Design Principles - Exercises and Projects
WEEKLY EXERCISES
Week 2
Theme: Contrast
For the first week of Design principles, we were shown examples of pieces of art work that focused on the principle of contrast. Contrast can be shown in many different ways, including colour, composition, shapes, or even a combination of all of them. The purpose of it is to show difference. The piece of work has to visually show contrast.
I brainstormed a few ideas, but quickly settled with a half and half tree, with one side appearing 'alive', and the other appearing 'dead'. I drew my tree in Adobe Illustrator fully using the pen tool. Fig 1.1 is my first outcome. On the left side I used only curved/wavy lines to draw the branches and on the right side I used only straight lines, making the branches appear sharp and somewhat evil. I played around with the colours and ended up using gradient to colour the backgrounds. I was then advised by Miss Sherry that the outlines of the branches and the background was hurting the contrast so I made necessary changes.
The next changes I made was removing the colour of the outlines on both branches and changing their color completely. For the left side I went with a light brown and yellow background and on the right side solid black with a purple background. While they were contrasting colours, it could still be made simpler and show stronger contrast. Miss Jinchi also advised me try only black and white, and that the composition was lacking a focal point. There is nowhere that the viewers eyes is automatically drawn to. That's when I made the last changes to produce the final version.
For my final submission, I used only black and white for contrast, using black on the dead side of the tree. I also added ground for the tree. The left side has small blades of grass growing, and on the right side, a gravestone. This not only adds a focal point to the piece, but balance as well. I moved the whole tree slightly to the left, leaving more empty space on the right so that the effect of balance is stronger by the gravestone. This also compliments the way I split the tree at an angle.
Week 3
Theme: Gestalt
This week we had to create a piece of artwork with the theme of gestalt. Gestalt is essentially making the viewer's brain perceive or "fill in" objects as part of a greater whole. For my piece I tried to create an image of a man by taking out bits of an ice cream cone. It is supposed to resemble a man wearing a winter coat. When I presented my work almost everyone found it very difficult to see the man, even after I pointed it out. I did present this version in black and white so the current colors used in Fig 2.1 could have helped. I decided to make some changes based on the class critique so it looks more like a man created from gestalt of an ice cream cone.
The changes I made include removing all the ice cream sections "melting" and moved the "scarf" to the right so it resembles it more. I think the melting ice cream was unnecessary and made it ineffective for gestalt. Removing all these details has hopefully made it more for stronger gestalt and also easier to spot the man which is the ice cream.
Week 4
Theme: Balance
There are 3 main types of balance in Design which are:
For my piece I decided to go with Asymmetrical balance. I had Asymmetrical balance in my first week piece so I decided to build on that. I went with a fantasy/medieval theme and tried to create balance with objects at different distances. The closer objects, the swords, were initially in black. The the castle and catapult are moderate distance. Lastly the tower and dragon at the furthest distance. I got feedback to have the dragon black so I made the closer objects the lighter grey instead.
Something felt off about having the swords in grey and I think looked better black. However I also wanted the tower in black, so I ended up going with black to grey and to black again. I really wanted to make the shapes and pattern on the dragon clearer, so I made the base of the dragon a dark red. I also added a flaming ball silhouette to the catapult.
Week 5
Theme: Pattern
For this week I decided to make my artwork focusing on the design principle which is pattern. Pattern is an underlying structure that organizes surfaces or structures in a consistent, regular manner. It can also be a repeating shape or form. The main types of pattern are regular and irregular. I wanted to keep it simple but also add my own twist.
My main inspiration came from a gun design from a game called CSGO. It's a simple yet elegant design where an AK47 is in black with red lines at various parts of the gun. I drew it on illustrator and experimented with the patterns that could be made using only the gun. It ended up being a diamond-like pattern. I used a dark red for the background to contrast the bright red used for the lines on the AK47. Fig 4.1 is my final result but I also tried different variations of colours. While it wasn't my intention it was hard to spot the AK47 and looked like a regular pattern from a distance. Only when seen close enough the gun becomes clear.
Using my favourite contrasting colours yellow and purple. I wasn't sure what the line colour should be but I settled for a bright blue in the end.
Wanted to try having the lines in yellow.
Lastly changing the background by using a radial gradient from red to yellow.
