Professional Creative Portfolio

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LinkedIn Page: linkedin.com/in/feliciachuaqy

[Biography]

Hello! My name is Felicia, and I am currently pursuing a Visual Communication Major with an interest in User Experience Design (UI/UX). Based in Singapore, I specialise in Visual Identity, Packaging and Brand/Collaterals design. My design philosophy is to curate meaningful work that best represents brands and their ideologies, a human-centred design that understand and address the core problems within a system. My approach lies in shaping contextual narratives for brands and translating them into visual communication through conceptual and typographic details, which are then applied across digital, printed and occasionally spatial mediums.

[Share 3 of your best projects from your courses done so far]

Project 1: 花天酒地 / / Glassbar Concept Store

Purpose: Creative Branding for Visual Communication III

Theme: Bauhaus Art Movement

/ MORE ABOUT

A Modern Take on Bar Experience – With the shift in focus of the demand, bar experiences expand way beyond just a place for consumers to sit down and consume a drink. It has ultimately become a holistic approach that involves the whole purchasing, enjoyment, and consuming process that summarises if a bar worth a second visit. With millennials as the targeted group in the up and rising bar scene, the role of uniqueness is the key to being unforgettable. To enhance the characteristics of clarity and clearness in spirits and wines, our bar aims to re-represent the quality of transparency of alcohols into our bar concept. Once you enter the bar, it will feel like a shift in dimension – an alternate reality or universe. A glasshouse concept that occupies your surrounding with all things made of clear and transparent objects, to enhance the effect of etherealness.

/ BRAND PHILOSOPHY

THE BAR PLACE aspires to provide a glasshouse experience similar to the interior design of an igloo, we want to sell a unique, curated representation of lifestyle to people from all walks of life, especially millennials. We believe that through the use of clear materials, it can represent a non-complicated and stress-free lifestyle which reflects our unique brand identity of a glasshouse concept lounge bar.

/ BRAND IDENTITY

THE BAR PLACE serves to create a community where people can detach from reality momentarily, to shed the burden off your shoulders through our glasshouse ambience that emphasizes on lightweights through the concept of invisibility, giving you an ethereal and out of the world experience. Our products will be curated with transparent objects, which reflects depth when you stack to combine two items together – playing on the idea of invisibility. When stacked together, the visual imagery can form unique illustrations which hammer on the visual illusion of depth through lines. Lines with varying strokes will be a continuous design element used on our collaterals.

/ PACKAGING & PRODUCT DESIGN

The packaging aims at representing the modern beliefs of our bar, such as the laser lights to transience through transparent materials, detachable menus that come in 2 separate layers.

/ GRAPHICS RATIONALE

THE BAR PLACE graphic assets will replicate the rhythmic qualities of music and beats. More so, shapes that encapsulate the ingredients to our cocktail drinks – all represented in lines/outline to align with my concept on dynamism in lines – a reflection of different personalities. Presented in a non-representational way, the lines will draw depth and give the design a 3-dimensional appearance.

/ REFLECTION

This project concept may seem simple, but it has gone through a lot of renditions to get to the final output. As it was my first attempt using shapes to build a design concept, I thought this was quite a refreshing take compared to what I am used to doing. Apart from that, this project also challenged my ability to think critically as an aspiring designer.

Project 2: Thousand Thistles

Purpose: Cascading banner 3824 x 480mm

Theme: Japanese Villian Versus Warrior

/ MORE ABOUT

Why Thistle flower: Like its rough exterior, Thistle is the name of a flower that acquaints with aggressiveness, pain, protection and pride. The significance of a Thistle flower is defined as not only the flower but also its weed. Though the weed is commonly associated as a parasitic organism, it is valued to symbolise not just might and brilliance; but also poverty and weakness. Alike to the notable warriors during the Japanese Edo period, their role was to defend their territories against rivals, to fight enemies identified by the government, and battle with hostile tribes and bandits. Overall, these Heroes are respected and worshipped because of their dexterity and heart for their people. This composition focuses on the retelling of Ancient Folklore in a campfire setting, where the fire is used as a repetitive motif that embodies the power of destruction, yet contains generative qualities to illuminate and renew — Just like these warriors.

