Self reflection (1st day in Bordeaux)
The first day in Bordeaux ended up with reflection in a group of the day. Since it was the first time coming to a new environment, and living together with the people who don't usually live with, I felt super awkward uncomfortable and homesick. I was not confident and comfortable enough to show myself as 'Youlin' but as 'Nicole'. I pretend to be chill and enjoying the moment, I pretend to be exited and chatty, but actually I just wanted to go home and be on myself. (My face hurts because there's too much fake smile going on for myself today)
Self reflection (2nd day in Bordeaux)
By walking around the city of Bordeaux and the wine chateau, I found that you could hardly find and Asian looked face in the city, and when we walked on the street, people tend to look at us more and discuss about it (getting translated by our group member Maya), the comment can be positive/negative, but that has made me really scared and uncomfortable. The behavior of myself in these two days seems to be more polite and careful, I tend to be dressed more 'normal', and more different as what I've would wear in London, as I don't want others to look at me frequently and with a different perspective.
Self reflection (3rd day in Bordeaux)
As there's not much time left, we visit the galleries for inspiration, the gallery is based on paintings and human sculpture from 1800c. Looking at the paintings, it has reminded me of I use to do oil paint as well when I was at A-level, but its always the paintings about others, so I think I might try to paint a self-portrait somehow in the next few months. I looked carefully at the paintings of body and portraits, and it might help me to refer to the structure of painting when I paint in the next project.
13/03/2020
As getting the feedback from my tutor for trying out the photo and moving images, I thought it is a good idea to figure out how to use different props and colors. However, because of the disease and the limited props that I have in my place, I will need to decide how does it work based on it.
14/03/2020
I've collected more descriptions from others, the descriptions that are more broad, like my personality, actions, behaviour, and my appearance, so basically any descriptions. Which in this way I could have a wider choice on the range of moving images that I could do.
15/03/2020
I've figured out a few ways to do this quick and fast
- "Ask me a question" from Instagram and get feedback from it +: Quick and fast -: I do not have many followers on Instagram
- Text others and get feed bak +: I would 100 percent get. a response -: people might not be willing to respond in honestly, takes time
- Post a message on the WeChat app and ask my friends to comment, +: Many friends using WeChat, I could do something else while collecting the comments -: Most of the comments will be in a different language, so I might need to spend some time to translate it afterwards.
17/03/2020
Due to the virus, we've been told that class has been cancelled and my parents wanted me to fly back home as soon as possible. Based on this for the next few days, I will be on my way back home and the work will be stoped for a few days.
26/03/2020
Based on the feedback, I will start working on collecting more descriptions in order, try to let people around me describe me. How I plan it will work is to let people describe me randomly first, and then look at the leftovers of A-Z, to see which letter has not yet got a description yet, and I will then ask another round with more specific enquires. (As describe me starting with __ letter). I will make a chart on my book, so I can organize it more quickly and clear.
30/03/2020
Up to today, I've already got half of the descriptions done, and I've also found some little challenges during this day. Firstly is the words that I collected from others are mainly based on A, C, and H, hence there are also many repetitions of description. So I thought I will need to expand my target, so I start to ask my friends and family in China. Then another challenge came, which is they do not know English pretty well, so I will need to translate many of the words, however, the translated words became very wired, and again many repetitions as well.
Based on these problems, I improved my plan as providing a list of vocabularies that I found from dictionary and ask them to choose one, which has led me to the current stage of collecting half of it.
03/04/2020
Up to today, I've finally collected nearly all of the descriptions for each letter, but except for the letter 'X'. people around me and I could not think of a word that suits me in the letter X, so I wish that I could think of one when I'm working on my sketches.
05/04/2020
In the two days, I've created a note on my phone, it is a list that contains all of the descriptions that I can think of a way to present so far. It contains the photos that I planned to take with the words, and the definition of it, it's not yet fully finished but I've got an idea with most of them. (Sorry it is in Chinese, but I felt its easier for me to record it like this)
'Description' 24/02/2020
For the first project that I would like to work at, I've named it a description, based on the day in Bordeaux, it is very fascinating how it is not only me who act differently to different people, but people also see you differently. So to begin I decided to see how the people who know me describe me, and how people who don't know me describe me as. To do that I've considered making people who know me to question each other to describe me, and put a photo of myself on a certain place with pen/post note, leave it for a day, and see what I get from it.
Visiting the Barbican 25/02/2020
Barbican is a residential/workspace when arriving at the barbican station, I see a very different view compare to central London.
Something that I feel and see at the Barbican:
-The buildings were like a mix of contemporary and modern style, which the residential building we visit is like an art piece, it is a combination of nature and human works.
-The most time I've spent at the barbican is the cinema and the cafe, I realize that the cinema is very classic compare to the one in central London, it has the warm light/ red curtains.
-The people in the barbican is a mix as well, near the subway much people were walking pass by really quickly with suit and bag, however, more of them were being chilled and relaxed.
-There are not many residents that I personally see in the barbican estate, however I've visited the park across the road and the weather was a bit different as well, while the residential place is windier and the sunshine was blocked out, the park is very peaceful, warm and calm.
