Design Principles-Project 1

28.9.2022-12.10.2022 / Week 5-Week 7

Kor Qian Qian / 0359496

Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media

Project 1-Self Portrait

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INTRODUCTION

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LECTURES

Week 4

Ms Yip brief us on the detail of the following project--self-portrait. Ms Yip announced in detail the following project--self-portrait. We were asked to watch the pre-recorded video before we started our work. We need to come up with our mindmap this week.

Week 5

Ms Yip gave feedback one by one on our mind map. After, we should choose which part we want to present in our self-portrait and come out with a sketch. Our self-portrait should regarding the design principles we had learnt.

Week 6

Giving feedback

Week 7

Brief us on the new project and give feedback for project 1.

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Project 1-Self Portrait

Recap

• 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 how he wants to be seen by others. However, it's not necessarily that self-portraits only portray the face and are about creating a realistic image of a person; instead, it's often an exercise in self-exploration.

Fig 1.1 & Fig 1.2-self portrait example from Pinterest (https://pin.it/1EzDb6p)

Visual References

Fig 2.1-self portrait from Pinterest (https://pin.it/1EzDb6p)

Fig 2.2-self portrait from Pinterest (https://pin.it/1EzDb6p)

Fig 2.3-self portrait from Pinterest (https://pin.it/1EzDb6p)

Fig 2.4-self portrait from google

Idea Exploration and Description

Figure 3-mindmap of self-portrait

I separate myself into several categories, such as my favourite things, my family members, my life experience, my personality and some “special” facts about my body. I was confused about whether I should choose to focus my self-portrait on my life experience or my “special” facts. The “special” fact is I am allergic to seafood. Actually, I prefer to present the allergy part in my self-portrait because that is really special to me and it affects me a lot in my life and my body.

Sketches:

Fig 4.1-rough sketch of the first attempt

I wanna sketch it in double faces to present my 2 different features, the concept is something like fig 2.2. The main face is an allergic face because I have a seafood allergy. The hands are scratching the face, and the lips are swollen too. The sub-face I'm still not sure what to present, maybe will be a normal me.

Fig 5.1-rough sketch of seafood                    Fig 5.2-reference of the hand

Fig 5.3-improved version of attempt 1

I decided to draw my portrait in AI. In the main portrait, some red dots are indicating where I am allergic. Since I'm allergic to seafood, I painted the background all over with seafood and then taped the mouth. The hands represent a painful struggle with allergies. This is not the final outcome, I will colour it after the composition is determined.

Fig 5.4-attempt 2

This is my second thought. I want to combine photography and drawing. My concept is according to Figure 2.4, I first took a photo of myself and used Photoshop to cut out the face and move it to my hand. In the place that was cut out, I want to use the way of painting to present the allergic me. Maybe I will use the face in Figure 4.2 to put it into the middle of this concept is better. In the same way, I also painted seafood in the background.

Fig 6.1-reference from google               Fig 6.2-reference for the shape of the hand

Fig 6.3 reference of the face from google        Fig 6.4-coloured background elements

      

Fig 6.5 & Fig6.6-improved version of attempt 1

The black and white background looks more on contrast and emphasizes between the portrait and the background, but it undercuts the presence of seafood, so I just left this as a backup plan.

Fig 6.7 & Fig6.8-improved version of attempt 1

Fig 6.7 is a very bright version, it looks happy and positive, but it is misinterpreting what I wanted to present. For fig 6.8, there is a sense of reduced pleasure, but the overall effect is not good as others.

Fig 6.9 & Fig6.10-improved version of attempt 1

There is an emotional contrast, fig 6.9 is a feeling of depression and fig 6.10 is a feeling of happiness. So, fig 6.9 is more suitable as my final outcome.

After listening to the teacher's advice, I made some improvements. For the mouth part, I replaced the x with tape. Add some scars where the hand struggles to make it more vivid. For the background, I  draw the effect of the sea. After drawing all the elements, I put them together, the seafood colour in the background is very bright, so I tried several ideas and choose which is the best result.

Fig 7.1-reference of the hand

Final outcome

Fig 7.2-final outcome of self-portrait

Lastly, I have decided to choose a darker tone background as my final outcome. I add some details on both hands to make it look more solid. The Design Principles that I show in this composition are BALANCE and EMPHASIS. 

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Feedback

Week 5

Ms Yip suggested that I just go with what I prefer to do, and told me that it can have many interesting ideas on it when I felt it is very limited information based on the part I have chosen.

Week 6

I can show some seafood and dust around or behind me, and make it more detailed next week. Also, came out with several ideas.

Week 7

Ms Yip prefers the first attempt. The hands look weird, I can try to remove them or let the hand reach in from the edge of the picture instead of suddenly truncating to the wrist. The "X" on the mouth may make it more real like a plaster will be better. For the background, I can use low saturation colour or after colouring lowers the opacity.

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Reflection

Week 4

I created a mindmap about myself. I've temporarily decided to use the theme of allergies in my self-portrait but I feel that with the topic of allergies alone, there is very little information that can be put into the work. 

Week 5

After I listen to the lecturer's advice, I went in the direction of allergies and thought about how I could make it fully manifest in the work, such as reasons, consequences, mood and so on. So, I come out with a rough sketch of my idea. Here I learned to make several drafts so that in addition to getting more feedback from the lecturer, I can also see which idea is the best.

Week 6

I did two different types of portraits and wanted to let the lecturer evaluate them first and then decide what direction the final product is looking at. One of them is completely using AI and another is collage photography with AI. Here begins to test the operation of AI and PS that I have recently learned.

Week 7

I've made several finished products with different effects, which allows me to see the pros and cons of each more clearly. In addition, I completely use AI to draw in this assignment, which also greatly improves my AI operation skills.