8/Feb/2022 - 25/Feb/2022 (Week 6 - Week 8)
Kim MinJoon (0353248)
Bachelor
of Design (Honours) in Creative Media / GCD60804 / Taylor's University
Final Project : Visual Analysis and Final Blog
LECTURES
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| Figure 0.0: Thumbnail |
Week 6
Dr Charles gave us the instructions to the last project in this week.
He has told us to watch the assessment video in the section of week 8. The assignment was as followed as to choose an artwork, and analyze the design to where it uses unique interpretations and elements to compile the artwork.
We should watch out for things like position, symmetry and such in the artwork. After, we needed to put in the sources, and find the references of the artwork to visualize the piece better.
We were told that we needed to not copy the style of the artwork but to implement the idea and the creativity from it.
Week 7
Extended the deadline of the e-portfolio submission to week 8.
INSTRUCTIONS
FINAL PROJECT
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| Figure 1.1: 'The happy donor' |
Observation
The drawing of Hegel’s holiday has really made me think about the concept of surrealism.
It was a drawing/painting done by Rene Magritte and an unorthodox one at least. It has a man in a bowler’s hat and the canvas seems like it is a vertical portrait of this more or less detail-less man. It definitely has this eerie feeling that resonates with the mysterious man. It has a shape of a man but inside is another reality that connects to the person almost as if that man is filled with this alternating universe that has colored him in. The background has a solid color of a brown-blackish gradient fading out onto the top, and a white crusted concrete wall of blocks that is blocked by the bowler hat man. Next to him, there appears to be a bell that has a division in the middle, separating the solid construction into 2 parts.
Analysis
In this artwork, there are 5 components that we can see visibly. Those 5 being the man, the surreal universe, the brown background that slowly passes down its contrast, the white concrete wall and the bell. As the man stands there, it catches our attention more than anything else so we can say that the principle of emphasis demonstrates itself in this artwork. But what also catches the eye is not just the man but the world that alternates from the current scene. It can be looked as its own category with its imbalance in the system. The way that the concrete blocks are aligned horizontally with a sense of repetition throughout the x axis of the portrait makes it seem like there is a boundary within the picture.
Within the man, the dreamlike world with the sky that is ongoing inside of him and the outline of the man has a uniform symmetry. What appears to be a big garden with big trees surrounding the house in the yard has a sense of unity that works together to bring closeness and whole as a picture. As we see the difference between the worlds, the scale of the world outside of the outlines of the man seems very up close but within the man, the world looks very distant. This might be saying that the man is very distant from the current reality and what we see in the man is the universe he in.
Interpretation
The usage of this style of surrealism has been used many times by Rene Magritte in his previous works, such as 'The Son of Man', 'decalcomania', 'Man in a Bowler Hat'. He illustrates this man in the bowler hat a lot in many of his drawings with unique style implemented on all of them. He implements the bell as well in a lot of his artworks 'The voice of space', 'The double secret'. I believe that he creates these types of drawings to put in a thought or an idea of real interpretation of visualization into a surreal artwork.
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| Figure 1.2: 'Son of man' |
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| Figure 1.3: 'Decalcomania' |
Rene Magritte's usage of people without faces are unquestionably many. Once, Rene Magritte was asked if the suicide of his mother has got to do with the covering of faces in his artworks but he denied it, saying that none of his works are tied up with his mothers death. He has then said that covering faces evoke mystery, and conceals nothing. He wanted the audience to think, what does it mean? and he added on that the style of covering faces do not mean anything as there is no way to know a meaning behind a mystery.
Same goes for the usage of the bowler hat man, Rene Magritte has said that the bowler hat 'poses no surprise as it is a headdress and the man in it poses a middle-class man in its anonymity'. In the near early 20's the bowler hats has gotten more attention and became one of the most popular hats. Rene Magritte used it in one of his works in the 1920's 'the menaced assassin' and got back to using the bowler hat reference again but with a slight twist of the meaning of the bowler hat from a reference to a detective to a middle-class man.
A lot of the works done by the artist is known for its originality in its surrealism. But the way that he portrays his unique style is that he makes the 2 subjects or more, switch its elements from each other. You can see this type of type of fashion in this design making the man be complete with a different reality.
