Design Principles: Project #1

09.10.2020 - 23.10.2020 

Seerat Tayyab Mukhtar Qureshi - 0345576 (BDCM)

Project #1 Self portrait 

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1. Lectures:

For this project we have to look at ourselves and the different aspects of ourselves. These include how I see myself, how others see me, my thoughts, interests and experiences.

A self portrait is a visual representation of oneself and can be expressed in various ways and art styles.

Fig 1.1: Self portrait examples

SOURCE: Lecture slides

Fig 1.2: Self portrait example 

SOURCE: Lecture slides 

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Instructions:

Module Information Booklet 

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Self potrait:

For this project I started out my sketching some composition ideas I had.

Fig 1.0: Composition ideas 

Ms. Jinchi liked all composition but she said #1 would be an interesting challenge to do because the eyes are not visible. I wanted to include components that represent my personality so I decided to map out what I could include.

I wanted to create this using two mediums because my idea was to show that personality is one whole but rather made up of many components.

I started out my sketching out my idea on an A4 paper and outlining it with a black pen. I used a picture of myself as a reference. 

Fig 1.1: Sketch

Fig 1.2: Outlining

I used watercolour paints next.

Fig 1.3: Progress

I then experimented with adding some elements of a collage to see how it would look altogether.

Fig 1.4: Progress

I did not like how this looked it was to patchy and the collage elements did not fit well with the watercolour. So I tried to digitalise the whole thing and make it an illustration plus collage.

Fig 1.5: Progress

I think this looked better but I didn't think it represented me the way I wanted to. I decided to scrap this photo completely and use a different one.

Fig 1.6: Progress

After getting to this point I got quite frustrated as it was quite hard for me to come up with something that I liked. I looked at some inspiration on Pinterest to help me come up with elements that I could use to represent myself. 

Fig 1.7: Inspiration

SOURCE: https://ar.pinterest.com/pin/340162578110791939/

Fig 1.8: Inspiration

SOURCE: https://ar.pinterest.com/pin/12103492737136995/

I decided to use illustrations to represent the elements instead of a collage because illustration feels more natural and more "like me". 

Fig 1.9: Progress

Finally, I was coming up with something I liked and I felt that represented me. I wanted to show that my mind is pretty chaotic and struggle a lot with focusing on things. Yet, throughout that chaos I am still able to make sense of things. The sunset at the ocean is also because I love the beach and it always makes me feel calm. I decided to add a few more elements to show growth and optimism.

Fig 2.0: Self portrait, final

Rationale:

My mind is pretty chaotic as I struggle quite a bit with anxiety and because of that I am not able to focus on things and emotions very well. I used a lot of repetition of lines to create a feeling of being overwhelmed which is how I often feel. I created a sunset within the black lines to show that there can beauty and order in chaos and that being messy isn't always a bad thing. I decided to add the leaves and clouds to show that I have to always try and rise above and stop my mind from holding me down from what I can achieve. The yellow circles are to emphasise the feeling of hope and optimism. I also added a white outline on some of the elements to indicate that all these different elements are connected and a part of me as whole and make me who I am. 

Reflection:

Whilst doing this project I found myself the most frustrated out of all the exercises we had done. I think this was because this project had to really mean something and truly reflect you as a person and I found it frustrating to try and figure myself out and be able to show it in a piece of work.