Kranji Dairies 2

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Hellooooo so I went and visit the Kranji farms today!

It was a nice and nostalgic visit as I’ve always went to the farms when I was a kid.

I have a lot of pictures, but more importantly… I picked up a very informative pamphlet when I was there.
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And maybe because it was a weekday, I wasn’t on any tours, and I’ve been to the farms quite a bit, the farm trip wasn’t as exciting as I thought it would be. Most of the farms were opened, but empty, it was a lot of just alighting, talking a walk and then on to the next stop. It was quite repetitive, especially since the produce of some farms were the same.

seconds before shit got real

To summarise this visit anyway:

There was a young goat’in that escaped it’s cages and was so happily prancing around. A girl was crying so hard in her boyfriend’s arms when the goat jumped on her. Apparently this goat figured out how to escape and always does it.

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seconds before shit got real

It was really nothing much but a cute experience! The owner of Hay dairies was really friendly too and even suggested a route for us to visit the farms!

img_0050Not sure issit my eyes blur or, part of the Arapaima’s bodies are pink?! Color combi on point even though it looks dull at first glance.
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Also never really saw koi fishes this big and fat. They legit are big.

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Grow-your-own-‘shrooms. They sell this. It’s cool. Also, the uncle at this Kin Yan Agrotech is hiring full time promoters so hit him up if there’s anybody interested.

img_0098This Nyee Phoe Gardenasia place actually very nice!

Went to a total of seven farms today and it took lesser time than i expected!

So..

Since there’s already such an informative pamphlet and websites and from a short survey with friends, I thought I would work on the War Series instead, focusing on the War Memorial and sthuff.

I feel like I have a better takeaway from the war memorial visit and it’s quite a shame that I didn’t get to visit the abandoned army barracks and Neo Tiew estates to complete my war series.

Since i’m doing it on war, it is probably less probable that I will be embarking on the sketchy comic style as mentioned in the last post.

Perhaps, I will be taking reference to this old design that I have done before:

saf-small

Will start with compiling the information that I want to present and start drafting some compositions for the infographic!

Project 2 / Infographic styles research

Here’s my ongoing Pinterest board for infographic styles / helpful guides: https://www.pinterest.com/awkwardst/2d2-project-2/

I am also thinking about the possibility to do a sketchy styled infographic, as inspired by Megan Nicole Dong‘s comical sketches:

mnd_1 mnd_2 mnd_3

Also came across this on one of my Pinterest boards and I kinda liked it. It is also a possibility to refer to the color scheme.

styleshack.com

#Motivation via @equilibriumMI @jessieabrams mantra for 2016! https://www.styleshack.com/notes/detail/healthyiving-2016:

Design by Shanti Sparrow <a href="http://www.shantisparrow.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.shantisparrow...</a> Client: Oh Hey! Project Name: Magazine Design
Or maybe include some vintage logo designs to lure the hipsters and convey the spirit of Singapore’s heritage?
Browse inspirational selections of amazing typography here. - Visit: <a href="http://TheEndearingDesigner.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">TheEndearingDesig...</a>

 

This is just a preliminary research, will do more as I venture into doing some draft compositions after my farm visit!

But as I scroll through these countless infographics with my tired mind, I found that though most of them were visually attractive, it’s hard for me to focus / find something I was interested in to click and read. Perhaps it was because I was tired, or perhaps it’s because of the information overload. Because it’s such an in thing now, there’s so many of them and everything somehow looks the similar (flat graphics, similar fonts?). Maybe it’s like David Carson said, since resources are so readily available on the net, a lot of designs look similar. Then again, things just seem to go with the trend nowadays.

Currently, I’m think it’s an idea to do accompanying short derpy comics to tell a story of the information I want to convey, in hopes that it will be more memorable and stand out from all the data and infographic that are being presented.

This infographic below might be a good guide for a more comic-layoutGreat tips to avoid thinking about work on your next vacay!  #workaholic #vacation #elax:

Also, love the look on this one:

Frankie says Relax-mas Published by Maan Ali:

Overall, I think I quite enjoy the Blue / Orange / Pink color scheme. As well as the Japanese earthquake infographic’s Yellow and dark blue color scheme.

 

Kranji Diaries

With the sun shining, clouds suitably fluffy and temperature at a lovely 27 degrees celsius, Shi Teng does a sit up, got off bed, and sets off on a lone adventure to a less explored neighbourhood named Kranji. 


 

Now, I wasn’t really sure if the temperature was 27 degrees celsius but the weather did seem pretty fine when I finally got outside.

Pre-exploration, I did two rounds of research.