/ PATTERN SWATCHES

These series of pattern swatches are created based on the idea projected on a Japanese concept restaurant. The collaterals envisioned largely includes – Decorative Restaurant Wallpaper, Cutlery Set, Bowls and Plates, and Merchandises that will be made available for in-store purchase. Committing to the earthy tones palette, the interior style should look vintage, almost like an old painting with the richness of brown hues.

/ CHARACTER DESIGN

Project 3: UI/UX Interface Design

Purpose: NTU STUDY GO WHERE

Theme: Creating an app to enable NTU Students to source for study seats during off/on-peak periods, within all study areas on campus.

Scan QR Code to view app on mobile:

/ REFLECTION

This project was the first UI/UX assignment that kickstarted my interest in this field. Having only a film & design diploma from polytechnic and a visual comms major in university, this area is still pretty new to me. However, I do see the similarities in terms of creating an intuitive design that is centred around the user, alike to graphic design in some sense. It was a fun and meaningful project at the very end of the day.

[Share your analysis of the creative portfolio/branding presence of the person you chose for your creative industry presentation] [What are the main platforms that the artist/designer uses to communicate their brand?]

Artist/Designer – Gabriel Dawe

Dawe is a Mexican artist from Texas whose work is based on investigations of the visible spectrum of light. He largely gained renown for his Plexus series of installations of sewing thread.

Dawe’s Website | Dawe’s Instagram | Dawe’s Facebook | Dawe’s Twitter

Dawe’s appearance on Interview for Smithsonian American Art Museum:

Dawe’s appearance on Art & Seek Interview:

Also, see Dawe’s Interview with MyModernMet here.

[How do they utilise each platform effectively?]

Artists like Gabriel Dawe try to get more followers on the mainstream social platforms in order to stay competitive and relevant in today’s fast and rising tech culture. Gabriel uses Instagram for example to receive people’s feedback and orient public discourse. He would post his work in progress and his final installation on his feed to ensure that the masses are kept up to date with his latest buzz. This is also great for publicity especially when he spends so much time setting up and curating an installation. Dawe uses Instagram to his advantage to reach a global audience, beyond just the city of Texas. Instagram also serves as Dawe’s secondary portfolio page (apart from his main website), as the feed layout provides a concise collection of his artworks in chronological order.

Dawe streamlined all of his updates and latest activity across all of his social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook to his Instagram so that he doesn’t have to manage his activities separately. This effectively saves him time and yet, at the same time, he is able to update to different masses that reside on different media platforms.

Dawe also accepted several face to face and recorded interviews to increase his publicity. On the Youtube Video attached above, Dawe is seen on an interview with the Smithsonian American Art Museum where they provided snippets of the artist working on-site from start to end so that people understand his thought process behind his installation and how it is accomplished with specific tools and plannings. By doing this, Dawe can potentially increase his exposure to more of the museum-goers and art enthusiasts, a technique to market and sell his art to possible future clients and collaborators.

[What did they do in their biography to communicate themselves effectively?]

/ An abstract of Gabriel Dawe’s biography from his website –

“Originally from Mexico City, Gabriel Dawe creates site-specific installations that explore the connection between fashion and architecture, and how they relate to the human need for shelter in all its shapes and forms. His work is centred in the exploration of textiles, aiming to examine the complicated construction of gender and identity in his native Mexico and attempting to subvert the notions of masculinity and machismo prevalent in the present day. His work has been exhibited in the US, Canada, Belgium, and the UK. After living in Montreal, Canada for 7 years, he moved to Dallas, Texas, where he obtained his MFA at the University of Texas at Dallas. For the final two years of his degree, he was an artist in residence at CentralTrak, the Artist in Residency program at UTD. His work has been featured in numerous publications around the world, including Sculpture magazine, the cover of the 12th edition of Art Fundamentals published by McGraw-Hill, and in author Tristan Manco’s book Raw + Material = Art.”

