Creative Journal - Radical Art Direction - Mansi Almadi

Creative Journal Radical Art Direction Term Project Presented To: Carmela Cammisuli

Presented By :

Mansi Almadi

Activity 1 Book Cover The activity involved selecting a poem and visually representing it as a book cover to convey its essence and tell a story through images. The goal was to reverse engineer the author's thoughts and thinking process, understanding their perspective on the target audience.

Thinking Process I chose "My Name in Cursive" for my book cover because it deeply resonated with me. The poem narrates a tale of a girl discovering love just when she needed it most, painting a vivid picture with details like the fragrance of flowers and the warmth of sunlight on horses nearby. The author emphasizes the joy brought by the rose and her name in cursive on the envelope. The poem's humble and enlightening tone beautifully describes the girl's peaceful nature during her prolonged wait. In my artwork, I aimed to convey a sense of longing. I connected with the emotion of patiently awaiting warmth from someone special, portraying it through an arched window, a distant golden sunset, and a content girl with braided hair—much like myself—waiting and lost in thought. Keeping the title as ‘Our story of Longing Hearts, Loving Souls’.

Sketches

Activity 2 Object Self Portrait

Creating a self-portrait is often considered a challenging task, but this time, it proved to be enjoyable. I brainstormed using various keywords such as carpet, illustrations, chai-tea, architectural tools, sketchbook, pen, sunflowers, watercolors, mountains, planner, stopwatch, laptop, and more. The idea of making a collage emerged from the "many-in-one-box" approach, reflecting the diverse aspects of my identity. While portraying myself as an object was initially challenging due to my diverse interests, I found the process enjoyable. Exploring and depicting different facets of oneself through a collage provided a relaxing and rewarding experience.

Activity 3 Story Telling Blobs The exercise focused on crafting a story using blobs as a starting point. In my first iteration, I envisioned two characters engaged in various activities like playing football and other games under the scorching sun, which was sapping their energy. For the second iteration, I introduced a humorous twist by depicting a group of large bees released by someone. The characters in the story find themselves running from the bees, while nearby stones, seemingly unaffected, laugh at their predicament.

The storyline maintains a lighthearted tone with amusing dialogues, such as "I want to kick these stones, why are they laughing at us." This creative approach allowed for a playful and entertaining narrative using the simple visual elements of blobs.

Activity 4 Try Something New Trying something new was incredibly fun, especially with its lighthearted and quirky activities. Making a tower from household items and attempting to draw with my left hand, including sketches of familiar objects like slippers and a box, brought a lot of humor. I specifically chose these elements for their shapes—slippers with curves and a box with straight lines—testing the limits of my non-dominant hand. I also had a playful time capturing my friend in different lighting and engaging in unique tasks like writing "Rice" with rice. To cap it off, I wrote a whimsical story about my spirit animal, a cat, embodying my love for naps, playfulness, and cuddles. The experience added a joyful and amusing touch to my day.

Friend ‘s Photograph

Type with Food

Drawing with non -dominant hand

3 Feet Tall Installation

Activity 5 Duct Tappe Doodles Duct tape doodles turned into a enjoyable exercise where my inner designer took the lead. The ideation process felt more like that of a designer rather than an artist, focusing on scales and precise placement of the duct tape. For the first element, I chose a broken bulb from household appliances to symbolize that, like a flower, it still holds value and can be fixed. The second element featured duct tape crafted into a garment for a fashion model, creating an upper body piece that allows for seamless movement. As for the third element, I envisioned a futuristic car with a unique shape, suggesting that future vehicles might feature duct tape as their outer body—lightweight and highly reflective, potentially enhancing safety in the dark.

TAPE CHIC

BRIGHT

FIX

FUTURE

DRIVE

Activity 6 Nature Activity My love for nature knows no bounds. Watching the daily changes, from morning sunlight to the shifting hues of a single tree, is truly mesmerizing. This activity was a perfect opportunity to capture it all. Reflecting on a similar project from a year ago, I continued, turning my appreciation for nature into a collection of pictures and artworks, with a special focus on the captivating scenes I captured in Canada.

Boat in the lake

I chose to draw and capture an activity at the lake right behind our college premises. On a sunny day, I envision myself riding a boat in that serene lake, seeking the tranquility that comes from being on the water.

Fly in the colours of nature

Creating balloons from natural materials, I capture the joy of flying free. The irony lies in making a piece of wood appear as light as a balloon, emphasizing a message about the unexpected lightness of natural creations.

Process of working with things captured from the nature.

A girl with curly hair.

Illustrating leaves as the wind-blown hair of a girl, mirroring the swaying trees in the gusty season and capturing my personal connection as my hair moves in sync.

Tracing the elements

A Zombie branched from a tree.

A year ago, I engaged in an activity using Amaltas, a distinctive flower found in Delhi, India. I traced its vibrant colors with watercolors, creating an artwork that closely resembled the flower. I then took it a step further by capturing and preserving the flower for a few days, using it as inspiration for a Kirigami artwork.

Rationale Nature Activity Throughout this creative journal, my goal has been to explore and express myself through a variety of artistic exercises. From duct tape doodles to capturing nature's beauty, with each activity I tried experimenting and getting inspired in everyday moments. Whether it's drawing with my non-dominant hand or creating art from nature, I've now started embracing challenges and celebrating the joy of trying new things. This journal is a vibrant record of how my artistic journey can be, it helped me explore my creativity to a great extent and made me find beauty in the ordinary.