"Principles of Design" - finally!

Principles of Design

1. Unity and Variety

2. Balance

3. Scale and proportion

4. Dominance (focal point)

5.Rhythm and Repetition

Composition and the 3 phases of designing

1. Composition

• Format
• Layout
• Grids
• Rule of Thirds
• White space

2. Design phases

• Research
• Development
• Finalisation

Elements of Design

Elements are basis that provides the foundation to build composition, which creates an aesthetically sound piece.

1. Line
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_elements_and_principles

• A fundamental mark or stroke used in drawing in which the length is longer than the width. Two connected points form a line and every line has a length, width, and direction if it is straight.

2. Shape
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_elements_and_principles

• An area that stands out from the space next to or around it due to a defined or implied boundary, or because of differences of value, color, or texture.

3. Texture
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_elements_and_principles

• The way a surface feels or is perceived to feel.

4. Space
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_elements_and_principles

•  the area deep within the moment of designated design, the design will take place on.

5. Time and Motion

• Time can be depicted through a sequential photography, moving objects to blur background by utilizing repetition and rhythm

Source: http://www.jonbakergolf.com/images/Compare.jpg

6. Color

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_elements_and_principles

• With the color wheel being used as a tool, and color theory providing a body of practical guidance to color mixing and the visual impacts of specific color combination.

Source: http://www.shutterpoint.com/photos/C/76048-Colored-Pencils_view.jpg

7. Typography
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typography

• Is the art and technique of arranging type in order to make language visible.
• Serif - with 'tail'
• Sans Serif - without 'tail'

Do NOT manually scale fonts vertically or horizontally. Do NOT ever ever ever stretch or squash or manipulate fonts!

Assignment 1 Presentation - Surrealism

Based on the previous post, Assignment 1 Artwork - Surrealism, I combined Sketch #1 and #5 to form a complete painting with all the important elements I want to portray in self portrait.

 

Sketch #1                                                     Sketch #5

Voila! The final painting!

Important Elements

In the painting, aluminium foil acts as a replacement for a broken mirror. I picture myself looking at an image on a mirror, then breaking through it and witnessing my true personality within. This fits in the characteristics of a surrealism painting, which are dream-like and unrealistic.

My hair is seen holding a few items, which are a book, a color palette, a pen, a paintbrush and a cat. Those items symbolizes my hobbies and preferences, which makes up my personality.

The portrait of myself drawing my own lips and choosing a suitable set of eyes shows that I am still on the journey of self discovery. Even though I am aware of my likes and dislikes, I still have a long way to go in order to understand completely about myself.

My hair has a slight green tinge at the ends, which symbolizes growing young plants. The saying 'learning never stops' fits in perfectly with this element.

Overall

This painting is an almost complete 'bio data' of myself, showing what my preferences are, and even though I am not perfect, I am still understanding more about myself, and definitely more about the world.

-------- Assignment #1 Complete --------

Assignment 1 Artwork - Surrealism

I have compiled a few sketches for the final drawing. First, I need to familiarize with my own face. This assignment also served to help us in our journey to discover and understand more about ourselves. And it definitely did its part well.



Front view:                                                  Side view:

The two pictures would serve as a guideline after I apply Surrealism onto the final self-portrait.


It was a good try for a first attempt.  I took a "selfie" with my phone as a guidance. The eyes were the most difficult part. I had to align them and make sure both were at least the same size and shape. And I had to erase and redraw the face a couple of times. The end result was fairly good, even though it only had half the resemblance.

The thing with Surrealism is that you got to make your picture dream-like, and it would be even better if the object or situation could not be witnessed in real life. When it comes to self portrait, the drawing is about YOU and your PERSONALITY, not just a piece of face on paper. I thought about what my interests are and listed a few down:

• Cats (my heart melts at the sight of those fuzzy little creatures)
• Stationery like pens and pencils (shows that I love drawing and writing), paintbrushes and a color palette (I enjoy coloring and painting)
• The color blue
• Books (I really enjoy reading, especially books about adventures)

I made it clear in the four sketches below that I would include my interest into the final drawing, so it does not just show how I look like, but also explains my personality in general.

Sketch #1

My four main interest are clearly depicted, held onto by my hair which unfortunately is never straight. Surrealism is shown by my hair that is holding firmly onto my interests.

Sketch #2

The gooey substance surrounding me is blue color paint, where my favorite color is given top priority in this sketch.

Sketch #3

This is a side way portrait. It does not really fulfill the requirement of a portrait since the other part of the face cannot be seen and the page setup is a landscape. In this sketch, a strong wind is blowing and my interests are seen billowing out of my hair - depicting what I like doing is engraved deeply in my thoughts.

