My Line is Emo_ Journal by Veda Sutedjo

MY LINE IS EMO DN1002 FOUNDATION 2D 1

VEDA SUTEDJO TAY YIQIN G7

EXPLORATION : .MARK MAKINg PRINTS .

IfirstbeganthisprojectbyexperimentingwiththevariouspatternsIcould createwithmymark makingtooland Chinese ink.

For my mark making tool,I was interested in creating something that would allow me to experimentwith Chinese Ink,asIwanted to explore the difference between the texturesmade bythe Chinese paintbrush versusalessversatile tool.Thisisthe mark makingtoolImade out ofawooden stick Ifound on the ground.Ishaved the sidesofthe stick with apenknife to get rid ofthe bark to allow me to hold the stick easily,before sharpening the end ofthe stick to create asharp,wooden point(similarto apencil).

Ontheotherendofthestick,Idecided to experimentandplayaroundwiththe existingtexturethatwasalreadythere.

Since the stick had broken off,there was a very rough,jagged end,which I Endofsti ck

Poi ntofsti ck

feltwouldcreateaninterestingpattern when dipped in Chinese ink.

These are the resultsaftersome experimentation.

Iused the different ends to create various marks,which yielded patterns with different tonal valuesin accordanceto thesurface(ofthestick)thattouched thepaper.Ifound thegradation of the black ink quite compelling,especiallywhen itwasapplied usingthe wooden stick aswhen the ink started to dryup,Icould also see the texture leftbehind bythe rough surface ofthe wood.

I also tried the technique of frottage, where I used graphite to rub over the paperon top ofthe uneven surface ofthe stick.Because the stick had a curvilinear surface,it did not manage to produce a visual texture of the wood, but instead resulted inacrooked linewithanunevenly shaded background.

However, although I liked the different tonal values that could be produced from this experimentation,Iwas notas satisfied with the overalloutcome.Ifeltthese values would be more appealingifIused adifferentmedium,such aspen,which would allow foramore detailed, prominenttonalvalue.

Nonetheless,Idecided to continue exploring, so aside from the lines Imade using my mark makingtool,Ialso experimented with dried up paintbrushesandChineseink.Ireallylikedthe stiffnessthe end ofthe paintbrush gave,which allowed me to explore the various ways of creatingmarksdependingonhow Iheldthetip ofthe brush againstthe paper.

These are the resultsofmyexperimentations:

Experi mentati onsofstrokesusi ngboth thepoi nted,red pai ntbrush and thefl at,

Experi mentati onsofstrokesusi ngthepai ntbrusheswi th sti ppl i ngtechni que

bl uepai ntbrush

and twi rl i ngofpai ntbrush around thepaperi mmedi atel yafterdi ppi ngi ti ni nk

Experi mentati on of vari ous strokes done whi l ei nkwasdryi ngfrom pai ntbrush

Iespeciallyliked thestrokescreated whenItwirled theflat,bluebrusharound thepaperinasort of‘dancing’motion.Itreminded me ofadancertwirlingaround the paperwith ink on herfeet,of which when drying up (on the brush),leftfaintmarks ofthe bristles ofthe paintbrush on the paperwhich reminded meofthewooden ringsofatreetrunk.Ialso liked themarkleftbehind by the brush when Ileftthe tip ofthe brush againstthe paper,before pullingitback up quicklyin a down-up motion.Itreminded me ofclaw marksleftbehind byarestlessanimal,which resulted in angsty,irritated marks.

Thishencegavewayto threepossiblefinallinesmadewith theflatpaintbrush and Chineseink,as seen below:

Turmoi l

Irate

Aggravated

: .MONOPRINTS .

I then moved on to monoprinting,which was something I’ ve never tried before.The whole processwasquite exciting,asyou‘d neverknow whattexturesand patternswould be created.

The experimentalnature ofmonoprinting also allowed me to use various materials to create different marks and patterns such as clingwrap,rope,twine,rough paper,crumpled tissue et cetera.Italso urged meto bemoreattentiveto thewayIplaced mymaterialsand how Iwanted them to looklike,such aswhetheracrumpled clingwrap would bemoreinterestingthatitbeing slightly crumpled,how a scrunched up piece ofpaper would look like,how should Iplace the rope to provide acreative pattern.Below are some ofthe resultsofmyexploration:

FlatTwine andThin Rope thatwererandoml ypl aced i n ci rcul arpatternsi n orderformetoproducean i nteresti ngpattern i n a concentrated area.Ireal l yl i ked how the pri ntshowed theti ni estdetai loftheropedown totheverytwi nesthatmadei t.Ial sol i ked how thefl attwi neproduced a textureofi tsown,si ncei tori gi nal l yonl yhavea smooth texture(whi ch Iassumed woul d notproducemuch texture)

Pri ntdoneusi ngmetalscrapers.Theendresul twasprettyuni que,si ncei twasmade usi ng a smooth surface i nstead of a rough one (that I assumed woul d be more i nteresti ng).Iwasal so attempti ng to mi mi cthe method streetgraffi tiarti stsuse to createbeauti fulgraffi tiworksdonei n a few mi nutes,though Iwasn’ tverysuccessful .

