Visual Communication Assignment 1

Barcode design is our first assignment for visual communication. I like KPOP, Korean Pop, that is why my barcode design is related to KPOP. This is a course which need a lot of creativity. At first I felt stress when I was doing the sketches, because Miss Jee had rejected my sketches, saying that are not interesting enough. Honestly I felt hurt and disappointed about myself. I redo all the sketches again by searching more information and references. After that I redraw it in a new piece of paper. Below are my sketches :

This is my final artwork. I got 8.5/9 for this assignment. 

Maybe I should put more effort to get higher marks for this assignment. 

The Creation of Adam

“The Creation of Adam” [Michelangelo Buonarroti], 1511. Fresco. 480.10 cm x 230.10 cm.

The Creation of Adam is a fresco painted by Michelangelo Buonarroti around the year of circa 1511. It is approximately 480.10 cm x 230.10 cm in size. There are two main subjects in the painting, which are God and Adam. Adam is portrait as a naked muscular guy with short hair in the painting. God is surrounded by approximately ten angels. On the right side of the God, there is a not completely form female figure named Eve. Moreover, Christ child is sitting beside Eve. 

God extended His body and stretches His arm towards Adam. On the other hand, Adam is also looking at God, raised his finger towards the direction of God. Their fingertips do not connected. There is a gap between the fingertips which is a metaphor of synaptic cleft. God transmitting life and intellect to Adam through the fingertips. 

The painting is horizontally balance. There is regular rhythm created by the angels in the painting. The angels are similar in size and colour which gives people a sense of harmony. Furthermore, the unity of the painting is made up of proximity and repetition. Proximity is shown by angels as a group whereas there are repetition of size of angels. The overall background is an ambiguous space because I'm not sure what is it. It might be a sky or other things. 

This painting gives me a feeling of calmness and seriousness. It is showing a holy event occurred between God and Adam. The angels surrounded God makes the painting looks harmony too.

History of Art Assignment 3

Finally it came to individual assignment. I am a little bit afraid I will not have enough time to complete this assignment. I have chosen "The Creation of Adam" for this assignment. Now, I have to do all the mind maps and write the essay myself. Well, actually I am enjoyed in it. Although I hate to do research, it is quite a tiring work for me. Moreover, other assignments also meeting the deadlines. I am quite worry and anxious when things all come in once. I think I really need to manage my time wisely. But for this assignment, we have to pass it up on Monday. I use whole Saturday night to complete it, did it until early in the morning. I felt happy when I need not to rush this assignment at last minute. Most of my friends burned midnight oil to complete the essay parts but I have time to rest and sleep.

Since I have done one assignment before, so for this one, I manage to do it better. These are the mind maps for description, analysis, judgement and audience.

Description

Analysis 

Judgement

Audience

Nebamun hunting in the marshes with his wife and daughter

“Nebamun hunting in the marshes with his wife and daughter” [18^th dynasty Egyptian], around 1350 BC. Painted plaster.

This is an ancient Egypt wall painting painted by a 18th dynasty Egyptian around the year of 1350 BC. The medium used by the artist is painted plaster, which is a technique of mixing lime with sand or cement and water for spreading on walls, ceilings or other structures to form a smooth hard surface when dried. This artwork is painted on the wall of the tomb chapel of Nebamun. The painting is 98cm wide, 83cm high and 22cm thick. 

The most dominant subject in this artwork is the man who standing in the middle, Nebamun. He is painted in largest size if compared to other elements in the artwork. His wife, Hatshepsut is standing behind him while his daughter is sitting in the middle of his legs. The boat is made up of papyrus. There are a lot of animals in the painting. In the river, there are different species of fish. There are Tilapia fish at the bottom left corner of the artwork. Puffer fish is located below Nebamun's right leg. In front of Nebamun there is a feral cat jumping to capture birds. Besides, a duck is standing on the prow of the boat. Other birds such as crane, quadrupeds are flying. Some species are unknown. You can see some Plain Tiger Butterflies flying around the left part of the painting.

