Category Archives: My Work

7 Shots Assignments – Seen and Unseen

” A bored kid decides to steal a 10 dollar note from a random stranger out of playfulness, only to find himself entering a horrific world of punishments suffered in hell. “
Seen and Unseen.

The seen and unseen world to me felt like something that i would have never imagine myself experiencing in; like in another dimension. I viewed this unseen world as something negative, something I would wish to un-see. 

This brought me back to my childhood days when I first visited the “10 courts of hell” located in Haw Par Villa. I was scared as hell. 

 

With this thought in mind, I came up with an idea where a kid will be the protagonist, as children are often portray as innocent and oblivious.

When I did my research on the meanings behind the “10 courts of hell”, I came upon this useful piece of information: So basically those who were evil doers in their past life will be taken to a subsequent Court of Hell to be punished. The different levels of hell caters to different types of offence. The shot that were taken in my film were from the Second Court of Hell. Crimes such as robbery and stealing will be punish in this court. 

With this information, I decided to use the stealing of the dollar note as the climax of my story.
1st Shot - Extreme close up shot of the main character. 

2nd Shot - close up shot of the kid’s hand playing with gum. 












3rd shot - Wide angle shot. Introducing a working adult, and leaving the scene; 
           transitioning to 4th shot.

4th shot - low angle shot; begins by establishing the $10 note, then gradually moving 
           upwards to the kid’s expression.











5th shot - top angle shot; camera moves downwards gradually with the kid’s hand. 
           This establish sight of the video through the kid’s eyes / perspective. 

6th shot - transition from the $10 note to the “10 courts of hell”. 
           Shot from first person perspective. 











7th shot - transition back to the the kid being fearful of the dollar note. 

 

3D project 4: City of voids – Individual Moodbox

This is the sound analysis based on audacity from the sound that we had created.

 

Individual Moodbox

 

The Dominant

The dominant sound has a clear and elegant vibe which in this case, is represent by acrylic cubes in different shades of blue. 

The clear ringing sound of the resonating tone bars is depicted by the blue acrylic cubes scattered around the model and saturated at the bottom of it. 

The dominant sound can be heard at it loudest in its 1st beat and where it slowly fades and echoes away. This sound motion is represented by the placement the blue acrylic cubes in the model. 

 

The Subdominant

The subdominant sound feels like a subtle sharp, piercing background noise.

The raspy, scraping sound of the finger cymbals is shown through the sharp cones piercing throughout the center tube of the structure. 

It can be heard almost throughout the entire music, which is depicted through the placement of the sharp cones. However, the cones are small and tiny, suggesting that the subdominant sound is soft and subtle; almost not noticeable. 

 

The Subordinate

The subordinate sound is produced through two wood pieces, giving off a heavily dense sound that kind of depicts a temple chanting or nature.

the two blocky beats of the claves is represented by the pieces of wood and green plants that is placed into sections in the middle of the structure.

It can be hear clearly with pauses in between each beat, without the interruptions of the domination and subdominant sounds. This suggest the isolating placement of the subordinate in sections. 

4D Foundation Project 3: Impossibilities of Being

The place that I have selected was my grandma’s working place. Even before I was born, she had been working as a Chinese opera actress for the past 30 years. Never once had I been there, and I was curious as to how here working environment was like, what made her stay for the past 30 years. She told me, “ It is isn’t a job, it was more like an interest, a hobby, its the friends there that made her stay.”

 

Lo-Fi storyboard

High-Fi storyboard

Scene 1: shows a scene of the main character; my grandma. | close up shot

Scene 2: grandma travelling to work by bus. | Wide angle shot; sound of bus arriving

Scene 3: alighted from the bus. ( butt leaves bus sit ) | Half body shot; sound of bus arriving to a stop

Scene 4: Arrived at workplace, ready to be sited and getting makeup done for her Chinese opera show. ( however workplace is still unknown) | Half body shot; sounds of using make up tools 

Scene 5: Putting on makeup Close up shot; sounds of using make up tools, opening and closing of make up kit.

Scene 6: Getting hair done; putting on wig. | close up half body shot

Scene 7: Wearing costume for show that is about to start. | close up half body shot

Scene 8: Preparing to enter the show. | leg shot; close up shot.

Scene 9: Show begins. | Wide angle shot, Chinese opera stage music sound

Scene 10: Performance and interaction between actors. | wide angle/ half body shot, Chinese convocation sound.

