YAY So we have finally completed our FINAL assignment for 2D Foundation WOOHOO~
So lets get on with this extremely long and detailed post~

ME
Representation of Me: Tofu + Baby Elephant
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Instead of using photographs of myself to represent myself, I decided to use my spirit animal as a representation of myself: A baby elephant.
Why a BABY elephant?
Because I often wish that I didn’t have to grow up so fast, and like a kid I am rather gullible & childish.
Why a baby ELEPHANT?
Because an elephant is a gentle giant ( I am rather big), they never forget(I bear grudges), they are playful and friendly but not to be trifled with ( my emotions are easily riled).
I was also intrigued to explore Anthropomorphism as well. Hence, I wanted to use Tofu as my subject as well. The texture of my elephant I have decided to go with is different types of Tofu as my friend once told me that I am like Tofu, soft and fragile and I ought to toughen up to be like Tau Pok.
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Hence, in each row, the toughness of each elephant in each square will show the progression of how I , from a fragile watery Tau Huay transform into a tougher Tau Pok. Vice Versa. cool

Methodology
For the methodology for the representation of myself, I was very inspired by the cartoons I have watched in the past and recently.
Hence, I decided to carrying out my emotions and state into the form of hand-drawn elephant cartoon drawings, which then I scan my drawings into the computer, and then overlaying the texture of tofu over my drawings for the elephant’s skin on Photoshop.
This further emphasized on the meaning of my spirit animal is also soft and fragile like Tofu. Thus, giving a new definition to my spirit animal.
I decided to split the 4 rows into 2 where the first two will be on my concept of Dystopia and the other two will be my ideal concept of Utopia.
 scanwf
A constant method of carrying this project out is on Surrealism, as I was having lots of fun for project 2 and I would like to incorporate photo manipulation and montages again. 🙂

Compositions

1) Utopia 1:
 slide1
Me: Me when I am stressed.
Setting: Lured by Temptation
Black used in the background and doodled TV to show the dull and mundane life I am in. Juxtaposed by the burst of white light behind the TV, it acts as a metaphorical representation of the TV being a portal to send me to another dimension ( color wheel ) where there is colour, vibrance and excitement. Outstretched hand (Korean drama actor Song Joong Ki’s hand) from the center of the colour wheel invites and lures me into his world. *fangirl snigger*
Outcome: Living vicariously through fiction.
My concept for this composition is a themepark because I love thrilling rides and I lose track of time there. Similarly, in the land of fiction, I lose track of time and reality when I watch TV dramas.
I used Square complementary Harmony color wheel in this composition where I used : Violet, Orange, Blue and Green. Violet/ purple gives off a dream like atmosphere, Blue is calming, orange gives a youthful and warm feeling and Green is refreshing.

 For this row, I was rather inspired by an image I saw online once which I felt it was highly relatable.
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Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.
– Albert Einstein
2) Dystopia 1
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Me: Me when I am carefree
Setting:  Societal Expectations.
I used cool colors for this composition that has similar tones. Scene takes place in a classroom setting in my perspective. Blackboard serves as the center of focus to create line of perspective, further emphasized by grids on the floor, which says, “Flying Lesson 101”.
This is to show that sometimes in society and education, we are often taught things that we don’t need or does not apply to us individually, or it simply is not cut out for us. And no matter how hard we push ourselves to learn, we remember the theory but we cannot apply it.
Outcome: Inferiority complex.
Outcome is a representation of Exam day.
I used monochrome harmony ( Blue) and split complementary ( Blue with Orange ) in this composition. I used blue as the background as I wanted to express the coldness and cruel side of society (building in the background), as well as inferiority I experienced when my peers do extremely well but I don’t. It is as though, when I am not doing well in certain subjects as compared to others, I am deemed as incompetent, inadequate and less intelligent by society…
The bright orange juxtaposed against the dark blue background is to show how much my peers shine through their abilities, where I am blended into the background, questioning my abilities. I attempted to create a diagonal implied line from the bottom left corner to the top right hand corner, to convey the instability I felt.

3) Utopia 2

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Me: Me when I have Anxiety
Setting: My Safe Haven
My Safe Haven is depicted in an outdoor scenario where ELEPHANTS SHOULD BE ROAMING AND NOT LOCKED IN CAGES NOR ENCLOSURES *ahem* where there is plenty of room to roam. I used rain, as Elephants love the rain; I represented the sun with a fried egg (Because I like too eat eggs) and the vegetation at the bottom to be a Soya Bean field as Tofu is made from Soya Beans, and metaphorically, I am where I am born. Hence, my safe haven is places where I find most joy and comfort as a child.
I used a Analogous Warm Colors for this composition where Green, Red, Orange and Yellow are present.
Outcome: Recuperation.
In this composition, the Elephant is seen in the ground with a Soya Bean and a rice grain on it’s side. This is a representation of me talking my problems out with my loved ones, and in this scenario, the Soya Bean is a representation of my family and friends (What made me ‘Me’.) and Rice is also the basic element which makes my comfort food: Carbohydrates. My elephant’s texture is Tau Huay again as I wanted to show that in front of my loved ones, I am allowed to breakdown and show my weak and fragile side 🙂 The Farmer Boots, Watering Can and Sunlight are what will help me grow up as a Soya Bean to be a stronger and happier person…I mean tofu.
I used Analogous Warm Colors and Earth tones for this composition.

