I did research on Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve and created 4 pieces of infographics with the collated data featuring anthropomorphic characters and a layout inspired by the reserve!
This was the first two pages I created for this concept – based on how I could tell the information in the signs at the wetland reserve. I wanted to tell the information of the nature reserve through containers at the reserve. (Or was it the information of the signages of the nature reserve through marks at the nature reserve?)
Anyway, I think I overcomplicated the criteria for myself and got myself so confused with the zine criteria. I had a difficult time working with this, so I decided to take a step back and review what I could do with a zine and with my location.
Early drafts
start over with my concept based on my 7 senses – which I felt was closer to heart.
Research for 7 Senses
I decided to think about the fundamental elements of a zine (8 pages, etc) so that I could tap on the elements of this zine’s criteria and go on to personifying the 7 senses.
I decided to draw inspiration from the moon gates that you can find in China or Japan. These doors are found in gardens and I think it’s interesting because of how it controls what you can see of the garden and how it creates a very curated scenic view!
Image of a moon gate (Japanischer Garten).
Image of a moon gate by Alec Finlay.
I also did some research on parts of the eye and how the eye worked:
There was an interesting article I read about ‘forbidden colors’: red-green and yellow-blue. This was an excerpt:
“While most colors induce a mixture of effects in both sets of neurons, which our brains can decode to identify the component parts, red light exactly cancels the effect of green light (and yellow exactly cancels blue), so we can never perceive those colors coming from the same place.”
I decided to experiment with these basic colors for my concept later on.
Zine-Making Process
Conceptualizing
As mentioned, I had alot of difficulties working with my initial concept and decided to revise and start the conceptualizing stage over. I decided to piece the format and each piece together a little by a little, standardizing that the ‘focus’ would depict the physical sight I saw/experience I felt, while the ‘peripheral’ would express my emotions towards that impression, emotions and the location.
Early revised concept:
Motion blur for movement!
Creating Focus: Photo Manipulation
Started off with making trippy images out of the photos that I had of the most impressionable parts of the wetland reserve!
From this:
To this:
Lily Pond (Hear):
After that, I used Audacity to play an MP3 of the video of the lily pond sounds, and screenshotted the soundwaves of the place to impose it and create a pattern for ‘Hear’!
Golden Orb Spider Silhouette (Touch):
I made a spider wallpaper. 🙂
And the aquarium image I used for ‘Smell’:
Warping the image of berries (Taste):
Proprioception (Spatial):
All:
I was really surprised when I placed all the layers together and they looked like a painterly Sungei Buloh! (‘o’) I did receive feedback during consultation that it looked too green – like it was too much slanted towards the pages ‘Balance’ and ‘Hearing’ because it was very green and yellow.
However, I do want to slightly draw it back to my visual experience at the location, so I wound up trying to work around the proportion of green instead.
During the early consultations, I also made the choice of including words because I was worried about how the zine has to be a ‘show-don’t-tell’ book – but I was informed that we’ll be explaining our zines, so I decided to just take out the explanatory content completely.
Early draft with caption
Creating Peripherals: Mark-Making
I couldn’t take anything from the site for mark-making, so I decided to take more photos and recreate them instead!
Honestly they look nothing alike HAHAHA.
The wings that took the most effort but also looked the most hideous.
This one’s based on the shadows of leaves!
My hand is my mood – icky.
I THINK IT’S READY???
Also – other marks that I tried with gouache and rope but didn’t work out so well.
Ripple marks didn’t end up being very suitable either. :’)
Intended to draw a structure to impose for every piece but it didn’t work out very well aesthetically, so I just extracted the flower in the middle to use as a mark instead.
It was pretty challenging working with the concept and timeline, but I had alot of fun. To view the outcome of this project, go to ‘Project 2 Part 2 Final Design’! 🙂
I wanted to take advantage of the fact that the zine is a visual look-book and I decided to personify the senses (excluding sight).
Our seven senses, based on 7 Senses foundation.
I based my individual page format on the idea of having a clear ‘focus’ and a blurred ‘peripheral’ – much like an eye. The circle in the middle, ‘focus’, depicts the best physical impression, and the ‘peripherals’ are expressed through marks that I create based on aspects of the wetland reserve.
Each page is broken down into a single color to convey the idea of isolation and the solitary sense. More about the color choices will be explained under the ‘Color Meanings’ section!
Overall
Page 1: Front Cover (all senses)
Concept: A compilation of all the other senses fused/imposed into a single piece – If you had all your senses, this is what you would see! I wanted to convey the idea of the eye and have the other emotions creeping into the circle of vision.
Execution: The cover is in monochrome to show the all-encompassing nature.
Page 2: If Hearing could See
Concept: In the ‘focus’ circle, I have the image of an edited lily pond because that was the most impressionable sound! My emotions are expressed through the wings – to express the beat, rhythm and lightness of the sounds there. Overall, I also wanted to convey how otherworldly the place looks – therefore making the image feel a little like a moon or little planet!
Execution: I imposed a picture of the lily pond that I took at the wetland reserve and imposed it with the sound waves of a video I took at the pond there. Inspired the wings of the birds and the map of their migratory patterns, I used them to express how the the sounds there have a rhythm that comes and goes when you are in different parts of the nature reserve. The background is also part of the lily pond, but out of focus.
Page 3: If smell could See
Concept: The wetland reserve smelled very thickly – of animal waste, heat and also my exhaustion. Walking alot generates saliva and foam in your mouth and also makes breathing difficult. I felt that the best way to convey that is through mud and water.