Scene 11: Cut scene to audiences. | wide angle shot, sound of audience interacting 

Scene 12: Grandma stares back at the camera, smile, as the show ended. | close up shot 

This was the initial idea for how the video was going to be shot and the sounds that comes with it. However, when I derived at the shooting venue, the environment and people there changed my perception of my initial idea. The people there ( friends of my grandma ) where a bunch of funny and loud older women. They are not your typical grandma who goes to the market everyday and lead a simple life. They love to dress up, making themselves look pretty, play card games and phones to kill time, smoke, and chit chat among themselves. I notice that they are always laughing snd joking around. And when its time to perform, they are back to a serious mood and execute a professional performance. 

With that, I decide to use “sound” to change the context of the video. 

Here are some of the sounds recorded at the filming venue. Background sound of people speaking in dialect, sound of vehicle passing by, sound of different tunes made by different instruments , sound of performers conversing and singing. Each recorded sound is similar to one another as background noises were always overlapping one another. Similarly, the sounds are often loud and piercing, which depicts the bold and expressive culture of Chinese opera. 

Onsite recorded sounds

 

Final Video

( The whole video shows a progression of how I grandma spends her time working at her work place. From the time they get ready, to the showcase of the performance ) The sounds used depicts the mood and environment of the people and place there, whether is it about having fun or just pure seriousness. 

At the start of the video, you hear the sound of the background sound of the Chinese opera before the performance started. 

Shots of people using their phones was shown. The context was changed when I placed clicking sounds ( created and recorded from my keyboard ) in conjunction to the scenes. The clicking sounds lead to the song: “wonder girls famous song – Nobody”, which suggested that the people using their phone were playing the same exact song. 

The song “Nobody” , depicts a fun and and lively song ( if you watch the music video of the song, you will notice the main singers dressing up in older fashion style, and performing a live performance. ) This modern pop song changed the context of the video as Chinese opera seems to be a very traditional place. It showcase a glamours and exciting behind the scenes of the performers preparing and getting ready for the show. 

As the song stops, it transits into fingers taping sounds as the video zoomed into the audiences. The finger tapping sounds leads to a soundless silent, which represented anticipation, as the performers are about to enter the stage. This creates tension, where people waited eagerly for the show to begin. 

As the performance began, sound intensified, loud music of Chinese opera music was heard. This depicts the professional and well brought up performance by actor and actress. 

The last scene ended off with a close up shot of my grandma looking into the camera happily in silent. Without the background sound, all there was to focus on was the expression of my grandma’s joyful face,  which is easier to relate. 

 

 

Classroom exercise Part 1 for Project 3.

Rhythm

There is irregularity in the overall movement of my video, however, there is a slight repetition in parts of the scenes. For example, when before the song “Nobody” was played, there is a constant shots of people pressing on their phone showed. When the Chinese opera song was played at the last few scenes of the video, similar shots of performers performing on stage was shown.

Movement 

Linear narrative is shown throughout my video, where causality can be easy to track. In my video, there is a direction; it shows the starting preparation before the performance began, to the execution of the performances. 

Causality

I felt that there is a clear expectation of the direction of the video as it was being played. The background music build up a sense of anticipation and tension, and the visuals shows the performers getting ready for the main performance which is able to lead the audiences’ mind into what will happen next. However, some people might feel that the expectation is unexpected as they are unaware or have no idea or context in regards to Chinese opera performance.

Duration

I felt that my final video is too short, like it needs a longer time duration to be able to showcase the behind-the scenes act and performance. Now it seems like a trailer. 

4D Foundation Project 4 – Research

 

The first video is a documentation of a woman spending time alone in a context of 5 consecutive days. Each day, she challenged herself into spending time alone doing activities that are normally accompanied by others. Such activities include watching a scary movie alone, going to a erotic museum alone, and dinning alone in a cafe. All these places that are usually accompanied by friends and family now become a lonely place to her. Overwhelmed by the strangers around her, she began feeling self-conscious about being alone, with no one to talk to or to share her experiences with. However as time goes by, she began to understand herself better.  Despite being confined within time, it allowed her to pay more attention to herself. Food tasted better when she was alone; she was able to expand and widened her taste buds. She gets to know and understand herself better; where she is able to love herself more inside out. 

 

 

Video below from 3:05 onwards talks about Hsieh’s outdoor piece. 

Hsieh is an artist whose medium of expression is not words or sounds or paint, but his own life. For this second piece of work known informally as the Outdoor Piece, he plan to do a one year performance piece from September 26, 1981, to September 26, 1982, where he promise to live and stay outdoors for a year, and never go inside. He will not enter into any building, subway, train, car, airplane ship, cave, or tent. With that he will have a sleeping bag with him at all times. He live a lot the streets and doorsteps of manhattan. Here, Hsieh demonstrate how art becomes life through passing time. His work raises difficult questions about life and art and being, and about what it means to live in the world we live in. He relied on pay phones and chance meetings to keep in touch with his friends. Each day, he recorded his wanderings on a map, noting in particular the places where he ate and slept. 