Alongside with his education background and his featured solo/collaborated exhibitions around the world. Here is an example of the presentation:

Gabriel Dawe is highly detail-oriented when it comes to the documentation of all of his past and current exhibitions. I feel that by doing so, he is able to successfully showcase his expertise and experience in his area of work, which all in all proves that he is a competent and trustworthy artist no matter where he goes.

Besides that, with all of the details recorded on his biography, people is able to search on google easily if they are interested in a specific installation from a specific site/place. This effectively prevents confusion as he logged down all of the minute details.

PLEXUS ART by Gabriel Dawe

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DOWNLOAD LINK FOR PDF VERSION (REPORT): HERE

DOWNLOAD PRESENTATION SLIDE: HERE

The Artist that I want to talk about today is from Mexico, his name is Gabriel Dawe. For more than 10 years now, he has been consistently creating site-specific installations made up of rainbow coloured threads. Like many other artists, he started off as a humble graphic designer, and eventually, his career path took a turn and he slowly started generating works based on his passion in Fashion and Architecture. The thread used in his artwork represents the sewing machismo of his home country where men are frown upon if they perform tasks deemed to be feminine. His grandmother would often forbid him to pick up the sewing needle as a kid, thus in his later life, he decided to use Thread as his main medium, using this as an attempt to explore and subvert the social constructs of gender. Since the nature of his thread installation is complex in nature throughout all themes, he named them “Plexus” (noun, an intricate network).

To Gabriel Dawe, Fashion and Architecture share one thing in common: The Human need for shelter. The main function of clothes and buildings is to protect an individual and to provide sanctuary. Each installation is painstakingly put together, and many wonder what happens to these thread after installation is dismantled. Gabriel collects all the threads and sorts them according to their colour, and in continuation, proceed to create another piece of artwork which he calls “Relics”, which subsequently gives it a second lease of life in a compacted box. His artwork is at the crossroads of textile, art and perception – put together in a creative and dynamic way. His work brings about a sense of tenderness and serenity to its viewers and beyond just that, it encapsulates the artist’s growing pains and his gripes with societal issues.

Bibliography:

Adler, Maggie (2016). Embodied Light. Amon Carter Museum of American Art. p. 7.

Gabriel Dawe Visual Artist. (n.d.). Retrieved September 12, 2020, from https://www.gabrieldawe.com/

Shovava, Day, T., Comma, & Colorsheets, V. (2018, July 06). Interview: The Artist Who Stretches Delicate Strands of Thread to Produce Awe-Inspiring Rainbows Indoors. Retrieved September 12, 2020, from https://mymodernmet.com/gabriel-dawe-thread-art/

Word Count: 300 words

Thousand Thistles

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About /

Tokugawa period, also called the Edo period, the final period of traditional Japan, a time of internal peace, political stability, and economic growth under the shogunate (military dictatorship).

Why a Thistle flower /

“If your thought is a rose, you are a rose garden; and if it is a thistle, you are fuel for the fire.” ~ Rumi

Like its rough exterior, Thistle is the name of a flower that acquaints with aggressiveness, pain, protection and pride. The significance of a Thistle flower is defined as not only the flower but also its weed. Though the weed is commonly associated as a parasitic organism, it is valued to symbolise not just might and brilliance; but also poverty and weakness. Alike to the notable warriors during the Japanese Edo period, their role was to defend their territories against rivals, to fight enemies identified by the government, and battle with hostile tribes and bandits.

Overall, these Heroes are respected and worshipped because of their dexterity and heart for their people. This composition focuses on the retelling of Ancient Folklore in a campfire setting, where the fire is used as a repetitive motif that embodies the power of destruction, yet contains generative qualities to illuminate and renew — Just like these warriors.

