Eat. Sleep. Repeat.

Colour Lino-cut Print

14/11/2016 by Deniel Naquila·0 Comments

Media censorship is something that not only exists in Singapore but the whole world. Movies in Singapore are given ratings (G, PG, PG13, NC16, M18, R21 and NAR (not allowed for all ratings)). In music, an example is Katy Perry’s song being banned due to homosexuality. Some video games are also censored. Television and publications are all controlled by government-controlled companies, MediaCorp and Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) respectively. I am aware that Singapore is only partly democratic but what if we achieve full democracy in expressing our opinions and ideas? Media censorship is essential to protect those who needed it. For example, preventing younger audiences from being exposed to extreme violence and harsh language. However, I think some of these censorship has gone as far as altering the original intent and purpose of the creator. For me, as a creator, I would feel offended if someone alters something I made. Censoring some of it may defeat the purpose of why I made it in the first place. My point here is not about abolishing the idea of media censorship. I am not against it. Media censorship has its negative and positive sides. I’m just curious to know what will happen if one day, everyone is able to express themselves freely without restrictions and the current state of media censorship.

Final Piece:

The Statue of Liberty is an icon of freedom who is behind a jail cell which symbolises the restriction we have. The raised fists are symbols of solidarity. The coming together of people who express themselves freely. The hazy background represents the uncertainty whether media censorship will be any more changes in media censorship in the future. The red cross on Liberty’s mouth is another representation of the restriction we have in voicing our opinions. The raised fists are holding different objects. The microphone represents the freedom to express oneself by speech. The pen represents the freedom to express oneself through writing.

I used lino-cut for the main scene inside the jail cell. The haze, Liberty and the fists are all lino prints. The jail cell itself and the bars are paper cuts. I wanted Liberty to be yellow at first because I personally think that yellow looks awesome on black paper. My mind was set to use black for the background to emphasise that the jail cell is dark and that the future of media censorship is uncertain. Instead, I used complementary colours, green and pink. Initially, I wanted to use red for the raised fists but it doesn’t really show in black paper so I chose the next best alternative which is pink. I also wanted to use white or grey for the haze effect but it’s not available. The jail cell is dirty, old and run-down to show how old the issue is. Media censorship has been there ever since media itself existed. I used charcoal to make the cell look dirty and texture to make it look run-down. I used the one-third rule for the main elements with Liberty in the middle. I used lines for the haze effect in the background.

Difficulties:

This is my first time trying to print different colours using only one lino pad. Now that I think of it, I could have used different lino pads for the different objects in my art piece to make printing easier. OH WELL. It took me quite a number of test prints to get the result that I’m satisfied with. First, I applied green paint on Liberty and printed it. Then pink on the raised fist. This came to be a challenge because it is difficult to apply the paint on the fists without it being accidentally applied to Liberty as well. So I had to use tissue paper to wipe off all pink paint that were accidentally applied on Liberty and the haze. I did the same thing for the haze, wiping off the orange paint from Liberty and the raised fists. One wrong print and you have to start back to square one. It takes a lot of time and patience to get the result you want or at least satisfied with. Another difficulty is the limited choices of colours. I wish there were more choices but what can we do.

Learning take-away:

I learnt how to make do with what we have given the limited colour choices. It is also okay sometimes if things do not turn out as planned as it may look better. Same thing goes as with any lino-cut prints. Patience is key. One wrong print and you’re back to square one.

THE lino pad:

Test prints:

This is me trying to test print using yellow acrylic paint. Obviously, it did not turn out well.

Trying out different colours. I also tried test printing two colours at the same time. These were all printed in one go.

Test printing in black paper.

Black and White Lino-cut Print

04/11/2016 by Deniel Naquila·0 Comments

When our class visited the National Gallery for a tour on different art pieces for our Project 3 – Art Critique, I was inspired by the artists’ wood-carve print who used waves of the sea in their art pieces. I thought they look really nice so I decided to go with a sea-themed art piece as well.

Story:

Panel 1:

A man decided to take his sailboat to fish in the vast ocean only to find something he did not expect to see. Instead of catching small fish like he first wanted to, he stumbled upon a whale. He struggled to catch the whale (obviously) and eventually gave up. He is now lost and has absolutely no idea where he is or how to go back.

Panel 2:

It took a while and the sun had already set but he still managed to find his way back thanks to a lighthouse which was able to guide him safely back to shore.

