EGO.

This project is rather challenging for me. I have always been quite self-depecating about myself so much that even I am clueless as how to define myself. So as to say, I found it a real B I G task to define myself.

As the project wear on, I first started exploring on mediums to use. I decided upon referencing some artists that I personally am fond of. I looked to works done by surrealist artists Salvador Dali and  Rene Magritte, as well as satirical artist, Pawel Kuczynski. 

Salvador Dali

Rene Magritte

Pawel Kuczynski

With that, I decided to base my work upon Surrealism X Parody (of myself).
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As I derived with the keywords for my EGO, I found myself in conflict as to whether congregate the works digitally or to go out of my comfort zone and illustrate my artworks by hand.

I first tried to do my illustration digitally. As seen on the left. I felt that it didn’t convey what I was looking for. With that I decided on the latter, and to challenge myself to work with a medium I have never work with before- Watercolour.

However, even as I know that I have a huge task ahead of me, I realised I really have ZERO knowledge about manipulating watercolour. As I began working, I found difficulty even with grasping the amount of water versus watercolour. I went through tutorials and learn different techniques of watercolour, such as flat wash, gradient wash, using table towel to create clouds effect, even sprinkling salt effect.

This brings me to my first works.  As much as I tried to communicate my ideas, and also adding materials in the process, I am still really unhappy with the level of my outcomes.

I also derived a new equation: NOVICE +NEW MEDIUM = TROUBLE

I decided to redo half of the artwork and make the images digitally using DADA and Surrealism.

I looked back at the ideas communicated and tried to emulate similar concept on the digitally-created outcomes.

Images used are:

With that, I come out with my final artworks:

 

Dreamer + Night Owl = Heng Tong (Me)

Dreamer: I made use of the watercolour technique of dabbing kitchen towel to paint to emulate the sky. I use the illustration of me juxtapose with bubble stick and finally transparency to emulate bubbles.

Night Owl: I made use of the watercolour technique of sprinkling salt to paint to emulate the night sky. I used acrylic paint to create the added effect of a tree branch. I use feather to emulate the body of an owl, and an illustration of myself rotated to show the head of an owl. Also, I added 2 feathers to my eyebrows.

Heng Tong (Me): A minimalistic view of myself, a student who lacks sleep. Play on the word ‘eye-bag’, with my bag filled with art materials.

Idea – Procrastination = Zen (Better Me)

Idea: I made use of a blank paper for this. I drew an illustration of a brain, and used highlighter to show the idea of lightning sparks.

Procrastination: I made use of the faded wash watercolour technique. I used the transition of orange to red as orange-red is the colour of laziness. I portrayed myself as a sloth wearing my favourite snapback, hanging away from my tasks to do.

Zen (Better Me): I used the watercolour effect to create the sky. I painted the tree with acrylic paint, and the leaves with my fingers. I portrayed myself as a ‘Monk’, meditating in the sky with white feathers to emulate the clouds.

–( the following uses Dada- surrealism)

Courage x Creativity = On Top of the World (Ideal Me)

Courage: I used the colour of orange and pictures of fire. I created the illustration as an eye, with flaming eyes, beside the eye of a lion. A ladder shows the progression of the flaming aura of a human to that of a lion. A flame is used to convey the eyebrow. Finally I used a black background to enhance the colour of orange.

Creativity: This depicts a lady overflowing with ‘creative juice’, portrayed with rainbow. Again, used the black background to enhance the colour used.

On Top of the World (Ideal Me): I used the idea of a chessboard, with me standing on top of the ‘King’. I used green as the background to convey the emotion of ‘envy’ from my current standpoint.

Seeing More + Contention = Wisdom (Me in 5 Years)

Seeing More: I use minimalist use of a skin. I made use of the vector of a leaf to emulate the white of an eye, and the globe as an emulation of the iris.

Contention: I referenced the work of Rene Magritte for this illustration. I wanted to depict the idea of a sky raining smiles. I juxtapose red-winged butterflies as the lips, and teeth to show the idea of ‘ Raining Smiles’.

Wisdom (Me in 5 Years): I use the colours blue and green in this illustration. I depicted a wiseman with waterfall as his beard, and wearing the graduation cap, made up of mountains, school of encyclopaedias and the Owl.

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I feel that this project will stand out in my memory for a long time, as the outcome are left to be much desired. To be very honest, I feel that I have not done enough in this project, and am really upset. I had challenged myself to use a new and unfamiliar medium, and I feel that the gamble did not pay off. The illustrations done are really kiddish as a result.

However, positives to take are that I have stepped out of my comfort zone to try something different. I learnt the importance of colour and how difficult it is to use colour. This will make me think harder as to use what colour for my future projects.

Overall, I had fun experimenting with the use of colour.

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