Tag Archives: pattern

Process: Creating Motifs Part 3

Previously, it was just exploring of the different structures symmetrically repeated and reflected to form a motif. However, I am moving on to the process of putting together 2 or more different motifs to become one.

The first few examples can be seen below, where 1 human microscopy is repeated, and overlayed with another. The only difference between the two are the opacity.

On a side note, when I see these motifs (above), I realised it looked like the lace material.

And another example below, where I layered 3 different structures into 1. Though it is messy as the lines intersecting were pretty obvious and distracting.

At first glance, I think it is too messy, but it gives a very nice layer.
At first glance, I think it is too messy, but it gives a very nice layer.

 

From the consultation, I was introduced to an artist who does her work in abstract forms with an unorganised, messy and complex backdrop or surroundings.

Her name is Julie Mehretu, and these are some of her works that I find them interesting and are parts of my inspiration:

inspiration-tab-julie-mehteru

To minus off the use of symmetry and reflections, I combined the tracings that I had, following the best fir of positions of the structures, and started to form them into one whole motif.

combination-motifs-2-1

Then, I repeat the image above, and formed design inspired by spirals, cosmos or what looked like mandala due to the radiating in and out. (Mixed in a little knowledge of Art History over here)

panaroma-test-1-1

Next, how do I make it look as messy as Julie Mehretu’s? I decided to try and have textures. At first I thought of manually creating textures using several techniques I found online. But I too, wanted to try the grunge effect. So the images below are the before and after of grunge texture, with colour and monochromatic.

Trying out the texture with colour.
Trying out the texture with colour.
versus the grunge texture with a lower opacity
versus the grunge texture with a lower opacity

Process: Inspiration & Creating Motifs Part 1

HOW DO I CREATE MOTIFS?

I planned to use the raw imagery of the human microscopic anatomy from the lab, but with tight schedules, I resorted to an alternative: using resources from books and online articles.

I was inspired from watching Bonnie Christine’s method of transferring hand-drawn sketches to digital. Therefore, I gave it a go to create my motifs.

Firstly, I selected a few microscopic images (from the website, book, and article,), printed them out, traced them over and finally scanning them in to digitize them.

You can view the images below:

Human Cells

Source to be inserted ASAP
Kuehnel, Wolfgang. Color Atlas of Cytology, Histology, and Microscopic Anatomy. 4th ed. Germany: Thieme, 2003. PDF. Cells, pg 15

Into digital

Connective and Supportive Tissue

Kuehnel, Wolfgang. Color Atlas of Cytology, Histology, and Microscopic Anatomy. 4th ed. Germany: Thieme, 2003. PDF. Connective and Supportive Tissue, pg 119
Connective Supportive Tissue 1
#1
Connective Supportive Tissue 2
#2
Source to be inserted ASAP
Kuehnel, Wolfgang. Color Atlas of Cytology, Histology, and Microscopic Anatomy. 4th ed. Germany: Thieme, 2003. PDF. Connective and Supportive Tissue, pg 117
Nerve Tissue
#3

Bone

 

Source to be inserted ASAP
Source to be inserted ASAP
Bone 1
#1
Bone 2
#2

With these bunch of scanned images, I would compose them to form one motif.

(Still progressing…)

On a side note, I find the pattern designs done by William Morris, from the Arts and Crafts Movement, pretty interesting. Arts and crafts movement is well known for its decorative art. From William Morris’ art, I like how the artboard/canvas are all filled up with patterns leaving minimal negative space.

All along I’ve been planning the outlook of how I want my pattern to turn out, how it will look from afar vs when zoomed in. Thus, these gave me more depth to the idea of how I want my motifs will look like.

You can check out the link on my Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/youmikaltsum/inspiration-art-craft-movement/
You can check out the link on my Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/youmikaltsum/inspiration-art-craft-movement/

City: Selected Theme

Mutation in the City”

So, it seems that I have decided for my theme to be Mutation as I was inspired by microscopic structures and bio-mimicry.

The theme “Mutation in the City” mainly focus on the health aspect in the city — how people are infected with virus or sickness like cancer etc. I had the inspiration from movies with zombies and I was curious of how the cells (virus + normal cell) in our body actually reacts with one another. Like, does it react vigorously like how metals in the first group in the Periodic Table reacts with water?

Research on Mutation (Link:https://www.pinterest.com/youmikaltsum/inspiration-pattern-design-mutationsinfectious/)
Research on Mutation (Link:https://www.pinterest.com/youmikaltsum/inspiration-pattern-design-mutationsinfectious/)

With the example above, I want to look for interaction between the cells thus it led me to decide on how my pattern design will be formed — collage images of the microscopic structure into 1 big pattern, use variation of colours to show the interaction between the cells, and most probably using the shape of DNA figure.

City: Moodboard & Theme selection

This post will contain information and images on the themes ideas for the Project City.

SUPERNATURAL CITY

Transform city found objects, and/or data, into representational or abstract forms, designs, and patterns for a large-scale public art installation.

