illustration – ROCHELE YSABEL

4D II | Evocative Object Process

Group members: Rochele, Xuan Fei, Kou Ying

We had our ideas presentation the other day which three of us get to propose three different ideas. My initial idea of playing with mirrors/reflective glass was not good enough. People may not be able to relate to the stories of other people and the purpose of this project is to involve the viewers into the world of the object, by using sound.

We decided to scrape our ideas altogether and went to explore around. After a good ol’ 30 minutes, we settled on the idea of “talking bins”.

We thought of using sound effects such as scream, shout, cries to express how a trash feels when it is being thrown into the bin. This helps to raise environmental awareness. For instance, people will be more aware of how they handle waste or even cut down on the amount of waste they throw away. Michael told us that we should make the sound message clearer in order to communicate our main message to the public. Therefore, we plan to incorporate messages like “Thank you”, “Well done” for people who disposed the trash into the right bins, while messages like “Oh No!”, “What are you doing???” for every wrong trash being placed into the bin, together with the sound effects.

The final idea for this project is to use proximity sensors to detect objects that are being thrown into the bins. In order to do this, the bins will be remodelled. For instance, the opening of the bin will have a slope so that the rubbish will fall towards a certain direction and hit on the metal plate in the bin. The metal plate is made of alloy materials, with spring coils underneath for the convenience of heavier objects. The rubbish will slide across the plate so that it can be detected by the sensors on the opposite side.

A brief description of the technical part:

The components involved are Raspberry PI, Arduino Uno, Inductive Proximity Sensor (IPS) and Capacitive Proximity Sensor (CPS). By interfacing Raspberry PI with Arduino Uno, analog values from the sensors can be read. There is a range of value given to each type of object –

EXAMPLE

PAPER (VALUE RANGES FROM IPS;80-100, CPS;100-120)	IPS = 90	CPS = 110
PLASTIC (VALUE RANGES FROM IPS;0-50, CPS;150-200)	IPS = 10	CPS = 200

Each type of object has its own pin (D1,D2,D3, etc) on Arduino Uno so that signals will be transmitted to Raspberry PI from each respective pin. When high signal is detected, specific audio file will be played.

EXAMPLES

^ when a can is being thrown into the correct recycle bin

^when a can is being thrown into the normal bin

2D II | Que Sera: Process

I started working on my sketches for the final four selected jobs.

Hair stylist

An important question I have to ask myself is – “what are the elements related to a hair stylist?”

The first thing that came up in my mind was scissors and more scissors.. comb maybe?

*Googles*

I love how simple the way it expresses the “cut” action. It’s like with just one look, you are able to understand what the designer is trying to convey.

I’m interested in using scissors to form part of my initials. Hence I decided to play with it with my own illustration.

Tried to incorporate the colors of a barber’s sign pole into the background, it turned out weird. Too much popping colors in one composition.

Therefore, I switched things up a little. Why does it look like a flag. (lol)

Shirley suggested that I should push the background behind by changing into narrow lines instead. Besides, the fallen hair seems unnecessary but distractions.

Finally, I went with this.

Private Detective

Next up, we have detective!

I have always wanted to be one though! I really think it’s such a cool position to be in, working as undercover.

The common visual cues that I found in the net are pistols, handcuffs, binoculars, detective coat, hat, magnifying glass..

Not a fan of the crime scene version, I decided to use binoculars as my main subject. Since there is a kind of mystery involved in this job, so why not hiding behind the lens?

The first initial “R” was not obvious enough as the white area of the human has distracted the focal point of interest, which results in having the “R” seems broken and unrelated. After much consideration, I decided to play with the idea of using objects to form letters.

The end result definitely looks neater than the previous! Also, I filled up the background to minimize unnecessary distractions.

Painter

And then what was supposed to be cafe-related jobs has turned out to be a painter…

I got this idea from the images below:

This is the outcome. Using my own photographs taken recently to form the background of a run-down place.

Barista

Finally, we have the barista!

I was truly excited to work on this in particular because of how much visual cues that are related to it. I decided to use the cafe setting and equipments to form my letters.