The first round being a really basic one and this is what Wikipedia taught me:

  • Kranji was named after a tree (which is now close to extinction)
  • It is in the Northwest of Singapore
  • It’s an industrial area with lots of standalone properties

    Some history

  • It used to have the railway
  • And a military camp
  • Now it has a war memorial

    Some Highlights

  • Kranji Racecourse
  • Kranji Resevoir
  • Kranji Marshes
  • Bollywood Veggies
  • Kranji Countryside association

    I guess Kranji has quite a lot to offer! Definitely more than what I knew.

Through a  secondary round of more in-depth research, I classified Kranji into a few main areas, namely:

  1. Kranji Turfclub
  2. Kranji Countryside (Farms)
  3. Kranji War Memorial (Military Barracks, WWII Landing Sites)
  4. Kranji Resevoir & Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve
    and after exploring, why not add in…
  5. Kranji Industrial area and heavy vehicles
    because that’s really one of the things Kranji has to offer. 

    1. Kranji Turfclub
    This was reasonably interesting. I thought this was an activity that was something different to do in Singapore. The tickets were cheap and the Grandstand seemed to have quite a bit to offer, like four different venues to watch the race.

    I was so ready to go down and catch a live race myself (and maybe even place a few bets), after all it’s something that I’ve never done and probably never will, until this project! Buttttt… First unfortunately, races are only held on selected Fridays, Sundays and public holidays (It was a Thursday when I explored Kranji). Second unfortunately, I found a Trip Advisor page, which had quite a fair bit of reviews, including a few bad ones that discouraged me from visiting the site alone.

    (I mean… it makes it even more exciting and interesting to visit right but Joy said not to engage ourselves in dubious activities so I shalt not.)

    One day, one day, I will catch some horse races.

    Other related websites:
    https://www.stc-ridingcentre.com/

    2. Kranji Countryside
    I was really quite intrigued by all the information online about the farms. There was a whole website called Kranji Countryside and a few Straits Times articles, one of which that mentioned Kranji Farms getting recognised as a tourist spot. I thought that was really cool, it was something special, something that was about the heritage of Singapore that was not about the bustling city life or trips to the museum. There was also an article that mentioned the uncertainty of Kranji farmland’s future as many of the farmland leases are ending soon.

    I was really looking forward to attend some tours that would bring me around the Kranji farms. Unfortunately, tours are mostly catered to groups and visits would require an advanced booking.

Or maybe I haven’t looked hard enough, because I came across this character called Uncle William, the official tour guide to Kranji Farms and was quite bent on attending one of his tours. It wasn’t difficult to look harder as there were several mentions of him, eventually I came across the Farmart website which included a detailed PDF of his farm tour program, and unfortunately he only hosted group tours.

Here’s a video about Uncle William by MICHELIN Guide Singapore:

I emailed him yesterday and only got an invite to the upcoming Farmers’ Market where he was giving a talk about Chickens and Eggs. He’s probably the man who has the answer to the question, “Did the chicken or egg come first?”

I’ve heard about the Farmers’ Market pre-project 2 but unfortunately, according to their Facebook page, the next one will be held on 11th March, which is a week after our research due date.

And apparently, there is a sgfarming wordpress (which I haven’t explored much) which has an article about the 2014 Farmers’ Market.

On the Kranji Countryside webpage, I also read about the Kranji Heritage Trail and decided that maybe I could base my exploration mainly on this trail. I thought about doing the entire trail, but was worried that I probably won’t have enough time or balls to do it alone.

I also found a Kranji Express Bus Schedule that would help other Kranji explorers.

My initial plan was to take the Kranji Express Bus and see how much I could explore, and possibly document the time and journey. But not all plans work out… Reading a few other blogs, they did suggest that personal transport would be better. Also, there wouldn’t be enough time for me to fully explore along the catered bus by the time I left for Kranji.

3. Kranji War Series
I read some blogs that told me more about these areas of Kranji. In this particular blog, there were a lot of pictures about the Kranji barracks. They looked creepy and not like a place I was going to visit alone. I am also unsure if access to the public was allowed.

(I also read somewhere that the en-bloc-ed Neo Tiew estate became a training area for SAF but lost the link. On a second search, the pictures on http://joyloh.com/blog/?p=3342 ; https://remembersingapore.org/neo-tiew-estate/ makes it seem like an interesting place to visit, with friends!)

But I knew I was going to the Kranji War Memorial. A friend also told me pre-visit that SAF once brought him on a field trip there.

Disclaimer: Being the uncultured 22 year old girl that I am, I don’t remember much or have much knowledge about the war. 

I arrived and had to stop to take a picture because it already looked so beautiful!

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Was quite surprised that this was an actual thing you could open and there were actual books inside for visitors, but eventually realised that it made sense. img_0006 img_0007 img_0008 img_0010

Some vandalism, or maybe a correction. Not sure if it was a typo, or was if Mr Boucher was really a baby then.
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There was also a visitor’s book where visitors from all over the world signed and left messages.

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^ Information that could be helpful if I was going to do my infographic on the war.

