Friday, September 14, 2012

NY 95th anniversary card

My birthday card to celebrate Nanyang's 95th Anniversary! (: It turned out to look quite aesthetically pleasing despite the fact that it was rushed out within three days(well, the whole card project, inclusive of the prep work). Haha I must say that I am rather pleased with this little card.
 
I remember that the first AEPers who saw this card were Si Ting and Pang Xin. The first comment that Si Ting made was: "That is so you". I guess that she meant that the flowers kind of reflected my own personal style, which I have continuously developed ever since the kimono project last year. Those handcut, hand-dyed flowers have become my trademark now. (: And I like making those flowers, depite the fact that I will take like 1 hour for one flower(so tedious and tiring ><).

 Well, both sides of the card are tied together with the red ribbon, so one have to pull the ribbon loose in order to open the card(which is highly not recommended cos the inside is blank>.<). This is a concept which I have came up with a few years ago, and I have often used this concept with my cards - be it teacher's day cards or birthday cards. An example can be seen here: Mrs Soh's birthday card
It was inspired by the wrapping of gifts - opening the card would be like opening a present. (: Well, I stuck the on the silver gems one by one...it is supposed to give the card more detail and a more decorative, finished look! (: It also made the card look more pretty I guess (:


 MY PREP WORK(Arranged in order) :
Mindmap: The typical first page of my prep work for every assignment. -.- Well, it is to crack my brain for ideas and to sort out the ideas in a neater way. I realise that throughout these 4 years, I have developed a distinctive style for my mindmap! (:

 Research pics: The typical second page of my prep. -.- Haha, it is to source for images which I could refer to!

 Drawings, which is an attempt to fill up more space actually... I don't really see a need to draw so many things as my final piece is handcrafted with minimal drawings. But I guess it is an essential part of prep work for every assignment. Oh well...

 Experimenting with different fonts and text! And trying to decide if I should include English or Chinese words on my card...I believe that bold and impactful text is an important component of the cover page of cards!

Hands on experiment. Dying newspapers with expired tea so that they look old--> The one dyed piece of paper which I included on the final card is supposed to show the fact that Nanyang has a long history of 95 years...Artist influence is included on this page! (: I was really inspired by the handmade cards by Julia Stainton! (: Click on her website to view many more beautiful paper crafts and cards!!! :D

Haha, composition. It is also an essential part of every prep work.
 
 
 
Now, it is being displayed at the art gallery, on one of the walls. It is displayed along with the birthday cards of fellow AEPers! (: I feel that each card reflects one's individual style and even though the purpose of the cards are the same, it is the different styles that makes each and every card unique and special in their own way! :D It is somewhat like a reflection of our personal identity and artistic style, which we have developed throughout the 4 years in AEP. (:

3 comments:

  1. I like the way you do the preparation boards, they show us your idea development process clearly.
    The card design is rather interesting. The use of all the decorative materials has made the card colourful and rich in content. I also like the idea of using paper printed with numerous 'Nanyang 1917- 2012' as the background. The words are rather meaningful as the purpose of the card is to celebrate Nanyang’s long history.
    However, I personally feel the green colour flower at the top right hand side of the card is too dominant. This has made the card looks heavier at the top and lighter at the bottom.

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  2. Hey my friend!
    Ok now to the serious part~
    Good point: I really like how you did your work with a kind of scrapbooky kind of feel where you come and put diffeent elements together~ It feels a bit like DaDa ( just that not all the objects are ready-mades~ Looking at the whole card, there are lots of interesting things which the viewer can look at and i really like the experimentation process where you actually plan out the different elements that are to be placed on the card~ The sketching are all detailed and well planned. The thing i like most is where you experimented with how to use the news paper as a background. Like many scrapbook ideas where they use old pages of story books, i think this is a great idea!
    And now the not-so-good points~ ( just so you can take into consideration)
    Although i like the design in the sketch, i would like to suggest that you also plan out the colors in the sketches too~ <3. Since there is already alot going on on the card, for me, i think setting a fixed color scheme would then allow the viewer to look at each elements instead of being overwhelmed by the many colors and designs. Maybe in the sketch, the different elements may look very nice on its own, i think its still important to make sure they complement each other when put together too!

    Overall, i like the card and it stands out among others with the many elements on it but organisation is also important~

    Sorry for the long comment but hey~ good job! <3333

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  3. Hi Xin Ying!
    I must say that I really love this birthday card!
    1. It has such a variety of texture on the card, be it the flowers, ribbons and paper cut-outs.
    2. I like your choice of colours very much as they bring out the vibrant atmosphere of our school's celebrations very well.
    3. Your preparatory work is very thorough and you experimented with your materials for quite a lot!
    However, an area for improvement you can consider is doing more planning for the final composition as the card does look slightly off-balance due to the huge green flower at the top right-hand corner. The imbalanced feeling could be resolved if you had used a smaller flower or decoration. Nonetheless, fantastic job! :D

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