My Description From others 26/02/2020
My plan was to ask my friends around me/people who knows me to describe my behaviour and actions in daily time. And the result I get is basically based in what food I eat or how long I would spend on doing something, or some of the people who knows me but not too well would describe my personality. (See sketchbook). Based on this I've thought about I could pick some of the descriptions out, and explain the 'descriptions' as to how I personally thought it means.
Progress 28/02/2020
The work for this week needs to be based on the location in Barbican, as I've spent most of my time in the cinema cafe, I decide this will be the point where my piece would be presented. I've referenced Cindy Sherman as the main reference as she decorates herself into different characters, I thought I could also make something (maybe posters) as like 'Me acting as myself', but acting as how I was from other's point of view.
Based on this I've gone back and looked at the structure and the location of the cinema, and what I see is there are not many people who is actually going to the barbican cinema, but instead enjoying a cup of coffee-based the cinema, or having lunch with friends on the left side of the cinema. This lights me up with the idea of maybe people is more interested in food rather than the movies, so I decide to make a few posters based on the description of eating.
- The final chosen ones were:
- "Can't live without cherries' (Zerong Hu)
- "Anti Vegan (Hannah Steven)
- "Chilli queen" (Cecilia Bai)
Process 29/02/2020
Preparation for the shooting during the weekend
Phototaking 1/03/2020
Based on the scene that I set, and the character that I want to make myself into, it is very important that I don't make the things over complicated as I will need to prepare the props, costume set the camera pick the place and take a photo all by myself. Which the second scene, the one that I have to work with the pork mince has struggled me a lot, the reason is it is not sticky enough to stay on my face, and in the end I could only get it as close as to my eyes. Summary: before making something that I've never tried before, do a few test before the shoots and make adjustment.
Procreate 09/03/2020
Although I've got my draft for the illustrations, I'm still trying to figure out the method to make it complete. To reference back to some of the artists, they seem to be using very graphic way for colouring, like colour pencils, markers, however, I'm not very good at colouring using either of this so I would like to try colour it digitally. As I've got an iPad but never used it for study, I would like to try and use it for the first time on the App Procreate.
Tutorial feedback 11/03/2020
The feedback from the tutorial (based on the project) is, I could work on the extension of the barbican project, as it has worked well in the first test version. Based on this, I would try to collect more of the description and make a moving image series.
12/03/2020 Procreate Illustration
Based on the use of Procreate App, I've tried my best to make my illustration looks better than it was before, however, it is really a struggle for me. I've chosen to start with the scene that is set based on myself (in the toilet), the first step I decided to trace over the paper draft so it looks cleaner, and then I've decided the colour wheel for this illustration. Something that I find really hard is the apple pencil will give a different depth based on how much strength I put on to the screen, and the first, second, the third try of colouring the skin ended up all failing as it looks very uneven and dirty. The situation forced me to look at more strategies on the website and watch up tutorials so I could actually do the thing properly.
21/03/2020
This is the first-day arriving home, as I will need to be isolated 14 days, the test that I could do became very limited. However, I will do everything that I can during the time and get the best result from it.
22/03/2020
Today I've tried and tested out the moving image, and what I found is using the camera can be limiting the actions that I do, as I'm filming myself, it is really hard to see how I look while filming. (If using a camera). As also in some specific areas, the camera can not be used. (eg. while showering) So based on this many of the time I will be recording using my phone.
23/03/2020
Today I've edited the video to try out the 'Describe me2.0' first version, the outcome I'm quite happy with it even though so far it has only contained 3 descriptions. Hopping to try more out in the next few weeks.
Clip link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9Gto2N-o4c&feature=youtu.be
Feedback Digitally
Base on what I did so far, Lucy suggested an idea of making my own dictionary from the letter A to Z. To do this, the best way I can think of is to actually take a dictionary and ask people to find a word/sentence to describe me in A-Z, and whish that I could get 1-3 descriptions per person, and 1-3 words per letters.
07/04/2020
As I've got an idea of what words to shoot what kind of image and recorded on my phone, I thought it is also a good idea to do quick sketches. Based on the amount of it I should do it as not as detailed like before, but also at least to give myself a clear imagery so I won't get confused when I take the actual photos.
11/04/2020
For some of the words, the imagery that I wanted to create contains the use of photoshop, to give a surreal look, so before the shooting I suggest myself to play around with photoshop and improve the skills so I could get a better result and a more surreal effect of it.
15/04/2020
Based on the online tutorial, I'm planning to go shopping tomorrow, and see what I can get from the shops that were currently still open. The problem with the shooting is firstly I do not have an ideal background in my house, he only place is a small space in my room, however in my room, there isn't any lighting that I would expect to give a good effect to the photos, so I'm wondering if I could use my flashlight to provide enough light to it.
27/04/2020
After having a tutorial with Michelle, the solution to my shots is in the next few days to find a day that is sunny, or with enough lights, to try reshoot it. Based on this I thought about maybe find a space in the back yard and set up with my white bed sheet as background, so giving a studio shoots look.