4)Dystopia 2
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Me: Me when I am Happy
Setting: Whirlpool of negativity
I depicted this composition by a hand grabbing the Elephant and attempting to throw her in the black hole made by the black and white whirlpool.
My highs and lows are rather unpredictable. I get triggered by comments and actions really easily as I am hypersensitive- *sighs* I am a Scorpio…excuses – and in an instant I get so caught up in chains of thoughts or reasons, I enter my abyss of fear and swirling thoughts, which eventually lead me to a state of melancholy.
Used Monochrome Harmony for this composition.
Outcome: Abyss of fear and melancholy
In my state of fear and melancholy, I am consumed by my own thoughts, things people say and self-loathe. I’ll think about past events and I get really scared of my consuming thoughts which swirls around me like vultures waiting to feed on my corpse.
Flying eyeballs with mouth-Conscious of things people say and the way they look at me.
Lizards with Math equations on them – Constant reminder of greatest fear in Math. I hate lizards.
Frankenstein Snowman – Things people compare parts of my body to.
Used Monochrome Harmony and Split Complementary ( Yellow rays from Window)
The texture of my elephant from a tough Tao Pok to Tau Gua to a watery fragile Tao Huay is evident here.

Artist References
A lot of my inspirations come from the cartoons I binged watched as a kid and the cartoons I watch now with my younger cousin on cable TV as a form of bonding session!
Best thing about being an Art student is that I can get away with watching cartoons for research purpose MUAHAHA.
I pay quite a lot of attention to the details in the animations which I drew my inspirations from:
Fairly Odd Parents
I really liked how they used color of the background has similar tones and roughly from the same hue. And the main characters are usually much more saturated and has brighter hues to draw our attention to them. The juxtaposition of the one-hue background to the more vibrant and colorful main characters really gives the main characters that POP of color.
The AMAZING WORLD OF GUMBALL
&
PICKLE AND PEANUT
cartoon-network-the-amazing-world-of-gumball
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My inspiration for Anthropomorphism comes from these 2 cartoons.
I liked how in The Amazing World of Gumball, the character’s personality are related for the medium they are made from. For instance, Teri (the paper bear beside Tina the T-rex) is made out of paper, she is very fragile, and physically weak. It is revealed that if Teri stands in the light, you can see “inside of her.”
And in Pickle and Peanut , I like how the main characters are the only ones made from ‘Real Objects’ whereas the rests are drawings.

Problems Faced
Use of colors
The colors aspect was bugging me quite a bit. The placement of colors on certain areas of my compositions and the saturation, tone and the Hex color code made it hard for me to decide as there were so many colors to choose from. But then again I was intrigued by the types of color harmony I can use to further illustrate and emphasize on my intention and emotion in each composition.
Ideas
I was rather concerned regarding using Color Harmony as the main key point as my head was really congested with ideas on how to pull off the photo montages, methodology, ideology and which elephant to use for which setting etc.
Images
Finding the right high resolution images for my photo montages and photo manipulation was rather difficult. For instance, it was not easy to find a high resolution image for tofu. 🙁

Comments and Feedback

Lovely Classmates’:
commensTHANK YOU GUYS FOR THE LOVELY COMMENTS <3
Miss Joy’s ( I can’t remember word for word but I got the gist):
– Can tell that I tried to apply my Principles of design such as implied lines and use of perspective.
– Joy suggested that for my ‘Societal Expectation’ composition, doing a sketch of a bunny hopping off a cliff to show the act of learning to fly would be better as compared to writing the text ‘Flying Lesson 101’ as the texts are rather jarring when seen as a whole during presentation of my 12 compositions, as it was the only composition with text on it. 🙂

Have pretty mixed feelings when lesson ended today 🙁 I had lots of fun working on the assignments, and odd to say but critique day is my favorite part of the assignment XD, but I cant help but feel a tinge of sadness when in sem 2 our class may split up and we may not get Joy as our instructor again even if we try to grab our timetable slots on STARwarS… sigh. But regardless I am very glad to get to know my classmates more as individuals through 2D projects ;’) It is my utmost pleasure guys~ Thank you for the memories <3

Methodology
My approach to Project 2 was to breakdown the quotes into keywords, and then branch out from the keywords to get inspirations as to what my possible choice of subjects can be used to represent my quotes without being too literal! 🙂
The final words I have decided to use to represent the key words are usually what I belive in or what I prefer to. For instance, I love “babies”. HENCE, “babies” would mean “Happiness” to me.
You can see the thought process in the following attached image of my 2D Sketchbook! ^-^
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My objective in this assignment
In the following works, my unanimous goal is to make the quotes as non literal as I can by inserting dark humor, playing around with scale and involve the use of Dadaism to make the final pieces as surreal as I can. At the same time reinterpreting the quotes in my own perspective and exploring my choice of subjects.

Quote 1) “Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.”

Keywords: 
Happiness -> babies , things that make babies happy
Darkest of times -> evil Hitler baby , poison
Turn on the light -> Sun
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Principles of elements and design: Lines, Repetition and Symmetrical Balance.
LINES from the sun rays in the background creates a radiating effect from the center of the image, to create a form of radial symmetry.
REPETITION of the items (bottles, spoons, cows etc.) in a spread out manner, using the rays of sun as guideline creates a sense of SYMMETRICAL BALANCE as the Baby Hitler acts as the central axis of this symmetry.
My Interpretation: Baby Hitler’s death could have been easily staged earlier to prevent a chaos, by poisoning (hence the poison sign on the spoons) the things baby Hitler would have loved. Such as adding alcohol to his milk, feeding poison to him in his baby food. Hence, Hitler’s death is a form of happiness to his victims.

Quote 2) “If there ever comes a day when we can’t be together keep me in your heart, I’ll stay there forever.”

Keywords 

Can’t be together-> distance and separation

Heart -> warmth in cold , maternal love, child

Stay there forever-> longing
 ay201617_fdn2d_g05_sengyiling_project2_3
Principles of elements and design: Scale, Repetition and Lines.
REPETITION of Jewish boy’s head in varying SCALE. There is slight use of implied lines created by the direction at which Hitler’s salute is directing our eyes to : Boy’s head.
My interpretation: This quote can be used in the situation where the Jewish mother is going to be executed while her son is being sent off to the concentration camps during the Holocaust. The use of the Jewish boy’s head in the background is to represent that, although he is held captive in the camp, his mind and spirit is elsewhere and not brainwashed by Hitler’s idealogy .

