Ego: Final & Reflections

Foundation 2D – After a long journey, here is my final! I’m also going to talk about my equations and reflections along with it. Cross-posted on my art instagram @ddoughnat.

My Equations

1. Me, Lone Knight Fighting + Around My Friends = I Let My Guard Down

Everything is always 200% more dramatic in my head.

Sometimes I fancy myself some kind of character – I tend to be very animated in my gestures even when I talk and especially when I get excited, and I think the metaphorical knight has managed to bring out my dramatic tendencies quite well! I wanted to talk about how I’m more relaxed around my friends – it had been the play on the phrase, ‘let my guard down’ that led me to the idea of representing myself as the knight!

Briefly to explain: I had earlier decided to represent the strangers in my life as vegetable and fruit heads – so, what should I represent my friends with? One hilarious conversation with my roommate and several bouts of laughter with my classmates later, I had my idea down: confectionary. If the audience so happened to interpret that sweets helped make me feel better, they wouldn’t be wrong either! Confectionary is something we consume around friends, when we’re relaxed. Furthermore, at the risk of sounding completely mushy, my friends are also really sweet and understanding! Thus the character design.

Colours, alongside the reasons (psychological colour properties) why I chose them:

Blue – Coldness, aloofness
Red/Pink – Physical courage, strength, warmth
Purple – Luxury, authenticity, truth, quality

2. Me + In the Great Outdoors = Freedom

I’m like a plant, I need sunlight to survive.

One of my loves is hiking and the outdoors, which I’ve done a lot less since I started university. This quote was especially based on my Junior College time, when I would often run off frustration from school and studying on a near daily basis. When I could afford the time, I would head over to the reservoir close to my home to run through the forest trails! It’s been some time since I’ve done that and I look forward to reestablishing some kind of harmony and balance in my holidays before the next semester.

I’m like a plant, needing sunlight to survive. But with my future in set in Animation, it looks like I’m becoming more of a succulent than a tree… haha.

Colours, alongside the reasons (psychological colour properties) why I chose them:

Blue – Dreariness, depression, oppression
Yellow – Optimism, confidence, extraversion, brightness, friendliness
Green – Balance, harmony, refreshment, rest, restoration, reassurance, environmental awareness, equilibrium, peace.

3. Me, In My Comfort Zone + At Orientation Camp = Nervous… How Does One Make Friends Again?

I’m not really an extrovert, so orientation camp was really draining for me.

I may look extroverted, but I get exhausted in new, unfamiliar settings very easily and often fret over making and losing friendships. In continuation to the explanation of my characters, strangers are represented as vegetables and fruits so as to draw out a sense of isolation, to show how they are different from my avatar. It was an idea that I got from a show that I like, called “Mob Psycho 100”, where the main character’s love interest was differentiated from the surrounding supporting characters of various vegetable heads. I found that idea very quirky and decided to adapt it into my work as well… the end result was well-received, with the same playful touch I was going for!

Initially, the final panel was going to be much more complicated. However, I doodled this during my brainstorming… and it surprisingly turned out really well! Not only has it ascended to my all-time favourite panel, it has also been the favourite of my of my friends – possibly due to the humorous tone that the expression of my mini-me took on, as well as the situation mini-me is described to be in.

Colours, alongside the reasons (psychological colour properties) why I chose them:

Yellow – Optimism, confidence, self-esteem, emotional strength, friendliness
Red – Defiance, aggression, visual impact, strain
Orange – Deprivation, frustration, frivolity, immaturity

4. Me + In School = Overwhelmed

I tend to overcommit. A lot.

…and do I hear an “amen” to that! Honestly though, keeping busy is a bad habit of mine. I’m constantly filling my timetable up and giving away time to all sorts of things… my passions and my obligations. Furthermore, I have a terrible tendency of not being able to say no – the second column shows this, from the way I can’t say no to my Cupcake Friend, to Homework obligations (the desire to do well is overwhelming!) and to my Tomato Professor.

While this has improved over the last few years, I do still need to learn to “chill”, as my classmates always remind me. (Really, I’m so blessed to have friends who look out for me and remind me to slow down in life! I would not have survived this semester without them.) The leftmost composition intends to create a sense of balance with the horizontal lines and color, while the two on the right are tending towards the chaotic and the overwhelmed. In the final panel, mini-me’s expression is resigned, towards my inability to be… not busy.

