For this project, we had to learn to use translate colours to evoke sentiments in the viewer, conveying our true meanings.
Each layer of images become a deeper, more in-depth view of myself as a person, taking the viewer on a coloured trip down my personal psyche.
Inspirations and Research:
I’ve always wanted to explore the many detailed delicacies of using an analogous or monochromatic colour scheme. The lack of fancy colours require intricate detailing to bring the picture together to harmonious completion, and the story is in the details. Watercolour is a very good medium for these sort of portrayals. The very tinted colours of watercolour portrait create colour compositions which flow seamlessly together.
Watercolour and acrylics can also be used to create more dramatic colour compositions. The high tint, low tone hues resulting in fresh and bright colour compositions with a clear contrast.
I also wanted to play around with complex hues like tertiary colours. An example would be purple, which creates really intensely popping colours when paired around with green, orange or black. Due to the very different makeup of the colours, when placed in a triadic composition, they vie for dominance and often confuses the viewer’s eyes if the quantities of each colour are not aptly measured and portioned.
This may be used stylistically to create a piece which bedazzles the viewer’s eyes but at the same time leaves them confused without a clear place to focus on. Below is a personal attempt that I have done in the past
- I learnt that if i wanted to have a clear sense of direction when using this colour scheme, I may use the 70/20/10 rule to weigh out percentages of colour usage.
S t u p I d.ly
My process consisted of me trying to replicate the watercolour effect on digital mediums. This caused many of my paintings to have shadings, which veered my squares away from clean-cut colours. This caused some confusion during my presentation as some shadings had caused the original pure colour to be mistaken for something else, ruining the composition’s colour scheme.
I had not slept well for a week up to the presentation, sleeping on an average of two hours a day and I didn’t sleep for the presentation. This caused me to jumble up many presentation points, even wrongly labelling the colour scheme. 1000% screwed up the presentation, I bid bye to my dear 20%
Poor time management was an issue. I painted all my pieces and spent an extraordinary amount of time on them, almost neglecting other subjects. I should have been like my peers and used flat vectors to make simpler designs- effective as they not only save time but get the message across clearer. Also, colour schemes are more easily perceived if flat colours are used.
For the first row, I investigate the cool feeling of familiarity increasingly being encroached by conflict.
Me: Closed Off
The first piece uses complementary colours opposite the colour wheel to give a sense of unease. Supposed to be jarring and highly conrasting, the strong greys wash out the pure bright reds and greens, creating tones that seem to blend together seamlessly. This creates a colour which had lost its unique hue and integrity as a colour. It is now neither clearly belonging in the realm of complementary colours nor can it identify itself as analogour colours, as they seem similar due to the heavy usage of greys. This stylistic choice depicts my feelings of apprehension to this project, as I did not have a clear sense of direction, my integrity wavering between revealing an unadultered, pure side or presenting a manufactured self.
Unravel
This piece uses triadic colours red blue and yellow hues which have been been added with whites, becoming soft tints. These tints create very child-like, dreamy atmospheres to evoke a childish sense of safety, as a bed to lull me into self discovery. The yellows start to travel from the top left corner, creating a leading line into the focus of the painting, which is the coat. The highly detailed colouring on the coat also attracts attention, presenting to the audience the metaphor of having layers of self-insulation from realising the truth.
Vulnerability
The final piece of this is done in complementary colours red and blue in higher contrast, so as to depict the strong sense of disjunct opposition in colours. In comparision to the first square, which uses similar colours, this piece has a different approach and contrast is further emphasised through the use of the dark hues of black. This conveys the sense of conflict.
These pieces use a black as a majority colour, creating a strong sense of framing and contrast, directing our eyes specifically to the points of intended interest.
Isolation speaks the tale of how I feel secluded and isolated from the world because of my weirdness. My realm of existence seems to be multicoloured in my eyes, whereas the world of others was droll and dull. It aims to illustrate the conflict of fitting in or staying out.
This piece uses triangular (tetradic) colour scheme, using yellow-orange, yellow-green, red-violet and blue to create an intensely hyper-coloured piece that is very much in contrast to my other equations. This gives a strong sense of activity and invites intrigue. However, as all the colours are cold-toned, it creates a sense that the hyperpigmentation of colours does not symbolise a happy mood. This aims to disorientate the viewer as they realise the intent behind the usage of colour is not what they had expected. This evokes the sense of disorientation in my piece, allowing the viewer to feel like a deer in a confused realm of multicoloured headlights.
Stranger
This piece uses split complementary colours of orange, blue-green and blue-violets to depict the resistance to join the crowd despite repeated drags and coaxes. The strong opposition of majority cool colours against one warm colour further highlights the tension and opposition.
Implosion
This piece uses tetradic colours of orange, yellow-green, red-violet and blue, depicting the internal implosion of personal weirdness.
Using triadic hues of Orange, Green and Violet, I create a playful, imaginative colour scheme which opens itself to exploration as it plays well into the colours of the colour wheel.
This evokes the sense of openness to discover and delve deeper into myself.
A wide variety of styles are also used; from graphic design flatlay, to pop-art, to advertising or fashion-esque. These further emphasise the willingness to explore beyond set boundaries.
Experiemental
The motif of the octopus is constantly used to reinforce my attempt to climb out of the bottle, which is an image of how I bottle up my emotions.
Discovery
Even as I delve inside, looking into the bottle in an attempt to squeeze myself in it, I try to change and become free of the bottle. Looking through the bottle allows me to see the other side, becoming a way to gain clear insight, discovery and introspection.
Expression
The tentacles grow to occupy largely most of the surface of the square, presenting my hopes that one day, I will be as free and comfortable to roam and be myself.
This depicts my self hatred. It is a journey of intense emotions. Each individual section is made of a different colour scheme.
(Left) Angst, Contortion:
The first on the left is split complementary, consisting of yellow-green, blue-green and red. This creates a sense of “split” tenseness, illustrating the building up of discomfort and unease.
(Middle) Inferno:
The middle is an analogous colour scheme ranging from yellow-orange to red. These colours are all tinted with a reddish-orange hue, creating a feeling of monochrome. This creates an intense colour scheme where all colours converge on being extremely warm, illustrating the burning suffocating intensity of the emotion
(Right) Catharsis, Loathing:
The right piece uses a triadic colour scheme of red-orange, yellow-green and blue-violet in high contrast. This is further emphasised by the use of the black and white negative space. As purple is a tertiary colour, it is more complex and thusly, in addition to the above listed reasons, the colours of the right section look most unnaturally popping. This is stylistically intended to show a warped sense of catharsis, which is a strong release of emotion, which usually garners attention.
All in all, the three compositions are stitched together into one piece which depicts an analogous colour scheme. This illustrates the entire transformative process of my inner pain and anguish. The detailed shading further draws the viewer in due to the intensity of the colouration
Due to Technical issues in my hall’s wifi, I was only able to complete updating some parts by 12 28. The information had been typed, but the final publishing was lacking in material. WordPress lagged and earlier versions consisting only of the final presentation was uploaded. Other parts of research and process were buffering while uploading, and I faced the spinning wheel of uploading for 20+ minutes. Very unfortunately this means a late submission. The wifi server was overcrowded and fell down, unable to be connected, even if i moved to the common study lounge in my hall where wifi would be guaranteed to be assured. I hope my lateness can be understood and I won’t be further penalised.