Quote 3) “Hold Ma Poodle!”
Keywords: 
Hold->grabbing
Poodle-> fluffy ->Sheeps
 zxcvbnmasdfghj
Since this quote had lesser keywords, I got feelings emulated in this quote instead, which is Agression.
Principles of elements and design: Scale, Repetition and Balance.
REPETITION of sheep with Mein Kampf books on their faces. SCALE of hand and Hitler’s face is much larger than the sheep. ASSYMETRICAL BALANCE is attempted as I tried to balance the visual weight of Hitler’s head on the right with the hand and Jewish Sheep on the left.
My interpretation: Mein Kampf is an autobiography by the National Socialist leader Adolf Hitler, in which he outlines his political ideology and future plans for Germany. And I pasted the book all over the sheeps’ face as I wanted to imply that the innocent sheep in the meadow were being brainwashed by Hitler’s ideologies. The sheep in the foreground is the only one without the Mein Kampf book as a face, instead it has a Kippah (Jewish cap), a representation that the innocent sheep is a Jew.
The hand is about to grab the Jewish sheep to be fed into Hitler’s mouth, a metaphor for the sheep that is about to be killed by Hitler, or brainwashed to be like the rest of the sheep. The aggression of the quote is carried out into action in this image.

Quote 4) “Come with me where dreams are born, and time is never planned.”

Keywords: 
Dreams->Clouds, Hitler
Born -> Giving Birth -> Beginning of time -> Dinosaur
Time-> Clock
Never planned ->Unexpectedness -> Impromptu birth?
 ay201617_fdn2d_g05_sengyiling_project2_1
Principles of elements and design: Scale, Repetition and Balance.
SCALE of Doctors against the Dinosaur. ASSYMETRICAL BALANCE is attempted as I tried to balance the visual weight of Dinosaur on the right with the doctors and clock on the left.
My interpretation: The dinosaur ( beginning of time = to imply birth of Hitler was a long time ago)  gave birth to baby Hitler, not knowing that it also gave birth to “Time” unexpectedly. “Time” is the antagonist from the mini web series: Don’t hug me I’m scared, on YouTube. Hence, implying that the birth of Hitler long time ago was the unexpected birth of an antagonist.

After looking at my concepts and final images, I decide to rearrange the sequence of my quotes. After looking through my final pieces, I felt that the images kind of convey a sequential story of the Hitler I portrayed.
Sequence is as followed.

Sequence is as followed.

Birth of Hitler > Rise of Nazism and mass murder/ conversion of Jews> Jews kept in concentration camps > How Hitler’s act of terror could have been prevented by an early death.

My Inspirations
  • I followed an Instagram account which posted a variety of creations by surrealistic artists, which gave me ideas on the choice of subjects and how I might want to compile the images together.
Instagram account where I drew my surrealism inspiration and ideas from.

Instagram account where I drew my surrealism inspiration and ideas from.

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  • I also used photo collage most of the time, inspired by Hannah Hoch’s photo collaging and John Hartfield’s form of photo montage. (link to my research on both artists :  https://oss.adm.ntu.edu.sg/yseng001/2d-project-2-for…rch-17-sept-2016/ )
  • I was truly enamored by Eugenia Loli ‘s compositions as she is very creative and imaginative in how she placed her subject matters and objects. Her compositions spurred me to be more imaginative and look at everyday objects differently.

Raw Deal Stargate Installation


Inner struggles through Project 2:

  • I had a hard time finding images I sought for which are in high quality 300dpi. The use of Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator was a huge headache for me when I first started as I had to learn from trial and error on how to configure the programs. The frequency of bitmap and tonal contrast was difficult to grasp as well as I was not sure how my design will look like upon silk screening. Sadly, in the end the design on my tote bag was not very well produced as I expected it to.:(
  • I really disliked how much water was wasted in the process of silk screen washing 🙁

Presentation Day Comments!

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Ms. Joy’s comment/feedback:

I cant remember 100% of what Ms. Joy said, but the gist of the good things she said about my Project 2 was that she liked how I used the elements and principles of design in my work to direct the viewer’s attention to areas I wanted to focus on, and the use of dark humor with the reoccurring motif of Hitler in my various warm and fuzzy quotes were well played.

Whereas things to improve on is that the 2nd composition was a rather confusing as the visual weight of the hand and Hitler’s head are very similar, hence it was rather confusing if the hand was grabbing Hitler or the Jewish sheep as, Hitler’s facial expression looked scared. Joy also suggested that maybe averting the gaze of Hitler could assist in my composition to make Hitler look less afraid of the hand. 🙂

Regarding my silkscreened tote bag, we both agreed that the silkscreen pay off was not that good and that perhaps in the future I can have more opportunity to silkscreen again, and perhaps exposing my screen for a longer time will result in a better print! 😀

Thank you Ms. Joy and my lovely classmates for your feedback and comments!!embarassed To be honest, my favorite part for presentation day is getting the post-it notes from my classmates, and obtaining feedback. For some unknown reason it makes me feel very excited! ^0^


Nonetheless, I had a really great experience with this project as I managed to use the principals of elements and design to create the design I wanted and then having to print them onto a tote bag! Having my design to be printed onto a product gave me a sense of achievement and a more tangible feeling of being a real designer. embarassed

Cheers!

Seng Yi Ling

SILK SCREENING

It was my very first time at silk-screening on the previous week and I had trouble conceptualizing the process because I simply couldn’t fathom how our printed designs on TRANSPARENT PLASTIC (Correct term: Transparency Paper) could be translated onto printed designs on tote bag while using this sieve looking tool (Correct term: Silk Screening frame).

I had to see and have hands-on experience to believe this amazing invention created by mankind!

Firstly we were told to wash our silk screen frames and use a hair dryer to blow dry them, to ensure they were clean!