Week 6
Theme: Direction
Direction is essentially directing the viewers eyes to a part of the art piece. Objects, shapes, lines, etc can be used to lead the viewers to what the artist wants you to look at. There are 3 general types of direction:
Week 7
Theme: Lines
The theme for this week were points and lines. Points are the simplest element in art, it is a fundamental principle. Lines are simply a combination of dots. Because they are so simple, it can be used in very detail artworks. I decided to choose lines to create my art piece. I wanted to use lines to draw something close to my mothers hometown, Malacca. Many of the houses are still wooden and old-fashioned. I decided to use this image here and recreate it using only lines.
Using some effects on Photoshop and a sketching pencil brush, I was able draw the image. For some of the shadows I would sketch the lines closer to each other to create more mass. I also used a combination of curved and straight lines. To create the texture of the bushes I used curved lines and for shadows it is mostly straight lines. Overall I wanted to replicate a light pencil sketch.
Week 9
Theme: Movement
For this week I chose to do the theme of movement. Visual movement in an artwork can be achieved in many ways, such as drawing after-images, using a blur effect, using lines, shapes, and colour to create movement can be done as well. When I thought of movement I immediately thought of something spinning. I narrowed my idea down to wind turbines. How they are always on clear landscape, away from civilization, as if they were isolated. I wanted to capture this in my piece so I made my wind turbines on flat ground without anything else in the background. I made the light source from the top left of the composition so that I could play with lighter and darker blue on the wind turbines. I also used gradient on the wind turbine. I added the clouds to create balance.
In Fig 7.1 I experimented with creating after images to create movement from the spinning wind turbine. While it did create movement I wasn't sure it was needed or if I had to do it for the other 2 turbines. Ms Sherry said that there was already movement because of the different positions the turbine blades were placed. In the end I decided to not use the after images.
Week 10 - Shape and Form
This week we had the design principle of shape, form, figure, and ground.There are 3 different type of shapes:
PROJECT 1 - SELF PORTRAIT
(Week 8 - Week 10)
PROJECT 2 - A SENSE OF PLACE
(Week 9 - Week 11)
Week 2
Theme: Contrast
For the first week of Design principles, we were shown examples of pieces of art work that focused on the principle of contrast. Contrast can be shown in many different ways, including colour, composition, shapes, or even a combination of all of them. The purpose of it is to show difference. The piece of work has to visually show contrast.
I brainstormed a few ideas, but quickly settled with a half and half tree, with one side appearing 'alive', and the other appearing 'dead'. I drew my tree in Adobe Illustrator fully using the pen tool. Fig 1.1 is my first outcome. On the left side I used only curved/wavy lines to draw the branches and on the right side I used only straight lines, making the branches appear sharp and somewhat evil. I played around with the colours and ended up using gradient to colour the backgrounds. I was then advised by Miss Sherry that the outlines of the branches and the background was hurting the contrast so I made necessary changes.
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| Fig 1.1 - First draft of Contrast Tree |
The next changes I made was removing the colour of the outlines on both branches and changing their color completely. For the left side I went with a light brown and yellow background and on the right side solid black with a purple background. While they were contrasting colours, it could still be made simpler and show stronger contrast. Miss Jinchi also advised me try only black and white, and that the composition was lacking a focal point. There is nowhere that the viewers eyes is automatically drawn to. That's when I made the last changes to produce the final version.
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| Fig 1.2 - Contrast Tree Version 2 |
For my final submission, I used only black and white for contrast, using black on the dead side of the tree. I also added ground for the tree. The left side has small blades of grass growing, and on the right side, a gravestone. This not only adds a focal point to the piece, but balance as well. I moved the whole tree slightly to the left, leaving more empty space on the right so that the effect of balance is stronger by the gravestone. This also compliments the way I split the tree at an angle.
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| Fig 1.3 - Final submission for Contrast |
Week 3
Theme: Gestalt
This week we had to create a piece of artwork with the theme of gestalt. Gestalt is essentially making the viewer's brain perceive or "fill in" objects as part of a greater whole. For my piece I tried to create an image of a man by taking out bits of an ice cream cone. It is supposed to resemble a man wearing a winter coat. When I presented my work almost everyone found it very difficult to see the man, even after I pointed it out. I did present this version in black and white so the current colors used in Fig 2.1 could have helped. I decided to make some changes based on the class critique so it looks more like a man created from gestalt of an ice cream cone.
