Artwork Project: Child Abuse

Theme: Child Abuse/ Child Labour

We hear stories about child abuse quite frequently in the world these days, which is shocking at least to me. In my opinion, child abuse is a serious matter and shouldn't be taken lightly. If parents are not emotionally or physically (providing secure environment for their child) ready to be responsible for the life of a child, I strongly suggest that they do not plan for it.

Child abuse can happen in the form of physical, emotional, sexual and even neglect. Any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or other caregiver that results in harm, potential for harm, or threat of harm to a child can be considered as abuse. These abuse can occur in almost any places and at anytime be it at home, school, communities any child interacts with.

It is not easy to identify if a child is abused mainly because they are afraid to speak out after being threatened by the abuser. On the other hand, the abuser have full control over what the child can say and who the child can speak to. Which makes it even harder to identify these cases especially those happening at home.

Child abuse can cause irrevocable damages. Two types of effects include in the form of psychological or physical. Psychological effects include disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder. Another example is the disorganized attachment style they will face when they are older and have their own children. Physical effects are resulted directly from beating and other forms of physical abuse. These effects can be in the form of bruises, cuts or broken bones etc.

Child labour on the other hand is the act of depriving children from going to school and their supposed child life and forcing them into work. These work can be harmful to them in terms of physical, mental, social and moral. This usually happens in poverty-striken countries where their parents do not have the ability to fend for their children and resorting to selling one of their child for money.

Child forced to work are also often deprived from proper basic needs such as food and shelter. Because they are still young and are unable to speak up for themselves, exploiters use this chance to get as much advantage from them as possible. These children also face the rejection from their families besides hardships from working at such a young age.

Source: Wikipedia Encyclopedia

Using this theme,  I had a few ideas for my project as shown below :)

I wanted to create a surrealism art by combining a teddy bear and an abuser. The story behind this is that a child gets to fearful of everything including his or her own best friend, the teddy bear.

This art is more of a naive art where i wanted to create again, a very fearful child covering herself in blanket as her father opens the door to abuse her again.

 Finally, I chose child labour in circus as my inspiration for my artwork. Many a times we overlook the issue of child labour when it comes to circus. We should realize that these kids although are performers and seem to be enjoying what they do, they are still forced child labourers. Through my artwork, I intend to illustrate the fearful and bleak emotions of a young circus performer.

This is drawn by my friend (but the idea is totally mine).

The final drawing done by me :)

 Below are the colouring steps done with photoshop!

This is the drawing.

Started off by colouring the stage.

The clown's teeth

Red for the clown's nose and lips.

The clown's eyes and the poles.

Painted the seats blue and the lights.

The audiences are grey in colour and the boy on top of the pole.

The young performer.

The overall picture at first.

Finalized work 1.

Adjusted the curves for the audience to make it more obvious and changed the colour of the outift for more effects.

Added stars to the out.fit

Final work. Not perfect but my very first :)

pAsaR seNi

here is the post for the field trip to pasar seni! i know it's late but because I didn't have photos because i didn't bring my camera that day~ so took a photo from seng yew's blog :)

credits to sengyew :)

this is the scenery and river i always see while travelling on the LRT to masjid jamek.. i always admired the ability to create street artworks since i was young.. i find it cool :)

usually i don't go to pasar seni except to petaling street for food.. this is because the air at the area is really polluted in my opinion.. and it's not so safe as the crime rate is pretty high.. after spending a few hours at the area that day, my thoughts about this place remain as it is a busy and complicated street.. the buzzling sounds of the cars and buses make it a lot worse than it already is.. and people are all rushing to their own destinations.. not to mention there were people sleeping at the compounds of the street.. all in all, it was not my most favourite place to visit.. but the street art is something to be admired :)

sketches!

we were told to pick a sketch from web and colour it~ so i picked this picture and although the colouring was a bit off, but i still like it.. xD

surrealism photoshop :)

so during the last tutorial we were told to go to a website which tutors us on producing a surrealism art :) it was fun because surrealism is my favourite art movement among all but i have yet to decide whether or not to use it for my artwork project..

the picture took me about 2 to 3 hours to complete but i had fun doing it.. except parts where i have to cut out the objects.. xD so here are the steps!