Then we went into this enclosed red room ( Red light was present) where NO LIGHT was allowed to be present as there might be some chemical reaction with the medium we were going to use. We then coated the netting of our frames on the back and front using the blue paint-like medium and then placing our coated frames in this GIAGANTIC oven (It had really smooth rolling trays…) to dry the medium !

After which we were taught by Xiuming (Work-study senior) to place our transparency and frame into this GIGANTIC MACHINE which looked like a photocopy machine on the outside, but had like reflective metal on the inside which made it look like a tanning machine. After which we locked our designs in the machine, it made a whirring sound and the cloth above our designs was like sucked in!!! I was super amused at this point because I had never seen anything like this before!

The Photocopy looking machine which printed our designs onto the silk screen frame surface :)

The Photocopy looking machine which printed our designs onto the silk screen frame surface 🙂

After which the machine did it’s job, we took our designs to the back of the room to wash the residue off using this jet spray (It was fun… pretending that the jet spray was a rifle cool)! But in all honesty, I was rather upset at the amount of water wasted in this process of washing… considering that all of the students in ADM Year 1 had to do this, it is bad for the environment by wasting so much water. :'(

This jet spray allows the residue to be forced out of the net!

This jet spray allows the residue to be forced out of the net!

After cleaning up our designs on the frames, we used the hairdryer to dry the frame and apply a layer of thick ink over the top of our frame and pushed the ink across the designs using a wiper tool to ‘print’ our designs onto our tote bag!

Drying the design

Drying the design

I wasn’t very please with the eventual outcome on the tote bag as some areas were too dark and splotchy instead of greyish, and details were missed out… As you can see it is pretty in-identical to my digital design.

After test runs on paper, the final design has been printed on my totebag!

After test runs on paper, the final design has been printed on my tote bag!

Original digital design after bitmap<<<Original digital design after bitmap

What I regretted the most after the final printing onto my tote bag was not being able to have a good gauge of what my final print will look like based on the tonal contrast, quality of the digital image and frequency of the dots in bitmap, BEFORE printing on the transparency paper … I hope that in the future I can have more opportunity to try out silk screening again. It was really fun! But at the same time, the process of silk screening was not easy at all; and I really do commend those who could do it so well! laughing

If my personal experience with silk screening is not detailed enough, do check out this video on how silk screening is conducted!!

Cheers!

Seng Yi Ling cool

NEW PROJECT IS HERE!!

Our second project for 2D foundation class is called ‘Forrest Gump’! So let me start my research before we dive right into the course work!

Project Brief:

Create a visual narrative that expresses each movie quote of your choice using only symbols, pictograms, dingbats(ornaments), icons and engravings as your visual vocabulary.

The old engraving imagery puts the composition into historical context. You are to manipulate, alter and deconstruct the found graphic imagery to transcend its original meaning through the creation of the indicated narratives. Pay particular attention to the application of design principles to create visually engaging compositions.

 

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Symbols:

symbol-signs-the-ministry-of-type

A mark that is universally recognized to represent an object, action or situation.

Pictograms:

piccc

Pictograms are pictorial symbols for a word or phrase. Pictographs were used as the earliest known form of writing, examples having been discovered in Egypt and Mesopotamia from before 3000 BC.

image

Pictograms are also used as pictorial representation of statistics on a chart, graph, or computer screen.

Dingbats:

A dingbat is an ornament (used for decoration/embellishment), character, or spacer used in typesetting (composition of texts), often employed for the creation of box frames.

BlueGobletOrnaments

The term continues to be used in the computer industry to describe typeface that have symbols and shapes in the positions designated for alphabetical or numeric characters.

Dingbats2StrongForms dingbats-hero_image

In summary, I understand Dingbats as a form of ornamental embellishment OR symbols or shape that acts as a semiotic. (Correct me if I am wrong surprised)

Icons:

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Icon has a physical resemblance to the signified, the symbol being represented and is usually a pictorial representation.

Engravings:

800px-2008-engraving

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Engraving is putting a design onto a hard, flat surface (stone, wood, metal etc.), by carving into it resulting in a decorative piece.

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Or may provide a printing plate of copper or another metal, for printing images on paper which are also called engravings.

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More research will be done on my visual journal starting from this project onwards (I hope), and I will be uploading images of my journal in the furure!

Cheers,

Seng Yi Ling~smile

“Emotion. It starts out small, but it grows.”

I suddenly came up with this quote while I was brainstorming for this project on my 2D sketchbook, and I find this very relatable to my direction into mark making. Little or undeveloped emotions are categorized into primary emotions when we are young, and it has become more evolved and complicated as we grow.

Concept

To document the myriad of emotions categorized into Positive and Negative emotions experienced while growing up.

Approach (towards the whole project, materials used, things tried)

My Approach towards the whole project is just freely experiment with everything and anything! I didn’t want to hold myself back by constraints, so I totally let myself go and immerse myself in the world of mark making while channeling my inner Jackson Pollock to assist my spontaneity! 🙂

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Materials used are nail polish, nail polish remover, water color, eyeliner, salt, acrylic paint, Chinese ink, mono-printing ink etc.

Mark making tools that I have tried are a wide variety. For instance…Tools used in Kitchen like Clingwrap, rubberbands, foil, toothpick, chopsticks, spoons etc. Things in First Aid Kits like crushed pills, cotton buds, cotton pads etc.

(More information of tools and materials I’ve experimented with are heavily documented in my previous posts! :))

Highlights of the works

Sequence of lines arranged on board are in the sequence of my emotions as I grow up.

