Making self publication at a budget. In the zine, we include things that we have learned throughout the semester or the year from 2D foundation class.
Concept
For this project, I want to use my 2D projects to create fashion art/fashion illustrations. In order to do so, I decided to use Shamekh Bluwi’s cut-out illustration as inspiration.
Research
Below are the research I did for the format of the zine.
I wanted to do postcard styles, or binded-by-ring or ribbon style, however, I found it hard to do my concept in such a way. I want one cut-out illustration to have its dress filled in with all the 2D artworks I picked.
Formatting
Hence, the formatting is something that I created special for this zine. It would allow both sides of the cut-out illustration to be used, ‘filtering’ the pattern from other pages as the pages are folded alternately one by one.
It is kept in rectangular, A5 shape in order to give the magazine feeling.
Cover
The first two are initial designs of the cover, but those cut-outs are not satisfying. it’s not classy enough. So, I decided to draw another original illustration. The simple and minimalist line give classy look and it simulates vintage Vogue cover. There are some changes in the text alignment.
Content
The challenge in deciding what pictures should be put in the content page is whether the image will fill in the dress well or not. So, a lot of trial and errors are made.
Below are the errors.
And after some more changes, the final content pages are:
So, when they all fill in the dress:
Oh and yeah some of the content pages can only fill in the dress of the cover or the back cover.
Reflection
Designing it is pretty tough because of the unusual format and unique idea. Sadly, the format that I used is only fit A1 size paper, which cause the printing to be bad. It’s not sharp to be printed using A1 printer. Thank God it still looks good tho.
Well, but the content pages contain too much words. I didn’t know that the font size of 10 can be soooo big on A1 size paper…
This project is about making digital/2D images to depict what is someone/something in the point of view of someone/something. The images should convey the message of who see it, what he is seeing, and what his point of view is.
Choice of Topic
I choose the topic of Fashion, because it has been my passion and hobby, and also something that has brought me here to ADM.
Initial ideas:
A fashion from the point of view of me is
A fashion from the point of view of my mom is a forgotten dream.
A fashion from the point of view of my guy friend is
A fashion from the point of view of a seamstress is
A fashion from the point of view of fashion designer is
A fashion from the point of view of a beggar on the street is holes.
A fashion from the point of view of a politician is
A fashion from the point of view of Karl Lagerfield is sunglasses and white hair ponytail.
A fashion from the point of view of a concubine is
A fashion from the point of view of a sewing machine is newborn baby.
A fashion from the point of view of the Bangladeshi factory worker/cheap labor/sweatshops is doom/unfairness.
A fashion from the point of view of money is
A fashion from the point of view of batik is heritage.
A fashion from the point of view of a young girl is
A fashion from the point of view of a trooper is
A fashion from the point of view of Hitler is 2cm moustache.
A fashion from the point of view of a nerd is
A fashion from the point of view of a socialite is
A fashion from the point of view of an obese is
A fashion from the point of view of an anorexic is to die for/clothshanger
A fashion from the point of view of a dog is ridicule.
However, after further thinking of the idea, feasibility and message, I choose:
Fashion from the POV of I is identity
Fashion from the POV of my mom is a forgotten dream
Fashion from the POV of a pine tree is garland, lights and balls.
Fashion from the POV of a dead chicken is KFC bucket and breaded skin
Fashion from the POV of salad is dressings
Fashion from the POV of a cupcake is icing.
Concept
Because of the topic fashion, I want all of the images to be in fashion illustration style. At first, a close-up version of a fashion illustration would be effective to show the details, however, it turned up to look less fashion, hence failed to show the topic ‘fashion’.
Fashion from the POV of my mom is a forgotten dream.Fashion from the POV of I is identity.
Hence, for the final images, I decided to show the the whole outfit made of the elements I use to convey the message of the POV. The head of the mannequin is the who; the outfit is what the subject would wear or think about.
Final Processes and Images
#1 Fashion from the POV of I is identity.
Identity is depicted through the use of finger print and pieces of biodata. Small details which add to the message is also the bracelet made of signature and a matric card necklace. Fashion, for me, will tell partially who you are; that is also why the biodata is pieces of paper and not are actually shown.
#2 Fashion from the POV of my mom is a forgotten dream.
Like the initial idea, the forgotten dream is depicted through the use of crushed paper and dream catcher. The fire, burnt effect add to the ‘forgotten’ element because it’s like your wish being burnt. Yeap, she once dreamt to have a career related to fashion but circumstances didn’t allow her. At the end, it is me that she influenced about fashion. So, here I am today.
#3 Fashion from the POV of a pine tree is garland, balls and lights.
If pine tree is a person, it will wear the type of fashion made of the things mentioned above. There are a lot of ‘permutation’ for this fashion, but to make it really obvious, I chose a big garland to be the main part of the dress.
#4 Fashion from the POV of a dead chicken is KFC bucket and breaded skin.
This is the most fun idea out of 6. I was thinking, a chicken would wear feathers, but what would a dead chicken wear? KFC! I chose a breaded skin pants instead of skirts because it makes the whole figure even more similar to a chicken.
#5 Fashion from the POV of salad is dressings.
Salad dressings. I was just playing with pun and hey the idea lighted up! I chose 4 different salad dressings: french (red), thousand island (cream), lemon mustard (yellow), avocado (green). Yummyyy
#6 Fashion from the POV of a cupcake is icing.
To me, this is the prettiest among all. Cupcake used to be one of the ‘fashionable’ food; now I think is churros and korean chicken. And I think what makes cupcake expensive is the variation in the icing (not applicable to every seller but decorated cupcakes can be really expensive). So, icing is really the fashion of cupcakes.