Execution: I took a picture from the Visitor’s Center Aquarium for the ‘focus’ circle in the middle – frosted glass effect to show murkiness and crack lines to show even though the environment around me is seemingly crisp and refreshing, experiencing it for yourself is actually kinda harsh. The ‘peripherals’ are from a picture of a mudskipper photo to show the effect of thickness and choking – I’ve used ink and soap foam to mark-make the thick consistency of mud.
Page 4: If touch could See
Concept: The most impressionable experience I had of touch was almost walking into the Golden Orb Spider the size of my palm! The spider makes its web really low so it made me feel a little paranoid throughout my walk – because there was alot of them.
Execution: I took a photo of the Golden Orb Spider that I had and created a pattern out of the shape of the spider, and half-toned to create the paranoia and feeling of ‘there but not there’. I used ropes to feel how I felt super paranoid and confined by my own impression of how tingly and itchy the place made me feel after my encounter with the spider. The ‘peripherals’ are the environment where I found the spider.
Page 5: If balance could See
Concept: The most impressionable feature when it came to balance was the Mid-Canopy walk – it was very jiggly and it gave me motion sickness, but yet it was a really fun walk!
Execution: The photograph in the middle is edited from a Mid-Canopy walk photo. I used motion blur and tried to find the right balance of movement that matched the video I took of my experience on the bridge. To show my motion sickness, I replicated the lines from meandering waters and ripples at the reserve. There is also an imposed falling flower to express how motion sickness causes an illness and causes the sick feeling of wanting to throwing up. Green is also the color of nature/good health but also of sickness.
Page 6: If taste could See
Concept: I based it on the berries I found at Sungei Buloh. Despite being inedible, I imagine that they would taste refreshing and juicy, like the breeze at the reserve. The small little berries seem like they’ll go pop in your mouth – which gave me a sort of crystal/gem-like feeling because they look like tiny treasures.
Execution: To show the gem-like quality, I used the clean, crisp cut of leaves to express the refreshing quality of fresh berries and breeze. This page faces Proprioception, because it’s the only sense that doesn’t help you to perceive a external sense of space, which contrasts with Proprioception.
Page 7: If proprioception (space) could See
Concept: To express proprioception as the sense that controls other senses and a spatial interpreter. I decided to find the place that gave me the best sense of place and made me extremely self-aware of how small I was standing in the wetland reserve.
Execution: The central circle is a manipulated photograph of one of the most stunning shots I have of Sungei Buloh Wetland Research – the open roof of a viewing pod. I chose the roof because it made me feel short and small.
For my feelings, I imitated the outline of the lily pad (rest spot for frogs!) with copic pens – to emulate the small frog-in-well feeling.
Page 8: Back Cover (Absence of senses)
Concept: An amalgamation of my emotions at Sungei Buloh Nature Reserve. I wanted to express it as ‘my mind’s eye’ and a party/firework of senses, therefore it’s an abstraction of lines and colors, and does not contain any photos.
Execution: The back cover is created purely out of the previous marks I’ve made for the other senses, on a black background with the stone path texture from Sungei Buloh’s entrance.
Color Meanings (in order of pages)
White: All-encompassing (reflection of all colors when the eye is open)
Yellow: Sense of Hearing (Sharp) Blue: Sense of Smell (Deep) Red: Sense of Touch (Agitation) Green: Sense of Balance (Yellow + Blue = ‘balance’ between the light, uplifting sounds and heavy, drowning scents) Purple: Sense of Taste (Red + Blue = ‘taste’ is only possible through interacting with ‘smell’ and ‘touch’) Orange: Sense of Proprioception (Yellow + Red = ‘hearing’ as the uncontrollable input from the distance, ‘touch’ as the closest self-initiated sensory output) Black: Absence of all colors (Absorbed and devoured by the senses)
Pic of the physical zine!
Feedback
Lecturer’s (Joy) Feedback:
Placement of senses; perhaps place the more common ones first
Put the ideology behind choice of colors on OSS (done!)
Classmates:
Reflection
I think the most difficult part of this project for me was definitely understanding the criteria for this project. I thought I had it in a bag during the first consultation but things didn’t go too smoothly. I’m glad to have found a straightforward direction with ample time to work on the spreads!
This project definitely taught me alot about preparing a good rationale and understanding your own idea fully before starting on your work. :’)
I’m also semi-sad I can’t take anything from Sungei Buloh Nature Reserve for mark-making (or I’ll be fined/arrested)… but I took alot of photos and it was fun recreating the marks!
The overall color scheme of the infographics are heavily based on the colors of the nature reserve – namely greens, blues and browns.
I chose to use anthropomorphic animals as loose figurative representations of the demographics of the nature reserve (photographers, tourists, family and elderly). I drew inspiration from the educational worksheets from NPark’s website – they had alot of animal-coloring worksheets! On the side, I had also done some research on artists who do anthropomorphic animal art.
After my first trip, I tried to work out my layout before I went to Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve again (since the return trip would take place on the Saturday before the presentation(Monday)).
I used elements found throughout the reserve to create the frames for the backgrounds – such as patterns from the Visitor’s Centre tapestry, shadows of leaves and pathways.
Each piece features a trivia. I’ve always loved trivia section of learning sites and it’s something I find unique to educational materials. I took note of trivia boards throughout the reserve and decided to incorporate that as a recurring element for the infographics.
The information I’ve collected and selected are split into 4 sections: Overview, Timeline & Activities, Amenities & Facilities and Learning Resources.
Concept behind the Final Designs
►Mudskipper Slide
I chose the Mudskipper to represent the overview as the Mudskipper was the mascot and face of Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve.
