PORTFOLIO(2013-2022)-ZHANG YANXIN

DIPLOMA: CREATIVE PRACTICE

Ego

On this subject, I decided to make some difference. My alter ego is the opposite of me.

The alter ego I choose is a girl.

Her greatest characteristic is that she cares too much about other people's ideas. She is especially dependent on her lover, and is afraid of losing.

She often has a serious sense of insecurity. So, I search the insecurity relationship on the internet.

I found an article called Insecurity in a Relationship: Causes, Signs & Ways to Overcome It.

The next two parts in that article are what I find particularly relevant to my alter ego.

My alter ego, because her parents often quarreled when she was a child. So, she had an unhappy childhood and wanted to get comfort from her lover.

Because of her experience, this kind of dependence, also makes her lover very painful, she has several sad love experiences.

And then, I added some details of my alter ego.

1. What is she interested in She is interested in reading and romance.

2. What motivates her?

She is long to love most, more than anyone else. She is eager to be recognized. What does she look like. She looks beautiful and thin. But she has few smiling faces.

4. What is her defining characteristics?

Her greatest characteristic is that she cares too much about other people's ideas and always doubts herself, and she can’t see herself clearly.

I decided to draw three illustrations to show my alter ego.

First (Love is supreme)

Second (She can’t see herself clearly)

Third (Romantic)

I decided to draw some fresh and realistic illustrations. Love is supreme

This is the link address:

Love is supreme

She needs a hug. It doesn’t matter who the lover is. So, I use silhouettes instead of lovers.She can’t see herself clearly

Can’t see herself clearly.

The reflection of water is like the countless pairs of eyes, mouths and ears of others to express what others think of her.

Romantic She always fantasy. She often dreams that she is a Spirit.

Critical Reflection

In this project, I decided to build a girl who is the opposite of me. In my life experience and personal experience, I am often happy. I have a happy family. So, my opposite is a girl with an unhappy childhood. She is often insecure. She needs to be cared and love from others. I set up three for this girl, I choose to use the realistic method to draw my works, in order to make the image of this girl more clearly. She's thin and needs attention.

So, she had an unhappy childhood and wanted to get comfort from her lover. Because of her experience, this kind of dependence, also makes her lover very painful, she has several sad love experiences. However, I need some bad pictures or forms to express my alter ego 's pain.

In this project, Yaxuan gave me some suggestions. In the second one. At first, I just wanted to draw eyes on the water to represent other people's eyes on girls. Yaxuan suggested me that there could also be ears and mouths. It suddenly dawned on me that, in fact, what people say from other people's mouths and what other people's ears hear may make this sensitive girl care. I am very grateful for her advice.

Isolated

Initial idea and research

In this project, I want to do something about school bullying.

Because I see some news in these days that children are forced to do something by other classmates. But she didn't want to do it, so she was beaten by her classmates.

A speech on the YouTube: What Kids Have To Say About Bullying And How To End It | Tina Meier | TEDxBend

And I searched the Internet for some books dealing with bullying. A real rarity in the character education genre."--"Green Bay Press Gazette “Three stories told from the perspectives of three different children: one who is bullied ("Weird!"), a bystander ("Dare!"), and the bully herself (“Tough!").

Bystander

I think the word “bystander” is very interesting.

As I mentioned in the last class. Although many people did not bully, they were the surface bystanders. But when we became the opposite of the isolated people, and fellow the public, we have passively became "violators". It is a kind of cold violence.

So I have considered whether to draw some illustrations from the perspective of a “bystander". It may be from the perspective of the bystander to encourage the bystander to communicate with the isolated child. But I have no more specific ideas yet.

At the beginning of this project, I was very clear that my theme was about campus bullying.

In fact, in the student age, we all passively became the participants of campus bullying. We may isolated some of our classmates. However, they did nothing wrong. I was lost in expressing the theme I wanted to express. Because I didn’t know how to properly show what I wanted to show through the screen. At this point, I chose to draw some quick sketches. I hoped to find the right direction in this process. So in the first draft, I directly expressed what I wanted to say in painting. But I thought it's too straightforward. I didn’t think that's my intention, so I went on sketching and created a real isolated person. At this time, I thought of my good friend in middle school, who was once isolated. At that time, I was her only friend. But later, because she was so allergic, we separated. I thought I can draw our story. In one of those weeks, the teacher asked us to assume that day was deadline. At first, I was afraid, because I hadn't started painting my works. But on the contrary, in this extreme situation, I started to ignore everything. I used a pencil brush and black and white lines. In fact, I didn't quite understand why I drew like this at that time. That's what I thought we should do to express the desired image quickly. The result was good. I used this method and the effect of the picture ran through my work.

Here are some inside pages of my work. It describes the process from strangeness to familiarity and then separation between me and my friends. These four pages tell us that we are still strangers, and she is still the one isolated.

