[Locale Part II] Process.

part ii: zine

Not gonna lie for the zine I was pretty lost?? Initially I had ideas but like I didn’t know it had to be..ABSTRACT….so when I heard that I was like Oh No how??

But eventually the plan of action was to have the spreads follow a chronological order of changes within the cemetery, with a focus on unique Japanese visual cues:

  • First spread: Pre-war period
    • Origins of the Cemetery: Karayuki-san
    • Family tombs: Kamon family crests
  • Second spread: Wartime
    • War memorials
  • Third: Post-war period
    • What do we see in the park now? Joggers, students…

first spread: pre war spread

Since I wanted to incorporate the karayuki-san, who were the first to be buried in the cemetery, as well as the interesting motifs in the kamon family crests found on some of the graves, I thought I could combine the two into one spread.

In total I found seven different crests (Some of them might not be crests like the non-circle one??? I can’t be certain.) and tried my best to reproduce them even though a lot of them were very faded.

Karayuki-san in Singapore. Source: Edmund Yeo. http://www.edmundyeo.com/2011/10/karayuki-san-forgotten-japanese.html

I sketched out karayuki-san from a photo, purposely leaving out their faces (apart from not wanting to burden myself with facial features) to drive home the point about the forgotten souls that rest in the place, as a lot of them died in the conditions they were under, with diseases like cholera and dysentery spreading. 🙁

Original pencil and brush sketch of the photo (middle two karayuki-san)
Cleaned up sketch on Ps
Final result

Continue reading “[Locale Part II] Process.”

My Line Is Emo: Final Work!

Hello people!! Monday was the presentation for the final work for the first 2D project: ‘My Line is Emo’ and so with all the feedback and past experiences in making my lines, I’m reaaaady to conclude the project with a final write up about everything! 😀

[ FINAL WORK ]

My Line is Emo: Final Work by Niki Koh

 

[ THEME  + PROCESS ] Leaving Tokyu Hands

So during the holidays I decided to work at a shop that I frequented a lot called Tokyu Hands (at Suntec), and I really learn’t a lot and made a lot of good memories and friends with my coworkers there. Despite trying to continue on with the job for a month in NTU, I decided that I couldn’t work and study at the same time and decided to quit and left like a week before this presentation. Lotsa tears were shed okay :’) and there was a lot of emotion involved, so I decided to focus on this current event in my life as the theme behind my work.

However, I wasn’t really sure about how to exactly execute this. I had a strong concept behind my ideas but I had no idea how to put these ideas out on paper visually. I made a mindmap to try and consult Joy with the previous experimentations I had done last time:

Mindmap for My Line is Emo, Niki Koh

Joy’s feedback was that since I had such a strong theme behind my lines, why not try to incorporate as much of that theme into the work itself as possible, by using things from the workplace to create marks? Like my name tag (which I had to give back so), my shoes, receipts, coworker’s hands….and I thought the idea was really good (and I also wondered why I hadn’t thought of that HAHAHA). So on Hari Raya Haji I went back to Suntec to try and hunt for materials. However, all I managed to get was sample paper that the customers wrote on to test the pens, and a receipt from MY OWN PURCHASE LOL sigh >$20 flew away from me. So I had to try and make do with those materials and other things that I already had, and actually I managed to pull it off okay!

Also, I thought it was a requirement to have one emotion from each emotional category but apparently that wasn’t the case LOL so I could’ve gone with other emotions but instead I limited myself. :’) But I think that’s okay because it made me think harder about how to portray certain emotions that I wasn’t very sure about.

My Line is Emo: Beginning My Mark-making Journey!!!

Hello!

So on Monday we had our second Foundation 2D class where we got to make our own mono prints with things that we brought from home/hall/anywhere! Because I was kinda in a rush I just grabbed a bunch of random rubbish from my room like tissue paper, wrapping tissue, string, cotton squares, and some cloth. I was really out of it that day haha I wish I had thought of picking up leaves and grass on the walk to school but it totally slipped my mind. Catch me in the 2D room with armfuls of grass next lesson.

