Design Principles -FINAL PROJECT : VISUAL ANALYSIS

04/06/21 - 02/07/21 (Week11-Week14)

Feng weijie | 0349058

Design Principles | B' in Creative Media

Lecture

introduce

The recorded lecture video begins with Dr. Jin Chi on the meaning and discipline of visual literacy and visual analysis. She explains how it plays a vital role in higher education in the arts, humanities, science, technology, business and more, showing its versatility and applicability across all fields. It explains that critiquing our own work to generate effective visual communication is critical to successful engagement in this media-rich academic environment. We should do thoughtful work with visual content so we can learn to interpret, analyze, evaluate, and use images effectively.

What is visual analysis?

Visual analysis is a method of understanding art that focuses on an artwork's visual elements, such as color, line, texture, and scale. In its strictest definition, it is a description and explanation of visual structure for its own sake. Yet the purpose of visual analysis can also recognize the choices that an artist made in creating the artwork, as well as to better understand how the formal properties of an artwork communicate ideas, content, or meaning. Visual analysis is often used as a starting point for art-historical writing.

Visual analysis is not just for art. It is also a critical part of visual literacy, a skill that helps people read and critically interpret images, whether in a museum, on social media, in entertainment, advertising, or the news. As citizens of the 21st century, we are constantly confronted with visual media. Practicing visual analysis sharpens critical judgment skills and helps people seek out answers instead of passively receiving information. This is especially important when exposing hidden ideologies that may motivate seemingly neutral images. 

(Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art)

Figure 1. Final project summary in lecture video

Things to do

-Complete Part 1 (Visual Analysis) and Part 2 (Design)

- For part 2, do some visual research and idea exploration before diving into developing an idea for your design

- Visual analysis, research, idea exploration, idea development, final thoughts, rationale, all descriptions and final reflections must be uploaded to the blog by the submission date.

- Make sure the blog is complete as required by the module by submitting it.

final reflection guide

- What did I learn in this module?

- What do I enjoy most?

- What do I like least?

- What do I know about myself throughout the module?

- What has changed and what has not changed during my studies?

- What can be improved on this mod?

How does Visual Analysis work?

• Phase 1 | Observation: Observation means closely looking at and identifying the visual attributes of an artwork, trying to describe them carefully and accurately in your own words. The observation phase encourages us to look, think, and find good language to communicate what we notice , all without reading about the work. This phase tends to be the most challenging for students, so make sure to spend adequate time modeling and rehearsing these skills in the museum if possible. Focusing on visual elements such as color, line, space will help Suspend any symbolic or interpretive impulses. Informal descriptive exercises can be helpful for this temporarily as well.

• Phase 2 | Analysis: Analysis requires you to think about your observations and try to make statements about the work based on the evidence of your observations. This phase encourages us to think about how the specific visual elements they've identified combine together to create a whole, and what effect that whole has on the viewer. We could comment about how the viewer's eye is led through the work and why, and/or address the artist's choices and what effect they have. There is still no reading in this phase, save for basic information such as the title and date of the artwork on the museum label. A visual analysis paper is thought piece that does not require any research, though it does have a central argument or thesis.

• Phase 3 | Interpretation: The difference between visual analysis and interpretation is research. To use visual analysis as the basis for an interpretation of an artwork, have formulate research questions based on what we have observed and argued thus far. In this final phase, your observations, description, and analysis with facts about the artist and historical context from trustworthy published sources.

inspiration

visual choice

Figure 1.0 Chimera Tombstone 2010 by Takato Yamamoto

Visual Analysis 

• Phase 1 | Observation: The first thing come in my mind is that it is a Japanese art work/ folktales painting and it gave me a sense of darkness, violence, death and sexuality. There is a skull faces across the girl and an eye on the top of the skull. As visual elements, red, black, and overall, brownish are observed as main colors. There are lines applied on the hairs and also what happening behind the skull looks a human body is corrupting and I also spotted dragon at the middle right side.