Vertical Banner /

Cascading Banner – ADM Lobby

Media Wall /

For animated version: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dowEcdiEXEaSHYOyVMJTKfWstxmYK17C/view?usp=sharing

Mockups /

Japanese Condiment Bowl – ft. Wrestle of the Sumos

Artisan Ceramic Design – ft. Flaming Escape

Ceramic Sake Pitcher w/ Cups

Ceramic Plate Collection – ft. assorted patterns

Artisan Vase – ft. Eye See You

Ceramic Tea Cup – ft. Gunbai Villian

Patterns /

Pattern Swatches

Issuu Publication /

Moodboard / Research

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Project ZOO OF ODDS – Final

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Collateral 1 – Exhibition Poster

Well, this will be the very first advertorial that people will be exposed to. Welcome to the Zoo of Odds, for it is now opened. The intended size is A2 and it will be advertised everywhere to make sure the zoo profit from all the money dumped into all these promotions.

Collateral 2 – Visitor Lanyard with Tag

The first 1000 visitors who purchased their tickets will receive this very special and of course, limited edition lanyard that looks super goth. I hope this lanyard helps to drive sales! Hehe. Please be enticed to come?

Collateral 3 – Tote bag merchandise

The third collateral will be a collectable canvas tote bag that is sold at the souvenir shop, each priced at $44.40. These are some of the exclusive stuff you will find at the zoo of odds! (Cost price is $10 though, all profit goes to the maintenance and welfare of these animals!!)

Sample 1:

Sample 2 & 3:

Collateral 4 – Entry Tickets

After the first 1000 cap hits, we will be distributing these tickets to each and every visitors instead of the limited edition lanyard. It can be used as a keepsake too, memorabilia from the never before exhibition.

Collateral 5 – Dark Cocoa Milk Carton

Visitors can locate this cute box of animal printed milk carton over at the cafeteria of the zoo exhibition. Collectors can purchase and even use the box as a form of memento or keepsake (that is if they wash it clean after the food consumption). Still preserving the whole “dark theme” across my collaterals, I thought this would be a cute add on to the whole concept of having a Zoo.

Get your ultimate dark cocoa milk at only $6.90 – Available only at the ZOO OF ODDS okay. Give these exotic animals a visit, please!!

Documentation of some of the printed collaterals. Yay!

Project ZOO OF ODDS – Ideation

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YES! Welcome to the documentation of my final project of the sem. For applied illustration, the theme which I will be focusing on is……. ZOO OF ODDS! Clearly, the name suggests animals and oddities! So excited, I can’t wait to start.

Let’s begin on some design inspirations first. I really want to explore the old school tattoo illustration style and I personally feel that this particular theme is so unique and bold – something that holds so many strong characteristics that makes it so distinguishable as a style. I looooove.

There are quite some interesting artworks I found on Inkstinct.co and here are some of the examples that are available for my tattoo illustration studies:

Now on to moodboard execution:

Illustration Style: Thick, define lines, and 2-dimensional illustrations are what represents old school art best, in my opinion.

Color Scheme: Leaning towards the almost dull, muted tones, I feel like this carries a prominent vintagey vibe to it. Since most old school tattoos are defined by thick, solid lines that encapsulates the traditional ink colours, such palette would be a good reflection of my selected topic.

Typography: Something that will go well with the graphics will be prominent and loud typography that screams old school. I am thinking of using blackletter/decorative typefaces to compliment the theme.

For my final deliverables, I am looking at a Poster design for advertisement of the event, Lanyard tag for guests, Tote bag (merchandise product), a Gift Box that comes with every souvenir purchased and finally, the event Ticket Stud that grants admission for guests.

Execution:

Logo for the event is as follow: I chose an edgy looking typeface that foreshadows the ominousity that awaits.

Color scheme: I imagine my poster to have a dark, if not black background. To make colors more apparent, I decided to use colours like royal blue, crimson red, and dustier schemes to go against the dark-toned background.

Illustrating Process:

More on completed characters to finish off my poster and collateral design! There was quite some bit of trial and error process to get the style nailed down. I had to experiment on the strokes as well as the shadings on the animals to enable more character on each illustration.

The next post will be on Final Collaterals! Stay tuned.

VAROOM – On final

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Hello y’all! This is a post on the final outcome of my Varoom magazine cover design, with the chosen topic as “Obsession“. As a continuation from the research and conceptualising post, we will now be discussing the different aspects of my (hopefully) final layout design. To rewind back a little, my concept is based on the Japanese contemporary artist, Yayoi Kusama, who is often known for her bright red wig and quirky polka-dot ensembles, which is one aspect which makes her instantly recognisable.

