ValerieCreations

Portfolio

2009-11-11T23:20:00.002+08:00

Thought of using color pencils as a theme for my portfolio so I came up with this idea of a painting of color pencils with colors dripping down.

Firstly, I decided to use one color pencil for one assignment and they are of different colors. In other words, different color pencil was used to represent different assignments. The reason for me to do a colorful portfolio is that colors is a representation of me and my life as I'm always constantly facing ups and downs. Therefore, colors can be used to portray them, for instance, someday u might be down(blue), other days you might be happy(yellow) or you might even be angry(red), etc...

Well, here's the portfolio I did! Enjoy~

Postcard (Final)

2009-11-08T21:06:00.001+08:00

My postcard after amendment!

First of all, I added the name of music festival so that it look more music festival related. Then, I cut down on the words and also change the font of the text to make them stand out more. On top of that, I also edited my color scheme and try playing around colors for guitar and drum.

Color Scheme

Postcard Front

Postcard Back

I created an imaginary musical festival called Groove Live Music Fest 2009.
This festival mainly have live music of various genre like Rock, Classic,
Jazz, etc. Live music consists of live bands hence, I thought of using guitar
and drums in my postcard design.

I chose Sensual Jazz color scheme because it is the best among all and it
gives a nice sensual mood to it. Furthermore, the graphics stands out
more with the dark background color to give a nice contrast.

Poster design (Final)

2009-11-08T21:03:00.002+08:00

After refinement version of my poster!

Basically, I am reshuffling all the objects in my poster to make it more coherent. First of all, I centralized the text "Be Active" to make it look more balanced. Next, I moved the text "Enjoy Golden Age. Prevent Isolation Among Aging Community. Age with Dignity." to beneath the title to make it a sub-title. Then, I added a black background for my copy to achieve a more contrasting view. Lastly, I removed the NUS logo and added in more logos to the poster to complete my poster.

Making images talk (Final)

2009-11-08T20:55:00.000+08:00

Here's the finalised version after amendments

I added in an abstract version of the bird for the forth abstraction.

Again, I chose the 3rd abstraction for pictogram:

The bird viewing area loses its identity at the 4th level. Hence, I decided to use the 3rd level as the pictogram for the bird viewing area.

This pictogram can be placed in maps to let people notice the existence of this place. Furthermore, it can also be used for sign board so as to guide people who are unfamiliar to the bird viewing area.

Me, Myself and I (Final)

2009-11-08T20:50:00.003+08:00

After many rounds of refinement, this is the finalised one~

First of all, I added in a background to make the whole illustration look complete. Next, I redrew the musical notes in Adobe Illustrator to make it look better. Also, I shorten the wire of the speaker for the letter 'L' and enlarge the letter 'V' to make the whole image more balance. Lastly, 'I am Val and I love MUSIC' becomes 'Val loves MUSIC'. And here's my final version of 'Val Loves MUSIC'!

I used the initials of my name, which is Val because my full name, Valerie, is rather long. In order to show that I love music for this concept, I used simple stickman doing various music-related actions like playing guitar and singing to form the initials of my name.

For 'Valerie Hates DIRT', I redrew everything in Adobe Illustrator again! The reason is because I used live trace previously therefore manipulation is tough! So I decide to redraw everything in Illustrator..

This concept show that I really hate dirt by having a hand trying to clean away the dirt particles on my beautiful wall. The dirt particles on the wall form the initials of my name, ‘VAL’ and the cloth on the right form the other part of my name ‘erie’. Hence, ‘Valerie hates dirt’.

Personally, I love my Dirt concept a lot! Hehehe.. (:

Our Storybook

2009-11-05T23:04:00.002+08:00

This storybook was done by Ann Soon, Chris, Kan, Mun, Melissa and me.. Finally, after lots of effort and hard work, it's done! Good job everybody (:

Well, here's the thumbnails of our storybook (: Enjoy~

Storyline:
Grandma’s Blanket is about a boy named Kan who was very naughty. He doesn’t like the blanket his grandma Mel made for him. He tried various ways to get rid of the blanket. After a cold night at his friend, Chris house, Kan realize that he was in the wrong and from then on Kan treasure the blanket a lot.