• Phase 2 | Analysis: This is an asymmetrically balance and good composition design as everything is pointed to the centre. The second design principle- movement is made by the dragon and hair. In the other way, I found repetition of the flower petals on the top of the design, hair, corrupted body and repetition of dragon's scales at middle-right side. Emphasis of this design work is the skull and the sense of death, violence and sexuality is created highly symbolic imagery. The unity is the overall composition when all the elements are aligned in a way that complement one another, for example, the girl and the skull and flowers and hairs. Lastly, hierarchy is created as first, I see the girl at lower part, followed by the skull, dragon and flowers.

• Phase 3 | Interpretation: The artist of this design work is done by Takato Yamamoto from Japan. After graduating from Tokyo Zokei University, Takato Yamamoto began experimentation with the Ukiyo-e Pop art methods. From there, his creative evolution led him to develop his own unique style, which he branded “Heisei Estheticism.” The style he created combines Japanese ukiyo-e painting influence with Western gothic art, portraying an incredibly unique and dark but beautiful effect. If you’re unfamiliar with Japanese art, then we should take a minute to go back to the 17th century, where the genre of Ukiyo-e began. The term “Ukiyo-e” translates to “pictures of the floating world.” In Japan, this art method was used to produce woodblock paintings with scenes of historical events, folk tales, landscapes, and travel scenes. 17th-century Ukiyo-e artwork also featured female beauties, sumo wrestlers, and actors. In the late 1600s, ukiyo-e works became popular by a well-known artist named Hishikawa Moronobu. Many great Japanese artists followed in Moronobu’s footsteps, taking the ukiyo-e style to the next level. Perhaps the most famous and well-known ukiyo-e artist was Katsushika Hokusai, who created ‘The Great Wave off Kanagawa,’ known as one of the most recognizable pieces of artwork in the world. The work of art pictures a gigantic wave off Sagami Bay’s coast with Mount Fuji in the background.To give you an idea of the importance and significance of Hokusai’s ukiyo-e style, ‘Great Wave’ work of art, Vincent van Gogh was known as a great admirer of Hokusai. It was said that Van Gogh remarked the painting had “a terrifying emotional impact.” Modern-day artist Keizaburo Matsuzaki recreating the Ukiyo-e woodblock printmaking style. The intense details and methodical technique for this incredible style of Japanese artwork really need to be seen to be fully appreciated. A viewer in the YouTube comments section remarked, “and I can’t even stick the screen protector on my phone.” That describes my feelings exactly as I watch this incredible artist. (TakatoYamamoto)

Part 2

 

So, I decided to do something that have the feel of Heisei Estheticism, but colour scheme is totally different with the art of Takato Yamamoto as I want to create the creepy element from it, for example, dead, depressed and so on, I will also add Ukiyo-e style, the Great Wave off Kanagawa. 

Visual Research

Figure 1.1 From an unknown illustrator on Weibo

In a picture I saw on Weibo, the robot showed the network cable that fits the picture I want. I want to apply it to my own creation.

Visual Studies of the Bare Brain

Figure 1.2 From an unknown illustrator on Weibo

Figure 1.3 From on Weibo

For the incomplete face of this photographic work, flowers have grown, I think it is very visually beautiful. Make the picture less scary

Part 3

Creation part

If I were a tree, then I longed to blossom into a splendid flower, to bear fruitful fruit, but my trunk was broken, my soul was broken, and the flower of fantasy gradually became a luxury. Today, the beliefs we once had have become shattered, and all kinds of unpleasant events have intensified and impacted people's hearts. A sense of powerlessness and compromise with reality filled my mind, and a glimmer of hope remained in my heart, but I also began to think about what the imaginary future would become.

What I want to express is that reality is unfair to humanity. When we grow up, we lose a lot of things. Maybe it's innocence, maybe it's a dream, and so on.

As adults, we were more like a machine, so I replaced the bones with the bodies of robots. Some people's faces are no longer there, which means that he is about to be crushed by reality. The heart is still there, which means that we are still human.

Last time, Mrs. Jinchi told me that my picture was too in-the-moment, and the picture was tight and unattractive, so I enlarged the canvas. Added more details at the bottom.

Figure 1.4 Modifications to the sketch

The final picture effect

Figure 1.5  Final work -Visual Analysis