2D Forrest Gump – Process

Just to refresh back from previous post. These are my final quotes:

“To infinity and beyond.” by Buzz Lightyear from the movie ‘Toy Story’

“We don’t get to choose our time.” by The Ancient One from the movie ‘Dr Strange’

“Don’t grow up, it’s a trap.” by Peter from the movie ‘Peter Pan’

“I wish I could freeze this moment, right here, right now and live in it forever.” by Peeta from the movie ‘The Hunger Games’

Inititially I wanted to focus more on the quote from Peter Pan – “Don’t grow up it’s a trap”. So here are my processes:

I focused on the idea of “trap” and not “growing up”. Since i didn’t have photoshop initially, I sketched my first idea out which was having the innocent but “scared” Wendy look being trapped through the symbolism of hands around her. ( as seen below)

But after consultation, my professor and I agreed that it looked like as if she’s being groped or molested and that was definitely not how i want it to come across.

So i came up with a few more ideas. Why not Wendy being trapped in a mousetrap and the stuff that she is going for is a ‘dream house’ that resembles adulthood? Which was also part of growing up? (seen below)

But in the end I didn’t like how it turned out as it looked abit literal, and i wanted a minimalistic kind of work which was not represented here.

I tried using the cage as a trap instead and a huge hand that was suppose to resemble the ‘bigger’ person in adulthood. And the ghostly-shaped blackhole was suppose to represent her going into a ‘lost’ zone once  she grows up.

 

I liked where i was going from here but i felt that some things was abit off for example: Wendy is too literal here, I didn’t want people to know who or what this person is suppose to be. And I felt that the blackhole was taking most of the attention hence it was not necessary for it to be there in the first place. And then I had an idea where the big hand could be replaced by a hook, you know, to put a touch of Captain Hook (the evil man) in the movie Peter Pan.

So then I ended up with the one below, and I liked it.

I used a normal innocent-looking girl that looks slightly lost hence the circular motions behind to represent her state of confusion and lost after being trapped in the cage, stopping her from growing. Ands this cage supposedly comes from an evil thing or person, as symbolised from the hook, the hook which in Peter Pan’s context, is part of a grown man that is evil (hence representing adulthood).

That’s for my final idea for the quote on “Don’t grow up, it’s a trap.”

For the quote: “We don’t get to choose our time” – Dr Strange, I chose to do a simple one where the man is in an hour glass, trying to grab hold of time itself as seen from him floating grasping for something that he couldn’t. (seen below)

But i felt that the lines could have been clearer to show that it is an hour glass. Also the reason for the water inside the hour glass is to show the illusion, since in the movie Dr Strange they played with illusions and time very well. They were intertwined, which was what I tried to do here.

For the quote  “I wish I could freeze this moment, right here, right now, and live in it forever.” – The Hunger Games, I wanted to put both the silhoutte of Katniss and Peeta in an ice cube to show like as if they ARE in the moment, and frozen in it – like as if that ice cube is also their home to live in. (seen below)

I just felt that it was too simple, maybe i could have added a slight touch of simple geometrical designs behind? Hmmm.

Aaanyways here comes my favourite work of all for the quote on “To infinity and beyond.” – Toy Story. Like the movie Peter Pan, I grew up watching this too and I will never get tired of it. I focused on the keywords of “infinity” and “beyond”.

To portray the infinity, I made it look like theres a galaxy behind and also include the circular portion as circles are always the clsoest to symbolise something infinite. Oooh and the planets in there too because when I think of infinity, i think of the vast space and galaxies which have planets included.

To represent the beyond, the triangular pedestal infront of the man is suppose to portray the fact that there’s a horizon and BEYOND that is something more, something infinite. Hence to infinity and beyond. I added a touch of Buzz Lightyear (the character who said this in Toy Story) in it as seen from the ‘bagpack’ design in the man’s hoodie at the back, because that’s the rocket ‘bagpack’ Buzz had on him.

I did another as a process:

Buttttt I didn’t like it.

Overall I ended up liking the work above this one the most because I made use of the background space and to me this may not be so minimalistic but it was aesthetically pleasing, and it shows the huge meaning behind it.

I was excited to see this on my totebag so…..let’s go all infinity annnnnd beyoooonnnddd!

 

2D Forrest Gump – Quotes & Inspo Research

On my previous post I only talked about the quotes itself (link below) that I was interested in using,

2D Forrest Gump – Quotes

but I decided to add on new ones which will be part of my finalised quotes (plus using some from previous post) behind my final works.