Okay, from this point onwards, I wasn’t sure if it was disrespectful to blatantly take pictures, especially because there were a lot of ang mohs around and I didn’t want to be an uncultured Singaporean brat. So I refrained from taking pictures, but took some anyway!

 

 

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A faraway juxtaposition of the serene graves vs bustling city life.

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The graves were indeed really very well maintained and nicely engraved  and there were so many pretty flowers along them. 
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Fresh flowers I later found out was because of Total Defence day, it all made sense. img_0029

The flowers came from everywhere, from visitors, SAF, and some overseas government. I’ve noticed flowers placed on specific graves too. img_0030

Walls of engraved names. img_0031 img_0032

I found these numbers below and realised they were counting columns.img_0033

In total, there were 472 columns. img_0034

Another juxtapositions. There were several walls like these which had words that described the soldier’s death, such as in captivity or in fire, or if they were transferred graves. It made sense that they were doing their best to really honour and name each and every soldier.
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The site is part of the Kranji Heritage trail.

I was about to leave when I spotted these two information plagues around the carpark. img_0036 img_0037

^ Some information to read.

When I went to take these pictures, I also happened to see an isolated grave on the opposite side of the carpark. It turned out to be the grave of former Singapore president (1971 – 1981), Benjamin Henry Sheares.

It was really quite an experience for me to visit this site alone. I had the time to breath in the peace, and was able to take my time to walk around and hear the birds chirp. It was a really beautiful and serene hill tucked away in the city, an aptly landscaped ground to honour the brave souls and their families.

I’ve read somewhere before my visit that the memorial was maintained by 5 foreign workers. Upon my visit, I saw some sheds and a gardening area with pots of plants. Also, around the area seemed to be some landed housing estates – but I am not really sure what they are.

It was quite emotional to think about the scale of the war and how much it affected the lives of the people then, and the people now. I was quite surprised that there were so many countries, nationalities and religions involved. Some of them I noticed were names of Singhs, there were also notably soldiers from Hong Kong, New Zealand etc.

The war also notably affected the lives of the people around the soldiers, there were assigned areas for the graves of the families. These graves were more customised. I’ve also realised a set of different graves and from the inscriptions, found out that they belonged to the Gurkhas. The graves were of a darker tint and were more rugged looking.

When I was there, most of the visitors were westerners, maybe it was because most of the names on the graves belonged to westerners too? A pair of old couple particularly caught my attention as they stayed on the same spot for a really long time. They were there before I reached and when I left, they were still there. Perhaps they were looking for a name? I didn’t speak to them at all (because I am a shy wuss) and I didn’t want to disturb their peace. Despite knowing how nice foreigners can be about small talk, it just didn’t seem like a place nor occasion to talk to them.

I also wondered if it was right for me to know so little about the war.

4. Kranji Reservoir and Sugei Buloh Wetland Reserve
Next, I headed to Kranji Reservoir. I got lost for a bit because I probably entered the wrong address the first time, but through my detour I noticed the amount of industrial areas around and thought that it was a possibility to do an infographic about all of them, (if it wasn’t boring).

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Never knew there were “Fishing Grounds” in Singapore in an area not along the beach. All I’ve encountered were “no fishing” signs.
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Not sure why the water looked like this….
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Why did Shi Teng cross the road? To get to the Kranji Battle site! img_0044It was just like a really small, unkempt park.
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But wait, what?! img_0046 FORREALLLL????img_0050 But no worries, thanks to this signboard, I ain’t fear no crocodile encounters! Unfortunately I didn’t get to encounter during my short stay that came to feel a bit eerie. There was also a random uncle sleeping by the crocodile sign board so I left after the pictures as there seemed to be nothing much anyway.

(Also came to my mind that I could do infographics on the strange animal spottings in Singapore. Like crocodiles)

img_0049 img_0048 img_0047I was about to leave, again, when I saw this really strange out-of-nowhere bus stop in the carpark. And there were quite a bit of ‘normal’ citizens there. They weren’t random uncles, truck drivers, or construction workers. They were people who wouldn’t be (or weren’t dressed to be) in an industrial area like this. I was wondering where they came from until I found out that the Sungei Buloh visitor centre was a 2 minutes walk away from the carpark I was at.

Mystery solved. I guess it was also like an interchange for bus 925?

I proceeded to cross the road, this time to get to the Wetland Reserve’s visitor centre! Idk why but OSS uploaded my pictures in reverse chronological order.

So we start off with some photos of wild puppers and gloomy skies.
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And as we can see, when I entered, it was sunny and slightly hot.

And yes, when the cicadas kept quiet, it was slightly late. I guess I learnt that they kept quiet only right before it rained. Or maybe the rain clouds came too fast. 

At the visitor center, were a few labs that I guessed were for things like student visits. There was also some galleries around. There were a bunch of information trials and basically, the whole reserve was information overload.

