HDB blocks were mainly white with hints of burnt orange paint
Marble – Tiles on the walls of these blocks were white with a smokey grey and partially mimicked the look and feel of real marble.
Gravel/pebbles -Tiles alongside the blocks
Weathered paint-Prominent in the abandoned Dakota crescent area
Vandalism – Some seen on the floor of HDB blocks

I wanted to compile these textures into a single pattern but was afraid that they wouldn’t look unified and maybe bit jarring as each texture has a lot of details. I layered the different textures together and used wavy distorted lines to represent the uneasy feeling i felt entering the location as well as to give some consistency to the pattern.Also the scale of each texture is based on the proportion of it i have seen at Dakota.

Page 5 – Cassia crescent

Exploring a little outside Dakota Crescent, I came across this area called Cassia crescent. What I thought was unique about this place is that the pillars of the each of the HDB block had its own unique design,mostly paintings of flowers. I wanted to stick with a floral theme for the next pattern, so I began to find images of the flowers I saw with transparent backgrounds and compiled them together.I arranged them in chronological order of them being seen following the golden ratio.

Page 6 – Crowd

When I went to Dakota during the night time, I realised it was much more happening and there was more human activity as compared to the day time.Inspired by the geometric shapes around Dakota,I used a circle paired with a square in the middle to represent a person.As the pattern progresses from the bottom to the top, the squares get smaller but the circles remain the same.This is to create a gradient effect similar to how the crowd in Dakota thins out from night to day.

Page 7 – Openness/Spaciousness

Since old Kallang airport used to be at Dakota, the blocks were built to be low rise to accommodate for the jets to fly by. As the area is also undergoing redevelopment,there are lots of open patches of land for future construction. The openness of the sky and the amount of space there was around me inspired the design for the next print.

I selected a brown-toned recycled paper background for this print as it gave off that natural earthy vibe that was present in the grass around me.I took a picture of the landscape from a high point and drew free form shapes of the land. I outlined them in orange to represent the land undergoing construction as the soil had a orange hue and the grass was destroyed,whereas the shapes in green had its grass intact. I added the smaller shapes to represent the trees and also to create more balance with the negative and positive space within the design.

FEEDBACK

Improve on paper quality/Craftsmanship

Paper quality was too thin and flimsy, thicker paper similar to paint catalogues could have been used .

Not site specific

I feel that my zine is mainly abstract images , So my perception of Dakota is based on my explanation of it. Although, the floral print could have been further improved as they were pretty literal as compared to my other prints. Maybe instead of using the flowers themselves, play with their colour or shapes instead.

Zine research & presentation : Dakota

Bags across time and culture + sketches/final outcome

 
 
 
JAPANESE BAGS Komebukuro bag



Komebukuro or “Rice Bag”, is usually made from small pieces of cloth – either hemp or cotton – that have been stitched together in a playful or spirited manner.





were for made for everyday common folk and  used to carry offerings of rice to Japanese temples or shrines.Usually features drawstring closures

borofabrics, Japan's mended and patched textiles are referred to as boro, or ragged.

Boro textiles are usually sewn from nineteenth and early twentieth century rags and patches of indigo dyed cotton.Large variety of fabrics used: hemp, ramie and other natural fibres in the form of work clothing, farm bags, rustic netting, wrapping cloths and futon covers.

I began researching into bag designs for this project based off the kind of bag I needed at the moment.Recently, I’ve been going for 40 minute runs ,and One of the problems I encounter when I’m going on long runs, is that I find myself pretty dehydrated mid run.I would leave my water bottle at the starting point and I would only be able to drink when I returned to this point.I found this to be quite inconvenient as 1) I would have to preplan the route I’m taking ( normally I run freely), 2)I would hold my essentials(cards,house keys,phone,headphone), in my hand,and my headphone cord keeps moving around.Sometimes I opt out of listening to music entirely as the headphones keep falling out when swing my arms.So,I decided to come up with a bag pack designed for me to bring my water bottle as well as my essentials along with me without hindering my run.I wanted something that would be small ,flat,streamlined with thick straps to spread out the weight of the bag at the same time staying secure to my body.With this,I began researching into sports brands like puma and nike for some inspiration.Nike’s bag packs tend to have sleek minimal and functional designs- I picked out a few bags that I liked as shown.

However,I thought that if I brought a 1.5L water bottle it would either move around within the bag too much or the bag would not be long enough in length to accommodate for the water bottle.During my research I came across this bag which resembled what I described and found out that they’re called hydration packs. A hydration pack is a type of hydration system built as a backpack containing a reservoir or “bladder” commonly made of rubber or flexible plastic. The reservoir contains a capped mouth for filling with liquid and a hose that allows the wearer to drink hands-free.

I then proceeded to look more into various hydration pack design and functionality.

Based off of the designs i found, I came up with a few sketches of the bag I wanted to design.I settled for the design on the right page,and made a mini paper mockup of the bag pack. However I made adjustments to the design as I went along with the project. After making the mockup i realised i had trouble visualising the front of the bag and creating that torpedo shape originally planned for the bag.So i decided to fold paper over the paper mockup that i had and mould the paper into the shape as essentially the paper is supposed to mimic cloth, that does not have much structure.

After some experimentation, I ended up with the product below.Overall,I feel some improvements to be made would be to maybe make the bag more narrow and the main body of the bag bigger as I feel that the straps might be too large in proportion to the bag itself.Also the paper i used for the body of the bag was thinner than that of the straps,so It would be easier to mould.,I could consider using paper slightly thicker,to prevent the paper from getting overworked resulting in a more polished outcome.

