art iv (junior)

Social Justice Mural

My design consists of an Asian, specifically Japanese, woman wearing traditional clothing. The beautiful hair accessories and fabric displayed in this design show off ancient dress and adornment. Clothing was a very important cultural aspect of Japanese and other Asian societies, and often associated people with different social classes and statuses. Even the color of the fabric held a lot of significance, and could symbolize different things. I think it is very important for people to admire the beauties of Asian culture and realize that the mysterious continent that is on the other side of the globe is an amazing place full of infinite wonders.

I decided to go with a monochromatic black and white palette with pops of red all over the design. Red is an important color in both Chinese and Japanese culture and is seen by the Japanese as a way to scare away evil spirits. The sun in the top left of the design is a reference to the Japanese flag, as well as the dot on the girl’s forehead. As a Chinese girl myself, I adore traditional Asian fashion and love the detailed accessories that the people wore in their hair. Especially with the recent racism towards Asians and COVID-19, I hope that with this mural, more people can enjoy these past clothing styles and embrace Asian culture.

Ink Doodles

Some microns art that I created on small pieces of paper (either scrap or from a smaller sketchbook). I paid attention to detail in texture and shading, and used a gray marker + white gel pen to create highlights and shadows.

Materials:

Microns

Gray Tombow brush pen

White Gelly Roll pen

Ramen House Restaurant Set

I created the center fish drawing during the summer of 2020, but this summer, I expanded upon this old design and created some business cards and chopstick sleeves to go along with it. I played around with different aspects of the noodles as well as the fish (minimizing the objects for a simpler look on the cards + chopsticks).

Materials:

Procreate on iPad Pro, Apple pencil

Dumpling House Flyer

Similar to the previous entry, this is another restaurant flier/design that follows an Asian aesthetic. I went for a cuter vibe here. I especially love how the shrimp dumplings came out, as well as the text placement.

Materials:

Procreate on iPad Pro

Apple pencil

Japanese Stamp Designs

Continuing my Graphic Design journey, I created some fake Japanese postal stamps, utilizing common symbols such as the red sun, lotus flower, Mount Fuji, blossoms, fish, cranes, the Torii gate, the kitsune mask, and Japanese-style ocean waves. I enjoyed making each stamp unique, while also tying them together with the common motif of the sun/moon and flower-petal-like shapes.

Materials:

Procreate on iPad Pro

Apple pencil

Me, Myself, and I

Exploring a more realistic digital style, I took 3 selfies and closely observed them to create 3 self-portraits. The idea was to make the piece very casual, and even humorous in a way, while showing off my cultural facial features as well as some of my favorite Asian foods. I love how the colors turned out, and I look forward to drawing more realistic portraits in the future.

Materials:

Procreate on iPad Pro

Apple pencil

The Five Senses book cover

One of my newer hobbies is writing poetry, so I decided to start a poetry-based art project. My favorite type of poetry is imagery poems, which are works that focus on the 5 senses. I abstracted the different body parts that are responsible for these 5 senses, while sticking to a primary color palette.

Materials:

iPad Pro and mock-up template from Freepik.com

Art Club Poster

This was one of my first graphic designs that I created (before most of the works above), so I was still new to exploring font and color. I decided to use a wide variety of colors to display the colorful and positive aspects of the art club. The idea was also to include people from different backgrounds and groups in the poster to show how inclusive art-making is.

Materials:

Procreate on iPad Pro

Apple pencil

RISD Design Camp

Mask to CONCEAL and REVEAL final project

Process photos and final photo of design camp final project: a mask that describes my personality.

The prompt for this project was to use cardboard + other assorted objects to create a mask that shows your inner and outer self. I decided to work with the concept of a chameleon and how chameleons blend into their surroundings. In that way, I am like a chameleon, since I tend to try to "fit in" and not show the unusual sides of me in public. The cut out area on the right side of the face that shows melting colors of yellow, orange, and red displays my inner self, which is bolder, brighter, and more free than the outside (which is plain brown and covered in chameleon scales). There are also chameleon tails coming out from the nose and top of the head to add on to the chameleon idea. This project took hours, and was very challenging for me, since I never really worked with 3d media like this before. The cardboard was also very hard to cut after a few hours of sitting on the floor and cutting with a blade. Thankfully, the assignment before this one, cardboard form studies, helped me get used to the medium a bit more. (SEE BELOW)

Color Magazine Collages

Another design camp project. The aim of this project was to explore color theory and gather scraps from magazines to create something artistic. In order, the color palettes are complementary (blue and orange), split complementary (teal, orange, red) and primary (red, yellow, and blue). Below is a process photo.

