Once Upon a Time, In a world…

October 1, 2016Project 1B: In a world... (Character and Poster)In a world..., Little red riding hood with a twist, ONCE UPON A TIMEJess

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In a world where the aristocrats thrive while the lesser suffer, a young orphan girl named Scarlet desires a change for the oppressed. Trapped in the dystopian city of Fairytale, Scarlet seeks out to destroy the organization G.MA, which have long ruled the city under their dictatorship. Despite her skills, she lacks the knowledge in tracking them down. She encounters a mercenary who goes by the name of Mr. Wulfric, claiming that he “knows the way to G.MA’s house.” In exchange for his assistance, Scarlet is required to help him achieve his vendetta against them after the lost of his family and half of his face against a fight with Jack O’ Hunter, G.MA’s personal guard.

Along the way, Scarlet learns about her haunting past and relations, especially with the head of G.MA. Will Red carry on her mission, or abandon it and betray her accomplice?

Characters:

Growing up as a orphan, Scarlett had lived the life as an oppressed individual in Fairytale. She grew up in a small orphanage at the underdeveloped part of Fairytale. There, she witness first-hand the difference between the ruling aristocrat and the lesser. Her first encounter with a gun was when she accidentally stumbled into one of her caretakers’ room. From there on, she had managed to convince and practice shooting, under the supervision of her trainer/caretaker. When she turned 18, Scarlett finally left the orphanage, hoping to survive her way through life. Shortly later, she decided to go on a wild pursue, hoping make a change in the worsening society of Fairytale when she found out about the Rebellion Force that went into hiding.

One of the ex-remaining members of Rebellion Force, Mr Wulfric had once believed that they were strong enough to take down G.MA. However, the unfortunate encounter resulted in the loss of his family and half of his face. After miraculously surviving, Mr Wulfric found out that the revolution had failed and that G.MA was hunting the remaining members down. Considered as a wanted criminal, Mr Wulfric resigned himself to reside in the underground world of Fairytale, working as a cold and heartless mercenary.

One of G.MA’s top and finest robot they have ever built. Jack O’ Hunter serves as a personal bodyguard for the head of G.MA. It is programmed to ensure G.MA’s protection and safety at all cost, even if it means destroying itself in the process. From time to time, G.MA uses Jack O’ Hunter to hunt down the Rebellion Force, hoping to suppress them once and for all.

My Line is Emo – All in one

September 18, 2016Final Project, My Work, Process, Project 1 Emo, Project 1 Gallerymark making, Monoprint, My line is emoJess

The entire project had been an emotional roller coaster ride, mainly involving the emotions frustration, angst, exhaustion and relief! Haha!

I’ve decided to document and compile everything into one post, so bear with me if it seems lengthy! But I guess it shows the process much easier in one post!

Mark Making:

We had to bring our own mark making tools for class. Initially, I had no idea what I should bring, so I decided to make some of my own! As class progressed, I realized that literally ANYTHING can be used as a mark making tool.

Mark Making Tools

We also learned how to use a paint on roller and how to achieve a nice, full black print. We got to experiment and explore with different techniques using paint and chinese ink.

Exploration of paint using a Roller

This is only the beginning

We may have gone a bit too wild and started trying out endlessly possibilities achieving some form of mark making. But in the end, we made some really cool results!

My Mark Making Loots!

Example of a good Mark Making work

Monoprinting:

We also had the opportunity to do mono-printing! I have never done mono-printing before and have always wonder how they’re done, so this was an eye opener for me. We have to lino-cutting which is done by cutting the surface of a Lino, spreading paint evenly onto it and then run through a print machine.

The amount of paint and pressure used can affect the outcome of the print

We got a hands on experience of trying the lino-printing, and these were what I produced!

~~Dark is my soul which I have just touched~~

The main result were paint-covered hands.

Overall, who knew mark making could be fun? But we all know, that that’s just the beginning. Now all we have to do was link our mark marking and emotions together.

Memory Drawing:

For this, we had to tap into our subconscious to do automatic drawings. A simple way to do so is Memory Drawing. In Memory drawing, we have to think of whichever emotions we want to portray. For example , for a Happiness, we need to think of something that makes us happy or a moment in or life where we felt a strong feeling of happiness. And by doing so, we let our hands do the automatic drawings.

Happiness

Anger

Sadness

Process Work:

How I started was that I did experimental works first. Mainly exploration of techniques and mark marking to see what I can achieve. After which, I might look at a particular print and see what kind of emotions it elicits or reminds me of. I would make notes in my journal about it so I would not forget what I have thought of.

Experimental works

The next step for me was to categorize the prints I have done and other future-prints I might do into the main emotions; happiness, love, sadness, fear, anger, surprise. This allows me to view my ideas in a much easier sense and I can easily refer back to it for inspirations. I also in down my thoughts on how I feel about each emotions. I also tried exploring other forms of mediums and tools such as glue and strings.

Categorized emotions + Further exploration

Last was to do various prints of them and then use the cropping tool method to see what kind of results I would get. I would do at least 5 strips for each of my chosen emotion and pick the best out from them to be used in my final project.