Mobile phone dock and speaker

For this project we were tasked to create a mobile phone dock/speaker.The speaker had to have these three functions:1) phone fits into the dock, 2) phone is charged with a connector, 3) speakers. Since there was so much freedom in how we could design the speaker itself,I decided to base my designs off animals and sketch out some of my ideas. Initially I began to sketch out some of my ideas without thinking too much about the 3D form o the 3 functions my speaker had to have.Also,I wanted the end speaker to have more than one function,to play music and to act as a night light.These were some of my sketches:

Most of my sketches ended up being inspired by a rabbit and I also noticed they were pretty spherical in structure.I already worked with spheres last semester so I decided to work with more rectangular ones instead.I thought of combining the idea of propping up the phone with the two rabbits (topmost pic) with a boombox speaker inspired design. I proceeded to sketch out more designs for the boombox base and picked out the one I liked the best.The base would contain the iPhone dock and speaker and the two rabbits would light up according to the music.I had some difficulty visualising my design in 3D in terms of scale and from the side view of the product and I felt that drawing on the foam with the iPhone measurements helped a lot.From here I decided to improvise my design along the way.

The base was relatively easy to make.I cut the foam into a rectangular block, based off the measurements of the iPhone.Then I Cut a well in the middle of the base to act as the iPhone dock.The iPhone would be plugged into here and it would rest on the ears of the two bunnies.To make the bunnies,i started off with a rectangular block, and marked out where i want the ears to be and how tall i wanted the body to be.From there I cut off the excess with a foam cutter and sanded the rest to the desired shape.

Final model

Project 1- Image making through type

In Project 1, we were tasked to express 4 jobs via typography. Since the project gives us a lot of freedom in the jobs we could explore, I narrowed it into these jobs: Plastic surgeon,Barber,Race car driver and Bartender.For each job I proceeded to create a mood box and select a few colour schemes, to give me a starting point in my research and also for some inspiration.

BARTENDER
For this composition,I was inspired by how bartenders perform tricks and mix different types of alcohol using their cocktail shakers. Also the alcohol bottles comes in a variety of colours and forms which provide me more material to see patterns .Font wise,i decided to use some of the coasters I've collected from bars to give me an idea of what font to base my design off. I notice from the coasters that font varies from Thick and bold, cursive and elegant and thin.The colour scheme I've selected for this design is based off the colour of whiskey,which comprises of mainly orange,red,and yellow.
  
  

There was too much details on the cocktail shaker drawing attention away from my lettering,thus the letter D was drowned out.I decided to thicken the line quality for the D H and A, and removed the unnecessary details from the ice cubes and shaker making my name more prominent in my design.Orange is an energetic colour and pops compared to grey which is dull and recedes into the background.I coloured the lettering in orange to bring it out more.

PLASTIC SURGEON

When I think of plastic surgery,liposuction,lip fillers, botox and breast augmentation surgery are the few procedures that come to mind.I decided to create lettering based off of these surgeries.Cosmetic surgery focuses on "before and after" effect.The font tends to be more aesthetic,whereby the fonts are more elegant,clean and minimalistic with more 'curves'.Pink is sometimes used in the logos as it is a feminine colour,while teal gives off the normal clinic/medical vibe. 

   

For this composition the first two letters D and H the focus is on the positive space whereas for the A and N it is on the negative space.Mimi commented that my D H and N was not obvious enough,So I changed the icon for the lettering itself.
D = Rhinoplasty/facelift
H = Breast augmentation surgery
A = Tummy tuck
N = Fat transfer/butt lift
I used both pink and teal in this design to differentiate between the before and after effects of plastic surgery and to mimic surgical markings.

BARBER
Emblematic logos seem to be a running theme when I looked into barber shop logo designs. An emblem logo consists of font inside a symbol or an icon; think badges, seals and crests,which means that within the emblem itself,there are repeating motifs:scissors,combs,razors..etc. The font tends to be capitalised and bolded with minimal spacing between the letters.For this composition I decided to create my initials using the repeating motifs. Apart from the blue and red colour scheme normally associated with barber shops because of the barber pole,black,white and green is used.

RACE CAR DRIVER
5
  
Inspired by the negative space used in the F1 logo I decided to do racer for the final composition.The F1 cars have many brand sponsors that can be seen on the drivers' suit cars itself,ranging from cigarette brands,electronic brands and even telcos.These companies' logos have fonts that tend to be minimalistic but bold,focusing on the lettering themselves.Since most of these logos are rather flat and just text,i wanted to incorporate some perspective to make the design more convincing.The colours seem to be mainly red,black and white with hints of yellow. 
  


The form of this design was too similar to one of the F1 older generation logos.The original logo was designed to resemble the minimal form of the F1 circuit, so by adding more detail (lengthen track, lane markings) to the circuit it seems like the car is zooming in and out of the paper, adding depth to the design.

Open source as a culture

Open source refers to something people can modify and share because its design is publicly accessible. Likewise, Open source software is software with source code that anyone alter, and enhance. Open source projects, products, allow for open exchange of content, collaborative participation, rapid prototyping and community-oriented development. OS challenges the proprietary model of cultural and technological production. In the reading, Siva argued that it is the “default way of doing things”. In the 1980s, the rapid adoption of proprietary information was so intense and influential that we hardly remember another way. However, in the recent years the benefits of OS have become clear. OS allows for more control over the software.Users can examine the code to make sure it’s not doing anything they don’t want it to do, and they can change parts of it they don’t like.In addition, it provides training as users are able to learn from each others mistakes,since it is an open platform.