In Between Pages

Good And Bad

2009-11-04T03:59:00.000-08:00

When I read about nation branding on the web, sometimes I realize that some writers tend to use indistinctively “a powerful brand” with “a good brand”, as if they were interchangeable terms. But they are not. “Powerful” describes the power of something (and not the goodness of it), and in the nation branding sphere it defines how consistent and mind-shared a brand (that is, the image of a country) is.

For instance, France has a powerful brand because most people thinks on very similar terms about the country. Additionally, these terms are mostly positive, which means the brand is not only powerful but also good. In other words, that the most common idea about France, that it is refined and cultured for instance, is both agreed and widespread. It is a question of grade: when a large majority of people think very similar things when they hear the word “France”, then we’ve got a powerful brand. France’s brand is powerful because it means similar things to a vast majority of people. There is something like an agreement on what the word “France” means, and that agreement is so extended that it can be called a “quorum”.

To have a powerful brand does not imply that the brand is also good. An obvious example is North Korea. North Korea also has a powerful brand because a vast majority of people associate very similar things to the country (as happens with France), but these attributes are no good: repression, poverty, nuclear threat, lack of human rights. There is another sort of quorum here, and therefore another powerful brand. But a powerful bad brand, to make things clear.

On the other side, Uruguay, for instance, does not have a powerful brand, because it means very different things to different people; to some it is a South American country like Argentina or Venezuela; to others it is… - well, it’s completely unknown. You can’t name not even two things about Uruguay. Uruguay has therefore a weak brand, as it means either different things or nothing at all. Uruguay has a weak brand, as opposed to France and North Korea’s powerful brands.

“Powerful” and “weak” are opposed adjectives; your brand can be either powerful or weak, but can’t be both at the same time. The same happens with “good brand” and “bad brand”. These two pairs of adjectives are on different scales, and are thus compatible. Consequently, you can have a country with a brand which is powerful and bad, like North Korea, and you can also have a country with a brand which is powerful and good like France. But you could also face a country with a weak, good image like Latvia. Few ideas are associated with Latvia, but these few ideas are, even if different, predominantly positive. Then there’s the last possible case, a weak and bad brand. Take Senegal, for instance. Not only nobody knows about it (so it has a weak brand), but the few things you could imagine would be bad (so it has a bad brand).

So, be alert when you read that that country needs “a powerful brand” - that only means that it won’t be weak, but it could very well be either good or bad

Excerpted from Nation Branding/2009/07/04/good-and-bad-nation-brands.

Stephen Balleux

2009-10-08T12:17:00.000-07:00

Oil painting by Stephen Balleux. Very tragic enhance on the silver lining between black and white,

-Zheng Joo

Fashion Art + Art Contest by 2K

2009-09-30T07:28:00.000-07:00

There will be an international T-shirt design contest briefing.

Competition Briefing:

Date: 2nd October 2009

Time: 11.30am – 12.30pm

Venue: Classroom A1

WHAT?

winners will have their creation printed on a tee and would be on sale for xmas.

Website link to 2K by Gingham: http://www.2kbygingham.com/

PRIZE:
Grand Prize, - Cash Prize RM 2,000 + Materiel cash voucher worth RM 1,000 + Viktor+Rolf Eyewear worth RM 800 + Clinique hamper worth RM XXX + ck Free perfume

9 consolation prizes – “Ang Pow” + Materiel cash voucher RM 300 + Viktor+Rolf cash voucher worth RM 350 + ck Free perfume.

Further attach information should've been sent to your email already

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On the other hand,

Gabriels links of inspiration for our finals from previous post comment, just in case any of you guys missed it

His Twitter

How Long A Logo Last

About London Logo

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Zheng Joo

The Dutch Touch

2009-09-24T08:12:00.000-07:00

Angeline sent me this link earlier and deff recommended you people to check it out. It is a complete process of Dutch government identity building. Exactly what we need right now and not to mention brilliant concept.

In autumn 2007 Koeweiden Postma pitched for a new logo and housestyle for the Dutch government. They made it to the final round but didn't get the job: here's what the Dutch could have had.

