2D | ego as big as my eyebags

Here comes the last 2D project for the semester! *YAS MAMA YAASSSSS*

The final assignment is a little different from the previous ones, as we have more artistic freedom, and not being limited to a certain medium, technique or style!!!

For this project, we have to create 12 20cmx20cm squares, 4 rows of 3 squares each. The first column is used to represent myself, second to represent a setting and third to represent an imagined outcome.  A requirement we had was to include the usage of colour harmonies.

I was really really excited to work on this project, as I ACTUALLY REALLY REALLY LIKE 2D!! And being able to illustrate ourselves?! YAS.

Before I even started conceptualizing, I was deciding on the art style to go for first. (i don’t know why was I more excited about this)

Initially, I wanted to work on vector illustrations/line art styles – because I have been really into it!!

This is an example of an illustration I done up – for my Hall’s JCRC work.

But I scraped that idea off when Prof Mimi showed us some seniors’ past year works for inspiration and told us that for those that did digital art, many used vector illustrations.

Thus, I felt that if I were to do it, I might be at a losing end as firstly, I had no experience in illustration, and to create a work that stands out compared to my classmates/seniors – it will be really tough!

I went to put on my thinking cap again, and my thoughts started wandering everywhere. Traditional media? Painting? Paper cut? Digital art? Photo Collage?? Hmmm.

Traditonal media will probably take a toll on me as
1. not a fine arts background student = can’t draw/can’t paint
2. I WILL BE BROKE
3. I am super indecisive so I will probably keep changing my ideas

Traditional media? – Strike out!

And then I remembered.

8 bit. (also known as Pixel Art)

I feel that as a student still learning more about design, I should step out of my comfort zone and try something different. 8-bit style, might not be an art style that I will be venturing into in future during my career – so why not try it now?

Ever since I went to Melbourne (before university life came in), I’ve wanted to do something 8 bit-ish, inspired from this burger bar I went to in Melbourne!

http://www.melbournegirl.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/8bit.jpeg

As original as it gets, the burger bar is called 8bit. hahahaha

Anyways, school is also about experimenting and learning from the process!

I started my research with just a simple Google Images search on “8 bit”, and the images that came up were mostly akin to  games,  such as Pac-Man,  Minecraft.

http://www.mobygames.com/images/shots/l/149582-pac-man-atari-8-bit-screenshot-pac-man-munches-on-some-dots.png
https://news.xbox.com/wp-content/uploads/XBoxOne_DashArt_1920x1080_CONSOLE_EDITION.png

I felt that it will be pretty interesting to work with 8bit art style, as it is a different way of illustration and considered quite a retro art style! (Will elaborate further on 8bit art style in my upcoming posts!) 

After deciding on the art style I am going for, I started conceptualizing ideas!

I started off penning down a few prominent situations I usually face and what always happens when I’m stuck in that situation. (Ignore the bad handwriting – I just really wanted to pen my overwhelming thoughts down)

For example, as a performer, performing on stage gives me really bad stage fright, and I always get butterflies in my tummy just the moment before I perform! & to manymanymany people, I am known for being late. Like seriously, I have no idea why am I always late.. My time management skills, practically doesn’t exist.

All these situations brings out who I am, but I wasn’t satisfied. I wanted to do something of a different concept, compared to what mostly had been done before. Thus, I started brainstorming for different concepts!

Just then, I remembered getting tagged on Facebook by my friend J, and it was a related to having a degree in arts.

Cerdits to @Collegememes https://www.facebook.com/College-Memes-265913313897422/

This sparked another concept that I had, and it was the entire setting I’m in now – me being in university and doing arts.

I had an idea of the usage of memes, huge thanks to social media and the Internet. Very often, I see a certain kind of meme, that talks about a main situation, and having it depicted in different perspectives!

