2D Project 3: Ego

Ego, a sense of self-importance, is something that is not for open discussion. Many fear the public judgement for acknowledging personal strengths and weaknesses. It is important to exercise self-judgement, where we could learn and grow as an individual.

Here are the 4 equations to self-exploration:

____ + ____ = Me
____ - ____ = Better Me
____ x ____ = Ideal Me 
____ +/- ____ = Me In 5 Years

To start off, I listed out possible adjectives or features that reflect my personality.

Proj3_08_adjectivesI filtered down to the following adjectives, in which the best representation of me:

ADVENTUROUS + BAD SENSE OF DIRECTION = ME 
COURAGE - FEAR = BETTER ME
CURIOSITY X ADAPTABLE = IDEAL ME 
PERFORMING ARTS + PRODUCT DESIGN = ME IN 5 YEARS

 


ADVENTUROUS + BAD SENSE OF DIRECTION = ME

I love travelling overseas, immersing into the local culture and meeting people with alternative perspectives in life. Also, I am pretty bad in navigation. I need, the Google Map while travelling or to rely on my travel mates. When both fails, I find myself in unexpected situation, good and bad.

One of my spontaneous overseas trip happened recently in Penang. With a map on the hands, we had the best cuisines and met the friendliest shop owners. Company is definitely what makes travelling meaningful. I solve the equation with a group photo of me with my friends, whom I have been learning from to be a better person, a better me. Hence, I decided to compose this set at a very personal level by including my own photos.

Research:

hasisipark-01 by Hasisi Park

e39924408ffced0f21fb016d83302749 by Mitchell J. Goldstein

0beda1946636c3e476b2936c3fbbf662 by imnothalfthemaniusedtobe

Process:

Triad harmony of blue, orange and green is used. Photos of the same hues are put together to create multiple exposure effects, juxtaposed with landmarks/places from different countries.

Blue hued photos –

BLUE-HK2 (Hong Kong Ocean Park, 2015)BLUE-MY (Terengganu, Malaysia, 2014) PEOPLE4(Siem Reap, Cambodia, 2015)

Orange hued photos –

RED-HK2(Kowloon, Hong Kong, 2015)RED-CN2(Toronto, Canada, 2014)RED-CAM2(Siem Reap, Cambodia, 2015)

Green hued photos –

GREEN-CN (Toronto, Canada, 2014)GREEN-CN3 (Toronto, Canada, 2014)PEOPLE (Toronto, Canada, 2014)

Photos overlaid:blue huegreen hue

red hue

Our first assignment working with lines came to my mind, particularly with distracted and indecisive. Compact lines were cluttered in one area to create an irregular form. It is the same when one gets lost while navigating, walking in circles with uncertainty.

distracted-min indecisive

I decided to intertwine yarn threads with structure before losing into separate ways.  Colours of the yarns and background are selected from the same triad harmony.

Proj3_08Proj3_06proj3_yarn proj3_yarn8 proj3_yarn4proj3_yarn3 proj3_yarn6 proj3_yarn10proj3_watercolor3 proj3_watercolor proj3_watercolor2

Final Compositions

adventure

proj3_ADVENTURE proj3_ADVENTURE2

+ Bad sense of direction

proj3_DIRECTION proj3_DIRECTION CLOSEUP

= ME

proj3_ME proj3_ME CLOSEUP

 


COURAGE – FEAR = BETTER ME

Fear can take over and hold you back in making decisions. It is a psychological obstacle when you feel insecure and bare. Relating to my acrophobia, I imagine myself about to dive into the deep swirling ocean. A better me means to be more courageous in life, to take a leap forward without caring too much. Fear should not entirely be eliminated in life, however, for its ability to motivate and push my limits further.

Research:

van gogh by Vincent Van Gogh

van gogh2 by Vincent Van Gogh 

Process:

Initial attempts were to blend shades of blue to create different tones, but they did not turn out to be as vibrant in poster paints. Optical blending technique is used instead to contrast atmospheric moods. Bubble wraps build a sensual mood of feeling nervous, in need to hide for protection.

proj03_blue2 proj03_blue5 proj03_blue3 shades of blueProj3_02 Proj3_04 Proj3_05 copy

Final Compositions

Courage
12204853_10207109112338733_1843275412_n 12226755_10207109112378734_1006731029_n
– fear
12212201_10207109112258731_248284140_n 12202019_10207109112098727_1747930975_n
= better me

12204615_10207109111978724_785134058_n 12208234_10207109112498737_1245841677_n

 


CURIOSITY x ADAPTABLE = IDEAL ME

Curiosity allows me to open the doors of knowledge. However, I can take very long to get comfortable in a new environment, often missing the opportunity to interact with new people. An ideal me is to remain passionate in learning not just in books but through experiences. Becoming a more expressive and adaptive individual would help me to reach out to people of different backgrounds.