Example: Sentimentality

Final Project: My Line is Emo

(cue drumroll)

List of chosen emotions from Top to Bottom:

Tenderness	Rage
Sentimentality	Annoyance
Wacky	Frustration
Psychotic	Alienation
Excitement	Surprise
Fear	Melancholy
Anxiety	Woe
Distress	Misery
Conflicted	Exhausted

Project 1: Hello there Lil’ Humming Bird

August 28, 2016Project 1animal model, humming bird, project 1Jess

Initially, my model was suppose to be a whale. I decided to make a hummingbird instead when I was playing around with a fan blade that I have brought from Thieves’ Market. Somehow, I made the connection between a fan blade and a humming bird. The spinning of a fan blade resembled that of the wings of a humming bird flying, since those creatures are known for their rapid flapping of wings. I had this inspiration to make a movable model, hence I decided to retain the function of a working fan in my work. Besides, I thought it was a really, really, cool idea!

Process:

I actually had to make a second trip back to Thieves’ Market because I recalled seeing these kind of fans being sold, at around the price of $3-5. So I went around looking for a functional one. I brought some kind of circuit board as well and other materials, just in case I couldn’t make the humming bird, I can always back up with my initial whale idea.

I had to snap off the plastic covering since the fan blades were attached to the circular base of it. It was kind of stressful because I was afraid I might snap the wires off by accident, whoops! Since the plan is to retain the function of the moving fan blades.

Turns out the circuit board was of good use as a base support for the fan! (Nope, I didn’t use any tech-ny magic! I’m not an engineer, psh!) since it’s too heavy for it to stand alone. I have attached the fan onto a screw as a support stand and added along a head as well.

Before attaching everything together, I was trying to figure out if it was possible to attached a body onto the rotating fan, without having the body rotate as well.

Of course, it was kind of impossible, so I decided to leave a gap in between the body and the fans, so as not to obstruct the movements of the rotating fans. And I think it worked out pretty well, as in terms of visualization, as I can see a full figure of a humming bird.

Final Look:

Video:

Click here.
(The video isn’t that obvious, but the wings are moving.)

Adventure Time: Thieves’ Market

August 28, 2016Project 1Thieves market, TrashventureJess

You know the saying: One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

That’s what this project literally is about. We have to make a model out from…trash. Good trash, of course.

It was a really hot and humid day though! Still there were many things to be seen and bought. There was a variety of items being sold; from spare electronic parts to odd-looking objects. Just like the snake staff at the picture below. It was really cool!

Bet it was costly. Speaking of costs, the items there are really cheap. But of course, the best way to get the best price is to… Bargain. I got to test my bargaining skills for the first time. I can say I made some decent deals, psh!

~~(I was really tempted to get that zapdos badge. Because #TEAMINSTICT )~~

To be honest, I didn’t really have a fixed idea of a model I had wanted to build. So I brought parts which looked interesting or caught my eye and along the way, formed some kind of creature I had wanted to make; A whale, initially.

It’s kind of sad to know that this place wouldn’t be around long. I’m glad to have at least visited this place once more (the first time when I was a much younger) even though it’s reduced in size. It was still a very interesting sight to see as well as junks to buy!

Project 1A: Mrs. Potato Head

August 28, 2016Project 1 A: Add, Subtract, Substitute, Superimposeaddition, Project 1A, substitution, substration, superimposedJess

(Title was inspired from Melanie Martinez’s song, Mrs. Potato Head.)

My overall theme was heavily influenced by the standard of beauty nowadays. The reason why I chose this topic was because whenever we scroll through social networking sites, we would come across a post or two about related to beauty, even the bizarre ones. For example, the recent “sheet of paper” body trend, where women are trying to compare their waist line with a sheet of A2 paper. There are those who took drastic measures just to achieve that look. And what for? Attention? Fame? A sense of achievement?

It’s scary how social media can affect one’s perception of beauty.

Addition:

(I wanted to achieve this look of “paper cut out dress up dolls.”)

This piece was inspired by a personal experience of mine. There are times where I don’t feel like dolling myself up for a certain event. My mother will insist that I have to have makeup on at least. Why? Her answer was because I was a woman. Is it bad not to look petty in public?

In a way, it makes me feel women are subjected to having to look pretty all the time.

Subtraction:

Does it become an identity to have and be recognized as someone attractive? Is image that important? What happens when that very image is gone? Does it lead to a lost of identity?

It makes you wonder if we as human being pride outer beauty over inner beauty any day.

Superimposed:

It isn’t bad that we, as human beings, want to look attractive. It is only human nature to be obsessed about it. Or is it? Perhaps we’ve been influenced much by the media in our everyday lives. Let’s be honest, when have beauty commercials chose someone considered less attractive over someone more attractive? It puts this negative feeling unto us, that if you’re not attractive, you’re nothing because “No one will love you if you’re unattractive.”

We learn what we see. Subconsciously, we believe what is shown to us.

Substitute:

There are people who will go to the extent just to alter their look. Barbie here is used as a metaphor of “Even if pretty does hurt, it’s probably not worth it to start cutting and pasting because one may regret trying to make themselves into something they are not.” Remember, though barbie is pretty, she is still plastic. So why put yourself to achieve something that is plastic?

Maybe, we as humans should accept what we consider as flaws; the very aspect that makes us humans and not pretty plastic dolls.

I would like to conclude that it is one’s choice to do what they want with their body. No matter what, the most important is being comfortable with oneself.

The one and only Animal Whisperer

August 23, 2016Student ProfilesuperheroJess

Hey heeey!

Need your cat to stop scratching your furniture?

Or your dog to stop drinking from the toilet bowl?

How about the power to control birds to do your work just like Snow White?

Well here you have it to help you out with your daily animal needs, your new superhero in town a.k.a Animal Whisperer.
~~Totally no hidden motive to start an animal kingdom to achieve world domination.~~