Here are some examples I found

https://beckylees20.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/frabz-university-students-what-my-friends-think-i-do-what-my-parents-t-3d928d.jpg
https://ct.perceptionvsfact.com/ol/pf/se/i52/5/4/29/frabz-Art-Major-What-my-friends-think-I-do-What-my-parents-think-I-do–4b4c17.jpg

Based on memes like this, I begun conceptualizing on the 4 possible different perspectives.

After conceptualizing, I got really excited about this idea and felt that it was more aligned to what I wanted, compared to my initial idea. This had more light-hearted vibes and I felt that it will suit the art style I was going for – 8 bit!

Thus, I decided to work on this “meme” concept!

I decided to work on the perspective of “What I think”, “What my parents think”, “What society thinks” and “What actually happens”

My first idea for the 4 rows are as follows:

Me + What I think (getting to learn stuff/being picasso) = My expectations 

Me + What my parents thinks (always partying/drinking) = Spending money 

Me + What society thinks = What future do you have (begging on the streets) 

Me + What actually happens = DEATH/BAD/STRESS 

But after a consultation with Prof Mimi about my idea, I realise that my content needs to be more specific and narrowed down, as they are pretty generic now. There should also be more play in Me, such as “Sad Me”, “Angry Me” and etc, as my idea originally was just to place an illustration of me, same throughout all 4 “Me”s.  Also, I feel that my placing the panels is wrong. The perspectives should be placed in the last column of imagined outcome, instead of setting.
After more thought processes, I came up with my final settings!

Equation 1:
Me, from a business background + Learning basic design skills = What I think

Equation 2:
Me, still a child to my parents + Receiving pocket money = What my parents think 

Equation 3:
Artsy fartsy me + Doing well in an arts course = What society thinks

Equation 4:
Sleepyhead me + Deadlines = What actually happens

I will be working on the illustrations now since I’ve settled my settings!

Stay tuned to my upcoming posts!
Till then,
Flazéda!
jamz
x

 

 

2D | forest gump final

The following are my final designs for the four quotes!

Quote 1:  You shouldn’t have killed my mom and squished my Walkman! – Guardians of the Galaxy 2 

With reference to the previous conceptual ideas I had, I settled on this final design! Instead of having musical notes in halftone style, I made them fully one coloured, and distorted them!

Quote 2:  I want your eyes man, I want those things you see through.  – Get Out

For the final design, I used the eye element, to have a perception of viewing. In the view, there is a blind man, which signifies the blind guy that spoke the quote. Also, I added hands to the eyeball, showing the “want” element. For the background, I used a grid, to symbolize the “jail” effect, as the main protagonist was cooped up in the house during the movie, unable to escape. Also, the grid also symbolizes the 4 characters that were keeping him hostage – his girlfriend, his girlfriend’s brother, mum, and dad.

Quote 3:  Science is nothing but a piece of trash infront of a profound dream. – Paprika

For the final design, i added a mixture of weird elements to signify “profound dream”. To represent science, I used test tube babies. Test tube babies symbolizes the advancement in science and technology.  Thus, I placed the test tube babies in a trashbin.

Quote 4:  Don’t worry! You’ve got daddy here. He’s got credit cards and cash. – Spirited Away

For this final design, I used the binary background to represent credit cards, and paper ingots for cash. I placed the paper ingots in a way to represent “don’t worry, dad’s got it all covered”, by showing how the pig nose (dad) is surrounded with money.

And tadaa! These are my four final artworks!

Next up, Silkscreen Printing!

We first printed the design we want to print on our tote bag onto a transparency, and then taped it to the silkscreen panels.

Next, we had the workstudy, Clara, to help us with this!

After some time, it was time to silkscreen! I first tried it out on newsprint, to gauge the amount of ink that I need to apply on the silkscreen board so that the print will come out just right.

This is how it looks like on newsprint!
After a few more tries, I printed it out on my tote bag!
And tada, ready for submission!

 

Instructor’s Feedback
Too much clutter in Quote 3.

Peer Review
Quote 2’s background looks like Op Art
Quote 3 seems too cluttered, but it does show the profound dream
Quote 4, couldn’t really tell the Pig’s Nose.