ILLUSTRATION

Designing Research

Initial idea

On this topic, I intend to choose the first challenge: In our home. Because I want to start from my side. I want to find inspiration in the things around me. And create useful content as much as possible. Applied to our lives. I find that water resources are indispensable in our daily life. At the same time, it is very precious. So I want to focus my project on the conservation and recycling of water resources.

Research

I looked for water related books in the library and found this one called: Reconnecting people and water. The proportion of water used in daily life is mentioned. You can see that the water for flushing the toilet accounts for 30%. In other words, if we use other once used water to flush the toilet, we can save 30% water. For example, use the washing machine and the water used for washing dishes.

Draft

This is a character I designed. He is the anthropomorphic character of water. I hope he has some water characteristics, so his clothes, hair and shoes are designed to be blue.

I'm going to show his water use scenes in his life to express the concept of reuse of water. So I made some sketches.

This one is the role in the water pipe. This one is the role in the pool.

In this module, the challenge I choose is in our home. My research direction is the recycling of domestic water.

I investigated the situation of domestic water and some possible reuse methods. There is a lot of water for bathing and washing clothes, which can be used to flush the toilet. So I want to create a blue character like water. He shuttled around like a journey. My purpose this time is to hope that we can recycle the once used water in your daily life.

Outcome https://youtu.be/AjNMgA906hA

I drew four illustrations. The first one is the water in the bath. The second picture is the water in the pool. Such as water generated when washing hands and faces. The third one is the water of the washing machine. The fourth is the water in the sink, such as the water for washing vegetables and dishes.

In the final application, implementing the work to the physical application can strengthen the practicability of the work. It can also expand the purpose that I want to publicize the recycling of domestic water. So I plan to apply the illustration to the label of the bottle. Let's use the water in the bottle that has been used once. Then reuse it on the flushing toilet and so on.

This is the link of my video: The following 2 pages are the outcomes of the project.

Visual Grammar, Literacy and Intelligence

Initial idea and research

In this project, I came to the museum to sketch for inspiration and theme. But I didn't think of making any works at the first time, so I put all my works together. Finding this picture of hunters and hounds reminds me of the relationship between people and pets. Meleager and his dog.

It reminds me of my dog.Here are some pictures of my dog.

She is a golden retriever. She is not only very cute, but also very smart. She would sit down and shake hands. So I want to draw some illustrations about my dog. I want to show my daily relationship with my dog throughout the year.

Here are some of my sketches. One is that I play ball with the dog.

The other is walking the dog.

The next few pages are the outcome.

The name of my work: Four seasons with you.

It tells the story of me and my dog accompanying each other. The four illustrations correspond to the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter, representing the mutual companionship between my dog and me year after year.

Creative Futures

Read

Brief:

The problem： When we working at home, It is easy to lead to low work efficiency and decline in the quality of rest time. How to solve： So I decided to base it on my own major. Draw some illustrations. Suitable for different functions and time when people working at home.

Drafts

The office area is composed of some simple graphics. The relaxation area is a picture of some outdoor entertainment. Like flying a kite. relax your eyes. In addition to the content of the illustrations, I also considered the color of the illustrations.

Here are two screenshots of my mobile phone. Two apps are used to set the timing wallpaper.

Outcome:

The next page is my three final outcome displays. In order to better display the project, I made a video and uploaded it to Youtube.

This is a link to the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpFfofzHDxk

Visual Storytelling: Narrative and Sequence

Initial idea and research

In this project, I came to the museum to sketch for inspiration and theme. In the book area. I found a book called Chinese love poetry. It makes me curious to see Chinese poetry abroad. I'm curious about how to translate poetry in English. So I opened the book. There are many poems I am familiar with. Many of these poems were learned at school. I saw a poem called Drinking alone under the moon written by Li Bai. There is a sentence in it: I raise my cup to invite the bright moon: It throws my shadow and makes us a party of three.

It's a famous saying. Its extended meaning means that the author takes the shadow and the moon as his partners, drinking and chatting together. Show that you are not alone. This makes me have a strong resonance. I am a person who likes to be alone very much. I think people spend their whole life learning how to get along with themselves. So I preliminarily confirmed that the theme is related to solitude.

After my early exploration of poetry, I was able to clarify my theme:

Abandon invalid socialize Enjoy high-quality solitude. I searched YouTube for videos about enjoying solitude. Some uploaders also enjoy being alone and show their time alone. So my initial idea is to show my day or time alone.

Here is my brainstorming about solitude, mainly focusing on what I do in my time alone. Such as drawing, writing, listening to music and so on.

Outcome

The next 2 pages show some of my final work. All content needs to watch this video.

My final work revolves around time and records my 24-hour solitude. In order to show the passage of time and present a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere, I finally adopted the digital form of display.