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| Fig 2.1 - First gestalt submission |
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| Fig 2.2 - Final Gestalt |
Week 4
Theme: Balance
There are 3 main types of balance in Design which are:
- Symmetrical
- Asymmertrical
- Radial
Symmetrical balance is when both sides of the piece are equal and are identical or almost identical, like a mirror image. Asymmetrical balance is when two sides of a composition are not the same, but appear to have visual weight. It is based more on an artist's intuition rather than following a specific process. Lastly there is radial balance which is when elements are arranged equally around a central point.
For my piece I decided to go with Asymmetrical balance. I had Asymmetrical balance in my first week piece so I decided to build on that. I went with a fantasy/medieval theme and tried to create balance with objects at different distances. The closer objects, the swords, were initially in black. The the castle and catapult are moderate distance. Lastly the tower and dragon at the furthest distance. I got feedback to have the dragon black so I made the closer objects the lighter grey instead.
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| Fig 3.1 - First Draft of Balance |
Something felt off about having the swords in grey and I think looked better black. However I also wanted the tower in black, so I ended up going with black to grey and to black again. I really wanted to make the shapes and pattern on the dragon clearer, so I made the base of the dragon a dark red. I also added a flaming ball silhouette to the catapult.
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| Fig 3.2 - Final Draft of Balance piece |
Week 5
Theme: Pattern
For this week I decided to make my artwork focusing on the design principle which is pattern. Pattern is an underlying structure that organizes surfaces or structures in a consistent, regular manner. It can also be a repeating shape or form. The main types of pattern are regular and irregular. I wanted to keep it simple but also add my own twist.
My main inspiration came from a gun design from a game called CSGO. It's a simple yet elegant design where an AK47 is in black with red lines at various parts of the gun. I drew it on illustrator and experimented with the patterns that could be made using only the gun. It ended up being a diamond-like pattern. I used a dark red for the background to contrast the bright red used for the lines on the AK47. Fig 4.1 is my final result but I also tried different variations of colours. While it wasn't my intention it was hard to spot the AK47 and looked like a regular pattern from a distance. Only when seen close enough the gun becomes clear.
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| Fig 4.1 - Final submission of Pattern (Redline) |
Similar to the final submission but in green.
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| Fig 4.2 - Green variation |
Using my favourite contrasting colours yellow and purple. I wasn't sure what the line colour should be but I settled for a bright blue in the end.
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| Fig 4.3 - Purple and yellow variation |
Wanted to try having the lines in yellow.
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| Fig 4.4 - Pink varation |
Lastly changing the background by using a radial gradient from red to yellow.
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| Fig 4.5 - Gradient background |
Theme: Direction
Direction is essentially directing the viewers eyes to a part of the art piece. Objects, shapes, lines, etc can be used to lead the viewers to what the artist wants you to look at. There are 3 general types of direction:
- Vertical
- Horizontal
- Diagonal
I decided to use Diagonal as it emphasizes movement and action. I wanted my direction to take up most of the page so I immediately thought of an endless line of asteroid belts in space. The direction starts from the left then to the right and then a sharp turn to end up at the object which will be placed on an empty part of the page. I also wanted to make sure the piece is balanced so I added a foreground object which is the satellite. There is also texture on the asteroids. I also smudged the asteroids to make the direction stronger and help make them appear closer and blended. The closer and bigger asteroids on the left are darker.
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| Fig 5.1 - Practicing drawing the asteroids |
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| Fig 5.2 - Final Asteroid for Direction |
Theme: Lines
The theme for this week were points and lines. Points are the simplest element in art, it is a fundamental principle. Lines are simply a combination of dots. Because they are so simple, it can be used in very detail artworks. I decided to choose lines to create my art piece. I wanted to use lines to draw something close to my mothers hometown, Malacca. Many of the houses are still wooden and old-fashioned. I decided to use this image here and recreate it using only lines.
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| 6.1 - Houses in Malacca |
Using some effects on Photoshop and a sketching pencil brush, I was able draw the image. For some of the shadows I would sketch the lines closer to each other to create more mass. I also used a combination of curved and straight lines. To create the texture of the bushes I used curved lines and for shadows it is mostly straight lines. Overall I wanted to replicate a light pencil sketch.