This performance can be viewed as a space where he opened himself up, as fully as possible, to the outside. As time pass, the self can perish from exposure, as well as from confinement. Here, became a nomad. As time continue day by day, he tested his powers of survival in circumstances that were more than usually beyond his own control. 

Both pieces are presented through circular time where it talks about a repeating process, that creates continuous and infinite outcomes. However in the first piece, the host creates planned events and activities that triggers her emotions in the cause of time, while the artist in the second video let everything flow naturally in time; allowing whatever unpredicted situations happens at its own time. 

We can divide time up in different ways, and have different beliefs about how time affects us. We tend to think of time in terms of a three-part structure of past, present, and future, with time moving in one direction without repetition. Though events can repeat themselves, tomorrow is fundamentally different and separate from yesterday. However, I felt that these conceptualisations can also change over time. Who knows maybe in the future, there may be more than one way of looking at time.

2D Foundation Project 2: Forrest Gump

Dadaism

Dada was an art movement formed during the First World War in 1914, in negative reaction to the horrors of the war. They were looking for ways to express anger towards the war. this is where art, poetry and performance produced by dada artists started surfacing and is often satirical and nonsensical in nature. Dada artists felt that the war questioned every aspect of a society’s capability. Their aim was to destroy traditional values in art and to create a new art to replace the old.  Some of the art works in this movement were dark and self-destructive. 

After the war, many of the artists who had participated in the Dada movement began to practice in a Surrealist

Surrealism

Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s. It was the aftermath; result of World War 1 when it destroyed the Western civilisation . It encompasses all forms such as art, sculpture, music, literature, film, and philosophy. The aim of this movement was to “resolve the previously contradictory conditions of dream and reality.” Artists painted illogical and occasionally disturbing images that allowed the unconscious to express itself. At its basic, the imagery is often strange and mysterious in an unsettling way to jolt the viewer out of their comforting assumptions.

Rene Magritte, The Son of Man 1964 https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e5/Magritte_TheSonOfMan.jpg

One example of surrealism art is this painting, named: The Son of Man, by Rene Magritte. The painting is a self-portrait whereby an apple is placed in front, hiding his face / expression. Magritte wants his viewers to know that we humans always want to see what is hidden beneath the obvious. There is always an interest in the curious mind that is hidden in which the visible does not show us. 

Surrealism techniques includes Collage, Cubomania, Decalcomania, Eclaboussure, Frottage, Fumage.

Research on André Breton

André Breton was an original member of the Dada group and the founder of Surrealism in 1924. In early 1920s, Breton had changed his allegiance to another group of intellectuals who shared different opinions on art, not as nearly as dark and self-destructive as was the case with Dadaists. This is where he shifted to Surrealism. He was fascinated by the fine line between reason and irrationality, especially as manifested in dreams, erotica and mental disorders; all in which are reflections of Breton’s own interests. 

One of Breton’s fundamental beliefs was that he sees art as an anti-war protest. He presented the art scene with completely new concepts and ideas, such as the automatism – a principle in which writers and artists were encouraged to adopt a stream-of-conscious method, as well as spontaneous means of expression without any planning what so ever.

 

Working with halftone

Halftone is achieved by taking an existing image and reproducing it with a series of different sized dots. The closer and bigger the dots, the darker (and less detailed) the image; and the smaller and more spread out the dots are, the lighter (and more detailed) the image is. Halftones are often used for screen printing artwork. Screen printing involves breaking images down to simple colours. 

Working with Threshold

The Threshold command in Adobe Photoshop can create a neat one colour effect. A full colour photo can be turned into a black outline. The amount of black and white created by Threshold can also be adjusted through brightness and contrast when editing the original picture. 

 

Movie Quote: “We are all trapped here.” – 12 feet deep, 2017

 

   https://i.ytimg.com/vi/qWvEBk7aciQ/movieposter.jpg

 

Plot: This movie talks about Two sisters are unwittingly trapped under the fiber glass cover of an Olympic sized public pool and must brave the cold and each other to survive the harrowing night.

All 4 concept revolves around the same movie title. The final image of each concept are seen in a rectangular angled structure to suggest the ideal of being trapped. Concept 1 and 2 are slightly similar in style. Both uses threshold to create the final imagery. Concept 3 and 4 are more relatable to each other when it comes to ideation. Both revolves around the idea of teenagers and halftone used besides using threshold. 