The video records my ordinary time alone, including washing, walking, cooking, painting, listening to music, eating fruit, playing games, watching movies and sleeping. The lower right corner of the clock rotates with the activity. Let me feel that I have to cherish and enjoy my time alone.

Below is a link to the video:

https://youtu.be/2ZUWTPXLWbs

The Major Project

TOUCH

--Emotional expression between people

Initial insight

In the process of setting questions for myself, I found some keywords. When there is no search and research, I have some understanding of myself. Three key words, social phobia, intimacy, emotional expression. The first is social phobia. I think many people around me say they have social phobia and are afraid to get along with others. For example, I prefer sending messages rather than talking on the phone. Subconsciously, we will think that calling is an unnecessary behavior, that is, we will choose to call unless it is a very urgent situation. Because social software can send messages anytime, anywhere. Unlike many years ago, we can only talk on the phone. I want to search for the definition of social phobia, because I think it seems to have become more generalized.

The second is intimacy. I think this may also be a problem faced by many people. For example, how to build intimate relationships? For another example, many people are afraid of building intimate relationships. What is the reason behind this?

The Major Project Report

Starting point

My initial idea was to start with the word touch, In fact, touch is an emotional expression. It can express our preferences and feelings. It can convey a lot of information.

Finally, in terms of emotional expression, I think contact is a very common way and way. Whether physically or mentally, touching is a very direct way for us to express our emotions. So, is it true? Or in fact, what are the other ways of emotional expression? It can also be used as the research direction and background.

Finally, I'm going to make a detailed introduction to my project. In fact, I had a preliminary idea at the beginning. I want to draw series of illustrations to interpret the word touch. To express the emotional transmission.

When I want to show my emotions on paper, I think touch is a good carrier. In addition, hands are a very important part of our body for touching. Since childhood, it has become a very direct way for us to feel the world with our hands. We feel the touch of things around us to satisfy our curiosity. We touch the people we love to convey our love.

So, I have got to know the basic appearance of my works. Therefore, we will always focus on this in the follow-up work.

Of course, if a work wants to make its ideas easier for everyone to accept, it needs a clear story line, or it can be called a world view. For example, in the film Titanic, if the audience only read the script, they can feel the love between the protagonists, as if they were reading a novel. Then, turning the story into a movie and making people more visually clear will make the story more perfect, or an upgrade. The audience really saw the picture in their mind.

In this process, the story and the picture are closely linked. Therefore, if I want to let the audience see the picture and have a strong emotional resonance, I first need a carrier. My carrier is a small essay I wrote.

EXPOSITION OUTCOME AND ITS DEVELOPMENT:

Style

I soon decided on the final painting style after thinking of this theme. First of all, the main object of painting is the hand. I think the hand is a carrier of emotion. It is also changeable in form. The feeling is very vivid and mysterious. I think the hand is another image with tension on the topic of touch. When you see a close-up of your hand, your imagination will wander. Imagine what other parts are like. The atmosphere created in this way will be very wonderful. So I made this sketch.

Sketch lift & mapping

First

Outcome:

Overview of outcome

When looking through the front page, you can see the positive content of 12 pages with text.

is, in the figure:

But when you turn it 360 degrees and turn it over, you see 12 pages of negative content without text. That is, in the figure:

Positive and negative rotation

The display form I take is a book, to be exact, it is in the form of folding. I want to show the two sides of love. In other words, sometimes love is warm, sometimes it hurts and binds each other. So after rotating the hinge 360 degrees, you can see the bound hands by flipping from the back to the front.

The last is the back cover, which is also the first page to turn over and read.

The outcome link: https://issuu.com/crystal-z/docs/_touch_yanxi_n_zhang

Outcome

The next 14 pages are the big picture of the work.

Brief summary:

What I want to show is the process of two people expressing they are love by touching. In this process, I think love has two sides. I may be a lingering love, or a kind of bondage and imprisonment. After the intimate relationship in the relationship is successfully constructed, it is like an invisible net that circles two people together. Although they are closer to each other, they may also b more suffocating

Text content of the last page：

But, Sometimes love is warmth, Sometimes it's bondage. Let's get closer occasionally, Love is like a silk thread of bondage and imprisonment. Trapped me firmly.

ConclusionFinally, I want to make a summary. What I want to show is the process of two people expressing they are love by touching. In this process, I think love has two sides. I may be a lingering love, or a kind of bondage and imprisonment. After the intimate relationship in the relationship is successfully constructed, it is like an invisible net that circles two people together. Although they are closer to each other, they may also b more suffocating.

The reason why I think so is that love is not only positive, good and perfect, whether it is friends and relatives around me, or in art works. More often, there will be negative, bad and imperfect in love. It is because of these that pure love is praised, because it is precious. So, I want to use this dual nature to express my works and express my thoughts. To convey my understanding and expression of love to the audience. I hope to find resonance in th audience.