Analysis:

Panel 1:

I placed the tail of the whale at the centre because I want it to be the main focus of the piece. I purposely made it a lot bigger compared to the boat to emphasise it’s scale representing the huge obstacle that the man faced when he encountered the whale. This also gives the user a better perspective showing that the man is closer to the viewer and the whale is farther. But even then, the whale is still bigger than the man and his sailboat. I used the one-third rule on the sailboat placing it on the left side of the final piece (right side of the initial drawing). I wanted to give life to the waves and make it obvious that the waves are really strong and the man is struggling to fight and catch the whale. Putting emphasis on the curves of the waves, this also shows how strong the waves are. It’s almost as if you are feeling how hard the man fought the whale in his attempt to catch it. Initially, I was planning to keep the background plain white but decide no to. It will look pretty boring otherwise. I decided to use lines instead, giving the art piece a mysterious kind of feeling. Just like how mysterious it is to find a whale when the man was only looking for fish. It also gives a misty kind of effect which is nice. I also used lines on the whale and the man as highlights so that the art piece would not look as flat. Makes them look more three-dimensional.

Panel 2:

As you can see in the second panel, there is consistency as I used the same technique on the waves. I used two-point perspective on the sailboat and lighthouse. Even though the sailboat and the lighthouse are almost the same size in the art piece, this is not the case in real life (since we all know that lighthouses are waaaay bigger than sailboats). This shows that the lighthouse is very far back in the background and the sailboat is nearer to the foreground. I decided to go with a solid white for the light emitted by the lighthouse to show contrast with the dark sky. It makes it easier for the sailboat to spot the lighthouse even in the darkness of the night. This time, I decided to go with a solid black background to emphasise that it took a long time for the man to find his way back to the shore. He set out at sea when the sun was still up. At first I was thinking whether I should continue with the consistency theme with the first panel but I decided not to because it would look messy with a lot of things going on in the background. If there are a lot of things going on in the background, this might confuse the viewer on how the man was able to see the lighthouse. With a simple and clean background like this, it would be obviously easier to spot the lighthouse. I used lines on the lighthouse for highlights to make it three-dimensional like what I did on the first panel (consistency again!). I also used lines on the light emitted by the lighthouse to give it a more realistic effect.

Lessons learnt:

At first, I thought lino-cut printing would be a challenge. I was right. It takes a lot of time to decide what will be carved off and what would not. Carving is another challenge as it is not easy to get the texture that you want. It might not show in your final print. I also learnt that it is okay to make mistakes. These mistakes might turn out to give your final piece more flavour and make it look nicer. The results are unexpected but it is almost certain that the outcome will be better than what you think. Another lesson I learnt that it takes a lot of time to find a good print. The final print I had for Panel 2 was not really a perfect print. You can see quite a lot of imperfections on the waves and the light looks a little dirty. But I think such imperfections give the art piece a bit more character and makes it more unique.

Lino pad drawing and carving progress:

Lino pad ready for printing:

Test prints:

Museum Art Critique

02/10/2016 by Deniel Naquila·0 Comments

Saya Saung
(b. 1898, Myanmar; d. 1952, Myanmar)

[Not Titled] (Landscape with a Pagoda)

c. 1920s – 1930s
Watercolour on paper

Private collection

Initial Response:

The moment I set my eyes upon this piece, I knew that the artist used watercolour. I was in awe because I knew firsthand how difficult it is to paint using watercolour from past experiences.

Analysis:

Since this piece was painted using watercolour, Saung didn’t deliberately use lines to compose this landscape. Instead, the lines are implied to form the shape of the objects in the piece. The trees, sky, clouds, the people, the pagoda and the grass were all implied lines from the watercolour the artist used.

The shapes are rather simple and realistic. Saung is trying to put exactly what he sees in paper for other people to see and appreciate as realistic as possible (think of it as a photograph with a watercolour filter).

Saung deliberately painted the people small relative to the pagoda to show how enormous the pagoda is that even from afar, we are able to see it.

There is definitely some depth in this piece. It is clearly distinguishable that the pagoda is in the background behind the trees and the two people are in the foreground.

The light source is coming from above. The shadows formed are present in the artwork and most of them are shown on the grass patch in the foreground formed by the trees surrounding the place.

There is no implied texture as this piece is painted with watercolour. Hence, it is smooth.