Concept 1:  

The first image talks about how we; individuals, are always trapped within our own minds. (suggested by the not-so-obvious person portray in the negative space of the woman’s face.) There are so many things that we want to do, to explore, but are always reluctant to be daring, because often, the voices in our minds are telling us otherwise, and is holding us back. All these trapping revolves around time. ( suggested from the swinging pendulum ) However, all these thoughts in our minds are controlled by ourselves. (suggested from the hands that forms the shape of the mind ) We are in control of what we want to do, and how we want to lead our lives. 

 

Concept 2:

Concept 2 is inspired by concept 1. In this concept, the idea revolves around how in every disney fairytale books, the princess are always trapped and confined in the story ( suggested by the book text on the face ). As the story progress, they fight against time, WAITING ( suggested by the contrasting clock at the left side of the image; notice that the numbers on the clock is written in an old and vintage style, which suggested a long long time ago, as what every fairytales would called it ). They wait in their dreams, their minds, hoping that prince charming would save them in his knight and shining amour. ( suggested from the sword and shield ) .

 

Concept 3:

Concept 3 shows troubled teenagers and the negative influences by their peers that polluted their minds. Many teenagers nowadays are obsessed with all sorts of gaming on the different devices that advancement in technologies has created. ( suggested the gaming tools in the background ) Teenagers are also picking up smoking at a very young age ( suggested from the packet of cigarette.) Usually, a disturbing image is often shown on the front packaging of a cigarette box. In this case, I swap it for an illustration of a teenager diving into a pool filling with the other teenagers that are of the same age. This suggest a warning sign of how these young adults are diving into a trap; a trap that seems all fun and excitement on the outside, but will slowly develop into a negative impact on their future.

 

Concept 4:

Concept 4 talks about how students nowadays are trapped within education itself; or at least thats how I feel. ( suggested from the lines and strokes down the faces of the girl in the image. ) The lines / strokes formed into a barcode, which represents money; that education is a money draining system, despite it having a positive or negative impact on our future. Are we studying what is worth studying? or are we just wasting our parents money away as each day passes. This trapped feeling in the world of education at our age made me question myself what exactly are we studying for. 

 

 

Silkscreen Printing 

 

Silk print is a popular method for applying designs on tote bags. It works like a stencil, in which the artwork is burned unto a mesh and empty areas are covered with chemicals. After which, ink is applied and pushed through the mesh, onto the tote bag. As the silkscreen printing is done in a way that allows the ink to bond with the fibres of fabric, it is said that the print is durable and does not peel off. 

To me, the process does take up some time, therefore timing is key when executing silk printing. The pressure from our hands and the amount of black ink also plays an important part on the final result. However, after several practices, it gets better. Overall, it was not a hard process but rather, a fruitful one. 

 

Final Works

Reflection:

Through this project I learnt that ideation is a very important step that will affect the overall composition of the entire imagery. Sometimes, having too many ideas will create many different objects and items that will clutter the whole image. What works best is to have a focus idea on each different piece of work. That way, the final image can be understand and view easier without being too complicated for viewers. 

 

 

4D foundation Project 2: The subverted object

I must say, I am in love with project 2.

…….

Task 1:

Firstly, we were all given an object as the star of this assignment. My object turns out to be a watermelon; a solid fruit with contrasting colours from the skin to the meat of the fruit itself. We were then tasked to photograph our object where we denote the context of the object; a translation of a sign to its literal meaning. For example, capturing the object’s physical attributes, its practical function, how do we interact with it and where do we usually see this object. 

Brainstorming session 1

We did a short brainstorming session in class to help us better understand our object.

Some questions asked: ( and my on-the-spot answers )

What is the position in relation to the individual? Near

What era is it from? When humans are born??

What historical figure can it be associated? Egyptians 

What material do you see it wrapped in? Plastic bags

How does it get around? Humans are the transport 

What scent does it go with it? refreshing, sweet 
these questions gave me some ideas on how I can photograph the watermelon for task 1. For example, taking a shot of the watermelon in my kitchen to show that the position of the object in relation to me is near. Or taking a lady carrying a NTUC bag containing a watermelon walking out of the supermarket to show how the object get around. 

Task 2:

connotation; the suggesting of an additional meaning, apart from its primary meaning. This is where we subvert the object’s meaning through other elements of our shots. 

Brainstorming session 2

We were given several action verbs where we had to think of how we could portray our object based on the given actions. 
We were then questioned as to how a removal, replacement, 
or redefinition of the object is able to subvert its meaning. 

These 2 exercises gave me inspiration and ideas. Such as turning the watermelon into a helmet; or juicing it and staged it as though they were fake blood. 

