Fundamentals of Creative Authoring Tools
Assignment 1 : Juxtaposition Photography and Illustration
INTRODUCTION
For our first assignment, we were assigned to photograph 5 pictures with one concept or theme, including our illustrations on each picture and creating a storyline or a connection to our photographs. The theme I went for is something that is deep and dark, and it is also very realistic with our world today, where many individuals are suffering.
TITLE OF ASSIGNMENT
According to the title of this assignment, MALIGNANT means ‘evil in nature or effect’ and something that is infectious or virulent.
CONCEPT / THEME
The concept or theme that I went for in this assignment is something that a lot of us, especially young women face daily in our current society. Beauty standards and materialism have taken over substantially and it is only getting worse. Our perspective of beauty and image has changed drastically over the decades and it is vastly controlled by the powerful, wealthy upper-class men. With these unrealistic beauty standards and ideas of materialism gaining control over the world, we cannot help but conform to such ideals because of how social media and the news outlets portray these unfeasible standards. The pressure to look a certain way is very high and if we do not satisfy to society’s standards, we will be looked down upon, made fun of and seen as ‘abnormal’, ‘different’ or ‘deviant’. We will be treated as if we do not belong even though we do not have any control in our physical appearance. On top of that, we rely on physical objects and items for happiness, allowing self-destruction by materialism. We have been sucked in by the power of materialism and many of us are led to believe that our possessions measure our wealth, when should not it be our happiness that measures that? Therefore, this issue needs to be highlighted.
REASONS WHY I CHOSE THIS CONCEPT
As a previous Sociology student back in Maktab Duli Pengiran Muda
Al-Muhtadee Billah, I’ve always had an interest in learning about social hierarchies, feminism as well as ideological consciousness. In addition, issues like these need to be highlighted, so many would be aware of this brainwashing society.
STORYLINE
I decided to make a realistic, deep, and dark story of a girl who is a victim of society, suffering in silence with society’s perspective of what is beautiful and desirable. She is pressured to look a certain way and to have a certain image. It also shows that women are not the only one suffering but men as well, which in this storyline, it is her best friend who is going through a similar situation as her.
SETUP
I’ve made the envelope dirty and filled with stains to appear as if she has been keeping her letters of loans and debts for a very long time.
I used the brown eyeshadow shades from the MORPHE X James Charles Eyeshadow Palette to create dirt on my subject’s feet, to give off the impression that her legs are bruised from wearing her red high-heels, which was illustrated.
I also stained my subject’s t-shirt with the same MORPHE X James Charles Eyeshadow Palette, using my face brush.
RAW PHOTOGRAPHS (without the illustrations)
Picture 1: Most of the photographs I took were at my own house. I have painted my subject’s feet, toenails, and calves with brown and black eyeshadows, so they appear bruised and dirty. I will illustrate a pair of bright-coloured high-heels next to her legs, which indicates that society wants women to appear a certain way that is pleasing to the public eye.
Picture 2: For this photograph, my subject is staring at a plain white wall, in which a mirror and a ‘reflection’ of herself (or how she views herself) will be illustrated in the final photo which will appear in the photobook.
Picture 3: This is the original photo, where the screen of the tablet is a plain white photo, but beside the tablet are loan rejection letters from the banks and an envelope of loans and debts that she keeps. The envelope is stained with eyeshadow to indicate that my subject here has been collecting these loans and debt letters for a very long time. I will be illustrating a ‘Thank You for Your Order’ from a luxurious brand, where she will be purchasing an expensive item from the said brand.
Picture 4: For this photograph, my subject sits on my grey couch, surrounded by crunched-up and torn newspapers to appear ‘poor’ and ‘hopeless’. I will be illustrating a luxurious branded paper bag next to where she is sitting.
Picture 5: Finally, here is another subject eating McDonald’s which indicates that he is binge-eating junk food, but I will illustrate a weight-loss pill bottle and place that on the table.
