Design Project (Final Artwork) - 'How Technology Affects Human'

Summary
As we know, technology affects human in many ways such as in the area of communication, health, economy, environment, transportation and so on. Through my research, I have found mainly on the issues of technology affecting the environment. In this modern world of technology and rising globalization, energy consumption in our planet has also increased. This caused many detrimental effects on our world climate and air quality. However, with the modern technology being invented, it helps to improve energy management systems and also helps to develop environmental friendly products such as bio-fuels. Also, on the other hand, we know that there is a link between the way energy is being produced and the damage caused by pollution. Hence, the positive effect which technology bring to the environment would also affect human negatively. All in all, both technology and environment work hand in hand to give human a better future, but to maintain the future of our planet, cleaner and alternative ways to manage new technology has to be taken into account.

The term here is 'environmental technology',  where different electronic devices are used to promote sustainable resources management.

Sketch

Design Process
Step 1 :
The sketch above was scanned and opened in photoshop. Then, the image was cropped and resized according to standard A2 size. For this landscape sketch, it was 594mm width X 420mm height with resolution of 300 pixels.

Step 2 :
I started off by creating another layer - tree trunk. Then, using the quick selection tool, I selected specific area for the tree trunk and filled it with black color.

tree trunk layer

selected area of tree trunk

black filled

Step 3:
After changing the foreground to brown-ish color, I selected the tree trunk's area once more, pressed Filter > Render > Filters  to create an effect. Variance was 17 and Strength was 3. This was all done on the tree trunk layer and blending mode was multiply.

After the effect was added

Step 4:
I filled up the blank spaces on the tree trunk using a slightly different tone of brown and created a new layer as 'leaves' and started coloring it.

Coloring the leaves

 Step 5:

After coloring all the leaves on different layers and using different tones, i added in some effects such as drop shadow and inner shadow.

the tree with added effects

Step 6:
Next, I started coloring the robot by creating different layers and using gradient tool to create the shade. Then, i added in extra effects such as stroke, drop shadow and inner shadow on different layers of the robot.

Step 7:
I filled up the blank spaces on the robot's chest by creating a text layer using horizontal type tool and wrote "HELLO". Then, it was converted to smart object so that I am able to adjust the skew-ness of the words.

right clicked on the 'Hello' layer and pressed 'Covert to Smart Object'

The finalized coloring of both the tree and the robot

Step 8:
Next, to fill up the background, I created another layer call "cloud" and filled it with blue gradient tool. Then, on the same layer, I used a white color brush with lower capacity to create the clouds effect.

Step 9:

Another layer 'land color' was created and  filled with both green and blue color using gradient tool. Again, the cloud effects were created the same way. 

Step 10:

After filling up all the gaps in the artwork, noise was added on the 'cloud' and 'land color' layer. (Filter > Noise > Add noise > 35% > Uniform)

art work with added noise

Step 11:

After that, I duplicated the layer of the clouds and the land, and on the duplicated layers, I added extra effect (Color overlay of red-ish color)

Step 12:
Lastly, to blend the cloud and land properly, the background copied layers were applied with Gaussian Blur (Radius = 60 Pixels). Then, all the layers were set as multiply to enhance the effect of gaussian blur. Final touch up were applied and the finalized design is shown below.

Final Artwork

Artist Statement
The idea of this artwork is to portray that environmental technology is something positive and negative to the environment. The tree is being portray as the 'environment' while the robot as 'technology'. Here, it can be seen that both parties which are 'shaking hands' show that both technology and environment work together positively to create a better life for human. However, notice the added red-ish color/noise effect for the background? I used that to represent environmental technology may also cause other detrimental effects such as pollution. All in all, this artwork is to portray the distinct features of how both separate entity can work together so well for human life,however, if precautions are not being taken, it will have negative effects as well.

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Reference
http://www.itchybrainscentral.com/example-essays/ecology-impact-technology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_technology

Early Sketches for Design Project

For our design project with the theme "How technology affects human life", we were asked to do five sketches. Below are my sketches done :

  1st sketch :Technology affects the environment positively and negatively

 2nd sketch : Technology and human - having a split personality

 3rd sketch: Technology changed our childhood life.

 4th sketch: Technology and environment help each other.

5th sketch :Technology affects communication in a family

The 4th sketch was approved for this design project. 

Creating Pop Art

Pop art is a form of art movement which include imagery from popular culture such as news, advertising, comics and so on. It is widely interpreted as the idea of abstract expressionism and also the expansion upon it. Pop art often use irony to apply images of popular culture in art which emphasizes on the banal and sentimental elements of any given culture.