 

Artist References

Rene Magritte – A surrealist artist that is known for creating witty and provoking images. His work are often depicting ordinary objects in an unusual context.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/205054589256397865/
In the 2 photographs, we see how he changed the meaning of the photograph just by 
changing his interaction with the subject (his wife) through body language. It made me 
questioned; is his relationship with his wife beautiful on the outside but unpleasant 
behind close doors? Is he playing a prank on his wife or is he for real? Is his wife 
oblivious to what was happening or is she just acting along? 
Magritte’s work inspired me to create photographs that changes the context of a watermelon between the good and bad; for example : enjoying the watermelon vs depicting it as a bloody and gross wound. Or enjoying a watermelon dessert vs having the watermelon placed on a naked body in a bath room. The contrast created is really mind blowing when 2 photographs are placed side by side. 

 

Final 3 photographs for Task 1

Watermelon dessert by the pool

In this picture, I showed the physical properties of how a watermelon can be enjoyed, with the removal of part of its meat; and replacing it with a combination of ice-cream and other toppings, with the outer skin of the watermelon as a bowl. Placed against a slightly blurry background of a pool, which suggested a delicious watermelon dessert that can be enjoy on a hot sunny day by the pool. What I love about this image is that if you look closely, most parts of the image is blurred out, however, the 4 pieces of watermelon bites in the middle is in focused. This allows us to focus more on the texture of the watermelon. 

Here are some test shots where I find the most suitable background to depict a the pool.

 

 

Dogs eat watermelon too!

My friend who owns a poodle told me that dogs eat watermelon too. Therefore audiences need prior knowledge of this fact to be able to understand this photograph. Here, I wanted to capture the dog eating the watermelon, but in a more interesting way. It took me several test shots before concluding the best shot. In this image, you will notice the dog’s head disappearing into the watermelon. This suggest the relationship between the dog and object; a hunger and thirst for the watermelon. Notice that the background is a setting of a living room, which also suggest that the owner of the dog treats the dog well; by providing not-your-typical dog food. 

Its extremely hard to capture a photo with an overly active dog. It took me several ( a lot ) of test shots before arriving at a perfect one.

 

 

Drink your water-melon

I am a huge fan of watermelon juice and I drink it at least thrice a week. In this photograph, I have my model and object placed in the center with a half body close up shot, with the model looking straight into the camera. Her eyes and smile suggested her enjoyment while drinking the watermelon.

I actually did a few test shots of her interacting with the watermelon juice, however I felt that the close up shot of her having the straw in her mouth depicts the strongest relationship between her and the object. 

Final 3 photographs for Task 2

Camouflage me please watermelon helmet

The watermelon acted as a helmet for my model who is wearing an army uniform. The green “helmet” and uniform blends in well with the green plants in the background. This suggested a solider trying to camouflage and hide from his enemy. Does the audiences need prior knowledge in conjunction to this image? No. It is a norm in Singapore for soldiers to be fully green. Here, I changed the context of the watermelon by showing that it is not only an object that can be eaten, but can also be acted as a source of camouflage tool ( in this case a helmet ) in time of desperate needs. 

HAHAHA I had a fun time shooting my brother. Through the test shots, I was finding the perfect expression/ body language and interaction with the grass to portray a scene of wanting to hide and be camouflage.

 

 

Bleeding watermelon

I guess no one would ever associate watermelon; something so delicious and edible, with wounds and blood. Here, I changed the context of the watermelon into something deadly; suggested by the background tool of a chopping board and knife. This photo was shot from the back shoulder of my model , where you are able to see parts of her face and strains of her hair falling. This provide the photograph with a eerie and mysterious sight. This main focus of this image is the fresh cut wounds on her arm (created with glue and makeup), where it blends into the flesh of slices of watermelon, which can be depicts as the model’s own flesh. I love how the warm red tone is saturated in the center, contrasting the cool blue tone at it’s surroundings. 

In the test shots, I find it hard to connect the different elements (wound, watermelon, knife, model, chopping board) all together into the photograph. Until I found the right angle to take shot the photo; the back shoulder of the model.

 

 

Sacred butt

In this photograph, I change the context of the watermelon by shooting this scene in a bathroom; as suggested in the background. A watermelon which is often placed into one’s mouth is now placed at the most sensitive part of a human body. The watermelon cut into a shape that perfectly covers the butt of the model, and it placed against his skin. The arm and hands of the model provides the photo with a balanced proportion. The watermelon can be depicted as a protective layer to cover up the vulnerable naked body.

There is no test shot for this photograph as it was taken within 3 tries. The model was shy..