When I think of cities, I think of man-made and natural aspects. I considered what can be seen in the cities, what can be felt in terms of how you feel etc. I decided to go on the direction of Nature for my City. Recently, I went to Chinese/Japanese Garden to see what I can be inspired from.

The first thing that came to my mind were ripples, how the water flows naturally could be turned or modified into an organic pattern following the movement or direction. After my personal trip, I went on Pinterest to gather inspiration and created my moodboard.

Inspiration Tab-Pattern Design
General research on Pattern Design on Pinterest. (Link: https://www.pinterest.com/youmikaltsum/inspiration-pattern-design/)

 

Moodboard - Ripples Inspiration
Moodboard on idea #1

The second idea I had in mind was textures. So I looked out for trees, the road and other materials I can find along the park for unique textures. Some trees that had scales growing on the trunk thus it lead me to think of bio-mimicry, and/or microscopic structure.

Moodboard - Textures Inspiration
Moodboard on idea #2 – textures
Moodboard - Microscopic Inspiration
Moodboard on idea #3

 Lastly, I researched on the different techniques to go create patterns. After browsing through Pinterest, I narrowed down to 2 techniques which you can find below:

My compilation of the different ways to create pattern using different tools (Link: https://www.pinterest.com/youmikaltsum/inspiration-pattern-design-techniques/)
My compilation of the different ways to create pattern using different tools (Link: https://www.pinterest.com/youmikaltsum/inspiration-pattern-design-techniques/)

 

Moodboard on techniques
Moodboard on techniques
  1. marbling — I thought of using watercolour or milk with food colouring to create the cross section of the pattern
  2. monoprint — I thought of re-using the monoprint from previous semester, and do a few more to get variations so that I could collage them digitally.

In terms of colour, I thought of bright and contrasting colours like the last picture on the right from the techniques moodboard.

Final Compositions

After much decision on which composition to use for the final, it came to this:

_____ + _____ = ME

  • I find myself comfortable wearing slippers, sandals, and shoes most of time instead of high heels. This composition had a variation where I tried to add some pop art effects, but I the original image colour of the shoes are nice thus I went for minimalism with the background.
  • As shown from the image above, I like the colour red thus the image implies that most of my items are in red.
  • ME, a portrait of myself with textured background from the previous monoprint works.

_____ – _____ = A BETTER ME

8

  • I tend to overthink alot whenever I am working, and it would mess up my mind — bringing myself down
  • I also tend to bottle up my feelings whenever I am not feeling too happy or etc.
  • Therefore when I minus Overthinking with Bottling Up Feelings, it would get me to be free from the mess in my mind and heart and soul. I used butterflies to symbolise being free.

____ x _____ = AN IDEAL ME

9

  • Because I tend to overthink which leads me to pull myself down with such negativity, I would like to be more optimistic than pessimistic.
  • I want to be more expressive, more vocal so that people actually know how I feel. I used the image of dancers because dancers are always told to show emotions through their body movement and their facial expression.
  • If I were to multiply optimistic with being more expressive, I would get the ideal me who blooms with confidence. I used flower (rose in particular) because it is in my favourite colour but at the same time, it is known that flowers bloom. Thus when you bloom, you tend to be ready, be brave for whatever that comes your way.

____ + ____ = ME IN 5 YEARS

10

  • Pretty ambitious thinking, but I would like to see myself at least getting engaged. These series composition were the tough ones as I wanted to show that I was dreaming (which explains the bubble thought in the image). However, the background would have been plain thus I decided to add repetition at the background for consistency in style.
  • Hard earned money saved in the piggy bank for future use
  • Therefore, the equation added up as such — seeing myself travelling around the world with the money that I earned. The background comprises of repetition of stamps to show the travelling to different countries.
FINAL OF THE FINAL

 

Therefore, the picture above shows the completion of the project!

Work in Progress

With all the things I listed about myself, I came up with some compositions with some of the keywords. It was a challenge as the process of the pop art effect is pretty time consuming, plus trying to come up with the concept of the compositions took away most of my brain juice. But I was reminded that I too, like minimalism as much as patterns (that can also be seen as messy).

These are the compositions of ME and the different keywords of myself:

Portrait of myself with different trials of colour schemes
Portrait of myself with different trials of colour schemes
Different compositions of the different keywords of myself
Different compositions of the different keywords of myself

3

4

5

Colour Schemes for the compositions
Colour Schemes for the compositions

Artist Reference/Style

EGO

Basically, this project tells people about me, my personalities, my likes and dislikes etc. I listed the things about myself and thought that I would want to have something threshold-y. Consultation with Prof Ina came to the point where mine could be something like Andy Warhol’s pop art.

So, I went to the school library and got myself some reference books:

Reference Books (1)
Reference Books (1)
Reference Books (2)
Reference Books (2)
My work was inspired by these artpieces
My work was inspired by these artpieces
I like prints, repetition, and patterns. Thus it became one of the style to the project
I like prints, repetition, and patterns. Thus it became one of the style to the project