Project 03: Ego In Different Settings

about the project

To express my personality through 4 sequences of “me + setting = outcome” using colour theory, completing a total of 12 square prints.

concept

My alter ego is a sea monster, a lazy villain who makes the effort to wreck havoc in the city at least once a week even though she’d rather stay in bed. In her evil lair, she devises silly schemes to annoy citizens. On Friday nights, she hangs out with her friends on a rooftop, their secret hideout for villains only.

Living on land in order to be closer to her workplace (the city), she misses the deep ocean, her home. There is a recurring motif of miniature oceans that come in the form of things like her fish tank weapon vault and the washing machine. She feels out of place in the city, a misfit in society, a fish out of water, literally.

But with the company of her friends and her comfortable pillow-forted lair, she looks forward to a better day each day and continues annoying the citizens with her silly schemes.


Life is like a game and I am the avatar I control in this life. Hence, this narrative of my alter ego is presented in a RPG game style where I customise my character and personality, choose a location, and see what happens when I interact in it.


Me: sleepy + lazy
Setting: evil lair
Outcome: devise evil plans

Despite feeling sleepy and lazy, sea monster chooses to stay up late devising evil plans even though she feels tempted to flop into bed or watch Korean dramas.

Like me, I have the same struggle of choosing work over comfort and I often put off cleaning my room to another day until it becomes too messy to do any work HAHA.

Me: sleepy + lazy

Colours: Analogous muted pastels
Usage:  To evoke sleepy, lazy mood
Setting: evil lair

Colours: Monochromatic teals
Usage: To establish the scene, nothing much going on here so monochromatic colours emphasise the environment rather than what is happening in it.
Outcome: devise evil plans

Colours: Analogous
Usage: Something exciting is brewing in sea monster’s evil lab. Brighter pop of colours used to highlight excitement and action taking place.
Me: hyped up
Setting: rooftop hideout
Outcome: soju session

After a hard day of work, sea monster is so ready to hang out with her other sea creature villains on their secret rooftop hideout. I also enjoy spending quality time with a small group of friends and this rooftop is an ideal place I hope can exist for real in future. Work hard, play harderrrr.

Me: hyped up

Colours: Split complementary
Usage: The vibrant contrast brings out a sense of excitement
Setting: rooftop hideout

Colours: Triadic
Usage: Bright colours used to distinguish the fun activities from the darker background that establishes the scene as night time.
Outcome: devise evil plans

Colours: Tetradic
Usage: Contrast of complementary colours create a more lively atmosphere
Me: fired up
Setting: city streets
Outcome: fight till the end

When it comes to fighting superheroes, sea monster takes her job seriously. But no matter what evil plans she comes up with, she always ends up losing, like in every classic story plot. Even though it is easy to feel discouraged and give in to retreat, she chooses to fight till the end.

For me, when it comes to taking on what life throws at me, I think I falter between retreating and fighting till the end. But the latter would be what I ideally want to do.

Me: fired up

Colours: Triadic
Usage: The combination of bright colours exude the mood of getting fired up and ready for the fight.
Setting: city streets

Colours:  Monochrome
Usage: Similar to the evil lair setting, nothing much is happening here and this colour combination is simply used to establish the scene.
Outcome: fight till the end

Colours: Analogous
Usage: A wider spectrum of analogous colours are used for this scene. This is to highlight the action happening in this battle but muted colours are used to express the mood of defeat.
Me: disappointed but secretly excited
Setting: laundromat
Outcome: wash laundry

After losing the fight, sea monster ends her day of work at the laundromat. There is something comforting about doing the laundry as she watches her clothes swim inside. It reminds her of home.

I’ve always thought of myself as more of a villain than a superhero. I’m not the righteous type and sometimes I feel a little out of place in society. At home, I’m in charge of doing the laundry.

Me: disappointed but secretly excited

Colours: Tetradic
Usage: Even though sea monster’s facial expression is of disappointment, she is secretly excited about doing her laundry, so this bright combination of colours are used.
Setting: laundromat

Colours: Analogous
Usage: To establish the setting, nothing much going on here
Outcome: wash laundry

Colours: Tetradic
Usage: These contrasting colours are used to express her inner excitement at this seemingly mundane activity of doing the laundry.
process

Process: Colours + Composition

research

Research: Colour Harmony

reflections

My biggest challenge for this project would be lack of time. I had the big picture of the concept in mind but struggled to come up with the little details in each piece. I felt like I didn’t explore the colour theories enough. I think I’m only satisfied with the concept and feel that more could be improved for the details in the illustrations and the choice of colours to depict the concept better. Even though this project is a little regrettable for me, I think I also did my best all the way up to the deadline. Sigh, oh wells.

 

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