Research – hfmak

Zine – Final

A zine is a small circulation of self-published work that may or may not consist of original work, and reproduced cheaply. It may be either print, or hand-written, though the formal is used more commonly.

I had many ideas for this project, though upon consultation with Mimi, I decided to limit my scope a little tighter. It could have been even more limited, as the outcome was still rather broad.

The initial idea was to do a travelogue, similar to series such as Lonely Planet or Globe Trekker, based on locations that I had travelled to, except that it was from the point of view of a smaller object, in this case, a doll.

Image on the left was taken atop Mount Titlis, Switzerland. The other was taken in Paris, France.

The initial layout was planned in the following manner:

Page 1 and 8: Cover

Page 2: Author’s foreword

Page 3: Description

Page 4: Information

Page 5: Explanation, how to get dolls

Page 6, 7: Different photoshoot locations and recommendations

However, upon discussion with two graphic design friends, they recommended that the photoshoot locations be shifted to the background (Page 2, 7), and the explanation and foreword be located at pages 3 and 6 respectively, so that it would be the first thing that potential readers see when they open up the zine.

The zine was designed to be a booklet for doll events, organised not only locally, but in foreign locations, and hence, the information must be striking, and catch attention. It was designed to be cheap (~50 cents per booklet on 80 gsm paper, full colour), and accessible. Gloss paper was rejected as it was prone to scratching for some particular reason, and the colour was not as attractive.

The image was primarily done in Adobe Photoshop CS6, as my Photoshop CC and InDesign were locked due to issues with Adobe Creative Cloud. A faint white line of 2px diameter was included in the center of the image, this is to facilitate folding and stapling of the zine upon printing completion.

As InDesign was not available, adjustment and alignment of pictures took a significant amount of time, as it had to be adjusted pixel by pixel.

The font choice was MT Script and Microsoft Tailue. Tailue gives a gentler feel than Arial (too broad), and not as boring as Times New Roman. MT Script gave a slight ‘exotic’ feel to the text, though on hindsight, it should have been replaced with another font, as the font itself was not the easiest to read, and was particularly large for its size.

Final product:

On hindsight, I should not have boxed up the text as it looked awkward. The bleed was an issue as well, as the printing shop that I had visited had a larger than usual amount of bleed, causing the zine to change in dimensions; the top part had to be trimmed to accommodate the excess bleed in the lower part.

Next, I should have maintained a colour scheme, and used a similar background such as that in the author’s foreword page. Though vibrant, I felt that it was too inconsistent.

Finally, I would like to thank Mimi for her efforts in imparting graphic design knowledge to us. Though I am not the most active in class, nor do I have a good attendance (oops), I have learnt a lot of tips and techniques in this class that I would definitely put to future use.

2D Project 03 – Colour

Colour is derived from different wavelengths of light interacting with receptors in our eyes from around 700nm to 400nm, with a frequency of 430 to 750 THz. The human eye can distinguish around 100 million different colours. Surfaces absorbing more light appear darker, while surfaces that reflect more light appear lighter. Near total absorption of light creates a black object, while reflecting almost all of the light creates a white object.

As many of us would have noted, the colours red, orange, yellow, and green to a certain extent, are warmer colours. Blue and purple to a certain extent are cooler colours. However, I would like to go deeper into different shades of a colour, and what they represent.

Red is a colour of passion. Brighter reds (crimson) represents vigour, and that of youthfulness, while deeper reds (mahogany) represent fury and inner brooding anger.

Example: Kyoko Sakura (Madoka series)

Kyoko is introduced as an abrasive, fiery, and self-centered girl who fights only for herself. She is also courageous, and always eating something.

Orange represents joy, and emotional wellness, a mixture of the energy from red dampened by the calming yellow. Brighter orange tones (honey) create a sense of pride, while darker orange tones (bronze) create a sense of loneliness. large

Example: Holo (Spice and Wolf)

Holo is smart and confident, and is manipulative towards Lawrence (the protagonist), while often mocking his negotiating skills. She has a deep fear of being alone, and is usually good-humored and talkative.

Yellow represents hope, the colour of sunshine. A saturated yellow (canary) creates a sense of procrastination or lack of focus, while a darker yellow (medallion) conjures a feeling of cunning.

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Green is the colour of life and renewal, while different shades of green (jade) represents jealousy and greed. Bluer shades represent harmony.

Example: Hatsune Miku

It is a virtual music synthesizer with a humanoid persona. It uses the Vocaloid 2.0 engine from Yamaha, and is given life by many different composers (using Vocaloid) and animators (using MikuMikuDance) throughout the world, becoming a cultural impact. She has no fixed characteristics, which is usually decided by animators or composers themselves.