However, I was told that there are too many supporting imagery that give away the message and the fonts are not easy to read, each of the letter is “forced”. I can’t deny it after looking at it for long.

Thus, I decided to do paper cut instead, with some watercolor.

I feel that “ROCH” is a tad too long to be included in the coffee steam, hence I switched to “SX” instead.

2D || Project 3 Ego

In this Project, I have decided on using watercolor painting. Below are my final compositions.

Equation 1

Me as an introvert, who prefers being alone in my quiet space. Cool tones are chosen to represent relaxation, harmony.

Crowded areas. I have chosen warm and rustic tones for this composition to symbolize the energy in the party. Still, keeping in mind the cool tones that I’m going for, I selected wintery reds instead of bright shades of red, and paired them with violet-tinged grays. Overall, it looks like a holiday palette!

As introverts often find parties emotionally draining, hence I portray myself staying away from the crowd. And what better way to portray the territorial trait of an introvert? I used a lifeguard chair to show that introverts dislike sharing space with others and also they tend to immerse in their own world, concentrating on doing one stuff. Complementary colors – green and red are used.

Equation 2

Me and my zen attitude. Using neutral colors such as shades of gray and tan, pairing with blue to achieve the calming, comfortable look. The conservative grayish tones contrast nicely with the cooler greens.

When there is too much workload. Why unwashed dishes? I was trying to link what I have in my above composition – cup, and there you go! In order to create a flow, I used a combination of greens and blues in this one. As both the bluish and greenish shades of my selection have gray undertones, which makes them look more neutral. Thus, it is easy to pair with more daring tones such as lime green and mustard.

Me being unaffected by what’s happening; remains calm when the place is flooded. Ha! I tweaked the colors slightly, but still maintaining the muted color scheme. Overall, it gives off a vintage vibe and a minimalistic look.

Equation 3

Me in my natural habitat aka city gal. To portray the cosmopolitan look, I went with smoky purple, classic black, gray and blue with an orange accent to avoid getting too stuffy.

The setting is a forest, which shows a stark contrast to the skyscrapers in order to represent an unfamiliar environment. No doubt I have selected warm naturals, earthy colors for the composition.

Me sitting in the woods, which is also being the center of attention with all the eyes on me. When I’m in an unfamiliar environment, the anxiety issue arises and I suffer the fear of being judged by the people around me. Using the green tones like before, but added more gray to portray the eerie vibe.

Equation 4

Me as a people-pleaser, loves to keep a range of masks to suit different situations. Monochrome is used to symbolize a kind of routine.

The setting is a workplace. Blue and gray tones are used to represent the hostile working environment. Since the subject matter in this equation is about office bullies, a dissected human brain is drawn.

The outcome is having paper planes flying into the mouth of the mask. As a people-pleaser, one tends to avoid conflicts and hate to upset people. Hence, there is a fear to reject people or say the N word. This results in being pushed around and agreed to things I don’t want to do just to accommodate others. In this composition, analogous colors (yellow-green) is used. The forest green creates a focal interest, directing the viewers’ eyes to the main point of this composition.

Reflection

The main difficulty in this Project is to come up with four scenarios. I find it rather tough to work on something when there is too much freedom. Because every idea is possible!! After rounds and rounds of brainstorming, I left with so many ideas that I don’t know where to begin with. Eventually I keep everything in its simplest form.

Since I used watercolor as my medium, everything has to be done manually where there is no undo button or replace colors. And it definitely took up a lot of time from sketching, inking with pen to painting. Choosing colors are stressful too as I had to redo everything if the colors turned out not what I have expected. Although it took a long time to complete each composition, I still think that it was quite a therapeutic experience to paint in the midst of all project submissions. I also tried painting freestyle (no sketch or ink before paint), which is something I will not usually do because I always worry that what if the whole thing becomes out of proportion and I have to start all over again. So YAY to new exploration!

From this Project, I have also gained a better understanding on choosing colors and how various color combinations can set a mood or even influence emotions and perceptions!

More to learn in the future and I look forward to explore other mediums.

Till then x