Jam's Journal

Assignment 2 | A2

Creative no.2 @humansofnewyork

Dadaism

Dada was an artistic and literary movement that began in Zürich, Switzerland. It arose as a reaction to World War I and the nationalism that many thoughts had led to the war. Influenced by other avant-garde movements - Cubism, Futurism, Constructivism, and Expressionism - its output was wildly diverse, ranging from performance art to poetry, photography, sculpture, painting, and collage.

Dada artists were disillusioned by the social values that led to the war and sought to expose accepted and often repressive conventions of order and logic by shocking people into self-awareness.

Just like Sergei Sviatchenko, the collages he made had this dadaism characteristic.

http://www.theartstory.org/movement-dada.htm

Final piece of zine making:)

Ask Me Anything - Assignment 3 DONE!

For this Assignment, I decided to present my interview in the form of a Zine. My artist was @Screen14 who Is a UK based screen printer I’ve followed for quite some time now. Jon’s been a great influence on the way I’ve ventured into printmaking, and also into design by trying a different approach which is to create posters through silkscreens instead of digital design. 

PROJECT 3 - ASK ME ANYTHING - “Scroll Through An Artist’s Thoughts” 

D O N E.

This is such a long post I’m so sorry you don’t have to read it (but Andy and Karen pls read it, or maybe skim through it I basically wrote and essay thank you) 

The illustrator I chose being Victo Ngai has specifically spoken about her growing up in Hong Kong being a massive influence on her work. This combined with her style that integrates the appearance of printing and fine line work, and her now living in LA - I wanted to implement the theme of line work (specifically horizontal and vertical). This relating to both her unique art style and the written ways of both Chinese and English (Chinese being written in a vertical manner, and English written horizontally). What better way to portray a horizontal line, through a literal horizontal line? Hence the 3m long scroll I decided to use as my format. Ngai puts a contemporary twist on traditional style through her works, and this ‘modern’ version of a traditional scroll I though fit perfectly with the feel of her works. The questions in this interview related to her thoughts and mindset, often using metaphors to explain herself caused Ngai to ramble on a little - creating this progression-al (I don’t think that’s a real word) sort of explanation to her answers. The idea of a scroll being a continuous line gives it more of a infinite feel, as this is HER journey, with never-ending, unceasing thoughts. 

I thought about how else I could integrate the idea of horizontal/vertical lines through my format. I was tempted to do pop-ups, foldouts and multiple layers of paper like lots of people did with their zines, but figured that strayed a little far from my original intentions (also the scroll might then be too thick to… scroll). Binding each individual page by hand sewing with red thread (the colour being a tribute to Ngai’s culture and the vibrant colours in her work) was definitely a challenge - but by sewing one page horizontally, one page vertically, etc. I was able to highlight my ideas. Throughout the entire scroll, on each page the alignments of photos and text create vertical and horizontal lines - defining a vital part of what makes Victo Ngai, Victo Ngai. 

Literally scrolling through the illustrator’s thoughts, I wanted to showcase purely her works, and by adding too much detail to one page I think distracted the viewer from what is being shown, and what I wanted to display. By showing an entire work on one page, it sets the mood and feel of the question and answer on the following page - as well as allowing the viewer to admire the detailed and unique style of her work.

I could go into much more detail, (and maybe i’ll come back to write more), but that’s pretty much the jist of it all! 

MY THOUGHTS THROUGHOUT THIS PROJECT: I initially had a tough time with this project. I was completely frustrated by the fact that n o, I shouldn’t draw or use my own creations to showcase someone else’s work - which makes complete sense. I felt in some ways, that I was the curator for an exhibition, and my interviewee was the artist. 

Once that barrier was overcome and I accepted the fact that for this project, no drawing Lauren. Other students started to post their creations, and the amazing format of their zines, CD’s, pop ups, etc. My mind was blown and I was so shook by the amount of creativity in our course, and I attempted to follow a similar route with my project. Bits and bobs flying everywhere and a ‘messed up’ composition. After showing this to Andy, he pointed out how scattered everything seemed, with not much hierarchy - and basically asked me to redo my pages. He gave me a brief rundown of indesign and how I could take advantage of it for my project in specific and made me realise that I don’t have to fill everything with mass amounts of detail and cram it all into one page just to be ‘creative’. 