Blue is the colour of the skies and seas, and thus, the colour of freedom. Bright, brilliant blues (electric) are colours of excitement and dynamism, while bland, pale blues come across as melancholic.

Example: Ayanami Rei (Evangelion)

Rei is socially withdrawn, seemingly emotionless, and rarely interacts with anyone. She lives by herself, though as the series progresses, she begins to develop relationships with others and to show moments of genuine emotion. Ayanami blue is named after her, a mixture of two blue shades.

Purple, occurring rarely in nature, is the colour of royalty. Lighter purples (lavender) provide hints of feminism and gracefulness, while saturated dark purples (Tyrian purple) emphasize wealth and majesty.

Example: Neptune/Purple Heart (Neptunia series)

Neptune is the most carefree, friendly and ditzy of the four goddesses in the series, though she gains seriousness and loses her friendliness upon her transformation into Purple Heart, resulting in overconfidence in some incidents.

A line is straight, has no thickness, and extends infinitely

Which is what I would think a line is had I not transferred out of engineering school.

Due to a absolute amount of luck, my sketchbook and first draft was lost overseas. However, I will discuss my inspiration behind my artwork in as much detail as possible.

I prefer simplicity over detail, and most of my works were drawn with either a pen with a 0.5mm tip, or a Pilot ‘extra-fine’ marker. These were my basic tools when I started out drawing, and became my most handy and favourite, apart from digital media.

As I still conduct teaching and conducting classes externally, I have to maintain a regimen of at least 3 hours of piano practice a day, and some of my influences come from my experience, piano theory, music history, and the pieces which I select. I would attempt to describe the above in laymen terms, as it may be harder to understand for those new to classical music.

Anxious

Anxiety is a feeling of unease or concern about an uncertain outcome. I based my artwork off Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ monodrama, Eight Songs for a Mad King. This was before he had became known for his calm demeanour in further works in the 1970s. One published version of his work is known for the arrangement of music staves in the form of bars of a bird cage, similar to the actual work where actors were placed in bird cages. The monodrama ends with the actor smashing his violin, which is literally the end of his anxiousness as well. My artwork displays a line drawn by a loosely held pen, which follows the pitch of the main baritone in Eight Songs for a Mad King. It advances slowly initially, following the king’s speech, and increases in pace as we reach the climax.

Lyrical

To me, lyrical represents the deep emotion that flows through upon a performance or act. I chose the piece that almost caused me to fail my music exams, Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 14, or known as the Moonlight Sonata. Specifically, I chose his third movement (in C# minor), as it is one of the pioneering works by Beethoven where he shifted the most important movement of the sonata to the last movement. It is very fast and agitated (presto agitato), has heavily accented notes (sforzando) and many tough arpeggio sequences. It maintains its harmony through liberal usage of piano (Italian for playing softly) while creating climaxes and notable points by fortissimo passages (Italian for playing very loudly and forcefully). I used a quill pen to note points of inferences from the piece onto the artwork, where it is represented by notes, rests, key signatures and clefs. The lines connecting the notes are squiggly, irregular, but connected without sharp angles. This represents not only a display of emotion, but also a sense of direction linking one note to another, and progression.

Bizarre

Bizarre is just plainly, strange. I based my artwork off multiple influences, which includes H.P. Lovecraft’s non-human organisms, fate, and guilt, specifically from the Cthulhu mythos. Additionally, they include an amalgamation of biological tissue with machine parts, seen from the Digimon series, and extraterrestrial and mecha elements from the Evangelion series. My work involves a huge wall of a single element, with individual objects being connected to each other via guts, metal parts, pipes, wires or related items. There is multiple usage of metal parts bolted onto flesh, and tentacles writhing from random crevices. The medium used is pen, and any mistakes done during drawing were converted to another object instead, increasing the strangeness of the entire piece.

In the final presentation, a clump of synthetic plastic was stuck onto the artwork (which was initially used to mask a major mistake). It provides a feel reminiscent of fur, yet thin enough to be hair. The colour is unnatural. It was done by melting down synthetic wig with dye, and forcing it at high pressure into cold water through a casted mold. The dye is not fully mixed, resulting in patches of light blue and white. It accentuates the weirdness factor of the work, an essential part of being bizzare. The line from left to right loosely represents Cthulhu (Lovecraft), Ochu (Final Fantasy), metal-based Digimon (Digimon), Marlboro (Final Fantasy), Angel 01 (EVA), Tentacruel (Pokemon)

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