(Imitating dramas narrators in the title.)

First stage of conceptualization!

Due to an unattended class trip for 4D, I went to visit SAM with 2D inspiration searching as another reason. Turns out there is some interesting reference worth exploring.

Based on my last research/exploration on the Internet typographers which impressed me, my initial concept for the typography portrait are:

  • Subtle changes on fonts to match the content.
  • Performs object typography.
  • IF required, the object typography will be made of photograph collages.

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The first group ideas of all the portraits varies in styles. They included

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Green Zeng’s Siapa Nama Saya?

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Dawn Ng’s Mamashop and HDB Corridor.

  1. Compositing my name with T-shirts, showing my identities as a Malaysia, who has an enjoyable memories in high school, came to NTU, getting use of uni-life. (Inspired by a piece (top) from the installation ONCE UPON THIS ISLAND)
  2. Using another piece (bottom) from the installation ONCE UPON THIS ISLAND, a photo with all my items of interest compositing some of my name’s letters while the rest are cropped out like the piece above.
  3. Arrange my downloaded movie files into my name via Window Explorer.
  4. Arrange clips into my name in an editing software’s timeline. Captured with screenshot.
  5. Collages of my name’s letter made of directional lines in Google Maps.
  6. Photo collages of cityscapes and school’s landscape with and without my friends.

You must be wondering, why didn’t I elaborate more?

After a consultation session with Ms. Joy, I realized (with the confirmation of Ms. Joy,) not only my concept, in terms of content, does not have a solid theme. Moreover, I exploit again on my interest in films, which Ms. Joy warned me to not exhaust the subject before I even enter my major courses. I was advised to find potentials in other traits of mine to explore, in many other ways, even in my current concepts. Such as, in what kind of lens viewers can view through? What sort of medium can I utilized rather than photos? Is it absolute to use human as the subjective?

Thus, I have new objectives to pursue for this semester, which are, try to explore other versions of me, what else can I show myself as? Try NOT to imply things that people knew about me into my work again. Give my audience a fresh new impressions.

Oh my, I have a lot to brainstorm this week. Hope I progress!

Two weeks in and HELLLLLLOOOOOOO project number 1!!!

Remember what we do about projects? Research! This time, we get to do Typography, the area of art that I’ve seen a lot but still being strange about it. Initially to me, typography are art pieces with fonts that had been created by the mass and was decorated with or immersed into forms, shapes and colors to give the words an eye-catching properties. Usually this kind of art are seen in webpages that likes to quote famous figures, or simple short do-you-know facts. Not only it’s eye-catching but also effective for netizens with short attention span.

Personal views aside, the lesson I had been on last Thursday had opened my eyes to the diversity of Typography. After listening to all the researches my classmates did, I saw the subtle side of the genre, that Typography doesn’t have to be literal, yet being contextual in the meantime.

SO, back to my research. Technically, they’re not intended research materials, but originally typography posts from the Internet that I was impressed of.

ji kee

The first artist I wanted to talk about is Ji Lee, a Communication designer in Facebook. You know this guy has some talent in him to be able take on an important position in one of the biggest company in the world. The series that impressed me the most was his Words as Images. Most of the words in these images use the same font and were only tweaked a little to match the properties of the words. However, viewers got its point almost instantly as it’s not too obvious, yet not too subtle for the public. I admired its brilliance of balance both and the entertainment it gave. Also, the minimalistic style it possesses certain is a plus from distracting the viewers compared to other over-exaggerated typographies.

meganleescienceThe prints above are the second piece I’d like to talk about. Megan Lee’s  Rock Star Scientists also consist of uniformed fonts but accompanied by again, minimalistic illustrations or silhouette of achievements of each famous scientist respectively. Viewers who love science instantly recognized this names and understood its context. The design doesn’t seemed too nerdy and in contrary gave these influential achievements a fashionable makeover. Science seems so cool again! (Correction: Science IS cool.)

dangerdustThe works above are done by two anonymous students who named themselves Dangerdust. These work varies in fonts and styles, suiting the figures they’re quoting. Although some of their designs are too complicated that they sometimes covered the quotes, but most of them are well balanced in terms of scales and positioning. Most impressive of all is that they are done on blackboards, giving the context of educating the next generations with words of wisdom.

object typography

Lastly I want to talk about the methods. I came across these styles of typography and they stayed in my head as a genre. Building typography with everyday objects has interested me, and made me wonder if I can do the same. Ms. Joy later suggested me to look into whether they should be done by put together like a puzzle to form an alphabet, OR using objects that suits the content and yet has the form of the alphabets I wanted. This methods of typography is certainly something worth exploration.