Sketch #4

The face accommodates almost the whole paper, which certainly makes it a self portrait. Like Sketch #1, my hair curls around my interests, which fulfills the Surrealism requirement. And to make it even more dream-like, There are broken shards from mirrors at the bottom and top of the drawing (they are also found in Sketch #2 and #3). The broken shards depict looking at yourself through a mirror, then breaking through it to reveal your TRUE self.

Sketch #5

This is another sketch related to Surrealism. Unlike the first four, this one is about  me who has yet to discover my true self. As portrayed above, I am seen struggling to draw my own lips, choose a card with the correct pair of eyes. The bottom part of the portrait looks as if it was splashed on or painted haphazardly, depicting that the picture is recent, not complete and needs correction, like any other ordinary human would do. A human is never perfect, and always seeks improvement.

Assignment 1 Research - Surrealism

Instructions

•  Choose an art movement which suits you best and adapt it into an A3 size self-portrait.
•  Blog about your research and findings.
•  Have a sketchbook for sketches on self-portrait.

I have chosen Surrealism as my preferred art movement. Surrealism  paintings are mostly strange, illogical and dream-like, as contrast to Realism. Objects in these paintings may not look like what they are supposed to be in real life, they can have different textures, sizes or shapes.

Why Surrealism?

• No limitations. Restrictions by reality would limit what we are capable of.
• Creativity. Surrealism provides a wider range of drawing possibilities.
• Collage. Surrealism can also be done by collage techniques. This instills creativity and environmental awareness.

Choosing the right art movement

I am always very supportive of campaigns on environmental awareness. Even before deciding on a preferred course, I have been trying to minimize everyday wastage such as reusing the front and back of a piece of paper, using old newspapers and cardboard for art projects, giving out recyclable items to the recycling center etc.

I came across an art technique called Assemblage and was slightly dissapointed it was not an art movement. Then I read about Surrealism and found out it is closely related to Collage. The difference between Assemblage and Collage is Assemblage is 3D whereas the other is 2D. By applying Surrealism and Collage in a single piece of art, I can achieve two goals at the same time - fulfilling the requirements for my assignment and being eco-friendly as well.

General

• An art movement which started in the early 1920s.
• Surrealists painted paintings which are mostly strange and illogical, as contrast to Realism.
• Surrealism succeeded Dadaism.
• Paris was an important center for Surrealism.
• Affecting visual arts, literature, film, music, language, social and political theory.
• Andre Breton founded Surrealism while Guillaume Apollinaire came out with the term Surrealist.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrealism

Surrealism founded

• During World War I, Andre Breton served in a neurological hospital, using his skills in medicine and psychiatry to treat shell shocked soldiers.

• Andre Breton admired and was inspired by Jacques Vache, a young writer who has an “anti-social attitude” and “disdain for established artistic tradition”.

• Andre Breton joined the Dada movement, which rejected so-called rationales, reasoning and logic of the bourgeois nationalist and colonialist which the movement claimed was the cause of World War I.

• Andre Breton experimented with automatic writing, expressing thoughts and ideas without restriction or censorship, which he believed was a better tactic than the Dada attack.

• Surrealism was founded. The movement aimed to “revolutionize human experience”, embracing the liberty of dreams and imagination and free the people from social and political restrictions.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrealism

Examples of Surrealism paintings

• The Son of Man – Rene Magritte, 1964

Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e5/Magritte_TheSonOfMan.jpg/225px-Magritte_TheSonOfMan.jpg

          - We see things only by the surface and do not know what is really hidden behind it.

          - The green apple obscures the man’s face and only a part of it is visible. This shows that we try to see what is hidden behind an object, a person, but even if we think we saw it, there is a larger mystery than what really meets the eye.

• The Persistence of Memory –  Salvador Dali

   Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/dd/The_Persistence_of_Memory.jpg/300px-The_Persistence_of_Memory.jpg
        

          - Replacing solid clocks with flexible drooping ones, Dali depicted the message that time is not as eternal as we think, but rather, decays.

          - It is also said that the drooping clocks show the passing of time when we sleep and dream.


Conclusion

After much research, I chose Surrealism as my preferred art movement. I am aware of the importance of abiding by rules and instructions, but I do not like being restricted. I write and draw my own stories and comics for personal perusal, and some of the ideas I got was from dreams. Strangely, I sometimes dream about sequels and even prequels to my story, and if luck is on my side, I would remember what it was all about. That is why I feel that Surrealism best suits me as we have so much in common.