It's a constant frustration to us here at CR that, due to client confidentiality clauses, design studios and ad agencies are seldom allowed to show the projects that didn't make it. So often, they are more interesting than the ones that finally get the nod.

Last week at the Designyatra conference in Mumbai, Hugo van Bos of Koweiden Postma showed his studio's pitch for the Dutch government's new identity. They proposed two routes.

Continue reading here.

Zheng Joo.

Coorperate Identity Research Presentation Brief

2009-09-19T11:34:00.000-07:00

1. Powerpoint presentation on your research (to be presented within 2 weeks)

Gabriel sent a copy of example done by seniors for reference yesterday.
Please download it here.

I’m sending you as promised a sample of what could be seen as a respectable powerpoint presentation.I’m not too happy with the layout of this presentation but the content is quiet interesting.This example is just to give you a rough idea of what I’m expecting for our next class.Please show it to your fellow classmates.

See you in 2 weeks, take care.
Gabriel

2.
Regarding the brief for your Identity programme. I’m conscious that this powerpoint presentation could be difficult to work on.

So, to make it easier for you all, you can form groups of 4-5 people and choose a common country (for expl: 4 people choose Egypt, 4 other choose USA, 4 Malaysia, or any other country.)

That way, you could work together to prepare the brand identity presentation due in 2 weeks time, and later on sharing your research between each other.

Regards,Gabriel

For this grouping issue, i think he is most likely referring to grouping for the research presentation instead of the final project one. In short, grouping are for the early research presentation only but the overall final is still individual assignment.

However, most of you have been researching on your own so check back here for any in-case changes!

Any questions at all please fire at me NOT AT LAST MINUTE, like the day before presentation :)

Zheng Joo

One Year Back

2009-09-19T11:01:00.000-07:00

Hello old blog.

Hello new term.

Hello sassy new lecturer and empty days inside timetables yay.

It’s been one year I guess and I thought instead of mailing you people information or any sort stuff like that and then spread the words to check your bloody mail that contains probably 1324 unread mail, not to mention the other half that goes into your junk mail and never to be seen again, I shall be making this blog useful again to spread the words, ideas and well, stuff.

Please check and write often people. Often drawing habits without a genuine consumption of reading, writing contribution and sharing might just snapped off your brain like that. Seriously.

Zheng Joo.

Art blog

2008-11-02T20:52:00.000-08:00

Guys, check out this blog. A lot of interesting post on art related to our project.

Post on walking pose.
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http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2008/09/walking-poses.html

Check out this site about eye-level.

http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2008/10/eye-level-part-1.html

http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2008/10/eye-level-part-2.html

http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2008/10/eye-level-part-3.html

Old and New

2008-10-22T21:41:00.000-07:00

check out the works of these contemporary illustrators:

James Jean

Josh Cochran

Matt Vincent

There are 2 parts in your drawing: the old and the new;

It can be something trendy against something out-dated; e.g. An old street with a lot of youngster/ a MAMAK store full with old and young people, etc.

Drawing Size: A3
Finishing: Neat B/W pencil drawing;
The drawing must show your understanding about Figure and Space;

You are given 3-4 weeks to work on this project;
Week 01: Rough sketches
Week 02: Refining the pencil outline
Week 03: Add in shading
Week 04: Final touch-up Submit on 20 November 2008

Life-sketch

2008-10-13T02:44:00.000-07:00

guys, check out the life-sketch by these 2 artists. Interesting approach.

josh cochran

james jean

L3: Underneath The Muscles

2008-09-28T08:22:00.000-07:00

In this lesson, we went through the contents of space and the reason behind it.

