NAFA Fun Day

On 4th of October, NAFA held an event called FunDay. It was located at Siloso Beach, Sentosa. I arrived in Sentosa at 08:15 am with Yemima and Yen Yen.
Later on we met with the rest of our classmates. They brought volley-ball to the beach. Other than playing, NAFA held many competition and games and also lucky draw. I participated in tug-of-war. We sttuggle a lot but in the end we didn't win. It's a shame but its still fun and exciting. After the event ended, my friends and I went to swim on the beach. We also catch some crabs and starfish, but later on we release them back into sea. It was hot and tiring, but that was one of the most fun day I had ever had.

Ikebana

Ikebana is the art of arranging different types of flowers into a pot or bowl. This art is practiced by japanese people.

To be able to do ikebana nicely, one need to understand the connection between nature and human. In ikebana the artist doesn't use much bloomed flowers, they use twigs, branches, and leaves. Though ikebana is a creative art, it has many rules that need to be noted.

It is a traditional japanese art which has been passed down through many generations. It symbolized the understanding of an individual about the beauty of flowers and plants. Ikebana also can be related to pottery. Pottery is used to make the container of the flower arrangement.

Architecture

Architecture is the process and product of planning, designing and constructing a building or any structures.

In the 18th and 19th century, the architectural styles were Rococo, Classicism, Neo-Gothic  and many more.

As time passed, technologies became more advanced and people's knowledge is increasing. Thus that time was also called the Industrial Revolution, The use of industry materials were often used by architects to create their structures or buildings. Examples of the materials were iron, metal, glass, etc. Also they focused more on the mass production using machines, thus its becoming cheaper. 

Types of structure during Industrial Revolution

In the 20th century, the architectural styles become modern and thus called modernism. This style is often associated with minimalism , where which the building or structure's shape extreme simplicity of its form, pure lines, clear space and neutral color in a balance and harmonious environment.

Minimalist building

In the 21st century, the architectural style become more abstract and more artistic. The architects explore different materials and out of the box design for the building or structures.

EX Plaza, abstract architecture

Interior Design

Interior design is the art and process of evolving or turning an interior space into an effective setting fit for human activities. Interior designers are someone who are directly involve in the process.

 

Interior design involve planning, calculating and a good understanding of different elements in design. Different countries have different way to decorate their interior.

 For example ;

Japanese design is based strongly on craftsmanship, beauty, elaboration, and delicacy. The design of interiors is very simple but made with attention to detail and intricacy.

Arabic design use many decorations on their wall, an arabesque form of mural that shows various geometric designs in bright colors.

 



Japanese Interior

Arabian Interior



 

One notable interior designer was Sister Parish. She was an American interior designer. She designed the Yello Oval Room in the White House. In addition to the White House, Parish's clients included the philanthropist Jane Engelhard and the socialite and art collector Betsey Cushing Roosevelt Whitney,  Annette de la Renta,  Alice Rogers, Mrs. Charles Percy, were also clients.

 Her design was influenced and inspired by Baroque style.

First Photography

Photography is the process of capturing an image by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation. Invented in the 19th century , photography was proven able to capture more details than sculpting or painting.

 

The first permanent photography was an image produced in 1822 by a French inventor, Nicéphore Niépce, but it was destroyed in attempt to duplicate it. Later in 1825, he made the first permanent photograph from nature (his View from the Window at Le Gras) with a camera obscura. He improved his photography which took a long time to process together with Louis Daguerre. Niépce died in 1833, but Daguerre continued the work, later on he invented a photograph process which was called daguerreotype . He took the very first photography of a person in 1838 with his daguerreotype of a pedestrian who stopped long enough for a shoe shine.

Camera Tools

 



First Daguerreotype of people

Modern Furniture Design

furniture during the middle ages

In the past during Middle Ages, their design's style was Rococo, Classicism, etc with many decoratives and patterns.
But now the design's styles lead towards modernism which is more geometric and minimalistic in shape with bold color. Lamenated plywood, plastics and fiberglass are the materials chosen for creating the furniture.

 

In today's world, global warming also play a role in furniture design. The artist have created eco-friendly furniture with higher sustainability known as Ecodesign to prevent worsen the global warming. They use environment friendly materials to create their furnitures.  Its use and popularity are increasing each year.

