Ng Shi Qian P2

The Hearts of Yishun

With so many negative news about Yishun recently, many people have been looking at Yishun in a bad way. Therefore, in my zine, I wish to highlight to the viewers that Yishun had good and inspiring stories too, so that Yishun will be painted in a positive light.

 

2D – Processes and Development for Final Zine

Layout sketches

I did some planning for the stories that I had chosen just to see how I could arrange them.

I decided to have the 12 year old Boy aiding the victims as the first spread as it is the  most valuable positive news out of them 5 stories.

For the 2nd spread, I decided to divide it into 2 sections where the smaller column is for the less important news which I decided was the TOTO article, while the other is about the Cops.

As for the last spread, I decided to place the bus article on top while the Indiana Jones foreign worker helping the cat at the bottom.

Artist References/ Inspirations

I was just looking through Facebook and DeviantArt’s Facebook page shared these 2 artworks which made me want to try out this kind of style  😀

JillLenaD

http://jilllenad.deviantart.com/art/105-desert-523596410

MelDraws

http://meldraws.deviantart.com/art/Dragon-Knight-160860604

MarcoBucci

http://marcobucci.deviantart.com/

Brushes that I used: https://digitalpaintingtools.blogspot.sg/2009/11/marcos-brushes.html

Development for Illustrations

Choosing  the colour schemes and Initial sketches

Before using the pen tool to create/ trace out the vectors, I created some sketches using the brush tool first to make life easier 🙂

I wanted to use rich and vibrant colours which helps set a positive tone to the entire zine. In addition the colours, especially on the front cover would be able to attract people’s attention from afar due to it’s saturation and also the usage of more reds which is striking to the viewer’s eyes.

Adding brush strokes to a flat vector

The textures can really make a vast difference 😀

Final Illustrations

The cover page is a view of Yishun that I took from the MRT station.

Final Booklet

2D – Zine Research

Yishun

When I was first assigned to Yishun, the very first thing that came to my mind was cat murderers. Immediately I thought of doing  a zine about the cats but I thought that I should look around the area first to see whether I will be able to find other inspirations.

First trip down to Yishun

During my first trip down to Yishun, I wanted to familiar myself with the surroundings and explore for ideas. Other than to look out for interesting subjects, I did not really had an absolute plan as to what to focus on.  Sadly, it was raining that day and I was restricted to sheltered areas, but I tried my best to take pictures of everything and anything.

     

    

    

A friend of mine that stays in Yishun brought me around the place and let me try a well known chicken rice there.

He also told me about a website where I could look out for news that happened in Yishun, which was: https://yishun.town/

 

Website

The website was created by a guy named Lhu Wen Kai.

As you can see he placed quite an amount of effort to design the page.

Here are all of the news that happened in Yishun, ranging from accidents, murders, robbery, suicides, etc.

2nd Trip down to Yishun

With the mindset of revisiting certain crime scenes I took pictures that matched (or at least attempted to) the angle of the original photograph. The 2nd comparison photo are the original photographs taken from the article, while the one above it was taken by me.

 

http://www.zaobao.com.sg/znews/singapore/story20161117-691470

http://www2.tnp.sg/content/yishun-1-junction-2-accidents-15-minutes

http://www.sammyboy.com/showthread.php?96926-Another-couple-slashed-in-Yishun-on-Thursday-SG-is-now-Parang-Hub

Image result for dead cat yishun street 11

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/dead-cat-found-at-foot-of/2463898.html

   

https://yishun.town/cursed/busfire

I did not manage to take the scenes for the photographs below but I thought I could just take the location from outside.

http://www.stomp.com.sg/singapore-seen/caught-act/man-rages-yishun-cheers-cashier-after-they-ran-out-spoons-challenges-him

https://yishun.town/crime/bankrobbery

Change of Idea

Even after taking the photographs, I did not feel much emotions from what I discovered. Hence I started thinking and brainstorming again. Then it occurred to me why don’t I highlight the positive stories that happened in Yishun instead of the usual hate on Yishun.

Although there were so much more accidents and murders, people remember the bad news more clearly as compared to good ones. Which was why I wanted to paint Yishun in a positive light instead, to remind people that there are good stories from Yishun as well.

Articles:

http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/12-year-old-boy-rushes-to-aid-of-car-accident-victims-in-yishun

http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/courts-crime/off-duty-cop-out-on-a-date-catches-rioting-suspects-with-help-from-scdf

http://mothership.sg/2015/11/foreign-worker-uses-indiana-jones-move-to-rescue-drowning-cat-from-monsoon-drain/

http://www.tnp.sg/news/mystery-man-rescues-trapped-bus-driver

Research Slides

Originally I thought that the reason why Yishun has so many accidents was because of it’s huge population within the area. However, Yishun isn’t the only place with a huge population density.

Yishun: 9,442.2 inh./km²

Tampines: 12,578.2 inh./km²

Woodlands: 18,366.2 inh./km²

Jurong West: 18,391.2 inh./km²

https://www.citypopulation.de/Singapore-Regions.html

Looking at some news articles as to why Yishun is so infamous I found that it was simply because bad news sells.

People prefer to read gossips, negative news and here are 2 quotes from the guardian as to why,

“peoples’ interest in news is much more intense when there is a perceived threat to their way of life. They care much less about what happens around them when they enjoy relative peace and/or relative prosperity.”
” Fear and poverty stimulate greater interest in news.”

 

http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/why-do-some-people-make-fun-of-yishunhttps://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2007/sep/04/thegoodnewsaboutbadnewsi

 

Final Slides