Assignment 3:

My Adobe Illustrator piece will consist of portraits. The portraits will be changed and distorted to create an abstract piece, similar to the pieces created by William Utermohlen, the artist mentioned in my proposal.

I will create the piece using a portrait I have drawn in the past, using pencil. The scanned image will be put into Illustrator and made into a simplified face, as we did in Week Four of class. I will then lay over other shapes and colours to distort the face, and make the face almost unrecognisable. This will assist in linking in the piece with the concept and emphasising the idea of ‘lost identities'. 

Potential drawings to be transformed:

After using Illustrator in week 4 (creating the image below), I would like to use similar techniques to distort the portraits; using colours and changing the lines.

ASSESSMENT 1:

Digital Art Proposal

‘Lost and Found’

The topic of refugees was one of the first things that came to mind when thinking of ‘Lost and Found’. There is no personal connection with asylum seekers but hearing stories of refugees and seeing what has been happening around the world recently, has struck a cord with me. But the topic of ‘Lost Identities’ has a personal connection with me, particularly when referring to deteriorating illnesses like Alzheimer’s and Dementia. By using both the idea of identities, it links the two words together, and shows that both are involuntary reasons, and both have devastating affects.

There are a few books that really stood out relating to asylum seekers, ‘Tears From Kabul by Michael P. Buckley’, ‘The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis’ and ‘The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini’. All three books illustrate the utter desperation and affliction experienced by refugees, who built up the courage to write about their encounters. Later on throughout the creative process, references to the Refugee Council website may be made, to refer to personal stories of refugees.

Turning sadness and suffering into art has always been an interest of mine. The idea of turning something negative into something beautiful is fascinating; the fact that a piece of art can strike a variety emotions in people depending on their interpretation.  This topic has been a major issue and has been in the spotlight for quite some time now, which is why I feel the pieces I create are suitable, and open for people to either like or dislike.

The artwork will be a series of portraits and a video, demonstrating the affects of war, forcing people to seeking asylum. The artwork will stick to a hyperrealism theme, keeping the sensitivity of the concept alive. The first two pieces will look similar to each other; portraits. They will illustrate the concept of masks and how refugees lose their identity when feeing their country of origin. The third piece will either be another portrait of a mask, or two hands gripping onto each other tightly, further highlighting the concept and demonstrating the struggle to let go when leaving their homes. The final piece will be a video, to tie in all the ideas; that although individuals lose their identity when leaving their papers and all their belongings behind, they will always remain true to themselves, and can never truly ‘lose’ themselves.

Since the focus of this concept is on ‘Lost Identities’, the artist I would like to focus on is a man called William Utermohlen. Alzheimer’s disease is never easy to hear, for anyone. He decided to show the affects of the disease through is art, ‘…before his death in 2007, Utermohlen created a heart-wrenching final series of self-portraits over a roughly 5-year period documenting the gradual decay of his mind due to this crippling disease.’ His work inspired me to create pieces that illustrate the affects of suffering, whether it be Alzheimer’s disease or seeking refuge from a war-torn country. The pieces below give you an idea of just how bad the disease is, and how William slowly lost all idea of his identity.

Who are refugees, 2011, Refugee Council, viewed Monday 21 March, <http://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/fact-sheets/who-are-refugees/refugee-stories/maturs-story/>

ArtFido 2014, Artist with Alzheimer’s draws self portraits for 5 years until he barely remembers his won face, viewed Monday 21 March, <http://www.artfido.com/blog/artist-with-alzheimers-draws-self-portraits-for-5-years-until-he-barely-remember-his-own-face/>

(missed this week's class)


'Lost and found'. It was can be interpreted in any way people like. The first thing that came to mind when I saw the topic was 'Lost identities'. I immediately thought about people who go through life living a false identity, or even without an identity. Following this thought, I thought, refugees. They come to this country to seek refuge, to live a better life. With utter desperation they give away all their papers, and leave their homes and families, and along with that, themselves.

