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I have been inspired by Charles and Ray Eames ever since we covered them and their lives in a spatial histories unit, the couple ran a studio that did everything from architecture textiles, film and graphic design, fashion, furniture and pretty much whatever inspired them. I enjoy their designs styles in everything they chose to pursue, but also the fact that them and their employees were so multi-disciplinary. It represents to me the key word 'exploration', because as a designer I still really have no clue which path I want to take, I just want to learn and explore as much as possible.

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I love the gentle exploration of everyday things, birds and animals. Warm colours, use of water colours, pencils and paint pens. Mixing media and just drawing what you see or what you enjoy at the time. I love the idea of just romanticising the everyday through art, and also how I can transform that into the spaces people live within.

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The sketch book of this artist showcases the brainstorming and concept development of each of his pieces right next to the final work. It demonstrates to me that the process is equally as important as the final product and can be just as beautiful, even though its something we generally hide. It can be hard to want to share my work with my peers and even tutors as I deal with major imposter syndrome, much like many others I am sure. I would like in the future to explore the idea of the progress being the final piece within a project and just generally delve deeper into exploration.

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Alena's work is very aesthetically pleasing to me. Very architectural in form and nature, her work represents to me many of the key words I identified for myself: Its whimsical, explorative, inspires hope and wonder. For me it feels like much of her work tells a story, giving you a great sense of the proposed atmosphere of the buildings her company designs.

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What really stood out to me within many of Roper's pieces is the subject matter; the classic painting of a vase, flowers but then the addition of the crayons which to me evoke such a playfulness and whimsy. Again, I love the idea that art can bring out the magic of everyday objects! I also enjoy the softness of his work and wish to explore painting as a medium throughout this portfolio.

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For my icons I chose to do botanical icons based off plants in the Brisbane City Botanical gardens. I choose a fig species, and macadamia species and a pine. The abstraction process was fairly simple, I generated basic shapes from the reference images I selected and then added additional detail if needed (I added the berries to the fig leaf as the leaf itself was a very common shape.)  The pine was by far the most difficult to abstract, having such complex forms and took a lot of trial and error within illustrator with duplicating and reflecting various shapes. I choose orange as it is my favourite colour, and the one I have decided to try and use consistently through my work where possible.

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I love Art Nouveau and the movement it represented. It was a reactionary style that aimed to break down the division between the fine arts and the applied arts, giving the tradesman more freedom to explore his craft. Rather than displaying art in your home, art becomes your home. In both art and architecture the style is largely inspired by nature and plant life, as well as the feminine form. Buildings might include intricate metal handrails shaped like twisting vines and stunning stained glass windows, where as drawings and prints would depict women surrounded by dynamic plant forms that evoke a sense of movement.   Alphonse Mucha's work is a great example of this.

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'Draw something you love in a different style'

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'Draw something you love in a different style'

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This painting was part of the 'draw something you love everyday in a different style' homework activity. It is a depiction of my tea and coffee collection in the kitchen. I am not an experienced painter (I could probably count the number of times I have tried to paint something seriously on one hand) but I really enjoyed how this one turned out. I was inspired to try out this style by Stuart Roper's work and want to continue to explore paint as a medium in my final projects.

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uses sketch up models as a base for drawings

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Design is seeking to improve, whether it be one's own life, a company's prospects, a community or the  world around us. Design is seeking to express and connect with others through individual and shared experiences and emotions. Design is no longer separate; Designers collaborate and should aim to be skilled in drawing creativity from each other and the community we are serving

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Experimenting with trace image  and shape/lines

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Experimenting with trace image  and shape/lines

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Experimenting with trace image  and shape/lines/colour

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Experimenting with trace image  and shape/lines/colour

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This was from the class activity in which we turned bird into a logo. Though next time I would probably simplify the design more, and I ultimately when in a different direction for my portfolio logo, as my second ever attempt at using illustrator I was pretty happy with how it turned out. It is very satisfying to see my messy hand drawn sketches evolve into such clean shapes and forms.

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Exploration
Hope
Whimsy
Warmth
Compassion

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This experiment was from the 'take a line for a walk' activity. It was nice to just shrug off the expectations of was creating and drawing should be, and I decided to further explore shape and colour by blocking out the forms created by the line work.

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When I started drafting ideas for my self map I knew that I wanted to incorporate elements of Art Nouveau, Stuart Roper’s style and the medium of painting, and that I wanted it to abstract into site plan or map. I picked the site plan as my map type as not only is it a direct reference to design discipline, and the diversity of mediums I am developing skills in and exploring. I referenced art nouveau through the choice of imagery for the painting half; a woman (a depiction of me) surrounded by and in touch with natural elements and plant motifs. I also wanted to add a little bit of insight into my interests and personality through the inclusion of some grass type Pokémon in the blended into the background. I used bright colours that I felt represented my key words, plus orange which I have been trying to consistently use through out all my work this semester since we created our mood boards. I initially used paint to colour the sketch, however I wasn’t completely satisfied the with results, so I scanned it into illustrator and tweaked it until I was happy. It the became a process of printing it out, adding additional shading and colour with coloured markers and rescanning it. This did impact the vibrancy of the colours, but I loved the way the scans looked, as if I had torn a page out of a magazine and scanned it onto my computer. I decided that the Site plan half would be a page from a design magazine.

The site plan half started with me just sketching out street map type forms that took up the whole page. It felt so empty and plain. After messing around with colours and fills within the shapes until I was somewhat happier, I then decided to add more detail to some of the shapes such as trees and buildings. This still wasn’t enough of what I wanted. I spent a full day just adjusting layout and adding different blocks of text. Eventually I decided to cut down the size of the map and add in other diagrams such as building sketches and a timeline. The timeline incorporated my key words and then phrases and concepts that evoked those emotions for me. I am satisfied with design overall, but I wish I had given myself more time to ad detail and fully flesh out both sides.

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I had two initial concepts for my self-portrait. Concept one which was largely inspired by an image of a woman peeking out from under a lily pad. The image was exactly the atmosphere I wanted to create within my work, something a little bit whimsical and weird. However, I also wanted my interpretation to be more light-hearted and not a complete rip off. I didn’t have a pond with giant lily pads at my disposal either. I decided that the location would be the local pool; a place that to me represented summer (my favourite season) and just childhood nostalgia and imagination. The lily pad on the woman’s head would be replaced with a frog hat my mum had crocheted for me. I am not a super experienced photographer to adding the element of water was bound to be tricky as well. Unfortunately, the weather on the day I planned to do it was very cold and very windy, so I decided to go with concept two.

This concept involved projecting my own painting of a butterfly onto myself! Besides being one of my favourite creatures, butterflies in many folktales and cultures were traditionally symbols of hope, good luck and loved ones watching over you. I also loved the illusion that I had butterfly wings and antennae, which added that sense of whimsy and magic. Getting the right lighting and focus with the projector was a challenge, and when posing for the photos (which I am also not very experienced at), it did not help that I could not actually see the camera due to the light from the projector. The awkwardness of my stance and expressions I still feel represent me as a person and a designer. I am not perfect, but I very much enjoyed the outcome and exploring photography as a medium.