Chameleon Studies

My first sketchbook assignment at RISD, which was to pick an object from the nature lab archives and create 16 sketches for it from different angles and using different media. No colors were allowed except black and white. I used Microns, alcohol-based markers, sumi ink, and acrylic paints to create these sketches.

Monster Blobs

This is my design for the annual monster blob project in art class. The theme for this design was "Outer Space x Underwater": two polar opposites in the same space. To further accentuate this contrast, I utilized both warm and cool color palettes. The scene portrayed reflects that of a childhood dream — full of creepy but cute monsters. There are also toy-like aspects to the drawing, such as the robot (derived from an actual toy in the room) and the stuff-animal-like characters.

Materials:

Watercolor

Copic Multiliners

White gel pen

Red and blue gel pen

Groovy Music Chocolates

These chocolates are the perfect gift for music teachers, fellow musicians, and loved ones in general. As a classical musician, I often struggled to find a music-related present for my piano teacher. Created with vibrant colors and experimental shapes, the chocolate bars are brought to life. This set includes piano, saxophone, and electric guitar designs.

Archimboldo-inspired Project Process

Here is my process work with oil pastels. My personal goal for this project is to have bright, lively colors and use as little pure black/white and brown as possible. I hope to create a 3-dimensional look; I want the fruits and other elements to pop out from the page.

Asian App Icons & Wallpaper

Since I am often inspired by Asian artwork and culture in my designs, I decided to create a cute– and creative– iPhone app icon pack. Each app is represented with an aspect of East Asian culture, playing off of what the actual app logo looks like on our phones.

Materials:

Procreate

The Red String of Fate

This piece incorporates a variety of Asian influences. The red string that is intertwined in the girl's hands references the red string myth in China: at birth, soulmates are connected by a red string that shortens as their life goes on. In this way, the string represents fate. The girl is following her fate blindly, as shown by her closed eyes. Beside her is a "guardian": a crane, representing longevity and immortality.

Dreamland

This piece portrays the beauties of traditional China. The subject of this piece dreams about this historical past, almost as if it is a Utopian world. The contrast between the rather monochromatic and still bottom half and the lively and colorful top half creates a sense of balance in this piece. Also, the realistic shading of the girl's skin contrasts greatly with the origami-like coloring style used for the landscape.

Trapped

This piece shows a rather ironic food chain: larger fish eat smaller fish, but there is also a net that is enclosing on the biggest fish. Furthermore, the smallest eel is spitting out fishnets, potentially capturing the biggest fish. The eel can also be interpreted as eating the fishnet. There is a dark vibe to this digital painting, with the blank-eyed fish lurking around and behind the main subjects.

Human Sushi

Similar to Trapped, this piece is relatively dark compared to the rest of my work. It shows a carnivorous fish who is about to dine on sushi– except the sushi has human adults and children in them. This swaps the roles of fish and humans.

Arcimboldo Project

Inspired by the Italian artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo, I composed a visage consisting of only fruits and vegetables. The visage is of a grumpy old man, as displayed by the mustache (peppers), beard (roots), and furrowed brows (the carrots).

Materials:

Oil Pastels

Black paper

Environmental Awareness Project

Process:

Sketch

Underpainting

NAHS Chinese New Year Mural

The National Art Honor Society, a group of WHS Advanced Art students, created a Chinese-themed mural to act as a backdrop for the Lunar New Year party at WHS and a present for the WHS Mandarin teacher, Ms. Tao. Traditional aspects of Chinese culture, such as the tiger, lily pads, architecture, and the red sun were incorporated into this mural, and traditional landscape painting techniques were utilized. This mural is currently located at the main language wing staircase in WHS.

A Spring Day

Drawn on Procreate

Bubble Tea Study

Drawn on Procreate

Environmental Justice project

My mixed media painting A Plastic Dinner emphasizes the need for awareness of marine plastic pollution. More than ever before, millions of tons of plastic have been ending up in oceans, making up 80% of the oceans’ debris. This crisis is detrimental to the marine life residing underwater and is the cause of the above one million deaths per year in marine species. In my artwork, I featured a colorful fish that is wrapped in plastic and is spitting out plastic netting. The fish is also sliced at the ribs area, revealing bright pink flesh. This symbolizes death, showing the harmful effects inflicted upon the animal by the plastic waste. Using mixed media, I was able to incorporate real components of plastic trash into the artwork, giving the canvas a 3D look as well as highlighting the main point of the piece: plastic pollution is dangerously harming the wellbeing of marine species.

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