I was inspired but how strong a woman she is, as she overcame her many childhood trauma (which includes rape, gender discrimination, and several disorders), prejudice and mental illness to become a sensation late in life.

“Kusama’s desire to create was always greater than her desire to die.” – this is one commentary about her which inspired me in so many weird ways, it makes me realise how tiny my problems are.

With this being my chosen idea, we will now proceed on to the execution + completion phase.

Watch my illustration progress in the videos below:

Here is the final layout on Yayoi Kusama after much corrections!

And here are some visual mockups:

Read on my conceptualising process here!

VAROOM – Research and Ideation

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HELLO EVERYONE and hello to very next assignment (aka ‘Varoom Cover Design’). Well, I have definitely heard of Varoom publishing before but I haven’t actually taken notice of their content/layout style. So I got curious and attempted a quick search on google! So here are some of the existing cover design/style I found on google. Pretty interesting, very simple graphics and at times, very abstract too. I was surprised cause it was nothing like I imagined a design magazine cover to be. Varoom’s layout is surprisingly quirky and “freestyled” almost. Did another quick search on their branding and here’s what I found: “Varoom magazine is renowned as a hub of discussion for the illustration community, and an advocate for innovative approaches to the practice.”

Their new editor, Olivia Ahmad, describes the intention for each issue as being “a live reflection of what is happening in illustration at any given moment… presenting new work and giving insight into how it’s done, but also asking questions about it – why make it? – what does it mean to people?” – Cool stuff. It’s really more than just an aesthetically pleasing cover, there’s more to it. Okay with that, let us move on to our process!

Now, I selected “obsession” amongst the two other topics and let’s start. What does obsession mean? As on Dictionary.com, they defined the state of obsession as being:

Obsessed with someone or something – “She cared for him with a devotion bordering on obsession”

An idea or thought that continually preoccupies or intrudes on a person’s mind

Some of its synonyms also include fixation, compulsion and passion. My understanding of obsession goes in two different way, one being a positive feeling, the other being the opposite. When someone is overly obsessed, their interest has become compulsive, they begin to lose control over themselves. I decided to focus on Yayoi Kusama and her obsession over dots. I am pretty sure this is quite a famous household name by now, but what does it truly mean to be a Yayoi kind of obsession?

With some research, I found out that her obsession over dots visually approximates the hallucinations Kusama reportedly suffered as a child, in which the entirety of her surrounding space was covered with repeating patterns. Besides being very instagrammable and photogenic (her installations), many people failed to see that it comes from a very tragic place – her childhood, a period of her life less than idyllic.

When Kusama began to see hallucinations as a child, her way of coping with the bizarre phenomena was to paint what she saw. She says that art became her way to express her mental disease. This most notably is seen in Infinity Net – a painting based on repetitive patterns.

This is what Yayoi has to say based on her very painting – Infinity Net: “With just one polka dot, nothing can be achieved. In the universe, there is the sun, the moon, the earth, and hundreds of millions of stars. All of us live in the unfathomable mystery and infinitude of the universe. Pursuing philosophy of the universe through art under such circumstances has led me to what I call stereotypical repetition.”

With repetition of dots, it gives us a sense of the boundless and endlessness of our infinite universe. To Yayoi, when we are born on this planet we call home, all in all, everything around us is to be represented in circles. The moon is a polka dot, the sun is a polka dot, the earth where we live in is also a polka dot. Yayoi also suggests that everything that makes up of this entirety of the universe can be represented in dots/circles. I found this information to be truly intriguing, as to how a “mentally ill” artist views the world to be as blatantly honest yet a realistic realisation of an idea I have never thought about. Cool.

With this piece of new found information, I decided that my layout on obsession will focus on the above concept of circles and dots as space. With that settled, we can now move on to our target audience!!!

Let’s go!

