Process – ❅

Project 03 – Ego

Hello!

At the start of this project, I wrote down on how I should go about with my thought processes as shown below:

…Something like that.

Well then, let’s get started.

Personality Traits

I took the 16 Personalities Test (also known as the Myer-Briggs’ Test) and thought about my personality for quite a while.

I am an INFJ-Advocate:

Some key personality traits (that I’m very conscious of):

Reserved
Emotionally stable
Detached
Daydreamer/ head in the clouds
Nature-lover
Goes with the flow

I like happy things, and I enjoy being happy!

Personal Symbolism and Image References

Nature-lover + Surrounded by Nature = Zen

Wisteria – A Calming Sight

One of my favorite flowers is the wisteria; From the many pictures I’ve seen on the net, I’ve always imagined myself in the picture itself, surrounded by the wisteria.
Just imagining it gives me peace. I love nature very dearly.

Reserved + Uncomfortable Social Situations = Suffocation

The Great Egret – Observation and Judgement

I often alight at Marymount station and walk along the canal to get home. I see an egret (sometimes a small gray one) from time to time, perched on the opposite of the canal (where no humans can get to them). They’ll look at me as I walk past, and I’ll stare back at them (because I find them pretty and interesting). If I stare for too long, they’d feel threatened and fly away into the trees.
Funny enough, I feel the same way during social events – reserved.
Observing people before I act. Making the correct judgement in forging new relationships. I don’t “hate” anyone, but if I get a feeling that someone doesn’t seem to like me, I’ll stay away from them.

Goldfish – A symbol of death.

When I was young, I used to keep fishes as pets together with my father. We would take care of them splendidly well — providing the correct minerals and pH levels in the tank, cleaning the tank regularly, properly introducing the new fishes by adjusting the water temperature…
But the only fish that we could not keep alive for long was always the goldfish. It’s eerie, but I’ve always associated goldfishes as pets that would not live for a long time.

Go with the Flow + Disruption = Anxiety

Water – Flow

Water, in literature, is a symbol of cleansing, life and freedom. It has many other meanings, but I feel that these three are the best meanings of water that I can relate to.

Skeletons and Ribcages – Death

Skeletons remind me of death. It is a very common symbolism among many.

Head in the Clouds + Fantasy Fiction = Triumph

Video Games – An interactive storybook

The video games I play are usually under the genre of RPG (role-playing games), and it’s something I grew with. I enjoyed the video games that I played very much as they had stories to tell; characters to relate to, environments that helped establish the story.
I feel that video games are what gave me most of my imagination as a person; I would say that without growing up with video games, I probably wouldn’t be in art school at this point of my life.

Color Analysis

I first picked color schemes that I liked via colourco.de ; This is a website that I use when I want to play around with colors.

Here is my chart of color schemes:

I didn’t go with mood boards because it’s rather distressing; I’d come up with too many color schemes. Listing the colors I found appealing would be better in terms of organization.

I grouped the numerous color schemes according to their similarity and got 4 distinct groups of colors. [C – complementary, M – monochrome, A – analogous]

Afterwards, I added a few more color schemes in order to balance my colors (after the lineart)

The Color Decision

Analogous Colors – Personality Trait (First Row)

I personally feel that my character traits are strong and weak at different times – I react differently in different settings. Analogous colors hence represent this fact; my personality is not toned in one color, but similar colors/colors side by side.

Monochrome Colors – Setting (Second Row)

An environment or situation, to me, is dyed in one color, but of different tones.

Complementary Colors – Outcome of Me (Third Row)

Settings influence my behavior, and how I react to people’s actions and the stimuli around me; that’s why I see it as not just one color, but different colors.

