30/10/2020 - 29/11/2020 (Week 11 - Week14)
Naim Zuki, (0346615)
| Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media
Design Principles
Project 3
LECTURES
Lecture 8 | Visual Analysis
According to the Johnson Museum of Art, Visual
Analysis is a method of understanding design that focuses on breaking down visual elements. Though in its strictest definition, visual analysis is a
description and explanation of a visual structure. Practising analysis could help understand the style a designer chooses in their works and how a designer would communicate ideas, content, and meaning. Visual analysis is a critical part of visual literacy, a skill that helps people read and critically interpret images, whether in a museum, on social media, in entertainment, advertising, or the news.
For this project, we're tasked to conduct a
visual analysis (exceeding 500 words) on our own choice of design. The
analysis must be divided into three parts: Observation, Analysis, and
Interpretation. Afterwards, we are to use the chosen design as our main reference for another design of our own.
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INSTRUCTIONS
Module Information Booklet
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PROJECT 3 | VISUAL ANALYSIS
VISUAL ANALYSIS
For the first part of this project, I've chosen to conduct a visual
analysis on one of the works done by Yun Ling. Yun Ling is a contemporary
visual development artist that does works on concept arts for various
entertainment studios. Apart from his professional work, he has his own
albums of personal illustrations that he uploads on his social media and
compiles on his website. His style is a unique mix of photorealism and
cubism that can be both abstract and representational.
Visual Material
Fig. 1.0, Moment, (Image courtesy of Yun Ling)
Observation
The composition of this design is encapsulated within a square format. The main colours that were used are brown and blue. This design focuses heavily on the use of shapes to define objects within a three-dimensional space. Broken apart, many elements in this design can be simplified into squares or quadrilaterals. The design shows a female figure wrapped in a blanket, sleeping in a room that’s being flooded by a light source coming from behind the perspective of the canvas. Judging from the slight hues of blue and the level of the light source, we can derive that the time of this painting is morning. Above the figure is a framed mirror hanging from the wall.
Analysis
Yun Ling composed this piece with a lot of dependency on guiding lines. The first and the most significant is the horizon line, which is set around the middle of the painting. By doing this, Yun Ling set the composition to mimic the gaze of a person. The next guiding line he used is the rule of thirds, which separates the painting into 4 segments to provide a sense of structure. The first is the highlights, which is situated on the left side of the painting. Second is the shadows, which are on the right side of the painting. The third is the bed, which covers the bottom half of the painting. Finally, the top half of the painting, where the mirror is placed. The next guiding lines are orthogonals, which act as the painting’s main focal element, providing a sense of emphasis by guiding the viewer’s gaze to the main subject of the painting. The highlights draw the attention of the viewer from the lights on the wall to where the persona, which is the main subject of the painting, is sleeping to the light source at the bottom right of the composition.
The art style in this painting relies heavily on the use of the Gestalt-Theory of Perception to depict silhouettes of objects within a three-dimensional space. Balance is portrayed in this painting with the use of the chiaroscuro technique of light and shadow, which is complemented by the colour harmony between the hues of brown and blue. Lastly, Yun Ling tied the entire composition together with the repetition of squares (or more accurately, quadrilaterals) throughout his painting; from the shape of the bed to the blanket, to the walls, and finally to the mirror.
Interpretation
Yun Ling is a visual development artist who focuses his work on environmental designs for animation studios, game studios, and movie studios. If there is one word that I would use to describe his digital painting series titled Girl Chasing Giants, it would be nostalgic. In the series, there is no other form of storytelling than the paintings themselves. But the story can be divided into two parts: one is from the officialised published album on his
website, and the other is scattered all around his
social media, which seemed to be from an extended storyline of the published album. This painting done by him is taken from that extended storyline.
In Girl Chasing Giants, we see the main persona of this series being a part of a huge open world, exploring the lands in search of Giants. We see her exploring glaciers, forests, ruins, canyons, deserted houses, deserted cities, mountain ranges, and many more. Although, what’s special about this particular painting that separates it from the rest of the series is the fact that the persona is sleeping. She is not resting in an abandoned house or near a lake while she travels, but lying down on a bed, wrapped in a blanket. What’s more interesting about this painting is that by the way it is composed, Yun Ling is suggesting that through the perspective of this painting, the persona is looking at herself.
With the mirror atop her bed showing the same persona staring intently at herself sleeping, it almost feels as if the two are somehow disconnected, like strangers studying each other’s physique. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that the figure is wearing a medal. What does that signify? What has she won? Where did she attain it? Then it struck me; the reflection could be the same persona, but from the future when she has finally chased all the giants and completed the storyline. It literally is a reflection of herself from the future, looking at her past self and judging the person she used to be. It tied back to how each and every single one of his paintings from this series has had the feeling of nostalgia, like this cubism style is used to imply fragments of memories combined together to shape someone else’s perspective.
