Applied Illustration – Process

The theme of assignment 3  is to illustrate collaterals for an event. When given the assignment, the brief allowed for expressive freedom as there wasn’t a fixed theme. I knew I wanted to attempt a different style of illustrating as compared to my previous 2 assignments.

I wanted to try drawing the female character as it is a subject matter that I usually stray away from. Thinking of potential ideas, the theme of Disney princesses came to mind. I wanted to reimagine the iconic characters into something completely unexpected.

I am secretly a Disney fan, but there’s this stigma that Disney princesses are only enjoyed by young girls, I don’t talk much about it. I grew up watching Mulan countless of times and she is my favorite princess. With that, I wanted an event for people who are no longer kids to be able to freely express their love for Disney princesses.

Potential Direction:

  • Grimm Brother’s more twisted take on the tales
  • Illustrating the villains as heroes instead (Maleficent)
  • Side character as the protagonist
  • Anime style
  • Fine art portrait painting

Moodboard

As Mulan is my favorite I thought it would be a cool idea to portray the other princesses in a more oriental style. In addition, the trend for Disney princesses today is to portray them much stronger and more independent. Examples being Moana, Elsa (Frozen), and Merida (Brave). Thus, I decided to illustrate the older Disney princesses (damsel in distress) as strong and confident characters with an oriental twist to fit with Mulan .

Rough Sketches

I decided to illustrate the 4 princesses Rapunzel, Snow White, Ariel, and Belle. The first row (top-down) illustrates highlights from the scene. The second row is a portrait style of layout. The final row illustrates them as villains.

Pencil Composition

I decided on the portrait style as I feel it would the most impactful. Also, I decided the illustrate for a wine bottle label. As my target audience are people who are more mature, wine might be good a merchandise for the event and it gives off a porch vibe. Each princess is accompanied by flowers to go along with the oriental Japanese them. Also, I researched Japanese wines and paired them with each princess.

Spring ariel – Sake

Spring is the season of rebirth and it’s associated with emotions such as joy and love. The story of Ariel encapsulate the elements of spring as the true love story is, in fact, her love for the land. She came a long way from the deep ocean and overcome the barriers between the land and sea to achieve her dream. Her experience is analogous to the process of sake-making- the arduous milling for the polished rice grains.

Summer rapunzel – Umeshu

Rapunzel’s magical locks represent the spirit of summer, which is everlasting youth. The bold princess left the tower where she was held captive to investigate the floating lanterns. Her emerald eyes shine like ume in umeshu, it is said that people with green eyes are creative and optimistic. Her long locks were used as a weapon to protect herself from the enemy she encountered on her journey. Despite the journey being treacherous, Rapunzel remains hopeful about her dreams of seeing the lights.

Autumn Snow White – Koshu

Autumn is the season of change and signifies transitioning into adulthood. This represents Snow White’s life outside of the castle surviving in the forest. Just like how koshu wine is the only Japanese wine made from grapes, it represents rebirth as shown through her story of being reborn after being poisoned by the Wicked Queen.

Winter belle- Atsukan

Belle, the courageous heroin who braved through the cold, hard winter to save her father from the Beast. Just like a warm cup of Atsukan that becomes hot and sweet after it is heated, Belle warms the cold and hard heart of the Beast and gave him a safe place to show his softness.

 

Rapunzel

Rapunzel represented with her long locks, the lanterns and the chameleon.

Ariel

Ariel, with her mermaid tail, scales and the mermaid like ears.

Snow White

Snow white and the poison apple.

belle

Belle with the beast and roses. She is the only princess with a more rural costume as she was not from noble birth.

Colour Scheme

As I have 4 princesses I thought it might be cool to use the 4 seasons to represent each princess and thus this inspired the monochromatic color scheme. Spring Ariel (green) Summer Rapunzel (yellow) Autumn Snow White (orange) and Winter Belle (blue) The desaturated palette is inspired by Japanese scroll paintings.

However, the feedback was that the monochromatic palette was not very impactful and thus I decided to do another version with a more pastel color palette with colors inspired by the princesses original clothing.

Process

I tried making Ariel’s hair red to represent her original character better, but I felt that it was too striking and brings attention away from the face. I also decided to go with a more graphic style with only hard edges, to push my boundaries and not go to my comfort zone of painting with soft edges in a more painterly style as seen in my second assignment.

