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This is the last assignment of 2D in Semester 2. We are required to produce a 8-pages A5 size self publication. Mu zine is a self written children book

Conceptualize

At the start, I have already got the idea that I wanted to do something relate to my second assignment in Semester 1, which is the nursery rhythm. That assignment is the one that I like the best,  I feel that it has something that I can make use in my zine. The nursery rhythm that I adopted is

What are little girls made of, made of?

Sugar and spice, and everything nice,

That’s what little girls are made of.

The the finish product can be found from this link

Assignment 2: What are little girls made of?

Final 4

What are girls made of5

What are girls made of13

what are little girls made of2

what are little girls made of11

The style that I adopted in the assignment is very vintage and fairy tale like. So this inspired me to transform these pictures into a children’s book. And while deciding on the content of the book, I was inspired by this video,” Monsters in the closet “, a provocative new video, portrays the alarming impact of domestic violence on families and children, as seen through the eyes of a young girl.

The highlighted part from the video that I can still recalled is when it says ” A child separates its dream from the nightmare and reality.”  We are giving beautiful things and dream to kids, telling them that Cinderella will be happily ever after with the prince. But often, in the eye of these unfortunate kids, the world isn’t so beautiful after all. Thus, I decided to use the theme of nursery rhythm, to produce a children book that talks about domestic abuse.

Processing

 

The story is about this little girl, whose mother always sings her the ” what are little girls made of” rhythm.
However, despite being told that girls are supposed to be nicely treated. In the reality, she was being domestically abused by her father. This contrast of dream and reality eventually breaks her down. And this is how the story goes.
The Day I stop crying for help
My Mom always sings me this nursery rhyme
What are little girls made of?
What are little girls made of?
Sugar and spice, and everything nice,
That’s what little girls are made of.
But I don’t Understand
If girls are supposed to be nice
Why would Dad treat us like that?
I have no place to hide
I cry for help
But no one cares
Day by day, it multiplies…
Until all of these end at once.
After confirming that I wanted to do a children’s book style. I began to research on existing children’s book.

As this is a rather serious topic, I actually wants adopt a more dark and vintage. My work from Nursery rhythm will be applied one per page, each one of them will tell a respective part of the story. For example, like this,

After my first consultation, Joy suggested me that I can use Accordion Binding. As the first and last part of my story is interconnected. Doing it in accordion binding will create the story into a loop.

The Day I stop crying for help
…
Until all of these end at once.
Thus, after numerous tries, my zine is finally done.

Final

Title: The Day I stop crying for help

2016-04-14 18.17.55

Gif of content

When it opens up, it will be like this

2016-04-14 18.35.12 2016-04-14 18.36.45 2016-04-14 18.36.24 2016-04-14 18.35.57

 

And the loop of start of the start and the end.

2016-04-14 18.35.46

This book is made of hard cover as I want to illustrate the feeling vintage children book. I spent long time searching for suitable font until I came across this font: Calson Antique, which really brings out the vintage feels. Colors U used are black and white alternate, with red, blue yellow highlighting the important word of each page.

 

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Introduction

Time flies! And it’s already the end of or assignment 2. This assignment, “Point of View” is for us to depict a certain object or symbol in multiple aspects. With this, I intended to do based on the concept of high context society. And I want to choose an object that I am familiar with.

As I mention from the previous post, the object I decided to use is

Chrysanthemum

What would a Chinese seen Chrysanthemum as? A flower used for “Bai Bai” (tomb sweeping)? or just a form of Tea? And how about people from other country?

For this assignment, there is not much change in my ideas and concept. If you are interested to find out more about the other 14 aspects, do check on my 2D: Point of View Concept/ Research

Through my research, I found that Chrysanthemum is actually a symbol of the Japanese Royal family. It can be seen from a lot of their different symbols.Screenshot 2016-03-23 12.08.19

So I decided to narrow the countries down into 2: China and Japan. 

The six Point of Views I choose are

  1. In POV of A Meiji Japanese is a Royal symbol

  2. In POV of A Modern Japanese is Citizenship

  3. In POV of A Chinese is A Offering to Ancestors

  4. In POV of A Drink is a Tea

  5. In POV of A Proposal is A Bad Option

  6. In POV of An Internet Phrase is Taboo

Research

What I found from research, is a very “hot” way of portraying an object: Making the object as a character.

Making countries as characters

Making Food as Characters

In addition, I decided to do a combination of 2D images and 3D images. This

Character Design

I planned to portray the flowers into actual characters. The approach I took is hand draw. Like Below

2016-03-15 17.20.46 2016-03-15 17.20.40 2016-03-15 17.20.35

Actual Photo Taking

It is my first time taking the approach of photography for my assignment. And I need to say, it is really a PAINFUL process! I never expect that it will be so hard to adjust the lighting. And most pictures turn out not as what I expected to be.