In conclusion, these art works above I found impressive have the potential to influence my next project. Hopefully I’d be able to create something as contextual as Ji Lee, as mind-changing as Megan Lee, as thoughtful in terms of medium and aesthetically beautiful as Dangerdust, and possibly done in object typography. (Cross fingers.)

Side note: The reason I don’t prefer DADAism as a reference is the fact that I want it to have a meaning. The fact that it creates great effect is undoubtedly true, but this time, alongside Russian Constructivism, they’re not the right style for my current project. Although their ways of positioning the components to attract viewers attentions is marvelous and worth studying.

Thanks for reading!

(I just couldn’t resist)

I admit I kind of gotten rusty after the semester break, so hopefully the new semester will get me back on track again. Soon enough, the first homework of 2D second semester has been appointed by Ms. Joy.

HELLO MY NAME IS_________

While resisting the temptation to gag about the title with Adele’s latest hit, this exercise prompted me to elaborate myself who am I again. (Well, resistance is futile.) Throughout the module, I am able to express my personalities and interests with ease, which I think is a good start. All my ideas sprung instantly from my mind during the exercise briefing, regardless of whether it’s interesting enough for others.

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Final draft of TYPOGRAPHY

In the first nametag, I have to represent my subject with TYPOGRAPHY. So for this, I’ve used a few fonts to associate my interest for films. Through an Internet post, I found the most popular for movie posters are BANK GOTHIC and TRAJAN. Thus, I decided to make my last film interest reference into my English names.

trajan bank gothic

The whole piece is created by combining my Chinese name in the calligraphy font KAITI and English names together. I’ve tried to do this a long time ago but usually it ended up kinky. Fortunately this one worked out except I can’t figure what to do with my JUN. Then I just decided to create my own typeface for it as my uniqueness between references and interest. After that I halved the whole thing into black and white to show that there’s both side of me waiting for the viewers to discover. Adding a pair of glasses and voila, here’s a typeface that explains many basic information about me.

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Final draft of ABSTRACT SOLUTION

For the second nametag, it have to be ABSTRACT solution. This part took the longest time to construct. The first idea that hit me was the assignment “LINES”. However, I was thinking of using the process of drawing as the intention. I planned to do tedious patterns to show how I view complexity. Ms. Joy encouraged me to make more out of my content. So, I revised it and came with another concept. The structure was simple patterns filled with patches of my favorite/spirit colors. These colors are close in temperature and value, yet covering different portion of the space. Each color patches seems to have their own function or existence in the solution yet performed differently in terms of standing out. The reddish purple seems to stand out more than the cyan even though the cyan covers more. This idea suggested different aspect of me standing out in different extents. These aspect might be my talents or maybe my good traits. The visibility of these aspect can only be decided by the viewers, they will see some aspect of me first, but that doesn’t mean my other aspects are gone.

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As for the CONCEPTUAL nametag, the part which I tried to think like Salvador Dali, but then my mind told me, “not in a million lifetimes.” I was inspired by how I brought up the unsatisfying LINE concept a few minutes ago. I’ve realized how easy I am to get stuck onto certain mindset or thoughts that can be easily proven bad. So, to express such personality of mine, I used this retro toy robot as the medium. Instead of an advance tech robot, retro toy robot shows how young and inexperienced my skills and thoughts are, yet there’s plenty room for improvement. The light-hearted colors were chosen to suit the expression. The robot design made the ring on its head logical, and can be assumed this might happen again. The colorless objects showed they are not the possession of the robot, signifying they’re probably others’ tools of assistant.

