Ego Final

 


Set 1: Me VS Mosquito

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  1. I wanted to represent myself as someone who is happy-go-lucky, unperturbed by bad luck or failures, i.e. someone who dances in the rain.

So I started searching up on rain..


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And to emphasise on the lightheartedness of my mood, I opted for bright pastel analogous colours: pink; yellow and orange.

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I also gave myself a cape, so it seems like I am a superhero unafraid of troubles as I part falling rain, carrying on my happy journey.

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Details of rain drawn in white pen ink.

2. I wanted to represent a mosquito in a somewhat scary way, but also not too much in order to fit in the pastel, whimsical theme.

I also wanted to emphasise that is the mosquito haunting me at night, leading to my lack of sleep that makes it miserable for me. So I thought of the moon at the background to represent the night.

Naturally, it made me think of wolves howling at moon.

Hence, I related it to the yearning of my blood by the mosquitoes because those who attack me seemed really thirsty I must say.

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And so, pastel dark blue of the night sky is complemented by the pastel yellow moon. The silhouettes are black so as to highlight the “night” aspect.

Since I used white pen in the background for the previous panel, I decided to continue this feature by adding in stars.

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3. The reason I added in the superhero part was so I can show that mosquitoes are my kryptonite! So a little research on that and my reaction – despair.

Aha the spotlight for dramatics I guess.

Plus, to incorporate the mosquito into kryptonite kind of reminds me of insect amber (as seen in Jurassic Park)

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And so I am kneeling, begging for mercy under the mosquito kryptonite. I was thinking where my cape from the panel should go, then I thought of using as a surrender flag, although it is not white. 

The background is in black to dramatise the spotlight, also which I think the red of the flag complements the green kryptonite well.

More white lines penned in in the background to add dynamism!

 


Set 2: Me VS My Enemies

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  1. Basically I want to represent myself as a super pure, harmless and precious, and I thought of the cinnamon roll meme.

It stemmed from TheOnion, which is a news website renowned for their eccentric headlines.

And so cinnamon roll I am!

Also, I wanted to incorporate angelic characteristics, hence adding in fluffy wings and a halo.

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Overall, I wanted it to have a warm yet holy feel, hence adding in strong gold sheets by the sides. The bun is also painted in warm colours – brown umber, burnt sienna and yellow ochre.

A dull brownish beige in the back of the spotlight hopefully tones down the shiny golds, in which is also complemented by the bluish purple shadow of the cinnamon roll.

I made sure there were enough white to counter the high intensity colours via the plate, wings and sugar glaze on the cinnamon roll, which is PVA glue mixed with white paint.

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Since I kind of want this set and the next few to be more interactive with the audience, I stick on things to prompt touch and exploration.

The halo is stuck with mounting tape to give a 3-dimensional feel, along with the wings, cut out from (soft and fluffy)leg warmers from Daiso.

2. I wanted to portray the people here in a repulsive light, and since they do talk shit, I decided to make it literal.

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Behold- talking toilet bowls!

I used the same tactic from my Emo Lines to make the background: Glue Gun!

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Yeahhh the yellow colour is from the old, discoloured glue stick, but also serve to be associated with urine, which makes it ultra gross aha.

Anyway, the wooden table is wood wallpaper I bought, and the poop is brown foam. I painted the background a dirty green to contribute to the yuck factor

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Again, more white left for breathing space.

I guess the colours are analogous as well: brown/orange, yellow, green

3. I wanted me to be represented as a demon, with all the fiery and injustice I feel unleashed.

To portray anger, the colour scheme obviously revolves around red, joined by oranges and yellow to give a fiery look(which also relates to hell & demons).

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Somehow, the crimson I used seemed abit too cool and pinkish to represent fire, which I solved by washing over a layer of vermilion.

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Much better!

 

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Yas, so that’s me, the cinnamon roll holding a plunger, while my demonic shadow behind shows a trident instead. The trembling toilet bowls shrink in my presence, and turn gray and insignificant. The cleaning in progress sign relates back to the theme of toilets and also “cleansing” their dirty hearts.

 

I added other colours in reference to this palette, more specifically phthalo blue and the dull beige to also balance out the highly intense reds.


Set 3: Me & My Brother

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  1. I am a bored, white cat, because I love cats and I can relate to them very well. As such, a bored cat would usually stir up trouble around them.

 

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And behold – first draft of a cat bored with work and sweeping the pen holder off the table.

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Update: Added grey background to emphasise on the dreading feeling.

However, ultimately I settled on a yawning cat, pushing away papers(work) so the work looks a little more alive.

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I kept the dreadful background though! And I replicated it using watercolour and pen lines. I decided to make this panel achromatic to accentuate the bored and dull mood.20161114_185845

3D component includes felt white cloth for the cat and paper teeth!

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The falling papers are also cut and pasted with reference.