 

 

Final poster for Task 3

“我的美人“

When text is included into the photograph, it is turned into a poster where the text given a clearer explanation of the visuals in the poster. Let me first explain the background story of this poster. This poster is an advertisement about a Chinese novel where the title/heading of the poster reads, “我的美人” which means my beautiful lover. The text on the watermelon skin shows a short write-up about the novel. It tells a story of a woman who wishes to be a famous celebrity, but can and never will succeed. Until she met this man who is able to help her achieve her dream. With that, she tries to seduce him to gain his attention. “我的美人”,  sounded similar to the word “watermelon”. The word “watermelon” holds no other meaning other than being a fruit. And this is the exact interpretation of how the guy is to the main lead in the story. He is depicted as “我的美人”, but in actual fact he is just an object like a watermelon where u can just eat it and throw the skin away. Yet the watermelon is placed near the naked, most vulnerable part of the human body; which suggest that the guy in the story held a close relationship with the female lead; and acted as a protective layer. 

 

 

 

Foundation 3D – Pandora Final Model

 

Experimentation

In the 1st model For my 1st 3D model, I placed the subdominant and subordinate adjacent towards the edge of the dominant, creating more weight and space on one side of the dominant, which makes the other side of the dominant rather empty. In which creates contrast. 

 

In the 2nd model For my 2nd 3D model I placed the dominant between the subdominant and subordinate. The dominant acts as a medium to show the contrast the subdominant and subordinate in each sides of the model. The different length of each object should show a contrasting difference against one another. 

 

Final Model

Word selected from pandora box: Contrast

 

Execution

Contrast can be measure through different types of medium, shapes, sizes, and materials. In this project, I would like to achieve different elements of contrast from each sides of the dominant, subdominant, and subordinate model. 

 

Contrast in Placement

The subdominant and subordinate is placed at the 1/3 length of the dominant. They are also placed perpendicularly to the dominant which creates contrast. 

 

Contrast in Materials

The dominant is made up of acrylic; the strongest material among the rest. While the subordinate is made up of wood (2nd strongest material), and lastly the subdominant is made up of styrofoam (the least stronger material among the rest)

 

Contrast in Length

The length of each of the models are widely contrasted. The length of the subdominant is half the length of the dominant. While the length of the subordinate is less than half the length of the subdominant. 

 

Contrast in Colour 

The dominant in white, act as a neutral based colour that contrasted the subdominant (in blue cool tone) and subordinate (in brown warm tone) when placed in the middle. 

 

Contrast in Colour

A contrast in colour can also be seen at both sides of the model. Where the subordinate being the neutral white colour, dominant having a warm brown tone, and the contrasting subdominant in its blue cool tone.

 

Application

Large scale application: Public Pool


Using my final model, it could be turn into a public pool where the different depths of blocks in the dominant box can determine how shallow the pool is. The subdominant can act as a stairway platform up and down the pool, and the subordinate can be replaced with a jumping board for swimmers to dive into the pool.

 

Small scale application: Ice Dispenser

My final model can also be turn into a ice dispenser where the dominant is where all the ice cubes are stored, the subdominant being the opening of where the ice will be dispense, and the subordinate can be a platform filled with buttons and controls to read the temperature and navigate the machine itself. 

 

My line is emo: Research, Experimentation, Final work

Mark making, as the name suggest, is where by the artist uses different tools and materials to create patterns and textures, forming a repetitive pattern of artworks. Every artist makes their own unique marks using different medium that consist of its own particular quality of mark. 

Below are some artist that uses mark marking to create an identity to their art works. A similar pattern or style can be seen throughout every piece of work from an individual artist. The tools used and executed styles were often related to the artist in many ways. For example, the up bringing of the artist, a triggering experience that they suffered. Thus through their artworks, they create a mark to show the world their emotions and perception of the world. 

Cai Guo Qiang: a Chinese artist who uses gunpowder on rice paper overlaid with stencil to create his artworks. While living in Japan from 1986 to 1995, he explored the properties of gunpowder in his drawings, which eventually led to the development of his signature explosion paintings in his artworks. His concepts revolves around the cultural and political revolution of the world today. The final art work might look like trees, stars, or explosives. No matter what the imagined scenario is, we can often relate them to environmental decay, mental pressure or distress, or even war.

Julie Mehretu: an artist that uses acrylic paint, pencil, pen and ink to mark-make and overlaid onto large scale paintings. All these layers convey a compression of time, space, and place. Her art works are also inspired by different historical art period, such as Italian futurists and Expressionism. She creates her painting in an abstract way to portray images of cities, architecture, histories, and wars. Through her messy paintings, her works are described as a tornado of visual messy where cities become flattened, like many layers of urban graffiti; a story map with no location. 