First Board

First Board

Second Board

Second Board

 

~~~The flowing emotions below are categorized into ‘Primary emotions’ and do not represent the order of the 18 strips in the above images~~~

(JOY)

Bliss – Inspired by rain droplets on the window shield during a heavy downpour, the white noise is soothing to me. The flow of the lines created by gravity is soft and flowing.

Relief – This piece is actually a flip side of the paper I used for the creation of the ‘Fear strip’. There is lesser black and coagulation of black bubble marks on the other side of the paper. Just like sometimes when fear is just all in our head, we just need to look on the ‘flip side’ to see that fear is actually all in our head.

Contentment- Inspired by the calm and tranquil reflection on the lake, I am at the state of satisfaction and happiness. Strokes are soft and fluid which exhibits comfort.

(LOVE)

Infatuation – Like an intense but short-lived passion for someone, there are short frequent ups and downs. Lines are curved to evoke fluidity. Whiteness fades off towards the end to show infatuation fading off.

Affection – Tools used to create marks are soft and as the purpose of healing. Tissue used to wipe tears, and cotton mesh pads used to stop bleeding injuries.

Longing- A yearning desire to be cherished. Tone of black, the representation of yearning desire, varies at different stages and spreads in different directions that is not within my control. Spreading and tonal value of lines fade off towards the end to represent the wearing off of the desire.

(FEAR)

Fear – Coagulation of different sized black spots that takes up a lot of space. Just like fear itself that takes up unnecessary space.

Anxiety – Layering of black on white on black again, anxiety is to me is full of ‘what ifs’. The cracking of black and swirling mixture of black and white reveals the under layer of white shows that it is breaking one apart, and how swirling thoughts consume me slowly.

Panic – A dark and heavy base with sharp pointy lines pointing upwards, like panic which grows because of a strong heavy reason that weighs one down.

(ANGER)

Frustration – I wanted to created a perfect systematic pattern of angular lines. But an accidental mistake such as over estimation, messed up my pattern, which further emphasizes my frustration that my attempt to achieve perfection is ruined.

Influenza Virus

Influenza Virus

Envy – Splotches resemble influenza viruses which spreads routinely amongst people. You would not identify Flu easily until you’ve experienced the symptoms. Similarly, one wouldn’t realize they are envious of someone until they’ve experienced doing things out of the ordinary.

Annoyance – Different tonal values of black was a result of different ratio mixture of mediums. Aggressive marks are created by whacking a damp paintbrush in mid-air to achieve splatter patterns. Different tonal values of black ink symbolizes the extent of the issues I was annoyed about. The darker it is, the more serious, and the size of splatter represents the amount of issues I was annoyed about.

(SURPRISE)

Neurons

Transmission of nerve impulses along neurons.

Shock – Vigorous expressive lines with narrow spreading lines , like transmission of nerve impulses travel along neurons when one goes in shock.

Stupefied – To be put overwhelmed to the state of being incapable of any responsiveness. Black lines across the strip represent the state of constant astonishment. Similar to the TV static, and very fine details surround the line like noise.

Bewilderment  Vigorous movement of the flowing lines create a sense of confusion. Like a maze or tangle of lines. Lines get thinner towards the end to show the increase in fragility as more darkness overwhelms the lines.

(SADNESS)

Remorse – Correction tape on written words shows a mark on the surface if you look closely enough. Attempting to remove errors but marks are permanent, as much as we try to conceal of fix it. Damage has already been done.

Neglect – Tried to create 3 Dimensionality on a 2D platform by introducing space. Placed a small circle on the extreme left and a close up view of a very large circle on the right to create depth. Intended to create a line of perspective to show the physical distance between 2 circles by adding a horizontal line at the back to act as the background.

Disappointment – Wanted to create happy marks with a tool that brings me happiness, but ended up getting something distressful. Hence, disappointed when my expectations are not met.

Challenges faced & how I’ve addressed them.

  1. Certain emotions I want to convey using a specific item did not turn out the way I want them to. Hence, solution to that was to reuse the strips that convey a another feeling I felt upon looking at the final mark.
  2. I find it frustrating that I couldn’t focus on conveying my emotions into my mark making techniques as I was very restrained by how aesthetically pleasing it should be. And my solution was to do mark making in a way that I would not be able to see the final product as soon as I begin, as I would worry how it looks before I even end. So I would suggest closing my eyes as I proceed, only revealing the final product to myself when I am done (Like blind contouring in Foundation Drawing class!).

Comments given by my classmates! 🙂 Thanks for the comments! I really like receiving them! 😀

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This concludes my last and final post for ‘(2D) Project 1: My line is Emo’!

Thanks for sticking with me on my journey into mark making! embarassed

Any suggestions for my own improvement or comments, do feel free to comment below!! 😀

Cheers,

Yi Ling.

More exploration of mark making! (23 Aug 2016)

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Mediums

20160825_092122

Tools for Monoprinting

New mediums and tools I tried out are white mono printing paint, Chinese calligraphy ink ; cardboard, kitchen towel, fake flower. My gut feeling for that day was the same as the previous self-exploration post! Just have fun and explore the possibilities of what each tool can do! 🙂

Chop chop

Used the cardboard with chopping motion to create curved lines.

Tried out Jackson Pollock's drip painting technique.

Tried out Jackson Pollock’s drip painting technique.

Tried out Jackson Pollock’s drip painting technique while I was literally jumping around the work area, hoping to generate some extravagant and expressive motions on the lino-cut.

P.S: The tool was very clean when I dipped it in the mono-printing ink.

BUBBLE BUBBLE BUBBLE POP

Gabrielle brought up the idea in the mono-printing room to use bubbles as a medium for our mark making, and many of us decide to give it a shot! Clara made a bubble blowing device by tying a rigid string into loops and lent it to me to experiment! (Thanks guys! ^~^)

The results were beautiful, but yet messy because the direction and size of bubbles are hard to control. In addition many of us who experimented with the bubble blowing techniques in the room ended up with black spots all over our faces when the bubble popped ! cool