Sketches

After pinning down the settings, symbolism and colors, I put them together:

Head in the Clouds + Fantasy Fiction = Triumph

Reserved + Uncomfortable Social Events = Suffocation

Go with the Flow + Disruption = Anxiety

Nature-lover + Nature = Zen

Final Outcome

Head in the Clouds + Fantasy Fiction = Triumph

Head in the Clouds

Fantasy Fiction

Triumph

Personally…

I’m always told by people that I’m “in my own world” and things like that; and I agree wholeheartedly. If you catch me staring into space, I’m probably thinking about fantasy fiction and very often, video games.

Triumph is a depiction of what I feel after I play a video game/read a book — I feel that I’ve won and conquered; I have control over the character in video game, and when I win a battle, it of course feels triumphant.

With regards to colors…

I chose the pastel pink color scheme group for this equation as it best represents fantasy to me; it brings out a very pixie feel to it.

Go with the Flow + Disruption = Anxiety

Go with the Flow

Disruption

Anxiety

Personally…

I am a person who is very easy-going, and people do say that I’m accepting and very open to other’s opinions. But when others come into conflict with my moral values/ actions, I tend to get very perturbed and then, anxious. (I have no idea why, it maybe the consequences of being an INFJ-A).

With regards to colors…

I chose the deep blue and red color scheme group for the equation. Red and blue are my favorite colors, and the dark tones of the blue and red really bring out the melancholy of the “Outcome” panel. Deep red is the color of blood, and the analogous blue-green colors have this calming feeling to it.

Nature-lover + Surrounded by Nature = Zen

Nature-lover

Surrounded by Nature

Zen

Personally…

As a christian, I really appreciate the people around me, and especially nature. I love flowers, trees, and animals! I feel a huge sense of peace within when I’m surrounded by nature.

With regards to colors…

This time round, I went with realism over the choice of colors – green and blue for leaves and flower colors respectively and the color of purple for the wisteria flowers.

Reserved + Uncomfortable Social Situations = Suffocation

Reserved

Uncomfortable Social Situations

Suffocation

Personally…

As an introvert, I dislike being in uncomfortable situations. I’d feel very suffocated if I was forced to speak to a crowd that I’m not familiar with.

With regards to colors…

I wanted to bring out the white colors of the great egret, so I selected a color scheme group that would allow for the whiteness of the egret’s feathers. One of the color white’s symbols is safety, which also brings out the idea of being “reserved”; being careful and cautious.

Final Presentation and Mounting

Reflections

This project was… even more tiring than the last. I had fun exploring color schemes, but it was tough trying to analyse myself and thinking about life. I did have fun doing something that I was familiar with; to be honest, it takes a lot of courage to print out my own digital art and even present it to the whole class. I’m glad that this project gave me the opportunity to step out of my comfort zone and show what I love to do to the class.

Artist Inspirations

Toi8

Toi8’s a Japanese artist which I’ve been inspired by for a very long time. He mainly does art for games, manga and animation. I love the colors he uses for his compositions, and I especially love his lineart.

Loika

Website: http://www.3daysmarch.net/

Loika’s natural compositions are beautiful, and the colors Loika chooses are very natural; which I enjoy very much!

Amei Zhao

Website: http://seventypercentethanol.tumblr.com/

Amei’s series of original art, The Nameless and the Scientist, is a favorite of mine. Amei does many beautiful concept and environmental art.

Amended Design and Process Pictures

Final Amended Design:

The Lion King

“Oh yes, the past can hurt. But from the way I see it, you can either run from it, or… learn from it.” —Rafiki

Symbolism:

The clock represents Simba’s past, and the blood dripping from it represents the fact that the past can hurt. The Lion, representing Simba, emerges from the clock, showing that Simba has faced his own past and is moving forward (Simba is running).

Last Friday’s process pictures. We worked on our tote bags and had fun with the silkscreen inking!

I first tested out printing my design on an old cotton shirt.

I added too much ink, but the design turned out great and minimalist, just like I wanted it to be.

Doing the real thing on the real tote bag!

Jess helped me with holding my screen down, while Zerline helped me to take lots of process pictures.

IT TURNED OUT GREAT!

I’m very satisfied with how my design turned out!

