So here we are! The final project for the semester ( it’s bitter sweet, I know ). I must say that it was quite an extraordinary journey since the very beginning; from learning the elements of designs to the principles of design, traditional drawing to digital art and finally from gray scale to colors. Throughout the semester, i have definitely learnt a lot about designs and it is time to put what i have learnt into practice with the final project. But most of all… we had fun 🙂
THE PROJECT
The theme for our third and final assignment is entitled ‘Ego’. The focus of this project is for us to express our personalities and character in the form of mathematical equations through the use of imagery and more importantly, colors. In the previous posts, we have explored the concept of colors and how each color and the various combinations of colors has a certain meaning or attribute associated to it. With the knowledge of the color schemes, we can then pitch our ideas visually.
There are 4 Equations, consisting of 12 images in total. The 4 equations should be describing ‘me’, ‘a better me’, ‘an ideal me’ and ‘me in 5 years’ respectively.
MY APPROACH
When I first received this assignment, I was pretty much lost because the project was opened to our own interpretation. Generating of ideas has always been a weakness for me as i feel that i lack imagination. A lot. The infinite possibilities of the type of styles that we can use made the project much more challenging.
I had to find a way to incorporate some kind of colors and symbolism into my usual working style ( realistic gray scale drawings ) so that the equations would make sense. Fortunately, the first approach that struck me happened to be the final concept for my end product. However, there were a lot of changes to the execution along the way.
I started thinking about the term ego and what ego actually it means. From my research, Ego is defined as the consciousness of your own identity, knowing exactly who you are as a person. And looking back at the equations given… THE ANSWERS WERE RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!!!
ME
A better ME
An ideal ME
ME in 5 years
…
Get the point?
All the equations has a ‘ME‘ in it, which made so much sense since the project is on Ego and what better way to present yourself than A SELF PORTRAIT!
Therefore, my approach is to generate 4 equations that terminates in a quarter of my face and eventually showing the entire face when thee 4 equations are pieced together… confuse? go ahead and see the images below.
Rough 1st sketch of the final layout
STAGE 1: KNOWING WHO YOU ARE
SUCCESS is not possible without PLANNING. So, let us start by having a clear idea of what we are working with. Firstly, i identified some of the traits that defines me and have them arranged into possible equations. For example, for the equation of me, i felt that i am an observer than a participant. Also, due to my calm and reserved nature, i prefer to listen than to speak ( You can confide in me. Just saying ). Hence, my first sentence would be ‘Observe’ + ‘Listen’ = ‘Me’.
I repeated this process of analysis and the generation of equations to ensure that i came up with the personalities that best describe me and i feel confident in executing.
STAGE 2: VISUALS
From there, after i have picked the equations ( not finalized at that point ), i came up with some drawings/sketches to visualize my concept. I chose to vary my subject matter and not have a common theme because it seems to fit my style better. Also i did some sketching of what i might include into the mosaic of my self portrait so that the equations link up better.
As you can see from the right side of the page of my journal, the idea of a combined portrait was derived when i was exploring all the various aspects of myself. I imagined a completed portrait that is a collective outcome of the 4 equations. Furthermore, i looked into the possibility of having it drawn thru the use of combining typography with stippling technique, which is a style that i am accustomed to.
Initial idea of an ideal me: Drawing X Time
Initial Idea of Me in 5 years: The one X Dog
As seen above, my initial sketches had very different subject matter. It is not entirely abstract in terms of shape and form but i was going for an aesthetic where the subject conveys the meaning of my personality in an indirect way.
STAGE 3: COLOURS
For a person who does most, if not all his works in gray scale/achromatic color scheme, managing colours for the final project is pretty daunting. Even after researching about the types of colours, the types of colour schemes, i do not feel confident in handling colours still. Hence, i chose to stick with a complementary colour schemes for the thumbnails. The furthest i would go is to try a triad color scheme.
One of the greatest change in terms of decision of colours is the exclusion of colors in the final portrait. At first, I had an intention of incorporating colours that i like as well as colours that suits my personality into the background (shown below)
Testing colours for the background
That being said, I DITCHED THAT IDEA. I felt that the use of colors in this fashion looks rather distracting and is not something that i am comfortable working with. I made a conscious decision to make the bulk of my project (the portrait) gray scale so that it compliments my style of work and i will leave the colors to the rest of the thumbnails.
trying out analogous color scheme
playing with colors: complimentary and triad
STAGE 4: FINAL IDEAS
After much struggles with the generation of ideas and the mixing of colors, i have came up with the finalized designs that i am satisfied with and chose the appropriate colors. Everything has a meaning behind it and in this segment of my journal, i will be sharing some of the thoughts and short stories that these images were derived from.