In this piece, I’ve also selected information that would convey Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve as the only wetland reserve in Singapore (out of 2!) that is focused on education. It is also a pioneer in many areas in regards to wildlife education – such as being the first to introduce wireless learning in this region.
The layout’s frame is derived from patterns that you can find at the Visitor’s Centre office – one of the first buildings you see when you enter Sungei Buloh Nature Reserve. I based it off the flower images on a piece of tapestry you can inside the Visitor’s Centre:
The slide aims to introduce Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve as the largest tract of mangrove forest, Singapore’s first ASEAN heritage park and an internationally recognized migratory site for birds. It also identifies the demographics of the nature reserve.
I started off with an easy trivia as well to ease the viewer into the graphics.
► Grey Heron Slide
The second slide shows a grey heron. As there are many migratory bird species in Sungei Buloh, I wanted to show one of them representing the foreigner as a part of Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve’s demographics.
In this slide, I wanted to introduce Sungei Buloh’s educational activities and how they are linked to the nature reserve’s unique timeline.
Timing is everything! Coming on different days, weather and timing affects what you see, hear and even smell. The timeline is the heartbeat of the events happening at Sungei Buloh – without people monitoring the timeline, it would be hard to organize activities that would optimize the time of visitors.
The slide’s frame is based on leaves:
It was initially more accurate to the space between leaves, but leaving a large amount of negative space pulls the eye away from the text, so I’ve made the frame alot more packed by taking the general shape of the leave instead.
► Otter Slide
The otter slide conveys the amenities and facilities of the nature reserve. I also used the otter and a baby otter to convey a sense of community – how the place is built for education, groups and family.
The individual sections are also represented by icons that are created from actual structures – the viewing pod icon is based on the shell-like shape of the pods at Sungei Buloh.
The background patterns are based on the stone path of the Information Center that carries extensive information and a detailed map of the entire reserve:
► Crocodile Slide
The crocodile slide shows the different types of online and on-site resources that the nature reserve provides and the steps they take in order to provide visitors and nature enthusiasts with a wealth of information.
Resources such as the e-newsletter includes articles on events such as Bird Migratory day, Earth Day and also carries periodical fish/habitat field surveys. There are also educational worksheets for kids – such as coloring worksheets and fact sheets.
The background patterns are based on shadows of leaves on roads:
My Take
After interviewing the people on-site, I found out that people wished that the nature reserve was better publicized.
In my own opinion, I do feel that the nature reserve is a little confused as to what demographic they are trying to get.
One interviewer actually voiced his relief that there are few kids around so that animals would not be scared away.
Due to this, I think Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve ends up being more of an educational site for adults, despite how they are trying to target children and schools sending down buses of kids to learn. People who generally end up coming back multiple times are the older crowd.
Process behind the Final Designs(Images)
Sketches:
Extracting patterns/marks to use as frames and backgrounds:
Work in progress:
Initial design turned out looking alot like a horror night at Sungei Buloh instead (;u;)
Feedback
Lecturer (Joy):
• Find a main focus
• Pick out ways they tried to be educational
• Pick out recurring motifs
• Perhaps can try using the trivia aspect as a potential element for zine? (but not make it bulk of the upcoming zine)
Peers:
Thank you so much for the feedback! :’)
Personal Takeaways
Struggles: I struggled to make the color palette work in the beginning as I didn’t want the colors to end up like a tacky nature pamphlet. I tried unconventional colors that went outside of Sungei Buloh’s colors, but they just didn’t work as well. In the end, I wound up looking at designs based on citrus colors and fashion in hopes of making the visuals work.
Reflections: It was a trying, but very educational experience. Everyone in class had a different interpretation and outcome of their choice of location and it was really cool!
I do hope to improve on keeping to my time during my presentation so that I would be able to show more research that I had done. I had alot more material that I didn’t get to show – videos, interviews, photos and some of the nature reserve’s cool online resources.
Introduction to Project 2: Locale (Sungei Buloh Nature Reserve)
I’m incredibly excited and terrified to work on Project 2! I’m worried that my location and research wouldn’t translate to a fun zine, but yet at the same time I’m really hyped about getting to finally work on something outside school and home!
Initially, I picked Little Guilin and did some secondary research on the area but it was alot about rocks, rocks and more rocks. It was a quarry in the past but the actual area of Little Guilin is apparently quite small (I would have loved to do the other abandoned quarries as well if the Little Guilin area included Gammon, Seng Chew, Lian Hup and Poh Hin!). It’s not the only quarry there and it seems that the only big thing it has going for it is how it looks like a little piece of Guilin in China. There are areas that are taped off from the public due to landslides as well in the more recent years, so the trail is short as well. I talked to my friends and my family about the area as well, since they know people living in Bukit Batok and Guilin View, and decided to change my location. It’s a pity since I thought the place was also really cool since it was like a little escape to China but in Bukit Batok heartland, less popular than places like Bukit Batok Nature Reserve.
But that aside, I changed my pick of location to Sungei Buloh Nature Reserve during recess week so that I could change to work on living subjects! I can’t remember if I’ve gone there as a kid, but since I LOVED science, animals and nature trails, I was so much more excited about this than when I was working on Little Guilin.
Quick Jump (Content Section)
The post is really long! Press Ctrl+F (Windows) or Cmd+F (Mac) to do a quick jump to the different sections:
1) First Impressions – SBWR1
2) Secondary Research – SBWR2
3) Primary Research Day 1 – SBWR3
4) Primary Research Day 2 – SBWR4
5) Highlights & Snapshots (Photos) – SBWR4.1
6) Interviews, Observation Research & Surveys – SBWR4.2
7) References – SBWR5
First Impressions (SBWR1)
The first time I went to Sungei Buloh Nature Reserve, I expected lots of mud and crocodiles but I think I left having quite a different impression of the place now, and am learning a whole bunch more!