Creative Industry Report: KAWS

Brian Donnelly, also known as KAWS is a Brooklyn-based artist/designer who started out doing graffiti as a teenager, leaving his KAWS tag around the streets of New York. He started writing over billboards before moving on to publicly display ads near bus shelters and phone booths, primarily using ads from fashion labels like Calvin Klein and Guess, which he described as forceful collaboration. Through his early works he started to develop his trademark visual of the bulbous skull head with X-ed eyes, juxtaposing recognisable character as the body (Micky mouse, Sesame Street), a stroke of pop art with a touch of culture permeate that is meant to unify different languages and culture.

Untitled (KAWS) 1994, spray-paint on wall, from the artist’s graffiti days. © KAWS
KAWS: UNTITLED (CAPTAIN MORGAN), 1995, spray paint on billboard advertisement.
Installation view, “KAWS: WHERE THE END STARTS” at Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. © Matt Hawthorne Photography.

He graduated from New York’s school of Visual Arts and was an animator/painter for an animated TV show Doug and Daria. Feeling unfulfilled with his stable job, he went to Tokyo, developed a relationship with important figures of the streetwear scene in Japan. Partnering Japanese company Bounty Hunter to created his first toy, Companion – a vinyl figure resembling Mickey Mouse with crosses for eyes and the same skull and crossbones motifs from his graffiti works, as well as collaborating with Bathing Ape and Santastic.

KAWS Limited Edition 1st Companion from the collection of art critic Anthony Haden Guest (SIGNED), 1999

He experimented on different mediums out of his specialty and designed clothes, toys, sculptures, installations and inflatables for branded companies and personnel. He became known for blurring the line between commercial arts and fine arts, keeping himself away from the exclusiveness of the art world by creating a more niche art market.

KAWS X Kanye West. (2008). 808s & Heartbreak Album Cover
KAWS X Nike Air Jordan 4. (2017). Photo: Christian Davies.
KAWS X Uniqlo, Graphic T-Shirt. (2019)
KAWS X MTV. moon man statue of MTV for their 2013 MTV Video music awards
KAWS’s 2016 exhibition at Yorkshire Sculpture Park showing (foreground) CLEAN SLATE, 2015, and (background) SURVIVAL MACHINE (detail), 2015.
KAWS X Dior’s BFF (2018).
KAWS’s installation in Taipei. Photo: © All Rights Reserved.
“KAWS: WHERE THE END STARTS.” Photo: Kevin Todora.
KAWS, Silent City, 2011 Acrylic on canvas 3 panels 120 x 96 inches each
KAWS X BAPE. Baby Milo and Companion. (2011)

I admire KAWS for his courage and willingness to take risk. As a creative, he initially chose a ‘safer’ career route by graduating from art school and working for an animation firm. However, he took the risk quit his job and placed himself out there as an artist. KAWS was also adaptable and willing to jump at every opportunity given. Primarily a painted/illustrator, he took on the challenge of designing 3D mediums which eventually led to his success. KAWS’s attitude and mindset towards creating is also very unique; he faced heavy criticism for his works even up to today. In response to that he said “at least they’re your choices, they’re not somebody else in your ear directing you. Once you try to please people you’re just grasping at nothing.” Showing self-belief and that art should not be made to please others.

Reference

Bazaar. (2018). Who is KAWS and Why are Designers So Obsessed With Him? Retrieved from https://www.harpersbazaar.com.sg/life/culture/who-is-kaws-and-why-are-designers-so-obsessed-with-him/

Complex. (2017). How KAWS Became the Face Of Contemporary Art | Blueprint. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMH8b-Ip5uM

Hypebrast. (2008). Kanye West – 808s & Heartbreak Album Cover by KAWS. Retrieved from https://hypebeast.com/2008/11/kanye-west-808s-heartbreak-album-cover-by-kaws

Kinsella, E. (2019). Inside the Craze for KAWS: How a New Jersey Graffiti Artist Achieved Art-Market Domination Without Following Any Rules. Retrieved from https://news.artnet.com/market/inside-the-craze-for-kaws-1495774

Smith, W. S. (2019). What the Rise of KAWS Says About the Art World’s Ailments. Retrieved from https://www.artnews.com/art-in-america/features/kaws-democratized-art-peddles-relatable-motifs-exhaustion-death-63649/

 

Task 3&4 Deliverables

Task 3

The first deliverable is a tool kit targetted for migrant workers such as construction workers from Bangladesh. It includes a brochure to inform them of their rights as employees. There is also a planner with the aim to help them understand their job scope and to keep track if they are being paid on time.

Digital Layout

Task 4

The next deliverable is an interactive poster with the aim to encourage Singaporeans to step up and take action if they witness any form of slavery being committed.

Digital Layout

Exploratory Research – Gaining insight to people’s understanding, attitude and preference

Gaining Insight

In order to further expand on the topic of Modern Slavery, I created a survey. It aims to get a general grasp of the level of understanding Singaporeans have with regards to modern slavery. I wanted to know if modern slavery was a known term and whether they felt that it is a relevant issue with regards to Singapore.