Colours, alongside the reasons (psychological colour properties) why I chose them:

Green – Harmony, balance, refreshment, equilibrium, peace.
Purple – Introversion, decadence, suppression, inferiority
Yellow – Irrationality, fear, anxiety

Reflections

All in all, I’m really glad that I went all out for this last project. Actually, my final was much more ambitious that what I ended up doing, and I had to cut down (for example, installed lighting and more layers in each diorama) but overall, the effect delivered, and I was quite satisfied with it. A lot of people liked it!

I really enjoyed doing the project because I could really draw upon my own personal art style, and I got to do what I love: illustration! Using colour really got me to challenge myself, I usually stick to ink and markers in my illustrations; colour never really factored in. Furthermore, although it seemed simple to decide on ‘analogous colours’, there were a few reasons why this ended up challenging me:

I used gouache (to make the colours “pop” better) – but this is my first time using this medium. I’ve used other paints before: watercolour and oil paint being the most often and, sometimes, acrylic. The consistency is similar for watercolour, but thicker and requires a slightly different kind of control over the paint.
Furthermore, mixing colours resulted in different outcomes as well, as I purchased a Designer’s Gouache set that only had CMYK + White. I struggled the most with the yellows, oranges and browns! The range of colour was tough to get right, and I personally found it difficult to pick analogous colours that would let me vary the tone. This itself required much mixing and re-mixing, and I’m surprised that my set of gouache has not been used finish yet, haha!

What are some of the challenges that I’ve faced, besides colour?

Time-constraints were a huge challenge. Each step of the process took a lot of time and effort to execute – from conceptualising to process to installation. With 4 different projects to concentrate on, I had to push myself to constantly engage in 2D especially as it required so many considerations. (However, the fact that it was a very personal project meant that my thoughts kept getting drawn back to it… and that’s a plus!)
I honestly spent a lot of money on this project, more than I should have as compared to my classmates! Oops.
Keeping my Creative Process Journal – I felt that I’ve definitely improved in keeping a process journal in Assignment 3 as compared to Assignment 1. It’s not at its best yet, but I really tried to curate my journal this time. Although I didn’t manage to finish it, at least there’s some form of improvement! I’ll try harder next time.

That’s all folks! Hope that you enjoy my work as much as I enjoyed creating it. See you again soon!

*Postscript: thank goodness I had the sense to copy out my reflections before OSS crashed haha. It’s finally up!

Ego: in Colour

Foundation 2D – In this post, we’ll be talking more about the next part of the suggestions in the project brief – colour. Most of it was research I did but did not include in my sketchbook.

While this project excited me, I have to admit that colour is not my forte. I tend to do a lot of sketches and ink drawings, but I’ve never really focused on colour. This assignment will be a good chance for me to expand on it!

The ones mentioned in the brief weren’t really covered in class, so I did my own additional research too. Scroll down further for my research and some helpful links!

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Brief recap: I found these two images which I feel best summarised what was taught in class.

Next, let’s look into the different colour harmonies. What are they?

Monochromes Harmony
Analogous Harmony
Analogous Harmony Warm & Cool
Complementary Hues
Split Complementary

Monochromes Harmony

Analogous Harmony

Use colors that are close to each other on the color wheel.
Good for communicating consistency and uniformity within design.
Contrast is struck primarily through the variations in color shade, limiting any distraction away from content.

While it utilizes all cool colors, the lighter green accent offers interest without distracting from the softer blues. Most three-color analogous palettes use the same chroma, but this one shows how adding tints and shades can create a wider and more gradual variation. (source)

Complementary Hues

Created with colors that sit opposite each other on the wheel
Offers a sense of balance
Adding various tints and shades can expand these schemes

Split Complementary

I also found other colour combinations:

Triad Complementary/Triadic Color Scheme

Consists of three main colors equally spaced on the wheel, which makes for a diverse palette.
This takes a little more thought and experimentation, as it involves a larger number of hues that oppose each other.

The contrasting colors here are softened with tints, and additional shades of the same hues look as though other colors have been added. This is a good way to add neutral tones to offset the brighter colors.

Eventually I decided on the analogous colour scheme, so as to keep it simple. More in the next post!