Edited, Improved Designs

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

“It does not do to dwell on dreams, Harry, and forget to live.” —Dumbledore

Symbolism:

The hand represents Harry, and there is a ribbon tied to his finger. The ribbon tied to his finger symbolizes the idea of “never forget“. The ribbon surrounds the idea of an utopia, in which Harry yearns for (to be with his parents). The two birds flying in the sky represents Harry’s parents. The clouds represent the state of a dream.

Kiki’s Delivery Service

All you can do when it gets like that is struggle. Draw and draw again. —Ursula

This time, I edited the birds such that they are in separate layers, and managed to manipulate them to make the whole piece more unified.

The Lion King

“Oh yes, the past can hurt. But from the way I see it, you can either run from it, or… learn from it.” —Rafiki

Design 1:

Symbolism:

The whole design is inspired by a coat-of-arms. A coat-of-arms is the distinctive heraldic bearings or shield of a person, family, corporation, or country, which represents Simba’s status as the true overseer of the Circle of Life, thus the lion head. It also represents dignity and thus Simba’s choice of facing his past. The clock symbolizes Simba’s past, and the blood dripping from it shows that the past can hurt.

Design 2:

Symbolism:

The lion head represents Simba, and the courageous look of the lion symbolizes Simba’s ability to face his past (where he believes that it is his fault for his father’s death). The clock symbolizes Simba’s past, and the blood dripping from it shows that the past can hurt.

Project 2: Movie Quotes, Design Drafts and Artist Inspirations

Here are the movie quotes, synopsis, as well as the dialogue leading up to the quote. The quotes are in bold. (Quote breakdown — keywords and ideas associated with them are also included).

I have also placed the design drafts under each movie section.

NON-STOP (2014)

Synopsis:

Bill Marks, a former cop dealing with his daughter’s death by drinking, is now a federal air marshal. While on a flight from New York to London, Mark gets a text telling him that unless 150 million dollars is transferred to an offshore account, someone will die every 20 minutes.

Dialogue:

Jen: Are you asking me if I saw someone else go in, or if I killed the captain?

Bill: did you see someone else?

Jen: …No

Bill: Then that’s the question.

Jen: You’re a dick.

(Bill starts to suspect Jen, talking about how she possibly choose the window seat right next to Bill and asked him a personal question. Jen gets exasperated, and says that she was the only one who stood by him the entire time; then she starts to share about her heart failure and how she might die anytime. She walks out, and Bill pours her a drink, then apologizes.)

Bill: I hate flying.

Jen: Really? I’ve always kinda liked it. You know, six hours in the same spot. Nobody get to you, nothing to do but just be present.

Bill: There’s no control.

Jen: Control is an illusion. There is no control. Over anything.

QUOTE BREAKDOWN:

CONTROL — dog leash, steering wheel, controller…
ILLUSION — mirage, virtual reality, dream…

Design Draft:

Symbolism:

The controller represents the perception of control. The cord connecting the controller to the heart is broken, suggesting the lack of control. I decided to add in the context of the movie here, in which Jen Summers is unable to control her lifespan, thus the human heart represent Jen’s own heart/life.

KIKI’S DELIVERY SERVICE (1989)

Synopsis:

Kiki, a young witch-in-training, has reached the age of 13. According to tradition, all witches of that age must leave home for one year, so that they can learn how to live on their own. Kiki, along with her talking cat Jiji, fly away to live in the seaside town of Korico. After starting her own delivery service (using her broom as the delivery vehicle), Kiki must learn how to deal with her new life, especially after she loses the power to fly.

Dialogue:

Ursula: Magic is like art. I, too, don’t paint very well sometimes.

Kiki: Really? What do you do then?

Ursula: don’t look this way.

(Kiki goes back to her original pose.)

Kiki: Before, I could fly without giving it a thought. Now I can’t even begin to remember how I ever managed to do it.

Ursula: All you can do when it gets like that is struggle. Draw and draw again.