Survey Link: https://goo.gl/forms/dlT3uViWBEbPu1zk1

With this survey, I structured questions to gather the level of understanding Singaporeans of different age have with regards to Modern Slavery.

Currently, I managed to record 24 responses and from the collected data, from the results, the majority of the participants are unaware of the term modern slavery and they have little knowledge on the issue. Only about 30% of the participants are aware of the term modern slavery and its effects in Singapore. Only 12% of participants are able to identify the estimated number of slaves in Singapore today. The majority perceive that the issue does not plague Singapore or only a very small percentage of the community is affected.

 

After knowing of the severity of modern slavery, the majority concluded that too little is being done with regards to this issue. One major issue pointed out is that there is too little awareness of modern slavery.

Strangely enough,  despite many not knowing the severity of modern slavery, they do know what actions constitute to the issue. This shows that they know of the situation a slave has to endure, but unfortunately not of the widespread of this issue. There is a misconception that slavery only occurs in third world country and is obsolete in the first world countries like America, the United Kingdom, and Singapore.

 

Focus

With this data, I feel that the main objective should be to inform that modern slavery is a very pressing issue affecting a larger population than what is believed. The fact that Singapore is facing this issue should also be highlighted. With this new knowledge, the end product would eventually be to motivate change. It can be as small as reporting a potential slavery case, to as big as building an organization to combat slavery and rehabilitate rescued slaves.

Target Audience

The target audience would be people of any gender, ages between 20-45. I feel that people in this age group are the ones with the potential and power to make a change. They are mature and stable enough to handle such a tricky issue and is more likely to be motivated enough to want to make a difference.

Design Problems

  1. To raise awareness that Singapore is not immune to slavery.
  2. Highlight the severity of modern slavery in Singapore.
  3. Evoke empathy in the target audience

 

VAROOM – Illustration Process

Based on the feedback from the critic session, I decided to expand on the idea of royalty in the sporting world. The first person that came to mind was Lebron James as he is dubbed as King James for his dominant and commanding presence in the sport of basketball. I also decided to take on the challenge of trying digital painting.

MoodBoard

For this mood board, I was inspired by the colors of the yellow and purple of lakers jersey. It gives off a royal vibe which follows along the line of the medieval theme I was looking into exploring. I wanted to include a statue element as well, I feel that it is a huge goal for all athletes as only the best of the best would have their image carved into stone, signifying the highest of honor an athlete can reach. Examples of such athletes are the great Micheal Jordan, David Beckham, Eric Cantona, and Pelle.

 Layout Sketch

I explored a diagonal composition as I wanted to highlight the progress of an unhealthy obsession and how it can change a person. The diagonal composition creates a clear flow that leads the eye in sequential order, as well as making the composition a little more dynamic. In this case, the progress starts with Lebron slowing turning into a stone statue representing him reaching the peak of his sporting career. However, due to his obsession with being the best, he wants to dominate the sports just like how medieval kings are always on the journey of expanding their kingdom to become the most dominant kingdom. This is represented in Lebron in a medieval king get up as a golden statue this time. Showing how it is a level up from the stone statue. The last stage is a monster creature with a crown and posing with his arm reaching out. This is to highlight how obsession can bring out the inner demon of any person.

Digital Painting

Youtube was my best friend in trying to pick up digital painting and I had to experiment with the many different processes different people recommend to find one that suits me. This tutorial, in particular, was the most helpful as the artist was really clear with all the different tools he used.

Process

Improving from the sketch above, I felt that there were too many elements and thus decided to reduce it to just 3 to more clearly illustrate the changes.

The main character being Lebron in the front, with parts of him turning into a stone statue. The medieval King James in the back would be rendered as a golden statue and he is in a charging pose looking into the distance, representing him charging towards his goals. Lastly, the monster creature in the back with his arms outstretched. He will have gold dripping from his fingertips towards the gold statue, showing that the monster is the negative motivator fueling his obsession with becoming the best.

Color Blocking

Filling in the base colors and arranging the elements such that do not clash with the template of Varoom’s cover page. I decided to go with a cool analogous color scheme of blues and purples complimented with yellows and possibly orange. I wanted to leave the bottom half white and unrendered to push the eyes upwards towards the focal figures.

Rendering the gold statue:

Rendering Lebron:

Rendering the Skull:I decide to render the background with a little more texture as I felt the 3 figures were too smoothly rendered. Also to show that the light source is from the top right which is also where the statue and Lebron are looking towards.

