Before coming to MICA, I was not very sure about what I should focus on in illustration. The only thing I know is that I love drawing and making crafts, and I like to create things in three-dimensions. It is perfect for me to study in this program since we have the opportunity to learn different techniques and presenting things beyond 2-D graphics. After the first semester, while looking back through every single project I have been working on, I found most of my works follow the same theme, which is “The House”. These images are not limited specifically to the traditional concept of a “house”, but they always give people a feeling of a small intimate space in some ways.
Image Harvest Paper engineering Book binding Art Market Laser Cut Sewing Sketchbook Publishing Words on wheels Pattern Hand Lettering Stop Motion Self direction
This is the first project we had, and it was intense to be honest. We only had about two weeks to finish it from the idea to final piece. The hardest part probably was the beginning, as we needed to brainstorm 10 ideas at first and pick one of them to develop. I guess the theme of “ The House� began here.
I created a series of rooms in a big house, to show the differences between one’s daily life and one’s personal space. I believe everyone would have their little secrets that they would never show in the open space, and I think it would be interesting to see the contrast of it.
The idea changed a lot as I did not make a series of them, and there is only one man in his apartment showing his strange habit, that he like to dress like a girl even though he is as strong as a tiger. I made them in a dimensional space as I originally thought; I made the set of the room with clay and arranged them as a real room.
I chose a box for him to set his room, as I wanted it to be like a room, however, as the technical problem, I didn’t make a door for it. Instead, I used the cover of the box to imply there was a way to look inside. The sad picture of him attached on the cover shows how the mood changes when he is himself in his own space.
I learned a lot about the structure of pop-up books during the paper-engineering workshop. Pop-up books seemed very sophisticated for me, so I never thought about to making one myself. However, as I start to make it I found it was not that hard to make; and it is actually a lot of fun to figure out how to make your image pop. For the reaction piece, I created a house with some strange people in it. Two girls are their room without any clothes on, while a bunch of guys are having a party in front of them. I made a little trigger so the viewer can move the legs of the girls by moving a paper strip. Beneath the house, I drew a zombie lying in his tomb. So, in the end, it is like a big weird family living in a weird house together.
I always want to learn how to make a book by myself. I thought it would be cool to make my own sketchbook. However, I didn’t really make any book or sketchbook for this project. I made a star book for the reaction piece. I’m pretty satisfied with the result even though it is totally different from my original idea. My original idea was to make multiple narrative scenes for each window of the star. However, I find it hard to do as the scale is too small, so I made the random colorful scenes instead. I’m glad that it turned out to look good.
I made pins with air-dry clay and added some embroidery on it. With the air-dry clay, I mixed some color yarn into it to create the marbling effect. I called them “ Little House� as I was inspired by the beautiful architectures in the countryside. They all look different and unique as I handmade each of them.
I was super excited to see people buying it and actually carrying it around. It feels so good to know somebody loves your work. Can’t wait for the next Art market!
I made a lot of items with fabric and yarn in the first semester, so I tried to explore more about how to create work with different effects by using different materials. So with this project, I came up with the idea of making a wood house with yarn and embroidery on it. I laser cut the wood board, and from made thousands of tiny holes in the wood for the embroidery.
The hardest part of this project was probably the issue of the software that we used for digital fabrication. I was trying to make a very complicated wood structure house, but I filed several times to make the digital files right. So, I just used a simple structure in the end and it turned out to be nice after I put the embroidery on it.
I made this fabric book cover for the fabric reaction piece. I always wanted my notebook to have a soft and cozy cover, especially when it comes to winter. As I am fascinated with the texture that yarn creates, I decided to made a yarn book cover for my sketchbook. I guess I watched too much TV while I was making it, because I forgot the “‘s” after my name, so it turned out to be “ Eva Book”. But I kind of like the funny way it looks now. I decided to not change it.