Reflection
One major mistake I did for this project, was not listing down where I got the movie quotes from, resulting in classmates not understanding the artwork and the quote (example Spirited Away) 

I feel that I did a really bad job for this project, especially with the way I play with images and construction. I’m not one of photo collage especially, as I prefer drawing it out myself – as I get more control over it.
Searching for photos is also a crazy tough job. It’s difficult finding an image you like and it’s of the angle you need it to be.
So, I felt that throughout the process, I just kinda gave up on this project.
But, I will try to produce better work for the next project!

Till then,
Flazéda!
jamz
x

2D | forest gump spirits flew away

The fourth quote, “Don’t worry! You’ve got daddy here. He’s got credit cards and cash.” is from Spirited Away, a movie we all know about.
The quote was spoken by Chihiro’s father when the first arrived, and were grabbing food.

I made an initial design with exact representation of the quote. I used a man in his mid-fourties to represent daddy, with cash and credit cards at the back. This was just a design to inspire me.

 The second design was made out of fun hahaha. I made a face out of the elements I used, a moustache, a credit card chip and a ingot made out of incense paper. 

For the third design, I used a pig’s nose with a moustache to represent Chihiro’s father, as he turned into a pig after eating the food. I placed the paper ingots on the edges of the canvas, to show the background. The background, is the representation of credit cards. Credit cards, when swiped, goes through an electrical system, which forms these kind of binary system.

Next, I used the same elements, but removed the binary background, and added a hand holding a few credit cards. At the background, i used a tower of paper ingots. But the arrangement of all the elements doesn’t seem to really go well.

I changed the hand of credit cards into a plate of credit cards, to represent the “food” he was eating. But the background didn’t seem fitting and they elements felt like they were separate entities.

I decided to use credit cards surrounding the pig’s nose, to signify that Chihiro’s dad got it covered, showing them being protected by money/credit cards.

Stay tuned to my final post!

Till then,
Flazéda!
jamz
x

2D | forest gump meets science

The third quote I worked on – “Science is nothing but a piece of trash infront of a profound dream” came from the anime movie, Paprika.

The anime talked about a psychotherapy treatment – a dream therapy, which a doctor uses dreams to counsel her patients. However, the device got stolen and used for personal uses. During the movie, the chairman of the lab mentioned the above quote.

The first design, I used a mixture of science elements – binary, light bulbs, cells, flasks, and placed them in a trash bin. Next, I used a bunch of weird elements for the background to represent the profound dreams. I put a cloud background behind all the elements to represent dreamy, since it was a dream.

The second design, I added a chinese doll. But, I felt that the use of science elements was too representative and the chinese doll is too normal looking.

I came up with a final design after this.
Stay tuned to my final post for it!

Till then,
Flazéda!
jamz
x

2D | forest gump gets out

The second quote I worked on was from Get Out, “I want your eyes man, I want those things you see through.”

Just a basic introduction of the movie, the main character is a black guy, who had a white girlfriend. He went to her family’s house over the weekend and realised that the family’s slaves were all black. Turns out, the girlfriend set a trap which he landed in – she wanted to sell his body to rich white people, a project her family has been working on.

During his weekend there, he met a blind artist, whom took an interest in him. He said the above mentioned quote and bid for his body during the auction.

To start off, I put together a few elements.

I used an eye to represent the ‘eye’ which was mentioned in the quote. I added visually impaired canes around the eye – to represent the character who said the quote, whom was blind.
However, I felt that this does not express the meaning of the quote very well, and hence decided to add in more elements.

I came up with a second design, adding in more elements. Instead of having the canes around the whole eye, I put it only halfway, and adding abstract versions of eyes in the background. I replaced the eye with a view of the ‘outside world’, to represent the view the character sees daily.
I felt that this relates more to the quote but there was too much going on.
After hearing feedbacks, many felt the same way that there was too much, and no main focus. Thus I decided to cut down the elements.

Stay tuned to my final post!

Till then,
Flazéda!
jamz
x