I thought I would focus on this topic by creating a series of pieces that demonstrate the desperation and heartbreak that comes along with leaving behind everything that ever belonged to you. A series of pieces with faces missing, and people's faces being taken off as if they were masks will be my aim for the semester, particularly in Illustrator and Photoshop. I will also create a video illustrating people's identities being hidden or blurred, with the end of the video either showing their faces, or a reflection of themselves (in a mirror), to portray the idea that, no matter what, one's identity can never truly be lost.


I have begun my research by asking family members on their experiences, no necessarily on seeking refuge, but leaving their countries of origin to migrate here. I have also been watching documentaries on refugees and jotting down ideas of how their touching stories can be transformed to create art.

Click, click, click. 'Ugh!', my frustration overrides my excitement at this point. The control I usually have is gone. The pencil and paper is out, it's time to finally to hit fingers on mouse, and learn this 'Adobe Illustrator' stuff. I begin with the first line, and already it's a mess. It's almost like I'm learning a new language again.

Eventually, after what feels like forever, I finally begin to understand how Illustrator works. With a little bit of confidence, and playing around with a few buttons, the shape of a circle begins to form. I then follow these arrows, first, leading me along a curved line, then different letters. The words and shapes finally looked half-decent! I'm excited for next week, to see what can be done with something more complex, possibly even attempting to draw a portrait as I would normally. 

Examples from today's class:

And as you can tell by the photo below; my frustration got the better of me at the end.

My experience in art – I have been working on art for as long as I can remember. Almost like it’s in my blood. From primary school, I was always that weirdly artsy kid, and even had one of my sculptures on display at the Royal Melbourne Show. I’ve had contemporary jewellery pieces and drawings in high school art shows/exhibitions, from year eight through to year twelve (Incinerator Gallery was the main exhibition space). My contemporary jewellery design was also featured on the flyer, for the year twelve exhibition (2013). I have had my works featured in a university art show last year, and currently, I freelance as a designer and artist outside of university (tattoo designs, band album covers and t-shirts). I don’t see myself doing anything else. Here is one of my most recent pencil drawings:

What digital art means to me – I’m not going to lie, digital art hasn’t always been my favourite. I have used and created works digitally in the past, but have never seen digital art as being my medium of choice when it comes to creating my pieces. I am usually one to pick up a pencil and paper or a pair of pliers to create something. In saying this, I have always been fascinated with how much can be done on a computer, and how images and concepts can be so easily distorted with the click of a button… or a few buttons. I guess it’s worth another shot hey!

What I hope to get from this course – I am hoping to learn how to digitalize my work, in particular, my drawings. Thus, enabling me to edit and distort the image however I like, without ruining or messing with the original piece (a mistake I’ve made way too many times). Learning to draw at a more advanced level, especially in Adobe Illustrator, will assist in designs that I make (t-shirts, album covers etc).

Topics – I am going to focus on the ‘Lost and Found’ concept; particularly highlighting the idea of lost identities and how refugees sacrifice all of their identity and worth when fleeing a country. I would like to incorporate images of lost paperwork, and people losing their faces throughout my folio to further highlight the concept. For the video. I am thinking about creating a series of images and shots of people’s backs, that will be blurred, with the sound of screaming and loud chatter in another language laid over the top. I think the sounds over the top will illustrate the distress involved in the whole situation, and will spark emotion in my audience.  Another idea was to incorporate fingerprints, perhaps layering them over the top of portraits, showing the fingerprint to be engraving one’s face when they look in the mirror, to highlight the notion that no matter what paperwork or physical identification is lost, that an individual will never lose their sense of self. I found these ideas pretty rad after some research, and thought I’d share:

Links: Lost Identity Wallpaper (#23434), wallpapersinhq, viewed 1 March 2016 <http://wallpapersinhq.pw/23434-lost_identity/>

Tomasz Alen Kopera 2015, Items of Inspiration tumblr, viewed 1 March 2016 <http://sillyfig.tumblr.com/post/85289795077/pachipachiworld-lost-identity-by-tomasz-alen>

Ollyy, Shuttershock, viewed 1 March 2016 <http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-160669p1.html>