Kiki: But if I really can’t fly…

Ursula: I stop drawing… I take a walk… Look at the scenery… Take a nap… Or even nothing at all. Then all of a sudden I want to draw.

Kiki: Does that really happen?

Ursula: Sure it does! Now, look sideways.

About Ursula…

She became Kiki’s friend after meeting her when Kiki was on her first delivery
She is an artist, and in this context, she is explaining to Kiki about what artists commonly have — art block.

QUOTE BREAKDOWN:

STRUGGLE — flail, trying to take control, repeatedly try to do something
AGAIN — repetition, retry

Design Draft:

Symbolism:

The swallows represent Kiki, who is struggling to fly again, thus the repetition of movement in the swallows. The feathers represent the struggle, whereby feathers often fall off birds when they take flight. The feathers and the swallows are continuous in a circle which shows repetition and highlights the attempts of “trying and trying again”.

THE LION KING (1994)

Sypnosis:

A young lion prince is born in Africa, thus making his uncle Scar second-in-line to the throne. Scar plots with his hyenas to kill King Mufasa and Prince Simba, thus making himself King. The King is killed and Simba is led to believe Scar that it was his fault, and so flees the kingdom in shame. After years of exile, he is persuaded to return home to overthrow the ursurper and claim the kingdom as his own, thus completing the ‘Circle of Life’.

Dialogue:

Adult Simba: I know what I have to do. But going back means I’ll have to face my past. I’ve been running from it for so long.

[Rafiki hits Simba on the head with his stick]

Adult Simba: Ow! Jeez, what was that for?

Rafiki: It doesn’t matter. It’s in the past.

[laughs]

Adult Simba: Yeah, but it still hurts.

Rafiki: Oh yes, the past can hurt. But from the way I see it, you can either run from it, or… learn from it.

[swings his stick again at Simba, who ducks out of the way]

Rafiki: Ha. You see? So what are you going to do?

Adult Simba: First, I’m gonna take your stick.

[Simba snatches Rafiki’s stick and throws it and Rafiki runs to grab it]

Rafiki: No, no, no, no, not the stick! Hey, where you going?

Adult Simba: I’m going back!

Rafiki: Good! Go on! Get out of here!

[Rafiki begins laughing and screeching loudly]

QUOTE BREAKDOWN…

PAST — time, clock, steps taken, road
HURT — pain, blood, tears
RUN — looking away, turning your back, flying away from a predator
LEARN — avoiding mistakes, education, facing an enemy

Design Draft:

Symbolism:

The rabbit represents Simba (heir to the throne, thus the crown), who is timid and afraid of facing his past (where he blames himself for his father’s death). The clock shows the essence of time/Simba’s past and how long he has been running from it. The past can hurt, as shown by the blood splatters on the clock. The swords symbolize Simba learning from his past.

HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE (2001)

Sypnosis:

Harry Potter thinks he is an ordinary boy celebrating his eleventh birthday, but hs is far from right. A giant named Hagrid appears and gives Harry the all important news — He is a wizard. Now Harry’s journey in life gets more intense as he travels to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to learn the trade of being a wizard.

Dialogue:

Dumbledore: It does not do well to dwell on dreams, Harry, and forget to live.

QUOTE BREAKDOWN…

DREAMS — dreamcatcher, sleep, illusions, mirage
DWELL — remain, longing, encircling
FORGET — lose sight of something, emptiness
LIVE — living things like plant vines, spring

Design Draft:

Symbolism:

The figure reaching out from the top right hand corner represents Harry, who is staring into the Mirror of Erised. The vines represent the living world/reality in which Harry is in. He is reaching out to his parents, represented by the two fox figures who are together. The fox figures are treading on the ground with graveyards, representing the dead/the underworld. Also, take note that only the figure’s arms are beyond the area of vines — it represents the part of the quote “forgetting to live“.