This artwork is painted in 2D and 3D value and it has a simulated texture. Human figures are adapted 2D value whereas other animals are 3D value. The painting is asymmetrical balance whereby there are more subjects occupied the left side of the painting. Moreover, progressive rhythm is created through the movement from left to right of Nebamun. Elements that are similar in size and colour such as birds and papyrus had created regular rhythm. The lines and shapes of the papyrus and birds overlapping each other create motion. The motion of the birds give people a energetic feel showing that is a busy environment. 

The artwork is imitative. Nebamun is a Nobleman, his name has the meaning of "My Lord is Amun." He works as a scribe and grain accountant in the Temple of Amun at Karnak during the reign of Amenhotep III. The scenes describes Nebamun triumph over nature in his afterlife. Nebamun's daughter has a sidelock hairstyle which is a sign of youth. Furthermore, The hieroglyphs on the wall has the meaning of ‘enjoying himself and seeing beauty’. Cats in ancient Egypt are representing the Sun God hunting the enemies of light and order. 

In my opinion, Egyptologists will appreciate the artwork as they can do research on it and learn the method of painted plaster. Other than that, Egyptian would also appreciate it because they can learn the culture behind the story of Nebamun.

History of Art Assignment 1

Lemona, who is our group leader, Ng Yen Ling and me formed an assignment group named Star. The group name is a bit childish because we decided the name within ten seconds. That is why our group name became like this. xD 

 The artwork that we chosen is "Nebamun hunting in the marshes with his wife and daughter". Honestly, we laughed when we saw the name of the artwork. It is too simple and general in my opinion? We even curious is this the real name of the artwork. 

Actually, before we started our assignment 1,we are worried about the essay. That is only one question in our mind, "How to write 800 words essay?" It is such a difficult task for me and my friends. Luckily, Miss Clare has guided us when we are doing our assignment. She asked us to do mind maps of description, analysis, judgement and audience.Lemona and me are the one who do the mindmaps. We faced some difficulties during research. For example, there are abundant of information of the painting but there are some necessary information that we can not find. 

We did all the mind maps and met Miss Clare during consultation from time to time. We burned midnight oil to finish the essay part and we found out that 800 words are just too little! Our essay is already exceeded the limit of words. Lastly, we end up our assignment 1 with a non perfect presentation. We got A- for this assignment. I hope the third assignment can get higher marks. 

These are the mind maps :

Description

Analysis

Judgement

Audience

Drawing Home Assignment 1

        This is my drawing home assignment 1. I got 25 per 30 for the grade which also surprised me because this is the highest grade I ever had. I felt very happy. Actually it was a last minute work. I did it until the morning of the deadline. There are still some weaknesses of the drawing. There are too much empty space. I should enlarge the picture and put more details on the roots, textures and strokes. I hope my home assignment 2 can obtain a good grade too.

Egypt and Greek cultures in Malaysia

Tugu Pahlawan

The national monument (Tugu Pahlawan) is the largest monument in Malaysia. It is located in Kuala Lumpur. This monument is built for the purpose to commemorate people who struggle for freedom and  died during World War II. The sculptures of human being are commonly seen in Greek. Moreover, the seven soldiers that are four times bigger than normal size of human are made up of bronze which are also similar with Greek sculptures. 

http://www.malaysiacentral.com/information-directory/attractions-places-to-visit/shopping-and-sightseeing-places-in-kuala-lumpur/tugu-negara-tugu-pahlawan-national-monument-of-malaysia-in-kuala-lumpur/

Muzium Telekom

This is a old building named Muzium Telekom which located in Malaysia. It serves as a telecommunications museum Malaysia's premier. The ionic columns are similar with Greek's buildings. Furthermore, the arches around the building also seen in ancient Roman.