Initially, I wanted to portray the image in the form of stage performance. Where there is a rather fake looking background at the back of the charcters. And it would best if the charcter can cast a shadow on the background. Something like this

But it ends up like this…

2016-03-15 18.13.07

The tone is always dull and dark. So in the end, I have to abandon the idea of stage performance and do something like this

2016-03-15 17.58.06

After numerous shots, I finally came down to the last 6…

Final Work

Chrysanthemum

FullSizeRender_4

In POV of A Meiji Japanese is a Royal symbol

 

IMG_0209

In POV of A Modern Japanese is Citizenship

 

FullSizeRender_1

In POV of A Chinese is A Offering to Ancestors

 

FullSizeRender

In POV of A Drink is a Tea

 

FullSizeRender_2

In POV of A Proposal is A Bad Option

 

FullSizeRender_3 In POV of An Internet Phrase is Taboo

 

This is the first assignment that I have decided on direction and objectives almost immediately.  However, the hard part is during processing, where I faced a lot of technical problems. Although this assignment is not as satisfying as I expected. But I still glad I am able to learn photography which I have never used before.

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Theme:

No Game, No life.

I would be talking about:
1. Concept of each piece
2. Relationship between them
3. Repeating objects and the objectives
4. Process
5. Reflection

I always want to be in the world of the game, where there’s only one objective. The life will be so much simple. As you can see, all four frames are based on the theme of smart phone games. But can you guess which game does it come from?

And I am a GAMER…

cut the rope

The first attribute, is of course that I’m a GAMER. The first that I used, is the CUT THE ROPE. Cut-the-Rope I transform the rope, the balloon, and the trampoline into the shape of my name. And on the bottom, what is used to be the lab monster has changed into a cat. In fact, this is the first idea that I think of for this project. I wanted to “camouflage” my name into the environment of the game so that it feels as a unit piece. Moreover, this I am a GAMER also set off as an introduction for the following frames. It not only emphasize on the   fact that all frames are based on the theme of game. But also becomes a introduction of the story that I am going to tell about myself.

And I am a CAT LOVER…

cat game

I’m definitely a serious cat addict-er. Once I start following the direction of game. I start to recall which game carries the most unique style that  audience can easily spot. That’s why I decided to adapt the game Neko Atsume

https://vulcanpost.com/294821/how-to-be-pro-neko-atsume/

https://vulcanpost.com/294821/how-to-be-pro-neko-atsume/

As seen from the picture, I have replaced the cats that I have drawn, although the background remains almost the same. I try to insert my name by placing it on the ground as furniture. Neko Atsume has its very unique style of rough hand drawn that really differentiate it from others. I try to illustrate the cats into their sloppy and nothing to worry about. This is also the kind of life I dream for.

 

 

And I am a PROCRASTINATOR…

Zombie

And the end of the project. I realized that this turns out to be my favorite one. This is because I actually put in the most time for brainstorming for this frame. How am I supposed to illustrate the idea Procrastination??

Then I recalled of the numerous nights I spent rushing for my assignment. It’s not that I have not enough time. I could easily finished it during the daytime. But just BECAUSE I PROCRASTINATE….I have to stay overnight, give up on sleep. As a result, the next day I will appeared at school, looking like a zombie…

new doc 160205 (1)_1504AA2495-68C7-4537-8B5C-C21A5D3DF234

Thus, it occurred to me that I can adopt the game of Plant VS. Zombie.

http://www.imagui.com/a/plants-vs-zombies4-c9EboAAXn

http://www.imagui.com/a/plants-vs-zombies4-c9EboAAXn

At first, one problem is that I can’t fit all the XIAOTONG letters into the grid (it just can’t……..) .So that I decided to arrange the zombies just into my initial letters XT. I replaced the trolleys and the house into assignments and due date. That myself turns into the zombie, slowly tries to crawl towards the due date..

 

 

And I am a FREEDOMIZER…

angry bird
The last is about the thing that is most important to me. Freedom. I can say that freedom is the only thing that I cannot live without. In fact, this is also frame that I spend the longest time drawing. And hope the concept of the game looks obvious to you. It’s the Angry Bird.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rovio.baba

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rovio.baba

I arranged my name with all the bricks and stones from the game. And the cat, setting off from the spring, is flying through the sky. The reason why I like Angry Bird is because I like the way where the cat swings across the sky. It gives me a sense of release. When the cat reaches its end, it will hit on my name. The so-called XIAO TONG will collapsed. The so-called me will break from its bond and ties. I’m finally able to reached my inner peace…

 

Repeating objects

cat 1

Not wanting my work to be just 4 different frames, I try to let element from one to appear on the another. So that my attributes can be seen from all the four frames. For example, the attribute of the Gamer appears throughout. In addition, I also let the cat. to appear in three of the frames. It’s a regret that I cannot reinforce it into the Zombies Vs. Due Date as the result turns out not so nice.