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Brain-Storming Session (30 August 2016)

20160908_003943

I labeled each age range in a different colour and I’d realise that majority of my yellow stars lie in the Negative emotions category whereas my pink stars lie in the Positive Emotions category. This goes to show that more of my emotions has taken a downwards direction as I grew older.

After attempting with using my childhood item ( beads for braiding my hair) as a mark making tool in the previous post,

Childhoods beads

Childhoods beads

Short preview of the beads post

Rolling the beads down my newsprint paper.

I realised that something that had brought me joyful memories produces a mark that resembled something very distressful… I brought this problem I faced to group discussion where Miss Joy and my classmates gave me very insightful suggestions and I think I might really try them out to produce more emotive marks !
My classmates suggested to…
– Use the tools differently instead of sticking to the one way conventional method.
(For instance, rolling the entire paintbrush over my paper rather than simply using the brush tip.)
– Use the same method and same tools on different paper types.
– Inverse the colours. For instance, white marks on black paper instead of black marks on white paper.

Hence I decided to do more mark making explorations while trying out some of the suggestions given ! ^^

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Self Exploration into Mark Making (4 Sept 2016)

Was inspired by a few sceneries I spotted earlier that day which made me feel good, so I decided to recreate them to generate more ‘Positive Emotion’ marks.

Creating water blobs with water colour pen

Creating water blobs with water color pen inspired by rain on the window shield.

Decided to go ahead with my classmates’ suggestions of inversing the color and changing the choice of paper, and a few turned out pretty alright!

Dragging white water color paint over black vanguard sheet.

Dragging white water color paint over black vanguard sheet, to recreate the reflection of the sea at night.

Correction tape

Using correction tape as a medium

Thank you for reading through this extremely long post! The final post for ‘Project 1 : My line is Emo’ is coming to an end soon, so stay tuned for my last and final post on this project!! smile

Cheers,

Yi Ling.

 

Today I tried to do some self exploration on the marks I can create with some of the mediums at home, bearing in mind with the suggested solutions I came up with in my previous post! So I began my journey into mark making with an open mind with no expectations of myself, except to just have fun with mark making first! 🙂

20160821_153537Image 1: My tools and mediums used:  Acrylic paint, Watercolor paint, Poster color paint, cotton mesh, straw, an old tooth brush, a tea spoon of salt, nail varnish, Q-tips, a rock, nail polish remover, different sizes of paintbrushes, cloth, eyeliner, plastic teaspoon, scrunched up cling wrap, beads and scrunched up aluminum foil.

20160821_153747Image 2: Because I didn’t have a roller like the mono-printing post previously, I used a kitchen towel cardboard tube as a… low-budget roller. Hope that it works just as well.

I was very interested in knowing how each unconventional medium would react with the other. For instance, mixing acrylic paint with nail varnish / mixing watercolor paint with nail polish remover. Hoping that upon my experimentation I would discover a texture or pattern the 2 mediums could produce. Will they be miscible? Or no reaction will be observed?

20160821_154725<< Image 3: I tried mixing watercolor paint with nail polish remover and to my surprise and excitement, the 2 mediums are not completely miscible! Black paint coagulations were found at the bottom of the palette.

20160821_154904Image 4: After vigorously mixing the mediums in image 3, I swung my wet paintbrush onto the newsprint paper, creating far-ranged splatter patterns.

My first attempt at doing mark making without much visual aesthetic thoughts was considered pretty successful. I was intrigued at how far the splatter could go and the intensity of each splash as I channeled my inner Jackson Pollock. Soon I realized that this is a rather fun and cathartic activity!

I felt more carefree while being more bold in my strokes and actions (as I have already placed a lot of newspaper around me to prevent unwanted marks on my furniture at home) and I felt less restricted and more daring in my choice of mediums than before.

Then I went on to try out using nail varnish and nail polish remover!

20160821_155653Image 5: I cut open a tube of white nail varnish and poured it over the newsprint, and then adding a few drops of black nail varnish onto the white.

 

20160821_155855_020_01Image 6: I then used the plastic teaspoon to pour nail polish remover over the white nail varnish, and then using a Q-tip (with the cotton portion cut off) to swirl the mixture; creating another  pattern that is a result of 2 immiscible mediums!

Then I began trying out using a very fluid medium like black watercolor paint, and then using a straw to blow at the paint. Creating an unpredictable pattern that goes in different directions according to the dispersion of wind emitted from the straw.

blow art Image 7: Blowing air out from a straw onto an A2 newsprint with fluid black watercolor paint.

The distance of the paint travelled varies, depending on the amount of air I exhaled from my weak lung capacity. Distance of paint travelled decreases with time as the ink has already been spread, and I was very out of breath…yell

Then I was inspired to recreate an artwork I did as a child! The one whereby my kindergarten teacher gave us marbles coated with different colored paint, and a clean A4 sized paper in a paper box cover. She told us to place the marbles in the box cover with the paper and shake it. Resulting an unpredicted abstract pattern created by the colored marbles rolling in the box!

20160821_163503Image 8: I didn’t have marbles so I used beads and coated them in dense poster color paint.rollingImage 9:  I tilted the paper in an angle and allowed the beads to roll downwards, creating a linear rolling pattern that goes in different direction.

Afterwards I tried to recreate what I have learnt in mono-printing class, but didn’t do so well as my choice of medium was not thick enough.

20160821_16424420160821_164305 

 

 

 

 

 

Image 10 and 11: I resulted in painting one size of my scrunched up aluminum foil and then rolling it across the newsprint paper with my kitchen towel cardboard tube. 

20160821_161744Image 12: I also used a scrunched up cling wrap dipped in paint to dab it all over my newsprint. Creating a blotchy and detailed patterns as the pain began to dry a little.