2. Next, I chanced upon this while researching on boredom:

Which I thought the shadows is a pretty cool way to depict somebody watching a screen.

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Hence, a clean and simple scene depicting my brother using his laptop at night, laughing at a show.

I decided to depict my brother as a dog instead, since he is born in the year of a dog.

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So I printed the background and pasted the dog in foam and the laptop in paper. There is an analogous harmony between the yellows and browns, in which the light yellow serve to show my brother’s contentment at watching running man videos.

3. In reality, I do disturb my brother by putting my head on top of his and using my long hair to obscure his view while he uses the computer haha! So I wanted to illustrate myself as a cat that intervenes between my brother and the laptop to gain his attention desperately.

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A very comical result through puppy eyes and sun burst background to give a sense of preciousness, enticing my brother to play with me!

 

 

 

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Finally, I settled on the cat being completely on the laptop with guileless eyes and a ball of yarn, in invitation to play.

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The warmth analogous colours: yellow, oranges and brown is again complemented with the sky blue yarn, which is wrapped around a circular cardboard piece. The yellow used is stronger than in the previous panel to show the happier mood when I am involved.

White felt is once again used for the cat and brown foam for the dog, as well as black foam for the headphones.

The headphones on the dog is placed higher than before to show the shock of the dog, along with the standing of its fur to make it seemed more animated.


Set 4: Me & My Boss

pirate

  1. I wanted to show that I am within my comfort zone, protected by a bubble from the opinion/judgement of others.

So in the bubble, I used warm colours to have a snug and safe feeling. cam00150

At first, it seemed a little too fiery instead of warm, so I added a wash of white to decrease the intensity.

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I then tried to put some violet as complementary colour to yellow with reference from the picture below.

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Added white base for the purple to show better and stronger, also giving the circle a more 3-dimensional feel as a bubble.

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The eyes should definitely be in cool colours to highlight the cold and harsh judgement of the world. So, I outlined them in cerulean blue pen.

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The comfy armchair is cut from red foam, ‘tufted’ by art knife to give it more volume.

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The cat is once again in white felt.

Hence there is a temperature difference in colours between the warmth inside the bubble and the cool, realistic eyes outside.

2. I wanted to show my boss ‘looking down’ at me from the top, and hence a bottom perspective of him.

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Cool blues: phthlato blue and cobalt blue is used for the background and the table. My boss, the pirate holding my piggy bank aka my pay, as hostage, is donned in a royal blue(ultramarine) coat to hint authority.

The ultramarine is also warmer in contrast to the other blues, capturing attention.

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Silver sheets is then cut and added in as the telescope and knife.

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Finally, the eye in white foam and pants in black cloth is added, not breaking the blue monochromatic scheme, which accentuates his sharp and unforgiving gaze.

3. I wanted the composition to show how concentrated my boss’ gaze is on me, hence I have an inverted triangular spotlight which focused on me.

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The size difference between the eye and the cats reiterate who’s in charge. I used a lighter cerulean blue to have a more clean and professional feel, in contrast to the first panel where I was lazy and disorganized.

The background is cerulean blue added with black.

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The floor is marble patterned paper to add a classy feel. Me, the cat neatly in apron is once again in white felt while the kitten I’m tutoring is foam painted grey. The cat representing me is more ‘dolled up’ (ribbon on ear and eyelashes added) because my boss told me to tie up my hair during work so that I would look more presentable. 

Yes anyway, the wood wallpaper is reused, paired with the wooden toothpick as the broom stick, while white raffia is used for the bristles.

Eventually, I thought of adding puppet strings from the cats’ limbs to the eye to symbolise the eye controlling its actions.

Overall, this panel is in monochromatic blue, complemented by the wood colours.


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DIFFICULTIES & TAKEAWAYS

 Had a terrible time experimenting with colour, because paint is hard to control, especially when mixing and overlaying with other colours. Finally decided on using thick, acrylic so mistakes made can be easily covered up.

Definitely struggled with composition, trying to make each picture dynamic within the narrative of the content. Had to erase and redraw a few time to get an appealing design.

Materials used for extra interactive features also made me make a few trips to Popular. It is also hard to find materials which colours coordinate with the colour scheme. Sometimes I just paint over the materials if the colour does not fit.

It is also tough to come up with various colour schemes, especially when most of them will end up tending towards the yellow/red or blue harmonies. Googling various colour schemes do help a lot in varying the colours.

Monochromatic schemes are the hardest!! There are soooo many components to paint using sooo less colours! How was I supposed to differentiate the different parts if the colours are so similar to each other??? Eventually outlined components in black marker for distinction, and also giving it a more cartoon style.

All in all, this is a super intensive project which forced me out of all of my comfort zones since I always colour things to what their colours are, i.e. not following any colour schemes/restrictions. It also stretched my creativity on composition and material used. But overall, this is a great experience/practice on colour theory and visual communication to the audience! wink