Thesepri ntsweremadeusi ngcl ingwrap thatwasscruncheduptightlyandplacedontheprintingmat.Similartotheropeand twi ne,Ipl acedthecl i ngwrap i nspeci fi cposi ti onsonthemat.However,i twasdi ffi cul tfori ttostayi ni tsposi ti onwhenIrol l ed bl acki nkoverthecl i ngwrap agai ntoensurethei nkproperl ycapturedi tstexture.Asaresul t,thei nkwasrol l edonmessi l yand randoml ysi ncei twashardtokeepthecl i ngwrapfrom l i fti ngupwi ththerol l er.However,theendresul twasremarkabl e,asIcoul d cl earl ysee the creasesofthe scrunched up cl i ngwrap,provi di ng an uni que pattern.Some ofthe texturesresembl ed i ce capped n,ofwhi chwassomethi ngIreal l yl i ked.Ial sopl ayedaroundwi ththei deaofj uxtaposi ti onandcontrast mountai nswhenzoomedi bytesti nghow thepri ntwoul dl ookl i kei ni nverse,suchl i kethetwopri ntsi nthesecondcol umn.Itwasfasci nati nghow twototal l y di fferentpri ntscoul dbecreatedusi ngthi seffect.Idi dhowever,preferthepri ntwi thadarkerbackgroundasthetextureofthe cl i ngwrap stoodoutmore.

These pri ntswere made usi ng a mi xture ofmaterials,such astwine,rope,textured paperand clingwrap.

Thesefourpri ntsareal soi nversesofoneanother(Fi rstrow i si nverseVSfl i p si de,Secondrow al soi nverseVSfl i p si de).Si mi l ar tothecl i ngwrap,thei ri ni ti alposi ti onsweredi sturbedwhenIrol l edbl acki nkoverthem toensurethei nkproperl ycapturedthe texture.Thi sal sogaveri setothei rrandom posi ti onsaroundthepri nti ngmat.However,becauseofthebumpytextureoftherope andcl i ngwrap,aswel lastheti meItooktorol lbl acki nkoverthemateri al sandthemat,thi sresul tedi nveryfai ntpri ntsbecause thei nkhaddri edup.Thi smadei thardtocaptureorvi ew thepatternedtexturesi ncl osedeati l ,whi chwasapi tybecauseal ot ofthedetai l swerel ost.Exampl esofthesedetai l swerethel oosestrandsofhai roftherope,thefrayed endsofthetwi ne,and thecreasesi nthecl i ngwrap.

Nonetheless,I was satisfied with the monoprints I had achieved,and went on to scan them.

Although Iinitially did not agree with using this method because Ifelt it reduced the value of handmade lines,I’ d have to agree that this method allowed me to gain very detailed marks and patternsfrom the monoprintsthatwould notbe possible to achieve byhand.Zoomingin to every partofthe printwasalso quite fun,because Ifeltasthough Iwasexploringevery crevice ofthe materialsitself.Below are the resultsofthisprocess:

Sincemostoftheprintslooked similar,Ihad adifficulttimechoosingwhich linesIfeltwereableto expressa certain emotion.However,aftercarefulconsideration,these were the finallinesIchose forthe project:

Crushed

Despai r

Content

Lai dback

Provoked

Euphori c

Open-mi nded

Torment

Joyful

Jubi l ant

Detached

Spontaneous

Terri fi ed

: .PEN DRAWING .

For the remainder ofmy lines,Idecided to hand draw them using pen,a medium Iwas very comfortable in,and a medium Ifeltcould help me achieve tonalvaluesthatwould help convey emotion.Iwasveryexperimentalinthecreatingofmylines,goingmorewithfeelingthantrying to thinkofthebestwayacertainmarkorlinecandepictanemotion.ThiswasbecauseIbelieved the processofme creatingthe line would be able to depictemotion betterthan ifIhad an end result in mind (overthinking how to begin drawing a line that willportray an emotion).The emotion ofthe line ishence how Ifeltwhile creatingit.

However,since Iwas quite experimental,Ihad very little research and documentation on my pen-ed lines,with theexception ofafew video clipsItookwhileIdrew.Thiswaslaterputinto ashortvideo to give arough ideaofmyprocessand how Icreated the lines.

Processvi deo ofpen drawi ng,whi ch expl ai nsmythoughtprocessofcreati ng myl i nes,aswel lasexampl esofthe pen techni quesIused.The above screenshotrefers tothel i ne‘ ’ Nervous”.

Li nk:https: //vi meo. com/181670146

I did however, gain some inspiration from artists on pinterest,aswellasfrom ourclasspresentations.

I obtained the most inspiration for my pen drawing techniques from Pinterest, where I recalled various methodsIcould achieve tonalvalues.Examplesofsuch are stipling,hatching,verticallines,cross hatching,scribbling etcetera.

Pi n saved onWendyHoang’ sboard on Pi nterest

Texti l eandtexturesbyBrunoMunari(foundon Pi nterest)

Ithen used these techniques to create my lines,where varying the thickness ofthe line could provide more orlessdefinition to the shape Idrew.

Gai ni ng tonalval ue bystroki ng pen qui ckl yon one segmentofthe“brai d”from the top to the

Varyi ngpenstrokesacrossstri pofpaperbycontrol l i ngtheamountofpressure

mi ddl e,before repeati ng sai d acti on from the bottom ofthe segmentto the mi ddl e,butbei ng

used,such aspressi ngdown agai nstthepapertogai n a thi ckerl i ne.

carefulnottol etthel i nestouch (i n themi ddl e)

Ithoroughly enjoyed the processofmaking these lines,notonly because Iwasvery comfortable using pen as a medium,butalso because this process taughtme how to give lines the ability to emote feelingthrough varyingthe depth,scale and quantityofmarks(orlines).Below are thusmy finalhanddrawn linesusingpen:

Nervous

Freaked

Di sturbed

Free

Sensi ti ve

Sati sfi ed

Peaceful

Bewi tched

Confused