I always like to mess up my sketchbook. However, I did not feel very comfortable at the beginning of this project, perhaps because the group collaboration concept made me nervous of ruining other’s sketchbooks. Also for the idea of “ sketchbook project”, I feel like it should be much more finished than a normal sketchbook. But it was still a fun project, especially when I received a sketchbook with the theme that I liked. The one on the right is depicting me video chatting with my parents. I always draw the screenshot while we are video chatting. I guess this is my own way to release my homesickness.
For this project, we are allowed to create six characters with different titles; they are “ small” “tall” “giant” “wide” “tiny” and “round”. According to my sketches, I created three different stories with these six characters, They are mostly weird and creepy. This is the first time I have made zines, and I was very satisfied when I saw the finished zines in my hand. Only the process of folding each one of them is quite irritating. But overall it was a fun project.
This is a story about Tall and Round, Tall is too tall, so she has to cut her legs into pieces to fit in her house. The round leg pieces she got afterwards. Became her friends and they lived together happily.
This is a story about a bunch of Tiny and Wide. Tiny is so tiny that they can ride on the wide’s face, and they think they are flying when Tiny was running.
This is a story about Giant and Small. A group of Small think they are very bad and can do anything, but later they got washed away when they are having a shooting party. It turns out to be Giant is nose bleeding, and they are just the germs in his face.
The processes for this project a struggle, as I redid the same piece several times. The hardest part should understand the meaning of the poem. I need to dig deeper into the meaning of the words even though they are all very simple words. This project encourages me to create the image based on the texts but also go beyond the text. I was trying to make the illustration stand by them self even without the text to support it. This is also the project where I started to draw with digital tools. I found it could create some special effects that cannot be made with traditional hand drawing. is not hard to see the difference between the watercolor painting and the digital one.
I’m from down South with mac n cheese and greens. From sitting on my Grandma’s hip while she cooked. I am from the photo albums full of memories which now collect dust. Dance tapes and DVDs, recollecting the old times to put me to sleep at night and prayers to wake me up the next day. Brianna Jackson, Grade 11 Baltimore School of the Arts Teacher: Joy Bacon
ILLUSTRATION & DESIGN: YOUR NAME / MICA MFA IN ILLUSTRATION PRACTICE ’17
Where I’m From
I’m from the cookie bake and tell us how you really feel. I’m from the helping hands and the smart-aleck mouths, from Come back Brianna! and Go Bree!
ILLUSTRATION&DESIGN: YIRAN GUO/MICA MFA IN ILLUSTRATION PRACTICE ‘17
I am from a stuffed toy lamb, from Ty and tylon. I am from the seafoam green door (vibrant & chipped). I am from the tree out back whose seeds constantly blew into the pool while I swam.
A Joint Project of: Public Charter School Baltimore Montessori
Baltimore School of the Arts Baltimore Montessori Public Charter School Commodore John Rodgers Elementary/Middle Fallstaff Elementary/Middle Holabird Academy Maryland Institute College of Art John Rodgers Elementary/Middle Midtown Academy KIPP Ujima Village Academy Maryland Institute College of Art The Mount Washington School Roland Park Elementary/Middle School The Midtown Academy The Stadium School
KIPP: Uiima Village Academy Holabird Academy
I’m bound to see bloodshed because of skin But most will not let the path to peace begin Most can scream “equality for all” But when we need each other, we kick, scratch, and maul But I remain hoping and kneeling on the ground floor Trying to remember the great things I’m bound for . . .
ILLUSTRATION & DESIGN: YOUR NAME / MICA MFA IN ILLUSTRATION PRACTICE ’17
e8 rwick, Grad Matthew Ba lage Academy Vil KIPP Ujima n Farber so Teacher: Ja
I’m bound for many things that most will never earn I’m bound to get judgment before my voice is heard Most say “he can’t do it” or “he won’t win” I hope you know I will try again
ILLUSTRATION&DESIGN: YIRAN GUO/MICA MFA IN ILLUSTRATION PRACTICE ‘17
Bound For . . .
I’m bound to change the world, maybe even spark a fire I will be a success when I fulfill my true desire . . .
