Week 6 - Week 8 : 28 Sept 2021 - 11 Oct 2021
Tan Yi Yun
0345559
Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media
0345559
Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media
Project 1 / Self-portrait
LECTURE
Ms. Jinchi started off the lecture by asking us a question, "Have you ever
wondered, who am I?"
My answer is yes. Sometimes I do asked myself. I do wonder where am I come
from, what I like, why I like...and what defines me. I am curious about
life. I am questioning my existence. I am a rule breaker but I follow
rules.
The lecture continued. Human are social creatures, we communicate with
others through speaking, listening, singing, visualising...and so on.
Sometimes, the message we conveyed might be misunderstood by others. Just
like our interaction with others, our images to others may also differ from
how we view ourselves. For example, we may be seen in a certain way to our
parents and teachers. But when we meet our friends, we may show another side
of us.
Everyone defines themselves differently. Some may define themselves by the
things they own, love, or imitate their favourite character.
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| Figure 1.1, Mind map of "self", Week 6 (27/9/2021) |
With all that have been mentioned above, Ms. Jinchi revealed the objective
of this project, "how do you define yourself?"
Self-portrait - A self
representation in the form of a drawing/painting/sculpture/design. It is a
visual depiction of the self.
A self-portrait artwork represents the designer/artist —— in other
words, how he sees himself, what he's feeling, and now he wants to be seen
by others. It's not necessarily about creating a realistic image of
yourself; instead, it's often an exercise in self-exploration.
At the end of the lecture, Ms. Jinchi showed us various examples of
self-portrait that might inspire us.
INSTRUCTION
PROJECT 1 : Self-portrait
As the project title suggest, we are going to contemplate on our life experiences, which includes the culture, family,
friends, schooldays, our favourite hangouts, favourite music, food,
musician, etc. We should observe our surroundings – people, vehicles,
buildings, plants, signages, nature, and activities, and record these in
sketches, photography and/or video recording. Then, study all the visuals
that we had collected.
We can select the visuals that we find relevant and interesting, and
translate into a design work to create a self-portrait. We can use any
materials, but we need to consider their suitability to best express our
idea.
Visual research
Izumi Miyazaki, a
Japanese photographer who photographs herself in strange and visceral
composition. Photographing yourself is the most straight forward way to
see yourself, I believe. But this artist is truly smashing the
surrealists' stereotype, using her unique ways to present herself to the
public.
When asked who she is inspired by, Miyazaki is staunch: “My work isn’t
inspired by any photographer in particular. I usually do completely what
I want.” This is the spirit I admire.
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| Figure 2.1.1, " Open the eye " by Izumi Miyazaki |
Akiane Kramarik is an
American self-taught painter, and her best-known painting is
Prince of Peace, which she completed at the age of eight. I only knew this artist
recently, and was impressed by her talent in art. She said that Jesus spoke to her when she was four years old,
encouraging her to draw and paint her visions. She said, this
self-portrait is one of her biggest challenges in her entire life, not
only she was trying to evoke a specific emotion, but also going through
her inner battle with her own reflection, "I was desperate to find a
solution to a problem only I knew about, only I can fix, and
solve."
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| Figure 2.1.2, " Self-portrait " by Akiane Kramarik |
"Trapped in a mirror for a year", the story behind Akiane's
self-portrait
Known as one of the most prolific painters of Modern Art,
Pablo Picasso was
undoubtedly a man of many talents. The Spanish artist experimented with
and excelled in many mediums, from painting and drawing to sculpting and
collaging. In addition to different art forms and unique materials,
however, Picasso also worked in a spectacular array of styles. This
constantly changing aesthetic approach is evident in his series of
self-portraits, which he painted from the age of 15 until 90.
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| Figure 2.1.3, Evolution of Pablo Picasso's Self-Portraits |
There are also several videos provided by Ms. Jinchi in the lecture
notes.
How do artists reveal their identity in self-portrait
Identity short film
Finally, I looked into the illustrations in Pinterest that could
influence my work. I picked complicated and colourful pieces as this is
the direction I wanted to go for. I wanted my audience to look at my
artwork slightly longer.