Before, I finalized my concept, Ms. Joy suggested that transition in terms of timeline can be implied into my concept to link them together. So here’s how time is implied. I’ve placed Chinese calligraphic fonts alongside ancient English fonts together to show they’re creation from the past. TYPOGRAPHY shows what I am already. typographyAs we progress, the percentages of blacks and whites reduced into lines, wobbly lines, inducing uncertainty. Just like how abstract art considered modern art, ABSTRACT SOLUTION shows a present me but have to be defined by others. abstract

You may say robots can symbolized future, so CONCEPTUAL is the future part of the timeline. As the black lines greatly substituted by colored lines, CONCEPTUAL contained my wish for an astonishing future, and what I will be. A resolution to escape the mundane ordinaries.

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It’s nice to be back to foundation 2D and the brainstorming. I have to remind myself, this is just the warm-ups.

Thanks for reading.

20151119_201922Finally we submitted the most tedious working, RAM/traditional skill consuming and brain consuming assignment of the module so far. It’s fun in the process, I am not gonna lie, and I’d like to thank again my fellow classmate JORDAN LEONG for helping me with the photo-shoot and being the cameo in parts of my project. Both of us are glad how they turned out in the end.

From the photo you can see how it was hanged on the wall. I didn’t want it to be tucked by 48 bobby pins as it would not differ from my previous projects. Therefore I improvised with the remaining yawns I have from the 3D module and some of my laundry clips. My classmates reminded me during the presentation that how they looked like developed films from the darkroom, which linked them with my concept perfectly. Overall, the presentation was a success for me because I was able to explain every point of their creation without leaving anything vital. (A flaw I am slowly correcting.)

Ms.Joy was very satisfied with my concept, artist references, color usage, strength of subtleties within the continuing items and how I tied everything together. It can’t be flawless, but the whole project has completed its function: explored my inner self and conveyed them to the viewers. I once again have to thank Ms.Joy for guiding me throughout the process, providing many artist references and context to look out in my work.

20151119_225240My fellow classmates have been a great audience from the start of my presentation. They left encouraging comments as usual in either verbal or written forms. Having such encouragement from them has always been a motivation for me to improve.

Even though today’s presentation has occupied 7 and a half hours, but I felt enriched from seeing how everybody put so much effort into their project. Everyone has developed a strong and distinct style of themselves, broken each every restriction they had and presented an extraordinary show today. I can see how they have worked and brainstormed restlessly to make their best final project. The spirit of “SPOIL MARKET” seems to be spread throughout the class and flourished. However, I have to improvise the quote from The Incredibles’ character Syndrome, “When everyone’s spoiled the market, no one is.” But the “market” has been raised.

The greatest thing about ADM classes so far is, we always look forward to what our classmates going to present in the next project.

To Ms.Joy and everyone from G1: Thanks for everything throughout the semester, hope to see you guys and your masterpieces next semester!

{END}

Our lecturer Ms.Joy commented on my previous and quoted, “What about, then, the role of ‘tinting’ due to their own upbringing or indigenous use of colours prior to commencing on these portrait photography works? How then does this insider, or even, inside-the-insider (since this is such an introspective project) internal ‘lens’ guide you in your compositions and/or colour usage? “. In Japanese photography painting, there was Felice Beato who expressed his view as a foreigner in Japan, and there were Kimbei and Enami who defined their works as a local. Their difference in nationality shaped a contrast of presentation in their works. Now, the country is myself, and I’m the ghost slash resident of my body. Therefore, you are able to see how the following work can be differentiate as how others see me, and how I see myself. Disclaimer: For those who didn’t read through the visual journal scans in the previous post, here’s a recap and elaboration of my concept. Sit tight, it’s going to be a long ride.

There’s always something on my face as it signifies my current commonness in the world. I’m nobody yet, I’ve not construct a final form, a true self to face the world. But I’m the lead character of the following frames, therefore the objects can be eye-catching to the viewers and leave an impression. Plus, it covers my face, so my actions speak the loudest.