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| Figure 1.4: 'The large Family' |
My Design
Visual Research
I was wondering for quite a while what I wanted to do using the style of Rene Magritte's surrealism. I didn't want to copy too much since that isn't what is asked for in the instructions but I wanted to use something similar.
I took some time to think about the design and tried out different sketches. I first thought of a man that opens to another world just the same as 'the happy donor' but with different perspective and I drew a sketch of a man standing in a dining room but with a perspective of another reality from what he was seeing. But it seemed too cliche to follow the idea of an original piece. I originally wanted to choose 'Hegel's Holiday' as my reference of design but that also seemed too plain for me to get the idea. It didn't really mirror what Rene Magritte used to do with his work. So that is why I chose a more iconic work from him. With the sense of being iconic, I wanted my work to look like it was inspired from Rene Magritte directly.
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| Figure 2.1: Rene Magritte's 'Hegel's Holiday' |
Since the artist portrays his subjects as a different object in his artworks, I wanted to implement that into my design. It seemed like it was an appropriate decision because it was an iconic way to identify Rene Magritte's works.
Usually the concept of' 'opening to a different reality' is portrayed through a door, or an openable object.
The saying of a different reality, really struck to me as a fantasy-like world. Almost like 'Narnia' or 'Peter Pan' or 'Howl's moving castle'. It gave a feeling of an alternating universe that we couldn't have thought of. This as well applied to the movie 'Dr Strange' from the Marvel Series. I loved the movie since it had various kinds of artworks and cg that was unique to general type of movies. It felt new and refreshing to see that style getting implemented into a moving picture.
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| Figure 2.2: 'Narnia' wardrobe |
Therefore, I thought of a scene from the movie of 'Dr Strange' where there were 3 different portals that is alterable through a half-globe that is stuck on the side of the door / window. This kind of reminded me of the door that is similar in style in the Japanese animated movie 'Howl's moving castle'. That door is also alterable to where you can travel to 4 different fixed kinds of places by turning the doorknob to an extend and the sign on the top right is switched.
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| Figure 2.3: 'Howl's moving castle' |
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| Figure 2.4: 'Dr Strange' |
Sketches
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| Figure 3.1: Sketch #1 |
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| Figure 3.2: Sketch #2 |
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| Figure 3.3: Sketch #3 |
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| Figure 3.4: Sketch #4 |
The sketch #1 shown was my first thought of the design where the man has a different view of the world where he lives in, in that moment.
The second sketch was an idea of where it shows a different alternating reality from the man’s point of view, similar sense to the first sketch, it pointed out a universe that we could not see.
As for the third sketch, I tried drifting away from the sense of a different reality to a bit more of an unimaginable figure in the design. I tried to think of a way to get it related to the whole purpose of referencing from the artist but couldn’t find a way to make it link to each other from the design of ‘the happy donor’. Which made me rethink about what Rene Magritte would've done to revitalize his work. From what I have seen from all of his previous artworks, he reuses the concept from time to time, referencing from his previous works again and again. This style of repetition gave Rene Magritte recognition for his uniqueness to his work, so i thought of a way that can put his style of work together and sketch #4 was the outcome of what I had in mind.
Progress
Before the start of the design, i started out with the sketch of a window that I had found on Google Images. However, the images of windows on google were very plain and it was just generic. It didn't bring any feeling of excitement and uniqueness. So, I thought, 'why not use my window?'. My house window is very big and it almost doesn't have a wall, instead it is just a window and a veranda.
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| Figure 4.1: Progress #1 |
With the concept of my window, I referenced it through Photoshop and gave it a slight touch to how I wanted it to look, for it to fit the design more appropriately. I didn't want a person to be in the design so I thought that maybe the observer can be the person and they can be a subject that is connected to the design as well but in a different reality (it kind of makes sense).
I first added in the ocean in the bottom side, with dark features to represent the dark ocean in the middle of the night. If I have put in light colors then I would have thought that there wasn't enough variety in the different landscape that was going to be put in, into the window glass panels. I also liked the concept of going for something dark since the way I see life is not all about light and happiness. I wanted to express a mind into this artwork with the thought of this window is going to be a reflecting image of what someone feels or what the audience is feeling in that moment.