-Conveying Space: To arrange the elements in order to create illusion of space.
-Diminution of size: When we see 2 identical or like images of differing sizes, the larger one will appear to be closer and the smaller one will be further away.
-Overlapping: 2 overlapping shapes create an illusion of dept since we tend to see one shape as being in front of, and concealing from our view, a part of another to behind it.
-Convergence lines: As lines recede into distance, the space between them will diminish and they will appear to converge
-Vertical Location: The higher something is in the picture plane, the further away it will be.
-Receding tones/ values: As things get further away, their colors become less intense and more mute.
-Changing strokes and details
-Compress/ graphical space

Yet however, theories only give as much as providing tools. Truth is the larger part of conveying space through life-drawing is too much to mention and it left us only to fill in the blanks, to experiment, practice and learn. One of the basic ways was taught in class, which is using the divination of grid box to capture the proportion. And this is the value in the struggle to observe, to coordinate hand and eye in placing marks upon the support for the drawing by use of the eye alone (without thumb or ruler). Working directly gives the students a more forgiving start in their explorations and helps them build their confidence. If masters could make mistakes, then their own could not be so dire. That is why we were required free strength non-stop all up to the pencils and let them doing wonders on paper. This week theme was fat figures which mean learning to place excessive stored fats at the right location, and through the life drawing session, to present the touch up of a rounder softer look on the body.

Musculature and fat
Women have less muscle mass, and (I'm probably risking my life by saying this) more fat. Everybody stores fat almost all around their body, with a few exceptions such as the scalp and the elbows. But men tend to store it as visceral fat, deep in the abdomen, and develop a beer gut. A woman's body prefers to store it as subcutaneous fat, just below the skin. This layer covers the muscles, and gives the body a softer, more rounded look. It tends to get stored more around the hips, the butt, the lower abdomen, the breasts, shoulders, and triceps.

Figure 2.32. Fat distribution in women and men
On the left is a study sketch of a drawing by Prud'hon, on the right a study of the painting of Silenius by Rubens. While Silenius does not have much of a six pack, his arms and legs are still angular and muscular. The woman's fat is more distributed all over her body, so her bones and muscles aren't as visible. (Extracted from here)

On the other hand, I found an interesting evidence and saying on the iconography style of drawing shown by SY during our 1st class and tad bit related to the perception of space. Do take a feast on eye on this Divine Proportion post. It a good read. -Zheng Joo

p/s I left Kenny's facial expression empty because everytime i attempt to start off eith the eyes and nose, he would immediately looked like a Kenny poking needles into a Voodoo doll cursing sigh :(

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-Raymond Chai
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-Vin Sern
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-koyuki

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-zumra
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--YeeWern--
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-Keith
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By Heng Kee Poon

- Zumra

L2: Broken Bones

2008-09-25T07:33:00.000-07:00

- Swea Phin (replacement homework for not attending class)

Note: This post has already been delayed for a week

(Reminder: All in one post, this is for L2 )

To start off the lesson, we were exposed to the theme of the week (old folks). We were all once again exposed to a familiar theory, the foreshortening by SY. SY explained to us how people began to slouch and later hunch due to the inability for our muscle to support our body. The fact that when we are old, muscles begin to deteriorate away we lose the strength in our body and so result in a saggy faced hunched old body. After a short introduction, we started the routine we were scheduled to follow for the next few weeks. We were all required to draw sketches of pictures in which SY would show us and life drawing. We were constantly reminded to keep in mind the posture of an old person like how their back four normally cover their neck if viewed from the back view. The law of foreshortening also took its place within the pictures and so we were to keep a close eye on the distance, size and angle of our drawing. While drawing life drawing we were again required to show 'space and dimension in our drawing. -Keith

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-Queenie's figure
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Keith being keen on publishing the lesson 2’s summary and I owed him huge thanks. Just to keep option wide, I shall write a tad bit. The second lesson confirmed my thoughts when this short semester would be prior within life drawing and I feel that as a seeding towards a new page again. Life-drawing, as SY defined it, could be a moving piece based on your rhythm of pencils scribbling through focused observation. Because like the iconography human figures from the early periods of Renaissance, we would agree on the fact that those human figures does look odd in terms of the whole and that’s when we thought its either the artist aren’t the best with their skills or they just simply look like that. But neither case is actually true.

When drawing, it all comes down to perception and custom, the way of how one draws. For example, according to research, most of the men painters in the past were not allowed to paint nude woman figures from life, and that’s when they had to make do with painted male figures, and then simply just superimpose it into female features. Perhaps this could explain the odd views of their drawing.