In short,

dwelling on dreams — Harry longing for his parents (reaching out for them)
forgetting to live — Harry possibly losing sight of what his actual reality is/the living present

ARTIST INSPIRATIONS

KEN TAYLOR

Biography

Melbourne based Illustrator & Designer Ken Taylor works primarily within the music industry and is predominantly well known for his striking rock posters. Ken started in Perth Western Australia doing posters and album artwork for local bands. In 2001 He moved to Melbourne and slowly started to create a name for himself within Melbourne’s music scene. In 2006 he went out on his own and started to work full time on music based artwork.

Personal Opinion

I personally enjoy Ken Taylor’s artworks and they are an inspiration as they include huge amounts of detail, and the layouts, use of space and colors are very striking and pleasing to the eyes.

Any Forty

Bon Iver — Austin, TX

Sigur Ros — North Charleston

KARA WALKER

Biography

Kara Walker is known for creating black-and-white silhouette works that invoke themes of African American racial identity. Her subjects, often scenes of slavery, conflict or violence, are rendered in a style recalling traditional African illustration and folklore of the pre-Civil War United States; the works preserve and draw critical attention to these earlier cultural epochs. Working in collage, Walker cuts out and affixes black or white paper directly to gallery walls, and utilizes light projectors to cast viewers’ own shadows into her silhouetted narratives, creating a deeply engaging experience. Despite the oftentimes sombre nature of her subjects, Walker relies on humor and viewer interaction. “I didn’t want a completely passive viewer,” she has said. “I wanted to make work where the viewer wouldn’t walk away; he would either giggle nervously, get pulled into history, into fiction, into something totally demeaning and possibly very beautiful.”

Personal Opinion

I am astounded by how impactful Kara Walker’s artworks are — the silhouettes are void of color and facial/bodily details, yet the dynamism of the poses brings the message across very strongly.

Untitled (Tomato Patch Girl)

African/American , 1998

Auntie Walker’s Wall Sampler for Civilians, 2013

DOTDOTDOT

Biography

Dot Dot Dot is a pseudonym for a mysterious Norwegian stencil artist. Like Banksy and many stencil artists before him, he prefers to remain annonymous, this has as much to do with his long graffiti career as it does with the allure of anonymity.

What we do know is that he was born in Oslo, Norway and first started graffiti in 1997. He has operated under several pseudonyms, but when he successfully shifted to a more conceptual and figuratie style, settled on Dot Dot Dot.

He began focusing on stencil work in 2007 and in the last few years has become regarded as one of the country’s leading street artists.

Personal Opinion

Similar to Kara Walker, these works of Dotdotdot below are very miminal and just contain silhouettes, but they bring the message across with a huge amount of impact.

Toxic Thinkbell (Yellow)

Weapon of Choice (Black on White)

“My Line is Emo” Process II

I continued to work on more prints for the assignment while I was away from school. I also continued to work on it the previous 2D class.

TOOLS USED: Ice cream spoon, toilet roll, tissues, Lino, straw, black ink, rubber paint roller, spoon, battery, mini binder clip, Daler Rowney Aquafine Watercolour (Payne’s Grey), Daler Rowney Graduate Acrylic (Indigo and White)

PROCESSES

I already had some ideas for the mark making patterns, so I went ahead with the ideas and carried them out!

HAPPY

For this piece, I dropped acrylic ink straight from the tube and onto the paper. I then proceeded to swirl the two ink colours together (like making a marble cheese cake) to mix them.

I felt that the ink did not mix enough together, so I pressed baking parchment paper onto the paper in order to further mix the colours together.

First happy print is done. I really like this effect, but it had an element of turbulence in it (the swirl effects), so I tried going with a different technique.

I cleaned up my plastic plate which I used to put my paint. I took a picture of it because I thought it looked pretty nice, and that I might use it for another emotion later on.

This time, I lightly smeared thick lines of white acrylic across the paper,

then proceeded to place the indigo lines in a random fashion.

After which I pressed parchment paper over it to mix the colours again, like what I did for the previous piece.