 

 

 

Furniture Design -Introduction-

Furniture design is the process of creating and designing a piece or pieces of objects which can be used to support various human activities such as sleepimg, seating, etc. The furniture include tables, chairs, cupboards, and many more. They can be made out of wood, steel, glass,  plastic, etc.

 

During the Middle Ages, the Itallian Renaissance was inspired by the Greco-Roman tradition, while in other regions, they have different style in designing their furniture. In the 17th century, the Southern and Northern Europe was characterized by grandeur, often gilded Baroque designs that often incorporated a profusion of vegetal and scrolling ornament. In the 18th century, furniture designs began to develop more rapidly, although different styles were frequently used by different countries such as Palladianism in Great Britain or Louis Quinze in French furniture, others, such as the Rococo and Neoclassicism were eternal throughout Western Europe.

Jewellery Design

Jewellery design is the process of creating, crafting, fabricating, and designing jewellery. Crafting a piece of jewellery has been practiced long time ago by a blacksmith or metalworker, but now it has evolve into a billion dollar industry using machine to help complete the process. 

Crafting a jewellery involves sufficient knowledge of architecture, market trend, detailed information  about materials, and composition.

In the past, the sketching, draft and planning about the design was done manually meaning hand drawn. Today many people use digital media for their sketches although some are still using pencil and paper to draw and plan about the design of the jewellery. 

heart shaped necklace with Diamonds

necklace with Sapphire stones

Precious stones such as diamond, ruby, sapphire are often use to make the jewellery pieces, combined with gold or silver to make the structure of the jewellery. But in modern world, the jewellery designs are taking on geometrical shape using metal as their main components for the jewellery.

Animation

Animation is the study of continuous moving object. It can be stored in analogue media such as video tape, motion picture film or digital media. A projector or computer are used to view the animation.

There are many ways in doing animation. You can make an animation using traditional animation,stop motion animation, computer animation, mechanical animation and many more.

Traditional animation is when the animation pictures are divided into many frames. The animation's frame is hand drawn, the picture is drawn in such way that they are moving from one frame to another.

Stop motion animation use three dimensional objects, such as clay, puppet, paper, etc. Stop motion animation is when the animation pictures are divided into several or many frames, then the objects are manipulated and placed accordingly to make a connection between one frame and the other. A two hour animation film have many stop motion animation frames as one second can take up to 25-30 frames.

In the past, the stop motion animation were drawn by hands, but as the technologies are advancing, they use digital media such as Photoshop to do the stop motion animation. One example of animation is Walt Disney.

Before making the video animation, the reference drawings are needed to make sure that the movement of the object is correct.

Nail Art

Nail art has become very popular nowadays. It is an art where the canvas is your nails and the paint is the nail polish. Nail art can be 2d or 3d. 2d nail art is when the design is flat on the nails, while 3d nail art is where you paste some decorations on the nails such as small beads or flowers.

To do nail art, first you have to apply the base nail polish to make the nail healthy and not affected by the chemical substances in the nail polish. After the base nail polish dried up, you can start creating a design of the nails. The design can be anything from dolls to food  or even scenery. After that, coat the nails with the design with top layer nail polish. The top layer will make it more glossy and prevent it from cracking. You can use brush with sharp or pointy tip to draw on the nails.

Materials For Designing Batik

The materials needed to design batik are ;

1.  Fabric. It is recommended to use fabric made from natural fibers such as silk, cotton or linen rather than synthetics fibers, because natural fibers will absorb the dye much better than the synthetic fibers. 
2. Frames. The frames are used to hold the cloth when making the batik. For silk and finer fabrics it is possible to use masking tape to secure the cloth to the frame to prevent it from tearing.
3. Wax. The wax is used as the materials to design the batik. a beginner is advised to use paraffin wax. Specialist batik use mixture wax of paraffin and beeswax.  
4.  Wax Pot. This pot is to prevent the wax from solidifying. The electric wax pot is easier to use as you can adjust the temperature.
5. Soft Blunt Pencil. To draw the desired pattern on the fabric.
6. Brushes. A cheap brush with varied sizes are preferable for applying the wax onto the fabric.
7. Tjantings. Tool used to draw specific lines with the wax. Tjantings comes in many sizes, the smaller one is for the detail while the bigger one is for the design.
8. Container for the dyeing process.
9. Newspaper, apron, gloves, pan, large spoon, tongs, cleaning solvent, drawing pins, tissue.