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| 6.2 - Final drawing for Lines |
Theme: Movement
For this week I chose to do the theme of movement. Visual movement in an artwork can be achieved in many ways, such as drawing after-images, using a blur effect, using lines, shapes, and colour to create movement can be done as well. When I thought of movement I immediately thought of something spinning. I narrowed my idea down to wind turbines. How they are always on clear landscape, away from civilization, as if they were isolated. I wanted to capture this in my piece so I made my wind turbines on flat ground without anything else in the background. I made the light source from the top left of the composition so that I could play with lighter and darker blue on the wind turbines. I also used gradient on the wind turbine. I added the clouds to create balance.
In Fig 7.1 I experimented with creating after images to create movement from the spinning wind turbine. While it did create movement I wasn't sure it was needed or if I had to do it for the other 2 turbines. Ms Sherry said that there was already movement because of the different positions the turbine blades were placed. In the end I decided to not use the after images.
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| Fig 7.1 - Movement with after image |
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| Fig 7.2 - Final without after image |
This week we had the design principle of shape, form, figure, and ground.There are 3 different type of shapes:
- Geometric - Regular and precise, control and order (basic shapes).
- Organic - Found in nature, flowing lines, complex and irregular.
- Abstract - Abstracting the most basic and recognizable aspects of a real life shape (simplified representation).
We then learnt about form. Form is essentially shape with volume with the addition of tone or color transitions within the shape. This is often seen in 3 dimensional objects. There is a sense of height, width, and depth. There are two types of form:
- Geometric - Constructed or man made. Precise based on mathematical descriptions, usually found in architecture.
- Organic - Irregular in outline, free flowing, curvy, and often symmetrical. Often found in nature.
For this weeks design principle I wanted to experiment more with Illustrator. I wanted to create depth from different shapes and shading. I decided to draw my two cats, Toby and Kangmaru. I found a photo of them both sitting on a window sill and it was just adorable and peaceful. Here is the result:
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| Fig 7.1 - Final for Form
For the shading I simply used different shades of gray. The original photograph was very dark so I had to create the shading almost all on my own. To make the hair more clear I drew the spikes on the black spots around the cats. Without the drawing the hairs on every line the cats appeared too clean and unrealistic. The eyes were also unclear from the reference photo so I looked at other photos of both cats to create it. Toby (cat on the left) has bigger eyes. Lastly for the background I decided to keep it simple and use a stock photo for the sky and simple lines for the wall tiles.
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PROJECT 1 - SELF PORTRAIT
(Week 8 - Week 10)
For our first project, we were tasked to create a self-portrait that expresses something about ourselves or our personality. We were shown examples by Ms. Sherry including self portraits by Van Gogh and Picasso. I wanted to express a part of personality that most people who aren't close enough to me know about. I had a rough idea already that I wanted to express anger/rage in my self-portrait so I looked at ideas with this theme. Here are some of my inspirations:
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| Examples of Angry self-portraits. |
On the outside I am seen as a calm, chill, and relaxed person. However, I have a short temper that I've learnt to hide from most people. I wanted to incorporate this part of my personality as well into my self portrait. I wanted most of my face a cool colour, and my eyes hot, burning colours. The reason for drawing a gaming headset is to show that I use video games as a way to let out my anger. More often then not, I do lose my cool while gaming but it is also a relaxing hobby of mine, so I colored it blue as well. The raging eyes take up all of my glasses as it is easy to show and notice.
The background is a yellow to red gradient. It matches the colour of the eyes, but it also can be seen as that the anger is all in my head, with the red parallel to my head. I felt it was a good contrast to the blue.
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| Project 1 - Self Portrait Final Outcome |
PROJECT 2 - A SENSE OF PLACE
(Week 9 - Week 11)
For our second project we are to go to an outdoor area and to go at different times of the day (night and day or busy and quiet). We have to think about what design principles can be seen and which we want to incorporate into our project. We have to think about the senses that are present.
The place that meant a lot to me and something I wanted express is my old school. I studied there for 2 years and graduated 3 years ago but whenever I go back the memories flood in and I get a sense of nostalgia. I wanted to convey and express these feelings by taking photos around the school putting them all into one composition. I took several photos but only ended up fitting in 5 photographs.
