Intro to Fine Art

Going into Fine Art I wasn’t really sure what to expect. Fine Art to me has been described as a subject made for painters and philosophers throughout my short time as an art student. Granted it’s true that the majority of people taking fine art are painters and/or people who love finding deeper inner meanings in art pieces but Fine Art itself is much more than that. It can be filled with expression and feeling and is something I found myself enjoying the more I got into it.

Investigation of Area

After getting up and moving around to settle in the next stop in the carousel, it was there where I met Bella (Fine Art Teacher) and was introduced to what fine art is and what it can entail when done the way you want. In the beginning, we were set a task of exploration. Being in a whole new building that none of us really fully knew, Bella thought it would be great to send us off to wander and record anything of interest we found when exploring the ALEX building. This led me to the idea of searching the building from top to bottom, seeing where I could and couldn’t go whilst also recording what I saw through an unfiltered writing style I like to call my “Inner Monologue”. This is basically where I write whatever the first thing that comes to my head when seeing anything, no matter how absurd or bizarre it sounds or reads on paper.

Development of Ideas

After exploring the building and finding all the unusual little nooks and crannies this building had to offer, I went about thinking how I could expand on the concept of “Inner Monologue” and how it can effect what you see depending on how you’re feeling/ how fluid and ever-expanding of an imagination the view of the beholder has. At the start, I wasn’t sure where to take my work but Bella said something that included “Unfolding” and that word kind of sparked a fuse in my mind and allowed me to figure out where my work was going to go. The concept itself is taking a monochromatic scene of the original perspective of an area and flipping the perspective to something that is more colourful and imaginative to look at. For example, a little door that is hidden away can be also seen as a hidden disco for Burrowers or a hidey hole for a tiny dragon and all its treasure.

Area Sketches

After finding curious spots around the ALEX building, I chose a few of my favourites that I can develop into my concept. Monochromatic mediums such as pen and pencil I consider my comfort zone when it comes to illustration so I found it easy and enjoyable to create these sketches as well as figure out the concepts for their flipped perspective.

Perspective Flipped Sketches

After creating my Area Sketches, I decided to work on how the perspective would be flipped and how colourful and unique they can all turn into. This concept allowed me to explore various kinds of colour and idea combinations, helping me be more in tune with my imagination and childlike wonder that makes these pieces more appealing fun to the eye. The idea itself kind of adapted to create a narrative of how there are tiny little creatures/people hidden in the building who come out and have fun whenever nobody is around or when everyone has left for the day.

Final Construct

To finish up Fine Art, I took the perspective cards and placed them all in their own unique envelopes each stamped with an insignia based on the sketch inside. These envelopes were then placed in their original locations and were presented this way for the day so that passers by could see them and hopefully see things differently from having a change in perspective. This project as a whole was very enjoyable for me to create and most certainly something I would see myself exploring further in future work, especially the concept of silhouettes to display characters simply.