There were some information I considered I could do, like about barnacles (which i only knew as a curse word used in Spongebob), or about the migration of birds and how the stars guided them. With a shiny title like “May the stars guide you home”.

But then again, these information were so readily available in the marshes and it would be so much cooler for people to visit it themselves.

There’s also a rather informative NPark website about the marshes. Once again, I unfortunately would miss all the guided tours. #nofate


Concluding this post, I have decided to do my infographic on either the Kranji War series or Kranji Countryside.

Am currently leaning towards the countryside but it’s unfortunate that I haven’t visited the area! Similarly, I haven’t visited the military barracks / WWII landing site for the war series.

Hopefully I will get to visit the farms sometime soon!

Some Soundscape Research

How Lucasfilm’s Master Foley Artist Perfected the Sounds in Your Favorite Movies

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?95446-Foley-prop-and-sound-effect-suggestions

 

 

 

sfasdf

Cops Just Raided This Average Looking House. They Never Expected This To Be Inside Of It.

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/pictures/eerie-photos-of-a-weird-underground-facility/84898712/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3963880/Instructions-deal-nuclear-attack-abandoned-box-toilet-roll-Eerie-photographs-reveal-inside-forgotten-Cold-War-bunker-deep-Suffolk-countryside.html

Jeunory – Law

16 December, 2069

The winter is cold and I am about to give up.

Current Memory Span: 40/45 Days.

Persistance.


Was he always this messy? John thought to himself as he stares blankly at the pieces of paper wildly pasted all over the walls. What was he thinking when he was putting them up? Was he in a rush? Did it never occur to him during any of these memory spans to clean up? Perhaps this is the memory span to do it. To finally clean up and come up with a more systematic approach. A way that he could easily process what was going on in his next memory span. It was probably a good way to plough through all these damned notes too.

He glances at the red book, and decided that he can get to it after cleaning up. He was confident that he had 44 days left and he was going to spend the first day figuring things out.

He scavenged the space and made himself some coffee and food.

 

John set out to sort the notes in chronological order but quickly thought that past John couldn’t be such an idiot. If these needed to be in chronological order, he could have just kept a regular journal and wrote them in pages. Why were they placed this way? Maybe, just maybe, he couldn’t bother anymore since it was different waking up from each memory reset.

One would instinctively snap pictures of the room in it’s original state. But John knew he couldn’t. His gut told him that everything about this room had to stay secret.

He reviewed the notes he had collected on hand. This time, he was going to sort them in categories.

In the first category, Law:

Rule no. 1. Maintain a perfect, happy world.

That seems to be what makes this world work. It seems like the agenda of their ‘subtle’ propaganda, though not something that they outright announce. I know for a fact that life wasn’t always like that. Something must have happened… Something that no one, at least no citizens can remember.


The computer in the basement seems to know something, only if i could unlock the hidden contents.

I’ve also found out that I was, or am, something called a journalist. But in this world, in this day and age? News don’t come often. And when they do come, they’re all rainbows and butterflies. The kind of journalism I do is forbidden, but why?


The natural laws of this world: people forget. We all know this. Everyone has a memory span, something that is dependent on our lifespan.

For the sake of a longer memory span, people make life style changes. Oh, doesn’t that make this world more perfect? People live longer, people remember longer.


It is not a law, but is strongly encouraged, to follow the Routine Cards the Government issues. I wonder if that is indeed beneficial to society, or just another gimmick to make this world work.


It is an actual law to see the doctor when you feel sick.

Not sure why that sounds fishy. Healthcare is free, though.


Does the government really control where we live? How do they know who to place us with in the same household?


They call themselves enforcers. I was tortured, even though they know I won’t remember.

Finally, they threw me back into this cell at Bacon Street they call my home, they thought I fell asleep, they thought I won’t remember.

But I will stay awake to write.

It was the last day of this memory span and they finally caught me. But the room is still safe, my home is still safe. There’s still a lot to be investigated, but there’s new progress every memory span. Remember to keep track, document, and stay hidden.

Their watch will keep growing tighter.

The map is tattooed on my chest. This note has to stay hidden.


Is someone watching me?

Jeunory – Architecture

5 February, 2065

The ability to forget, isn’t that what people wished for?

Doubt.


John took a deep breath and finally decided to explore the rest of the space before settling down to piece together what was going on.

The space he was in wasn’t big. It was enough for a bed, a computer desk, a mini fridge, a standing mirror and enough room to pace around. The walls were thickly covered with erratically placed notes and journal entries that John didn’t understand. The room was meek, the air heavy. There were no windows, only something that seemed to be once a skylight replaced the ceiling, but it was covered and seemingly well hidden. Only a wee, warm light bulb illuminated the whole room.

There was a desk lamp too, only John didn’t bother to see if it worked. The desk had a desk top computer that seemed a little too old for this era, but John’s guts told him it must still be functioning well, especially since gadgets and tech were surprisingly long lasting. Well, at least they lasted longer than memory spans. Some pens sprawled across the table and papers overspilled from the drawers John decided to explore later.