For this blog post, we were supposed to create a pop art using our own image. Hence, by following the steps in this tutorial (link) , I managed to create a pop art image of my own by using different combination of colours.

Pop Art Image

Reference : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop_art

Pop Art Tutorial : http://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-effects/pop-art/
                           http://www.melissaevans.com/tutorials/pop-art-inspired-by-lichtenstein

Photo Montage/ Collage

Using the technique of magic wand tool, lasso tool, blending, and so on, we were asked to create a photo montage/ photo collage by placing different objects into a picture. This was done by placing all the objects in a harmony and balance way through the use of design principles and elements.

Here is the art work which I did for this topic. 

'Family Day Out at The Paddy Field'

Basically, by using the paddy field as my main background, I added in the father and son, mother and daughter to show that it was a family day out together in a natural setting. Then, I added in the puppies running excitedly towards them to bring out the sense of happiness shown in animals. The birds in the clear blue sky were also added into this artwork. All in all, this piece of art work was done to show the true happiness and joy in a family, that is between the parents and their children together with their puppies.


“Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city.” 
― George Burns

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Sources: 

Background picture, the paddy field : https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQafikY7Ex53HdRYniejUYN57QLAEknJbbk7J53QiWj8WjliobtD6nOzmb4IVtgQqvY5_YXT_V-pu6rXjEgIjmmc_YrcFBRTFfMvR7muewWpoGe0MjsE3J95W1d5jztQBgJ58HY2LzPdyd/s1600/IMG_0303.JPG

Father and son : https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN8vEr1PaLJ21VpNhSV4K-79UhWffzUCmvwN8v-x4Bo1hsHLFrP4I-P_VK0D0bHZLilV0jx563atAyVQAAnW8Al6tLCAnQp2mWymDBOdCMcCWPzyFDqi5AtQ7YOOW4oXqHCpcpX1vy_s4/s1600/father-and-son.jpg

Mother and daughter: http://www.gotceleb.com/wp-content/uploads/celebrities/katie-holmes/out-and-about-in-nyc/Katie%20Holmes%20with%20daughter-%20Both%20look%20lovely%20in%20a%20similar%20style-01.jpg

Puppies : http://lukeromyn.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/two-cute-puppies-running.jpg

               http://aoifukuro.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/running-moshi-1.jpg

Birds : http://www.twitsnaps.com/share/photo/20123_FlyingBirds.jpg

National Visual Art Gallery

Last week, my friends and i had a fruitful visit to the National Visual Arts Gallery where we had a chance to admire the art paintings, drawings and even sculptures that were presented there. The main reason for our visit was to pick a painting or a piece of art work which had inspired or caught our attention and describe it in this blog post. Regardless of the main purpose, it was definitely an eye opener to me as I have never visited any art gallery before this. 

Main entrance of National Visuals Arts Gallery Malaysia 

As we stepped into the entrance of the gallery, a creative piece of artwork at the reception counter greeted us. As we can see below, the man in the picture looks like he is approaching us, giving us a feeling as if there is some sort of force attracting us to enter the exhibition gallery to check out for more interesting artwork.

 Reception counter at art gallery 

The art gallery is being divided into different sections such as absurd(c)ity, meditative period, gestural period, pre Berlin and other forms where we found many interesting artwork. Most of the artwork exhibited was by Latiff Mohidin as the theme was '60 Years Latiff Mohidin : Retrospective'. However, that particular piece of art work which caught my attention was located in  the ABSURD(C)ITY exhibition on the ground floor.

Entrance into the ABSURD(C)ITY exhibition gallery

Description of the art work

Artist  : Imanordin Mohd Shah

Name : Di Belakang 

Oil Paint (1994)

That particular piece of artwork which caught my eyes was designed by an artist called Imanordin Mohd Shah. It was named using Malay words, that is "Di Belakang", which means Behind. To me, it is called 'Di Belakang' because the setting in the artwork looks like the backyard of a house or perhaps somewhere at the back lane where not many will notice its existence. The pinkish-peach color cracked wall with water leaking from it depicts the harshness of life. 

In this picture, it has a pair of navy blue jeans on the left side and a light blue short-sleeve working shirt with white stripes on the right side, both hanging on a green string/rope stretching from one end to another at the backyard of a house. There is also a red clip attached to the shirt which I interpreted it as to keep the shirt in place.