ME

adaptable ADAPTABLE: I am adaptable, which I am proud of in terms of changing living location. Growing up in a hostel since secondary school, like everyone else, I developed a self disciplinary adjustment to suit myself in strange environment. Well, of course Singaporean post-army are trained better. (Explanation of each frame’s composition.)

  1. However, I never like to be put into strange environments, so is anyone. When I first arrived Singapore, I haven’t met any friends from either local or my home country. I don’t like to be alone, especially being at somewhere I don’t know yet. The RED ORANGE bench signifies a new community breed in the complementary BLUE, an insecure faith that can be either exciting or disappointing place. I am sitting awkwardly on the bench, in YELLOW ORANGE, unable to fit in yet as I am slightly different from the new community.
  2. Sometimes, I can be desperate to resolve my loneliness. I need someone to deal with the new life with me. But, usually, it doesn’t always go the way I want. The BLUE VIOLET dominated the whole environment and appeared to be darker than the previous frame. The ORANGE bench changed lighter in hue but the darker environment signifies a worsen situation I am in. A YELLOW me is trying to optimize my attitude towards the surrounding. Usually, my optimistic view takes time to construct. A really long time.
  3. My own color changed along the color wheel, indicating my change to be a better adapter as well. The environment turned VIOLET as it can be worsen or improved depending on my own perspective. The bench turned YELLOW ORANGE, offering a YELLOW GREEN me, an newly independent being a chance to settle in it.

+

stubbornSTUBBORN: I am stubborn sometimes, and always uses my own ways to complete certain task. Usually trapped by my own opinions and thoughts, my overthinking is so imaginative, it can be write down onto a script. I’m currently not flexible enough to go further as I am still letting my emotions to control many aspects in my life instead of my logic. After adapting the environment, which turned GREEN as it became ideal and comfortable, the ORANGE me is in a vibrant satisfaction, (As you can see through the tinting.) does not let go of the VIOLET bench, the past and old things I found favorable.

=

meME: One lucky sonofagun that managed to survive with a conformist attitude because he met great human beings throughout his life who help him through his worst moments. I’ve met so many great people that most of my life owe a great debt to them. My family, friends, ex-crushes, teachers, you name it. I caused most of my downs in my life but it was them who pushed and advanced me to a better place. The color changes in the frames are following the TETRAD order in the color wheel. The VIOLET background signifies my immense in my own favorites and my RED friend is the driving element for me to shift from the safe GREEN bench another environment. As the for the last frame, the BLUE background foreshadows my arrival to another strange environment.

BETTER ME

thoughtful

THOUGHTFUL: The painting used was my sister’s (www.sijieloo.com) painting Listening to the Orishas, acrylic on canvas. 36×36″. I regarded myself being not as thoughtful as a member of a society should be. I’m only thoughtful towards the categories I’m interested in. So thoughtful is the trait that makes me a better person, for the ones I love, and the ones who love me. Staring at an empty canvas with rich expression and thoughts projecting in the back of my head is how I wanted to express this personality. The mundane GREEN was lightened up by my thoughts and the VIOLET hue hinted inspiration possessed by me in a trustworthy BLUE shirt.

minus

minus procrastination

PROCRASTINATE:  I tend to do this a lot. By removing it, I can achieve more, be what I want and do what’s necessary for my better future, before giving myself too many excuses. In the frames, my enjoyments in the serene BLUE was taken away within the change of TRIAD colors. The pen is my necessities to advance forward in a climatic energized RED.

=

better meBETTER ME: An anti-conformist. I was pulled away by responsibilities (The pen.) in an analogous colored path. I painted myself in BLUE as it doesn’t fit in the color set, meaning I won’t be settling down until I achieved what I want.

