INSPIRATION OF THE WEEK - modern aesthetics, cinematography, content & symbolisms that will split your brain

BTS - Spring Day (Music Video)

Looks familiar (?)

• Curiosity and interest in the content made me read into the story of 'Omelas'. It was generally about a utopian city where it thrives off of someone else's misery (my understanding of Omelas: 'social injustice as a fee of happiness'.)

The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula Le Guin (a very
philosophical and heavy short story)

Shoes tossing - a symbol of a deceased person (?)

MV produced and directed by Nam Hyun Woo & LUMPENS (https://www.instagram.com/gdwdop/)
(http://lumpens.com/)

Thoughts (I had so many unanswered questions)

• I may have been too invested in the story than I intended. Though I found it both interesting and useful as I was looking at human behaviour and social pressure for my sticker project (Visual Communication 406). That and I just have an interest in psychology.

• As for the ones who walk away, I believe that they couldn't bare the idea of living off of someone else's misery. Though I think that it is a natural human reaction to feel guilt and it could change the way we think: whether they would try to make up for their actions to society or not. I feel that those justifications are what makes humans unpredictable at times.
• Though in terms of cinematography, I have to say that it is well made. As well as the use of symbolism and motifs is an effective approach to visually communicate ideas. However it might come off as ambiguous without knowing the context. (not that it's a bad thing, but might be difficult to quickly capture the intention). Though it is a poetic way of communicating meaning?

Nam Hyun Woo's works

How People Move (Music Video Teaser) - AKMU

Thoughts (the realisation struck me hard)

• Seeing his photography work and other videos, his explores simplistic, clean (sometimes linear/centred/symmetry) compositions and colours!

• Hyun Woo's practice reminded me of Wes Anderson's aesthetics/concepts in cinematography. What I found interesting was actually the use of symbolisms in imagery and they are like a universal language. Visual things seem to attach to people's memories quicker than actual words.

• I quite like how they express certain messages/content through visual means and from what I have learnt throughout the course, it isn't an easy thing to do. I still find myself struggling in terms of visually communicating effectively and how I could make certain subject matters interesting.

As they say: design is thinking

• I realised that I quite like content/research driven things? be it an artwork, music or film. In a way, I feel that it's something I would like to be able to do within my own practice. Is not to just create appealing things, but speculative and meaningful work. (not to an extent in which it cures cancer or stops wars. small society-related stuff is enough.)

• Overall, I think that I want to try and not be solely inspired/too fixated on other practitioners' works/the Internet (in particular). 

• I recently realised that I like capturing the details, moments and subtlety of things, in which at times I can't find through the virtual world. I feel that at I need to be more perceptive of my surroundings and just appreciate what the world has to offer.

BROTHERTON LIBRARY - Stanley & Audry Barton Gallery

• Personally I didn't enjoy the collection of artworks shown. I don't particularly find realistic or landscape paintings interesting or visually stimulating. However, I found the concept of Gyorgy Gordon's collection quite interesting. I enjoyed looking at artworks that has narrative or meaning, as I was able to try and decipher them. 

• I feel this exhibition has a certain level of work or authenticity. What I feel that is a danger to creative practitioners is the idea of being stuck in the internet/digital culture and social trend. Where things are similar and they would lack uniqueness in their practice/authenticity.

At Night at Home (1991)
Oil on Canvas
György Gordon

Cuby Siren/Heraldic Hog (1947)
Acrylic on Canvas
Ron William ||
Untitled PRO 63 (2007)
Mixed Media
Grant W. Miller

Thoughts

• I would say that two particular artworks stood out to me. I seem to gravitate towards the more graphic/structured paintings. The colours were what initially caught my attention and the use of shape and composition reminded me of current graphic design works (despite it being made several years ago). I feel that my perception and taste may have also been informed by the digital age and aesthetics. 

• Generally speaking I don't enjoy most galleries or exhibition. It made me think about illustrations and whether it could be put in a gallery. It would change the context in which is read, how people make sense of it. Whereas what I find captivating about published illustrations is that they are tangible and kept by the audience.

•  Since I think that once an artwork is placed in a gallery, it is presumed to be something worth admiring and worshipped. In galleries, the audience are expected to behave a certain way (?) and I feel that at times there isn't enough space to freely think about the artwork (whether it is good or bad)

Commissioned for the first time! - Indonesian Student Association (PPI LEEDS)

Initial ideas: Leeds and Indonesia's
bird symbols (Owl and Garuda)

• The brief was to design a logo for the Indonesian Fair (cultural festival in University of Leeds). I had to sketch out a few roughs and showed them, though they didn't like most of them. Then they told me to do something Indonesian related, so I pitched in a 'Barong' design. 

• At the time I didn't know how to use Adobe Illustrator and just used Photoshop. Though now that I feel much more confident with Illustrator, I had wished that I drew these with it. It would have been easier to create minimal, solid block-colour designs. I feel that the line quality isn't as concise and clean as I hoped it would be.