   

   wax pot with wax and tjantings

   
   

   

   design on fabric with tjantings

Batik

Batik is originated from Indonesia. Its the art of designing a piece of cloth with color ink. Long time ago the traditional color choice were indigo, dark brown and white which represent the three major Hindu Gods (Brahma, Vishnu and Siva). Although batik was very common for people to wear, certain batik design can only be worn by nobility. Traditionally wider stripes or wavy line of greater width represent a higher rank. Thus, during a ceremony, one's rank can be determined by the clothes they wore.

Batik style differ from one region to another. For example Pesisir Batik, they use vibrant colors and incorporated the influence of Arab, Javanese, Chinese and Dutch cultures. For their design, they use Chinese motifs such as clouds, lotus, dragon and floral patterns.

Depending on the quality of the batik, its price could vary from several dollar (for the fake poor quality batik) reaching to several thousand dollars ( high quality batik which could take months to make ).

Batik is also commonly used for special occasions, for example marriage, parties, festivals, etc. For marriage, formal kebaya is used by the women and the men wear blangkon and sarong. Kebaya is a dress which designed with batik. Sarong is about 2.25 meters long and is wear by wrapping it around a person's waist, the other way to use sarong is to wrap the sarong around the head and formed it into a hat known as blangkon.

Caligrapgy

 Calligraphy is a type of visual arts related to writing. Calligraphy involves writing a certain word using broad tip brushes and brushed it in one stroke. So its like drawing a word or sentences.

Calligraphy is very difficult and not many people can execute it perfectly.

In China, calligraphy is called  Shūfǎ 書法 which mean "The way/method/law of writing". Traditional East Asian writing uses the Four Treasures of Studies : the ink brushes, chinese ink, paper and lastly the inkstone. The shape, size and quality of the Four Treasures of Studies is very important is it could affect the final result of the calligraphy. The speed when writing, pressure given to the brush, the way holding the brush, and direction when writing calligraphy must be noted as it can influence greatly their final shapes.

Western calligraphy differ from the Eastern calligraphy. In the West, instead of brush they use ink tip pen. It  can create a very sharp lines. By manipulating the way you hold the pen, a broad lines can also be made. Western calligraphy has many strict rules for its shape and size. Quality writing had a rhythm and regularity to the letters, with a "geometrical" order of the lines on the page.

Pottery

Pottery is made by forming a clay into an object mostly vase, cups, etc, then heating them to a high temperature in a kiln which purpose is to remove all the water in the clay, which help to strengthen, hardening and setting the shape. When kneading the clay, some air are trapped inside the clay. Kneading help to moisturize the clay. The air inside the clay must be remove, this is called de-airing and can be done using a machine called a vacuum pug or can be done manually by wedging. Once a clay body has been kneaded and de-aired or wedged, it is shaped by a variety of techniques. After shaping the clay, you must wait for it to dry and then heating it. Some decoration of design or patterns ca be added on the clay-body after or before heating it.

There are many types of clay that can be used for pottery, some of them are;

1. Kaolin, also known as China clay as it is first used in China.
2. Stoneware Clay, this clay is very suitable for creating a stoneware. This clay have a finer grain and more heat resistant.
3. Fire Clay, it is quite plastic, highly heat resistant that can be combined with other clays to increase the firing temperature.

There are many techniques to create a pottery, some of them are;

1. By using hand or manually, also known as hand building. It is the oldest technique. Parts of hand-built vessels are often joined together with the aid of slip, an aqueous suspension of clay body and water. It is very rare to create the same pottery using hand building, so sometimes it refers to  one-of-a-kind works of art.
   

   
2. Use the potter's wheel. Using the process of throwing, a ball of clay is placed on the center of a turntable, called the wheel-head, then it start to rotate with a stick, with foot power or with a variable-speed electric motor.
   
   
   

   

Body Painting

Body painting is when a series of color or design were painted on your body and face. It is not a tattoo
as it is not permanent. A body painting that is limited to face only is called face painting.

The design of body painting can be anything from monsters into alien creatures or even someone else.