I like this print a lot! I feel that my happiness is associated with nature a lot, and this print has some blobs of ink that look like flower petals; When I take walks surrounded by nature, I feel very happy.

MELANCHOLY

I smeared ink in two different directions using an ice cream spoon on the paper. The curves represent what my feeling of “melancholy” is like — a swirling surge inside of me.

I then proceeded to press on parchment paper on it to achieve an even surface (which I immediately regretted, because the emotive quality and texture of the piece was lost.. I felt that the texture brought out the turbulence more.)

First melancholy print is done.

This print was a mess. I smeared too much ink around here and there, and it became like this.

For the next one, I dropped ink directly from the tube,

then smeared across the paper lengthwise using the ice cream spoon. I then pressed parchment paper on it, because I wanted to know what kind of print would turn out on the parchment paper.

Cleaned up my plastic plate and saw something interesting once again.

TEMPTED

I attempted to recreate the print of a test print I did for the first process, but with watercolours. I preferred the original one, which was done with black lino ink and the rubber paint roller.

IRRITATED

This was done when I was actually feeling irritated. I let my hands do the work subconciously, and I found myself knocking out ink splatters from the watercolour round brush, using the back of my hand.

ANGRY

This print was discovered when I was colouring the strips of paper black for another print. I pressed down hard on the flat brush to lay out an uneven surface across the paper. This feels very angry to me; it looks like someone is tearing away at the paper with their fingers.

Since the watercolour paper has such a rough texture, I tried creating another angry print with the use of a round brush and less water, more ink.

NUMB

I wanted to achieve a “blurred” out effect for numbness, because to me, it is an emotion which is almost “unfeeling”. I tried using watercolours to achieve this effect; for this strip, I wet the paper entirely, then dropped ink onto it.

I tilted the paper around in order to spread the ink around.

I liked the blurred effect, so I tried to achieve another pattern using the same technique.

For this strip, I dropped ink in blobs and in straight lines, then left the paper flat on the table. I felt that this pattern represented the emotion of “numb” perfectly– unfeeling to the continuous stimulus in the surrounding environment.

DEPRESSED

A follow-up of the memory drawing we did during the previous class; we had to remember a time in which we were sad. My doodles came out in small circles, so I thought I’d try using the toilet paper roll to achieve the shape. The roll is cut on one side as I used it for some other purpose a few months ago, but the cut in the circle represents detachment– the feeling of separation from the current situation.

I first coloured the paper blackish grey.

Then went on to make imprints on the paper with white acrylic when it dried.

I did it in a regular motion, constantly rotating the toilet roll. This represents turbulence of negativity swelling in me when I am depressed.

ANXIOUS

Anxiety is a horrible feeling. I normally get anxious when something bad has happened to someone close to me. I perceive anxiety to be very “rough”, so I went for watercolour paper (which had a rough texture) and made used of the side of the toilet roll to create the effect.

OVERWHELMED

For the emotion of overwhelmed, I wanted to use excessive amounts of acrylic ink because feeling overwhelmed is like a whole pile of stresses placed on myself. I went physical with this emotion, and used my right index and middle fingers to apply the ink. I call this “fingerpasto”.

I was inspired by the music video of the japanese pop song, “White Light” by Superfly, whereby the video depicts a person painting with his hands, using intense colours. For this strip, I flooded the whole paper with ink until no spots of paper base could be seen.

PEACEFUL

I associate peacefulness with nature as when I was a child, I was often brought outside to parks and reservoirs to appreciate nature. It was the most peaceful moments of my life, and even now, I feel at peace whenever I take a walk surrounded by nature on my own.

I dropped blobs of watercolour onto the paper and used a straw to blow at the ink in order to form imprints that look like tree branches.

I tried experimenting in different directions, but still liked the original most.

DISAPPOINTED

Following the motif I did in the previous class, where we had to recall a time we were sad. I cut out the motif with the lino mat and made prints over the black paper with white acrylic.