IDEAL ME

creativeCREATIVE: As a wannabe creator or rather an artist, creativity is one of the things I craved the most. The ideal me will constantly be able to see the world in many perspectives and always think out of the box. Creativity is so abstract that it can’t be obtained instantly, but to gain through training and gaining knowledge. The BROWN box is a discordance to the purple analogous series starting from BLUE VIOLET to RED VIOLET.  Yet a BLUE GREEN umbrella appears to harmonized the frame by forming a TRIAD, symbolizing my ideal flexibility within being creative. Without it, there will be stubbornness.

x

experienced

EXPERIENCED: An ideal me should always be prepared for any circumstances, be resourceful and thoughtful while meeting certain problems. This might take a long time to achieve as experience varies with time, but comparatively we are wiser everyday. It’s not necessary to boost my experiences instantly, but the more of it the more I can advanced. The color of wisdom BLUE VIOLET is painted on the umbrella, protecting the ideal me through the rest of the TETRAD color as they advanced from a safer minor GREEN obstacle to greater influential YELLOW ORANGE and finally to an intense obstacle colorized as RED.

=

ideal meUNIQUE: Perhaps an ideal me is a unique being. Recognized by all and ignored by none, or maybe on the contrary? Perhaps an ideal me can stand out from the crowd being unique for being extraordinary, for what I am? What I do? Or, What I left? The idea of that expressed with me in a creative RED VIOLET, still be able to stand within the COMPLEMENTARY YELLOW GREEN, with the previous items remaining the same for continuity.

ME IN 5 YEARS

Here’s the part where I was inspired by Edward Hopper’s walls that restrict his paintings’ characters.

minue stubbornminus STUBBORN: Me in 5 years is an ambiguous stage. Who knows? Maybe I removed my stubbornness, letting go what I’ve been desired for too much, embracing what I was given. DARK YELLOW GREEN wall as my spiritual obstacle, BLUE GREEN pants signifies my freedom, an ORANGE me embracing the sky without restrictions.

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skilledSKILLED: Perhaps after 5 years of learning from the great people around me, I potentially surpass the teachings and be skilled enough to challenge the vast world. My color painting ends when the ME IN 5 YEARS left the window, as nothing can define myself who’s in the outside world.

=

me in 5 yearsME IN FIVE YEARS: There will be infinite possibilities occurring on me, maybe going up, maybe tumbling down. These possibilities are determined by, as I fly through the sky (outside world) with different colored wings. (Many version of myself. Sounds poetic?)

[To be continued…..]

Time sure flies fast, a week has passed and you definitely realized the previous post was filling last week’s spot.

So, ignore my imperfect blog maintenance.

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Excuse my handwriting. Side note: DIPLOMATIC was later changed to ADAPTABLE, I’ll explain later.

As you can see from above, these are my finalized equations for EGO. (Spoilers~)  I got to admit all these properties might seems hard to be hard expressed by my concept: Using aspect ratio 16:9 and frame photos like it was from a film shot, and present it accordingly like it has a story accompanied by linear perspectives. The photos are not shot in color but monochromatic, which will later colorized monotonously with Photoshop to present hand-painted photo effects.

IT is a long concept name and I’ll explain how they were thought out. Firstly I wanted to show my interest in terms of future major in the project (as suggested by Ms. Joy.) and film’s usual ratio 16:9 is the obvious way to present what I planned to do in my future career. Soon, I came across a video that analyze Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks.

1024px-Nighthawks_by_Edward_Hopper_1942

I’ll focus on its visual rather than its message. That’s in another level.

Edward Hopper’s usage of colors was simple yet striking and memorable. It shows a simple perspective planned picture that we might see in real life. I then wondered if I could achieve this effect as there’s always too much complicated background colors I can’t alternate, and I am not such skillful painter either. Either way, I have to come out with something. So, I sketched out my compositions first.

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Somewhere in the pages you can see Wes Anderson’s name, a director who utilized perspectives, symmetry and colors to produce stunning shots.

Soon after, I remembered there’s once a time when filmmakers painted the films frame by frame to produce color films. The part of colorizing black and whites sprung from my mind while I was composing the final frames.

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I must admit, it’s Scorsese’s Hugo that taught me about one of the pioneer of filmmaking, George Méliès

Ms. Joy suggested more artists who did the same to not film but photography during the consultation. She told me to study the following artist: Felice Beato, Enami Nobukumi, and Kasuka Kimbei. They are pioneers in color photography as well and try to understand how and why they choose their colors when they were given the ability to do so. I’ll present my research of them in my next post and now I have to move on to my equations first.