Yves Klein: a controversial French artist who uses a single colour, the rich shade of ultramarine that he made his own: International Klein Blue. At the age of nineteen, he looked up at the sky and realised the infinite space surrounding the universe. To depict his vision, he chose to use only this single colour. In Klein monochrome blue paintings, he insisted there was nothing there at all, only “the void.” As such, his abstract artworks invest in the forms with the viewers’ own feelings rather than discovering the artist’s.  Klein believed, only colour offered the path to freedom. At a later time, he began using nude models as “living paintbrushes,” covering them in paint and have them pressed and dragged their bodies across the canvas. These works recorded gestural impressions and the physical energy of the body. 

Emma Kunz: describe herself as an researcher, artist, and a healer. It was said that her artworks provide answers to her questions about life and its spiritual implications. When she was 18 years old, she began to use her abilities of telepathy and prophecy as a healer and gave treatments that were often on the called miracle. Her drawings represent dimension, rhythm and symbol, where each colour and shape had a precise meaning in her understanding of the world. The paintings served her as her answers in her search for enlightenment.

Different types of mark making techniques.

  • Automatic Technique 

Automatic techniques are said to be more free-style and abstract, encouraging spontaneous creation, where the outcome may be unpredictable. The techniques used ( like manipulating materials or playing with tools and images ) creates surrealist visuals, just like open windows concealed behind our everyday lies. 

Example of Automatic Technique – Automatic Drawing. Drawing without thinking. Let your hand flow without your mind in control. Avoid conscious control over the image. 

Example of Automatic Technique – Torn Paper collage. Tearing paper into pieces or cutting them up into shapes, then dropping them randomly onto a sheet of paper untouched; fixing them with a glue. 

Example of Automatic Technique – Sand Painting. Using glue, randomly smeared it on to a sheet of paper, then sprinkle sand onto it. Leave it to dry and let the excess sand fall off the paper. Further manipulation with brushes or knives could be use to beautify it. 

  • Using Mark Making Tools

Creating different kind of tools with simple everyday objects like cotton bud, feathers, leaves, toothpick, etc. With that, turn them into a pencil-like structure that can easily be used and drawn with our hands. These tools allow us to create repetitive and unique marks based on the object that is used to make the tools. 

  • Monoprint 

Monotype printing is considered to be a versatile method that allows considerable freedom in the approach to imagery. Artist can decide to work positively or negatively, using different medium inks, to incorporate other materials or not. 

 

 

Mark Making and emotions

(final execution)

To me, emotions are best described in book. Books that create love, anxiousness, tension, and many other emotions that readers could easily relate. They are emotions described in the most literal form, and are able to touch the heart of thousands. After consultation, the lecturer suggested that I would need to find a connection between my final mark making work and books itself. For example, finding a book that I love and expressing the story of emotions from the book onto my each of my mark make. 

Noted that Most of my works are inspired by Cai Guo Qiang’s work. If you take a look at his works, there were a lot of messy grainy, grunge texture created by the gun powder on the slightly brown paper that he used. I am in love with the colour and effects created, and when I look at those brown pages on my books that had been on my shelves for ages, I felt a deep connection between Cai Guo Qiang’s work and my final creation. Therefore, you will notice that some of my mark make consist of grainy and grunge textures, where little brown undertone. 

After consultation, I decided to relate emotions based on the book “50 Shades of Grey”. Although this is a very controversial book, I felt that the emotions written in it truly captures my attention; having butterflies in my stomach. The main characters in the story; Christian Grey and Anastasia first began feeling in love in the sweetest and most romantic way. Happiness did not last long as Anastasia gets to know more about Christian Grey, and went through an emotional wreck. 

 

The 1st emotion, “desire”, talks about how Christian Grey talks to Anastasia in the most absurd yet alluring way through his words. He would say things like, “i would like to buy that lip” , “if u were mine u wouldn’t be able to sit for a week.” This made Anastasia burn with passion, towards this relationship. 

I wanted to made the mark make feel like words that Christian Grey used on Anastasia. I played with different materials that can create distinctive negative space between each the black ink. This creates an illusion that resemble lines of words made by Christian Grey. 


The mark making is created against pieces of burn paper, which is an automatic technique that I have learnt through my research. It is hard to control the the fire when burning the paper, and the material of the paper will determine how easy or difficult it can be burn and form burnt marks. The paper that I end up using is charcoal paper, as it is thinner than other types of paper. This helps to create more burnt marks onto the paper. All in all, the burnt mark describes Anastasia’s burn passion towards Christian Grey’s words.

