Design Principles: Project 3

8th February - 25th February 2022 / Week 6 - 8
Alana Sofia Othman / 0353451 / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media

Design Principles

Project 3

LECTURES

Week 6

Analysing art in 3 parts

Observation

- Identifying visual elements

- Describing what you see

- Looking, thinking and communicating details about the work

Analysis

- Make statements about the work based off observations made

- Think about visual elements/ design principles that are combined to create the work

- Describing visuals theoretically

- Think about the the effect it creates

Interpretation

- Facts about the work

- Historical context

- The references that came before the work

- The meaning & purpose of the work

- A broader perspective on the whole work

INSTRUCTIONS

Project 3: Visual Analysis

Visual Analysis: Violet Evergarden

I went through many different options of what I wanted to analyse. I struggled for awhile as I do not really follow or keep up with any specific artists or designer. Of course picking any random pretty artwork that catches my eye would be easy, but knowing enough about it's background and creating my own artwork inspired from it would be the challenge. I managed to find one artwork that lead me to the artist, allowing me to do a deep dive, giving me some hope of starting this assignment. However while researching more, I felt stuck on it as I was just not THAT into it or him.

I then went back to the recorded lecture, MIB brief and our recorded class on teams of Dr. Charles explaining the brief. I then realised, I was not constrained to an art piece, I had the freedom to do a movie. I thought about my favourite movie, La La Land and my favourite anime, Violet Evergarden. In the end, I chose to center my visual analysis on Violet Evergarden as I have written an essay in my previous uni on La La Land. I wanted to do something different. I thought it would also be nice to give myself a slight challenge with Violet Evergarden as my anime game is not extremely strong, so my knowledge on it is also slightly limited.

I chose to center my visual analysis on this specific scene, Figure 1.1. and 1.2. below, in the anime series as it was a powerful scene that spoke to me and the peak climax of the series. Video 1.1., below, provides a snippet of the episode for reference.

Video 1.1. Snippet from Violet evergarden episode 8

Figure 1.1. Scene from Violet Evergarden 8m29s in episode 8

Figure 1.2. Scene from Violet Evergarden 8m30s in episode 8

Observation

There is a young girl in the center of the frame holding a short sword with her back to the camera. She seems to be staring down into the fire. There are dead bodies in the foreground that are cropped out of the frame. There is the bright burning fire with organic movement. Despite the bright fire, there are hard shadows and a dark, cool background of the forest. The frames have a symmetrical balance and central alignment composition. In the background, a clean forest that is not affected by the fire and remains dark with its cool colours.

In the second frame the camera seems to be zoomed further in, leaving everything out and focusing on the young girl's body language and facial expression. She stands in the same position, only moves her head slightly glancing to the back. The fire has clearly risen as the warm colours of the flame are now seen at her shoulder height. Her eye, beautiful bright blue, and her face expression seems to be calm, or even bored. The cool forest background remains to be unharmed by the raging fire.

The music in this scene, which you can hear in Video1.1., is quite high pitched and the notes seem to be all over the place but there is a harmonious rhythm to it.

Analysis

This scene seems to play with the light and dark as there is a contrast with the warm fire colours with the cool forest background. There even are harsh shadows on the girl despite the bright fire being right under and around her. There is emphasis on the young girl with scale, central alignment and symmetrical balance. The dead bodies feet are essentially leading lines and are cropped out of the frame to remove distraction. The leading lines of the dead bodies lead viewers eyes towards the young girl to further emphasize the focal point, the young girl.

In the first frame, the girl stares at the fire yet her posture remains calm. This is further emphasized in the next frame where she glances back, her expression unbothered and her body unmoving. She is clearly unaffected and unbothered by her surroundings and recent happenings. There is a sense of calmness, clear mind and untroubled-ness despite the burning fire, the cool forest background helps play into that calmness too. Staring at these two frames alone, reminds me of my self portrait for project 1, 'Ocean on Fire'. There is conflict and peace. This scene is contrast paired with balance and unity.

The music gives this poking feeling and makes your insides twist as it goes up and down a lot, it is eerie and intense yet beautiful, peaceful and harmonious. This paired with the two frames really emphasize and give the effect of calmness within chaos. Both the visuals and the music have this conflict, contrast, speed paired with unity and calmness to it.

Interpretation

For further context, here is a brief summary of this anime. Violet, an orphaned young girl was taken and used as a war tool. She became the best soldier there was and was known for it. The only person who saw her other than a war tool and truly cared for her was her reporting major. Once the war ended, Violet was taken in by her reporting major's friend, Claudia Hodgins, and given a job. All Violet knew was to take orders and write reports, she did not have any social skills and could not grasp social cues and emotions, essentially, she was a robot. The anime is about her journey in learning how to function in society as a basic human and understand her emotions.