However, as art survives through time, we see life drawing, especially the topic of this second lesson, had become a base for us to draw and differentiate the different quality and how do one strokes out those characteristics on bodies to indicates the identity of the subject one are drawing. I thought the routine of switching life drawing session from real life to screen picture was rewarding. It truly shows that only a living model could brings a certain quality into a drawing that you can’t get in any way. Because the live model moves from time to time, all as well as mashing the 3D form, shadows that makes it impossible to catch the outline of the body. –Zheng Joo

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Lesson 2, of Figures required more live drawing, and also drawing slides. The slides basically focused on old people, and we were required to draw them within a given time limit. It was quite challenging to draw old people, as I have not really attempted that before, but nevertheless it was fun. After a few tries you get the basics. Its easy when you capture the whole movement of the person first and then proceed with that.The live drawings required us to draw our classmates, one piece of just turning around and drawing your friends, and the other piece focused more on space.I'm not entirely happy with Lesson 2's live drawings, felt like I could have done better, but I found out that you will always learn as you go along. Surprisingly, drawing the slides on old people went well. -- Shaneez

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Unlike the first lesson which concerned mostly about the composition of a drawing, lesson 2 focused more on drawing people under certain conditions - old men, people in interaction with children and people in different dynamic perspectives. For the last one we had to take extra care of foreshortening. We drew the people from the slides SY projected, on which were photos sharing the same subject, and we were to capture the rough characteristics and gestures. It was a lot more practical and challenging compared to the previous semesters which were more on analyzing figures. I had interesting time with rich content.The followings are the outcomes of the life drawing sessions we had in the class. -koyuki

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-zumra

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For lesson 2 we did some old people n also live drawing in the class. here's my drawing

by Heng Kee Poon
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SO sorry for the delay!

--YeeWern--

-VinSern

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Life-drawing

2008-09-25T03:01:00.001-07:00

Guys, be active to post your drawing here. Don't forget to make the image clearer.

Much More Drama

2008-09-21T13:52:00.001-07:00

Since this is a class learning journal anyway.

This captured video entitled Fear is one of the class first drama performances! It is a progress where we learn to enhance emotional placement on facial expression or body movement, ignoring the elements of self conscious in order to retain the ability on creativity. So within this week we were required to study and research on films portraying the elements Fear. As I remembered Gary specifically put it the fear that prides itself over the unexplainable situation of our mind instead of being fearful towards the ghost-vampires tale. So most of us actually based our study on psycho torture film. And the out come was hysterically surprisingly fine.

Although since the act comes with a guide from Gary, and so we all added the Oops I Slipped action into it. Watch out for Swea Phin’s high pitch, Raymond’s deepest emotion of fear within doors away, and many more.

Enjoy.

p/s Do post up the L2 of figures asap, all in ONE post. Thanks!

L1: Perspective Of Drawing

2008-09-14T08:44:00.000-07:00

Remember that a picture, before being a battle horse, a nude, an anecdote or whatnot, is essentially a flat surface covered with colors assembled in a certain order. –Maurice Denis

So that was an opening for Figures Studies 3. It was a clear confusion at first to learn about principles design all over again in a figures class but then I realized later on that it was because of the connection that both these subjects hold to the mindset of seeing. I have seen arguable issues on weather to draw what you see or draw what you know and in my thoughts, I presumed that as the main point of what SY was trying to acquaint with. That it is truly important to master the basics of the 8 elements and principles of art and design. From here we were shown with both drawings from the past and present with a surprisingly difference between the perspective. Note that I mentioned the difference, and not the right or wrong. From here our vision are captured with different perspective- a more iconic of a same spacing picture to a drawing that serves more convincing elements such as connecting the lines to square up the form’s angle.

So it this matter, there’s never really an answer for right and wrong does it?