I recollected my thoughts and went back to the original intention of creating something that reflected my own artist, something that worked well with THEIR works. My artist’s works have ‘flatness’ to them due to the print-like style and flat colours, as well as intricate detail and line work. I then decided - no pop-ups, no extra flaps or sheets of paper, rather one clean, flat design that allows the viewer to delve into small details and symbols, as well as having space to breathe, admire and enjoy (something Ngai stated she feels great pleasure in allowing her audience to do). 

Here are some things I learnt throughout this project:

- I hate sewing, and cannot sew to save my life.

- Stay at the printing shop until you’re 150% certain you have everything correct, or you will be going back for three days in a row.

-  CREATIVITY is not just being ‘quirky’.

- Silk paper exists.

- Victo Ngai is an amazing person and artist I have been and will always be greatly inspired by. 

The project made me open my eyes to another side of creativity that I have yet to venture into, and I am excited to know that I have yet another skill that I have just begun to learn (began? begun?? which one is it?).

Assessment 2: Ask Me Anything

This project featured an interview with Canadian composer Kris Maddigan, known for his work in the 2017 video game, Cuphead. The game was heavily inspired by the animation of the 1930′s, and emulates their subversive and surrealist qualities. Maddigan wrote and composed over 4 hours of music for the soundtrack, including various styles such as swing, big band and ragtime.

The process of creating the vinyl and it’s sleeve was challenging, but also highly rewarding. The cover art features a hand-drawn illustration of mine, featuring myself and Maddigan flying in a propeller plane (a vehicle used in the game). This was coloured in Photoshop, as I discovered through research that this was the same process the developers of the game used for their animation. The back design was set out compositionally like an actual record, using the Q&A’s of the interview to serve as the song titles and their lyrics. The vinyl sleeve was then assembled to the right specifications.

“I Started As a Pastry Chef”

What it is: 

A 20-page A5 zine I made for the “Ask Me Anything” project.

Who it’s about: 

Jessica Candradi; fashion and portrait photographer currently based in Bali, Indonesia. She shoots editorials and ad campaigns for different brands & publications, and often creates and shares stunning images from her worldwide travels. In 2014, some of her work was featured in the Story of the Creative exhibition in NYC, and made it to Times Square.

When I finished it:

I finished the zine last Friday (May 25th 2018)

Where I found inspiration:

Visually, I extracted the essence of Jess’s photographs where she tends to play with warm tones, deep hues, and sometimes dramatic shadows. I made the whole aesthetic of the zine to float around these colours; brown, orange, yellow, red. I was also inspired with some of her photos that had a bit of a Wes Anderson-esque vibe, making life look very still.

Why I made it the way I made it:

Additionally, the thing we learned about this semester that I found fascinating was the concept of fluxkits. But I knew it’d be difficult to make one because a) It wouldn’t be possible for me to find enough items to place into the box, b) I don’t have the resources to assemble a box, c) nor do I even know how to craft a fluxkit in a way that tells a story. But I liked the idea of the viewer having something in their hand as they try to interpret and interact with a piece that has a message/meaning to what you’re trying to portray. So that translated to making a zine but not one that only had design and print, but one that was interactive and was coming to life, in a way. That’s why I added some elements such as the phone scroll, the puzzle, envelope, etc. To–as Andy recommended we do– transport the viewer to the creative’s world.

How I made it: 

Well–

Y’know, I kinda just–

Um–

Mushed different ideas and grabbed whatever material I had and stuck them together with sticky tape, hoping for the best. Basically.

(Spoken like a true ~*designer*~.)

—

PROJECT 2 | INTERVIEW | The final work and the reflection 

In this project, I have done an interview with a Ricky Matthew Tobing who is a photographer and the social media takeover. Then, I made a zine to show this interview. 