Body painting festivals occurs annually in certain countries where both professional and amateur artist gather and display their talent. Body painting also commonly be seen in football matches, rave parties and certain festivals. The biggest body painting festival is in portschach ( previously held in Seeboden) in Austria. Body painting festivals that take place in North America include the North American Body Painting Championship, Face and Body Art International Convention in Orlando, Florida, Bodygras Body Painting Competition in Nanaimo, BC and the Face Painting and Body Art Convention in LasVegas, Nevada.

Puppet

Puppet is an inanimate object which is animated by a person. The person animating the puppet is called puppeteer.

There are many types of puppet, they are, finger puppets, light and shadow puppet, Marionette, pull string puppet, hand puppet and many more.

Puppetry is a form a theater show by manipulated the puppet so it look like it is moving. Puppetry is a very ancient and believed to have originated 3000 BC ago. Puppetry is often seen in carnivals, theater, rituals, etc.

In Indonesia, the puppet show is called wayang kulit. It is from Java. It is a performance with puppet which is elaborate with shadow puppetry. So, the puppet is played behind a very large white cloth with a light shining from behind. Thus the audience will see the shadow of the wayang moved by the puppeteer. The show is combined with story telling.

 

marionette

hand puppet

Sculpturing

Sculpturing is the process of carving and remodeling marbles, woods, clay or other materials.

The art of sculpturing has exist since many years ago. The most common material for sculpture in the past was marble and clay. Some sculpture survives but they are very fragile. Stones is considered to be one to have the longest life period as they can't be destroy easily. But nowadays, artists explore different materials to create their sculpture and the materials vary from glass to styrofoam. Other than that, an artist can also create a sculpture by assembling found items or recycled items.

In some countries, sculpture was considered too expensive for people to make for themselves, so sculpture was often used as decorations or symbols in church or many cultures.

One of the most recognized artist is Michelangelo. He created many famous sculpture such as David, the Pieta and many more.

 Another famous artist is Rodin. He created many sculpture in his lifetime. Example of his most famous sculpture are The Thinker an Gates of Hell.
                                                           

                                                             

Recycled Arts

Recycled Arts refers to creating an artwork using used or recycled materials such as cans, papers, plastic bottles, etc. Nowadays, recycled arts have become more popular as people realize that there is just too much junk in the Earth. So, the artist make full use of the used materials and changed them from junk into a piece of art. The artwork can be either usable or just for decoration.

I, myself have made an artwork from recycled materials. I used old cameras and I dismantle them. After dismantling them, I gathered all the usable parts and assembled them into an animal. It turned out quite well. There are many artist who use recycled materials as their components for creating artworks, such as Macaon. He mainly used beer cans and soda cans. In this picture he made a goldfish from cans. Other than this, he also made sculptures from cans of many famous characters such as Buzz Lightyear, Mario, Hello Kitty and many more.

his collection includes a wide array of famous characters such as Mario, Dark Vader, Woody, Buzz Lightyear or Hello Kitty. Many - See more at: http://www.zillamag.com/art/recycled-can-sculptures-by-macaon/#sthash.BfpUuPVS.dpuf

his collection includes a wide array of famous characters such as Mario, Dark Vader, Woody, Buzz Lightyear or Hello Kitty. Many - See more at: http://www.zillamag.com/art/recycled-can-sculptures-by-macaon/#sthash.BfpUuPVS.dpuf

ludes a wide array of famous characters such as Mario, Dark Vader, Woody, Buzz Lightyear or Hello Kitty. - See more at: http://www.zillamag.com/art/recycled-can-sculptures-by-macaon/#sthash.BfpUuPVS.dpuf

ludes a wide array of famous characters such as Mario, Dark Vader, Woody, Buzz Lightyear or Hello Kitty. - See more at: http://www.zillamag.com/art/recycled-can-sculptures-by-macaon/#sthash.BfpUuPVS.dpuf

ludes a wide array of famous characters such as Mario, Dark Vader, Woody, Buzz Lightyear or Hello Kitty. - See more at: http://www.zillamag.com/art/recycled-can-sculptures-by-macaon/#sthash.BfpUuPVS.dpuf

.

Collage

Collage is the art of producing an artwork by combining a lot of materials together. The materials vary from newspaper, magazines, recycled materials, found items, beads, etc. The materials maybe cut into little pieces then paste into a base or by layering the materials to create a design or artwork. There are many types of collage such as Mosaic, 3-Dimensional Collage, Photo-montage and many more.