Right outside the room was a tiny square space, just enough room for one person. Maybe two people, if they stood close enough. There wasn’t much choices to choose where you can go. Directly in front of the room was a bathroom, turning right from the room was a staircase that lead upwards. Racks filled the last wall of the square space.

John ventured into the bathroom. It wasn’t the cleanest, but at least it didn’t smell. There was a small, squeaky ventilation fan that let in some light. A lightbulb hung right off the wall. A sink, cabinet mirror, toilet bowl and shower. It was a rather regular bathroom.

There are no notes in here. John thought in relieve.

He also noticed that all the signs showed that he was living by himself. Not surprising for a small space like this. His thoughts drifted to the first note he saw and he wondered if he has a family.

His attention quickly snapped back as he surveyed the Routine Cards along the stairway. They were strangely different, but seemed to be deliberately placed in order. From the bottom of the staircase were cards that seemed to be the oldest, most yellowed and crumpled. The cards got newer and whiter as he ascended the staircase. All of them had different content and different routines, the only similarity being their assignment to the same name: John Dayers.

Except for one card, it was assigned to someone called Wendy Dayers.

Sister? Wife? Whoever she was, John had no clue, and wasn’t even sure if she was still in his life.

The staircase lead to a square metal door hatch. A paper that was attached wrote:

Coordinates and entry passcode tattooed on right forearm. A = 3.

He looked down his forearms and to his surprise, he easily deciphered the code.

With some difficulty, he turned to unlock the tightly locked hatch. It was for sure only unlock-able from the inside. John confirms that this place is a secret that is probably only meant for him.

He took a peek at the outside world and sunlight flooded his sight. He lived beyond a fence. Across the fence was a variety of buildings which all seemed pretty normal. Maybe… Just a bit too normal. It was a fine day in California, but it wasn’t the day John was going to go out, not just yet.

He stepped back into the room and heaved a sigh, wondering what went on with him when he last pasted a piece of journal on the wall.

Project 1 Que Sera Final Works

My name is

coursingriver-6-6And I am a Coursing River


My name is

typhoon-3-8And I am a Great Typhoon


My name is

fire-4-6 And I am a Raging Fire


My name is

moon-3And I am a Mysterious Moon


Mounted Workmounted2


Updated:

To summarise this project, it was indeed a tough yet beneficial challenge to tie in messages to visuals.

The final over arching message for my visuals would be “it doesn’t matter if you’re male or female, you can be anything you want to be“.

I have made use of song lyrics from a song titled “I’ll Make a Man Out of You”, that came from Mulan, the animated feature. The particular verse goes like this:

[men] WE ARE MEN
We must be swift as a coursing river
[men] WE ARE MEN
With all the force of a great typhoon
[men] WE ARE MEN
With all the strength of a raging fire
Mysterious as the dark side of the moon
I am relieved to have eventually found a message that resonated with my stand. smile
Evidently, each of my design showcases the elements and are united with the use of the same colour schemes and side profiles. Equally proportioned Male and Female faces, represented by colours, were used to represent the equality between the genders.
As a believer of teamwork, I also see a sub-message that goes, “if everybody would work together, they can be anything they want to be” in my compositions.
In Coursing River, action is implied with flowing hair and air bubbles forming my names.
Similarly, in Great Typhoon, action is implied with the rotation of the faces, the background and my name.
In Raging Fire, my name was formed with fire and smoke is presented in both the foreground and background.
In Mysterious Moon, my name was ambiguously hidden and it replaces the eyes of the faces.
Agreeing to the feedback I have received, I believe I could have explored more with using colours in the Typhoon and Moon compositions as I did in the River and Fire compositions. Also, exaggerating the pull of the alphabets in the Typhoon composition.

The other feedback received includes the good use of proportions and unifying colours.

The reflection for this project can be found here, in the Progress update.

Project 1 Progress

brilliant-fighting-montage
Me vs Project 1. Me as Mulan.

My four jobs:
Coursing River, Great Typhoon, Raging Fire, Mysterious Moon

Since the last consultation, it has been concluded that I needed to tie my visuals more to the message I was trying to convey.

I started off with re-looking at my message, “Women can be these things too” and rephrased it to become “It doesn’t matter man or women” which I found resonated with my neutral stand better as I wouldn’t consider myself a passionate feminist, and gender roles is such a grey area to me.

From here, it was coming up with new designs that would convey the message.

With my previous female-centric stand, I found it tricky to not fall into the confines of gender bias as I thought usage of colours or body forms stereotyped to genders would become a oxymoron with my message.