PERSONA #1

Say hello to our first persona, Leanne! She’s a graphic design graduate and has an absolute free-spirit. Read on more about the details of her below.

PERSONA #2 – Caithlyn!

Essentially, when it comes to who I think will be attracted to my magazine design, I think of these qualities

Design enthusiast/ Art students (someone who collects/looks upon design editorials & magazines for inspiration)
Love for bright colours!
Youngsters aged 21 to 35

Moving on further, we’ll look at the mood boards I have created for my final concept.

Illustration style: Stylised, colour blocking technique

Colour scheme: Mainly I am looking into primary colours like deep blue, red and yellow perhaps. The mood board below is pretty much self-explanatory!

Finally, here’s what I have for my quick thumbnail sketches (x16):

Among all these sketches, I put a star beside some of the idea/concepts which I prefer! Try and spot them, haha.

Finally, here are my 3 quick sketches before I move on to finalising my concept for “Obsession” for Varoom. I will also include a short write up on the scenarios that you see below! Read on if you want to find out 🙂

Layout 1:

This is Yayoi Kusama the great peering into the mirror which diverts her to an alternate universe which she calls reality. In this layout, the idea revolves around her not being able to find a sense of belonging in the world where she belongs – her miserable childhood was of no help, her detrimental parents – especially the mother who does not support her artistry passion/dream. She longs to move away and get out of the “hell hole” which is why I thought of this concept. A place where she finds comfort in – an alternative reality of Kusama. Trippy.

Layout 2:

This is Yayoi Kusama morphing into a planet. As mentioned in the short introduction of her above, I wrote about her vision of the world. A place where everything is in form of a dot – this includes the Sun, Moon and earth. As well as everything and anything that constitutes the entirety of this galaxy/universe/milky way etc. I was very inspired by this revelation during my research phase because I never thought much about her works at first. To me, it was just a compilation of many dots – something that fascinates the youth because it is very “instagrammable”. Now after I found out there was actually more to it, I wanted to create a piece of work in a reflection of her ideology. So here it is.

Behind her is many other planets as well which I feel helps to better frame the composition of the cover. Instead of putting circles and dots on everything, I wanted to tell a story, something that is a good representation of Yayoi Kusama herself. Yup!!!

Layout 3:

Finally, this is her on a road trip. A documentation of her escaping her home, her family because she found it extremely suffocating to be a part of them. All the expectations she had to live up, and people trying to tell her what is right and what is not. In this layout, Yayoi is on a getaway to the wonderland of dots – a world uniquely hers to live. I mean, instead of replicating her works, I want to share a piece of what I learnt about her as an artist and the life before she was famous and actually “made it”. So that is that!

Click “here” for my final documentation, and last but not least, thanks for reading! (to be updated, stay tuned)

Ciaos!

Research & Conceptualisation – Self Portrait

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Actualising a Self-Portrait

Welcome to Part 1 of the Project, where I will write about the inspiration behind the very project I have here with me: Stylised Self Portrait. Once I got home, I started drawing a basic mind map about myself – which includes my hobbies & (food) interests. Personally, I would very much describe myself as a HUUUuuuUuUGe FooOoooooooOdie – Cause food is life, right? Who can resist a bowl of piping hot noodles? Or a cone of beautiful, milky soft-serve plonked atop a crispy waffle cone. NOT ME!! I’d choose food over anything, anytime. Thank you, next.

Here’s an overview of my thought process recorded in the form of a mind map: In essence, the image below speaks about the 2 concepts I have in mind and wish to execute. It includes the type of colour scheme I want to implement and as well as the medium & style for the portrait illustration.

Conceptualising the first idea: “Bingsoo Face”

Bing soo is a type of Korean dessert, typically made from shaven ice + a myriad of saucy toppings and a bunch of freshly cut fruits. This is one of my favourite desserts and I ever dreamt of reincarnating to this perfect bowl of icy goodness. Below is an image of how it looks like!