Needed to fix the typography

Our traditional 'Barong', lion mask

Thoughts (semi-rant)

• I have mixed feelings about doing commissions and working under someone else. I feel that I am quite restricted in terms of creating illustrations/designs as I have to follow the client's needs. There were more times where my original ideas would get rejected.

• I find it quite frustrating that I wasn't able to create illustrations/designs that I want. I wasn't sure if this is what being commissioned is like. I wasn't able to create my work and truly show my 'practice'. I ended up doing work/designs that are very graphic design based and typography. I don't mind it, however it isn't something that I'd like to do.

Designed the Logo for the Indonesian Fair 2017 event for PPI Leeds
(quite happy with how the logo turned out)

• I also learned that working under someone else and with others is quite hard. I would constantly receive criticism (they were constructive criticism! very helpful!). There were a lot of waiting of approvals from the head of the society, some people not doing their designated job etc.

• Thinking back to the briefs set in college and working individually, I like the freedom of creating work that I like doing. Overall it's a very interesting experience to work with a society/large group. There were a lot of head-butting and disagreements, though there were also a lot of great ideas formed. Not only do you learn about people and work ethics from board meetings, but also about myself. 

Other work in progress: the networking division and I have been working 
on more event posters! Lots of designing to do!

INSPIRATION OF THE WEEK - Kim Salt!

Travel Sketchbook | Miami

flying glasses (?)

More green stuff and music

• I suppose I really enjoy looking at artist's sketchbooks as I could see the way they visually perceive the world (which differs from what I see). I really like her rather loose line work and simple colour scheme. She also seem to mainly focus on shapes and the silhouettes of the subjects more than its detail.

• Though I especially like the scenes and stillness she captures (with hints of humour) and adds her own twists into them.

Vinyl Moon Vol. 7, Parallels

Album art for a monthly vinyl subscription + short comic strips

• I actually thought that her use of black lines to outline her illustrations was interesting. Not only does it emphasise the subject matter, but it gives off a more cartoon-like feeling. It reminded me of old children cartoons I used to watch (e.g. PowerPuff Girls, Tom and Jerry etc). Perhaps this series in particular gives off a nostalgic, down the memory lane mood.

Some fun gifs!

Her personal project in response to an album called 

Sound and Color by Alabama Shakes

I could stare at this for ages

• I really love how the black and white, rough texture juxtaposes with the vibrant, moving colours.

• And knowing that these gifs are made in response to something, it makes much more sense in terms of the context/narrative of the work

Thoughts

• Though looking at her work and her social media, I could see a connection between her cultural background and interests (a plant-admirer). These things seem to greatly inform her practice. 

• Perhaps this was something that I don't seem to find in my own work (?) I sometimes have this half-hearted feeling or lack of satisfaction after finishing a project. This may be because at times I still can't pin point my own tone of voice in my work. (I'm still looking for my tone of voice actually.) 

• Though, throughout this course (for now), I may want to still focus on exploring different approaches to image making and narrating. Hopefully then, I may be able to find my interests!

Source

https://www.behance.net/kimsalt

http://kimsalt.com/

https://twitter.com/kesalt

COMICS! are awesome 

Ever since the Visual Narrative module, I can't stop obsessing over panels, comics and short narrative sequences. Though it wasn't only recently that I am into comics. I have always read comics since I was a kid (from Eastern Asian comics to Western comics). Though I suppose it's different as a reader and as someone who creates them.

Great comic about comics! Comic-ception

• I recently just finished this book (comic book?). It was really interesting in a sense that I never thought of how comics were made, in terms of story telling, the dialogues, panels and composition. 

• Though it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. As I was planning for one of my project, I had to consider the flow, which moments/sequence I would want to capture, what would make sense to the audience etc. (and this is even without the dialogue!)

Soppy - Philippa Rice (currently my ultimate favourite comic)

• Her illustrations aren't complicated, spectacular or anything, though her characters are very memorable. I suppose what I like about her 'Soppy' series in particular are the snippets of mundane moments. The details in life she captures that we never really consider. It's like looking through a microscope into the world.

• I also looked at Robert Hunter's works. 'The New Ghost' in particular interests me. Perhaps it was because of how he structures his story, some through panels and others through diagrams. It was just interesting to see how there are various ways in depicting stories through comics (not everything needs to be structured into panels and speech bubbles). Though it is also the flow and connection towards the character that attracts me to his work.

The New Ghost - Robert Hunter

Batman Series 1979 - Don Newton

• I would say that old, American comics are still my favourite. I never owned vintage comics (I wish I had), though I collect the newer issues. There is something about the line work in the characters, the cheesy action prompts and the plot of the story that interests me. 

• There is also this simplistic aesthetics to comics, the solid colours, prominent lines, light and shadows. In terms of action comics, there would always be constant tension or suspense. It just amazes me how effectively the illustrations could communicate certain tones and atmospheres. (I don't think that I'll ever get tired of reading comic books. Plus it's visually engaging!)