I preferred the neutral stand as the usage of colours would simply be a representation of the genders instead of a stereotype. Typing “feminist” into the search bar and seeing a variety of designs being pink also helped realign my thinking.

screen-shot-2017-02-04-at-3-55-38-pm
http://amyspalding.tumblr.com/post/123298737557/soleuna-proud-to-be-a-feminist
screen-shot-2017-02-04-at-3-57-06-pm
http://educated-baetch.tumblr.com/post/131947945381/source-buzzfeed-news-on-snapchat
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http://amyspalding.tumblr.com/post/123298737557/soleuna-proud-to-be-a-feminist

In the above designs, pink was used as colour to help convey the message better and I found that designs with the pink help the feminist message stand out better as compared to the designs in other colours.

Instead of a ‘stereotype’, colours can be used as a signifier, a semiotic mechanic to drive the message as blue and pink could be considered indexes that connects the message – pink commonly represents females and blue commonly represent males.


Secondary Research
(Brainstorming has been documented in sketchbook)

2d-cooking
Saw this during research / brainstorming for the visuals and thought it might be helpful

 

Let’s get down to business ?

Relooked at the Mulan video for some inspiration!

Like most animations, Mulan’s face is rather minimal and I think that influenced my style.

Also, I really like artist, Henn Kimm’s minimal lines and colours.

Image result for henn kimRelated imageRelated image
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I love how despite the restricted (but strong and contrasting) flat, solid colours and clean lines, she could deliver her illustrations minimalistic-cally. I also like how clean and solid the backgrounds look with no textures, just one flat color.

 


Redesigning:

After brainstorming, I came to using faces of a man and a woman. They provide a focal point, and are straightforward, effective and obvious enough to carry my message, rather than using hands or the whole body which could end up in things being unnecessarily complex.

I started off with sketching some composition ideas, and then coming up with the faces, the new main attraction of this series, tracing the carefully deliberated and handpicked side views of a male and female faces.

processtest

I traced the images instead of drawing them from scratch because I felt like the forms and contours matter. Despite the fact that there are some very pretty Korean boys, men generally have different facial features and structures as compared to women.

I snuck in the differences using minute variations in angles in the brows, lips and blusher.

I thought thick and straight eyebrows would be cute and would stand out, instead of basic and legit eyebrows, since they’re stylised drawings anyway. I feel like they complementing the equally outstanding blushers and help make the design more stylised. Plus, Mulan has thick eyebrows too. (And as everybody already know, thick eyebrows are in trend)

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I love including blushers in my works. They’re cute. Especially as seen in local artist Lyyeow’s works:

Image result for lyyeow

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From here, I guess it is pretty obvious that the overall style for these pieces would be more graphical and stylised – fitting to my major in animation, as well as the origins of the concept, an animation feature.

And with my previous design as a base, I fit in the faces

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Drew blobs of water for hair because the imagery of ‘swift as a coursing river’ reminds me of hair gloriously flowing in the water.

(It always does, just like in this piece from my Ego project:)

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But I used blobby hair this time to match the flat, vector look, and also…

Since the last update, I have decided that the lasso tool is my go-to for this series. It is a secretly powerful tool that if often overlooked as I try very hard to digitally draw smooth flowing shapes. I first came across it while I was watching one of Feng Zhu’s (a concept artist) digital painting videos. Look at what it can achieve!!! It is a secret weapon and I was going to try and make use of it more.

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In the compositions above, the type wasn’t working out yet, and the background was still messy – I received some suggestions to try using the bubbles to spell out my name.

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Also considered using different kind of foam / bubbles but nope, just nope.

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Though there is rather rhythmic movements in the above composition (it was intended for the bubbles to look like it was flowing down the hair to suggest action), I thought the negative space on the right side seemed awkward so I tried to switch it around.

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Adjusted the layout, then tried to remove some elements of the original designs (Brush strokes in the background and testing out different colour schemes and opacity).

Eventually the brush strokes were removed to achieve a flatter and cleaner look, taking into consideration that brush strokes /textures might not fit in the other designs as the they were placed initially to help mimic the gradience of water.

So there, swift as a coursing river, the swiftness is demonstrated in the flowing hair, bubbles and blobs of water in the background.

Originally, I wasn’t going to use dark grey for my all the background, but figured that it was fitting as it helped make the faces stand out as I was working on the Typhoon design:

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In the first draft, I used Green and Blues because that’s how a typhoon is seen from outer space (as researched last post). I also thought that the contours formed by the faces made the middle section look like a continent.

Image result for typhoon

But the colours didn’t work out and black worked much better, especially in promoting a style and unity between the four pieces and breaking the predictability of the colours used for my four jobs.

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Tried to use the concept of random neon colours (from the previous designs) again but it didn’t seem to work out. Then, I drew my name instead of using a commercial font and attempted for it to look like it was being sucked into the middle.

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Played around with different ways to signify the typhoon as I thought the first one really looked quite like people smoking.