 

 

 

 

 

The 2nd emotion, “thrill”, talks about how this burning passion Anastasia had for Christian Grey took her emotions on a roll coaster ride. Their dates and his gifts were always out of the norms, and this gave Anastasia thrill and excitement into something she had never experiences before. The mark making created for this particular emotion was by the use of wires, twisting into a circular shape that represents the effect of hypnotise; just like how Anastasia was blinded by Christian Grey’s love. The mark make was then printed on to a black white piece of paper, indicating that Anastasia was just like a blank piece of canvas; she had no clue what kind of guy she had gotten into with. 

 

 

The 3rd emotion, “Astonishment”, relates to Anastasia when she found out the “hidden life” of this handsome and attractive young Christian Grey. The BDSM lifestyle of his, and the contract between the dominant and submissive. Here, rattan strings were used to mark make, which was a representation of the “tools” Christian Grey uses on Anastasia, and the countless marks of lines and strokes created describes Anastasia’s shocking emotion after learning the truth. It was like a burst of astonishment, exploding inside her. 


The above photo shows the mark making done on a smooth piece of paper and the bottom photo shows mark making done on a crushed paper.

When the mark make was created, I felt that the strokes were not intense enough. Therefore I tried the mark make onto a crushed paper. With the folds on a crushed paper, it intensify the marks created.

 

 

The 4th emotion, “frustration’, talks about the anger Anastasia felt when the couple are are always on the verge of break up and then getting back together again. Anastasia felt anxious and frustrated about not being able to have a “normal” relationship with Christian Grey as she was oblivious about his past; even so, she was unable to resist him. I wanted to express frustration as an intensive struggle that Anastasia felt. 

 

I first began experimenting by smearing black ink onto a huge piece of tissue paper, and using a tool with a flat smooth surface to rub the ink onto paper. From the image above, you can see that the ink on the paper is quite even. 

 

I then began experimenting with another method of transferring the ink onto the paper; by using my finger nails. The though of using my fingers came across when I felt that frustration can be express through our hands. For example, crushing of our fist, or grabbing something intensively. With that, I grab and scratch the tissue forcefully as I transfer the ink onto the paper. The result was a satisfying one. The harsh lines created by my fingers were hot-blooded and vigorous, yet the the messy and uneven line was an emotional heartfelt. This was how I could relate to Anastasia’s emotions; or at least, from a woman’s perspective. 

This method of mark making was that applied on a strip of paper formed by pages from a book that had been kept for quite awhile, turning the pages into a brownish tone. The hidden text from the books behind those mark making created, suggested that Anastasia could no longer think rationally, and was blinded by her emotions.

 

The 5th emotion, “misery”, is an unavoidable emotion that a woman will feel after every break up in a relationship; Anastasia is no exception. For this emotion, I wanted her sadness and misery to be depicted as grainy rain drops. For Anastasia, she wanted to hide her sorrows. She would continue her daily life routine without showing the sadness she was suppressing; its as though she was crying in the rain, no one is able to see her tears. How this mark make was created was by using a wet brush with black ink, rubbing my fingers onto it, allowing small tiny sprinkles of black ink to fall onto the paper. 

With that, I decided to add little touch to the paper, to bring out more of Anastasia’s hidden sadness and misery. Using hot glue, I created dots onto the paper which can only be seen if you look closer to it. The translucent glue gives off the illusion of Anastasia’s concealed emotion. 

 

 

The 6th and last emotion, “shock”, occurs when Anastasia began to discover about Christian’s Grey past, the nasty truth that turn him into the man he is today. This emotion is filled with a slight grunge texture, with a smokey grey undertone that represents the sudden surprise and upsetting emotion that Anastasia was experiencing. 


With the use of a plastic wrap to mark make, I created a grunge texture. However, I wanted to create harsh contrast with more darker black patches on the paper. Therefore I experimented with the amount of black ink used, and the amount of force exerted on the plastic wrap and onto the paper. 

After finalising the mark make, I experimented with another automatic technique called the torn paper collage. Where I torn stripes of paper and dropping them randomly onto a sheet of paper, and then fixing them with glue. I left some parts of the left side of the final product untouched (the white/ blank parts of the paper) which suggest that a new chapter of the story is about to unfold in the next book.

 

Conclusion:

Through this project, the hardest thing for me was to create a theme/story and linking them to the emotions. I know that there are many ways to showcase an emotion, but I started off as a lost child without having any idea of how to interpret them. Luckily through the consultation with my lecturer, I had a clearer vision of how I could use a particular book that I really love to convey the emotions to my viewers. I am able to convey each emotions through my understanding of each character in the book, and express them in the most visual form. Overall, I it has been an enjoyable journey when these ideas starts to come together.