The new ones that I will be focusing on is:

“To infinity and beyond.” by Buzz Lightyear from the movie ‘Toy Story’

and

“We don’t get to choose our time.” by The Ancient One from the movie ‘Dr Strange’ 

In overall, the all 4 final quotes behind my works will be those stated above and 2 from the previous post which are:

“Don’t grow up, it’s a trap.” by Peter from the movie ‘Peter Pan’

and

“I wish I could freeze this moment, right here, right now and live in it forever.” by Peeta from the movie ‘The Hunger Games’

MY INSPIRATION-RESEARCH.

One of my inspirations for illustration is this artist named Dan Hillier

and another from an Instagram user called @oasis_of_hate.

The reason being, some of their works focus on filling the empty white spaces and made good use of it. Some managed to give off the dark-fantasy effect with the use of black portions and that was something I was inclining towards.

I was also intrigued by how in some of Dan Hillier’s works, he makes use of geometry or cubes as his background or part of his illustration (such as the one below) and I wanted to do the same in my works.

Above all, most of the good illustration-artists have one thing in common: their works are centralised and minimalistic hence giving it a touch of simplicity. I strive to achieve that in my works.

4D Sequencing Images – “Am I Pretty Now?”

PROCESS: IDEATION

So in my group, there’s Bala, Hui En, Karen and me. We had 3 different stories. Mine was about  a friend whose life was going downhill when he took drugs and that was when our friendship just kind of strained. I wanted to continue the story in a positive light where he changed into a better person after NS.

Bala’s story was about a friend who was smart and also pretty, everyone in school would tell her to be a model. Hui En’s story was about her friend from boarding school, and how she see her change drastically in terms of looks by going for a lot of plastic surgery. She could not even recognise her friend after.

AND SO, we decided to go with Hui En’s idea and make our own continuation because someway somehow when we discussed, our ideas clicked on the idea of Fantasy/Tragedy coming from her story.

We came up with our storyboard and some of the props we needed.

(Leaving this space to post the fuller version once it’s edited properly!)

RESEARCH (for task 2):

In terms of image, I wanted the dark warm tone, but at the same time focusing on the lighting exposure on certain images to focus on the protagonist and depending on the mood at that point of time.

One of the films I was inspired by was Pan’s Labryinth (2006) as we were leaning towards the idea of Fantasy. And I wanted to focus more on ‘Dark Fantasy’ which was what this film is all about.

Because I loved the film, I went to look at Guillermo del Toro’s (the film director and producer of this film) other works such as Crimson Peak (2015).

I loved how he managed to use dark tones to portray the dark mood. Which was what I wanted in some of my photos.

I  tried out B&W just to see how different the effect will feel and look. I changed it to a slightly warmer tone to make a vintage-y effect as I thought it will look good. I added on a whimsical creepy music to further portray the dark fantasy. But overall, I didn’t quite like it because I felt that it looked better with colour hence I decided this one should just be a trailer. And I did another for the main image sequencing. (the one way below)

I guess it was really tough for me in the process of this project because of the editing, as I was not familiar with any of the professional video app such as Audience CC or Premiere Pro. I was only familiar with iMovie BUT on my iPhone, not on Mac book pro. SIGH. So there was still alot to learn. Overall I think I like how it turned out. It could be better if I learn to better pace out my time during the process.

 

 

Gaia’s Ikebana (II) – research process

I was given the theme Spring.

When it comes to Ikebana, it is not just some flower arrangement, but it is “the art of Japanese flower arrangement, with formal display according to strict rules”.’

Before doing my final Ikebana, I researched more on the spring season in Japan as I wanted to know more about it first – like what are it’s features in the flowers that bloom? what kind of flowers are they? when do they take place during the seaon?

I didn’t want to just know what an “ikebana” is, I wanted to know how to make a good one by incorporating the different features of the each blossoming flowers in Japan and what’s so special about different ikebana styles, hence researching on what I had to. The picture below are my initial ideas i came up with on the day we were given the Ikebana task.

My moodboard – mainly for colour and flower features.

The picture above are the kinds of flowers that bloom during the Spring season in Japan. Notice that I did not include any other bright colours such as yellow (which also blossom during Spring there) as I wanted to focus on these colours for my flowers in Ikebana. And also looking at some of the plants that simply fall elegantly with flowers clinging onto them – that’s one of my inspiration when making one of my Ikebana works.

So I wrote all of what I know down on my sketchbook.

From there I went on to see the kinds of ikebana style i wanted to make. So i searched up a few and these few caught my attention.

I was also interested in some other artist works such as Andy Goldsworthy and Jordyn Miley. This is because it shows the amount of patience they had to make unique sculptures out of branches and twigs and basically nature, without destroying much of their initial stage, which is what I am trying to do when making my ikebana.

