Design Principles Project 2

16.5.2022 - 23.5.2022 (Week 8 - Week 10) 

Teo Javin 0349352

Design Principles / Bachelor of Design in Creative Media / Taylor's University

Project 2 / Sense of Place

Lecture

What is a Sense of Place?

A place where you've been before, either imaginary or reality; a place where you find unique and memorable. 

Then, describe the reason this place is memorable/unique into an illustration.

Instructions

Figure1.1, MIB

Visual Research

Figure2.1, photo by Mike Deere

Figure2.2, artwork by Minh Hoang Quang

Figure2.3, artwork by Ling Xiang

Exploration

Firstly, I started off with a mindmap of what I thought of that time about Sense of Place.

Figure3.1, mindmap

These are my sketches after getting some points out from my mindmap.

Figure3.2, sketch1

Figure3.3, sketch2

Figure3.4, sketch3

I went with the 2nd sketch but changed the composition. Instead of a boring perspective of a computer and my room. I thought off trying some dynamic perspective to make the composition more exciting. I want to create a dark moody atmosphere of my room and a bright, vibrant and colourful light shining out from my laptop to show that is what keeps me happy and that's where most of the memories are made throughout the whole pandemic.

Figure3.5, sketch on digital

Then, I started cleaning up the line work to not confuse myself with the lines.

Figure3.6, cleaning up the lineart proess

Started colouring the piece with the base colours, then to the shadings. 

Figure3.7, added colours

After that, I tried adding blue light coming from the laptop and it went pretty well in my opinion.

Figure3.7, tried adding gloomy lighting from the laptop

Added a pink trail coming out from the laptop to describe what I've been doing with the laptop; what I've experienced there. There are icons like TikTok, Youtube, Facebook etc. that I've been using throughout the day.

Figure3.7, added a pink fantasy-looking trail

     Figure3.7, experimenting with filters

Figure3.8, erased filter from icon for more contrast

Final Result

Most people's current sense of place might be their own room due to the pandemic, but I have my own story and reason to it. 

The story is about me during the lockdown. In this dark and gloomy room of mine, sits me in a paperbag and a laptop... the moment I switch on my laptop, that's where I destress myself and communicate with friends with apps like Youtube, Facebook, Discord etc. The paperbag tells the audience that I do not want to be seen, that is what's happening that time, no one can see my true face through a screen. The colourful twister of happiness with a sense of movement flows across me and my dim-lit room, keeping me relieved and happy.

The room did not react to the pink cloud's glow as it is imaginary, therefore the surroundings did not reflect any pink light.

Feedback

• Exaggerate/emphasize the size of the PC, making it the main subject.
• Add a dim cozy colour across the room to look comforting.

Reflection

I think I did a pretty good job into creating this artwork. Along the weeks, I personally think I had improved a lot more in making digital art and got the hang of conveying my messages into an illustration.