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| Figure 2.1.4, Paintings that inspired me, Week 6 (2/10/2021) |
Idea exploration
It is important to be able to identify yourself. Pablo Picasso once
cited, “All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist as we
grow up.”
Some background story
I was once a little girl who is passionate in art. I paint, I sketch, I
draw, since the moment I can hold a pencil. But my art journey is not
"continuous". I know I am going to become an artist, but there are always
obstacles in life. Academics, I would describe it as my "distraction". I was
too focused on my study until I neglected the dream that I have buried in my
soul. I think this is time to pick up the fallen pencil.
My personality
Introverted (some says I'm ambivert), responsible, disciplined. Figure 3.1
shows the personalities test that I took few weeks ago, and my results
is INTJ-T. This test could be a good way to analyse your traits, but it is not 100%
accurate because I believe human's personality is
just...complex.
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| Figure 3.1, 16 Personalities Test, Week 6 (2/10/2021) |
My interest
The video below is a project I did for my foundation (in July 2021). It is
a short self-promo video, revealing who am I and my interests. I included
the video here because I think this is quite recent and still
relevant.
Short video about me, Week 6 (2/10/2021)
What others think about me
I gathered responses from my friends to ask them how they think about me.
Most of them mentioned about "perfectionist", which I think is pretty
accurate. However, there are some negative sides of being a perfectionist,
which are fear of disapproval from others or feelings of insecurity and
inadequacy.
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| Figure 3.2, What others think about me, Week 6 (2/10/2021) |
My art
I think I could analysis on my old artworks. From there, I could recall
back the state of mind at that particular moment. These are the drawings I
found, all of them are drawn traditionally, except the middle piece.
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| Figure 3.3, Evolution of my "self", Week 6 (2/10/2021) |
At school level, I normally drew comic style of myself. That was a random
sketch I drew using the marker pen on A4 paper. I put it as the first page
of my blue plastic file, and I used to carry it whenever I go —— to the
canteen, library, lab etc. That was my prefect school uniform, long
sleeve, long skirt, with a yellow and navy blue striped tie. It reminds me
of the wonderful school days.
The second piece is drawn on a canvas. I forgot the canvas size, but it
is super huge. It is an acrylic painting entitled "My Heart, My Soul". I
was trying to express my passion in music and art. Trees symbolise hope
and the thirst of knowledge. The dying flowers and the torn pieces of
papers represent my failures in life.
The third piece marked the first time I created a digital artwork. That
time I was still a newbie, experimenting with the brushes and layers in
Photoshop. My intention was to create the blood dripping effect, and the
final piece turned out a bit depressed.
The fourth piece is the silhouette of myself. I carved my silhouette on the white paper, and then placed the black sugar
paper beneath it. I used leaves stamping technique to create the leaves pattern of the
background. There are several elements shown in the artwork, including geometrical shapes (triangles, rectangles) that represent logical
thinking, the skills and knowledge I own (Mathematics, Music, Chinese calligraphy)
and Chinese characters to represent my mother tongue.
The last piece is called "Looking at the Bright Side". The whole piece is
trying to convey, "No matter what we face in life, always remember to look
at the bright side and believe in ourselves that we can get through the hard
times." Facing the light source, her (my) hair and skin are painted
colourfully which intuitively shows her will of holding strong in her faith
and vision. The arrangement of triangles above her waist is indicating her
strong body that resists all the cynicism from others. The fragments of her
skirt implied that she is escaping from restraint.
Mind map
This is not the first time I do the mind map of myself. I inserted the one
I did in foundation to make a comparison to the recent mind map. It is still
relevant and has more details about me (for example, the name interpretation
and my representative). So, the second mind map is mainly about examine
about my art.
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| Figure 3.4, Mind map I did in foundation, Week 6 (2/10/2021) |
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| Figure 3.5, Second mind map, Week 7 (5/10/2021) |
Sketches
I asked myself, "How do I convey my feelings in a drawing?" Then I jotted
down my answers. Colour. Facial expression. Lines and strokes. The answers
slowly emerged and the outcome of my "self-portrait" become
clearer.
