z5134455 Wing Yin, Leung

SART3800 Assessment 3

(1) MENTOR
As my creative practice is socially engaged art, using watercolour or digital media to create
illustrations related to gender identity and social norms, the mentor I found is a Hong Kong
social activist artist Perry Dino. Both exploring social issues, Perry’s protest paintings have
documented numerous Hong Kong social movements, revealing the inequality in society
with his semi-realistic drawing style. As my former art teacher, Perry also knows the content
and development of my creative practice, which can give me relevant and suitable
suggestions for my art.

Considering to be a Hong Kong illustrator after graduation and realise drawing techniques is
crucial but inadequate for my professional practice, our one-and-a-half-hour conversation
mainly focused on drawing techniques and the current situation of Hong Kong art field. For
drawing techniques, Perry mentioned some explicit knowledge about light and shadow,
colour combination, perspective and composition, such as colour temperature, three types
of perspective and the difference between RGB and CMYK. Most are skills I have not learnt
before. For the situation of Hong Kong art field, he mentioned many Hong Kong artists
tended to work in educational institution for livelihood, then created their works in spare
time. While for suggestions, he recommended me to find a unique drawing style and
mentioned the importance of knowing art history.

In the Asian art field, techniques are considered as ‘the basics’ and ‘necessities’ for
professional illustrators. By knowing those techniques in the conversation, I learnt a lot but
also realised there is still a long way for me to become ‘professional’. Hoping to improve
urgently, I plan to practice those techniques thrice a week, starting from realistic sketching. I
also thought of my creative pathway after graduation, planning to be a part-time 3D
animator (another of my chosen streams) in a video game company, then create my
illustration in my spare time.

(2) PUBLIC EVENT

Drawing techniques are important for Asian professional illustrators, but only having skills is
not enough for being a creative artist. Concepts are highly valued in the contemporary art
world no matter in which country, so I planned to visit a gallery, focusing on how other
artists used creative ways to express their ideas.

The gallery I visited is the Art Gallery of New South Wales, while the ArtExpress 2019
Exhibition in the gallery impressed me a lot. In ArtExpress Exhibition, students’ Visual Arts
Process Diaries were also exhibited, while documentation of the process, risk-taking
experiments, considerations of compositions, colour choices, angles, etc. were included in
those diaries. Those meticulous considerations and experimental ways of developing
concepts made me reflect on my artworks, which were usually too straightforward due to
the lack of exploration of concepts and creative expressing ways. I then planned to have a
visual diary on my later creative practice, recording the development of my concepts such as
research and thoughts towards social issues, and related experimental drawings that can
help me to discover an innovative drawing style.
Artworks in ArtExpress Exhibition were also outstanding, both technically skilled and
concepts resolved creatively. Students used patterns, abstraction, metaphors, exaggeration,
colour choices and even the choice of frame to express their ideas, while one of the most
impressive work would be Celine Luu’s Deterioration of the Mind, only using lines and
colours to represent the fragility of human. Come to think of it, the creator of those
remarkable artworks are only students, which means our age and education level are
similar, so how can I be outstanding and recognizable among fellow artists? I then figured
out uniqueness is the crucial point for being a professional artist, just as Perry said, as this
could make one’s artwork irreplaceable.

(3) PUBLIC SPHERE

Considered the characteristic of the modern age, that information can be transmitted
rapidly through the Internet, the strategy I implemented is creating my artist website. Using
Wix to build my website, I put my bio, artworks and contact methods on it, then put the web
link in my Instagram profile. As I often use my Instagram art account to interact with other
illustrators, sharing my artist website is providing a way for them to know more about me
and my art practice.

I spent most of the time on web design, including the overall colour tone, composition,
selecting accomplished work and adjusting the position of thumbnails, aiming to make it
aesthetically pleasing. I then realised web design could be important for artists as it
represents one’s aesthetic, while the documentation of artworks is crucial as well. I also
found that I do not have a lot of accomplished work, most are illustrations for games and
lack of more artist artworks that are related to my professional practice. This could be fatal
for my development if my work could not accurately represent my practice, so I plan to have
more related artworks or drawn comics in the future, then upload them on the site from
time to time. Having a glance at my collection of work, I feel that my drawing style is lacking
uniqueness as well. Just as I mentioned in the last question, I should focus on exploring new
ways of drawing, in order to develop my own art style.
DOCUMENTATION

(1) MENTOR
Mentor: Perry Dino
(An interview about Perry: https://www.hongkongfp.com/2019/04/21/interview-
homework-came-first-secret-shame-behind-perry-dinos-hong-kong-protest-
art/?fbclid=IwAR1cMkEqfrFmLwuiwJV8GNzKuGAluZ0bLOwQOBHJnWPu3C9OPNN9cjkpbvs)
Date: 21 April 2019
Time: 16:18 – 17:49 (Via WhatsApp video call)

Content of the conversation:

Explicit knowledge of drawing techniques

Light and shadow

-Colour temperature: Morning & Afternoon 4000~5000k (white & blue), Evening
2000~3000k (yellow), Night (affected by artificial light)
-White balance

Colour combination
-Hue, value, chroma
-When adding white or black to colours, its value and chroma will also change
-RGB (Red, Green, Blue) & CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black)
-Pantone colour guide

Perspective
-One Point Perspective
-Two Point Perspective: Doesn’t exist in reality, usually used when doing architectural design
-Three Point Perspective

Composition
-Diving the paper into nine equivalent boxes, then draw on the four intersections can make
the overall composition more balance and stable
-The second way to create a stable composition is to divide the drawing into long shot,
medium shot and close shot (create the sense of space)
-Factors of changing the focus of the drawing: human (people like to look at human when
looking at an artwork), direction of fingers or hands (visual guidance), the highest point of a
boat on the ocean
-The focus of drawings differ when using different size or shape of canvas

Recommendation of drawing
-Go to art galleries or look at other artworks online more often
-Should look at the artwork first before looking at its title, and should be aware of the
arrangement of its details
-Things should consider when creating an artwork: (1) Techniques (2) Could your artwork
represent your concepts clearly (3) Innovation (the influence to the later generation)
-Can look at art reference online
-Why knowing art history is important: (1) Can understand the pathway of art development
(2) Will not repeat the pace of the predecessors (when innovating a new style)
-Uniqueness is crucial for artists, as one’s mind, his/her artworks or even his/herself is
irreplaceable, don’t just follow the trend
-Should find your own style that you can continue for your whole life when you are still in
Uni
-If having technique questions or looking for suggestions, can show my work to him

Recommended artists
-Chen Uen
-Picasso
-Van Gogh

The current situation of Hong Kong art field

-Practical consideration: transportation and affect the size of the canvas
-Many art auction is held from April to July
-Recommended auction: Sotheby's & Christie's, Art Central
-Many Hong Kong artists tend to work in educational institution for livelihood, then created
their works in spare time (instead of being a full-time artist after graduation)
-Can join a drawing society and hold exhibition with other members
-Should also attend other collaborated exhibition to know more artists and curators
-Characteristics of Hong Kong: Advanced, information can be easily spread through internet,
less political censorship compared to China (can access sensation political information)

(2) PUBLIC EVENT

(3) PUBLIC SPHERE
Web link: https://starcute24.wixsite.com/lucian0608