For Goldsworthy, it’s because he made use of nature ONLY without destroying the aspect of it to create such an interesting sculpture, a land art. He would work with nature alone and not use other materials to say for example, stick them together to make a sculpture. An example would be the one below.

Woven branch circular arch

For Jordyn Miley, she does abstract nature weaving like the one below.

So the rough ideas I got from these was that, hmm maybe try weaving branches or twigs together to make a sphere? Since we still needed to incorporate spheres, cylinders and cones. And that itself could be my dominant, while the little flowers could be my double SO(s). And what if i also used pebbles instead?

I got alot of inspiration from all these and there was so many “what ifs” so I thought why not try making 1 first and see how it goes then maybe make another.

These are my final outcome ideas:

Stay close for the upcoming post where I will share my final Ikebana work (or should say “works”)! TEEHEE.

My application for 3D Pandora’s Box FINAL

I don’t know if this was overdue but i’m gonna share it anyway. [hi Ms Cheryl I have already included the link on my previous post on ‘progress’  stated below like you wanted] Before I go into the details, here is the link to my previous posts on my 3D Pandora Progress (the 1st link) and my 3D Pandora Final (the 2nd link)

3D Pandora – Progress Towards Final ‘Counter-Balance’ Structure

3D Pandora – Final ‘Counter-Balance’ Structure

So my application for my structure would be a hugeeee shower panel for the public’s usage that could cater to more than 5 people at once. Meaning, it could be placed at swimming pool areas or especially at the beaches where people need to take some rinse before and after getting into the waters.

I apologise if i can only afford to draw stickman here……but yeah they are bathing there.

In the 1st picture below, if you see closely, I changed up the material for the SO digitally by using marble colour because I decided the marble material would be better when we are using this in wet areas as it last longer when we talk about non-corrosion or rust (they don’t rust). In the following pictures after, I decided to decorate the shower panels with colours of turquoise-blue and water droplets as it resembles well with the idea of shower, water and the surroundings.

Yeah I took a long time editing and moving the cubes to the right places for this but my drawing ends up looking horrid to show what my application would be like, my apologies. frown I hope it still makes sense!

3D Pandora – Final ‘Counter-Balance’ Structure

I already posted my process to getting to this. This is my final ‘Counter-balance’ structure.

The all-sides view of the structure and showing that at least 4/6 of it went right.

 

The reason why I wanted to use a metal rod for the SO was because metal can easily be the backbone of alot of things. And the material of this metal is specifically aluminium as it is known for not rusting or corroding easily. Hence if it touches water, it won’t rust. IN ALL HONESTY, this was hard to create to balance it well. I had to get the right measurements for everything. I thought of making it into a floating building, or a hardy bar soap dispenser. undecided

3D Pandora – Progress Towards Final ‘Counter-Balance’ Structure

 

PREPAAARE, a really (thought-through and reflective) long post incoming.

In last week’s lesson, we went through each and everyone’s boxes and consulted our professor. After my consultation for my ‘counter-balance’ work I went to make some changes to my boxes. So there are two structures that I’m planning to create (as seen below):

In my 1st structure, I went to make changes to the SO and SD to make my D block more dominant, and basically make an interesting counter-balance figure. It was quite hard to ensure that my figure balances as my D foam block was thick, tall and mainly weighs more than the SD could handle. So I decided that the D block had to be lighter than SD and the SD had to be heavier to be able to support the whole structure.

In my 2nd structure, I went to also make changes to my D and SD by making the D thinner and choosing an acrylic slightly longer to try and support the D and SO.

Of course taking into account of the length and width of the blocks too, it wasn’t easy. ESPECIALLY when we have to start including the materials we want to use.

So in this post, I will be sharing a few of my fails when creating structure 2 and structure 1 with other materials. And then I will show how I finally made progression towards a successful structure through structure 1 draft model (as I shifted more of my focus onto it).

LET’S BEGIN!

TRYING TO MAKE STRUCTURE 2

I started by trying to come up with a good structure using wood and acrylic and aluminium metal for structure 2. The wood for my Dominant block, the acrylic for my Sub-dominant block, and the aluminium metal for my Sub-ordinate block. Here below are some progress shots.