In this scene, Violet starts to look back at her past and realises that she is on fire, metaphorically. She begins to realise the horrid actions she committed during the war and goes through her long overdue post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This scene is her flashback, it has a contrast of her past and her present, which reminds me of my figure ground outcome for the exercises assignment. The young Violet here is literally on fire, yet she is completely unaffected by it while her present is burning emotionally and mentally, yet she is horridly affected by it to the point of attempting to commit suicide.

This contrast of emotions and situations can probably be further stretched to the visual contrast of the colours with the warm/ bright and cool/dark. We can see that the bright and warm colours are mostly at the lower half of her body where her feet are. While her head and even her eye in the second frame, is mostly covered by a shadow. This could be the subtle visual representation that although she was standing in the fire, her mind, eyes and emotions were completely in the dark, unaffected and unknowing of what truly is happening around her and to her.

The way Violet turns her head to the back reminds me of the classic painting, 'Girl with a Pearl Earring' by Jan Vermeer, seen on the left of Figure 2.1. below. This portrait is famous for her enigmatic expression and of course, the debate on if she is turning away or towards the viewer. Violet's expression is really not much different from Vermeer's painting. One can't really tell exactly what either of them are thinking or what their emotions are. Both visuals have these hard shadows and a contrast of cool and warm colours and, I shouldn't even need to mention, their head turned/tilted to their back to the viewer.

A difference of course is that Violet, unlike Vermeer's painting, does not have any sense of movement or care about looking back. She also has her lips unparted, showing no signs of having anything to say. This further stresses on the point of how Violet, at this moment in the scene, did not have much care in looking back at what she had just done, murdering multiple people, and she definitely had nothing to say about it either. Her eye makes contact with the viewer, showing no shame or remorse, further emphasizing peace within conflict.

Figure 2.1. Comparison of Jan Vermeer's 'Girl with a Pearl Earring' with Violet Evergarden

I can best relate the two frames of Figure 1.1. and 1.2. along with the music to Lord Of The Rings hectic, craziness and violence paired with Enya's calmness and beauty soundtrack for them. The contrast of the craze and pain with the calm beauty. Watch the video below that paired it together well.

Video 2.1. Fan-made music video of Enya's 'May it be' soundtrack for Lord of the Rings

Something quite different between LOTR movie paired with Enya's soundtrack, is that with Violet Evergarden, the music paired with visuals does not have any sign of being different from each other with the emotion evoked or description. The music intensifies the point and story behind the visuals and work together to bring more of the emotion out. When listening to Enya's song, the first few words that come to mind would be beautiful and peaceful, which is dissimilar to how one would describe LOTR. In this scene of Violet Evergarden however, the music is as painful, intense, united and calm as the visuals, exactly matching each other and giving strong emotion of conflict and peace.

Ideas Round 1

Backstory

While half asleep one night, I was thinking of this assignment. I thought of the fire, the calmness, balance and the contrast. It led me to think of dragons. Dragons are easily associated with fire and there are so many ways to be apply these other aspects, elements, principles, etc. that I observed in my analysis.

I am also born in the year of a dragon, following the Chinese zodiac, and all my life people have described me as 'fiery' and I have always been proud of being a fiery dragon. Which is also why, as basic as it is, I have always wanted a dragon tattoo, also so I can tell people that I am the girl with the dragon tattoo, if you get that reference :)

Reference

Figure 3.1. References for Ideas Round 1

Figure 3.2. Reference for Ideas Round 1

Figure 3.3. References for Ideas Round 1

Figure 3.4. Reference for Ideas Round 1

Figure 3.5. Reference for Ideas Round 1

Video 3.1. Dragon Dance from Avatar: The Last Airbender as Reference for Ideas Round 1

Video 3.2. Intro of The Dragon Prince as Reference for Ideas Round 1

Sketches

Figure 4.1. Sketch 1.1

Figure 4.2. Sketch 2.1

Figure 4.3. Sketch 2.2

Figure 4.4. Sketch 2.3

Figure 4.5. Sketch 2.4

Figure 4.6. Sketch 3.1

Figure 4.7. Sketch 3.2

The night I was half asleep and thought about the dragon, Sketch 1.1 came into my mind. I thought of a dragon flying over the ocean, to portray the kind of calmness and beauty. I also thought of the yin and yang, how there is contrast and conflict but harmony, balance and unity.

Thats where Sketches Set 2 came in. In Sketches Set 2, I did not work or think of anything other than balance, symmetry, centre alignment and the yin and yang symbol. I focused more on trying to find a composition, so in terms of colour, further designs, so on, are still very uncertain.