PHOTOGRAPHS with Illustrations
I decided to completely remove the saturation of the photographs I took as it gives off a more dark and depressing vibe and only keep the colour and saturation for the illustrations as they make the photos pop more and viewers are able to notice the illustrated objects more clearly in the photos.
PROGRAMMES USED
Adobe Illustrator 2020
Samsung Notes (Mobile App)
Adobe Draw Illustrator (Mobile App)
Canva
Snapseed (Mobile App)
remove.bg
TOOLS AND EQUIPMENTS USED
PHOTO-TAKING:
Xiaomi RedMi Note 8 Pro
iPhone 12 Pro Max
iPhone XS Max
OTHERS:
Stylus Pen
ASUS ROG Zephyrus
COLOUR PALETTE AND FONTS USED IN THIS PHOTOBOOK
USING ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR
For this photo, I have used the Ellipse tool and transformed it into a shadow for the weight-loss pill bottle. I also applied Gaussian Blur to have that blur effect.
Similar to the weight-loss pill bottle picture, I have also added the same shadow effect using Ellipse tool and Gaussian Blur effect and placed it under the illustrated high-heels.
For this photo, I added a black rectangular shape to cover her eyes and used the Ellipse tool to cover her mouth and applied Gaussian Blur effect.
EVIDENCE OF PHOTOTAKING and ILLUSTRATIONS
Here is a picture of me taking a photograph of 'the third' page.
Here is a picture of me illustrating the CHANNELL paper bag.
THE FINAL PRODUCT
PHOTOBOOK (with explanations):
Title:
Malignant - beauty standards and materialism
For the cover page, I had added a black rectangle on my subject’s right eye and blurred her lips to give off a slight disturbing image. I have also illustrated some stains for the wall, so it does not look too plain and it gives off a ‘dirty’ look.
I have added in the preface of the storyline and illustrated some stains for the background.
This is the first page of the story where it all starts. I have illustrated stains for the background for all pages of this photobook.
Explanation
A lot of us individuals, especially young women always view ourselves as ‘fat’ whenever we see our own reflection in the mirror. Society has portrayed this sick, twisted mentally and infected our minds with that kind of perception.
Explanation
For most women working in any sort of setting, especially in the office, they are forced to wear uncomfortable high-heels the whole day at work to appear ‘professional’ and it is the standard dress code for all women working. Wearing any other type of shoes other than heels is seen as ‘inappropriate’ or ‘undesirable’ in a working environment.
Explanation
This is quite common amongst the working class, where one would purchase goods that they desire even though they know they are not able to afford them. This is what we call ‘materialism’ – in which it is a system that eats us from the inside out (ref. The Guardian). Unfortunately, many individuals believe that by buying things they want, it will immediately fulfil their happiness, but it is only an instant gratification. The feeling of satisfaction and happiness is only temporary and once they get bored or tired of their new purchase, they desire and seek for more items that they do not need but want because it is trendy and everyone else has it.
Explanation
This is where the subject realises that after receiving her new purchase, she still is not happy, due to her current situation. She is still surrounded by newspapers, indicating that her living condition is very poor and this is just a repeated cycle of poverty and it is going to be difficult to get out of this situation.
Explanation
This is where she meets her best friend who also has a negative body image of himself. The weight-loss pill bottle indicates that society pressures us to look ‘skinny’ because being on the bigger side is seen as ‘undesirable’ and it is not seen as ‘normal’. This leads to eating disorders, which is very unhealthy and worse, it can lead to death. According to ANAD.org, eating disorders affect at least 9% of the population worldwide.
It is basically a summary and ending of the storyline, where there is a way to overcome this type of circumstance and there is a light to this kind of darkness in our world right now, so the readers or viewers reading this can still have some hope even after viewing something so dark and deep.
This is basically a couch filled with crumped newspapers with the title of the photobook and a short summary of the storyline. I have blurred out the photo and illustrated some stains on the wall.
So yeah, that is basically my first assignment work from this module, CC1204 Fundamentals of Creative Authoring Tools.
It took me quite some time to compile all these together but it is finally complete.