It was definitely tough to cut out the portion of the wood that I wanted, despite using a saw because there are some problems I encountered while doing so:

  • some parts of the wood are made harder hence harder to have a clean cut
  • when cutting through them, it is hard to maintain the same measurement at the length and the width
  • it is EVEN harder to carve the middle of the wood out to turn it into a frame!!! 🙁

When I was trying (very) hard to carve it out, the thin portion at the sides starts to break and I’d have to super glue them back together. And even though it works and everything finally looks like a frame, I still had to do some wedging at the bottom of the frame to insert my medium acrylic block for my SD.  But the chaos happened here: my saw couldn’t wedge through the hard part of the wood properly and I ended up cutting the space for my SD a little wider. 🙁

This in turn could not let my whole figure balance, unlike my foam model, as it was too spacious there and the acrylic could not hold the wood frame better.

Seen here below shows that I had to balance it by holding it unlike my foam model which could just stand/balance on it’s own. I haven’t even wedge the side (like seen on the foam model) to insert my aluminium metal as my SO because i know it still wouldn’t balance if the wedging is too spacious below (it can’t hold the whole blocks above).

Conclusion: Failed attempt at structure 2.

So instead of wasting time on finishing it and since I knew what my problem was in that structure, I decided to just move on to doing the other structure. STRUCTURE 1.

PROGRESSION TO STRUCTURE 1

My initial idea for this was to create perhaps a ‘bar soap dispenser’ strictly for 1 person use only (mainly for people who is allergic to sharing soaps). I wanted to create it using this interesting coloured-hardy soap bar I found in store as my Dominant. (seen below: the kinds of coloured sticks for soap)

So I tried and as you can see in the figure below when I’m holding it, it’s a mini model.

Now why this one failed too:

  • Yes it could balance like you see it balance in the first picture BUT only for a first few minutes
  • This is partly due to the veryyy thin and small Sub-Ordinate which was just a thick wire stick into the D and wedged into the small-based SD. There’s no good material to create a good support there.
  • The soap is not hardy of a material enough, it will slowly tilt to the right when not handled with care or moving around while holding it and then fall off, hence not balanced at all on it’s own. I’d have to hold both the SD and D together.

Conclusion: Failed too due to fragility of soap that i bought – could cut through so easily it will fall off. Defeats the purpose of me wanting it to be soap bar dispenser if it’s not hardy enough.

I decided to redo by using other materials and not to make a small-scaled structure. This time, I tried using wood for both D and SD. I chose a kind of wood that’s not so heavy-weighted so as to balance it off in the end of counter-balance.

The process that made it hard to work with was wedging a small deep hole in D to insert my long thin but HARDY aluminium metal rod into it, and also into the SD which acts as my base. Hence desperate times calls for desperate measures – if you cannot create a deep hole, you hammer the rod into it to force it to make a deep hole.

Progress shots while making use of other materials and not soap.

And surprisingly, IT WORKS. surprised IT STAYS BALANCING DESPITE THE COUNTER-BALANCE. FINALLY.

TAAA DAAA.

 

Continuation of this will be on my next post where I will go into detail on this final work. See ya there! laughing

 

Reflection: My first 2D progress during Mark Making activity in class!

MY LINE IS EMO. Literally, that’s our assignment title. Our prof knows what’s up.

Personal reflection: So far so good, I have been loving the assignments thrown at us, alot to be done but gives us the chance to experience something new. And i haven’t done assignments like this in soooo long, so it feels good to start again! In this case, on the Friday of 25th Aug, we started with all sorts of different mark-making using different materials. I was looking forward to this lesson because of all the creativity i had imagined coming from my artsy friends – and this all seem so exciting. SO before the lesson, I tried to come up with few techniques and just have fun with expressing myself through ink, paint and paper. 🙂

I experimented with different paintbrushes to produce different texture and lines, used crushed aluminium foil to apply one of the automatic techniques such as ‘frottage’ for the lines that will be produced on paper. I also used different materials such as ink, white marker, charcoal, pencil of different thickness and pen. I used the same technique on even a scrap from the bark tree to try out and see how the lines will turn out.

Interestingly, the lines are clearer but rougher when i put less force on rubbing the charcoal on the paper (the ‘Awkward’ lines). But when I put more force, using the same technique and same material, I get a different outcome – it doesn’t just show lines but also a more messy, aggressive-looking print. (the ‘Disappointed’ lines) seen below

Here in the picture below was me in the process of doing lino-printing and experimenting different ways to use all sorts of brushes there were.  It was a good Friday indeed. Felt at peace and full of imagination doing what we did in 2D that day. So many emotions present to do this. Fun fun.

I am still progressing by exploring other ways to make different kinds of mark making, whether or not the materials used can be found at home or even on the sidewalk and anywhere else. Also, thanks to the friends that took all the vids and pictures for us in class for progress shots – you are all a bunch of blessings HAHA. Forward we go, and soon onto our own group task! laughing