I’ve never taken a bus in Kranji and the bus stop is an absolute nightmare.
“Why are there 3 sections at 1 bus stop?”
“Does 925 exist or is it a myth.”
“No uncle I’m not here to go to Malaysia.”
“Total ride is 12 stops. Cool.”
“Got 3 stops left, I’ll stop at the innermost one and walk in.” “Wow beautiful flyover sia.”
“There’s only a car path.” “How to walk.”
“Will I get run over first or walk to death.”
“Many bikes that I can’t cycle.”
“The two other bus stops will forever remain a mystery.”
Secondary Research (SBWR2)
So why is Sungei Buloh worth it? I did my secondary research first:
1) What exactly is Sungei Buloh? • As a mangrove and mudflat, it’s unique to countries that sit smack near/on the Equator like Singapore.
• It is one of the only 2 mangrove/mudflat in Singapore, other than Pasir Ris Park. Sungei Buloh Nature Reserve places an emphasis on preserving and educating. Pasir Ris Park places emphasis on recreational and family activities. (different amenities e.g. BBQ)
• Sungei Buloh Nature Reserve is also recognized as an international migratory site for birds.
2) Unique Timeline & Activities
• Birdwatching (Between September to March)
• …to find out more on my primary research!
3) Friendly Educational Amenities & Facilities
• Viewing Pods
• Visitor Centre
• Boardwalks (Mangrove, Coastal, etc)
• Junior Adventure Trail
• Mid Canopy Walk
• Public Toilets (Placed in places who want to have visitors; or for kids actually)
• Information Boards
4) Organized Activities & Resources • Brochures
• Official Nparks website
• Live Camera on Nparks site to watch animals (e.g. Otters, Grey Heron, Civet Cat and more)
• E-newsletters
• Sungei Buloh Activity Worksheets (for Primary/Secondary school students)
• Organized Walks
• Bird-viewing sessions by Singapore Bird Group
Organized Walks by Nparks: (8 activities span of 1 month, all weekends only)
• What’s in my sky? (Guided walk for native birds and migratory birds) (31 Mar, 17 Mar)
• What’s in my mud? (Guided walk featuring our lesser known creatures of the mudflats) (24 Mar, 7 Apr)
• What’s in my water? (Guided walk along water edges to learn about water life) (14 Apr)
• Paint Along Session (Learning different drawing techniques at Sungei Buloh) (25 Mar)
• Fish and prawn harvesting demonstration (24 Mar)
Guided walk (In Mandarin) (24 Mar)
Note: Private guides are also available for hire. Emails for guides are provided on NParks website.
• 3.15PM: Entered the nature reserve. It smells slightly damp but there’s alot of fresh air in the open area.
I’ve met the cutest mascot in all of mascot history.
I’ve been waiting all day for something to come out but I only hear aliens.
• 3.35PM: Visited the air-conditioned Visitor’s Centre and also a small, air-conditioned booth beside the Visitor’s Centre that had preserved animals in jars and a staff. The Visitor’s Centre is not tended. Both facilities were in pristine condition!
• 3.50PM: Left for Coastal Trail. • 4.49PM: Smells really damp, nutty and like mushrooms during my walk over the Mid Canopy Walk. The bridge is very jiggly but really strong.
•5.15PM: Walked around 1.5km so far, back and forth the Mid-Canopy walk and the start of the Coastal Trail to get photos.
At this point, I can’t hear much anymore because my ears are clogged from the hike. I started recording some videos instead.
I saw some gorgeous herons flying over the waters at Coastal Trail but they ducked behind some trees and I couldn’t get a photo. 🙁
5 gorgeous plants and 1 creepy one that I don’t want to be around for too long.
• 5.30PM: Started drizzling so I started turning back towards the entrance. Surprisingly, not much rain got onto me because of the tall trees arching over the path.
• 6.15PM: Saw a wild boar family of 2-3 having dinner near the entrance/bus-stop of Sungei Buloh. What a great way to end the hike!
I’m actually surprised I saw some boars and birds! I wasn’t expecting much at all since I’ve been to a couple of other nature parks/reserves in Japan and Malaysia – animals hide away during rainy weather. Thank you, animal friends. 🙂
Since I didn’t cover much ground on the first day and didn’t get my interviews and polls yet, I decided to go for a second day on a Saturday – so that I can sign myself up for one of these weekend walks and pull a friend from WKW along to get healthy together.
Thankfully, I managed to score myself a spot for the walk! (Registration was full and closed on the 10th.)
I made a phonecall immediately to ask for permission for an interview but apparently the guided walks are run by volunteers! I couldn’t get their number to ask for permission since due to privacy issues, and the staff advised that I asked on the day itself.
Onward to my 2nd trip to Sungei Buloh Nature Reserve! This time, I brought a friend along and we took 925 directly from Choa Chu Kang at around 7.20AM.
What better way to spend a nice Saturday morning than trekking with a friend? 😀
• 8.00AM: Entered the nature reserve from the New Visitor’s Centre and had a quick breakfast with friend.
• 8.30AM: Slow walk to the meeting location. Took photos, talked to people and encountered many elderly from North West Brisk Walking Club.
So many aunties and uncles; I felt like a salmon swimming upstream. (- ω -、)
If you’re looking for crazy big bugs, there’s a spider the size of your hand right here in Sungei Buloh. It’s called the Golden Orb Spider and they make their webs really low. I’m glad I’m born short.