As I said, most of my properties given by my classmates are formed through experiences and mistakes, some only appeared to certain people. I’m not saying they’re not my sincere personalities, but there are some traits that portray me from the start to develop these latter traits. For instance DIPLOMATIC is a word I agreed initially, as I always performs as the middle man among friends and dislike unnecessary conflicts, basically try not to speak the wrong words. ADAPTABLE on the other hand isn’t born with me as well, but it does summarize my ability to cope various environments, which happens throughout my life. I’ve always considered my daily routine flexible wherever I go. The same statement goes with me among my friends as I am usually the one who compromise. It’s a good thing for trying new stuff, but too passive in a way that I usually follow along where life took me to.

As for the rest of the properties, they’re subconscious flaws that sometimes stop me from advancing. Sometimes I was slowed down due to traits I lack, therefore these traits ended up in the BETTER/IDEAL zone.

I am eager to show you my finalized frames but I rather show them in my next post. It is because they’ll reveal too much and were incomplete as well. I obvious won’t hide merely 10% of it. So keep on anticipating!

(To be continued….)

Not the literal meaning though! So after two weeks of intense brainstorming. (Which basically for me is staring at my visual journal MOST OF THE TIME, am I being too honest?) Okay back to the point! Here’s my progress of conceptualizing my EGO.

So, what is me? what am I? Looks like we are never too early to experience existential dilemma. To sum up all my thoughts, I preferred to refer the conclusions of me from the previous activity.

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Yep, this one.

Here’s me summarizing all the properties of me that was shown to my classmates throughout the semester.20151108_151048

There’s a saying that bystanders see the game better, so I assume this is the almost accurate depiction of me. However, living with myself since birth, I (supposed to) know myself best. After a few hours of revisiting my memories of two decades, I concluded that some of these personalities shown cannot fully depict what I am YET. This is because they’re built up through my experiences and mistakes, and some are just specifically shown to certain persons, what really catalyze them may not be on the list. Then it hit me. These catalysts maybe are the one that formed what I am, and some of them is just not that good to admit.

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These little jottings really helps me to understand what I need. Sorta like talking to myself.

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It may looked you-don’t-say, but at least it clarifies me better than my cluttered brain.

To explore the catalyst that might hidden in my subconscious, I forced myself to write down at least 7 of the equations I can formed with the properties written in the previous page as nominees for the finalist. This seemingly effective self exploration exercise took hours to finish, but it certainly aid my understanding to myself.

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Hope it helps YOU to understand more about me as well.

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I used color markers to indicate repeated properties I used. Some of them are what I have, some are what I wish to have, some are what I wish to not have.

Gradually all the catalysts, properties I wish to have, and properties I hope to remove surfaced. Just as I was writing all these equations, a concept was formed in my head thanks to the video I shared in the previous post. It was at first sounded a bit troublesome, but in some way I knew it can represents myself. Right after I finished the tedious equation forming, I quickly jotted down the concept that was freshly unfolded.

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Hope you don’t mind its blurriness.

This concept is a freaking challenge for me. After conceptualizing it, I asked myself, can I really find a way to express it. Some part of me screamed, “YOU FREAKING MORON, HOW ARE YOU GONNA STAGE THESE SHOT INTO WHAT YOU WANT AND DO YOU THINK IT’LL BE CLARIFYING?”

One week later, I proved myself wrong.

(To be continued…..)

color-theory-infographic-paper-leaf

Bless the people who make info-graphics, they’ve saved and produced people with short attention span like me.

Secondly, I need to personally thank Ms. Joy for providing us the color wheel so I don’t have to switch on electronic devices just to get the colors right. I think it’ll be useful in many ways.

Thirdly, let’s take a moment and appreciate the efforts of the researchers that define some thing we take for granted intellectually. Imagine if there’s a whole aspect of the world out there and we are missing it because we don’t have the organ to perceive it? (—The internet) I’m glad we had eyes.

Let’s talk about colors from the things I love, films. My fellow classmates have been doing a lot of research on colors so I don’t think repetition will be the best choice.

