Ego in Different Setting Process

First I roughly sketched out a few ideas I had in mind in my sketchbook.

(First Box: I guessed I am described as a Chinchilla, I am hyperactive and bounce around a lot.

Second Box: I’m kind of the person that wants to interact with others.

Third Box: But that is kind of when I realize that I’m more of a hermit crab.)

(First Box: There comes a time in every Chinchillas life where they have to answer a text message from an important person.

Second Box: Sending the message is hard work, with a long tiresome vetting process.

Third box: However, receiving the message is far more tiring and frightening for the fragile Chinchilla.)

(First Box: As a Chinchilla you are expected to be a highly active person with many things pile on your plate.

Second Box: But you are not God so it is expected that you would burn out.

2.5 box is the edited image of the scenario supposed to be seen in the second Box.

Third Box: Maybe its time to recharge.

Fourth box is the edited version of the third Box.)

(First Box: As a Cockatoo, I’m a creative birdie that knows how to paint.

Second Box: I create works of art that many people admire and they always ask, “What do they mean?”

Third Box: I rather them believe that the things I do is more innocent than it is.)

(First box: As a cat it is your responsibility to sleep in day in and day out.

Second Box: But sometimes you need to wake up and face the real world.

Third Box: …Nah, maybe in five minutes, or a day…)

(First Box: As a flower I am sweet and innocent, something pretty to see.

Second Box: When facing something scary, there is only two things I can advice you do. The first being ignore it and maybe it will go away.

Third Box: The second is to become more scary than the thing threatening you.

Fourth Box is an edit on the perspective of Box 2.)

(First Box: If I were a tiny Hot Wheels Car.

Second Box: I would stare out my window.

Third Box: And wonder why that hunk of a car does not notice me?)

(Here are the edits for the Hot Wheels panel and the cat panel)

The story line for them were fine, but the perspective that I put them in, in the various scenarios were not too well done, so i sketched out and edited a few panels.

In the end I picked these four.

 

I  went online to see what styles I wanted to portray them in.

I kind of already had an ink and wash idea in my head, sort of illustrative style that is more realistic.

(the above is the works of Kelly Murphy and Karen Haley respectively, I hoped to use this for the Chinchilla and the Cat illustration.)

Subsequently I wanted a sort of comic book style for my fourth panel as it references the transformers comics, but instead I went a semi-realistic, less graphical rendering.

I was referencing Henri Matisse (the first picture) more than Helena Wierzbicki (The second picture) as her work was a bit too colourful.

I like the colours patchy, it suited me more then the smooth blended techniques, and in this case it gives it a bit more edgy feeling to it, a bit more action-like.

The Last style i was referencing was the movie Antz (1998). It had this scene where the ants interacted with humans, and I remembered how foreign looking the humans were to the ants. I wanted to imitate that sort of imagery.

The sort of picture like quality where the humans come from the sky and the plants are down to earth.

So for the first two panels I went ahead and started to ink and wash my illustrations. They came out rather desaturated, so i scanned them in and upped the saturation and contrast.

Some edits were a bit more drastic then others, like changing the cool tones to warm, but I felt that the composition would have looked better in the warm tones then the cooler ones.

Next I went to photograph some flowers at Gardens by the Bay. I needed two flowers one opened and one a closed bud, yet they both have to have the same amount of mass to seem as though the flower was chomping down on it. I finally managed to find two flowers with similar backgrounds and masses to make it seem that they are the same.

Then I edited it to make a foggy back ground and some other ‘special effects’.

Lastly I drew the Hot Wheels toy car on Photoshop.

Hence resulting in this final.

The Chinchilla and the crossroads reflects my everyday mentality of prioritizing what has to be done, something that is relatable to many. The panel was originally a mix of complimentary colours orange, browns and blues. However, it became slightly more monochromatic as I felt it gave the composition a bit more tension, and it is draining/gives the feelings of dread and frustration when looking at it, which was what was supposed to be conveyed.

 

The cat represents this idea of laziness/love for sleep that I have. This panel was done in a monochromatic scale intentionally, to show a sort of simplicity in the nature of sleep. The first and last box were done in warm and bright colours, to create a more positive mood, associated with the desire for sleep. The second box is blue, like Monday blues.