20160821_161434Image 13: Incorporating a tooth brush, I created tiny splattered patterns . The blotchy watercolor paint drip was created by accident. So I decided to add some salt crystals onto it, hoping to achieve a water color to gather the water pigments. But the experimentation has failed as the paper absorbed the water color more efficiently than the salt could.

These are just some of the mark making process I have documented! In conclusion for my first self exploration of mono-printing, I think the results were rather successful ! Though I took videos of how the process of each mark making attempt was done, sadly, I couldn’t upload the video as the file is too big and the format of the video is incompatible. 🙁

But still! The results of the final products were rather fine and I liked how each mark has its own feeling and different textures and patterns to it. :)4

Until next time~

Cheers,

Yi Ling.

Had my first mono printing lesson and it was extremely fun!

We started our day with Miss Joy by dividing our class into 2.

Our group taped pieces of A2 paper together and brought it downstairs to do a giant mind-mapping session to share our research regarding mark making.

Afterwards, we went to the print lab where Miss Joy showed us how to do mono printing by using mono printing ink, lino-cut,  rollers, our mark making choice of items and paper.

20160818_105306 - CopyImage 1: Spreading the mono-printing ink onto the lino-cut with the roller.

Mark making tools I have brought were: Twigs, leaves, Q-tips, toothpicks, plastic string, bubble wrap, cling wrap and aluminum foil.

Screenshot_20160820-183151 Image 2: Placing my mark making objects onto the wet lino-cut from Image 1.Screenshot_20160820-183251 Image 3: Placing a piece of A2 newsprint paper on the lino-cut from Image 2.Screenshot_20160820-183325 Image 4: Covering my newsprint paper with a stack of A2 newsprint, which acts as a ‘Blanket’ to protect the roller machine from getting stained.roller machine Image 5: Begin turning the wheel which moves the platform below it, rolling the A2 newsprint over the lino-cut.peel off

Image 6: Return the wheel to its original starting point and peel off your A2 Newsprint to reveal the mono-print you’ve just created! 😀

reverse mono printingImage 7: After gently removing the mark making tools, place another clean A2 Newsprint on top of the lino-cut and repeat the step in Image 6 to achieve a detailed print of the mark making tools!

 

The rolling machine was very fascinating! And I liked the result where the mark making tools were removed better as more intricate details are printed onto the paper.

I have learnt that an even pressure applied to my paper creates an even and linear ink spreading appearance, as compared to manually using a clean roller to spread the ink on my own table; whereby the direction and uneven pressure I apply can produce unintentional lines that somehow also make the final product pleasant.

Issues faced during session:

I find it frustrating that I couldn’t focus on conveying my emotions into my mark making techniques.

For instance, I would like to express the emotion: Happiness. But I was really concerned about the patterns I have created. “Is it too spiral-ish? Why do I keep repeating the same pattern? It is not symmetrical enough!” Visual aesthetic concerns like this hinder my sincere thought expressions and I think it is something I should work on to resolve.

My possible solutions to my problems:

  1. Do mark making in a way that I would not be able to see the final product as soon as I begin, as I would worry how it looks before I even end. So I would suggest closing my eyes as I proceed, only revealing the final product to myself when I am done.
  2. Crop out the portion of my end product that depicts the emotions I want to convey.

I will try out these solutions and see how it works for me! 🙂 Stay tuned for my progress!

Photos are taken by my buddy, Queenie.


Thanks Queenie! 🙂20160818_110148

 

 

 

At first glance into the research of Automatic drawing, it is fairly similar to Mark Making. But let me dive deeper into the research to confirm my hypothesis. Lets go! surprised

What is Automatism?

Masson_automatic_drawing

 Automatic Drawing (1924)

André Masson

Ink on paper

(23.5 × 20.6 cm).

“Automatism” most often refers to a technique of subconscious drawing in which the artist allows his unconscious mind to take control. It is the primary method of surrealism.

Automatism is a sort of accelerated or intensified gestural movements. Unexpected and unpredicted images can be made to appear, while avoiding conscious control over the image.

Automatic techniques not only involves doodling or marking marks on paper.

Some other automatic techniques include:

Grattage

Grattage is a surrealist painting technique that involves laying a canvas prepared with a layer of oil paint over a textured object and then scraping the paint off to create an interesting and unexpected surface

Grattage

Max Ernst
Forest and Dove 1927
Oil on canvas
support: 1003 x 813 mm
frame: 1200 x 1012 x 66 mm

Frottage

Frottage is a surrealist and ‘automatic’ method of creative production that involves creating a rubbing of a textured surface using a pencil or other drawing materialuntitled

Phoenix Landing

2003

Roger Clark Miller

Fumage

Fumage is a technique in which an image is created by painting with smoke from a lighted candle into a ground of wet paint.


Fumage, gouache, and color pencil work, by Antonio Muñiz

1955

Oil, sand and glue on canvas

551 x 380 mm

Sand painting

Sand painting is the art of pouring colored sands, and powdered pigments from minerals or crystals, or pigments from other natural or synthetic sources onto a surface to make a fixed, or unfixed sand painting.

Star, Winged Being, Fish 1955 Andr? Masson 1896-1987 Bequeathed by Elly Kahnweiler 1991 to form part of the gift of Gustav and Elly Kahnweiler, accessioned 1994 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/T06822

André Masson

Star, Winged Being, Fish 1955

Froissage

Froissage is a method of collage in which the lines made by crumpling up a piece of paper are used to create a drawing.

Froissage - Andre-Pierre Arnal

Torn paper collage etc.

Paper collage is a technique of an art production where the artwork is created using an assemblage of different forms and shapes using paper.

Wren in Winter Original Framed Torn Paper Collage by DawnsGallery,:

When did Automatism begin?

Popularized during the 20th century by Surrealist artists, they sought to unleash the creative force of the unconscious in art.

The Surrealists embraced automatic drawing as way to incorporate the subconscious into their artwork, and to free themselves from artistic conventions, social norms and everyday thinking.

Automatic drawing and painting was seen as the only way then to escape from cultural, intellectual and historical constraints and unlock the basic creativity supposedly lodged deep within the artist’s personality. This technique, Surrealists felt, was a way in to access meaning and information that were unavailable through tradition and the conscious mind.

Impact Automatism had ?