• 9.30AM: Started ‘What’s in my sky’ bird-watching walk with my group. Our guide is Mr. Azmi Mohamed, a volunteer. (Participant Observation)
Thank you for the wonderful insight, Mr. Azmi! 🙂
• 10.30AM/11.00AM: Conducted interviews with my guide and guided walk participants. Also observed demographics and activities along the way as Saturday, 10.30AM is the peak period for visitors- according to my guide.
The return of the danger croc signs.
Also, I do notice some clear differences in sights and sounds at different points of day/year:
-Best time for watching birds is at 7.30AM (Info from Mr. Azmi)
-Frogs are most frequent before/after rain; can hear them at the pond near the New Visitation Centre
-Crocodiles are most visible/frequent during low tide. They are still there at high tide but are less visible. Look twice at a piece of driftwood – it might be a croc!
• 1.00PM: Interviews with visitors, exploring the rest of the nature reserve and water breaks
• 3.00PM: Left the nature reserve.
At this point, I think it really hit me how much our locals care for our own landscape. This inspired me as well to see this beyond just an info-graphics/zine project. The care the staff had for what they were doing really made me really care for the location I’ve chosen as well. I started wanting to think about the different ways that would make others care for my location as well, and will be doing my best to incorporate my findings and feelings into my info-graphics.
Highlights & Snapshots (SBWR4.1)
Golden Orb Spider on the path near the entrance
Bats sleeping under a roof (You can find them by looking for droppings on floors under roofs!)
Watching the different types of egrets during ‘What’s in my sky’ guided walk
Spot the croc! (I didn’t notice the crocodile was there til I went through my photos ;u;)
A view of Malaysia from the nature reserve!
Map of the migratory path of birds
Interviews & Surveys (SBWR4.2)
Interviews with visitors (and volunteer) at SBWR: The following are the interview questions that I drafted out before I went on my second trip to Sungei Buloh.
During the interviews, I decided to cut it down to 4 questions (circled in the above image) and occassionally sneak in additional questions if I manage to get them into a talking mood. I had two sets of questions – one for visitors and one for the staff.
Unfortunately, I was only able to use the second set of questions for Mr. Azmi since he was a volunteer. I went to the staff at the Visitor’s Center and they informed me that while they had received my email and call earlier in the week, but they needed alot more time to request for permission for any sort of interview. Fortunately, I managed to get insight from a volunteer and he offered to help connect me to the Deputy Director as well – which was extremely nice of him! (;-;)
Onwards to interview/soundbites!
A Volunteer’s Insight:
(I recorded the sound as well with my phone!)
Some interviews with visitors:
My chinese cannot (;-;) I’m glad to have a friend… even though our 中文不行….
It’s… alot of feet.
I decided to interview some of them in groups of 2-4 as well so that they wouldn’t run away – alot of them came to Sungei Buloh for some peace and quiet, so they wanted to remain anonymous. They were mostly receptive to a voice interview but wouldn’t agree to a video one.
Thanks to the people at Sungei Buloh for the interviews! 🙂
E-Interview with Deputy Director of SBWR:
I’ve managed to get an e-interview with Yang Shufen, Deputy Director of Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve as well after my trip to the wetland reserve. After interviewing/chatting with visitors of the nature reserve, it’s a very interesting insight! The following is the e-interview:
Observation Research (32 people):
I first observed and counted the demographic within peak hour on Saturday morning (10AM – 11AM) near the Visitor’s Centre.
1) Breakdown by Age
• 0-14 years (Children): 3 (9%)
• 15-25 years (Teenagers/Young Adults): 4 (13%)
• 25-55 (Adults): 15 (47%)
• Over 55 (Elderly): 10 (31%)
2) Breakdown by Locals/Non-Locals
• Locals: 18
• Foreigners: 14
Survey (30 people):
After that, I conducted a single-question physical survey.
Q. Have you gone to Sungei Buloh before?
• Yes, multiple times: 5
• Yes, only once: 14
• No: 11
—
Thank you so much to all the staff and visitors of Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve! (I had such a wonderful time there!)
• A Thai Visitor at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve: https://www.nparks.gov.sg/mygreenspace/issue-03-vol-3-2009/conservation/a-thai-visitor-at-sungei-buloh-wetland-reserve
• Little Day Out: https://www.littledayout.com/2017/04/04/5-essentials-sungei-buloh-wetland-reserve-tidal-ponds/
• Nparks (Register for tours, flora and fauna web, newsletters & other resources): https://www.nparks.gov.sg/
• Launch of wireless learning (2007): https://www.nparks.gov.sg/news/2007/8/nparks-launches-wireless-learning-trail–sungei-buloh-wetland-reserve-first-of-its-kind-in-the-region
• EcologyAsia: http://www.ecologyasia.com/html-loc/sungei-buloh.htm
• Primary School MOE Walks: http://woodlandspri.moe.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/58-2017-Field-Trip-To-Sungei-Buloh-Wetland-Reserve.pdf
• History of Sungei Buloh: http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_566_2005-02-01.html
• Saving Sungei Buloh: http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/saving-sungei-buloh
• Otters mobbing a crocodile: https://mothership.sg/2017/03/close-up-video-show-otters-confronting-crocodile-at-sungei-buloh-by-mobbing-it/
• Nature Society (Birdwatching on 15 April): https://www.nss.org.sg/events.aspx?id=qpwm84I9MYI=&group_id=yclleUod3WM=
✿ To push the fun and fantastical side of the occupations to their limits, and to convey a Utopian fantasy.