The idea of the flower, kind of represents this ‘weirdness’ that kind of reflects what I am. I was told in Junior College that my humor is dark and hits when everyone least expects it. The panels are three photos that I took and digitally manipulated. I blurred out the backgrounds for the first and last picture, in attempts to make it look the same (Honestly, they were both green, so it did not make much difference after the blurring). Subsequently I added in a picture of my finger and dabbed on some ‘blood’ onto the flower petals (I’m glad this part turned out realistic, if not it would have clashed with the photo). This two were largely make use of the colour green, which brings me to my second panel which uses more blues and pink. The change in colour, gives the second image a sort of ‘foreign’ feel, hence making the human an intruding presence.

This last idea about the Hot Wheels car is a metaphor for my idealistic personality. The way I aim high, but it is out of my league/out of my reach (simply because it does not exist), and sometimes a bit more fantastical. Hence, I wanted to use colours that are a bit more dream-like and unnatural, hence the pastel palette.

2D Project 2

For this project i chose the following quotes:

  1. “Dishonour on you! Dishonour on your cow!” — Mulan (1998)
  2. “He touched the butt” — Finding Nemo (2003)
  3. “Oh Good my dog found the chainsaw” — Lilo and Stitch (2002)
  4. “This is my family. I found it all on my own. Its little and broken, but still good. Yeah, still good.” — Lilo and Stitch (2002)

“Dishonour on you! Dishonour on your cow!” — Mulan (1998)

For this quote, I illustrated the picture based on the key words “Dishonour”, “You” and “Cow”

“Dishonour”, I relate to death, bad omens and things related to fortune, hence I hose black cats and skulls, and grim reapers.

“You” I relate to humans, human skulls, fingers anything somewhat accusatory.

“Cow” is literally represented with images of cows or horse or animal skulls.

I liked the design and decided to play around with the scale, half tone, threshold and came up with variations of the one composition. Though I still like the design without the colour halftone.

“He touched the butt” — Finding Nemo (2003)

For this quote I split the  Illustration the into the key words “He”, “Touched” and “Butt”.

“He” refers to a male, or humans in general. Hence for “He” i thought of icons that are often associated to man like a mustache or literally the male gender symbol.

“Touched” I had wanted to use the mouse arrow symbol, the clicking symbol or the more literal sense of touch as in hands.

“Butt” there are two meanings to this word, so at first I found peaches to visually show a butt, or animal butts like cats and dogs. However the more i searched, I realised that it is easier to illustrate with images of “jerks” instead. Hence I have a chose images of Cats and Donkeys ( also known as a Jackass).

The idea was rather literal I find, and a bit to simple and symmetrical. The comments I got was it was too ‘quiet’ so it was eventually rejected.

“Oh Good my dog found the chainsaw” — Lilo and Stitch (2002)

The keywords for this illustration is “Good”, “Dog”, “Found” and “Chainsaw”.

“Good” was hard to illustrate, but i eventually decided on using elements of good luck. Examples of which are clovers, horseshoes, rabbit feet and dream catchers.

“Dogs” are literally represented as dogs for me.

“Found” I wanted to represent as sight, or magnifying glass. There was also a thought of creating a trail, to show the process of being found instead of actually being found.

“Chainsaw” was initially just a chainsaw, but then I felt that it was too literal, hence i broke the word into two, “Chain” and “saw” so images of chains and eyes.

The although I liked the idea of the first two, the comments  got for them both were that they were very symmetrical and ‘quiet’. Hence I decided to expand on the piece on the left to create the one on the bottom. This one was considerably better, as it was ‘noisier’ and more chaotic.

“This is my family. I found it all on my own. Its little and broken, but still good. Yeah, still good.” — Lilo and Stitch (2002)

The key words for this quote is “My family”, “found”, “little”, “broken” and “Good”.

This was tricky as there was a lot more elements to works with and the words had held so much possibilities it was difficult to choose.

For “My Family” I wanted to branch away from the typical family of humans, and wanted to search for other symbolism, like a “family” of animals, or a “family” tree.

“Found” is similar to the above, where i wanted magnifying glasses,  or a trail to show the process of finding.

“Little” I did not want to find and image, rather I wanted to play with the scale of the main ‘characters of the illustration.

“Broken” I referred to broken limbs or injuries at first. However, after, I started researching more, I had broken objects like windows an glass in mind.

“Good” once again refers to the above, idea of good omens, hence lucky items like rabbits feet, clovers, magnets, etc.