Storybook (My Story)

2009-10-12T21:37:00.002+08:00

This is my story but it was not choosen. We chose Ann Soon's story instead and modified some parts to make it more complete. (:

Anyway, here's my story:

Little Kiki had a very wonderful grandfather who loved him very much, but Kiki never returned the love that his grandfather gave him and often took it for granted. Every day, no matter rain or shine, Kiki’s grandfather would always walk him to and from school, prepare food for him, take care of him and make sure that little Kiki slept well every night.

One day, when little Kiki was out playing, he met Mr Oink, his grandfather’s friend, along the way. Mr Oink said “You should not take things for granted. You should treasure the people around you”. But Kiki ignored Mr Oink and walked away. As little Kiki was jumping around, he bumped into Mrs Moo. Mrs Moo said “You should not jump around like that, you may get injured. People who love you will be worried”. But Kiki ignored Mrs Moo and hopped away. Along the way, little Kiki met a lot different people telling him that it is very important to treasure people around him, not to make people who love him worried and not to take things for granted but he ignored everybody.

As it grew darker and Kiki was not home yet, his grandfather was worried and went out to look for him. His grandfather came upon Mr Oink and Mrs Moo who told him that they saw Kiki over at the park. Kiki’s grandfather went over to the park to look for Kiki and he finally found Kiki after searching for two hours. Day after day, Kiki would do the same routine, going out to play until his grandfather went out to look for him.

It was till one day, while Kiki’s grandfather was out looking for Kiki, he was knocked down by a car. Despite being injured, Kiki’s grandfather still continued to look for Kiki. When he finally found Kiki, he was looking very pale. Kiki was shocked to see grandfather looking so bad and he shouted for help immediately. Mr Oink and Mrs Moo heard him and they come to help. When they saw Kiki’s grandfather’s state, they quickly sent him to the hospital. At that moment, Kiki realised how much his grandfather loved him and regretted how he never showed him any compassion in return.

Kiki prayed day and night for grandfather to be alright. He promised that he would become a good boy. Luckily, Kiki’s grandfather was back on his feet very soon. On that day, Kiki learned a very important lesson. He learned that the value of family is very important because there is a lot of uncertainty and danger that may happen anytime. From that day onwards, Kiki always took care of his grandfather and avoided doing anything that would make him worry.

Characters

Postcard (v1)

2009-10-05T18:59:00.005+08:00

Tutorial 6 assignment (e-tutorial):

Postcard: Theme – Musical Festivals

Design a postcard (sponsored by Communications and New Media Department)
Card should convey the theme primarily through colours (85%) with no use of photographs.
Try out different color scheme in A3 (as many as possible, Min 6)
Postcard front: 4C, Postcard back: 2C (only B&W, no greyscale)
Size of the artwork: A4 or smaller

This week tutorial is different from normal tutorial cos we are having e-tutorial. It's good cos we don't need to travel to school. Hehe.. But we need to upload our work 1 hour prior to class and in the first 45 minutes, we need to comment on at least 10 classmates' works. Then, in the next 45 minutes, we will defend our work based on classmates' comments. Lastly, tutors will check our work and comments in the last 15 minutes and it's the end of tutorial..

Oh and this week, I only have one day to complete this assignment cos of the many mid-terms I had and also one that's on Saturday! And my tutorial is on Monday morning.. OMG.. >_< Furthermore, I fall sick after Saturday's mid-term.. Argh..

Despite of all this, I still have to get things done..

Well, the theme is Musical Festivals. I didn't realize that there's such a festival going on until I got this assignment. Haha. I start by doing some research then after research, I finally got some idea of what I can do. So, I grab a piece of paper have some rough sketches before I start drawing on Adobe Illustrator.

And this is what I have done:

Colour Scheme

Postcard Front

Postcard Back

Comments and suggestions received:
- Add name of music festival so that it look more music festival related
- Black and white isn't convincing color scheme
- I could try colors with dominant yellow or green
- Try playing around colors for guitar and drums
- Try to bold or try different fonts for text to make them stand out more
- Cut down on the words

Poster design (v1)

2009-09-28T23:07:00.007+08:00

Tutorial 5 assignment:

Create a poster design to promote Active Aging.
Firstly, pick a topic related to the theme (e.g., Enhancing physical well-being, Widening social networks, Remaining economically independent, Staying mentally and emotionally healthy or your own active aging theme etc)

Secondly, create your own slogan such as “add years to your life and life to your years”, “Changing my age by changing the way I age” etc and write a relevant copy of not more than 150 words.