Critic

During the small critic session in class, my classmates’ feedback was that leaving the bottom half unrendered actually made the illustration unfinished. Also that the whole image looks too purple. The other major issue was that there is an error in the flow of reading, the skull had the highest hierarchy and the flow was from top left to bottom right, opposite of my intentions.

I experimented with a few colors for the background and decided that blue was what worked best.

I thought a quick way to change the hierarchy was to just flip the image. as the common flow of reading is from left to right, Lebron would now become the first place the eyes fall on.

I felt that it worked in terms of the flow of what to read and the textured in the background does help to create depth in the piece. But then I realized that the number 23 and the Lakers logo is inverted as well and by the time I realized this I did not have much time to redraw Lebron.

I played with a few the background to draw attention more to Lebron and to also make the skull darker and more blended into the background.

The streak of yellow in the background was working well in my opinion and I wanted to incorporate it more to bring the 3 elements together better as they feel a little segregated.

Stone Statue effect:

I decided to be more much lose with the rendering and focus more on texturing and creating harder edges as the whole piece was looking too smooth and polished.

Learning Process

This illustration was really challenging for me first because I was experimenting with a new medium. I also learned the importance of planning and to adapt to changes accordingly especially in the case of the hierarchy issue and the limitations of time. It made me work with limit resources and to push me to create the best of the given situation. In term of ideation, your concept must be solid enough and be the main motivation behind your illustration. In the beginning, I was more focused on medieval knights and fighting scene as it was something which I thought would look good aesthetically and be fun to paint, but because of that, the idea of sports and obsession did not shine through as much. Also,  tutorials are helpful as a starting tool and should not be the full proof method. Initially, my paintings were all techniques of what I was taught through tutorials and thus it looked disjointed, and not unique, it was not capturing my personal illustrative style. I realized this mistake and made a huge change in the background and added more details in the final piece which I felt captured more personality in the work. It also helped tie all the elements into one illustration. Most important of all this illustartion required a lot of patience as i had to go through many trial an error attempts before finally getting a hang of digital apinting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

VAROOM – Research and Ideation

For assignment 2, the scenario given was that we are commissioned to illustrate the front cover for Varoom, an illustration magazine. An article describes Varoom as a magazine that is changing the perception of illustration in the creative industries. Varoom’s new editor, Olivia Ahmad has a vision of 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? Highlighting the emphasis of message and meaning in an illustration.

Theme

We were given 3 themes; empathy, style, and obsession. I decided to work on obsession as my overarching theme, in particular, obsession with winning. In the article Gold Standards: Are We Obsessed With Olympic Victory? It talks about how gold in the only goal in sports; to be the very best. This culture has made it such a negative and pressurizing environment for professional athletes. An Olympic swimmer had won silver and her amazing performance earned her a personal best in the 100m backstroke final. Despite that, she cried while apologizing to her family, her coach, and her fellow Australians during an interview. She should be shedding tears of joy for her accomplishment, yet due to the high standards set by society today, attaining second in the most prestigious sporting competition is not enough.

As an athlete myself it is very relatable to me as losing is a terrible feeling. I feel that obsession is like a double-edged sword, your obsession with winning can act as a really strong source of motivation, or it can also lead you astray and do immoral actions such as cheating.

Target Audience

The aim of my illustration is to send a message across to sports enthusiast be it supporters/fans or athletes. Hopefully, it would spark a thought process on whether winning is all there is to sports. Results are definitely important, but is it all there is to sports?

User Persona

 

 

Moodboard

The direction I wanted to explore was an obsessed athlete, drawing inspiration from Thanos from The Avengers of characters from the game of thrones. Thanos has the infinity gauntlet with 6 infinity stones, reminding me of Tom Bradt of the New England Patriots who won his 6th Super Bowl this year; earning him  6 rings. He is also the leader of his team and is seen as a commander leading his army into battle.

Thumbnail Sketches

For the process of this assignment, we were a given guideline to follow and one of the steps included drawing small thumbnail sketches on post-it notes. The idea behind it is that firstly, we will not grow too attached to the piece as post-its are easily obtainable. Secondly, it allows us to rearrange the different sketches and to experiment with different sketches interacting with one another, which may spark a new idea/composition

Pencil Composition

The next step was to create 3 pencil compositions of different themes.

The first concept was exploring the idea of how Tom is seen as a commander and leading his fellow teammates into the field. I was inspired by a medieval battlefield scene and wanted to portray how the athletes would trust their leader wholeheartedly and believed that they would be led to victory. There is also a hooded monster in the background. An obsessed athlete would do whatever it takes to win and so would a leader obsessed with winning and the demon creature is a representation of the subconscious motivated by winning at any cost.