I thought it would be interesting if I were to break up my facial features and build the anatomy of the Bingsoo structure. Below is a rough sketch of how I imagined the split section to look like:

By splitting up my facial features (e.g. eyes, nose, lips, ears) and simplifying them into basic shapes like oval and circle, to build the structure of this yummy tower. I thought I would go full on abstract with this one to avoid being overly literal and representational of an actual face but at the same time describes my favourite food.

Artist References:

Jack Smith has a few ranges of works which I adore, in terms of his interpretations to abstraction really fascinates me. His works are often greatly influenced by the Bauhaus movement, and one of his remarkable creation of David Bowie’s Portrait resonated with me.

cr: https://www.saatchiart.com/art/Collage-Bowie-Bauhaus-THREE-David-Bowie-Portrait-2016-XLarge-Unique-Monoprint-1-1/672079/2851449/view?utm_source=collectors_non_purchasers&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2006&c_aid=non_purchasers&c_crid=presents2&c_xid=090116&utm_content=090116_non_purchasers

The choice of colours used was fantastic and well-coordinated throughout. I especially like the contrast between the primary colours, which is what made this piece stood out. The mix of geometric shapes kind of hint at the influence of Futurism and Bauhaus combine. The almost “random” placement of his deconstructed face gives it more depth which is able to peak interests amongst people. The smack centre composition and the tiny white space around the border frame up the structure of this albeit simple looking but well thought through piece. With all the playful “thoughtless” placement of objects, the art piece made David Bowie seems like a free-spirited person. I am mainly inspired by the thought that was placed behind the creation of this portrait, a rather anarchic approach to making art that perhaps not many can agree on.

Besides Jack Smith, there is also another artist/designer whom I adore. She goes by the name of “Alarah” on social media. Her style is super minimalist, usually accompanied by a few strokes of lines to illustrate dynamism and shapes. Her is her Instagram account which documents some of her works.

cr: https://www.instagram.com/alarah___/

I am not usually attracted to minimalism but her clean style caught my eyes. It’s funny how a few simple strokes can portray so much meaning, just as much as a maximalist work. Sometimes, less really is more. Lines are so powerful they have the ability to provoke thoughts.

‘REFLECTIONS’ 2017 (Coal on A2 Eco paper)

‘ALUA’

With all these artist references, I came up with my first draft for Concept #1 – The Bingsoo Face.

I employed a set of deeply contrasted bunch of colours to reflect the creaminess of an Iced Bingsoo dessert, and more so, the multi-sensory dimension that it has! You may have also noticed that each individual piece of shape has an accompanying texture which hints at the feature it was based on. For example, the light blue piece with zigzag lines reflects the flow of my hair. I wanted this layout to appear haphazard and anarchic, a way to reflect my free-spirited nature as I prefer to discover things along the way than to stick to a well thought through path. All these bits and pieces of vector shapes formed the anatomy of my favourite dessert! I thought it would be a straight-forward and interesting way to represent myself. The need to uncover each and every feature kind of provide an extra bit of fun for people to unravel/decode the meaning behind this piece. After sitting through the first consultation with Lisa, I realise that perhaps this is a little way too abstract! So I proceeded to hon on my (hopefully better) second concept.

Okay, let’s move on to concept 2!

Circle Food by Chris David

YES, MORE ON FOOD! The title of this work will be THE advent calendar (HAHA how uncreative). Essentially, it will be a collage of all the food I love, but at the same time, these food items form a silhouette of myself.

Artist Inspirations

Unlike the previous concept, I plan on illustrating this on the Ipad, perhaps with a mix of media! Here are a few of my all-time favourite concept works:

Works of: We are out of office

Can I just say I much I love their choice of colours?! These cards are actually risograph prints, that explains why the colours are so vibrant and poppish. The style of illustration is one big factor as to what makes their works stand out from the ordinary. It kind of reminds me of the ever iconic Andy Warhol’s works.

