Design Principles / Task 3 / Design

7.3.2024 - 24.3.2024 (Week 5 - Week 7)
Elysa Wee Qi En / 0355060 / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media / Taylor's University
Design Principles
Task 3 / Design

LECTURES

All lectures were covered in Task 1.

INSTRUCTIONS

Fig. 1. Module Information Booklet

Task 3: Design

After completing both tasks and analysing the artwork we chose, we were now tasked with creating an artwork of our own that is inspired or influenced in some way by the artwork we chose. We were allowed to use any medium or materials we wanted to convey whatever message we had. 

I started off by brainstorming with some sketches:

Fig. 2.1. Idea sketches (24/3/2024)

My first sketch is a reference to a character from a video game, but I decided it was too niche and difficult to understand (especially for those unfamiliar with the character). 

Fig. 2.2. Kaveh from Genshin Impact and his creation, the Palace of Alcazarzaray
(https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Kaveh/Gallery, idle 2)

My second sketch is trying to convey the sadness that people feel when losing things to a flood. The third is more of a 'second half' of the artwork I chose, where I tried to draw the view from under the water. However, this doesn't provide much visual content. My fifth sketch depicts a person walking underwater, surrounded by belongings in the house floating around. 

But after feedback from my tutor, the idea that I decided to pursue for my final artwork is shown in sketch number four. It depicts a girl sitting on the roof of one of the houses in the artwork, looking out into the sunrise. Since in my second task I described the artwork as beautiful and peaceful despite the flood, I wanted my final artwork to be hopeful and positive instead of negative. Therefore I followed that kind of post-apocalyptic theme and chose to portray a survivor looking out at her old home, at peace with her past traumas. 

For this idea, I planned to use a software that allowed me to draw in a 3D scape. In the end, I found a free one called Mental Canvas. 

Fig. 2.3. Beginning progress (19-24/3/2024)

The way the software works is that it allows you to move your canvases along the z-axis, which lets you create depth in your drawings. The canvases' positions are fixed, so when you zoom in or out or move the camera around, perspective is naturally created. This makes the software different from a normal digital drawing software.

Fig. 2.4. Examples of 3D feature (24/3/2024)

However, one drawback is that the range of tools is not very extensive, so only a simple design can be created. Therefore I decided to create two version of the artwork: the original, which is a GIF, and a second version with proper rendering in a different digital software called FireAlpaca. 

This second version is just a still picture with no 3D movement or perspective, but it has better rendering that helps to convey the message I wanted. Combining these two - the rendering of the second version but the movement of the first version - is the ideal artwork. 

Fig. 2.5. Creating a second (rendered) version in FireAlpaca (24/3/2024)

Due to time constraints, I did not attempt to combine both artworks in any way in Mental Canvas, and I am unsure whether or not that software will allow me to. But perhaps it is something to remember and take into account in the future, or something to experiment with.

FINAL Design Submissions

Fig. 3.1. Final artwork frame 1 (24/3/2024)
<Elysa Wee Qi En_At Peace At Home_Task 3>

Fig. 3.2. Final artwork frame 2 (24/3/2024)
<Elysa Wee Qi En_At Peace At Home_Task 3>

Fig. 3.3. Final artwork (GIF) (24/3/2024)
<Elysa Wee Qi En_At Peace At Home_Task 3>

Fig. 3.4. Final artwork version 2, rendered (24/3/2024)
<Elysa Wee Qi En_At Peace At Home_Task 3>

This artwork shows a girl sitting atop a roof of a house in a flooded neighbourhood, looking out at the sunrise. With this artwork, I wanted to show the possibility of moving on and being at peace with something traumatic, in this case a flood that destroyed her home, perhaps when she was a child. There are many open-ended questions here that the viewer can answer for themselves, like why she is here, how old she is, where she will go after - and maybe the viewers will also feel hopeful, that being at peace with something that used to scare you is possible. The first version, the GIF, serves to show the hope in the future, in the distance. It looks more like the action of reaching out to that future. The second version, the rendered version, looks more like basking in the hope instead. It is a simple piece, but hopefully one that can inspire emotions in the viewer. In this artwork you can find design principles such as repetition, the Golden Ratio, asymmetrical balance, movement, scale & proportion, and emphasis.

FEEDBACK

Week 5
Specific Feedback:
- Play around with the ideas a little more
- Can try to theme-ify it, to try and find a direction
- Maybe try a post-apocalyptic theme

Week 6
Specific Feedback:
- 3D Mental Canvas idea sounds good 
- If doing multiple scenes, keep the girl as the main focus in all of them

Week 7
Specific Feedback:
- 3D is cool
- Got the green light to continue

REFLECTIONS

Experiences
Getting an idea for an artwork was actually quite difficult for me, because I was initially quite lost on what direction to go in. I did have feelings about the artwork I originally chose in Task 1, but I wasn't sure where to take them and how to convey these feelings in an acceptable way. Thanks to the feedback from my tutor, I was able to eventually follow my feelings and put it into an artwork. 

Observations
Both versions of my final artwork send the same message of 'hope', but they are slightly different. It shows that active movement and rendering of a drawing can actually influence the artwork a lot. That's why different mediums can convey different feelings or meanings, because there are different things you can do with different softwares or platforms. 

Findings
There can be really creative softwares that allow you to do many different things all for free. It doesn't hurt to look for one, because you never know, and if I hadn't researched these two softwares I might not have been able to achieve this vision that I had. I guess I learnt to not give up in even simple parts of the process like looking for softwares.