Research:

f287adf18474cdbb7339a9e445e6fed8 by thepairabirds

2e7ba85e87f21174568a4dce77669900 by AnOldTrumpet

63126b931eda40f0207d913b85217417  by Catherine Lazar Odell

Process:

Curiosity is represented with cat for its nature behaviour. Triad harmony of blue, green and orange are used. Overlaying primary colour wheels create secondary colours (violet, green) to illustrate adaptability. By adjusting the lens of different colours (embracing new perspectives), we gain wisdom in new ways. Monochrome harmony from the Ideal Me composition is used to allow the colour wheels to pop.

Proj3_03 copyProj3_05proj03_cat4 proj03_colorwheel  proj03_cat proj03_cat2 proj03_colorcat

Final Compositions

curiosity

 proj3_CURIOSITY CLOSE UP

x adaptable

proj3_ADAPTABLE proj3_ADAPTABLE CLOSE UP

= ideal me
proj3_IDEAL ME proj3_IDEAL ME CLOSEUP  

 


PERFORMING ARTS X PRODUCT DESIGN = ME IN 5 YEARS

I love how production set design could elevate stage atmosphere, providing performers with an illuminated world to tell a story. In 5 years, I would see myself working towards to become a spatial/scenic designer.

Research:

3af8f7c1244515c557035d4849cf6c1b by Leonardo Criolani

7e0e0be69636a2728abe5e7147956259 from Pinterest

cowbellAn ordinary cowbell

Process:

Analogous harmony of yellow and orange is used. Aluminium sheet is bent to shape like a cowbell instrument to represent performing art. To strike a contrast from the smooth and shiny surface of the sheet, I decided to use corroded foams for its porous texture. A combination of both would present a decorative instrument that gives pleasure to the eyes and ears.

Proj3_03

proj03_cowbell proj03_cowbell2 proj03_cowbell3 proj03_cowbell4  proj03_pd proj03_pd2 proj03_pd3 proj03_pd4

Final Compositions

performing arts 

proj3_PERFORMINGARTS proj03_cowbell5

x product design

proj3_PD proj3_PD CLOSEUP

= me in 5 years

proj3_5YEARS  

So there you have it, a 2015 Yi Wen. And I am already excited to meet the future me 🙂

“Who in the world am I? Ah, that’s the great puzzle.”

 Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

 

2D Project 2: Rhymes

To get a taste of how children books are illustrated, I flipped through a few of them and noticed a particular style among them.

001 002 003

For instance, the illustration from the book Safety On We Go is drawn with fine and grainy lines which is a certain type of texture style oftenly used. Characters tend to have staged poses. They can sometimes fill the entire page with small intrigued objects around the main character (refer to Trina Schart Hyman’s artwork). Despite being assigned to reinterpret rhymes in a different manner, I somehow would like to keep few of these elements in my compositions for these are what makes children rhymes magical.

from A Child’s Christmas in Wales, Trina Schart Hyman

 

Research – Surreal Artists

Surrealism is a breakthrough for conventional art, as it plays with viewer’s perspective and sense of proportion. Here are the artists I have gotten inspiration from –

Edward Gorey uses pen and ink to illustrate daunting scenes. His artworks are heavily filled with short and fine lines, leaving a very compact and eerie impression.

edward gorey

Anita Kunz adds in humour to her illustrations, which can better provoke emotions and grow viewers’ interests in knowing the message behind these artworks. anita kunz anita kunz2

Wolfgang Paalen plays with simple shapes on these art pieces while working on the negative spaces in between.Wolfgang Paalen 2 Wolfgang Paalen

*All photos are found from Pinterest. 

Process – exploration in editing 

I used Hey Diddle Diddle as my practicing subjects on Photoshop to understand how filters like threshold and transformation tools work.

THE CAT AND THE FIDDLE DRAFT 3_CAT_FIDDLE

 

Using just two subjects, the cat and fiddle, they created a systematic and repetitive layout. I tried playing with Threshold filter on the cats, which gave me an insightful collage of shadow variables. They can bring across different moods, less shadow intensified cat looks innocent whereas those with darker shading look scary and mysterious. Fiddles are aligned neatly to fill up the background and slightly tilted diagonally to create a singular movement in synced to the cats. Arrangement is overall clean and neat, but lack of creativity.

Repetition of the same image and variation of shading values will be seen in my final composition 3: She had so many children she didn’t know what to do.

THE COW JUMPED OVER THE MOONDRAFT 2_COW_MOON

As the original photo of the moon already has densely filled lines and pattern, I decided to keep its essence and dramatise with Threshold filter. Also, I can achieve the kind of compressed fine lines drawing style found in traditional children books. Cows are filtered with Path Blur to show jumping motion. It is one of my discoveries in pushing subjects to look more 3-dimensional.

Highly textured subjects will be seen in final composition 4: Couldn’t put Humpty together again; blur filter in composition 1: And the dish ran away with the spoon.