Helpful links:
http://paletton.com/#uid=75B0u0kgDFt6uWdbTOHkJv+oQsz

100 Brilliant Color Combinations and How to Apply Them to Your Designs

http://www.dtelepathy.com/blog/inspiration/beautiful-color-palettes-for-your-next-web-project
http://www.dtelepathy.com/blog/design/color-theory

Sources:
http://www.worqx.com/color/combinations.htm

Foundation Drawing – Final

Size A0, using Charcoal, Conte and White coal.

Foundation Drawing – Final Assignment Sketchbook Studies

Foundation Drawing – Here is my Final Assignment Sketchbook Studies, in video format for convenience. I didn’t include my live drawing from the zoo & figure drawing sessions though.

The thumbnail photo is my reference for the actual final.

Process

For my process, I made studies of artworks done by several key artists, namely: Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and, Raphael. As they say, “Steal like an Artist”, I found copying the works of these artists helpful as they allowed me to take a close look at the methods these artists utilised when they drew. I also gained a greater and closer appreciation for their proficiency and skill.

In this process, I am heavily influenced by Tenebrism, Chiaroscuro and Sfumato techniques. I have always admired the use of these techniques, and thus, this led to my choosing charcoal as a medium for the final, partly due to the proficiency I had with the medium and partly because these techniques could best be brought out through the medium.

Trial – photographic studies

With the assistance of my lovely roommate, Irene, I photographed various possible compositions for my final and edited it such that it would resemble my final .

Foundation 4D 1 – Sketchbook

Foundation 4D – We’ve come to the end of Foundation 4D, so I’ve decided to upload the contents of my sketchbook. Mainly, it includes lecture notes from Prof. Robert Zhao’s class, consultation advice and brainstorming scribbles. (Pause to read!)

I struggled a bit with 4D, but overall it was pretty fun and an interesting module. When it comes to modern fine arts, especially of the videography and film variation, I definitely do prefer approaching it from the audience/curator’s perspective rather than as an artist-creator.

Assignment 3: References

Foundation 4D – This assignment would not have been possible without the numerous studies I made of animations online.

https://fuckyeahanimation.tumblr.com was one of my main sources for technique and execution! But as for inspiration, “YHWH”, a animated video done by a collaboration of artists, was my main inspiration. Specifically, I referenced the style of Paul Slemmer (http://www.veracitycolab.com) who did 2:08 to 2:27 of the video.

I was also inspired by several other sources:

handforahead_depart-film-4 — handforahead – Depart, film 4

Through breaking down the animations, I was able to better understand the process and create my own as well. However, it’s still only a form of imitation – I made close references as this assignment is one of my very first attempts at animation.

Assignment 3: Process

Foundation 4D – Initially, I intended to use music as a starting point for my assignment.

Foundation 4D: Assignment 3, 50 word writeup.

Based on a soundtrack, I want to create a collection of surrealistic film stills/imagery to accompany the music. I will also explore the possibility of including a narrative.

However, Prof warned me that it would become very much like “MTV” – mainstream television; having a guiding narrative like this might result in the video being slideshow-like and sentimental, which would detract from the message of the moving image. Sound is fine though, like ambient music, but nothing leading or emotional should be driving the narrative.

Thus, I returned to think more about my concept.

Mindmap - Brainstorming for Ideas — Mindmap – Brainstorming for Ideas

As many of my classmates were using their previous assignments as launching points to their final assignment (in fact, we were encouraged to do so) I decided to return to my previous assignments as well. In Assignment 1, I explored the idea of death while in Assignment 2, I explored the visual imagery of clouds. I wondered, what if I combined the ideas? And wrote a bit about it. However, I eventually decided to head back to the initial theme – however, instead of death & religion, I decided on life/death instead, so as to give myself more options.

I continued to brainstorm.

There were some interesting ideas – for example, a documentary about religious beliefs about death, the record of life cycles (documentation of plants and animals growing and dying) – however, due to the lack of luxury of time, I decided to keep it simple instead, and to do a short sequence of animations. Thus, my 50 word narrative was confirmed.

Heartbeats
Foundation 4D: Assignment 3, 50 word writeup.

Centred around the idea of life and death, this video presents several symbolic motifs of life and death, represented using simple, looping frame-by-frame animation and paired with suitable accompanying onomatopoeia. “Heartbeats” is made with the intention to be abstract, thoughtful and atmospheric.

Here are some of the motifs I thought about.

Eventually I simply narrowed it down to 4: heart, fire, water, growing fetus, breathing, as I felt that it was sufficient in encapsulating the key idea of life/death.

Assignment 3: Final

Foundation 4D –

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