So first stop, monochromatic. There are great films in the colored movie decades use monochrome like Schindler’s list or The Artist. Sadly I didn’t get time to watch this masterpiece. So I will be mentioning 500 days of Summer as my point. It uses monochrome in one of the scene where the lead characters were placed in foreign European movies, saying ambiguous dialogues. Monochromatic sets the mood of seriousness, every colors are either absent or fully combined. The lack of vibrancy leads the viewers to focus on the context rather than the pictures. It also focuses meaning from the scene so viewers won’t get another idea from the color.

Analogous are be often found in unified movie settings like Harry Potter franchise, and Zack Snyder films. I found they are usually chose to set the overall mood like how chaotic and dim the wizardry world has become after the resurrection of Voldemort in the fourth movie. After Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, superhero movies tend to go dark. Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel went to the extreme and was criticized for darkening the symbol of bright and pure justice.

Complementary can be found on every commercialized franchise movie poster. i.e. Bourne series, Mission Impossible series, James Cameron Avatar, and M.Night Shyamalan shameful Avatar. The dark blue and orange makes every component stands out of one another. The combo makes them a memorable poster, and a reason to add excitement in it like fire, explosion, and scotching L.A.

Split complementary, triads, and tetradics, schemes that used more than 2 colors are usually found in Marvel movies, animations, and light-hearted genres. The combinations create richness to the scenes and emphasized on their aesthetics. They don’t intentionally imply the mood, but try to achieve realism, so you can feel that you’re in the settings and related to the environment.

These just show how important is color grading/correcting.

(The research is based on generalized knowledge and personal analysis. You, who have a better knowledge of the aspect, might disagree with some.)

To be frank, I am not a colorful person at all. Emotionally, I don’t express much. Verbally, I can’t express much. Technically, colored media just isn’t my best tools. Since I was young, I felt that the god of color materials must have something against my pass-life and cursed my ability to use His creations. Just kidding, but I’d always screw up in coloring. I have the sense of color but my last art exams screwed up badly due to my color practice. (Yep there’s other reasons too.) That’s why I’ve always envious about how my sister who’s an artist too utilized her color so well in her works.

But thanks to our eyes, we’re able to appreciate color. So I am not going to repel it but to work with it. THIS is one of my challenge for this next project. To be honest, I never realized or understood how these theory exist. Maybe I’m oblivious about them even if I found some combinations of them in various media and thought, “this is nice.” So the discovery for the theories fascinates me and makes me wonder how will I apply them into my Project 3.

I’ve once read a book about color psychology. The author made her point well on how colors affect us. As people who uses color as tools, artist possesses great power to affect people. Why reject it just because I not good at it? And to start with painting myself is indeed a good way to learn to control the colors.

Whether to stand out like complementary, or harmonious like analogous, or as vibrant as triad, or less tension like split-complementary, the overall goal of my colors will have to be balanced and making sense, and more importantly, represent myself. Either way, it’s all going to be determined by my concept, my ego equations, which will be revealed in another post next time.

Thanks for reading!

POST-BLOG

The awkward feeling when everyone did an incredible job in conceptualizing their project in such amount of time, even though they’ve told you they’re just getting started. Damn productive guys….They just can’t stop making me think I didn’t write enough 😀

Okay maybe just because I’m a little late for my project 2 wrapping up. {That featured image looks desperate to let everyone know who wrote this post…….}

It’s the start of something new this week and Ms. Joy gave us a head start for our following project — EGO. The familiarity in G1 is just right to explore everyone’s ego and mess with them as well. I mean, we’ve been together long enough to realize everyone’s hidden side they’d never show on social media. We just can’t hide that long.

For the first activity, we got old pastel as the nostalgic to present what we know (and wanted to show) about ourselves. So, I wrote about what I liked, what I hated, what I irresistible with, what I care, what I’m confident about, and what I ain’t confident about. After a round of passing, the paper returned as this.

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How about my writings on others’ paper. I wrote about all I know about them and the impressions they gave throughout the semester, and what I got are the most beautiful words I’ve see about me since my arrival! Be satisfied b*tch [me]. This is so freaking encouraging that I felt good being myself. Ain’t G1 great?

