Please note that this post was created for the Mixed Media and Digital Processes class, taken at Singapore American School during the academic year 2020-2021 in the first semester (Aug 2020-Dec 2020).
6 Oct 2020
Photoshop, Plexiglass
I had an idea the day before we got to class and I really wanted to get it down somewhere before I forgot it. So I used a silhouette of a girl and inside her head I'm planning to have a bird in the top part of her head and the shoulder/chest area to be flames and smoke. I'm hoping this will symbolize that your own freedom is dependent on you, with the bird symbolizing the freedom and the smoke with flames symbolizing entrapment and doubt (since doubt can spread like a wildfire).
The bird on the right is the reference photo that I then put into photoshop and edited the threshold to get the photo on the left which is what I printed on standard A4 paper. I then stuck the plexiglass on top of the printed image and began to scratch out the outline and details. The flame that I mentioned earlier will be made using linoleum.
8 Oct 2020
Plexiglass
Today I finished up carving the bird into the plexiglass. I sanded the negative space around the bird to give it some depth. I'm planning to use black paint and print it on the paper. I understand that it will be a lot larger so I'll need to resize it so it can fit in the girl's head.
19 Oct 2020
Printmaking
After a very well deserved mid semester break, we came back to the art studio ready to take on the new project. Since I had completed carving on the plexiglass, I went straight to the printmaking station and inked up my plexiglass, following the instructions Mr. Laurence had given us. Once I inked it up, I took it to the pressboard and put the plexiglass and paper through, waiting to see how it looked like. Since I decided to use sandpaper on the plexiglass (to create a turbulent sky), I felt that the background overpowered the subject of the bird. So I decided to make another print, this time putting a thinner layer of ink and using the cheesecloth in a more organized manner. That created a more muted look which I thought looked great. After that was done, I placed it on the drying rack and looked for some images to use for the linoleum print.
21 Oct 2020
Plexiglass and Linoleum
My original idea was to have a realistic bird as the plexiglass project to represent the "above" concept and flames as the linoleum project to represent the "below" concept. I did some thinking and decided to change my approach. I didn't feel challenged in my project, especially since it's a very common theme that birds are up and flames are down. I felt the bird was not complex enough of an image to use as my plexiglass project and wanted to push myself. This led me to change my plexiglass to an open cage. Personally, I feel that I have always tried to box myself into certain labels and became worried about things that didn't matter. This made me feel like I was in a cage of my own creation. This year I worked hard to open that cage and be myself, unapologetically. It was a lot harder than I was expecting, but the progress I made is phenomenal. I still wanted to incorporate a bird into my artwork so I decided to take a more cartoon-ish approach when I tried to find images for my linoleum piece. I feel that that also symbolizes my newfound carefree attitude while incorporating an element that is commonly seen as a symbol of freedom and peace. I am still planning to use the silhouette of a girl for the final piece when I have to tie the two elements together.
23 Oct 2020
Carving Linoleum
Today I had to ask Mr. Laurence for permission to miss class so that I could edit my IASAS film. It was incredibly helpful to do so as I managed to color correct all the shots we used as well as fix the audio glitches we were experiencing. Before I left, the teacher gave us a tutorial on how to carve the linoleum. I ended up re-drawing my bird because I realized that I had drawn it incorrectly the first time, but it wasn't much of a hassle. When I got home I completed carving the linoleum, and I can't wait to start printing them on paper. I believe that I will make the outline of the bird black so that there's a nice contrast, and the details would be either green or blue, I haven't decided yet.
27-30 Oct 2020
Printmaking
Over the course of two classes, I focused on the printmaking process. On Tuesday, I created the dry print media piece with the open bird cage. I was so happy to see how it turned out. It looked fantastic and the details were amazing. The first print I made was on the right, and I felt it was really smudgy and didn't show all the details that I needed. So in the second print, I added less ink and scrubbed it off more with the cheesecloth and really got into the fine details with a q-tip. After that, I started on the wet print, but it was pretty much a disaster so I decided not to include those initial images. The next class I made two more prints (seen below). I prefer the one on the left more because the colors complement each other better. The one on the right was more for experimenting sake since I had already predicted that the yellow wouldn't show up as brightly. If I wanted to use the right one, I would definitely do two more layers of yellow printing paint.
3 Nov 2020
Gelli Plate Printmaking
Today in class we were shown how to use gelli plates to create our background for our Above and Below project. I spent the whole class creating designs using two different color schemes. The first was dark blue, purple, and black, while the second one was the lesbian flag (orange, white, and pink). I stenciled them down to see how the pattern would be lifted and they looked so cool. I am planning to incorporate both of the designs in the background. My next step will be placing all the components into photoshop and then print them to make extra changes.
7 Nov 2020
Photoshop
It's a Saturday, and since I had to skip last class, I figured I should do some work to catch up on any work that I missed. So, I did some photoshop. I started with importing my background and saturating it. I then took some time to import a silhouette and erase the background so that the print is the center point of the piece.
It ended up looking like that and I was really proud of it. Behind it, I placed another print that I created on the gelli-plate after I brought up the saturation.
Then was the hard part. Importing the prints from the plexiglass and linoleum. I erased the background of both pieces and decided to have some fun with changing the color codes of the dry print. I first made it purple, then changed it to yellow/orange.
After, I fixed up the linoleum print by removing its background and increasing the contrast.
Then I put all the pieces together, and this is what it looks like.
Even though this is just an experiment, it allowed me to imagine a better concept for the final product. I am planning to switch the two gelli-plate works, putting the orange and pink one inside the head and the stencil outside. I think it will be a better color scheme. I will also definitely use the purple bird cage instead of this orange one.
8-9 Nov 2020
Photoshop, Watercolor, Pen
After the mistakes I made yesterday, I decided to go back and fix it up so I can print it on art paper on Monday. So I put the orange gelli-plate piece into the head and left the background blank. I put the bird exiting the head and the bird cage inside the head closer to the eyes instead of at the shoulders. Then I printed it out on fine art paper and mixed a light blue watercolor as the background, placing slightly darker shades near the bird to give it movement. I then dried it using a hairdryer and went over the outline using an 08 black pen. After I finished it I scanned it and put it into Photoshop and increased the saturation. The final digital version is seen below, and the video is how it looks like on photographic paper.
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