Figure One: Two “love” concepts with four sketches each

Figure Two: Two concepts (one “love” & one “hate”) with four sketches each

We were supposed to brainstorm ideas to facilitate the sketching process. I had started off by listing down the items that I love and hate of which it includes ideas of me loving and hating ice cream and roses and dogs respectively. After conceptualizing the ideas, I had decided to represent the idea of me loving ice cream, stick gal and roses as depicted in part 1, 2 and 3 (circled numbers) of Figure One). Initially, I had faced difficulties in developing the ice cream design as my drawing for melting ice cream is not done properly and it turned out to be very stiff originally. Thus, I went home to research more on “melting ice cream” and came out with a better design as depicted in part one of Figure One. I had encountered problems representing my excitement for ice cream at the start as well. However, I had come to a decision of using spring to convey my enthusiasm (as shown in picture three of Figure One’s part 1) after gathering some information over the internet. As spring has bouncy characteristics, by using spring it will aid me in representing my excitement for ice cream.

While part one of Figure One strives to communicate my love for ice cream, part two of Figure One was derived from the idea of using sticks to represent my fancy for stick related stuff. I had thought of using stick girl, bamboo and match sticks to represent the design. The representation of stick girl (as shown in 1st two pictures of Figure One’s part 2) was rather a tough one as I have to think of ways to sketch the stick girl in different flexible positions to represent the alphabets of my name. It was also meant to convey the message of a person loving flexible rules.

Besides having ice cream and stick related sketches, I had drawn another four on “loving roses”. Likewise, I had made an effort to research on the different components of the roses and used some of it in my sketches as shown in Figure Two part 3. Basically, I wanted to portray my keenness through the use of different parts of roses. For instance, I had used a mixture of thorny stalks, leaves and roses to represent the alphabets. For these rose drawings, I have also examined the different views of roses from various angles, textures and the shape of leaves with the help of books and online sources. To depict elegancy, the rose is drawn in a lying position with a few more roses on it. There will also be different level of shading for the lying rose so to give it a classic feeling. Likewise, I had undergone similar thinking process when attempting to sketch the concepts on the hatred of dogs.

After presenting the 4 concepts to friends, I had chosen to work on the roses and dogs designs as both have somewhat communicated clearer message. However, it was highlighted that the intended message the “hate dogs” concept was not clear for the last sketch Figure Two’s part four. Also, sketches one and two of Figure Two’s part 3 were somewhat similar. Bearing in mind these valuable feedbacks, I had made some changes to the sketches and present them in Figure Three.

Figure Three: Two concepts (one “love” & one “hate”) with four sketches each

At this stage, I had designed 2 concepts where one is on "I Love Roses" (view sketches vertically from the top left column) and the other is "I hate Dogs" (view sketches vertically from the top right column). For the first drawing from the left column, I had in mind the concept of a bed of roses which forms up my name. It was rather a tough idea to be depicted as I have to think of ways to sketch the drawing in three dimensionally. Nevertheless, I had overcome this problem through researching for examples of “bed of roses”. On the other hand, I had used the branches of roses to form my name and add a fallen leaf on the "g" branch. I did not face much problem for this except for the coloring part where I have to think of the direction of the lighting which ultimately affects the leaves’ shading. For the third picture of my rose drawing, I had used leaves and roses to form my name and the leaves are shaded in black with a few rose buds protruding out from the leaves. For this, I did encounter problems of forming my name with roses. After researching, I had an idea of illustrating the alphabets with half cut leaves. Lastly for left column’s last sketch, I wanted to portray the roses in a classic view and managed to overcome the difficulty of depicting it classically through shading the roses with different reddish pink tones. The ultimate outcome was a successful one and I had received positive feedback for both sketches 3 and 4 of Figure Three’s part 1. On the whole, I had to decide on the types of red to use for the roses as different shades of red gives viewers different feel. Eventually, I had chosen to further develop third sketch of Figure Three’s part 1 due to its creativity and clarity of message conveyed.

Figure Six: Chosen design for “love roses” concept

At this stage, we were supposed to develop our design with the aid of use Adobe Photoshop. However, I had chosen to use Macromedia Fireworks MX 2004 as I am not familiar with the functions provided by Adobe Photoshop. Generally, I did not face much difficulty in using the pen and fill color tools as compared to my friends whom had struggled to use this function. If you would have notice, there is a difference in the solidity/brightness of the roses and dog prototypes! I had chosen to color the dog with color pencils first as the coloring effects that I wanted could not be achieved through coloring with the software. In addition, some of the colors from the software were very dull/stiff and they could not achieve the layered look I wanted for the dog drawing. Personally, I felt that colors and strokes for the dog would look livelier and more natural through hand coloring.

After the critique process by my tutorial mates, I had decided to choose the second drawing of Figure Four and made some changes commented accordingly. I had tried to redraw the rose forming the alphabet “N” further away from the "G" to depict a clearer message. Also, I had added an oval shape border to my drawing hoping to give attention to the rose picture. However, I was told that the picture became complicated due to the addition of border (as shown in Figure Six).

In this task, I learnt that the colors of drawings printed out on different types of papers (especially fanciful paper) would appear differently as compared to the color shown on the computer. For instance, the color of the roses on Figure Six had turned pinkish after printing on white shiny glossy paper, giving it a classic feel. On the other hand, differing in colors could also be due to the use of RBG color in the software application of which colors shown might differ from the actual print out of sketches. Hence it is vital to specify usage of CMYK color in the software application in order to get a print out with colors as depicted on the computer screen.

Figure Seven: Chosen design for “hate dog” concept

Taking heed of the comments given by my tutorial mates, I had combined the two concepts from Figure Five and come up with one as shown in Figure Seven. I had drawn the fierce dog from the first drawing of Figure Five and the "scared off" wordings from the second drawing of Figure Five. I had also created a tear off border behind the dog wanting to depict that the paper got torn off when the dog run through it. To put the last touches on the artwork, the drawing is mounted on a black piece of paper. However, I was told that the borders had complicated the drawing and it does not look as good as before. Hence, I had decided to make some changes of which valuable lessons were draw upon.

Revised Drawings

Figure Eight: Revised design for “love roses” concept

Figure Nine: Final revised design for “hate dog” concept

I had made some changes to my rose drawing where I had developed a bigger version of my drawing (within A5 size) without the border. From Figure Eight and Nine, I think the drawing is not as complicated as before and it can convey the message clearer. For the dog drawing, I had also taken out the borders where it really communicates a clearer message and does not appear as messy as before. On top of that, different feeling would results from different font usage. For instance, the use of fonts with leaves as shown in Figure Eight would portray a drawing related to flowers or even garden.

Figure Ten: Final revised design for “love roses” concept

However I had opted to change the font used in the rose picture (Figure Eight) to the font used in the artwork of Figure Ten as I was told the leaves on the alphabets made them illegible. Through this assignment, I had understood the importance of choosing right fonts for artworks as this will ultimately affect its overall “attractiveness”. Additionally, font faces have to be used circumspectly due to their diverse characteristics and projected feeling.

In conclusion, this assignment has also taught me the importance of paying attention to instructions given, especially when one works in the media industry. The concerns of cost to be incurred for printing explains the significance value attributed to careful interpretation of given instructions. It should also be noted that slight changes in the size of paper would result in rejection of drawing. Thus, we ought to ensure exact match of the size of our printed drawings with the specified criteria. Also, it is vital to specify CMYK colors when developing artwork with design application software.