Anyway, we were shown how to make the mono prints using linoleum squares, ink, and paper. Here’s a more detailed process for my future reference (or anyone’s future reference hehe):

  1. First, transfer the ink evenly onto the linoleum square using a brayer.
  2. Place your objects onto the inked surface, arranging them however you like.
  3. Place the sheet of paper onto the surface, making sure to press down when you carry around the linoleum square to prevent stuff from falling out.
  4. The fourth step, the creation of the print, has various methods. The press machine is one, where you place your square onto a board. The square is then squeezed evenly under a rolling metal cylinder, creating an even mono print. The second method is using a small circular plate to manually press across your linoleum square, giving rise to other interesting effects like circles or straight lines, depending on how you move the plate around. The last method is one that I found on my own (if I wasn’t supposed to do this, sorry to Joy in advance WHOOPS). I just took a clean brayer and rolled it over the surface of my mono print and it created lines and grids!
  5. Remove the paper from the square and let it dry.

Here are some examples of the mono prints I made in class:

Mono-print, Made with latex gloves
Mono-print, Made with latex gloves
Side by side comparison of the mono prints made with the latex gloves

These were the first prints I made with a pair of latex gloves that I brought! I thought the idea was cool but frankly I think the first one looks quite silly. Like someone’s hands with super extra fat fingers. The second one was an inverse print where you just remove the objects and re-roll the linoleum square with a fresh sheet of paper to capture the textures of the items itself, and I think the inverse print looks more interesting because it managed to capture the folds of the gloves. However, this print just felt like me just plainly whacking with whatever items I had, without much thought. But the first one was just a tester I guess!

Mono-print, Made with a long piece of cloth

This one was super stupid HAHAHA I thought using the cloth piece would show some cool effects but I forgot that all that happened was that the cloth would block the ink and it just came out to be a rough blob and I was so disappointed. :/ And then I wanted to do an inverse print but I mixed up the steps and ruined my chances of mono printing the cloth’s textures hais. I’ll keep cloth in mind for future mono printing! On the bright side it looks like a screaming stingray? ://

Mono-print, Made with cotton squares
Mono-print, Made with cotton squares
Side by side comparison of the mono prints made with cotton squares

This one I was quite happy with, especially the inverse print! It looks kind of like cells hovering around in space and minding their own business. I’m not even sure what the extra lines around the squares were but they look cool.

Mono-print, Made with torn up wrapping tissue
Mono-print, Made with torn up wrapping tissue

This one is slightly diifferent as it was done using the small circular plate! I moved it around across the paper as well as in circles. These are actually my favourite prints! I love the cloudy effect the inconsistent pressure has on the ink. Also the tiny dots speckled around (from what I don’t even know) remind me of stars, and the shapes of countries. However I can’t find them right now as I think I forgot to take them 🙁 Hopefully Tricia still has them!!

Mono-print, Made with my own bare hands covered in ink whew
Mono-print, Made with my own bare hands covered in ink whew

I think these also looked quite interesting hahaha I was running out of materials to use so I just thought about using my own hands! So I covered the linoleum square in ink, and pressed my hands into the ink. To not waste the ink on my hands I just pressed it all onto a piece of paper. Then I used a clean brayer to press the paper to the square, and out popped this print. Looks quite haunting to me, like some ghost is trying to push their way out of the paper hehe.

Mono-print, Made with a long piece of cloth

This one was made because I thought it was such a waste to throw away the long cloth after one use, so I tried to rearrange it on the square again and went through the whole inverse printing process. I used a brayer and it produces a super interesting effect I feel, with the sudden lines and grids appearing! I did not expect that effect at all, but I really like it.

Mono-print, Made with a string and leaves (credits to Dhanu lol)

This one was made in a RUSH but I think it’s really cool!! I used the brayer again to roll the paper, with a string arranged and a leaf I borrowed from Dhanu. I think it sorta looks like those prehistoric fish fossils from far away!! Or maybe it’s just me being weird at 1 AM whoops. :’)

I didn’t really have the idea of emotion in mind while I was creating the mono prints on Monday. I was more preoccupied with just experimenting with the prints and everything and I hope that was okay. Which I think it was because I think certain prints do express certain emotions! I’ll explore the theme of emotions more thoroughly when I go down to do the mono printing in my free time with new items. It’s super fun yall haha. See yall next post!

