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

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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 '.

Three point, Atmospheric and Zero point perspective

Three point perspective is usually used for buildings when viewed from above or from below. It has three vanishing point, 2 horizontal and 1 vertical. Three point perspective exist when an object or structure is not parallel to the ground. In design, viewing an object at a three point perspective will make the design more interesting and thus the design won't be flat.

Atmospheric perspective refers to the perspective of an object which exist in nature or in atmosphere and the farther the object is the more they will disappear into the horizon. They have irregular shape which make it hard for us to draw the perspective lines. For example clouds, trees, bushes, scenery, etc.

Another type of perspective is the zero point perspective. The perspective has no vanishing lines and exist only when the parallel lines are in the scene. For example mountain range, sea, etc.

Two Point Perspective

Two point perspective is when we see the object from 2 point of view, meaning it have 2 vanishing point.

For example if we see a cube from a certain angle, instead of square we would be able to see the three dimensional shape of a cube. The sides of the cube would then origin from a certain point in the right side and in the left side, and these are the two points mentioned in two point perspective.

In drawing or sketching an object or objects with two point perspective, first you have to determine where the two vanishing points are. Then from that point, draw thin lines to make sure that the object's perspective is right. Then draw the objects according to the perspective lines.

One Point Perspective

Perspective is the way we see an object from certain angle or certain view.

Perspective can be divided into 2, they are linear perspective and atmospheric perspective.

Linear perspective;
The edge of a cube has three points, 1 horizontal and 2 verticals. Therefore in linear perspective we can say that there are three types of linear perspective, they are 1, 2, and 3 points of perspective.

One Point Perspective
It means we see an object from one point of view only, and the vanishing point is located at one place only.
Usually one point perspective is rarely used as most of the objects have either two or three point of perspective. One point perspective is usually used when drawing a tunnel or hallway where the perspective come from one point only. If we view an object for example a cube with one point perspective, the position of the cube would be parallel with our eyes, so all we see is a square and not a cube.

Texture

Texture is used to describe the characteristics of an object. Some examples of texture are smooth, rough, bumpy, grainy, sharp, etc.

Texture is divided into two types, they are organic textures and man-made textures. Organic textures are textures that can be found in nature for example the texture in leaf, animal's fur, rock, tree bark, etc.
Man-made textures are textures that cannot be found in nature, they are made by humans, for example steel, glass, cloth, etc.

Again texture can be further divided into four sections, they are abstract textures, invented textures, actual textures and simulated textures.
Abstract textures are textures that created by people using real object as reference then simplify the textures.
Invented textures are textures created by people, they may exist in nature or man- made.
Actual textures are textures that can be felt when touched.
Simulated textures are textures that created by people using real object as reference and they are almost exactly the same as the real object.

Color

Color is one of the most common element use in art and design. Color is often use to differentiate one object from the other by using different hues.

The color wheel consist of 12 colors. The primary colors are Red, Yellow and Blue. Together they form a triangle. Between red, yellow and blue, another triangle is form by mixing the primary color equally, they are orange, green and violet. By mixing red and yellow, it become orange, red and blue become violet, blue and yellow become green.  They are called secondary color. The last 6 colors are form by mixing the secondary color with the primary color, they are red-orange, orange-yellow, yellow-green, green-blue, blue-violet and violet-red.

Some basic color scheme are 

Monochrome which use only one color from the colou wheel,

Analogous which color choices are limited to the color beside the chosen color for example if you choose blue as your main color, your color scheme will consist of either blue-green or blue-violet or both.

Complimentary the color choices for this scheme is the color opposite from the chosen color. For example if you choose red as your main color, the color scheme is green.

There are many more color scheme such as split-complimentary, triadic and tetradic ( double-complimentary ).

Shapes

There are two kinds of shapes, geometric shapes and organic shapes.

Geometric shapes are shapes that are calculated, regular, man made and usually does not exist in nature. For example shape of a wall which is square or rectangle or honeycomb which is hexagon in shape.

Organic shapes are shapes that are irregular and can only exist in nature or originated from nature. Example can be found in plants, animals, clouds and many more.

We use shape as a tool to describe an object whether the object is round or square or even irregular. From the shape alone we are able to identify what object it is. For example if I draw a circle, most people will relate it to a ball which is round in shape, if a draw a square, people will relate it to tiles or other object which is square in shape.

Dots....

A dot never hold any significant meaning but in the world of design, dots are used to create outstanding artwork. Drawing technique that uses dots is called pointillism.

Pointillism is a drawing technique which apply small, distinct dots of pure colour to form an image. This technique were developed by Georges Seurat and Paul Signac in 1886. This technique requires the artist to blend and mix the colour spots into full range tones. One of the most famous artwork by Georges Seurat using pointillism technique was a painting called "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte". Georges spent two years to finish the painting.

Another famous artist who uses dots in their artwork is Yayoi Kusama. She uses bright colour dots in her artwork most of which exhibit her thematic interest in psychedelic colours, repetition and patterns. One of her work called "Ascension of Polka Dots on the Trees" was displayed at the Singapore Biennale 2006 on Orchard Road, Singapore.

Lines

Line art also known as line drawing can be describe as any image that consists of straight and curved lines drew or placed on a background usually white background. Line art can use lines of different colours altough it is usually black and white also known as monochrome.

A pure line art will not have gradations in shade and colours to represent the two and three dimensional objects. They just use line in different thickness and they play around with the width of the line. A series of dots can be used in addition to lines.

Line is considered as the most basic element of art. Since we were young we often use lines to draw and describe an object or to draw from observation. Remember when you were in pre-school, the teacher gave you a pencil and a paper and they asked you to draw a house? Your drawing will consist of only straight lines forming a house.

Lines can also help us to understand the past better. Archeologist found some drawings drawn with stones on the wall of caves. The cavemen use lines to draw horses, men, dog and many more to tell  story about their life. Long ago it is said that cavemen did not have a shared language so they drew as a way to communicate.  As you can see, lines play an important role in our life.