Admittedly, thinking abstractly isn’t one of my strongest points. Having to express emotions with nothing but lines proved to be a challenge for me, but nonetheless, I’d like to think I did a pretty good job. *fireworks*

The medium(s) I decided to use were ones that were very familiar to me, namely pencils, graphite sticks and markers of various sizes. Using familiar medium(s) allowed for me to express my ideas with great clarity.

Anxious

This was represented by heartbeat-ish lines that are messy and all over the place, which represents how my mind is when I’m anxious (which is most of the time)

Ambiguous

I wanted to create something that looked different from different perspectives. From far, it looks like a long horizontal line, but up close, it is revealed to be made up of many short, vertical lines.

Turbulent

I define turbulent as conflict, therefore I wanted to show clashing arrows. Thick lines were used to emphasise the direction.

Lyrical

This is pretty much a literal interpretation of the ribbon used by various styles of dance.

Spontaneous

I drew inspiration from the phrase “spontaneous combustion”, and wanted to show an explosion in a simple way using only two tones.

Embarrassed

When you’re embarrassed, you would want to keep your presence low, hence the low-laying line.

Indecisive

Someone having to decide between “yes” and “no”. The small scribblings represent the endless internal debate of an indecisive person. The big silhouettes formed by the scribblings represent what the indecisive person says, which is no different.

Distracted

The dotted lines represent a route to be followed, and the curved line represents someone that wants to follow said route but is distracted by what’s around him. Like me getting distracted while writing this pos-dog!

Sloven

I got my inspiration by imagining a children’s colouring book that has been hastily filled in by a messy kid.

Awkward

I see “awkward” as someone trying to fit in but is unsuccessful at doing so; A 3D block that’s trying to fit in in a dominantly 2D pattern.

Exhausted

I wanted to show someone running out of breath while also showing their depleting energy levels.

Bizarre

Eyes have been used as a creepy symbol in many media. It’s like being watched by something unknown, as you can only see the eyes, and that’s what I was trying to go for.

Fragile

I imagined the A2 strip as a big glass panel which was impacted by something at a singular point.

Psychotic

The first thought that came to mind was “split personalities”, which was shown by the contrast between the clean and messy lines. I used a 6B graphite stick to produce thicker messier lines.

Systematic

I was inspired by a computer’s circuit board.

Nonsensical

The first thing that came to mind was “squiggly lines” that look like they were done by kids. In the actual work I experimented with different concentration of “squiggles”. I also added shapes to add to the random factor of the strip.

Sensual

I wanted to show the curves of the human body in an abstract way. I made the background black to emphasise the curves even more.

Aggressive

I’ve always thought that barb wire that’s used on fences were pretty aggressive looking, so I tried to replicate that onto the paper, albeit in a slightly abstract way using a marker and messy lines.

In retrospect, I realise that most, if not, all of my ideas are very grounded in reality. Given my limited experience in abstract drawing, I think I did pretty well!