The essential learning of all this principles and elements might seems insignificant to most of us yet it is the only tools to learn how to draw what we see. Because it is only when we mastered the ability to draw whatever we see with the absolute precision then only we can move on and began experimenting with perceptions of line and space. So I think the one important earnest conclusion of this lesson is to learn what the rules is before trying to change the rules. Perhaps from this term of the knowledge’s installments, we would finally be able to draw what we don’t see but know its there. -Zheng Joo

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The lecture started off with a quote by Maurice Denis that defined the word 'picture'. Then the lecturer went on to the elements of arts and principles of design. He showed a few examples of paintings from different eras and explained to us the differences, referring to the photos of sceneries that we can see in our everyday lives. It was explained that in certain paintings the laws of perspectives were not necessarily applied. Then till the end of the class we did life drawing, drawing our classmates. -Yuki

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We were shown a quote today. It’s by Maurice Denis dated 1890. In conclusion of the quote, it conveys a message by saying a drawing on a flat surface is done by arranging elements of art in a certain order to form a certain picture. We were shown examples and then the 8 elements of art, dot becomes a line and lines form a shape, more shape becomes a form, then the values, texture, space and color. After principle of art, it was principle of design: repetition, proportion, harmony, balance, contrast, rhythm, directional movement and emphasis. Art also evolves as pictures drawn during ancient times were arranged in a way where drawings have directions from bottom to top but slowly dimensions are taken into account. To sum up the whole lesson we got, it’s about artistic touch up. Every artist would sure encounter the rules and principals. Drawing is all about arranging elements in a certain principal. –Suet Yee

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Drawing is a creative process. Maurice Denis, who was a French painter and writer, had a proposal for the definition of painting in 1890. He stated, “Remember that a picture, before being a battle horse, a nude, an anecdote or whatnot, is essentially a flat surface covered with colors assembled in a certain order.” It carries a meaning that before a great artwork is produced; the original materials are just some common things such as a paper, some color paints and so on. As they are used and arranged in a certain way based on some principles by using the basic elements of art, it becomes a painting.

There are 8 elements of Art and 8 principles of Design. The elements of Art consist of :

1. dot
2. line
3. shape / face
4. form
5. value
6. texture
7. space, and
8. color.

Whereas the principles of design comprise:

1. repetition / pattern
2. proportion / size
3. harmony / unity
4. balance
5. contrast / opposition
6. rhythm
7. directional movement
8. emphasis / center of interest / focus

After explaining the theories above, SY asked us to do one exercise in which we needed to draw more than 2 figures in the class and pay more attention to the space involved. Remember that, the subjects closer will appear to be bigger, and the subjects further will appear to be smaller. In fact, the artists in the past drew subjects in the same size, for example, figure, as if the drawings or paintings are just graphics which do not reflect the real world. However both the drawing in the past and nowadays are no wrong. The main difference is the perspective that an artist holds. We finished drawing and were required to snap a picture of what we drew to post on our class blog.

Lastly, SY reminded us to prepare a picture plane of a A4 sized mounting board or card and a transparency with grids (1”x1”). The border is 2 inches thick. –Angeline Hong

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Having a quote as a kick start for Figure 3 is really unexpected. I never thought much about the quote at first actually. From what I learn last semester, I just draw what I am supposed to draw, never even think about any principles or what ever element there even exists? And prepare for a summary? What the hell is this; seriously, I never see any of this coming. A class blog was unexpected either, but I’m sure this gonna be interesting.After reading through the quote for several times, stare at it for an hour, I realize that we all actually start with nothing. People always tend to remember what they have accomplished but forget how they done it. Therefore, this class actually reminds me about basics. From dots to lines, repetition to patterns all of this are like square no.1.How a picture does looks nice? Tendency and the artistic touch up.

Hm.. How exactly we judge on tendency and the artistic touch up? When a picture and a painting which has no intention on following this two, does is still look good? These questions are still quite blurry in my head. But I hope as I goes along with the class, things will get clearer. And the first class was quite boring to me, so I didn’t really enjoy. Partly because of having 4 hours of sleeping that night. But overall everything SY taught was quite informative. -Jonathan Ng

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An artistic touch up is the process which an artist might experience through out the journey of experiencing or producing art. Tendency is something that an artist has in a very small percent that came from his instinct. both artistic touch up and tendency are the learning process that one must experience in the journey of art, the experiences and practices will lead him into further development and greater discovery, thus also bringing him up to another level of aesthetic as an artist. This is what I've capture in the class. -Kenny Wang