In the end, I felt this quote had abit too many elements to piece into a single coposition and chose to focus on the others

Final design:

So in the end, I chose this design to print:

Printing the process:

Before we start the printing process, we first have to print the design on to transparent sheets

Next we need to prepare the silk screen.  Spread a thin equal layer of emulsion on both sides of the screen and put it in the dryer/leave it to dry.

When it is dry, inverted the transparency and paste it onto surface of the frame.

This was the picture would be the mirrored image when it is printed.

When the image is secured, we put it in this machine where it is exposed to light. The machine sucks out the air from the silk screen frame, and the light sensitive emulsion would imprint the image on the transparency on it.

After it comes out of the machine, we can wash the screen with water and a sponge. The emulsion would be scrubbed away from the frame, and the parts that are left behind would be the negative space reflected in the transparency.

 

After the image is out, pat dry the silk screen and leave it to dry.

When that is done, tape the four sides of the silkscreen such that it crops the image exactly. Do so on the front and the back side of the silkscreen.  By doing so we are preventing leakage of the ink.

After that we lay the silkscreen onto the surface that we want to print on, with the frame side up. Since this a test run, we are using newsprint. Dab some ink horizontally on the top of the area covered in emulsion/tape and make sure it is spread equally. Get someone to help you hold down the frame, putting equal pressure on every side. Making sure you have the correct sized squeegee, pull the ink down in one stroke.

If done correctly, it would look like the picture in the above left. if there is unequal pressure or too little ink, it would turn out like the picture in the right hand side.

Finally, iron the tote bag flat, and stuff it with card board. This will make your printing much easier, as the surface is flat. Align your image to the bag, and print.

Viola~

My Line is so Emo Finale

I had to print out the sadness image that I photoshopped before i could put everything together.

Looking at them now, i realized how similar some of my mark makings are. Which probably means i have a long way to go. I liked how these 6 turned out though.

 

 

My Line is Emo Process Part 2

After Consultation, it is quite clear that i have some interpretation error, so its time to relook at my life choices.

Firstly, the definition of ‘Horror’ that i have created would have better suited ‘Paranoia’ now that it think about it. I decided to delve a bit deeper into the idea of texture on my mark making. I wanted a rough texture  on to emphasize on the spikes of ‘Horror’ like a defense, however it turned out very differently.

By using paper mache i attempted to recreate the below effect

I first threw the toilet paper i was using into a container with ink in it to let it soak. Then i used my hand to break up the clumps. After that i sieved through the ink and strained some of the water from the paper mache before finally throwing it on the paper.

It did not end favourably as the consistency of the paper mache started clumping together, or disintegrating when I pulled them apart with a palette knife. Hence I piled more on and it gave off a more ‘disgusting’ vibe.

For ‘Sadness’ photo shopped the ripples, adjusting the light and darkness of the image to create contrasting marks.

I liked the way the overlapped each other, but it still felt a bit plain so I searched through the other rippling effects i had and recomposed the image.

The first composition had a very distracting background, hence, it was deemed as not suitable for the project. The second composition was a bit better, but it still felt as thought the elements stood as individuals rather then a single piece. Thus I created the final composition and cropped it tighter.

‘Affection’ had gone through a few stages of evolution in terms of thickness of the paint as i wanted Affection to have a translucent effect. It is like it is an unconscious feeling that we experience, but do not actually take note of it.

Using black water colour on watercolour paper,  i begin drawing the patterns i did with the cotton buds previously.

The initial composition was not very pleasing as it had not point of convergence. it was messy and there were too many things to see. The second one i rather enjoyed, however it was rather inconsistent, with the tinier loops, which grabbed attention. Thus there were again too many things too look at once again. The third composition I wanted to add tiny emphasis on the paper against a sparse back ground. I dotted the canvas with blobs of water and added the paint by poking it with a brush and letting the paint spread. This sort of insinuates the times were small acts of kindness are acknowledged as affection one feels for others. But it turned out pretty ugly as the paint blobs all had the same texture when it appeared. Finally I created the last design, a sort of vortex that swirls around the centre of the sheet. I wanted it to seem as though it encompasses us, it is always there.

Hence i chose to Dilute the ink, to a fainter consistency and repaint the last design on a final sheet.