The aim is to design the poster such that it coveys the meaning through layout (placement of visual elements - photos, text, graphics elements etc)

First of all, I choose the topic Widening Social Networks because 1 in 5 Senior Citizens lives alone and suffer from some form of Self Isolation. Therefore, it is important to get senior citizen to lead an active and healthy lifestyle, engage in lifelong learning as well as to widen their social networks so as to prevent isolation among the aging community!

The slogan I created was "Be Active. Age Is No Barrier!". This slogan simply let the aging community get the message of "Age is no barrier because it is just a number after all, therefore, they should be active and enjoy their golden age in order to age with dignity".

I have taught of several images to portray this topic but chosen to draw 2 cartoon-ish elderly (1 male & 1 female) using a laptop to stay connected with their grandchildren, friends, etc to show that there is no barrier in learning to use a computer and also to widen their social network.

Here's what I have done after much brainstorming...

Comments Received:
1. Centralized "Be Active"
2. "Enjoy Golden Age! Prevent Isolation Among the Aging Community! Age with Dignity!" can be placed below the title
3. Copy can placed below picture with contrasting background like black
4. I could find other logos to put other than NUS logo

Talking forms (group activity)

2009-09-17T20:02:00.006+08:00

Lecture 6 Classroom Exercise

Using basic elements (line and dot) create 2 abstract / semi-abstract representative images conveying meaning of these words (1 image per word).

Images should communicate the meaning of the words through form (basic visual elements)

The words given were precise and exceed. Chris, Melissa and I came up with these semi-abstract images..

Dr Julian assessed our work and evaluated that for the word precise, the top semi-abstract representative convey the meaning better and as for the word exceed, both of them did convey the meaning.. :)

U C what I C

2009-09-14T22:54:00.009+08:00

Tutorial 4 assignment:

Telling a story using no more than 8 visuals, and with < 10 words title.
The story can be with or without a twist.
Photograph with or without photo manipulation via software.

To tell a story with no more than 8 visuals is quite tough.. I have been thinking about the story for nearly a day! Thought of a few story but choose this particular story because it's the best among all (in terms of understanding the story).

Well, I will show the visuals first then follow by my story.. :)

Storyline:

1. One late and quiet night, a girl just parked her car. She was closing the car door, keeping her pouch and answering the phone.

2. The girl was still on the phone and a guy with white band on his right hand was following her.

3. The girl was still on the phone and she didn't notice that someone was following her.

4. Suddenly, the guy with white band reached out his hand to tap on the girl shoulder and the girl was shocked.

5. The guy was just trying to return the pouch that the girl had dropped. The girl was surprised.

6. The guy explained where did the girl dropped her pouch.

Comments received:
Most of them can understand the story..
Can understand the story even without a title.. :)

Glad that I don't need to redo.. Hehe.. ^_^

Making images talk (v2)

2009-09-09T23:39:00.010+08:00

After refinement:

Firstly, I added in grass to the first and second abstraction so that it is more detailed in order to further distill in later abstractions. Next, I added in a bird silhouette to the third abstraction so that it looks more like a bird cage. Also, I redo the forth abstraction so that it is not the abstract of the abstract.

Choosen the 3rd abstraction for pictogram:

Making images talk (v1)

2009-09-07T21:49:00.011+08:00

Tutorial 3 Assignment:

First, we need to select a location in Singapore to create a representative image of that object.
Distill the image through 5 levels of abstraction and select the one that best represents/ communicates the object and develop into a pictogram.

These were some of the ideas that I have initially:
Place of worship (temple)
Shopping centre
Sports facilities
Food centre
Japanese Restaurant
Chinatown
Bird Viewing
Natural Reserve

Finally, I decided to choose bird viewing area near my house because i think that this place is a nice place which is different from other bird viewing area in Singapore. Also, not many people know that this place actually exist! So, I think I should help to develop a pictogram for this place in order to let more people know about this place.

I choose the 3rd abstraction for the pictogram.

Comments received:
First abstraction can be more detail by adding the grass so that later abstraction can have more details to remove.
Bird cage looks like lantern, maybe I could add lines for the cage or bird inside the cage to make it look more like bird cage.
Second last abstraction is already abstract and last one is abstract abstract so I can remove one of them and create something in between 3rd and last.