  • Niki

My Line is Emo: Mark-making Research

Hello world!

Okay this is very scary because I don’t write blog posts and I tend to run my mouth so I have to keep a watch over what exactly I’m writing in these posts because it’s open for the WHOLE INTERNET TO SEE haha.

Anyway, it’s my first week in Year One in ADM (and such a big workload already dear god) and we’re going to be starting the semester with mark-making! We were given a list of artists we can draw inspiration for mark-making from so I’m going to be documenting my research on a couple of these artists so I can make really marky marks.

 

The first one on the list is Ed Moses, specifically his drawings from the 1960s and 1970s. He was considered a central figure internationally in innovative artwork, and experimented wholeheartedly with different styles and ideas. I think a lot of his work involves layering and grids.

Ed Moses – Mouse. Picture taken from RadiusBooks.

This piece is titled Mouse. I really like the colour scheme that reminds me of a marble texture, with stark geometric shapes interspersed with the background. Despite the contrast, I don’t feel that the geometric shapes interrupt the piece, but rather complement the rough and textured feeling of the rest of the piece, resulting in a soothing yet interesting piece. I may use the idea of contrasting shapes and textures in my mark-making. No idea why it’s called Mouse though but whatever floats your boat Mr Moses

Ed Moses, Untitled colour lithograph on two sheets. Picture from Simultaneous Visions

This next piece from Moses inspires a really different feeling! However I think the theme of contrast and shapes still run through this piece. The harsh, angled black lines form a grid over a blue backdrop. The idea of the overlap suggests a form of transition in emotion from tranquility to something akin to rage or anger. I like the grid pattern a lot and I might try to replicate it in my mark-making!

 

The artist I’m researching next is Emma Kunz, who was a Swiss spiritual healer and artist. Her drawing are really interesting and abstract, and were meant to inspire healing, and were even drawn using radiesthesia, something that refers to the spiritual aura/radiation from our bodies. Too chim for me to understand LOL

Emma Kunz, Unknown Title. Taken from www.ruthhoggerresearch.blogspot.sg

This really looks so carefully drawn oh my like one line out of place would simply ruin the whole thing. I can see why her drawings are linked to healing! The orderliness of the lines and geometric shapes are super satisfying and the colours picked like the light blue and yellow really are also calming to look at. It reminds me of  light refracting out of a raindrop, you know like that rainbow diagram. Not that Kunz was thinking of raindrops when she was drawing this but it just looks like it to me :v

Emma Kunz, Unknown Title. Picture taken from Invaluable

This one I think is really pretty! It looks like some sort of gemstone with rays of light shining out of it. Again there’s that theme of geometry and precise line placement that makes this amazingly soothing to look at. I notice that her drawings generally have a center around which the rest of the drawing springs/slowly connects from. Perhaps that brings about a sense of stability and tranquility. That would be useful for mark-making emotions :0

 

The last artist I’ll be conducting research on for now is Julie Mehretu, who is a renowned American artist known for her abstract works of art.

Julie Mehretu, Black City, 2007. Picture taken from www.nytimes.com

THAT IS DAMN BIG WOW I think if I tried to upload the picture in its full quality my com would crash. Anyway wow!!! That’s really something. Like while the painting is technically a bunch of intersecting lines, there is a very clear feeling of crumpling and folding of a certain mass, and the splashes of colours and lines makes me feel like I see life in the painting, and not just in a detached way, but perhaps in the sense of a busy society or city. What an apt name. I really like the sense of chaos travelling-on-a-highway thing. Don’t ask me about the highway thing I just feel like there are highways in the painting :// I feel like her line placement is unexpectedly careful. I’ll perhaps use this as a reference for the emotion of excitement or life in my mark-making!

 

Okay that’s all for now. I can’t go on any longer or I’m gonna pass out and shut down lol good luck to me for the rest of the semester!!! Dream sweets :)))