The colour is rather dull and monotonous. It’s predominantly brown and green with a little bit of blue in the sky. Saung used different shades of brown and green which goes well with each other. All these colours are Earth colours which goes well with the nature motif of the artwork.

Saya Saung was of royal blood, perhaps partly accounting for another nickname in Burma “The Prince of Watercolor”, a possible double-entendre which reflected both his family background and his skills as a watercolorist. As an adolescent he attended St. Peter’s School in Mandalay and in adulthood served as a clerk in the Forestry Department and later taught as an art teacher at St. Paul’s High School. He lived in Rangoon but also spent much of the year in Mandalay, his home. Because he lived in both Mandalay and Rangoon, he passed on his skills as a transparent watercolorist to painters in both communities. He sold as many as 100 of his watercolor paintings to foreign collectors and was fairly well-off.

Raden Saleh
(b. circa 1811, Indonesia; d. 1880, Indonesia)

Merapi, Eruption by Night

1865
Oil on Canvas

Collection of the Tan family

Initial Response:

The vibrant contrast between the red, yellow and orange of the molten lava oozing out of the volcano and the black and grey of the sky and the volcano itself just caught my attention. I was amazed at the sight and didn’t know that such a disaster could be so beautiful.

Analysis:

Since this piece was painted using oil on canvas, Saleh didn’t deliberately use lines to compose this landscape. Instead, the lines are implied to form the shape of the objects in the piece. The volcano, smoke, the sky and molten lava were all implied lines from the oil on canvas the artist used.

The shapes are complex and realistic. Saleh is trying to put exactly what he sees in paper for other people to see and appreciate as realistic as possible. To see the magnificent sight of a volcano erupting at night.

Saleh deliberately painted the volcano to be at the centre of the artwork to show how enormous it is that even from afar, we are able to see it. You can see the tiny moon in the sky for added emphasis on its scale. In my opinion, he did a really good job on making the volcano eruption the main character in this artwork because your eyes go straight to it as soon as you lay your eyes on it.

There is definitely some depth in this piece. It is clearly distinguishable that the volcano is in the background and rocks and a bit of shrubbery are in the foreground.

The light source is coming from the moon above. The molten lava is giving off some light as well. The shadows formed are present in the artwork and most of them are shown on the rocks in the foreground as light from the molten lava shines on them.

Saleh used oil on canvas for this piece so he was able to use layers of paint to create a rough texture on this artwork.

Only a few colours are present: black, yellow, orange, red, white and grey. The piece is mostly dark but is complemented by the bright molten lava coming out of the volcano.

The ‘mountain’ has always been a powerful and significant symbol in many cultures and ancient mythologies. It is particularly so for Indonesia, a country where one finds the largest number of active volcanoes. Essentially, the artist presented the potent beauty of a sacred mountain, held in awe and fear for centuries by the Javanese.

Raden Saleh Sjarif Boestaman (1811 – 23 April 1880) was a pioneering Indonesian Romantic painter of Arab-Javanese ethnicity. He was considered to be the first “modern” artist from Indonesia (then Dutch East Indies), and his paintings corresponded with nineteenth-century romanticism which was popular in Europe at the time. He also expressed his cultural roots and inventiveness in his work.

Lim Nang Seng (林浪新)

Goat and Calf

1960s
Cement

Collection of National University of Singapore Museum

Initial Response:

The moment I saw this sculpture, I was intrigued at what it was since it looked different from the other sculptures. I also had a hard time figuring out what it was at first glance. And then I saw that it was a cement sculpture. I was completely shocked for I didn’t know such sculptures existed. I can only imagine how difficult it is to work with cement.

Analysis:

The sculpture has a rather simple and realistic shape even though it doesn’t look like what it’s supposed to look like at first glance. Although, there are sharp edges all around most likely because it’s difficult to reproduce realistic curves using cement.

I would say that the size of the sculpture of the goat and calf is similar to that of their real life-size counterparts if not a little bit smaller (I haven’t seen any goats lately so take my judgement with a grain of salt.) There are some unrealistic features on the goat though. It’s neck, for example, is bent in an unusual way which is unlikely for a real goat to mimic.

The sculpture is very rough and makes it a very accurate representation of the goat’s fur. I feel like I’m touching the real thing albeit a lot harder (obviously).