In Sketch 1.1, it felt a little too calm and serene, it was not something I really wanted to go for. I want to be able to replicate the theme of 'peace within conflict' from what I observed in my visual analysis and Sketch Set 1 and 2 did not make that cut.

Thats when I thought of Sketch Set 3. I wanted more conflict? more... rage? Basically something to contrast the serenity and calmness. So, I thought of an angry dragon. Only it still isn't enough. In came Sketch 3.2., a dragon on a stone on fire. Still a no though, I want something more, something else.

Ideas Round 1

References

Figure 5.1. Reference for Sketch 4.1

Figure 5.2. Reference for Sketch 5.1

Figure 5.3. Reference for Sketch 7.1

Figure 5.4. Reference for Sketch 7.1

Figure 5.5. Reference for Sketches Set 6 & 7

Figure 5.6. Reference for Sketches Set 6 & 7

Figure 5.7. Reference for Sketches Set 6 & 7

Sketches

Figure 6.1. Sketch 4.1

Figure 6.2. Sketch 5.1

Figure 6.3. Sketch 6.1

Figure 6.4. Sketch 6.2

Figure 6.5. Sketch 7.1

I was thinking of more chaos when I had the idea of Sketch 4.1. I contrasted chaos in the background with calmness in the foreground, thus the colours in my sad colour blocking. I shifted this sketch to rule of thirds composition instead of central as I wanted to show importance to both foreground and background. However, it still was not making the cut. I was having an issue where my sketches either seems like there is no story or context or my sketches give too much of the story away, taking away it's mystery. My visual analysis on Violet Evergarden and even Vermeer's painting, is all about mystery, the two frames I analysed, Figure 1.1. and 1.2., are somewhat plain and empty yet there is so much to it that keeps viewers interested. I wanted that.

The idea for Sketch 5.1 came to me another night when I was half asleep. I was thinking of the feedback Dr Charles gave me earlier on, particularly the words "inner being". I thought of how the dragon could be more of a spirituality instead of a physical dragon. So, I thought of either a reflection or a shadow to a human being, these would help create some mystery, tell a story without giving too much away. I decided to go with a shadow as it would be easier than a reflection to draw and I was also really just tired of drawing water. While scrolling on Pinterest, I stumbled upon Witcher fan art, Figure 5.2., and I thought of putting the dragon shadow in the cold mountains. It would be a fire dragon in the cold, not a place it would usually be, it's out of place but it is not struggling.

Sketch Set 6 and 7 came to me as I was looking at more oriental references, as the dragon I related to myself does come from the Chinese Zodiac. There was this strong feeling of magic and beauty rather than 'beast' or 'power' from how Westerners view and depict them. Which made me think back to how Dr Charles mentioned 'magic' in his feedback. I realised I was approaching it too much from a western point of view, where dragons are a symbol of power, strength, courage, chaos, etc. which is very different from how Asians depict dragons. Western shows would fight and kill dragons, whereas Asian shows would see dragons as these friendly mystical creatures here to help us.

I thought of Sketch Set 6 as I thought of the Dragon Dance from The Last Airbender, Video 3.1. and Figure 3.5. I thought of flipping the story. Instead of a dragon breathing out this beautiful colourful fire, a human would do it (how? that is yet to be thought of). I thought of subtly hiding a dragon face within the fire, a play with figure ground, to create the mystery and further the story behind the visuals.

In Sketch 7.1, I focused more on the idea of 'magic'. I approached this sketch with wanting a more magical, friendly and uplifting feel and mood to it. I thought to make the dragon spiral to the center, creating a central and balanced alignment, much like my visual analysis and the oriental reference of Figure 5.4. has. I wanted a human in the center with the dragon face to have it as my focal point. It took me awhile to figure out how to place the girl, eventually I realised I could do whatever I want and need not apply logic, so, I made her fly, continuing the spiral flow. I made her reach out to touch the dragon to tell viewers that the girl is not falling, shes flying and to show that they are connected somehow. It also helped create the magical and friendly feel.

Progression

References

Figure 7.1. Reference for Progression

Figure 7.2. Reference for Progression

Drawing

Figure 8.1. Progression 1.1

Figure 8.2. Progression 1.2

Figure 8.3. Progression 1.3

Figure 8.4. Progression 1.4

Figure 8.5. Final Outcome

The gradient colours of the dragon were hard to achieve as I had manually painted it, not using a gradient tool, so to blend it smoothly took me AGES. Continued to Progression 1.2, where I fully coloured in the dragon's face and then the scales. Before I drew the scales, I thought to myself 'this should be easier than the gradient body since its just one colour', I was so wrong. It took me 3 days (inbetween a bunch of other activities) to just draw the scales, it did not help that I kept messing up by drawing on the wrong layer and messing up the sequence. Colouring in the purple scales was much easier and faster.
I started with the background gradient and drawing the dragon shape and sketch of its face. I decided to use a smooth brush instead of the textured brush as I wanted to focus more on details instead, much like the oriental references of Figure 5.4. & 5.5. A textured brush, atleast the ones I have, make it hard to paint details and focus on details.