✿ Gamify characters and weave letters of my name ‘A S T E R’ into clothes and strength for them!
✿ Letter forms are expressed as weapons and equipment for these characters.
✿ Letters are my perceived naive/first impressions of the jobs.
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Art Direction
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I wanted to start Project 1 for Graphic Form off by working on something that would give me cheer every time I worked on it – so I decided to use games as a general focus. After looking around at the different types of drawing styles (storyboard art, animation art, etc) that goes into making a game, I decided to go with game concept art. I feel like game concept art is like the face of the game itself. Characters are usually the biggest pull of selling a game or comic – they are the face of your game!
In this project, I wanted to express my impressions and wonderment at other occupations akin to that pull of a 2D, fictional character. I wanted to give each piece an orbit and pull people in, even while they are unreachable, fictional beings. I felt that the best way to do this would be to embrace the comic style – leaning towards the Japanese manga style. I understood that the risk of working with this would be that it could possibly end up extremely cringeworthy. I decided to try putting together the typical game concept art poses with some poster-style, Art Noveau artists that I’ve done research on – Alphonse Mucha and Aubrey Beardsley. Combined with the recent presentation I’ve done on Russian art (Suprematism and Constructivism), I hoped that it would help put together four pieces that integrates drawing and design flawlessly.
I’ve come to feel that doing four pieces in this project is an amazing blessing as well – there is a great power in the number 4. Alot of things in stories, mythology and lore of games come in fours – 4 Heavenly Kings, 4 Heavenly Beasts (e.g. Suzaku,Seiryū), 4 Fiends (e.g. Taowu, Taotie) and more!
Each piece is inked traditionally using copic pens and markers of various sizes. Some techniques include layering cross-hatching, wavy lines and straight lines to create monochromatic depth. I hope the organic nature of the traditional mediums would help to bring out the idea and liveliness of the characters.
The pieces are then scanned and digitally edited to bring out the letters in them with color.
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Final Designs ________________________________________
► The Dragon Dancer
Symbol of Courage
Overview:
The Dragon Dancer, to me, represents a figure of power. I wanted to portray them as a warrior class. Red is typically the color of heroics and adventure. It also represents fire and valor, and a highly symbolic color for Chinese culture. The background is circular and with shards – an implication of the dragon pearl of wisdom that is used to ‘lure’ dragons during dragon dances.
Letter Form Elements:
♦ A is in her braids, a representation of heroics. As a kid, I’ve watched a few Chinese period dramas and braids stood out to me alot as a child, becoming a symbol of valor.
♦ S is for the dragon, the highlight of the dragon dancing art.
♦ T is for the sword, symbolizing courage and power.
♦ E is for the belt on her thigh. Belts famously symbolize serpents and eternity. I also wanted to show discipline and restraint due to the amount of practice that goes into training.
♦ R is shown in the legs, to denote grace, lightness and the quick-footedness of dragon dancers.
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► The Oceanographer
Symbol of Wisdom
Overview: The Oceanographer is represented by the blue of the water and ocean. I drew inspiration from steampunk and industrial revolution fashion as well so that I could express the impression of technology and science that the occupation gives off. The circles at the back are meant to represent ripples, depth and mystery.
A fun tidbit: her gear is modeled after a jellyfish because frilly jellyfishes look like royalty under the sea, commanding the ocean!
Letter Form Elements:
♦ A is for a trinket, to represent trinkets found at the bottom of the ocean.
♦ S is for the eel, to symbolize sea life forms that you can find while exploring the ocean.
♦ T is for her staff that is based on a compass. It is to show the importance of navigation and exploration as an oceanographer.
♦ E is for the antenna on her head, as I wanted to show that treasure-seeking, thrill-seeking and curiosity should be characteristic of an oceanographer.
♦ R is represented by the diving goggles and the ability to see underwater.
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►The Shepherd
Symbol of Compassion
Overview:
The Shepherd is expressed in green – linking this job closest to nature and greenery. The background is heavy on the top, and intended to look like the structure of a tree. Compared to the rest, the Shepherd is the most demure and rigid, as I wanted to express her strength and rigidity of the earth. I also wanted to show her unfaltering bond to the earth, resulting in a less free form.
Letter Form Elements:
♦ A is represented in small-case as a bird standing on her finger. The bird is to express the job’s proximity to life and animals, as well as their gentle and nurturing characteristic.
♦ S is expressed in the sheep’s horn – an animal that is characteristic of this job.
♦ T is expressed on the high boots, to show the weariness and trudging on rugged earth and soil. I stationed the legs to stand in a more rigid pose compared to the other jobs as I consider this a job that is very ‘grounded’ and closely linked with Mother Nature!
♦ E is a scarf. I’ve gone to a Mother Farm in Chiba, Japan a few years ago. The association of a shepherd herding sheep on a mountain leads me to think that it would be very cold on the mountains and the impression of shepherds wearing thick clothes.
♦ R is expressed as a staff. A staff, or a cane, is a tool for hiking and getting around on rugged terrain. A long staff is also a show of guidance and leadership.
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► The Weather Reporter
Symbol of Fairness
Overview:
The Weather Reporter is expressed in yellow because it represents the sun, which would make a good pair with the blacks in the image which could contrast as night. Yellow is also the lightest color out of the 4 colors I’ve selected – perfect for representing a happy, fickle and whimsical image that I have of a weather reporter. The background depicts a sun and the moon.
Letter Form Elements:
♦ A can be found on the lining of her skirt. I have an impression of weather reporters as serious ladies in formal A line skirts. I decided to take this in a more literal sense as I wanted to experiment and interact with letters forms more physically as well, not just metaphorically.