So all the journey I had for the activity got concluded into point form.

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I repeat! Lots. Of. Inside. Jokes!

The next activity is to picture the world 5 years from now. At first I felt the world won’t change drastically in 5 years so I scaled it down and think, “My view in Singapore would probably filled up by skyscrapers because they are building a lot right now. ” Then I drew myself, in suit, probably finding a job after graduation. [Who had never try to seize the stability standardize by modern society before leaping out of the box?] This might shows the pessimistic thinking of mine, but I believe that is just a safety net keeping me from screwing up. Then I drew myself, partnering with my friends, in T-shirts, working as free (as in independent) production team. Only the clients and inspiration start our work. I considered this as my initial ambition after graduation. I’ve always envy those who are 100% in charge of their own work, and happy to do so too. Thirdly I drew a myself alone not in a suit in between. I’d probably end up someway in between my previous visions. Freelance? Part-timer? There’s no absolute in life.

Same process occurred and this came back.

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Ain’t great friends always put a smile on your face? Damn this is just optimism at its best. Thanks guys for picturing an exquisite future for me.

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Within limited time, this is the summarize conclusion for the activity.

I was able to see more inner-self of my classmates, and understanding about their vision as well. Okay, some of the paintings ended up an opposite direction but who knows? The future might end up what they joked about. The uncertainty about future is just exciting sometimes.

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Lastly we had to picture the future in words. I took it serious as I think it won’t differ much from what I see in the people around me. Many friendship throughout my life faded but didn’t disappear. They just don’t shine as bright as they used to. I once believed that the common cliched reality won’t happen to me. Yet there’s a reason people keep producing ‘”so true” post on the internet. It happens, to everyone. I guess if the down side of future reality happens, we just have to improvise. But liked I said, future is exciting for its uncertainty. The list above isn’t that gray as well. Art peeps tend to create opportunities for each other and I think that will be the ones that spark excitement in my future-5-years.

The activities was fun and it’s been a while since I think about these topic sitting besides the toilet. (I thought about them on the toilet, I forgets about them after washing my hands. True story.) I like it when it doesn’t require too much brainstorming but letting my imagination run wild at the same time. It reminded me of how much I know myself and how anticipating I am towards the future. However, to integrate all of these into the EGO project, well, that’s a whole lot of process to go through. Hope it’ll be as amusing as this.

POST-BLOG

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There are two kinds of people in a self exploring activity.

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Finding yourself

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Being yourself

You’ve saw the title. Project 2 ended as everyone planned and my classmates never cease to surprise me with their wonderful job. Everyone has been using the same supplies of Dingbats but the results are unique, thought-out, and mind blowing. They saw their own shortcoming in the process and resolved the problems by creating more astonishing dingbats. With new dingbats, their new product covered their themes perfectly. It’s always fun and inspiring to see how my classmates think of their final product as you can literally see their thinking process in their works.

I’d say our presentations were a success as every of them was clarifying and intriguing to us. The amount of post-it notes pasted during the session proved everyone’s concentration and cooperation as listeners. I finished the challenge I gave myself before the session as well, which was comment on everyone’s work, whether compliments or suggestions. Although they’re not well written, yet that was the longest attention span I ever had within the decade.

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I’m actually quite satisfied with my work too. Comparing to my last project, I put more thoughts and did some unconventional attempts in my work. These are the action that considered rare in my past products. The printing did a great justice to my work, and so are the others’. They all looked better than on screen in my opinion.

20151025_211421Fortunately, Ms. Joy and my classmates liked the ways I introduced my concept and at least understood every part of my work. (Which is honestly a relief.) In fact, they offered some great suggestions in their comments, which formed another challenge for my next project.

I’m glad I paid efforts in the project as the satisfaction is a big deal for  me. Although there are still A LOT OF space of improvement in the project, I felt willing to take my next project in a more serious manner, push it to the next level.

 

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Every comment is so damn encouraging. Not only in mine, but others as well. I wish this wonderful spirit of G1 will forever live on.