Design Principles: Project 01
Adena Tan Sue Lynn / 0345769 / Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media
Design Principles
Project 01: Self-Portrait
Directory
- Lecture
- Instructions
i) Self Research
ii) Creative Process
iii) Final Submission - Feedback
- Reflection
- References & Picture Credits
Lecture
Who Am I?
Humans are social beings.
Our self's
- How I see myself
- How others see me
- Experiences
- Interests
- Thoughts
Self-Portrait Definition
- Self representation: visual depiction of self
- Exercise of self-exploration
When doing a self-portrait, it is important to list down qualities of yourself. This can be done by doing a mind-map.
Below are some examples of portraiture.
Instructions
Description: Create a portrait of yourself by applying the various principles that you have learnt throughout the weeks.
Self-Research
In order to be able to create a more accurate representation of myself, I knew I had to do a bit of digging towards my own self.
Firstly, I did some personality tests. To try and discover more about myself, and have a bit of fun!
Coincidentally, I had to take the Myers-Briggs personality test for another class, but I still was allowed to re-take this test to find out more about myself. For this, I got INFP-T. I have always gotten the same result when taking this test, which I would assume, says that I'm quite a consistent person who's grown into their personality.
Then, I took the Enneagram Personality Test.
Looking at it, I gathered that my Top 3 Highest was Type 9, 3 & 2. Below are screenshots from the website.
On the website, it states that Body Types (which Type 9 falls under) tends to 'follow their gut' whereas Heart Types (Type 2 & 3) tend to follow their emotional intelligence. I guess this would make sense relate to the Myers-Briggs personality type where INFPs are known for their sensitivity and empathy towards others.
Secondly, I tried to make a mind map of myself. It was sort of hard, as I always found it hard to try and present facts about myself.
Proceeding on, I decided to look at some of my favourite artists. In the above mind map, I wrote down my favourites are Janice Sung and JortsJorts.
What I love about Janice Sung's work is her versatile pieces. Some are a mix of digital and traditional. Some have fully digital or traditional mediums. Another thing about her art that I love is how they feel so classy and in tune with nature.
Next, JortsJorts is another favourite of mine. I love how much her 'rough' lines feel so neat, but earthy as well. I also love her usage of colour, which makes her subject stand out.
Creative Process
When I was re-reading my mind map, I kept glancing back at 'Hair is currently pink with overgrown roots' and 'my favourite things to draw: Flora'. It then, led to the idea of my hair being the roots to the garden.
The above sketch let me try to imagine my self-growth through these years. Flora grows and thrives when taken care for, allowing them to be their best selves. Then, I remembered a quote I really liked when I was still in highschool.
"My body is a temple and I am the God it was built for." - Savannah Brown
With that, I move onto my process. Firstly, I drew a proper outline for my head part. Following Dr. Charles' suggestion, I added eyes to further showcase a face.
Then, I started colouring my head. First, I put in the flat colours to get a better grasp to see what should go where.
Next, I did shading & further coloured myself. With this, I also placed in some eyebrows for myself and some eye shadow!
Finally, for my head, I added the colour of my dyed pink hair and added some lines to resemble strands.
Moving on, I started to work on my mind garden. To start, I drew some flora to occupy my root space.
Then, I filled in the flat colours of the flora.
Next, I filled in the background with blue and added clouds to represent the sky.
After that, I shaded the flora. I also re-coloured their outlines, allowing them to blend in more with the original colours laid out.
Then, I added some loose flowers and leaves. I also darkened the top part of the sky to give it a more intriguing gradient look.
Finally, I added more loose flowers to the pink parts of my hair & added more fluff to the clouds.
Final Submission:
Mind Garden
Rationale:
Mind Garden was something that came to my mind playfully. In reality, it represents how much I've grown and the things I had to go through to be able to maintain my state of mind. Realistically, plants do not grow on people's heads, but the garden brings a serene calmness over me. The blooming flora represents all the obstacles I have overcome in the past nineteen years, which led to beautiful results. The stream in my hair parting is a play on my Zodiac Sign; Aquarius & my Chinese name [æ²æ½¾]; which I was told means flowing river. The two clouds are a reminder that I'm not free of any struggles. It is important to remember that a garden can never truly thrive without a bit of rain.
Visual Analysis:
The medium used for this design is Medibang Paint Pro. A4 size canvas using G-Pen, Pencil, Watercolour & Airbrush tools helped bring this design together. This medium was the chosen one due to the fact that Mind Garden's owner is a slave to her screen. Spending almost every second awake, her eyes are probably going to burst from the amount of screen usage. However, she is loyal, and will never stray away from her favourite versatile canvas that easily.
This piece holds many design principles that she has learnt thoroughly in the past few weeks. The first is Balance. Symmetrical balance, to be exact! It's located on how her head is facing straight to the viewer, and how her head seems to be equally balanced on both sides. Not only that, but the clouds also are placed in equal sides of the artwork.
Next, the design holds harmony. From the flora, to the colours. The piece repeatedly shows off pinks, reds, blues, greens, browns, which provides a sense of a theme to the viewers. Not only that, variety is shown throughout the different types of flora and their numbers, avoiding a monotonous feel.
Furthermore, Unity is another design principle in this design. Some pieces of flora were repeatedly used, pulling the overall look together. It gives the sense of unity, as audiences view the Mind Garden.
Finally, there is Movement in this composition. Eyes are a feature which catches a viewer's eye. However, the eyeliner forces the eye to travel through the pink strands and finish their journey at the Mind Garden. The usage of lines (especially the hair), provides a guideline for an audience's eyes and how they should flow around it.
Feedback
05/10/2021 (Tuesday): The sketch seems to portray a mind garden, where you're tending to it. Don't want to forget about the head. Clouds are interesting as they show that gardens don't grow without rain. Imagine & envision your garden, are there hybrids?
Reflection
References
Picture Credits
