Author: Rachel Fong

Final assignment

For my diptych final assignment, I was looking for organic shapes that I could experiment with, some of my options were underwater scenery, human emotions ( eg: wrinkles/laughter ; organic lines that I can be creative with ) and lastly, forest/mountain scenery.

I wanted a focal point to anchor both artworks down so I decided to look for animals/other objects that were asymmetrical to achieve a more dynamic rather than static look.

After much consideration, I decided to settle for a rabbit that is in this pose (as seen in the sketch below ) as I felt that the silhouette of the rabbit provides subtle curves that fit into the forest scenery that I envisioned best.


For this final assignment, I wanted to challenge myself in creating depth by using the medium that I’m most uncomfortable with and new to, that is ink.

Below is a rough sketch of how I want the final piece to look like.

I was experimenting with :

-creating two different artworks

-how can I create depth and volume using different kinds of line work?

– not use pencil / charcoal but still achieve the wide range of tonality it gives through ink?

– As I was using reference pictures for this final piece, the light source had to be reconstructed.

-Uniting both artworks when it is placed together. How do I want it to feel? 

Artwork when viewed separately:

Artwork 1

Artwork 2

Final artwork placed together 🙂

Brush and Ink Assignment


For the pen and ink assignment, I was experimenting on how different brush stokes has the ability to create texture. However, the challenge for me was when I wanted to create depth. The use of black ink with brush is very different from using pencil as pencil gives you control over how dark and light you want the tonality of greys to be  and with ink- its the same unless you mix it with water.

Hence, I realized that if I want to create any scenery that requires depth using black ink, I had to start with painting the background first, kind of like painting in watercolor.

Below is a practice that I did during my free time -experimenting on  how to use ink to create more depth. 

Historical Art References

For the historical art references, I went to research more on paintings that had hands close to the face and paintings that used minimal to no objects in their hands. It’s interesting to see how although all of the paintings have their hands close to the face but simple gestures and different placement of the fingers together with certain expression on the face can portray a very different meaning/feeling.

  1. Gustave Courbet, Self Portrait (The Desperate Man), 1843
  2. Gustave Courbet, Woman in a Straw Hat with Flowers, 1857
  3. William Adolphe Bouguereau – A Little Shepherdess, 1891
  4. Willem Geets , Jeune femme lisant
  5. Feliciana, Spanish Gypsy, John Bagnold Burgess, 1876
  6. Gustave Gutjeman, The Tambourine Player (Pharyah)
  7. Rêverie, Daniel Ridgway Knight 1866
  8. Jeune Espagnole, Conrad Kiesel
  9. The Young Rag-gather, Guillaume Charles Brun 
  10. Fair Reflection, Charles Edward Perugini

Final Submission and reflection

I have learned a lot throughout this whole semester in this class and it’s the class that I enjoyed the most because I had the freedom to create whatever style of design I wanted! I find it helpful that we get to design / create whatever we wished without any restrictions! The part that I find most helpful is to find out my target audience and focus on getting my message across through graphics and the mood of my illustrations! This module was overall a very enjoyable experience!