The first equation: ME
A mentioned earlier, personally, i am a reserved, calm and peace-loving person. I am not aggressive nor am i spontaneous: i simply blend into my surroundings and avoid change as much as possible. When i am in a big group of people, i tend to speak less and just hear what others have to say. Therefore, to sum up my personality into the equation of ME, i am an observer and a listener.
To express the idea of an observer, i drew a man in a classy suit with an owl’s head as a way to symbolize my reserved self and the glowing eyes would imply observation. I did a complementary color scheme for this. I retained the natural brown color of the owl and have a teal colored background. The cool color matches my calm character.
I drew an elephant with a pair of headphones on to represent my listening self as i thought that these two objects really complemented each other to convey the meaning directly. Furthermore, headphones do play an important role in my life on a daily basis. I never leave my room without my audio equipment, just in case i need it in a noisy environment or when i feel like escaping from reality for a brief moment. I used green for the background because it represents the peaceful character in me. The red headphones compliments the green to make it stand out better.
The second equation: AN IDEAL ME
For the ideal me, i would like to let the viewers know my passion for art and my aspirations to be an influential animator, if possible. I feel that i can draw decent but i lack the creative juices because i am so accustomed to drawing off references. Therefore, an ideal me would be me being skillful in my crafts multiplied by the endless ideas that exist in the world. I will then be able to come up with really unforgettable animated characters like the people in Disney and Dreamworks. That will be so cool… isn’t it?
For skillfulness, i got inspired by the comic character, the wolverine. He had this claws that grew out of his hands which were originally bones but eventually became metal claws which made his far stronger than he was. Therefore, i want to be like that: started unrefined, weak and end up stronger than who i was. I replaced the claws with the tools that i would normally use for my art so that people could relate it with my passion for art. This drawing was done in a basic triad color scheme. I like how to red shows that eagerness and passion in me.
Ironically, i had no idea on how to generate an imagery for the thumbnail that represents idea. Silly but true. I went with a more direct approach for it by fusing a light bulb and a human brain together placed inside a human’s head. Brains and bulbs are often associated with ideas and thinking so it is quite easy to identify the message behind it. Again, i used the complimentary colors of pink and yellow to create a contrasting look.
The third equation: A BETTER ME
To achieve a better me is quite simple: staying focus and cut down on my distractions. I feel that i am a person who lacks motivation easily and have short attention span. I feel this strong attachment to the social networks even though i am not a highly sociable person in the real world. Hence, I spent a chunk of my time scrolling through feeds even when there is nothing that concerns me. How weird!
To depict focus as an image, i went with a drawing of a human eye with a dart board as the pupils. It follows a similar design philosophy with the one i did for ‘Listen’, by combining two different elements that share a commonality to enhance the meaning. In this case, an eye would suggests sight and the dart board would suggests a target/ goal. By combining the two objects together, it shows that i am setting sight on what i want to achieve and stay focused on it. I did not apply a particular color scheme to this as the natural color scheme of a dart board is red and green which already compliments one another.
For distractions, it would be about my love-hate relationship with my smartphone and the social networks. I drew the display of an iPhone and on the screen there are icons of the commonly used social apps with an uninstall badge on it, indicating that i want to get rid of it to achieve a better me. Pretty straightforward actually. To bring forth the impression that the social networks are actually a distraction, i chose the color purple for the background, a color associated with negativity and fear.
The last equation: ME IN 5 YEARS
I am not a person with is farsighted, adventurous nor a risk taker. I like to do things at my own pace and observe gradual progress. 5 years is a relatively short time and i do not see myself as a complete different person that went through drastic change. Me in 5 years would, realistically, be a person who is down to earth, leading a normal life, in pursuit of my career. Therefore, the equation that would best describe how i see myself in half a decade is: Career + Partner = Me in 5 years.
A career to me represents the longest phase of any man. A man lives and dies by his career, be it for money or for passion. And to me, it is like an opening of a new chapter. Hence, i chose the evolution of a cocoon to a butterfly to represent it. The cocoon reflects my transition from university life to work life and the butterfly is a new me ready to face the challenges ahead. The blue and orange complimentary color scheme fits the before and after of myself.
Lastly, I would really hope to bump into ‘the one’ in 5 years time ( the sooner the better, of course). What is success when you have no one to share it with. Furthermore, i am a family-loving guy and my greatest hope is to have a family of my own. That, to me, is the greatest blessing in life. I represented myself and ‘her’ as shoes; me being a blue male sneakers and ‘her’ being the pink shoe. I added yellow to the background to form a triad color scheme, which adds hope and joy to the happy moment, which i hope to see it someday 🙂
So this is it. Ego.
A person who observes than participates, listens than speaks.
A person who needs to focus more and be distracted less.
A person who aspires to be an astounding artist one day.
and last of all…
A person who stays true to himself, stay humble and finds that happiness he yearns for.
This is ME.
-Ong Yi Teck