Lim did not paint his sculpture so it remains grey which is the natural colour of cement. I think his purpose for this is because he didn’t want to alter the material he used to give it a more natural look and feel. It is highly likely that any paint or whatsoever can change the natural texture of the sculpture.

This sculpture could have limitless meanings and purposes. Lim could just very well saw a random goat and calf on the side of the road and decided to sculpt them. But from my perspective, I see a mother caring for his child. The way the goat is nursing the calf making sure that her child is well-fed. Even bending her neck in a seemingly impossible way shows how mothers will do anything, even if it hurts them, for their child. The calf is also seen sculpted almost directly below the goat. It’s as if the goat is acting as a shield for the calf. This represents the maternal instinct to protect one’s child from any danger. Motherly love is also as tough as cement and can only be broken with a sheer amount of force or maybe not at all.

Lim Nang Seng (born 1916 in Kuching, Sarawak) was a pioneer of sculpture in Singapore (although many articles refer to him as just a “craftsman”). According to his entry in the Sculpture ’67: Singapore Art Society – First Sculpture Exhibition, he exhibited regularly at the annual art shows of the Singapore Art Society and other shows in Singapore and Malaysia. An article in the Straits Times (posted on the Singapore Heritage Yahoo Group website), gives some further information about him and his family. According to the article, “Lim designed Singapore’s first batch of one-cent coins in 1967. His other works include the sculpture of a dancing girl in Tiong Bahru estate and a monkey clock tower in Bukit Timah Shopping Centre. Both the statue and clock tower are still around today.” The National University of Singapore has several of his sculptures in its collection.

Colour Still-life Cut-out

01/10/2016 by Deniel Naquila·0 Comments

I wanted my composition to have a perfect balance between warm and cool colours. I also wanted to use items not commonly used by my classmates in their compositions. Hence, I used the Hello Kitty figurine and the Mr Muscle spray bottle as one of the main objects of my composition. The jar with the dragon pattern also caught my attention when I saw it. I wanted to challenge myself a little bit as it would be relatively tougher to cut the dragon pattern. The toothbrush was just there for laughs. I thought it would be so random to put a toothbrush in the middle so I did .

In the end, I came up with this photo:

The light source of my composition is mainly coming from the background and some from the light above. It doesn’t really have too prominent shadows. Thinking back, I should have taken the towel away and took the photo at a higher angle like most of my classmates did so I can play with the shadows more but I’m still contented with what I came up with. I decided to stick with it. While I was observing my photo, thinking of how I’m gonna start cutting, I decided to play around and edit the contrast and hue of the photo using the photo editing software of my phone to get a stronger and a more “in your face” photo.

The photo turned out to look like this:

The second photo is obviously more saturated and the colours turned out to be more vibrant. It’s also easier for me to choose which colour to use for each of the object in my composition.

My final piece:

I used white paper for the brightest parts of the photo (i.e. the highlights on the left side of Hello Kitty’s face, the sides of the spray bottle and the jar cover) and black for the darkest parts of the photo (i.e. the separation between the jar and it’s cover and the lower left part of the jar). In addition, I used analogous colours for the other parts to distinguish between the lighter and darker parts (i.e. For Hello Kitty’s bow, I used a very bright pink and a slightly darker shade of pink. For the toothbrush, the highlights are lighter shade of green and it’s other parts are a darker shade of green. For the jar, I used a combination of grey and black to show it’s handle on the left. The trees behind also has a combination of white from the sunlight and both light and dark shades of green. The same goes for the windows of the ADM building in the background and the blue towel in the foreground with a combination of dark and light shades of blue. I used brown and orange for the edge of the table behind).

For the towel, I used the craft knife to slash the coloured paper to create texture. Sadly, it doesn’t really show when I scanned the final piece. There’s also a bit of a pattern on the left side of Hello Kitty’s skirt.

I was lucky that I was able to use the same colours as it is in the original photo. I did not have to improvise with the limited choices of coloured paper in the classroom.

Black and White Compositional Cut-out

22/08/2016 by Deniel Naquila·2 Comments

Our class was told to think of a very simple story for our first project and compose 9 sentences for each panel to be made.

Here are my 9 sentences:

Woke up early in the morning. Excited.
The sun is up. It’s a good day.
Riding the bus to school. Expecting.
Met everyone.
Went for lunch but no one seemed to remember.
No cake. Sad.
On the way back home. Disappointed.
Reached home. Greeted with loneliness and darkness instead.
Switched on the lights. Surprise!