Works of May Van Millingen

May’s work often contains numerous drawings that come together to form a series. Her style has been influenced by old botanical and scientific drawings, which she often studies. She also combines hand drawing with digital processes and uses ink, pencil and watercolours to create her work. Her process usually combines mark-making, strong graphic lines, cross-hatched shading and bold use of colour which is what makes her work remarkably unique.

cr: https://www.illustrationweb.com/sg/styles/food-and-drink

Here is my initial composition of how I visualise my artwork to be:

Listed below are some of my most most most bought snack/junk food that I absolutely cannot live without. Like chocolates, instant noodles, chips and cheese, tangy tomato soup, and fruit jams!! LOVE THEM TO BITS. Following through, I went on to create some illustrations based on the inspiration above. I want it to be stylised in a manner it doesn’t reflect too much realism, so it has a customise So here they are:

Colours are one of the most important aspects of design – The make or break perhaps. So when it comes to colour picking, The colours used were primary and secondary colours as I personally feel that selecting the right colour scheme can create the suitable kind of ambience and set the mood right. I gave the illustration a fine, blue outline and a similar set of colour treatment so all of them look consistent and overall the sketchy effect gives it a very personal touch. Here’s some of the behind the scene compilation of how I work with my layers:

I wanted the portrait to be of central focus, therefore, the placement of the portrait. The background colour (a strong contrast of red) that goes in harmony with the selected colour scheme compliments the vibe that I am aiming for, which also, resonates my cultural background – one that comes from a Chinese family amongst the Multiculturalism of Singapore. This gives my layout a stronger sense of rationality apart from my love for food. I also have repeated prints that resemble the traditional textile patterns that is almost representative of the culture – one that many can relate to automatically. When consulting Lisa, she noticed that perhaps the overall visual interest can be further peaked with the image of myself superimposed against the food collage. I tried it out and indeed, it looks brilliant!

This is one of the many attempts on creating a better visual interest instead of using the entire image as an overlay. The whole idea behind the concept of this is to illustrate the facade I put on, when deep inside, I am actually just a food junkie. The masquerade concept didn’t really work out the way I imagined so I decided to drop that and continue fostering on the current idea I have.

This is the pre-final layout that I (almost) settled for, but still, I find that there are still ways that I can improve the layout further. I guess it would require a few more layers so that it helps to tell a more compelling story visually. Read the next post to check out the final changes I made to the self-portrait.

Click here for the final reflection. I’ll see you there.

Thanks for reading! Ciaos.

Outcome – Self Portrait

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Read my progress here: Click

Final Layout: Initial Progress VS Final

I decided to frame my composition to something that resembles a Chinese calendar (I will insert a picture of it below) which is a reflection of my ethnicity background, especially being in a multi-cultural country, patterns and colours can hint at a certain tradition/culture. Therefore, with hues of red being the most prominent colour, I thought this can better bring about a sense of festivity especially for a time like now, ITS THE CHINESE NEW YEAR!

P.S: It is my favourite holiday as I get to indulge in the most sinful snacks as well as receive money from Red Packets! Two of my most loved activities (Talk about a win-win situation!)

The traditional Chinese calendar

The mandarin text in the border means “Food is life”, and the subtle details such as the date further build the impression of this being a Chinese Calendar. The dates that were written below signifies my birth date, a representation of the beginning of my life that reflects the ideology behind this advent calendar layout. More than just that, it is a reflection of my upbringing under the care of very strict and traditional parents. The traditional aspect, therefore, resulted in my personality as I am just a ball of shyness. The portrait is shying away to the right side to support my personality trait as forward facing portrait kind of suggest strength and confidence.

The random collage of food items in the background just brings out the quirkiness and vibrancy of my character as well as the stylistic aspect of hand drawing and detailing of the food packagings that brings out the personalised aspect of this portrait.

Challenges faced:

As I attempted the food illustrations on the Ipad, I had to ensure that the brushes and colour scheme is seamless throughout each and every food packaging drawn. Restriction can sometimes be seen as a challenge as well, as you are only allowed to work within a limited ground with very specific tools. Experimenting with colours was quite a journey as well! I designed multiple colour schemes before finalising with the one above – which I am eventually satisfied with! Also, conceptualising the overall idea and theme is one of the hardest aspects, in my opinion. Besides just realising a portrait, I want my design to be able to tell a “compelling” story.

This is the end of my journey for project one! Thanks for following!