Iconic and Indexic (group activity)

2009-09-03T21:41:00.010+08:00

Lecture 4 Classroom Exercise

Select an object and try to create iconic and indexic representations of the object.

Melissa and I came up with these iconic & indexic representations:

Me, Myself and I (Part 3 - v2)

2009-09-02T22:55:00.004+08:00

Redrew, rescan, retrace both of them again. I hope this time round my name is visible.

Well, here's my digital format computer graphic after refinement:

I am VAL and I love MUSIC

I added a guitar to the letter 'V' so that the guitar guides the viewer to see the letter 'V'. Then, I changed the mic to wireless mic so that viewer can get a better view of the letter 'A'. I also moved the speaker to be part of letter 'L' so that it will look more like 'L'.

I am VAL and I hate DIRT

First of all, I thickened the hands and legs of the dirt particle so that the letters of my name are more visible. I also changed the color of the dirt particle to black so that it is less distracting and also to show that I really hate them.

Me, Myself and I (Part 3)

2009-08-31T23:20:00.001+08:00

Tutorial 2 assignment:

Converting hand drawings to digital format(1 Concept One and 1 Concept Two)

I am rather new to Adobe Illustrator so the tips that Dr Julian and Ms Siti gave on converting hand drawings to digital format are rather useful to me. It really saved me alot of time! :) But I still have to learn while I do my assignment.. Exploring, exploring and exploring...

Hmmm.. First of all, I redrew the 2 selected concepts then I scanned in both of the hand drawings. Next, I choose to use Adobe Illustrator to do the tracing, colouring, effects and text. Finally, when everything was done, it's printing time!

Below were my digital format computer graphics :)

I am VAL and I love MUSIC

I added a speaker and some musical notes to the background so that it doesn't look so plain. I also added more details to the microphone so that it looks more like a microphone. The used of bright colours in this concept is to show that music bring colors and lives to my world.

I am VAL and I hate DIRT

I bring the legs of the letter 'L' closer to each other so that it will look more like the letter 'L'. I also bring the hands of the letter 'A' together, above the dirt particle's head so that it look more like an 'A'. The used of the colour brown is to show dirtyness and hateness.

Comments received: Can't really see my name.

Therefore, I need to do refinement to make my name more visible!

Me, Myself and I (Part 2)

2009-08-24T23:59:00.001+08:00

Tutorial 1 assignment:

Develop 2 full-scale variations of each selected concept(2 Concept One and 2 Concept Two)

Below were the sketches that I have done:

I love music (1)

I use music notes to manipulate the letters of my name and I draw a silhouette figure of a girl singing to represent I love listening to music as well as singing. The rainbow lines is use to show that music bring colors and lives to my world.

Comments received: Common design. So I think I will work on I love music (2).

I love music (2)

I use people singing to manipulate the letters of my name.

I hate dirt (1)

I hate dirt so I use dirt particle to manipulate the letter of my name. The dirt have black vampire teeth to show that I hate them.

Comments received: Make the legs of the letter 'L' closer together so that it looks more like 'L'. The letter 'a' doesn't look like 'a'.

I hate dirt (2)

I use a big dirt particle holding onto an arrow instead of devil stick to manipulate the letters of my name. The left arm of the dirt particle show the letter 'V', the body is an 'A' and the arrow is the 'l'.

Comments received: Can't really see Val. I hate dirt (1) is better.

Me, Myself and I (Part 1)

2009-08-22T23:30:00.001+08:00

Lecture assignment:

First of all, we need to list down words that describe us the best. Then, evaluate how to implement these words and choose 2 of them to further develop the concept. We need to develop 8 Thumbnail sketches(4 Concept One and 4 Concept Two). The aim of this assignment is to create an object manipulation of our name using what best describes our personality, hate, love etc.

Therefore, I listed words that describe me:
I am Val and I love...
Chocolates, photography, nature, shopping, sky, playground, food, flowers, music

I am Val and I hate...
Insects, dirt, worms

As we can't simply use alphabets, I have a tough time getting ideas on how the object could be manipulated into letters of my name! Therefore, I doodled during my free time as well as on the bus home and to school. After lots of doodling, I finally came up with the 2 words for my sketches.
They were “I love music” and “I hate dirt”.

Below were the 8 thumbnail sketches that I have made...

I am Val and I love music

I am Val and I hate dirt