♦ S is in the background, which represents the sun and moon. It expresses the nature of a weather reporter’s job as the sun is very obviously connected with a sunny day, and the moon’s tidal forces affect rainfall.
♦ T is in her tiara. It’s not something that immediately comes to me when I think about what a weather reporter should look like. However, I feel like a tiara is a great symbol of power and authority, but yet also fickle like the needs of a young princess. I wanted to show how I used to think that weather reporters were all-knowing – as if they could control weather.
♦ E is expressed as the frame of a wing. The wings of a bird are sensitive to the littlest change in winds. Birds are also known to predict weather through pressure. I added in gambling chip patterns to the connectors that are the joints of the wings, to represent that the prediction of weather is like a gamble – it changes on a whim.
♦ R is expressed in the arm, folded in an akimbo. It’s a gesture that widens your stance and conveys a powerful mood. I wanted to express the influential nature of the weather reporter as they are very trusted figures on media.
The main challenge was definitely compositing the image as a whole and fusing all the letters and meanings into a cohesive piece.
On top of making a cohesive piece, being visually attractive is also important as that is a big part of game character design – they have to make characters that you’d like to play as!
What I initially had in mind didn’t show up as clearly as I thought it would. I initially planned to keep everything black and white, and use blacks to make the white areas pop out. However, it was very trying to not make a mistake while inking was also taxing.
On top of that, getting feedback from my classmates was incredibly useful! Right before recess week, I asked if they could spot the letter forms in the characters (most of them couldn’t). It became a much less painful process after switching to digital media for colors.
It was also much easier for people to see the letter forms too as they jump out at you.
✿ Instructor’s Feedback:
• Consider having a general overlaying message.
✿ Classmate’s Feedback:
• “I love love love your display and representation of your works!! And your technique is top notch manz. I think your concept’s also very interesting and looking at jobs from like a gaming/stats/character kind of view is really creative!! I also liked how you really incorporated little details to represent each occupation. And like how the letters are like seamlessly part of the composition. Good job!”
• “Very clear letter forms & god level illustration WTF y u even in school bro. LOVE IT 10/10. Also the shepherd damn pretty can I have her number pls.”
• “I like how you incorporated the letters into her equipment, ties in with how they are utilized.”
• “Love the fine details of your characters. You brought out the Japanese style really well!”
• “Can I just say how nice your drawing is!!!! Also, I like how you kept the portraits really simple where the focus is coloured yet not dull!!! Also, the amount of thought you’ve put into each element!!!!!!”
• “Gurl, your artwork is amazeballs! Can’t imagine the effort put into your pieces. Love the concept & the execution of the brief. Your creativity in this project really shows everything is well-thought out & they look great as individual pieces, and as a set! Good job!”
• “Your work is so pretty :’) You draw so well!!! The idea behind your works are so thought through. I love how you so effortlessly incorporate the alphabets into your portraits. Every single element has its own significance, I love!!!”
• “Very interesting concept of using games/job/characters to illustrate the fonts creating elements related to the job to infuse the fonts & accessories and also the background & foreground. Overall very harmonious!”
• “I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU DREW THESE! GOOD JOB ASTER <3”
• “Feels like a tarot card!! Looks cool. Good to have the letters used for different meaning. The composition is done well. The whole flow is done nicely!”
• “Your drawing is SUPER detailed!! Love how you incorporate the letters into your drawings but I don’t really understand the background (circles) of the oceanographer 🙁 (hmmm).”
• “Very beautiful! The monochrome to enhance the letters made the piece very pleasing to the eye. I like how the four pieces are very thematic and collectively bring out idea you wanted to portray. Very nice!”
• “Your drawing is damn damn GOOD! Why never go animation HAHA! Love your theme & concept. Alot elements in each concept & it blends so well!”
• “Love your animes! Super stylistic and dynamic. Good play with colours/no colours to emphasise types as well. Good job! :)”
• “Very avatar the legend of Aang with the 4 elements thing! Very curated. I admire your technical ability. :)”
✿ Self-Reflection:
Overall, I’m quite happy with how the pieces turned out! If I had anything I would like to improve on, it would be being more decisive and speeding up on the starting process of deciding the elements that would go in each piece. so that I have more time to work on the actual pieces themselves.
My see-sawing in deciding the occupations and elements cost me later towards the end while working on the digital aspects of the pieces. To me, it felt like I’ve betrayed a small part of myself by my digitization of the four pieces. I felt like it cheapened the pieces slightly and ate up the fine details of the actual pieces, in return for saving the letters and providing color aid for people who are viewing the piece.
While the simplicity of the backgrounds worked this time as the characters could pop with their help, I feel like I could better incorporate more thought-out backgrounds and better utilize negative spaces next time for future pieces.
I feel like I could brush up on my time management and find a better way to improve my technical ability when it comes to managing monochromatism in my pieces. This is something I would love to explore in my future pieces again.
Finally, I was worried deep down with how a set inspired by game concept art would be received – I wanted to be as true to myself as possible since I’m a big fan of games, comics and I -loved- drawing. (Honestly, my biggest goal in life is to work on a fun webcomic dedicated to my closest friends.)
I was extremely pleasantly surprised and blown away by all my super kind classmates! Their feedbacks were extremely encouraging and their own pieces were extremely inspiring as well. I hope for myself to be able to learn from them and work on more pieces that will communicate well and light up peoples’ days. 🙂
Thanks everyone such a wonderful first project! Onward to the next assignment! (´ ∀ ` *)
This was a personal project and I naturally swung towards Japanese comics and game art upon starting on the research for this project! Japanese RPGs are my life and I really want to let my love for games decide where to swing for this project!