During this project, I had a lot of fun. I really enjoy doing the layout of the zine and selected the photos that Ricky took. However, I have met a lot of problems as well.  For instance, the chosen of paper and the printing issues etc. 

After this interview, I got a better understanding of how is it likes to be a professional photographer and moved by the passion of Matthew have on his photos and coffee works. I also found that it is important for people to do what they like. Besides, people should always be hardworking and keep practising on everything they do. Just as the famous saying goes, practice makes perfect.

/ 

RESEARCH | BOOK DESIGN

Moiré-effect book creates stunning animations on paper

“Based on animation principles and the moiré effect, you’ll witness a real-time interactive animation object-book that you can enjoy with a simple horizontal-sliding movement of a special film provided inside. Containing 55 animated geometric patterns, character-based designs and 55 other designs with a short funny poem corresponding to each animation, it’s an absolute delight.”

22. Now You See It… And Now You Don’t (Ask Me Anything BTS)

HAHAHA! Just kidding!

You’ll never see it.

Like ever.

(woahh ohh oh oh, we-E are never ever ever… getting bac- okay I’ll stop)

After several printing errors and a bunch more mishaps on burning on CDs (WHO EVEN STILL USES CDS? If you do… good for you!), it’s finally 80% done! 

YAY! 

Now it’s time to continue editing the video, uploading it on Youtube and of course… crying of embarrassment and regretting while screaming “WHY DID I DECIDE TO MAKE A SONG? WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU LINSY?”

Annnd after that… I’m finally 100% done!

Zine Progress: How I Turned A Brown Paper Bag from Takeaway Food Into A Vintage Piece of Paper

This is a story about a girl who was trying to avoid spending more money on materials for her zine :)

Here is what she did:

One Sunday she bought takeaway food and they gave her a brown paper bag to carry it home. She took the food out and realized that the paper bag was still in good shape and wasn’t even stained. She had a feeling she could use it someday (because art can come from anything, so who knows, eh?) so she kept it.

Long story short for a part of her zine she wanted to portray something as vintage-ish with a typewriter font, but she knew doing that on white cartridge paper would simply not do much.

Some dip their paper in tea/coffee which can lead to some nice effects.

But she loves her tea and doesn’t want to waste it for that reason.

SO

She was enlightened with an idea of using her perfectly clean brown paper bag. It was glossy on the outer part, but on the inside it had a rougher finish; just what she wanted.

She cut a side of it out, stuck it onto a piece of A4 cartridge paper, cut out the edges, and into the printer it went.

The printing worked. And she was glad with the results.

Moral of the story:

I tried printing out my design today, just to see how the colours and the layout would work. Although, it printed on A4 instead of A3 so I got to make a miniature version. I went into Dinkums to try and work out the logistics of printing this thing. What I wanted to do was print in colour, double-sided on an A0 size sheet that was at least 300gsm. I found out that that is quite impossible to do, and even if I could do it, I would have to sell my laptop to pay for it. So, I evaluated my options and decided to print my design on multiple A4 sheets and glue the sheets together. I wanted to print it on one sheet so that the pages all connected nicely, but I’ve settled for the next best thing.

I got out a bunch of A4 paper and started working out what page goes where so I am able to set up an indesign document that would work. I managed to get that done and put it all together. I went on a little trip to ye olde Officeworks and printed a prototype. I printed in colour on 300gsm paper and used an acid free glue to stick the pages together. The lady at Spotlight told me it was good for book binding. It worked out a lot better than I had hoped. The only problem with the glue is that I have to work quickly as it dries fast and becomes tacky within seconds, so I need to make sure the paper lines up perfectly. Another problem is that because I have to fold the pages myself, there are obvious crease marks in the middle of the paper, however, I actually quite like that - it adds texture and makes it a bit more interesting. The thickness of the paper worked very well and will support the weight of the covers nicely. I like how the black and white photos contrast with the colour blocks behind the text. I put the prototype inside the covers just to see what it would look like and I’ve got to say I love it!