Week 03&04 - Project 1 ( Self-Portrait )
Week 03&04 - 17.01.2022~28.01.2022
Len Hoi Yee ( 0353430 ) / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media
Design Principle
Self Portrait
What is a self-portrait?
A self-portrait is actually a representation of an artist about himself that does not necessarily need to be representational. The artist is free to draw himself in any style, in order to represent his psychological/emotional features, in that piece.
Figure 1
From an artist's perspective, self-portrait artwork represents the whole artist. In other words, how he sees himself, what is he feeling, and how he wants to be seen by others. It is not necessarily about creating a realistic image of yourself, instead, it's often an exercise in self-exploration.
Figure 2
Figure 3
Idea exploration and description
To me, music is my other half who can never be replaced by anybody or anything. Music means a lot to me. I get enthused when i find out that someone shares the same music taste as me. I enjoy music a lot and i sing along with it. I play songs whenever I am doing my assignment, chores, chilling, thinking, showering, driving, even if it's just a few minutes drive, i will always have my car radio on. The best feeling is when you are alone and you can just sing along with the songs, heartbreaking songs hit the most all the time. Music changes my mood. Whenever i am feeling sad, moody, frustrated, angry, it hypes me up and makes me think positively about the problem or just makes it go away, sometimes even triggering me to cry so i can let out my feelings. You can say I cannot live a day without music. I sleep with music on. I love the feeling of blasting the music as loud as possible so i can listen to every detail in the song, it's like you are drowning in the music world.
When I was doing research about self-portrait, I realised that self-portrait does not necessarily have to be who I am, it can also be how I am currently feeling. You can express your emotions through art, music, and many other ways. As I was exploring what I should draw about myself, I thought about what I have always wanted to do which is learning how to play the violin. It has always been my dream but due to my financial situation, I am not allowed to do so. It is still on my bucket list that I wanna tick off as soon as possible. Since I love the violin so much and music is part of me, I figured I could put that in my Self-Portrait to represent and express what I love and that is something that is important about me.
Progress
First Outcome:
Hence, i have narrowed it down to having violin and music notes to be my main focus here as violin and music are connected.
Second outcome:
For my second sketch, i wanted to mix line work and the violin together to make everything look simple. However, the outcome does not satisfy me. I wanted to do the music bars with music notes in it, flowing in the background.
Feedback from lecturer:
Dr Charles suggested that i could make the hair flow more widely and make the hair the musical notes. He said " The bottom part of the violin connect with the flow of my hair, and the other part of my hair goes to the background and beyond. Then it will be enough. If i wanna do linework i should connect the musical notes to the hair and i don't have to paint the musical bars. Keep the half of the violin as one of the things that align together with half of the face, like it is connected to you. If i connect the whole line bars to the face, it will form harmony and continuity. Then, can see that music and I have a fusion, connection."
At the end of the class, I was struggling with whether i wanted to continue doing linework and have the musical notes on the lines as my hair or should i change everything.
Third Outcome:
Fourth Outcome:
I coloured the violin first then i move on to the facial part.
Then, I did a trial on how i wanted to paint the hair on another piece of paper just in case I ruined the original piece. So this is a guide for me to paint the hair.
Final Outcome:
Final Outcome in PDF:
ETERNAL DREAM
Feedback by Lecturer:
Dr Charles said that this is a much bolder and better impact compared to my previous suggestion. Well done!
Rationale
I have decided to start the hair from the head instead of the top of the paper because it might turn out weird. So, i have completed the hair colour with musical notes in it, and the violin is completely coloured as well as the face. Last but not least, i used an Artline pen to outline the jaw of the face to make it more visible. Well, having the hair coloured in rainbow colour is because music enlightens me. It brings joy, relief, sadness to my life. It is like my soulmate, who i can relate to, who accompanies me when i am alone, helps me go through ups and downs. I have written a few letters and numbers in it which indicates my favourite band and song.
LANY and The 1975, both are my favourite band and for 0321 is a Chinese song that I am currently very much into it.
I have applied a few design principles in this piece of work such as continuity, harmony, balance, and unity. However, i think the strongest principle here is Harmony and Continuity. We can tell by judging the violin and the face connect to each other perfectly and it balances off each other, and also the flow of the hair with musical notes in it as if it is never-ending.
Reflection
When i showed Dr Charles my first sketch of my drawing, i remember that he told me it is not necessary to colour the background of every piece of work. I personally dont like a drawing to have too much white empty space or background, i preferred it coloured. I have consulted my friends as well that whether i should colour the background and they think i should. However, Dr Charles told me that it is not an empty space, we shall see it as invisible people that are holding up the object for viewers to see, so it is not exactly empty. It is an entity. It is a space that is necessary. The space is doing its work unless i want to crowd the space a little more, but it might disrupt the composition and the focus ( violin ). Hence, i have remained the background as white so that the main focus is getting all the attention from the viewers and that it stands out from the white background. If i had coloured it, i think i would have ruined that great piece of work which i am glad that i did not.
I really love this piece of work especially the violin, it gives off a vintage vibe which is also the violin colour that i want to get for myself in the future, and how the effect of having half violin and half-human face. I did not expect it to connect to each other this perfectly. Honestly, i thank Taylor's for having this project included in this semester because it helped me in expressing my love for music and i got to know more about myself. Things such as my future goals, dreams, things that i wanna achieve for now have become clearer for me to see it. I really enjoyed doing this project so much and i love the piece of work that i have done. Never have i ever been so proud of myself in my life!!!
Reference
Comments
Post a Comment