Design Principles - Project 1

2.10.20 - 18.10.20 (Week 6 - Week 8)

Sajiya Mir (0340836)

Design Principles 

Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media

Taylors University

Project 1

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[Inspiration] 

Fig.1 Inspiration board

[Sketch]

Fig.1.2 Progress

Fig.1.3 Sketch 1

The first sketch is from an idea of a daydreamer. I am someone who can rarely stay focus. I find myself daydreaming about movies and stories and all sort of things. So I tried creating a fantasy world in my head that is overflowing. 

Fig.1.4 Sketch progress

Fig.1.5 Sketch 2

For the second sketch, I had difficulty deciding a different concept, so I asked my cousins what they see me. Now she is a big believer in horoscopes and tarots, and she told me I am exactly what Aries is supposed to be. That gave me the idea of doing my self-portrait in a tarot card style where I would be the Aries card. So I drew my self holding the head of ram since the body part associated with Aries is the head. I wanted the emphasis to be more on me, so I didn't add too many elements, but I did add the red color and the flower for aries, which is Honeysuckle

Fig.1.6 Sketch 3 progress 

After the feedback, I tried to make another sketch keeping the same concept of sketch 2. I was not too fond of sketch two that much as I felt it was lacking. In this sketch, I tried to apply more of the design principles and added a few more elements, such as the jellyfish and the flowers. I changed the face to be a 3/4 view. 

Fig.1.7 Final Sketch 

Fig.1.8 Progress 

Fig.1.9 Final Outcome 

Rationale: In project one, my concept for self-portraiture was a daydream. When I asked my friends and family, I thought that this was the one that best represented me; I'm always thinking of other things in my head, I rarely concentrate on what's going on around me. So, I decided to show that some of these daydreams were overflowing from my mind for my illustration. I wanted to use Photoshop to illustrate. I was trying to add movement to my hair, drawing with swirls and a curvy line; I tried to give the impression that the hair was almost flowing out of the frame. I used repetition of the flowers in my hair and even of the plants near the castle. I applied the Gestalt theory's continuity to transfer the eye from the face to the castles and jellyfish, so I added a blue cloud to help direct the viewer's eyes. I kept the color primarily blue, purple, and pink throughout to design a sense of harmony. Overall I kept a soft brush stroke and a few harsh lines when coloring to give the design a daydream feel to it

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[Feedback]

[Week 7]: For sketch 1 Ms. Maria suggested I try to add more principles of design like repetition with the flowers. She like my sketch 2 better as it showcased more designed principles so she suggests I continue with that. 

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[Reflection]

Experience: I was excited about this project as I like doing portraits. I had experience with self-portraiture as it was our final project for the foundation in design. I had difficulty coming up with the background as I felt nothing was looking good, and it ends because of time restrictions. I decided to take the easy way and opted for black.  I wish we had more time to refine it a bit more, but overall I am happy with the outcome. 

Observation: While researching self-portraiture by other artists, I observed that most add surrealist elements to their work. This may be because they can express themselves more through surrealism. 

Findings: You normally think of realism or paintings like the Mona Lisa when thinking about self-portraiture. However, I discovered that self-portraiture could be more than that after the lecture by Ms. Jinchi. It can be how the world perceives us or how we conduct ourselves.