http://www.timeoutkl.com/aroundtown/venues/Telekom-Museum

The Cenotaph

This is another national monument in Malaysia named The Cenotaph (Tugu Negara). It was constructed in 1996. Similar to Tugu Pahlawan, it is a tomb or a monument that is erected as memorials to the War dead during World War I. The word "Cenotaph" is derives from Greek(κενοτάφιον = kenotaphion). It was a common tradition in ancient world because there are some cenotaphs built in Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece.

http://www.malaysiacentral.com/information-directory/attractions-places-to-visit/shopping-and-sightseeing-places-in-kuala-lumpur/tugu-negara-tugu-pahlawan-national-monument-of-malaysia-in-kuala-lumpur/

Petronas Twin Tower

Petronas Twin Tower is located at Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. The design of Petronas Twin Tower (KLCC) in Malaysia used columns with doric order.  The doric order is one of the three main organizational order in ancient Greek. 

As you can see from this picture, the person is using a horn from Egypt culture. The cobra is very common in Egypt too. Ancient Egyptians believe that all animals and objects have spirit within them. Therefore, some Egytians will communicate with the animals.

My thoughts...

I hope my drawing skill will improve in the future after I joined this course.

My ambition was to be a teacher when I was young. But after I grow up, I found that is not easy to be a teacher or even lecturer, need to mark a lot of exercises and assignments, quite a tiring work. After that I switched my ambition to be a lawyer because I speak very well when arguing with people in Mandarin, haha. But lawyer not just need to talk and have to understand law very well. I hate those things that need to memorise, that's why I hate Sejarah during secondary school although I got an A+ for it, it's sound funny right? I forced myself to remember all the facts the week before exam, that's how I get an A. Slowly when I graduated, I found that I prefer design. I do not really like drawing but I interested in typography design. My mind keep on changing, I do not know what I really want. I hope I can discover it before I complete my degree course.

Actually, my knowledge about history is very poor, therefore I hope can gain more knowledge from this course and get to know some of the memorable history of art and design. Erm.. I know is a must to study the history of art and design but it is really a boring stuff for me, maybe because I hate history? I don't know. I agreed that it is necessary in order to help me to develop my larger goals, I will try to like it. ^^

Compare Mayan Pyramids & Egyptian Pyramids

The Mayan pyramid is truncated so that a temple can be built on the top.The staircases lead from ground level to the temple. The number of staircases that the pyramids had varied, but there were typically two or four.  Many times there would be a platform connecting the steps somewhere near the middle of the pyramid so that the priest-king could stop and do a part of his ritual before continuing to the top.
    
Besides from having religious functions, Mayan pyramids also served other purposes. The pyramids were built so high that their tops could be seen protruding out of the jungle.  Because of this, the Mayan people were able to use them as landmarks. That was not the only significance of building them so high though. They also served as a reminder that the gods were ever present.


Some pyramids even house burial chambers for high ranking officials.  Housed inside these mammoth structures were small burial rooms.  There were narrow corridors that led to these chambers.  These burial chambers often contained treasures such as jade.

*~Mayan Pyramid~*

The Egyptian pyramids are ancient pyramid-shaped masonry structures located in Egypt. This pyramid and its surrounding complex were designed by the architect Imhotep, and are generally considered to be the world's oldest monumental structures constructed of dressed masonry. The shape of Egyptian pyramids is thought to represent the primordial mound from which the Egyptians believed the earth was created. The shape of a pyramid is thought to be representative of the descending rays of the sun, and most pyramids were faced with polished, highly reflective white limestone, in order to give them a brilliant appearance when viewed from a distance. 

*~Egyptian Pyramid~*

In the conclusion, the Mayan pyramids were combined temples and tombs, while the Egyptian pyramids were tombs with temples attached. Both had square bases and four sides, but they look very different. The true Egyptian pyramids are much larger than the Mayan pyramids, and have smooth sides and pointed tips. Originally, they were covered in white limestone and their tips were covered in gold so that they shone in Egypt's strong sunlight. The Maya pyramids are much later in date. They are stepped or tiered, with stairways to allow access to the flat top, which housed ceremonial buildings.

BBC：艾未未专题纪录片（Ai Weiwei, Without Fear or Favor）