Force of a great typhoon, straightforwardly signified by the circle of people around, as typhoons are just rotating and rotating and rotating and rotating….

Using the idea of covered fonts form my previous designs, here’s mysterious moon.

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I didn’t mention in the previous post, but how the name was hidden (in this version) was inspired by the moon phases.

? ? ? ? ? ? ?

I didn’t realise, but feedback said that it looks like solar eclipses!
Image result for moon eclipse

The side profiles were fitting to dark side of the moon. Even more so because the colour scheme is near black and the type being backed by shadows. Researching mysterious men/women, I came across these pieces which stood out to me:

https-//www.pinterest.com/jealouscurator/.jpg
https-//www.pinterest.com/jealouscurator/.jpg

Wellllll I couldn’t smudge a minimalistic illustration like this and it wouldn’t fit into the look and feel of the series, so the eyes were removed to help exude mysteriousness.

Lastly, raging fire was really quite challenging.

My attempts at taking elements from my previous designs like the other pieces were no good as it didn’t fit in with the other three visuals and they had too much red in them:

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How to represent fire with faces????

I remembered that the sun is a ball of raging fire

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So why not give it a shot:fire-1

Which didn’t work out. There are waaay to many faces and it doesn’t show any signs of a fire.

I looked at the three other visuals as a whole and came up with a composition for the faces that is different from the other pieces.

I also thought of using smoke and silhouettes to help signify fire. A raging fire would mean lots and lots of smoke.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/540854236470674870/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/540854236470674870/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/464081936576180290/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/464081936576180290/

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Initially I collected this as a reference to write out my name: 
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But I wanted a flatter layout to resonate with the other designs.

Since there are some colours in the coursing river piece as compared to the other designs, I thought of similarly including colours in this piece to help balance the pieces out as a whole.

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Tried different colour combinations and eventually decided to include the lines for the faces to help read them clearer and also harmonise more with the other pieces.

Still rather unhappy with the design, I explored with drawing my name differently, this time making use of Photoshop’s liquify tool.

Base drawing (before Liquify)
Base drawing (before Liquify)

After Liquify and color changesAfter Liquify and color changes / additions

How the name was drawn was inspired / referring to animation of flames that I have encountered before (while doing research on another project):

Related imageImage result for fire animationImage result for flame animation gif tutorial

Image result for 2d fire animation

Also ended up using orange because it made that fact that this piece is about fire, obvious. Tried out other colours in the process and they just didn’t work out.

The GIF below also shows the process of trying to integrate the type more into the design. Within the composition, I also tried placing the name in different places but they didn’t work well. Eventually, I found that varying the opacity of the smoke in the background helped a lot. It also gave a better impression of a raging fire, or an impression of smoke in varying distances.

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I also switched the male and female faces around so that in the combined presentation, the gender of the faces will mostly be alternated.

 

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Reflection

Initially, I really found it a struggle to have to include a message within my visuals. It was tough for me and really something I thought I was quite bad at. In hindsight, I think it was a good struggle to have to have meaning in my design. After all, I came up with a message I thought was quite special, and I think the end product speaks.

I also found that in my end products, there was a sub message that really resonated with me. With both the faces of men and women, other than genders not playing a part, it could be seen as men and women working together, just like eventually in the video of the sound track. After all, they were all coming together to defeat the Huns, so why would genders matter as long as they are willing?

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Because I am so neutral (or some say indecisive) person, more often than not I find myself not being able to pick a side, I often fall back onto the solution of people working together. I love it when people work well together. Half way through designing I realised this sub message in my designs and felt like it really worked out. Despite my works usually not being personal and being more general, I like how the end product was still mine in the end because of it’s neutral tonality and sub message about working together.

Image result for working together meme

In last semester, I mostly tried to use traditional mediums and methods which were mostly very time consuming. Using a digital medium was in contrast much more effective. Butttt, I thought I should be more particular at the beginning especially if I was going to use the same illustration for all four pieces. Because I was not so particular then (I thought I was just testing compositions), I duplicated the illustrations into other designs though the strokes were uneven and not clean. I had to go back to each design and touch up afterwards.

Also, with the digital medium, it was convenient to explore minor tweaks but I think I might have fell into the trap of easily settling on a composition. My usual work process was – find something to start with (in this case the faces and my previous design), lay them around, find something good, and work on it. I thought I could really have explored more compositions by sketching first before diving in digitally. When I explore digitally, the compositions would usually differ much less.

Tying in with exploring more compositions, I would also like to build up a better habit of doing more research, especially according to specific artists instead of related words. When I get too excited, I tend to come up with my own ideas and work from there. I find that this results in limitations in my designs, especially since the visual library in my head can in no way compare to the multitude of resources and references, I can find out there. I could probably have pushed my research more, and earlier, instead of being too anxious and diving into test designs – which I ended up settling on (too) quickly. This was evident when I was stuck on my raging fire composition. By then, I was already more or less done with the other three designs and searching related words (like fire, fire typography) wasn’t able to help much. If I had researched more and explored more compositions in the beginning, maybe I could have come up with something better.