‘Hysteria’ came about when I was making ‘Surprise’. Due to the nature of ‘Surprise’ i wanted one single element that showed a change in the scenery. An Explosion or a hiccup on the blank canvas.

I wanted a sharper contrast, hence i used white acrylic paint on black cartridge paper. Using a square brush i begin my mark making . I overestimated how many ‘hiccups’ i wanted and was left with to many blobs of paint. Subsequently, The acrylic paint was not able to make that smooth gradient i wanted by brush alone.

In a fit of frustration I started stabbing the blob of paint with tissue.

I had hoped that it would become a smooth gradient like my previous attempts with Chinese ink on Newsprint

The colour imprint was faint, but i believe with thicker paint the build up would be better.

As it turned out i was wrong about the colour built up. But the effect was quite pleasing to look at. Looking back at it now, the white on black made a stronger more negative connotation to me when the white is solid. It reminds me of those jump scare clips that people post, where the image starts flashing in inverse colours. It was also interesting that the tissue stuck to the paper and made a flaky texture on some parts of the paper.

I decided to try white acrylic on black paper again, but this time with more diluted paint.

After consultation i had wanted to remake a similar composition for ‘Zest’ but in a more positive light.

The effect was beautiful, however the piece had mellowed and become more ‘Contented’ then the lively ball of energy that i had perceived to be ‘Zest’.

Finally was ‘Surprise’. After all the botched attempts for surprise, i had wanted to change the aesthetic of ‘Surprise’ into something surprising. I had sketched out a plan for surprise to be made out of geometric shapes and planned to use ink on paper.

 

However whist inking it out, it started looking more rigid than i had planned for ‘Surprise’, hence i redid using ink and wash on watercolour paper instead.

The effect was far more fluid then the first.

My Line is Emo – discovering emo.

We were supposed to pick 6 emotions for the project:

  • Affection –> A subset of Love comprising of caring for someone else. (+)
    • It is a feeling that is not always consciously felt, hence i want to illustrate it as wispy, there but not. Sort of like a blanket, layers and layers that overlap each other.
  • Zest –> It is an electric feeling, an adrenaline rush. (+)
    • It is a feeling associated with speed, because you are so excited, you want to rush to get it started. I want it loud with contrasting lines between bold and thin ones. That are multi directional.
  • Surprise –> an unexpected or astonishing event, fact, etc (+)
    • It is a more positive aspect of being startled, a sudden change in emotion, like a hiccup in you mood. Like a hiccup, it is sudden. Sudden is like an explosion, it is there, and the its gone instantly.
  • Envy –> a feeling of discontented or resentful longing aroused by someone else’s possessions, qualities, or luck. (-)
    • It is an unconscious feeling that worms its way inside of you. This threads solidifying into thicker roots. the lines are angular, in does not weave in peacefully among everything else, it forces its way in and roots itself there like a parasite.
  • Sadness –> The state of being unhappy (-)
    • It aches and hurt line something is not there, it feels like being broken. It grows inside when left to fester, like a whirlpool. Yet it hurts like something is missing, sometimes you feel empty.
  • Horror –> It is a nagging that something is there and it builds as it festers (-)
    • It builds up before it reaches the climax. It is a solid negative feeling of being surprised.

*Update:

I redid the emotions, ‘Envy’ was a bit harder to portray and whilst experimenting with what became ‘Horror’ i made ‘Disgust’ hence ‘Envy’ was replaced by this.

‘Horror’ was also replaced by Hysteria, as I was experimenting with ‘Surprise’ it morphed into ‘Hysteria’. (It was a good thing too, i think my definition of ‘Horror’ was not very fitting.)

I redid ‘Zest’ in a rounder brush and realised that it better suited the idea of ‘Contentment’ when it was made with thinner paint. Hence ‘Contentment’ replaced ‘Zest’.