The most interesting part of this artwork is the feet hanging down at the bottom of the jeans with a wire hanging out from the left knee through a small hole on the jeans. Also, a hand with a small green plant growing out from it was drawn hanging down from the sleeve of the shirt. To me, this brought about quite a meaningful message to our lives. Although we may be stuck in any parts of our lives which would not allow us to move on or take a step further from the current situation, we should not give up. There is still hope and life as we can do many other smaller scale yet meaningful things just by reaching out to people. Lastly, this art work also pointed out to me that no matter how harsh or difficult life can be in a current situation, we must stay strong and learn from these challenges as hope is still present.

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Last but not least, I find the application of art work around national art gallery such as paintings by the stairs and beside the escalator really brighten up the environment in the gallery. All in all, this trip was definitely worth it. 

 art work and paintings by the staircase

art work beside the escalator

Art Movement - Street art

Art movement is a style of doing art which is extended over a period of time and is distinctly different than another movement of art. These styles are used to describe art within the same time period and region practiced by a group of artists. There are many types of art movements such as abstract art, conceptual art, expressionism, modernism, op art, pop art and so on. 

The art movement that I am going to discuss here is Street Art. 

Street art is also known as visual art which can be seen in public places, usually along the streets. To be more specific, it is called the 'post-graffiti' which is used to differentiate between contemporary space art work from vandalism, territorial graffiti and corporate art. 

Bansky graffiti on the Bottom of Park Street Bristol 

Street piano 

Also, Street artists do not aim to change the definition of artwork, but they question the current environment with its own language. They attempt to communicate their work about socially relevant ideas with people through esthetic values without being imprisoned.

Street art depicting global warming in Berlin

Street art also include many other media and techniques such as mosaic tiling, murals, stencil art, LED art, video projection and so on. The video projection onto large city buildings is a new form of graffiti where it became a popular tool for street artists. Below are a few examples of street art using other media and techniques :

mosaic tiling

 stencil art 

 Video projection art

Besides that, street art are often used by artists who wish to keep their art work unaffiliated and strongly political. Their work are mostly done without official approval in public areas. Hence, street art is occasionally called 'post-graffiti' or 'neo-graffiti'. It can be found around the world as artists usually travel to different foreign countries to spread their designs or artwork. Street has also become the most favorite platforms for artists because it is easier to access by anyone. Hence, street arts today have become seemingly popular in most parts of the world.

For example, Bansky, who is an anonymous street artist became popular for his challenging stenciled piece of art. Also, his artworks were different from others with striking images and slogans. He is also one of the Academy Award nominated street artist. Few of his art works can be seen below:

Peace Vs Love

 Shop till you drop

Pissing guard

There are different motivations and objectives that drive street artists themselves. Nowadays, some street artists used "smart vandalism" as a way to raise awareness of social and political issues. However, the universal theme in most of the street art is adapting visual artwork into an arrangement which uses public space, allowing artists to reach a wider reach of audience compared to traditional artwork and galleries.

While most large cities in the world host some form of urban art or graffiti, there are a few locations which developed pioneering street art culture. These locations often attract artists to exhibit their art work. Some of these locations include Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe and so on.

In Malaysia, in a project funded by the Penang State government in conjunction with the Penang's Georgetown Festival, certain old walls has gained a new lease of life by an artist call Ernest Zacharevic. He left many beautiful wall paintings of children all across historical Georgetown, his artworks which include figure drawings and portraits were interesting, funny and are open to everyone's interpretations. Below are a few artworks that can found in Penang:

 The famous "Little children on bicycle"

 Reaching Up

 The awaiting trishaw paddle

Boy on A Bike

Little Girl in Blue

Lastly, there is also 3D-graffiti which represents a new way of combining the art techniques of Renaissance with the gritty qualities of street art. 3D-street artists brought about a whole new meaning to graffiti which was before this, seen as vandalism in the form of images and letters scrawled on public property. A few famous artists include Kurt Wenner, Edgar Muller and Tracy Lee Stum.

Kurt Wenner's artwork

 Muller's artwork

Tracy Lee Stum's artwork

All in all, street art is an interesting form of art movement which has been adopted by many artists all around the world.



Reference : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_movement
                  http://www.osnatfineart.com/art-movement.jsp
                  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_Art
                  http://www.siliconindia.com/news/general/10-Marvelous-Pieces-of-Street-Art-From- 
                  Around-the-Globe-nid-149036-cid-1.html
                  http://www.onlypenang.com/where-to-go/penang-street-art-wall-painting-at-penang/
                  http://weburbanist.com/2008/06/29/top-10-3d-graffiti-artists-in-the-world/

Image Sources : Google Image