Seeing as I was assigned to the first week for the weekly presentations as well, I decided to incorporate extensive research of Russian Constructivism, Suprematism and De Stijl into my works as well.
I did some research on brushwork and practiced some calligraphy too to practice discerning line work and improving my line expression for this project.
I decided to base my Project 1 on interpreting real life jobs as a utopian fantasy much like fantasy jobs such as Mages, Swordsmen, Bards, and more!
PROCESS
Sketches:
Deciding the occupations was definitely the toughest part of this project – but I didn’t expect sketching and composition to take so much time! It took me the entire Chinese New Year break (at the rate of approximately 1 drawing a day, at least) to complete the pencil work and line art.
I proceeded to scan in the drawings and repurpose them into digital portraits for printing through Photoshop.
I initially planned for it to be monochromatic, but it didn’t turn out so well. After consultation, I decided to have larger percentages of color and…
It worked out decently – I think! 🙂
… now just need to repeat consistently for 3 more.
After finishing up the four portraits, I went down with Nic to Sunshine Plaza for printing!
Artist Research: Hanna Hoch, DADA and Russian Constructivists
On Hanna Hoch: Hannah Höch was a prominent Dada artist from Germany, noted for being an active female artist. Prominent female figures who expressed themselves were rare!
She created photo-montages from very different and unrelated images – one element that was later adopted by other artists in her time.
Cut with the Dada Kitchen Knife through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch in Germany by Hannah Höch, 1919
This style of photo-montage is, strangely enough, something that I’ve seen in quite a few Japanese Visual-Kei, and other, music videos. I would have never guessed the relationship between the two until I’ve read that Höch’s works were influential to the punk movement aesthetic.
After reading up on Höch, I’ve gone on to do research on yet another female artist – Lyubov Popova. Popova had a short career, passing on from scarlet fever at age 35.
Popova is an early and vital Russian Constructivism artist who helped shaped the philosophy and style of the movement. She uses the geometric nature of Suprematism, but made it dynamic and seem more like a ‘construction’ with influence from Cubist art.
Air + Man + Space by Lyubov Popova, 1912
She, along with a few fellow Russian Constructivists, later on converted to applied art and design to shape their art for Soviet art activities that in line with the Constructivism philosophy – to make art for social change, rather than personal expression.
On Dada: Dada is an anti-authoritarian movement and strongly opposes group leadership or a guiding ideology. Dada art is satirical and nonsensical in nature.
Dada was also a negative reaction and was found during First World War in Zurich.
On Russian Constructivists: Russian constructivism was a movement between 1913 to 1930. It was an artistic and architectural philosopy, and a rejection of autonomous art – art for art’s sake. Russian Constructivism was the result of an ideological split after Russian Revolution in 1920s.
Up until this point, Suprematism was in practice. Hence the split was between for art to stay as a spiritual activity, or for art to serve a new communist society. Artists who created art with the latter in mind would later be called Russian Constructivists.
Two known artists are Vladimir Tatlin and Alexander Rodchenko. The term Russian Constructivism was first used to describe Rodchenko’s works in 1910, then Tatlin’s constructions in 1913.
Russian Constructivism is a philosophy and therefore, any form of art can be a Russian Constructivist art as long as it serves the Constructivist philosophy. Due to how close it is to Suprematism, a huge amount of Suprematism art that served the communist society would be considered Constructivist art as well.
Use of unconventional Tools from 2D-3D, photo-montage and collage
This week, I did research on unconventional tools for making art and came across Mark Wagner. Wagner creates portraits and pictures through dollar bill collages.
While there are many other unconventional methods that are also extremely interesting, Wagner’s dollar bill collages revolve around the philosophy of his creation. He breaks the taboo of destroying money to make a statement as money is important to everybody and invokes emotions.
Abe Lincoln by Mark Wagner
According to an interview, it took him to shake off the feeling of ‘something I shouldn’t be doing’ and now he has come to terms with cutting it up.
To me, Wagner’s journey is an extremely important message. It is definitely most important to respect a system, country and culture, but even on a non-illegal scale, growing up where we are acclimates us to certain feelings of ‘wrongness’. I feel that there should be no wrong as long as you take your materials and art seriously.
Wasting food is one – I feel bad when I waste food. When I was in primary school and colouring rice for a project, I felt bad about it because it was a food item. Everyone in primary school tells me that I must cherish food. After reading up on Wagner, however, it gives me a very different perspective on the use of mediums!
While it is important to cherish materials, it is also important to work and express myself in art and not just trail after old master in the shadows. Through Wagner’s works, I’ve both gained more awareness, care and respect for my materials! I’ve learnt how powerful the choice of material is in a piece as well.
References
Hannah Höch: German Photomontage artist
http://www.theartstory.org/artist-hoch-hannah.htm
What is Dada:
https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-dada-182380
The influence of Russian Constructivism in the graphic arts: http://artandthis.typepad.com/art_and_this/2009/06/mark-danceys-graphics-and-russian-constructivism-.html
Liubov Popova: From Painting to Textile Design
http://www.tate.org.uk/research/publications/tate-papers/14/liubov-popova-from-painting-to-textile-design
How Collage Artist Mark Wagner Makes Portraits From Dollar Billshttp://www.slate.com/blogs/the_eye/2014/01/14/collage_artist_mark_wagner_currency_portraits.html
• 4.49PM: Smells really damp, nutty and like mushrooms during my walk over the Mid Canopy Walk. The bridge is very jiggly but really strong.