  • Disgust –> grotesque and ugly (-)
    • It is displeasing to see, often textured and bumpy, it makes you go ‘what the heck is this?!’
  • Hysteria –> An extreme emotion of being scared (-)
    • It bursts and colours your mind. it becomes the main focus.
  • Contentment –> the feelings of satisfaction (+)
    • Content is a quite emotion, it is like being in the state of zen.
  • Sadness –> The state of being unhappy (-)
    • It aches and hurt line something is not there, it feels like being broken. It grows inside when left to fester, like a whirlpool. Yet it hurts like something is missing, sometimes you feel empty.
  • Affection –> A subset of Love comprising of caring for someone else. (+)
    • It is a feeling that is not always consciously felt, hence i want to illustrate it as wispy, there but not. Sort of like a blanket, layers and layers that overlap each other.
  • Surprise –> an unexpected or astonishing event, fact, etc (+)
    • It is a more positive aspect of being startled, a sudden change in emotion, like a hiccup in you mood. Like a hiccup, it is sudden. Sudden is like an explosion, it is there, and the its gone instantly

My Line is Emo Process part 1

Other then what i said i was going to bring the previous week, I went scavenging the school grounds for twigs and leaves.

Most of them created dry lines on the paper due to its inability to retain water.

For most scenarios the mark was first very watery, before splitting of into broken hairlines. I did not like it as they gave similar emotions whilst looking at it.

I decided trying to use the leaves in a different way. Since i had been using them whole previously i had decided to cut out a small segment from it.

Using the long flat side I created a rippling effect.

This one looks interesting, its lines are partially broken in some areas and full in others, which creates a slightly negative emotion when looking at it. I’m going to use this for sadness, due to the lines that cut off creating a void, a bit like the emptiness one would feel when they are sad.

I broke the large stick i found in multiple pieces so it was easier to handle. I also made sure that the bark started flaking at the ends so that it gave a rougher texture.

Using the thicker paint i manage to create a few set of interesting lines.

Chucks of the wood ended up in the lines for the first, and it created a jarring effect that i want to use for horror.

The other three i tried to create a swirl pattern, to imitate the idea of Zest, being enthusiastic and all over the place, in my opinion the second and third was the most like Zest.

I saw a palette knife lying around, and wanted to know if the lines created would look the same as the one made by wood.

As it turned out, metal creates more fluid lines then sticks, yet by handling it in certain way, the effect made by the sticks can be replicated with a palette knife.

Someone left the work station dirty with stains on the whiteboard, so I started playing with the work space. It turned out, the effect of wetting the wall and ‘stamping’ it against the paper gave me a more unique effect. i started playing withe the ink, most of them came out with splotches, and empty patches. They looked like sadness.

I am probably going to photoshop all my plausible ‘sadness’ mark making together to create a new composition all together.

Lastly I tried out using the cotton buds. I had a feeling that the cotton buds were going to create uniformly rounded lines, hence choosing it to portray positive emotions like affection.

However, the lines were to uniform. the lack of variation in the entire composition made the composition bland. Hence i would have to look into other ways of creating the idea of ‘Affection’.

Mark Making Research

Mark making is the term used to define when a line or various lines are put together to form textures and patterns on any surface.

Mark Making is present in our everyday lives, starting with the most obvious being writing with a pen or pencil. Each style of writing is different based on how a person manipulates their pen or pencil, hence some are more curvaceous whereas some are more linear. Hence some people may find some handwriting more pleasing to read then others.

These lines have certain qualities that ‘persuade’ us to feel in a certain way.

An example of which can be found in Wassily Kandinsky’s “Composition VII”

Source taken from: http://www.theartstory.org/artist-kandinsky-wassily-artworks.htm#pnt_4

Wassily Kandinsky is well known for his interpretations of various music pieces. “Composition VII” makes use of contrasting lines that clash and overlap each other. The various directions, and individual shapes each lines takes seem to compete with the others, which creates chaos and/or confusion.

In the case of paintings, brushes have the ability to shape a line into various shapes. However we also make tools with various tips to create a unique stroke.

Creating your tools, or having tools with tips of various shapes and sizes can in various patterns despite being used in a similar manner.

source from: https://es.pinterest.com/pin/850687817084708293/

As seen by the above, the rougher material results in a spindly, almost scratchy effect. When used in sharp swift movements the lines are thinner,  that could resemble irritation or confusion. The second tool creates rounder lines, that seem more uniform than the first. The last imitates a dry brush resulting in segregated segments of ink within each stroke.

Colour too plays a part in mark marking, creating weight and shadows, which gives emphasis to certain part of the image.

source from: https://es.pinterest.com/pin/151363237451900564/

Darker segments tend to be more eye catching, as it creates weight to the image. However, negative spaces within dark contrasting areas act as an accent, which draws attention beyond the dark spaces, like a pathway to other parts of the painting.