 

THE LITTLE DOG LAUGHED TO SEE SUCH SPORTDRAFT 1_DOG_LAUGHED

Images are inversely contrasted for further experimentation. Highly exposed subjects pop out with its large white spaces, complemented by a darker shade in the background. Despite the intentional juxtapose, it still looks boring for its literal context interpretation.

As such, I tried adding images that require audiences to decipher its underlying meanings. It will be seen in final composition 2: The little dog laughed to see such sport and 3: She had so many children she didn’t know what to do.

 


 

Final Compositions

1) And the dish ran away with the spoon1_DISH_SPOON
Story description

Jumping onto the table, a deliberately dressed dish leaps forward to reach for the flying spoon. Her old partner, who is laying on the floor lifelessly, seems to have given up in the relationship. She has decided to leave for good. If you would look closely at the top right corner of the composition, a policeman arrives to arrest the adultery couple. However, his clumsiness has landed him way too far from his target.

design principles used
  • Emphasis – Background is blurred to ‘pop’ out foreground elements
  • Movement – Arrangement of the laying spoon, dish and flying spoon creates a diagonal visual continuity across the composition
  • Proportion – Stark contrast in sizes between the policeman and culinary to prioritise attention to the main characters – dish and spoons
2) The little dog laughed to see such sport2_DOG_LAUGHS
story description

“What is taking him so long?” the pack of dogs wonders. They are dying to play catching with their new found friend. Hopping onto each other’s back, they elevate themselves to look for their friend. As the last dog peers over the little boy’s back to see what is he up to. He is so engrossed into the gameboy, he did not hear the mocking laughters coming from his back.

design principles used 
  • Rhythm – Dogs face in alternate directions
  • Gradation – Size of dogs slowly decreases
  • Balance – The platform that little boy is sitting on occupies half of the composition, leaving the other half of the space for the dogs
3) She had so many children she didn’t know what to do 3_CHILDREN
story description

Looking into the mirror, Frida Kahlo imagines how her child would look like. How she wish to embrace her own child in her arms. The faces of the illusional child get blurrier as they float nearer to her, as she knows it is impossible to realise this dream.

design principles used
  • Rhythm –  Faces of child form ring of circles around the mirror
  • Balance –  Symmetrical composition
  • Gradation – Value shade of the faces fades off into the center
  • Movement – Overlapped faces around the mirror are arranged in a manner that directs optical focal point to Frida Kahlo at the center
  • Harmony – Despite an overwhelming repetition of faces filling the composition, they exist harmoniously by gradual shading and similar movements
4) couldn’t put humpty together again4_HUMPTY-min
story description 

Humpty is broken and cannot be mended. It is thrown into the infinite galaxy hole to be disposed permanently. Even in the last few seconds, four formulated hearts are still trying their best to save Humpty. Pumping and pumping, with their veins popping out and muscles about to tear. The mission is not over until Humpty has its last breath.

design principles used
  • Diversity – Variety of heart illustrations
  • Balance – Symmetrical composition
  • Movement – Visual continuity from the hearts of four corners to Humpty
  • Contrast – Blurred background suggests the long distance between the subjects and galaxy

 

 

2D Project 1: Lines (Process)

A line is a dot that went for a walk.

Dot is simple. Line is an extension of a dot. But what happens when emotions are implied into a dot?

Based on the Cambridge dictionary, here are the definitions of 18 emotions: 

To further explore the meaning of words, I grouped them together according to their characteristics while adding my personal descriptions. Definitions2

Draft 01

More adjectives are added during my first sketching. This helps me to recall personal experiences/objects relating to that particular emotion before transcending it into drawings.

Medium used: pencil, markers, charcoal stick
draft01draft1-mindraft2-min

Artist research

Understanding these emotions based on word descriptions had me stuck onto one pictorial design on repetition. Hence, I went back to the featured artists that we previously researched on for more inspiration.

research01-minresearch02-minHere are some artworks that stand out to me. I identified their design principles before listing down related emotions. These directed me to imply principles, like contrast and emphasis, in my next round of ideation.

Draft 02

First attempt was rather conservative with minimal medium used. Also, there were too many repetition of shapes and patterns. I decided to move away from drawing with literal meanings while injecting more imaginative lines. New medium are introduced to create textures and add in some fun to the process.

Medium used: pencils, markers, charcoal stick, chinese ink, rubber cement, milk, strings

draft02-mindraft04-min

draft3-mindraft4-min

Second attempt was more exciting and easier to generate new designs. The following emotions have allowed me to explore lines with hands-on experiments.

Psychotic – milk and heat

FullSizeRender 7FullSizeRender 6FullSizeRender 5

Turbulent – charcoal and rubber cement

IMG_7662FullSizeRender 8IMG_7665

systematic – sewing

IMG_7666IMG_7667IMG_7668

Mounting

The finalised 18 designs were mounted upon completion. I choose to present them in A3 format for its height (60mm) that allows me to work comfortably at a wider scale, with a focal point in the centre.

IMG_7582 IMG_7583 IMG_7584 IMG_7587

(see final artwork here)