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.

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 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’.