My general concept is to draw me, is painting of myself. Why? Because I
always paint others more than myself. Now it is time to pick up my tool to
express myself.
I want to introduce a bunch of elements. What elements? Well, even a cell
contains so many internal components, that carry out different functions to
stay alive.
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| Figure 3.6, Prototypical Human Cell, Week 6 (2/10/2021) |
*Eh Hm* Back to the topic. What am I made of? What has made me who am I
today? Music, paints, I can't live without them. My past
experience —— those good and bad memories. The awards and achievements I get, the
failures and setbacks I have experienced, I want to include that as well.
Tattoo, earrings, those I don't have in real life. Why include those as
well? It is because contradictions make us human. I can see the
contradictions of my thoughts, feelings and action. I am a disciplined
person but sometimes I procrastinate. I prefer quietness but sometimes I
will break the silence. I like blue but my water bottle is red. The whole
piece doesn't only show "who am I", but also revealing the contradiction
of me.
Things have summarised into some sketches :
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| Figure 3.7, Rough sketches, Week 6 (2/10/2021) |
Elements :
- Things I like (music, paint)
- Emotions and personalities (Mixed feelings, contradictory)
- Things I don't have in real life (tattoo, earrings)
- My experience (Flowers, ice, crystals, smoke, fragments, ripple,
vines)
Design Principles :
- Unity, Harmony, Balance
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| Figure 3.8, Digital sketch 1, Week 6 (2/10/2021) |
Cleaning up the lines is my favourite process.
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| Figure 3.9, Lineart, Week 7 (9/10/2021) |
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| Figure 4.1, Colour palettes, Week 7 (9/10/2021) |
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| Figure 4.2, Colour palette 1, Week 7 (9/10/2021) |
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| Figure 4.3, Colour palette 2, Week 7 (9/10/2021) |
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| Figure 4.4, Colour palette 3, Week 7 (9/10/2021) |
I prefer lighter hair colour so that it can match the skin colour. Then, it is a repeating process of adding shadow and highlight.
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| Figure 4.5, Colouring process, Week 8 (12/10/2021) |
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| Figure 4.6, Colouring process, Week 8 (12/10/2021) |
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| Figure 4.7, Colouring Process, Week 8 (12/10/2021) |
Finally, I added some details and made a slight colour adjustment.
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| Figure 4.8, Finalised artwork, Week 8 (15/10/2021) |
Final outcome - Self-portrait
PDF submission - "My Contradictions and I", Week 8 (15/10/2021)
I expressed my feelings, my thoughts, my preferences, my past experience and even my current struggles in this artwork.
Holding a Chinese calligraphy brush, I am painting of my self. I forgot the last time I smile. The veins are slowly wrapped around me. Where is the end? I couldn't find yet. The unknown fragments, the smoke, the glowing bubbles, they are the past, but they are here now. The flowers are blooming. It is difficult, or impossible, to grow on ice. Is this a resemblance of growing in the adverse and hard situation? No matter what, the ice will melt one day.
Humans are full of contradictions, so am I.
FEEDBACK
Week 7 :
Dr. Jinchi said it is a good practice to study some specific artists about how their thoughts influenced their arts. Good progression. She said I have good sketching skills and approved my idea. Finally, she said she enjoyed reading my blog. ^^
REFLECTION
What a cool project! Not only I get to know more about myself, but also face to my flaws and weaknesses. It is cool to spend time painting on yourself, as most of the time we learn to paint objects, scenery, or other people. It took me awhile to figure out the colours because it is one of the most important elements in expressing myself.
If there is no time limit, I think I can pay more attention to the details. It is still a long journey for me to explore and polish up my digital art skills. During the drawing process I hurt my wrist due to the prolonged incorrect posture of using the tablet pen, that eventually affects on the detailing of this piece of art. (Stay strong my wrist, I need you!)
Overall this project is pretty interesting. I am looking forwards to the next project!