28/04/2020
Waking up today morning, it seems like today is not possible to get enough light from it because it is raining heavily outside and has continued for a whole day. Based on this situation, I checked up the weather for the next few days until next Monday. Which very, unfortunately, for the next few days until the due date there won't be any sunny days. What I can do now is to find a way to enhance the photos that I've got so far to give a better presentation as my result, and wait till Monday and see if I can get any ideal weather.
02/05/2020 Photoshop process
For the photos that I've got so far, I 've cropped out the door and the window frames, and adjust the brightness+1.4/contrust+2.2/White balance-0.4/sharpness+0.5/clearence+0.3/grain+3.8/
03/02/2020
The new project this week would allow us to do anything we wanted to test out based on our personal proposal. Instead of taking photos, I would like to work on a different method, maybe through illustrating? however, no matter which way I'm presenting it I would always start with photographing. First I will need to develop my idea, which for this week I would like to investigate how we ourselves have a 'comfort zone', as this is being the moment that every one of us might act differently and being ourselves in a more 'realistic' way.
Step 1: Interview at least 3 people
Step 2: Take photos based on their description of themselves, but I'll put myself in the photo as a primary resource for illustrating
Step 3: Test out how would it look like in a surreal way using an illustration.
04/03/2020 Research
Based on my first project, the feedback that I get is they felt it is a bit horrifying, based on their comment it reminded me of some Japanese horror animation artists, which I will do more research on. While I thought it is also good for me to observe myself, my appearance, body shape, the area that I'm going to illustrate with and make adjustments before starting.
Interviews 05/03/20
1. Siyu Long: " I think the moment that I feel like being myself is when I huddle up and sit in front of my desk with laptop or works etc, I feel comfortable like this and I usually do it in-home, and in my own room."
2. Isabelle Simone: " I assume everyone would choose to lying on the bed with phone, laptop, and food. Which the time period would also work the best when its winter, or summer with air conditioning. Usually, I look uglier than usual, it might because of I'm on my own, no one could see me doing it, I would search up some stuff that I wouldn't outside, and I sing the song, I cry out a lot when watching a movie which these are all something that I would do when I'm alone and in my bed."
3. Jennie Yu: "You know it hahaha, of course, its the kitchen! Imagine when you finish the classes and eating the food and the snacks with sitting comfortably in my couch (Jennie has a couch near her kitchen) without wearing a bra and pants, so you do not tighten yourself up, and not worry about the manner or aesthetically how you eat the food, it feels like heaven.
4 Myself: "For myself, the place that I felt like I'm being myself is the bathroom, when I sit on the toilet with my phone or magazine. This is where and when my brain starts generating some crazy ideas. Based on the short interviews, I assume the location/moment that people felt like being themselves is when we were being someone that isn't similar to how we looked like in public, it is when we are staying privately alone, instead of thinking differently, we tend to act differently, as no one would know what are we thinking about at any time, but obviously knowing what kind of person you are through behaviour and action, that's why many of us tend to act or hide a part of us privately into our little spaces.
6/03/20
Before I start the illustration I will need to put myself into their situation so I've got something to follow up on. (I've chosen mine, Jennie's and Isabella's)
Process 7/03/2020
The step that I plan to do illustration is first taking the photos as something that I can follow on, then make it characteristic and change it into something that is more animated and surreal. Following is some progress that I've recorded during my first draft illustration, and scanned ready for digital colouring.
08/04/2020
Thinking about the imagery in my head, I think it will also be fun if when I take the photos I can also record a 3-5second for each of the words, maybe just a slightly small movement, but to show the outcome in moving image is also worth a try.
12/04/2020
Up to today I've nearly sketched out all of the words roughly based on how I want it to be looked like, and also added a few notes, what I thought for some of the words, it could be a little hard to make in link together with the imagery, especially for the ones that were being translated from other languages, however, I also define this dictionary as something that could present to people who. don't know me, so it is important for me to define the words people described me as. For some of the words, I could have a totally opposite understanding of the people who provided it, which I think it will be more personal and could make people think about the meaning behind it.
18/04/2020
I was planning to go out and shop the props hat I'm planning to use for my shoots yesterday, however, it was a public holiday so all shops were closed including supermarkets. So I've gone out today again, and it really struggled me, the shops that were still staying open are the supermarkets that sell food, even though on the google website it still says it is in opening hours. This effects my shoots a lot, which I could not get my props and costumes ready and I will now need to make a new plan for the shoots.
20/04/2020
Although the situation is no ideal, I still wanted to try and take as many shots as I could, so I've planned out what I can use for now and planning to take some test shoots tomorrow or the day after.
24/04/2020
Test shots result
based on the days before today, I've tried out taking test shots with the props that I've got so far, however, the result is really disappointing. I've tried using natural light, to begin with, however, it's way too dark, so I've thought about using a flashlight. looking through the camera screen, there is no big problem with the photo, but maybe the color is slightly different than what I expected. However, after I import the photos into my computer the pixel, the quality of it is very bad if enlarging the photo, I do not know the reason but it is not what I've expected.
1/05/2020
It has been raining heavily both yesterday and today, so what I'm planning to do now is to use filters to make my photos into a film camera look, which is the best way that I could think of.