Assignment 1A
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
For this assignment (using images to represent the letters of my name: Yuhan), I started by coming up with some themes related to my personal identity. The first things that occurred to me were things that I like:
- cats
- Japanese culture
- fashion
- dance
For the last theme, I started out with the idea of using a breakdance pose as the letter Y. However, I was unable to continue with the rest of the letters as I couldn't think of feasible dance poses to represent them. After racking my brains for a while to no effect, I scrapped the idea.
From the other three themes, I was able to come up with sketches of my name:
The katana and shuriken (Japanese weapons) form the letter 'Y'; the fish (key ingredient in many Japanese dishes) forms 'U'; the pillars of the Shinto shrine gate form a 'H'; the sloping arms and long sleeves of the kimono girl form the rough shape of the letter 'A'; and finally the three bamboo plants form the letter 'N'. The initial inspiration for this was actually the Shinto shrine gate, which was the first thing that popped into my mind. The other elements were filled in afterwards, after further brainstorming about icons related to Japan.
The body and tail of the first cat from the left form the letter 'y'; the ribbon trailing from its neck forms a 'u', the cat holding the end of the ribbon in its mouth forms the straight line part of a 'h', while the tail of the sleeping cat forms the curved portion; the ball of wool forms an 'a', and the arching, snarling cat at the end forms the letter 'n'.
The scarf forms a 'y'; the two boots form a 'u'; the dress on the mannequin and the trailing piece of fabric make up the rough shape of a 'h'; the pair of jeans forms an uppercase 'A'; and the hairband is the letter 'n'.
After finishing these three sketches, I started having trouble coming up with a fourth complete one. Eventually, it occurred to me that things that I dislike are as much a part of me as things that I like. And so I did a sketch based on one of my phobias - creepy crawlies:
The lines in the spider's web make a 'Y', the curled scorpion forms a 'u' shape, the centipede forms the straight part of a 'h' while the millipede forms the curve; the open wings of the cockroach is an uppercase 'A'; finally, the legs and feelers of the grasshopper form an uppercase 'N'. After finishing the letter structures, I felt uncomfortable defining myself just by a bunch of creepy crawlies, so I added a "cancel" sign to visually put across the message that these are things that I dislike.
Out of the four sketches that I managed to complete, I chose the one with the cats. The letters of my name are the most identifiable, and I find that it expresses more about me than the other three, which simply show things that I like or dislike. The cats themselves represent something that I love, while their expressions or poses hint towards certain aspects of my personality as well. From this sketch, I developed two drafts for the assignment. The structure of the two versions do not differ much, but the style is slightly different.
This one is done in a simpler, more abstract style, with less detail on the cats' faces. The emphasis is more on their silhouettes.
This version shows more details of the cats' facial features and expressions. The first cat is posing, representing my concern with being "glam" and looking good. The half-asleep cat represents how I can be lazy sometimes, and the angry, bristling cat represents my bad temper. While these are all the more negative things about me, the playful cat biting the ribbon shows that I have a more cheerful, positive side as well. I prefer this version, since it better communicates the aspects of my personality represented through the cats.
posted at
01:39
The katana and shuriken (Japanese weapons) form the letter 'Y'; the fish (key ingredient in many Japanese dishes) forms 'U'; the pillars of the Shinto shrine gate form a 'H'; the sloping arms and long sleeves of the kimono girl form the rough shape of the letter 'A'; and finally the three bamboo plants form the letter 'N'. The initial inspiration for this was actually the Shinto shrine gate, which was the first thing that popped into my mind. The other elements were filled in afterwards, after further brainstorming about icons related to Japan.
The body and tail of the first cat from the left form the letter 'y'; the ribbon trailing from its neck forms a 'u', the cat holding the end of the ribbon in its mouth forms the straight line part of a 'h', while the tail of the sleeping cat forms the curved portion; the ball of wool forms an 'a', and the arching, snarling cat at the end forms the letter 'n'.
The scarf forms a 'y'; the two boots form a 'u'; the dress on the mannequin and the trailing piece of fabric make up the rough shape of a 'h'; the pair of jeans forms an uppercase 'A'; and the hairband is the letter 'n'.
The lines in the spider's web make a 'Y', the curled scorpion forms a 'u' shape, the centipede forms the straight part of a 'h' while the millipede forms the curve; the open wings of the cockroach is an uppercase 'A'; finally, the legs and feelers of the grasshopper form an uppercase 'N'. After finishing the letter structures, I felt uncomfortable defining myself just by a bunch of creepy crawlies, so I added a "cancel" sign to visually put across the message that these are things that I dislike.
This one is done in a simpler, more abstract style, with less detail on the cats' faces. The emphasis is more on their silhouettes.
This version shows more details of the cats' facial features and expressions. The first cat is posing, representing my concern with being "glam" and looking good. The half-asleep cat represents how I can be lazy sometimes, and the angry, bristling cat represents my bad temper. While these are all the more negative things about me, the playful cat biting the ribbon shows that I have a more cheerful, positive side as well. I prefer this version, since it better communicates the aspects of my personality represented through the cats.