ABSTRACTION Zainab Alavi YSDN 1001 Ian Stewart Oct 24 2018
Contents Contents Introduction 3 Exercise 1 4 Marker drawings 5 Pencil drawings 7 Watercolour 8 Photography 9 Final 10
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INTRODUCTION For Project 2 “Abstraction” we were assigned to essentially explore the various ways of showing a single subject. Through different media, whether it was through photography, watercolour, marker, graphics or even pencil, we were to explore how different media can convey subjects in their own unique way and the process of abstraction. Through various techniques and perspectives, abstraction of a single subject can be successfully shown and can be very helpful for future reference.
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Exercise 1 1
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For this in-class exercise, we were instructed to draw our own hands to become familiar with abstraction. Using a number of various techniques such as blind contour drawings and non-dominant hand I became familiar with abstraction and speed drawing. The critique I received for my drawings, were that I needed to go more slow and be more focused to really capture the essence of the subject and create a more successful drawing.
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After creating a few line contour drawings, I wanted to learn how to manipulate my graphics. After the in-class tutorial, I practiced with cropping, placing images, magic-wand tool and a few image trace styles. 1. Hand-drawing (original) 2. 3 Colours (line trace) 3. Sketched Art (line trace) 4. Line Art (line trace)
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Marker
We were assigned to create at least 20 original ‘abstracted’ drawings in a variety of different mediums. For my marker drawings, I created around 15 marker drawings. I had a good variety of loose marker drawings, however, I did not make enough ‘detailed’ representations of the subject, and I used line paper for my drawings, which was not recommended.
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Marker continued..
The original marker drawings I had created on line paper. Though there were some good abstracted and line contour drawings, there could have been more detailed drawings.
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Pencil
Detailed pencil representations of my subject. The reason as to why there is no critique is because I created these after I had been told to create something more realistic to begin with so I can go more abstract from there. I wanted to try drawing from a different perspective but ultimately realized I wanted to be consistent with my perspective, so the abstraction could be more evident. Above are my attempts to create a few drawings that become progressively less detailed but nonetheless still realistic.
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Watercolour
Above are my attempts at creating a variety of representations of my subject using watercolour. I presented a good variety of stylized representations using watercolour and quickly came to realize how effective watercolour was for creating shadows and tones; but less effective for showing details.
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Photography
Finally above, are the most accurate representations of my subject. The photograph. Though I had some good angles and perspectives, I failed to create focused and sharp shots of my subject. I then decided to edit a bit better and take a proper solid shot using a white background.
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FINAL Next are 9 final representations of my subject, a bottle of lotion. As mentioned previously, I consciously decided to show my subject through a single perspective as I realized the process of ‘Abstraction’ could be more evidently shown to the viewer this way. From the most ‘detailed’ to the most ‘abstract, these 9 representations show the journey of abstraction and the true essence of representing a subject in a number of different ways.
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Pictured, is a photograph of the subject, a bottle of body lotion. Photographs are the most accurate way to present a subject as it essentially the capturing of an image directly as it would be in real life. The following subject was captured using a camera and cropped, edited and filtered using adobe Photoshop.
Pictured, is a detailed drawing of the subject, a bottle of lotion. Although not as detailed as the photograph as it is missing the correct levels of tones and small details, the drawing manages to contain a large amount of tones and shadows to make it look very realistic.
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Pictured above is a semi-detailed drawing of the subject, a bottle of lotion. Unlike the detailed drawing previously, this drawing contains fewer tones and is less precise. This piece still manages to capture the shape, shadow and necessary details quite well.
Pictured above is a stylized watercolour representation of the subject. This piece is much looser and lighter than the previous pieces. There are about 3 tones, and the details are at very minimal. Overall this piece emphasizes the shadows and overall figure.
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Pictured is a stylised/clip-art representation of the subject. There are only two tones present and contains only thick strokes and a single shadow. Orignally, a marker drawing, this piece was created by using image trace and then using line-art as the preset.
Pictured is a blind contour drawing of the subject. This piece does not contain shadows and is purely line (one tone). The details are still present and the shape is still recognizinable. Much looser than the previous renditions and less accurate in the subject’s actual shape.
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This piece is a distorted version of the outline of the simplified subject. At this point even the outline is starting to get choppier and distorted. This piece was created using a marker drawing and then digitally manipulated on Photoshop and illustrator.
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Abstract is different from non-subjective - I had to keep telling myself this as I continually abstracted my work. Inspired by Gestalt, I wanted the most distorted/abstract piece to be as choppy and contain as minimal lines as possible. Absent of shadows, details, and complete outline of the subject, this piece is the most abstract rendition of the subject as the subject is hardly recognizable but still has the bare shape. Created using a drawing, then digitally manipulated to erase line and distort shape.
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CONCLUSION ‘Abstraction’ truly allowed me to get out of my comfort zone and look at objects through different perspectives. I got to first hand realize the pros and cons of different mediums (such as watercolours and graphics) and learned how to use Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign in ways I had not known before. Learning to “abstract”, seeing the world in different tones, and seeing just how versatile a simple line drawing could be, were just a few things I’ve learned through this project.
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