It took me a while to come up with the 9 sentences since the story I thought of was very simple it only needed about 6 sentences.

The next step was to draw a sketch of the 9 panels that we are going to make so that we have a clearer picture of what every panel is going to look like.

Here is my sketch:

First panel:

I tried going for texture for my first panel. Instead of simply cutting white paper for the blanket, I folded it as well on the sides to create a 3D effect which made the blanket pop out. I also offset the window and made it align with the bed diagonally.I used white lines to outline the window and bed to represent as shadows from the sun’s light.

Second panel:

At first, I wasn’t sure how I was going to do the sun’s rays. In the end, I decided to use black strips of paper for contrast. I centralised the sun to make it the centre of attention of this panel. The rays are also alternating from long rays to short rays. I used black paper for the bottom part of the panel using the 1/3 rule for contrast with the brightness of the sun.

Third panel:

My final third panel was totally different from the original one as I felt that the original one was too simple. I wanted it to be more interesting. So for the third panel, instead of using linear perspective with one vanishing point on the right, I placed the vanishing point on the centre. I also used lines to from the letters N, T and U for emphasis on the protagonist’s destination.

Fourth panel:

The fourth panel was different as well. I wanted the people in my panels to be consistent so I decided to get rid of their hands and take advantage of their posture and facial expressions instead. Here, you can see the protagonist in the middle with a big smile on his face. He’s excited to meet his friends in school and is also expecting birthday greetings from them. The protagonist’s friends were placed symmetrical to the protagonist with him being surrounded in the centre. I wanted to use up all the space on this panel to show the closeness of the protagonist and his friends leaving almost no room for them to move. In addition, the protagonist and his friends are overlapping.

Fifth panel:

I utilised the 1/3 rule for my fifth panel on the protagonist’s 3 friends. I placed the protagonist a little bit to the left instead of the centre as I felt that there will be too much space on the left. Again, I wanted to utilise all the space in the panel to show the closeness of the protagonist and his friends.

Sixth panel:

I decided to change the sixth panel as well. Giving it an asymmetrical look and using the 1/3 rule again on the protagonist. I also scaled the protagonist to be bigger compared to his friends to show linear perspective that he is in the foreground while his friends are in the background. Here, I decided to use less panel space to show that the protagonist is slowly drifting away from his friends and their closeness is slowly diminishing.

Seventh panel:

The seventh panel is a little bit different from the original sketch. I decided to lower the protagonist’s head to show his sorrow more. I also gave him a subtle upside-down smile. I wanted to show and emphasise on the protagonist’s emotion so I put him on the centre of the panel again.

Eighth panel:

I wanted the eighth panel to be as simple as possible. Again, I wanted to emphasise on the protagonist’s emotions. From this panel, you can only see the protagonist, an open door, the light shining behind him and the shadow he’s casting. This shows how empty and lonely he feels inside on top of the sadness that he feels even more so that none of his “close” friends remembered his birthday.

Ninth (and last) panel (yay!):

Again, for this panel, I wanted the protagonist to be the centre of attention (along with his cake). I used texture for the confetti and a great big smile for the emphasis on the emotion of the protagonist. He feels relieved and finally happy that his friends indeed remembered his birthday. There is also symmetry in this panel to show that the protagonist’s friends are equally happy that he is happy about the surprise birthday celebration.

Final

18/11/2015 by Deniel Naquila·0 Comments

Sketch 1:

Sketch 2:

Final Piece:

Write-up:

I wanted my final piece to be simple yet meaningful. I hesitated about touching the topic of “finals” as many students may have the same idea for their composition as it is what pretty much everyone is thinking of. There was one time my friends and I were joking around about what if we can just “eat” (literally) what we needed to study and absorb all the knowledge in due time with minimal effort? This was pretty much the whole concept of my drawing. I drew myself cooking “First Semester” for breakfast so I can “eat” it. I chose breakfast as it is the most important meal of the day (LOL). I chose to represent the first semester to be an egg as most of us know that the egg is famous for being a breakfast food item. I initially thought of drawing pancakes but it will be too difficult for the observer to see what I was cooking. I thought of drawing it in bird’s-eye-view but it looked very boring. I drew it while rising the horizon line and looking at it diagonally. This way, I am able to draw the shadows as well and show what I have learnt throughout this semester in DA1000.