A Joint Project of: Public Charter School Baltimore Montessori
Baltimore School of the Arts Baltimore Montessori Public Charter School Commodore John Rodgers Elementary/Middle Fallstaff Elementary/Middle Holabird Academy
KIPP: Uiima Village Academy Holabird Academy
Maryland Institute College of Art John Rodgers Elementary/Middle Midtown Academy KIPP Ujima Village Academy
Maryland Institute College of Art The Mount Washington School
Roland Park Elementary/Middle School The Midtown Academy The Stadium School
Pattern was definitely an
learn. We had a lot of fun
we learned several ways to
the image I created was al
a pattern, and it was real out how to make it repeat
making the repeat too obvi
good technique to learn, b
I’m going to make any othe
interesting technique to
n during the workshop as
o make patterns. However,
lways not very suitable for
lly hard for me to figure and at the same time avoid
ious. Overall, it was a
but I will think twice if
er patterns in the future.
I made a book cover for the hand-Lettering project. The book is called <Shelly and the Secret Universe> that is from the movie < Moonrise Kingdom>. From the very limited information the movie gives, I knew the book it was a children book talking about a little ballerinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s imaginary world.
I use watercolor to hand letter the title, and I tried to make it very colorful and energetic as it talks about a little girl and her unreal world. I changed my idea several times at the beginning, as I couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t focus on the lettering but always paid more attention to making an illustration.
As a result of this workshop project, I finally understand the importance of typography, that it can be a very powerful tool to tell a story and make a design pop. This is the final book cover that I made. I used watercolor to do the hand lettering and the drawing beside it
I tried to create the image of a colorful and mysterious environment for this book, which is the feeling that this book gives me; a childlike story with mysterious undertone.
This is the final book cover that I made. I used watercolor to do the hand lettering and the drawing beside it. I tried to draw digitally for this whole semester, but I found it is much more comfortable for me to finish an idea with traditional tools in the end. I tried to create the image of a colorful and mysterious environment for this book, which is the feeling that this book gives me; a childlike story with mysterious undertone.
It is so fun to do stop motion animation! I was really lucky to have Tiffany as my teammate; she was coming up with a lot of cool ideas that made our animation looks very interesting. It was quite overwhelming at the beginning, as we only had one day to finish the shooting part. But we had a lot fun when we started doing it. We didn’t really have a storyboard to follow; we added some random scenes to make it look weird and funny. Our stop motion is called “Freeeda” as we let Frida show up several times in our animation. She looks awkward all the time but we love it.
At the beginning of the self-direction project, I was struggling with what kind of things that I was most attracted to, because the things Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m interested in are really random. I love horror movies, colorful things, and some strange outfits. As I talked with my friends and dug through the things that I like, I realized that Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m always fascinated with the unrealistic stuff and the drama of it. I got some inspiration from the films of David Lynch, and I decided to create an animation about dreams. I think dreams are the perfect media for me to tell the story that is unreal and dramatic. So, I started to read some theories of dreams, and come up with the story of a girl and her conscious and subconscious. As the imagination and dramatic dreams always tend to create, I started to make an animation with very bright colors shifting from one scene to the next. Some of the scenes are based on the real life of the girl while some of them are from her imagination.
I havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t finished the whole animation yet, only the first two movements already took me over 100 pages to draw. I had a hard time deciding the style that I want to approach, according to the theme; I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want the dream to be either cartoonish or realistic. So I drew a lot sketches to develop my characters and everything. I really love the process of this project, even though it kept me for getting enough sleep. I enjoy tracing each image with the light box and seeing them change slightly each time. I will finish the whole story throughout the summer, and hopefully it will turn out to be good.
It was a very productive and fun year for me, I’m really grateful that I decided to study at MICA, with my excellent peers. Many things were very challenging for me either with the learning process or the culture shock. I’m glad I made it in the end. It’s so nice to see all the work I have done all together. Thank you to my cute classmates and thank you to the awesome Kim! And good job, Eva!