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| Figure 4.2: Progress #2 |
Next was the desert, which fills the land with red--orange uncountable dry sands that reflects on how vast the mind can be but also empty at the same time. This might be replicated with the concept of the ocean but the way i see it, it holds a different meaning towards how it is seen with a different mindset. Oceans can crash and be filled with lifeforms which makes it seem empty but there are various species that fill up the ocean but when it comes down to a desert, it is just sand and sand only. It makes you feel hopeless and deserted.
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| Figure 4.3: Progress #3 |
The next was the 4th frame to the right. I wanted to give this spot a design that had a similar sense of the original artworks of Rene Magritte. I planned it out to give it the most 'Rene Magritte' feeling to it and I drew in a 3-dimensional room with an original painting of the artist 'The treachery of Images' on the side of the wall to really emphasize that this drawing was done motivated by the amazing artist himself (or a little bit of an Easter egg). The room was painted in a fashion of oil painting to give it that old, vintage look but something felt very empty. It almost seemed like it didn't quite capture a motive from Rene Magritte's artworks so I decided to put in the most iconic and the most unusual subject that really resonates from the artist's work, a cloud.
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| Figure 4.4: Progress #4 |
After, The last small tile was next, I decided to put here the most common thing we always feel, happiness and comfort. In my point of view, happiness and comfort can be pictured as bright, high contrast, warm lighting and nature. So, that is exactly what i did. I put in a scenery of nature.
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| Figure 4.5: Progress #5 |
The second tile didn't really have too much of a meaning for me. I drew in almost everything I wanted to fill this up with and didn't really have much in mind. But in a sense of harmony and repetition, I gave the second tile a wallpaper that did exactly just that. It had different kinds of shape that looks unnatural but with the help of repetition, it gave it a graceful look that pleased me in way.
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| Figure 4.6: Progress #6 |
Last but not least the 3rd tile where it is completely empty.
I decided to keep it empty.
But, I colored in the background so that the artwork doesn't look plain. I used the style of oil painting again here to make it look more physically drawn instead of a digital look.
However, since it was colored in, the 3rd tile was also drawn in with the background. That was a nono for me. It brought unpleasant feelings that I had to make some changes, and I couldn't leaving it white as well.
So I added in fishes. But not just fishes, flying fishes. The thought of it before i added it in was kind of childish and laughable at first but I liked it. It was funny in a way.
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| Figure 4.7: Progress #7 (Outcome) |
Final Outcome
'The Imaginations'
The design that I have done is inspired by the surrealism artist 'Rene Magritte'. Although I didn't use exactly his tactic on his artwork 'The happy Donor', I got references from many of his other artworks. The artist tends to repeat his style of drawings into his design so it only felt natural to get references many artworks.
FEEDBACK
Dr Charles has given me the 'OK' sign just right after I have asked him to see my artwork and that was about it.
REFLECTION
For the last project, I definitely had a lot of fun searching different artists and looking at many of their works to give me motivation and inspire me for my design. I never really knew Rene Magritte except for his famous works so this was a a great opportunity to start researching about him for this project.
I think this was one of my most proudest and the most pleased artworks that I have conducted to make during the time with Dr Charles and the other projects and exercises that I have done. I think I implemented the look of Rene Magritte's artwork pretty well despite it being an original work. I really liked how I needed to search up the small details and the question of 'why?' being circulated around my head whenever I saw his works.
Unfortunately, while I was looking at more of his works after I have drawn in most of the tiles in my window, I saw Rene Magritte's 'The Empty Mask' and thought 'Oh crap'. It looked really similar to what I was doing and I don't know if that was a good sign since it was like Rene Magritte's artworks or bad since it looked pretty much the same and I didn't want to get penalized from plagiarism. Of course, I also got the inspiration from that as well in the end to draw the 2nd tile in the window.
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| Figure 5.1: 'The Empty Mask' |
Overall I think this was an amazing project to work on to really get the feel of looking at designs and artworks and trying to implement that into your own design. This really was interesting in my opinion and I would love it to try this again more in the future.
Its okay Kim. Its not plagiarism unless its almost an apple to apple comparison. But I am very proud to see how much thinking have gone into your work. I thought your work, inspired by Margritte's surreal approach, steered my attention to what is inside the frames of your imagination. I think there is much content there and a lot to unpack! Well done!
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