Mosaic is the process of creating an artwork using small paper, tiles, stones, marbles, etc with different colors, size or patterns. Mosaic can be found in cathedrals, churches, temples as a spiritual symbols of interior design. 

 

3-Dimensional Collage is the collage using 3d materials such as rocks, beads. coins or even soil to create an artwork.

 

Photo-montage is the collage using photographs or using parts of the photographs. With advanced technologies we have today, photo-montage is often created using Photoshop and other design application.

Figure Drawing - Hand and Leg -

Hand
A human's hand is shaped like an oval. Drawing a realistic hand can be a challenge as it is hard to draw hand accurately or realistically. A human hand can be divided into half, the upper half is for the four fingers while the bottom half is for the palm. In the fingers there are many joints which make the structure of a hand.

Proportion

• A hand can be divided into half vertically.
• Divide the upper half into three equal section horizontally
• The thumb is slightly facing inward towards the hand.
• The thumb has only two joints while the other four fingers have three joints each.
• At the back of the hand, there are knuckles just below the fingers

Leg
A human leg can be simplified into basic or simple shapes such as triangle, circle, tube, etc. A leg's calf can be simplified into tube shape, the toes can be simplified into sphere and the foot can be simplified as trapezium shape.

 

Figure Drawings - Eyes -

Drawing realistic eyes can be rather difficult as different people have different eye shape. Some have slanted eyes, squinted eyes, big eyes and many more. Another problem is to draw the iris of the eye. In general, the human's eye resemble the shape of a lemon. Also different people have different eyebrow and eyelash shape. Some are thick and some are thin.

Proportions

• The upper eyelid can be divided into three parts.
• The pupil is located in the middle of the eyeball
• The iris is made up of radial lines with the pupil at it's center. 
• The eyebrow is located just above the eyelids.

Shade

• To shade the eyeball is just the same as when you shade a regular ball. With dark color on the bottom and light color at the top, depending on how strong the light is and the direction of the light.
• The iris can be shaded in a circular or radial way to make it more realistic.
• The lashes and the brows can be shaded by scratching short lines on the eyelids and above the eyelids. Tonal value must be played to make it more realistic.

Figure Drawing - Head -

Head is the upper portion of human body and is considered as the most important part of human structure. In drawing a human figure, the human head contains skull, hair, forehead, eyebrows, eyelids, eyes, nose, lips, teeth, cheeks, chin, ears and neck. There are different shapes of eyes, ears, nose, lips, etc.

Proportions ;

• Usually, the head is divided into 5 parts. 
• The distance between the 2 eyes is one eye long. 
• The distance from the ear to the eye is half eye long.
• The length of the ears are about the length from eyebrow to nose. The ears are parallel to the length from eyebrow to nose.
• The distance between from the eye to the nose is 1 eye long
• the length of the lips is about the length from the pupil in the right side to the pupil in the left side of our eyes
• There are many shape of human jaws. Some people have square jaws, some people have small pointy jaw and some people have short round jaw.

These were some drawings that I drew as a reference.

Figure Drawing-

Figure Drawing is the study of human figure or human body parts from various position and angles. It focuses on the anatomy of human body from head to toe. Drawing a human figure can be a difficult task for any artist and to be able to draw a human figure with the right proportions is important for any artist as human figure can be the basis of portraiture, illustration, sculpture, and other fields.

An artist may draw a human figure from references such as photographs, using real live model, from memory or from imagination.

Proportions of human figure

• An average human is 7 and a half heads tall, including the head
• The ideal figure is 8 heads tall
• A heroic figure is 8 and a half heads tall, including the extension of legs and arms as well as the muscles.
• On general, a women's figure is 7 and a half heads tall while men's figure is 8 heads tall, but some men and women can be shorter or taller.

Fine Arts

Fine arts consist of five elements, they are sculpting, painting, ceramics, photography and print making.
In the past, fine arts was viewed as an artwork which has aesthetic beauties with refined judgement. But in modern days, the value of good taste is disappearing, to the point that having bad taste is considered as artistic.

The word fine in fine arts does not imply the qualities of the artwork, but rather the purity of the discipline.

One example of  fine arts artist is Van Gogh. He used oil color on canvas. His painting style was impressionism. Van Gogh's most famous painting is ' starry night '.