Introduction
For this design project, we were to make a 3 panel story told through abstract elements, and use design elements and principles to develop one of the panels into a final piece.
Materials
- Tin foil
- Black Bristol board
- Watercolour paper
- White Bristol board
- Hot glue gun
- Liquid glue
- Yarn
- Ruler
- Paintbrushes
- Yellow, red and blue acrylic paint
- Watercolour pencils
- Box cutter
- Scissors
Creative Process
I played around with two ideas for composing the story, and chose to create the middle panel for the project. I wanted to use cool colours, mainly blue, purple and green to have variety, and create a focal point in the piece by using bright contrasting colours. I also changed the composition of the piece to have the figure balanced in the middle of the piece, as the textural quality of the yarn would inevitable draw the viewer's attention to it, when I wanted the eye to look at the red, orange and yellow light pouring from the right side.
Two different compositions of the story
The final composition of the piece- as the water will be made from yarn, I limited the space it had on the page, and composed the piece using the rule of thirds.
Workflow
First, I laid down a bed of colour. I wanted the sky to be blue and purple, so I mixed red acrylic paint with the blue. I was not happy with the result as it felt too flat, so I changed the method for the sky and made the change in colour more apparent.
I cut strips of white Bristol board and painted each separately, starting with a dark blue and adding a little red paint for each strip, to make it purple.
Next, I made the rocks. Using watercolour paper and watercolour pencil crayons, I intended to use a wet bush to smooth out the colour.
However, I decided to keep the colour dry, favouring the texture created by the paper. It helped set the rock component apart from the rest of the piece, which was smooth colour, and I thought it would help balance out the heavy texture of the yarn waves.
I glued down the strips that made the sky, and the rock rectangles above that.
I wanted to make the element representing light draw the eye, so I ended up changing my original concept (3 colours of triangles, 1 layer) to layer more colours and triangles on top of one another. I thought this would make the light more visually interesting, and would balance out the variety of colour in the yarn.
I painted the triangles cut from Bristol board, labelling them so they wouldn't get mixed up. I wanted each ring of triangles to have more layers than the one before, each triangle sitting onto the one below.
I assembled the triangles and glued down the yarn in swirls to create the water and the woman.
The top of the piece looked too blank against the activity below, so I poked a hole into the top of the piece. I glued down tinfoil behind the work, so that a little glint of silver would peek out.
Final Work
I am happy with the end result, as while the piece is busy, the focus is drawn towards the right side of the piece, the eye following the waves. The texture of the rocks combined with the 3D nature of the triangles helps balance the heavy texture of the waves and the figure, while the bring colours of the triangles draw the viewer's focus to it.
I am a little unsatisfied with the background sky, as it ended up looking more juvenile than polished.
Conclusion
I am satisfied with the final product, and learned that sometimes, ideas that I had envisioned for the piece did not translate well in reality. I changed the methods and design of most of the components as I was making them, and am glad I changed my vision as the piece demanded, instead of obstinately sticking to the original plan.
If I were to do this project again, I would make the piece more abstract. I find that I naturally lean towards a more illustrative quality in my works, and can definitely make the elements of the piece more abstracted.
I would change the background of the sky and cut it out of coloured paper, as the brush strokes in the sky make the piece seem a little elementary. Using smooth, bold colours would help make the piece look more polished, and give attention to the elements that are raised.