IDEA EXPLORATION
Fig. 1.01, Further Visual Exploration and Gathering External Inspo
(Images Courtesies of Yun Ling and DONTNOD Entertainment)
The world of concept arts is something that is as vast as it is
overwhelming. The sheer scale of every environmental and character design is
immense and I'm always left in awe. Knowing that I'm diving into
Entertainment Media, I'll be utilising the second part of this project to
officially draw out my first concept art in environmental design using Yun
Ling's art style as my main reference.
Initially, I wanted to follow Ms Maria's advice on painting a scene from
Taylor's University with a given twist. I thought that it was a wonderful
idea, so I wanted to follow that advice. Though when the time came for me to
come up with sketches and ideas, Yun Ling's style of high-horizon lines and
intimate viewpoints would only work well if I have my own personal picture
references of the university. I tried to use the pictures of the university
that I could find online but nothing struck me as interesting enough for me
to work on. So I digressed and decided that I'll be using this clip from
Life is Strange as the environmental layout reference.
SKETCHES
Before I began starting sketching, I studied the brushes Yun Ling used for
his illustrations. It's pretty obvious that his style is dependant on the
unique brush that he's using. I went on his website, Twitter, ArtStation and
DeviantArt pages, and his Instagram to study the shapes, opacity, and
texture of his brushes. Luckily enough, I managed to get hold of a couple of
the brushes he's used from his websites and did a small study on photoshop.
Fig. 1.02, brush study, 13/11/2020
Afterwards, I used simple geometric shapes to draw out the landscape and
started with base colours of the lands and the sea.
Fig. 1.03, First Environmental Design Draft, 19/11/2020
DEVELOPMENT
As I progressed further into this design, I started adding more minor
details and altering small parts of the composition according to some of Yun
Ling's hierarchy techniques. I first corrected the perspective of the
stylized water by adding a vanishing point to guide the viewer's eyes from
the foreground to the background. I tried adding contrast, balance, and
harmony in the composition with the colours blue and green. I used the bench
and birds as a small scale reference to bring this composition to life by
insinuating that this is a lookout position that people have visited before.
Lastly, I used repetition in the geometric shapes in the highlights of the
water, the bright leaves on the foreground, and the rock formation onshore.
Fig. 1.04, Development, 19/11/2020 - 20/11/2020
Fig. 1.05, Project 3: Visual Analysis Final Analysis Submission, 29/11/2020
Fig. 1.06, Project 3: Visual Analysis Final submission,
29/11/2020
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FEEDBACK
Week 11
Like the projects before, I showed Ms Maria the design piece from Yun Ling as
my main topic of analysis. I've also shown her the slight progress I've made
in the analysis. Ms Maria took some time to hear my rationale and the
reasoning behind my choice and suggested that after I'm done with the
analysis, I should start conceptualizing how I want my final design to be.
Week 12
For this week, Ms Maria focused on how I want to design my final project of
the semester. I explained that I wanted to do an environmental design and
explained a couple of concept ideas. Ms Maria suggested that I do an
environmental design of Taylor's University and I thought it was an
interesting idea to work on.
Week 13
I explained to Ms Maria that constructing an environmental design of Taylor's
Unis is a bit hard because I lack the resources I need to complete my idea for
that concept. So I presented to her my progress on another design
concept (that is the one shown above) and she approved of the concept.
Although, she did comment on the lack of details in the water and the odd
shapes of the clouds and suggested I make some edits on those two parts.
Week 14
For the final week, I've shown my development for the final design. Ms Maria
liked the additional edits but still find that the clouds to be odd and
suggested I do some edits if I have the time to.
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REFLECTIONS
Experience
The most challenging part of this project was writing the analysis. I wanted
to look how deep I can go to find out the intentions Yun Ling had for his
designs and it took a bit of effort to get to my finalised essay for this
project. But that little treasure hunt was at the end very rewarding. I
think I might have gone overboard at the number of details I've written but
I'm still happy with the end result. As for designing the landscape itself,
the painting process was fun through and through. There were loads of times
when I jumped in excitement when I added a colour/object/detail and it
blends in seamlessly with everything in the composition. I love this
project.
Observation
I noticed that this project has helped me expand my expertise. I diverged
from drawing portraits and successfully painted an original environmental
design. If I told my younger self I started doing concept art when I'm 19 I
bet he'd also jump in excitement. Doing environmental design also meant that
I can improvise a lot of techniques and use multiple concepts to get to
where my idea is, so there is more freedom than any other designs I've made.
Findings
Compared to the exercises and the previous projects, my approach to this
project was far more relaxed and laid back. Mayhaps that's because I had a
proper idea and proper art reference to take as inspiration. This resulted
in me having a better and faster workflow, creating better designs that have
more visual depth and detail. Next time I'll try to start projects with the
same headspace that I have for this one so that I can be happier with my
outcomes.
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