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Hi everyone! I was glad that our lecturers were not bad as I expected. Instead, they treat us well. Our lecturer, SY taught us about those great artists’ artworks in past. The 8 elements of art and design that he mentioned were quite useful to me. By the way, he also mentioned about the space besides drawing people. After that, he gives us some exercise. That is drawing any space in this class. What a free topic… everyone was concentrating on drawing. This was what I drew that day - Vin Sern

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So.... another new semester, yet again Figure Studies, with it being 3 this time. One of my favourite subject. Our lecturer, Sio Yean showed us a slide which consists of philosophies, some important pointers about elements of design and principles or art. He later on told us about artistic touch ups, which was a very good header up. Later on, we were asked to produce a drawing, which needed space shown clearly with of course... figures. Will strive to do better next time. -High Guan.

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Figure 1是肖像，Figure 2是肢体动作，那Figure 3的主要目的可说是把人放在适当的空间里。

前半堂课，很明显的，是要测试大家对人物和空间的拿捏。把自己感受到的空间画出来，其实一点也不容易。一不小心，就很容易犯下“前人”所犯的错误。

在后来的教学上，老师稍微带过以前Design学过的东西。也许是自己对于“理论”这方面有点偏见吧，总觉得有些闷，可能是上了两个Sem的Way Chuan式无厘头，突然转来比较正经的Figure，有些怪怪吧。但不是什么大问题，很快就能适应，因为除了History 2那个蛋散，The One老师给我的印象都很好。
-Raymond-

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Today is our first class for figure study 3. We learn about things which is different from pass 2 semesters. There first came to us is the quote from Maurice Denis which is a French painter.

“Remember that a picture, before being a battle horse, a nude, an anecdote or whatnot, is essentially a flat surface covered with colors assembled in a certain order.”

There are 8 elements of art and 8 principles of design. Elements of art include dots, lines, shape, form, value, texture, space and color. Sio Yean showing us paintings from different countries and all the paintings don’t really space in between. The figure are usually arrange level by level. Figure in front are usually drew on bottom of the painting but figures at the back are drew on the top. The proportion of the figures for bottom and top doesn’t show any different. Due the change of time, people have discovered with such problem and try to find the solution. Whereby, object in front will be draw bigger while object at the back will be draw smaller in order to show perspective in the picture. But, there are no wrong in using both method. –Stephanie Poon

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Basically, what we learned on our first day of class for figure 3 is a recap of the classes we had previous sem and more. Falling short on non, what we learnt on the first day , i believe is what we call the 'core' in which would be the root of our studies for this term.

Yea the principles and what not has already been taught in the previous sems but to summarize it all down what we learn on that day was really how to apply what we learn. 'Artistic touch up' a new word (or sentence) which was mentioned during the class was i believe the result through the comprehension of all the principles which was also mentioned in the class.

Strategically choosing our spot was how we started our first assignment in class. Deciding on where to stand or sit was not based on how tedious the work would be but instead a practice of our very own 'artistic touch up' and so here are my fruits ^^-keith

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yes hey people! SY,our lecturer have taught us about the 8 elements of art and also the 8 principles of design. Dots,lines,proportion,balance,contrast n so on. Well,those are basically important to construct/draw/picture/design a particular thing. It is definitely useful in the process of improving and learning in this figure 3 class. So, we were asked to draw based on what we saw in the class and what was surrounding us. Maybe emphasized on the proportion and also feel the space around us like what we learned in perspective class.

This was my spot, -Queenie Chong :) looking forward for the next class.