Apart from Surrealism, other movements/ group in which Automatism has played a role includes: Dadaism ( In the early 20th Century), the gestural style of Action Painting and a late-1940s Canadian artist group known as Les Automatistes.

Probably the most famous painters associated with automatic art are Salvador Dali (1904-89) and Jackson Pollock (1912-56). Since the 1930s, Automatism has become a part of the technical repertoire of both modern and postmodern art.

What I admire about automatic drawing is that it is an immediate way to start creating art. It can be done when one feels completely uninspired or faced with a mental block due to lack of ideas. Automatism is a great way to free your creativity. It lifts you out of your logical brain’s desire to make something that’s “good” or “accurate”, unleashing your subconscious mind and breaking free from societal constraints!

Hence, to conclude the research. I feel that Automatic drawing incorporates mark making. Automatic drawing is the idea, and mark making is the technique to carry it out. cool

 

  • What is mark making? And what can be used to do it?

Mark making is a term used to describe the different lines, patterns, and textures we create in an artwork.

It applies to any art material we use on any surface. A dot made with a pencil, a line created with a pen, a swirl painted with a brush, these are all types of mark making.

  • How is mark making done?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZ5ConE6kgM

The above link is a brief video on how mark making can be done. The ways of mark making are free and limitless!laughing

mark makingMark making can be loose and gestural, or structured and controlled. Zen-like doodles, expressive and emotive paint throwing techniques and simply rubbing a stick/ comb/ toilet brush (??) through some acrylic paint are just some of the many creative ways mark making can be done!

But in Project 1 “My line is emo”; my project restricts me to have a black and white outcome in the end, as well as avoiding illustrating emotions literally or creating anything representational…sealed Come on now brain, time for my creative juices to start flowing through my Factory of Creations~

  • When has mark making been introduced?

mmmm

According to the trustworthy search engine: Google, it seems like there is no exact date as to when mark making was officially introduced. It just happened! So in my assumptions, I suppose mark making began when mankind discovered art! Because making patterns or tracing your fingers with a medium that shows a physical and permanent mark, is after all a pictorial attempt at mark making isn’t it? surprised

  • Where and when has mark making been used?

kids

Mark making has been used frequently as an expressive leisure form of art work, art therapy as well as a form of expression and development for children during early childhood.

According to the book ‘Navigating Art Therapy: A Therapist’s Companion’ by Chris Wood, mark making has served as a form of therapy for the physical, spiritual and mental health for humans.

“Indigenous mark-making has been associated, since prehistoric times, with understanding the connections between interior and exterior. Spiritual and religious rituals have also used mark making in aspects concerning health, healing and the sustaining of life.”

-Page 16, Navigating Art Therapy: A Therapist’s Companion by Chris Wood

  • Who has done Mark Making?

Mark making has been done by everyone in one way or another, regardless of an accidental or intended attempts.

For instance, when you accidentally knocked your colored beverage onto your homework, and despite the momentary hysteria, you’re like, “Wow, this is a rather gorgeous splatter I have created by accident!” (true story).

Some artists who has taken mark making into the next level, and are very good at it are:

  • Julie Mehretu, who makes large-scale, gestural paintings that are built up through layers of acrylic paint on canvas overlaid with mark-making using pencil, pen, ink and thick streams of paintJulie1

Kabul
2013
Graphite and acrylic on linen
96 x 144 in. (243.8 x 365.8 cm)

Mehretu’s work conveys a layering and compression of time, space and place and a collapse of art historical references, from the dynamism of the Italian Futurists and the geometric abstraction of Malevich to the enveloping scale of Abstract Expressionist color field painting.

In her highly worked canvases, Mehretu creates new narratives using abstracted images of cities, histories, wars and geographies with a frenetic mark making that for the artist becomes a way of signifying social agency as well suggesting an unravelling of a personal biography.

  • Yves Klein was a showman and one of his most famous events was the imprinting of paper with naked models smeared with blue paint, as he directed their performance to music. The-Great-Battle-Yves-KleinGrande Anthropophagie bleue
    Hommage à Tennessee Williams, 1960

    (Large blue anthropophagy, Homage to Tennessee Williams)
    Grande bataille [Great battle]
    Pure pigment and synthetic resin
    on paper marouflaged to canvas -276 x 418 cm

The Grande Anthropophagie bleue. Hommage a Tennessee Williams is an accurate reflection of the fragility and suffering. In reference to the final scene of Tennessee Williams’ Suddenly Last Summer, adapted for the screen by Joseph Mankiewics in 1959, the work is an expression of great violence by the chaos and force of its marks

Klein presented his work in forms that were recognized as art but would then take away the expected content of that form (paintings without pictures, a book without words, a musical composition without in fact composition) leaving only a shell. He wanted his subjects to be represented by their imprint: the image of their absence.

  • Jackson Pollock was an influential American painter, and the leading force behind the abstract expressionist movement in the art world. His dripping technique (where he danced around the canvas in a trance like state) turned painting into a performance where the canvas bore witness to the act of painting and the resulting work represented an event (of painting) rather than an object.pololockPollock also incorporates the use of different unconventional mediums. Instead of using the traditional paint brush, he would add depth to his images using knives, trowels, sticks and even his own foot prints as part of the artwork, as he works while standing IN his monumental artwork. In that it had a direct relation to the artist’s emotions, expression, and mood, and showcased their feeling behind the pieces they designed. Thus, achieving different patterns and forms in midst of his expressive mark making.

jacksin

Jackson Pollock’s Autumn Rhythm (Number 30)

1950

Enamel on canvas

105 x 207 in. (266.7 x 525.8 cm)

 

 

With that, I conclude my first round of research into mark making.

Cheers!

Yi Ling smile

 

 

References for research:

http://painting.about.com/od/artglossarym/g/definition-mark-making.htms

http://whitecube.com/artists/julie_mehretu/

http://www.jackson-pollock.org/autumn-rhythm.jsp