Then I moved on to drawing the girl. I spent an embarrasing amount of time trying to get her hand right, only for it to not matter once I zoomed out, I was genuinely so upset after that moment. And only because of that, I am sharing the detailed hand, Figure 8.6. below, because I need people to see my tiny detailed work for it to not feel like a total waste.

Figure 8.6. Crop of the Detailed Hand

Colouring the girl's hair and dress was pretty straightforward and simple. There is change/additions with her hair and dress from Figure 8.3. to Figure 8.5. as I needed her to stand out more. In Figure 8.3., she was too plain next to the dragon, so I struggled for a bit trying to find how to make her fit in. I made the same foolish mistake with detailing her dress for it to not show up as much. Originally, the details almost never showed up, but I used a blending mode which allowed it to show up a little more. See the difference below in Figure 8.7. & 8.8.

Figure 8.7. Crop of the Girl's Original Dress Details

Figure 8.8. Crop of the Girl's Dress Details with Blended Mode

In between of designing the girl's dress, I added in clouds so the frame was not as empty. I went with a more oriental design of clouds since it was the style I was going for. I referenced Figure 7.2. as I really liked the look of those specific clouds. I made the fill translucent and changed the black outline to a darker beige/orange-y colour all to make it a less distracting foreground.

Final Outcome

The Dragon Within (Forgotten Magic)

The Dragon Within speaks to me on a personal level as I get lost in my own thoughts and oftentimes bring myself down. I look at the negative too much and forget about all the positive there is, especially when it comes to myself. I become my own worst enemy and judge myself the hardest. I get scared and anxious easily. I aspire to be like a dragon— strong, confident, fearless and fiery . I forget that I am a dragon, I just need to believe in myself.

This piece also talks about how many asians, especially Malaysians, tend to look too much to other parts of the world and countries, forgetting our own. We look and appreciate their countries, culture, language, architecture, art, etc. We tend to forget the beauty and history of our own culture, languages, etc. This piece talks about how we forget but we are still connected to our culture. It's a hopeful message of how we still have the chance to remember, connect to and share our own forgotten magic and beauty again. A positive outlook on how we struggle with holding on to our own beauty.

FEEDBACK

Visual Analysis

- Exploration of flame, dragon, symbols, magic and my individuality connects to the sense of mystery of Vermeer's painting

- The connections are also parallel to my own inner being

- If a dragon is to be seen, create a dragon that no one has seen before

- Create something based off my discovery, something unexpected

Progression

- Make the dragon scales fade out as it spirals away from the center to not lose the focal point

- The girl needs more hair highlight's like the dragons fluffy hair

- Try using a blending mode on the dress detail to bring it out a bit more

REFLECTION

Experience

I enjoyed this project as I had the utmost creative freedom. It felt like there were no rules or constraints as there was no theme or limitations. It was something new compared to previous assignments, which would usually scare me. However, from my observations of the reflections for the past few assignments, I decided to approach this assignment differently, more open, more free. This allowed me to enjoy this assignment more than all the others. It was a nice experience to have the freedom to write a visual analysis on one of my favourite shows and not be stressed on having it a full essay format.

Observations

I learnt from my struggles from the previous assignments and tried my very best to work on it during this assignment. I struggled with holding myself back with the fear of it being "wrong" in terms of the assignment brief and fear of if I am going in the wrong direction. In general, I struggled with fear and insecurities with my work. However, for this assignment, I let go of those struggles and allowed myself to enjoy the creative freedom. It allowed me to be very sure with what I wanted to do, which was probably a first for me ever.

Findings

I learnt the break down of writing a visual analysis, allowing me to fully cover all the necessary points needed without dragging on too much, which I usually struggle with. I have always known that whatever is 'inspired' is subjective to each individual. However, from this assignment, I learnt that what we create can have absolutely nothing to do with what it was inspired from. I also realised that breaking down my reflection and writing them in these 3 forms (experience, observations and findings) have helped me discover alot about my own work process. I learnt about how I often hold myself back and I am quite proud that I managed to break out of that for this assignment and it will be something I will always have to work on in the future.

Alana Sofia Othman (0353451)

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