Chuah Kwai Pin / 0348376
Design Principles / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media / Taylor's University
Project 1 Self-Portrait
LECTURES:
Self-portrait: Self representation in the form of a drawing/ painting/ sculpture/
design. A visual depiction of the self.
A self-portrait artwork usually represents the designer or artist. It
portrays how he/she sees themselves, what they feel and how they want to be
seen by others. It is usually an exercise of self-exploration rather than a
realistic image of yourself.
INSTRUCTIONS:
A recap of Project 1 brief
A recap of Project 1 brief
- Create a self-portrait by applying various design principles knowledge.
- Free to use any media, can consider working 3D or digitally.
- Contemplate on your life experiences, which includes culture, family, friends, schooldays, favourite hangouts, favourite music, food, etc. Observe your surroundings and collect the visuals for further studying
- Select relevant visuals which can be translated into a design work to create a portrait of yourself.
Your design process:
- visual research
- idea exploration and description
- final outcome in PDF and short rationale
- feedback given by the lecturer
Project 1: Self-Portrait
Visual Research
After watching the lecture on self-portrait, I was intrigued by how
portraits can be expressed so differently for each individual. Some of
it takes the form of their real faces while some totally distorting it
with a touch of their own personal creativity to add character.
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| Fig. 1.1 Various styles of portrait research |
Idea Exploration and Description
Before I started doing my sketch, I did a quick analysis of myself. Who am I? How do people see me, and how do I see myself? How do I express myself in one single portrait?
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| Fig. 1.2 Analysis of myself |
After gathering all my analysis, I had a rough idea of how I wanted to express myself in my self-portrait. I browsed through Pinterest again and found some interesting works that I could incorporate to parts of my portrait.
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| Fig. 1.3 Self Portrait Research |
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| Fig. 1.4 First Draft Sketch |
The scribble of words towards the bottom of the body represents the
negative emotions and thoughts that I keep bottled up within my heart.
Above it, the newspapers and magazine cutouts resemble the negative
thoughts that have been process through my heart. These compilations
represent the words and sentences that would have made me feel better
when I was down.
In contrast to the dull and dark colours used in the body below shoulders, the transition from cutouts to colourful flowers represent one of my character trait which is saying only nice words that others should hear.
In contrast to the dull and dark colours used in the body below shoulders, the transition from cutouts to colourful flowers represent one of my character trait which is saying only nice words that others should hear.
Overall, this idea of self-portrait resembles the part of me that I
choose to show others in contrast with who I am deep down. Sometimes
what we see on the surface is just the tip of an iceberg, we never
know what goes on deep within someone's heart. Our hearts may be
filled with unsaid words, that is when I selectively filter out things
that might hurt or worry others. Hence, I eventually bottle up the
negativity on my own, and try to spread positivity to others as much
as possible.
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| Fig. 1.5 Idea planning |
Project Execution
With the sketches done, I began sketching out the body outline and
tracing it with an artline pen. I drew out the heart first to determine
the space I can have for the two separate sections and proceeded with
the writings.
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| Fig. 1.1 Writing and thickening strokes of the words |
I then picked out some reading materials and flipped through the pages to look for paragraphs with positive words in contrast to the negative words that were written. I then tore them out instead of cutting it because I liked the raw and random shapes that the torn paper gives. To emphasise on the positive words, I used some coloured markers to circle it so that it pops out from the dull background.
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| Fig. 1.2 Skimming through and tearing out pages |
After I was done with the body, I then moved on to the origami flowers that I have decided to include to introduce some 3D elements into it. Making origami and crafts has been one of my favorite pastime hobbies since young, which was I thought it would be meaningful to include it as part of my self portrait. I searched up for tutorials on the various flowers I can attempt and found a cherry blossom tutorial, one of my favourite flowers, which I thought would enhance my portrait further.
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| Fig. 2.1 First Draft |
In this final piece, I have made some slight changes from my sketch idea. Instead of cutting out the magazine in shapes, I have decided to just tear the paper out from the magazine and paste it randomly to fill up the space in the body. I have also circled the positive words in colour, words like gentle, beautiful, warmth, magnificient, etc.
The reason why the written negative words are thicker and larger than
the positive words is because I wanted to portray the common mindset
that we usually have in ourselves. Naturally as humans, we tend to focus
on the negative words thrown to us rather than embracing the positive
words that we hear from others. Negativity usually weighs a lot more on
our minds which is why in the artwork, it is given emphasis by being
much larger compared to the filtered out positive words.
Week 9: Finalising After Feedbacks
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| Fig. 2.2 Final Outcome after feedback |
Based on the feedback given, I have thickened the strokes on the face and body. I have also added a light shade of yellow and orange into the background so that the subject in the foreground can stand out much better. The reason why I have chosen yellow is because it is bright and usually associated with happy emotions like joy and cheerfulness. Another reason is also because of this saying, "Blowing out other people's candle won't make yours any brighter". Since this quote relates well with my portrait concept of saying positive words and not putting others down, the yellow background represents a flame that burns bright with positivity.
FEEDBACK:
Week 9:
Fig. 2.1: Try to give a bolder line to the face and body outline
to balance out the thickness of strokes used for the words. Give a
lighter shade to the background as well to provide contrast to the
foreground.
FINAL OUTCOMES:
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| Fig. 3.1 Self-Portrait- "Some Flowers Bloom In Darkness Too" |
REFLECTIONS:
While working on this project, it felt like I was studying myself on a deeper level. It took me a lot of self questioning and analysing to figure out who I am and how I want others to see me. I went through a passage of my past and got to see how far I have grown, and then proceeded to pour them all out on this self-portrait. The reason I have decided to work traditionally for this project is because it had so many raw emotions inside that I wanted it to show physically. It will also feel more personal for me to be able to see and touch the rawness of my own creation, a few flaws and imperfectness along the way, but that is what defines me.
I have enjoyed this project a lot because I got to express myself artistically. I usually find it difficult to express myself through my words but with this self-portrait, it feels like I am seeing the inner version of myself. What I really like and find interesting about art is that different people can have different perspectives and viewpoints about the same artwork. The more we relate to an artwork, the closer the connection we feel to it.
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