Here are photographs I took around the school:
In between too buildings, very dark due the shadow casted from the buildings and trees.
Primary kids playground.
More playgrounds at upper angle.
Football field.
Swimming pool. I was in the swimming club to I wanted to include this in my composition for sure.
The colours and mark of Nexus. I definitely wanted to include the green and blue and even the mark into the composition.
One of the cafeterias.
The walkway on one of the highers floors. My classes were usually around here so I would walk by here often. This had to be included for sure.
One of the classes for older students. A lot of space, even has bean bags which is not seen in this photo.
The sports hall. I love how the light enters the hall from all the rectangular windows of different sizes. This was also taken around 4-5pm when students are done getting done with their activities. .
Basketball/tennis court. This is really the only photo where we can clearly see a student with the uniform. He was playing alone but he looked like he was having a lot of fun. I instantly knew what I wanted to do with lines on the court and the square fences in Photoshop.
FINAL PROJECT - BILLBOARD STUDY
(Week 11 - Week 14)
For this final project we were tasked to study and explore billboards and use it's elements to create a composition. I started off with taking pictures of billboards on highways and around KL. I tried to take a variety of billboards with different colours, composition, messages, design principles etc.
Photos of billboards around KL:
After analyzing all these different billboards, I decided I wanted to capture the image of the environment that surrounds the billboards. When and where are billboards most effective? Long traffic jams and on highways usually. There's nothing to look at but billboards and it can be a painful and sad drive being stuck in the jam. Using the background and environment of the billboards I came up with a rough sketch.
While me and Ms.Sherry liked this idea and what I did with the rear lights on the cars, I felt the overpass wasn't needed and could use the space for something else. At first I was thinking buildings, skyscrapers as seen in my photographs, but I wanted to emphasize on the sad and boring atmosphere surrounding the billboard and the contrast created by the lights, so I got the idea to draw the opposite lane of cars in a traffic jam as well.
I felt drawing details was my stronger point so I decided to add more of it to the cars, mainly using lines. The idea came to use the upper half of the page to extend the long stretch of cars. I wanted to the highway to exit the page to the right to create balance on the overall composition. Lastly I had to add the colours which I felt was the hardest to do to show anyone looking at the piece what I feel about billboards and jams.
The place that meant a lot to me and something I wanted express is my old school. I studied there for 2 years and graduated 3 years ago but whenever I go back the memories flood in and I get a sense of nostalgia. I wanted to convey and express these feelings by taking photos around the school putting them all into one composition. I took several photos but only ended up fitting in 5 photographs.
Here are photographs I took around the school:
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| Blue background |
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| Excluding the Nexus marks |
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| Final Submission |
FINAL PROJECT - BILLBOARD STUDY
(Week 11 - Week 14)
For this final project we were tasked to study and explore billboards and use it's elements to create a composition. I started off with taking pictures of billboards on highways and around KL. I tried to take a variety of billboards with different colours, composition, messages, design principles etc.
Photos of billboards around KL:
After analyzing all these different billboards, I decided I wanted to capture the image of the environment that surrounds the billboards. When and where are billboards most effective? Long traffic jams and on highways usually. There's nothing to look at but billboards and it can be a painful and sad drive being stuck in the jam. Using the background and environment of the billboards I came up with a rough sketch.
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| Initial idea/sketch |
While me and Ms.Sherry liked this idea and what I did with the rear lights on the cars, I felt the overpass wasn't needed and could use the space for something else. At first I was thinking buildings, skyscrapers as seen in my photographs, but I wanted to emphasize on the sad and boring atmosphere surrounding the billboard and the contrast created by the lights, so I got the idea to draw the opposite lane of cars in a traffic jam as well.
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| Screenshot of outline sketch of composition |
I felt drawing details was my stronger point so I decided to add more of it to the cars, mainly using lines. The idea came to use the upper half of the page to extend the long stretch of cars. I wanted to the highway to exit the page to the right to create balance on the overall composition. Lastly I had to add the colours which I felt was the hardest to do to show anyone looking at the piece what I feel about billboards and jams.
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| Final Outcome for Final Project |
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