The composition on the left is based on the idea of how Tom Brady is seen as a King Slayer. Tom Brady is the oldest quarterback in the NFL and is no longer seen as a threat. However, his desire to win has seen him put in the countless amount of hard work during the offseason and he has proven his worth on the field. Overcoming teams who are the powerhouse of the sport and thus the reference of King Slayer. The background shows skeleton like creature marching behind him carrying the 6 trophies Tom has won, while Tom is the central figure in a gladiator gets up with a crown pierced by his spear.

The third composition is a collage of Tom in action and overcomes difficulties. There are scenes of him breaking tackles, diving for a catch, and him placing a finger on his lips; showing a shushing action to reflect how he is shutting down all the negativity and optimism he has received. In the background once again shows the monster creature which is the representation of how an obsession can turn someone into a monster. The monster is reaching out for the Superbowl trophy to represent the concept of an obsession with winning.

Critics

During the class critic session, it was highlighted that composition 3 had the strongest composition as it is the most dynamic and creates a sense of flow in the work. However, the concept is too predictable. Concept 1 is the weakest in terms of highlighting the theme as it does not highlight the sports element enough. The kingslayer concept is the strongest however, the layout is very central and thus not as impactful. In term of medium for illustration, I am more inclined to traditional medium, leaning more towards a more comic style of illustration. However, the class suggested that this piece would look better as a digital illustration. I was very reluctant to attempt digital painting as this piece would require a realistic approach and I have not done digital painting before.

 

 

 

 

Applied Illustration – Process

When coming up with the pencil composition, my main concern was to try to think of ways to bring the 4 images together and ensure that they were seen as a set instead of 4 individual pieces. I drew inspiration from Japanese illustration on sliding doors of traditional homes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_painting

I believe this style of illustration is called polyptych. With this idea in mind, my goal was to lay out my composition to create a seamless transition across the 4 pieces, but also making sure each illustration was compositionally strong enough to stand as a solo illustration. I tried to tie everything together with a similar color palette, similar textures used, and add continuity such as the chameleon tongue reaching for the apple, the half rose, half chrysanthemum flower, and the flow of the hair and mermaids tail.

I then added textures as an overlay to get the aged paper effect.

Trying out the monochrome effect with texture.

Close up

Mockup

INvitation

I decided to call the event Disney Bushido. Bushido is a Japanese term referring to the code of honor during the Japanese era of geishas samurais and feudal lords. This sets the time frame which I am trying to depict the Disney princesses and gives context to the event. In terms of the typeface, I decided on a more contemporary one as I feel the contrast between the traditional illustration style with a contemporary typeface really compliments each other.

wine bottle

I used raffia string to tie the neck of the bottle to add to the aesthetic of the Japanese theme and intentionally left the ends uncut to give it a more rustic natural finish.

 

Self Portrait

The task was to create a self-portrait. Firstly, I created a word list to describe myself as a starting point.

Word List

  1. Floorball
  2. Messy
  3. Sleep
  4. Pets
  5. Curly hair

With this starting point, I wanted to emphasize my curly hair as I feel it is my most distinctive feature. Also, I am an animal lover and have many pets at home. People describe my house to be a zoo as there are so many different animals. I used to have a dog which sparked my love for animals. But after losing him, I couldn’t bear to commit emotionally to raise another one. Instead I, foster rescued/abandoned dogs. At home, I currently have 4 parrots, a dog, 2 terapins and 2 fish tanks. I was suggested to go with a jungle book kind of theme plus my hair does resemble Mowgli.

Initial drafts

Experimenting with different composition, incorporating the animals. I explored the idea of trying to fuse my hair with the animals. I was inspired by the Animated movie Brother Bear and the idea of spirit animals. Where the animals appear out of the northern light.

https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/Transformation

Finalized Sketch based on this idea:

I decided on the second layout after consultation and went on to do the pencil work.

The puppy in my hand is a portrait of my very first dog Fudge a chocolate brown labrador. I wanted to incorporate him as he was the most special dog to me. The other animals in the background are the animals that I have at home and I used the spirals from my hair and connect them into the shapes of this animal like spirit animals, showing the strong bond I have with them.

Picture of fudge:

Process

I decided to use watercolor as I feel the qualities of this media allows me to blend colors seamlessly and achieve the soft effect like that in Brother Bear. I decided on the color scheme by following closely to the mixture of natural colors of my parrots and Beta fish. The purples and blues are complimented with the purple, while the green is complemented by oranges and red (complimentary colors)s After the painting process, I use a brush and gel pen to ink the work to make the elements pop out more.

Final