Additional research according to the style I was going for could have been more beneficial, though the research in the beginning did help as I was so inspired by David Carson. I really enjoyed his style and tried to use some of his methods, though eventually I veered away because of the change in design concept. Despite that, David Carson’s interview inspired me to be more personal about my designs, which I felt at least this pulled through because this series was something related to animation, and the concept and design were still things that were in my style. It feels/seems like something I would do, and I am happy with that, especially since I almost just gave up with my stand when people suggested that a female-centric message would be easier to convey.

So there, in this assignment, I overcame the great barrier of marrying the message with the visuals. I think the compositions could have been better, but I am happy with how the end product speaks, is united, and the main colour scheme.

Obligate Cannibals Fan-Fiction

The Man Who Feasted on Gods

 It has been a month since that fateful day.

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The day he escaped the fire, the chanting crowd, the ropes that bounded him to his fate of being an Omega due for sacrifice.

He was hateful and hungry. He never understood the things that people worshipped as “Gods”. As an Omega, he was taught that people once ate these Gods called animals. It was common belief that, as atonement, people had to eat as many humans as they did animals.

“Sacrifice, you. Until Gods, forgive.” The religious seer often preached.

He questioned how people could believe in these non-existing creatures but alas, as an offspring of a specie infected by Kuru, he could never grasp his own thoughts. He hated the people, he hated the Gods he didn’t believe in, but all he knew was what he felt physically; the heavy breaths, the burning sensations in his chest, the water that flows unstoppably from his eyes and the instincts to kill when the Gods were mentioned.

With the luck of an Alpha acting up and rendering chaos during the ritual to sacrifice him, he escaped and was barely saved by a stream before his body collapsed from dehydration and weariness.

He wasn’t the only one drinking from the stream. His eyes dilated with disbelief as he spots a weird, thing. Something he had only saw in pictures all his life. It was small, barely the size of his forearm. It was a ball of fur, which was a relic only seen in the shrines. Only the fur in the shrines didn’t move, didn’t breathe. His hands tightly gripped the river bank.

untitled_artwork3It was what they called, a God. The instincts to kill flowed through his arteries and overruled his weariness. His senses sharpened and he pounced, teeth barbarically sinking into the neck of the animal. He skinned the creature and tore into its raw flesh, only then remembering that the people had always put bloody meat over a fire before feasting.

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He scavenged the grounds and conveniently found an old campsite, along with a strange burrow near it.


That was a month ago.

Now, tucked away in the thick foliage of the tropical plantation, right beside the stream was his well-camouflaged home. A deep growl sounded from within the foliage.

“Come.” His authoritative voice commanded as he walks out of his hideout, towards where the main population lived. With some hesitation, the growling beast complied. The beast was muscular, the length of its arms rivalled that of a gorilla’s and its conduct mirrored the alpha of a pack. It was a tanned Alpha male human.


Hunters hunted around the area within the month. He stayed hidden initially because he was a mere, afraid and unskilled Omega. Eventually, he unintentionally discovers the possibility to tame the animalistic Alpha hunters. All he needed was meat. He stayed concealed as he had his tamed-hunter duel offensive-hunters that roamed the forest. The winning hunter would simply feed on the loser, and he would tame any new winners.

It was a working system and he had newfound clarity from feeding on the hateful Gods daily. It wasn’t just about killing them because he hated them. It was the full body experience of sinking his teeth into the so-called Gods, inhaling their souls and absorbing their powers. Slowly but surely, the frequency of his tremors decreased drastically, the boulder of depression was slowly lifting off his chest and there were rarely any signs of hysteria within the past weeks. He started to be able to comprehend and think, albeit the worshipping of these Gods became even more unacceptable to him because they were such lowly, weak and pest-like creatures. His hate was refueled every time he fed.

He wanted to devour all the Gods.


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“WHO, IS, YOUR, GOD?” He bellowed as he threw the carcass of a God into the village, then taking a ferocious bite out of a cooked one he had in his other hand.

Mouth still full with the godly flesh, he yelled a war cry and a pack of familiar Alphas, ones that still belonged to the community just weeks ago, came charging in. His army was expectedly overwhelming. The community unsuspectedly kept sending out new Alphas to hunt when their Alphas didn’t return, only because they were murdered in duel or tamed to become part of the now attacking army.

The Alphas fed.

The Betas mostly prayed.

While the Omegas were rallied and led to the burrow.

It was finally his moment. The moment to prove his disbelief was right. The moment to show the people of his kind a new feeling they had never experienced, a feeling called hope that will free them of their destinies.

“Dig, and you will find the truth. Fuck the Gods. Today, we Omegas will eat them all.” He said.