Reflection
This exercise is really refreshing (even though it is in the middle of hell weeks) because I think I can use this ‘method’ to gain inspiration to design, for example, fashion 🙂 However, for this project, like my teacher said, maybe I should draw different poses and not just facing straight; the hand is awkward also for her. There is always room for improvement 🙂
In this project, we are assigned to create postcards with a typography of our name. Just like its title, the typography should be a ‘portrait’ of myself: a representation of who I am and/or my aspiration.
Research
The first artist I have researched is Hannah Hoch. Her collages speak their messages strongly, and some even have multiple interpretation. Her pieces intrigue me to try ‘less clean’ photomontage.
The second research is Dada Movement. Here, more typography is involved in this style even though it is similar to Hannah Hoch’s.
The third one is Russian Evolution art. This one is more poster-like and bold.
The fourth is DIY typeface. This is experimental basis and surely will bring a much more distinguishable look than digital image.
Process
First thing first, I did a mindmap about myself: my facts, my aspiration, and “If I were…”s.
Some of the ideas that I picked are:
Messy perfectionist
Nerdy bimbo
Dreamy fashion designer
Mischievous artist
Coquettish tai-tai
Emo musician
Mischievous Christian
Then, I started sketching drafts. At first, I was influenced heavily by Hannah Hoch and Dada art, making me to plan a too image-drive postcards. I forgot to emphasize much on typography and to infuse my characteristic into the text, not the image. The first set of draft sketches/planning is wrong.
For the 2nd set, I did both traditional pencil sketches and digital sketches. Some of the digital sketches I have done:
That is a flying needle, and the ‘i’ is a mannequin silhouetteThe naughtiness is portrayed through the evil horns, tail and trisula. The artist is portrayed through the brush as the ‘i’.The idea is ‘having panda yes’, and replaced the panda eyes with artist palette, and the ‘panda’ is wearing an artist beret.
However, I think that these drafts are still lacking ‘thoughts’. The first one can be developed further but the 2nd and 3rd…they are not really satisfying.
As the deadline was getting near, I chose 4 points out of all the points I mentioned earlier about myself and worked on these 4 ideas.
The final inspiration I gained:
emo musician: inspired from music sheet’s 5 lines and written notes. The blood, the last idea I got to improve this typographic portrait, is to portray extreme depressed action of ‘self-cutting’.
If I were a musician, whenever I felt depressed, music would be a platform for me to transfer my pain into. I won’t let myself bleeding because of self-harm, but I will let the music the bleed the pain out.
nerdy bimbo: I want ‘bimbo’ to be portrayed through makeup kits, and the ‘nerdy’ idea through various chemistry class’ equipment.
F.N. can be Feliciana Natali, or F for fashion, N for nerd. It’s purely coincidental but that is one of the reasons why I made the ‘f’ for bimbo character and ‘n’ for nerdy character.
dreamy fashion designer: the idea of using mannequin as the ‘i’ is derived from the digital sketch I have made earlier. Then, for this postcard, I use the ‘opposite’/mirror concept. ‘Dreamy’ means I love to think of fantasies, fairy tale, impossible things to happen.
The idea of ‘fashion’ is depicted through the use of mannequin as one of the ‘i’, and (subtle intention) the use of font type Didot, which is used by a high-end fashion brand of Valentino. The ‘dreamy’ is portrayed as ‘fading reflection’ of my name to show that my dreamy characteristic may not be obvious, I look like a practical and realistic person (well that’s true) but deep inside I am quite dreamy and imagining many fantasies. ‘The two sides of me’…
mischievous artist: initially, I didn’t think of monkey to be the symbol of mischief. I thought I would use something like messy brush strokes and splashes on a wall, which is not very communicating the message…
So, the ‘monkey me’ wrote ‘atali’ with its tail messily. The grin is to show it’s playful and potentially mischievous. The broken halo is to show that it is actually benevolent and not mischievous in a harmful, evil way – it just wants to have fun. The ‘artist’ is highlighted by the red palette and brush.
Exploration of Style/Reflection
It is natural for me to create a ‘clean-style’ image. However, the usage of only three colors: black, white and red is unintentional. The first two images (Emo Musician and Nerdy Bimbo) are both consist of these 3 colors only. Hence, I just continued making the last two images to be in the same colors.
Initially, I really wanted to try photomontage. However, the idea of photomontage drove me to think of image not typography. I am very new to typography and hence I decided to just focus on typography, and let all the messages I want to deliver stored in the typography only.
The simple/clean style also allows me to create design aesthetically through the meanings, not through visual elements such as colors and shape. First, I focused solely on how to convey the messages effectively, then I altered here and there to get the desired aesthetic of the design as a whole.
Overall, this project exposed me to the door of typographic art/typography’s world. I am amazed by how simple typography can be but the simplicity carries out a lot of mood, message, purposes. This project makes me want to learn more about typography.
ONE: The idea is my mood changes as fast as MRT. Trigger me, and within a few minutes you will see a different me. Well, this is a hyperbole. I’m not that wild. I still can control my self.
TWO: in this abstract pattern, the different moods are represented in different color and lines, for e.g. the calm me is blue with straight lines, angry me is red with messy sharp lines, etc. I am dynamic and actually really expressive. I am able to show different colors of myself.
THREE: “mood swing” is the inspiration. Well, it’s like swinging your baseball bat. The ‘tip’ of my mood (which is my face), can change as the swing rotate.
Reflection:
This is a fun mini assignment. My favourite card is the first one, because it’s effectively communicating the message and relatable to the audience (MRT TV screen).
