“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

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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)

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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.

 

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