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The lecture taught us about the 8 elements of are and the principles of designs before we had our class assignment. Which made me wonder that was i having a design class or figure studies class actually, because my previous figure studies lecture didn`t taught those stuff to us before but the design class did. XD

I have a bad habit with drawing which i will keep on drawing with short lines and keep over-laping them together, which is the reason why my drawing always looks messy.>^<

Anyway, i quite enjoy doing the class assignment, and thanks to the lecture for mention and remind those elements of art and principles of designs to us. :D

-By Jun Yie a.k.a Kong Kuan Yie

Beware, XD

This was what i drew:

*Nathon smiles like a mice.* XD

*My drawing.* :D

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Well well, what did I learn in my first figure studies 3 class? Other than the 8 elements of art, principles of designs yada yada teory-based stuff, I have tightened another notch on improving my observation skills. When requested to sketch out an angle from our lively classroom scene, i had trudged my way to the front of the class to capture a better view. Here is what my pen drew:-Swea Phin :)

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Our first figure studies 3 lesson was quite different from previous semesters, but enjoyable at the same time. We learned the elements of art, and the design principles that would be applicable in our figure drawings, as well as other related work we do in the future."Remember that a painting - before it is a battle horse, a nude model, or some anecdote - is essentially a flat surface covered with colours assembled in a certain order" - Maurice DenisWe learnt this significant quote from Maurice Denis who was a French painter and writer, know for his Symbolist movements. The quote in a way, very bluntly summed up painting and art itself.We touched on the 8 elements of art, dots, line, form, space, texture, value, plane and colour.And along with it the design principles, repetition, proportion, harmony, balance, contrast, rhythm, direction and focus.We were required to draw what we see in the class, as a class assignment. We were told to give emphasis to keep "space" in mind while we made the drawings. Its always a challenge to draw from life, but it is more enjoyable as it requires a lot of improvisation on the spot, and drawing from imagination as well.All in all, the class was very informative. Looking forward to learning more in the coming classes. Below are my sketches from class, and a reference picture of more or less what i drew.-Shaneez Bushree

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The first lesson of figure class was started with a quote by a French painter,Maurice Denis ."Remember that a picture,before being a battle horse,a nude,an anecdote or whatnot,is essentially a flat surface covered with colors assembled in a certain order."Then the 8 elements of art and 8 principles of design.Besides,SY was show us the pictures that create by past artist.Obviously,the perceive of perspective of past artist and nowadays artist was different .Following we was requiry to draw wat we see in the class, i try hard to draw from my eye level but my work still look like draw from the top view. -Suat Yee

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Like most of my classmates, I found it very refreshing as the basic principles and elements of Art & Design were being mentioned at the beginning of the first class of Figure Studies this semester. The quote by Maurice Denis, which we were told to jot down, was quite inspiring as well. In my opinion, this quote revolves around exploring our creativity through the mere process of creating something out of nothing, and the various stages involved in producing a piece of artwork. This quote makes me aware of taking good care of each phase we have to go through when drawing a Figure or painting a picture. For instance, I have a certain tendency of rushing my proportions for drawing Portraits as my favorite part is the toning or shading. For this reason I often forget that both the proportion and shading are equally important to make the final piece look good. So the “flat surface covered with colors assembled in a certain order” should be nicely done before it transforms into a “battle horse, a nude, an anecdote or whatnot”. Basically this is my idea as to how I interpret the quote, and I found the colorful examples of illustrations being shared with us subsequently, inspiring as well. -Zumra

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-Azlif

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Heya! So sorry for the delay; I lost the paper Zheng Joo gave me with the password and username. I was kinda glad that Sio Yean is our lecturer this semester. I had Way Chuan the last 2 semesters and it was a refreshing change we had SY this time. Not that WC is not good, just prefer to be taught by different lecturers.

Anyhoo, this first class is different than the past 2 semesters. Usually it's all about human forms and all that but this class we learned about design elements, design principles and somewhere along those lines. Kinda feels like a design class but nonetheless, it was infomative and useful in terms of our creativity and skills. Back to basics, and it's usually the most important thing that we tend to ignore and/or forget.

I really need to buck up on my observation skills!

And then there was a life drawing session after the lecturer. I suck in life drawing but here you go, enjoy! Or rather, try not to laugh.

I'm probably the last to post in so on a lighter note of ending this post, here's a picture of Yuki ~~looking bored~~ feeling weird. - YeeWern -

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In Figure 3, I found that the different thing is we are going to draw figure include the space. I felt that is quite difficult for me because i still weak in perspective study. I think I must pay more effort to improve my skill.
---by Heng Kee Poon---
heres my drawing -->