Ego

Statement

For this assignment, I decided not to have a recurring “character” to represent myself as my drawing skills are not that good as my peers, so I decided to approach this from an abstract point of view; there is no continuity between the equations. I figured that the main point of the assignment was to explore different colour schemes, and that was what I tried to do.

1.) Solitude + Music = Me (epic CD riding on wave action)IMG_3785 IMG_3786 IMG_3787

I depicted solitude as the ocean, as… I like music, so I portrayed it as a hand holding a CD. The combination of both elements resulted in many CDs riding on waves. For the colour scheme, I showed how 2 analogous colours combined into a complementary colour scheme.

2.) Creativity – Fear = A better me (Godly stuff making powers)IMG_3788 IMG_3789 IMG_3790

For this equation, I decided to go with a pop-art theme. I depicted “creativity” as a pair of hands, as I feel that most creative things that humans do all involve their hands. I used a triadic colour scheme (red/blue/yellow) for this. For fear, I went with a monochrome colour scheme as the way I represented fear (many judgmental eyes) calls for a black and white scheme, as fear has no colour. Finally, for the last panel, I re-interpreted the famous painting, “The Creation of Adam”, using a tetradic colour scheme (purple/yellow,red/green). I drew a parallel between “The Creation of Adam” and my own creative potential. Personally, this is my favourite equation.

3.) Playing Cards X Abstract Thinking = An ideal meIMG_3791 IMG_3792 IMG_3793

For this equation, I decided to think outside the box and attempt to creatively use playing cards. The most interesting panel is the last one, where I cut up numerous playing cards to form a star shaped pattern. The main colour scheme here is blue and orange (complementary).

4.) Photography + Dogs = Me in 5 years (making dog movies)IMG_3794 IMG_3795 IMG_3796

For the last equation, I played with analogous colour schemes for the first 2 panels (using the darker colours to portray a shadow), while for the final panel, I combined the previous 2 panels and played with a triadic colour scheme (red/blue/yellow). 

Reflections

I learnt a lot about implementing different colour schemes into my artwork. I also learnt to work around my limitations, as initially, I was quite lost on how to approach this assignment as I wasn’t really proficient in either drawing or photoshopping. I took Shirley’s advice and traced out my main elements, while adding my own touch as well. Overall, I am quite satisfied at the final result.

 

These colours be scheming.

Here are the various colour harmonies/schemes.

MONOCHROMATIC

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Colours that are the same-ish

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COMPLEMENTARY

complementary_template

Colours that are opposite each other on the colour wheel.

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SPLIT-COMPLEMENTARY 

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One hue plus two others equally spaced from its complement.

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DOUBLE COMPLEMENTARY

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Two complementary color sets; the distance between selected complementary pairs will effect the overall contrast of the final composition.

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ANALOGOUS

analogous_template

Those colors located adjacent to each other on a color wheel.

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Triad 

triad_template

Three hues equally positioned on a color wheel.

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Reference: http://www.worqx.com/color/combinations.htm

Nursery Rhymes

1.) The cow jumped over the moon.

Here’s my first design.

PATTERN 1

The initial pattern only consisted of one moon surrounded by four cows, but I decided that it looked too plain. I was thinking about floor tiles and how multiple tiles form a unique pattern when out together, which inspired me to multiply the initial pattern.

PATTERN Y

Before this design, I did something that was a literal interpretation of the rhyme, but I decided that I needed to train myself to think more abstractly.

PATTERN X

2/3.) Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle.

I feature this line twice in my designs. The first of which looks like…

PATTERN 2

The pattern in the middle of the… pattern, is actually made of multiple “treble clef” symbols put together. I wanted to use something that people recognise to make something that’s not immediately recognisable, and I’d like to think that I succeeded.

flair-music.note-400

The second interpretation of the line goes something like this…

PATTERN 3

Cats are known to climb trees, so I wanted to make it look like the cats are jumping towards the fiddles, which kinda look like trees (to me, anyway).

PATTERN Z

This was my initial design, but it looked too symmetrical for my liking. I feel that my decision to make the design asymmetrical was a good one (good job, me!).

4.) The little dog laughed, to see such sport.

PATTERN 4

Inspired by the design of the court card designs in playing cards. Though the design is symmetrical, I liked the idea of using court cards as an inspiration to give it a go.

I initially wanted to do something creepy, so here are some preliminary designs (that feel pretty uninspired, to be honest).

PATTERN 5

PATTERN 6-min

Yeah… I’m glad I didn’t use these.

Don’t make me see red.

In popular media, different colours are used to represent different emotions and themes. Here are some examples:

Red: Generally used to represent anger and passion. One reason why love is sometimes interpreted as a rose is due to it being the colour red.

Closeup of a red rose.

Blue: I interpret blue as a colour that represents calmness and trust, the same emotions that I feel whenever I look at a blue ocean. It is also coincidentally my favourite colour. Go blue!

blue-ocean

Green: The phrase “green with envy comes to mind. Exactly how I feel whenever someone gets more sleep than me.

gallery_envy_gallery

But other than that, green is also known to induce feelings of harmony and growth. It is the same colour as nature, making it easy to look at.

Yellow: Seen as a colour that invokes feelings of optimism and joy.

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Orange: While similar to yellow, it conveys slightly different emotions. While yellow depicts joy, orange depicts enthusiasm.

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Purple: Often seen as a colour of royalty and extravagance.

The-purple-robes

Black: A very powerful and attention drawing colour; used to symbolise power and authority.

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White: Like a blank canvas, it symbolises purity and innocence.

Blank paper and pen

Whose line is it anyway? (It’s mine)

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*

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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

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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

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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

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

Lyrical

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

Spontaneous

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

Embarrassed

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

Indecisive

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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

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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

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

Awkward

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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

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

Bizarre

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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

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

Psychotic

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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

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I was inspired by a computer’s circuit board.

Nonsensical

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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

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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

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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!

WE’RE DEFINING THINGS TODAY

anxiety1

Anxiety: 

/aŋˈzʌɪəti/

noun
1. A feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease about something with an uncertain outcome.
2. Strong desire or concern to do something or for something to happen.