Firstly, add the sky~

Then comes the wooden floor :)

The cut out head and opening on top! the hardest part of the whole process for me :(

Added shadows and darkened the face.

Grandfather's clock.

Added the boat and darkened the area.

The suitcase.

Addition of the book.

First gauge on left eye.

Second gauge on right eye.

After blending the paper texture.

Addition of another texture.

 

The FINAL PRODUCT after several adjustments to colors and fills~ :)

tutorial website: http://photoshoptutorials.ws/photoshop-tutorials/photo-manipulation/create-this-surreal-representation-of-the-mind-artwork-in-photoshop/

Light Burst Text!

managed to get the result just with one try! YAY!! the last second step was mistaken in the website where we were suppose to select the text from the alpha group by right-clicking.. the right way was to control click it.. at least that was how i did it.. xD so here is the result!

aRt mOvemeNts

I was looking forward to learning art movements during our lecture~ I thought it would be a new experience as i have never been exposed to field of art before.. All i knew about art last time were colours and drawings.. xD

Art movement is a tendency or style in art with specific common philosophy or goal.. There were 14 art movements introduced to us in class as follow:

1. Art deco
- an eclectic style that combines traditional craft motifs with Machine Age imagery and materials
- characterized by rich colors, bold geometric shapes, and lavish ornamentation

2. Abstract art
- visual language of form, colour, and line to create a composition
- may exist independently from other visual references in the world
- departs from accurate representation of art
- depicts imagery in art

3. Art nouveau
- an international philosophy as well as a style of art with the combination of architecture and applied art
- important transition between the historicism of Neoclassicism and modernism

4. Baroque
- uses exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail
- used to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, architecture, literature, dance, and music
- the dramatic style of Baroque architecture and art was used as means of impressing visitors and expressing triumphant power and
control by aristrocats

5. Bauhaus
- combine crafts and fine arts
- encompass both old and emerging technologies and bring a new approach to everything

6. Constructivism
- an artistic and architectural philosophy that originated in Russia beginning in 1919
- a rejection of the idea of autonomous art, the movement was in favour of art as a practice for social purposes

7. Cubism
- representation of three-dimensional form
- objects are analyzed, broken up and reassembled in an abstracted form
- the artist depicts the subject from a multitude of viewpoints to represent the subject in a greater context

8. Dada
- was born out of negative reaction to the horrors of World War I
- rejected reason and logic, prizing nonsense, irrationality and intuition
- concentrated its anti-war politics through a rejection of the prevailing standards in art through anti-art cultural works

9. Expressionism
- present the world solely from a subjective perspective
- distorting art radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas
- express meaning or emotional experience rather than physical reality

10. Futurism
- emphasized and glorified themes associated with contemporary concepts of the future
- include speed, technology, youth and violence, and objects such as the car, the airplane and the industrial city

11. Impressionism
- characteristics include relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition
- emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage of time), common,
ordinary subject matter,
- inclusion of movement as a crucial element of human perception and experience, and unusual visual angles

12. Naive art

- often characterized by a childlike simplicity in its subject matter and technique

- strong use of pattern, unrefined color on all the plans of the composition, without enfeeblement in the background

- an equal accuracy brought to details, including those of the background which should be shaded off 

 

13. Renaissance

- perceived as a "rebirth" of ancient traditions 

- took as its foundation the art of Classical antiquity, but transformed that tradition by the absorption of recent developments in the 

art of Northern Europe and by application of contemporary scientific knowledge

 

14. Surrealism

- feature the element of surprise, unexpected juxtapositions and non sequitur

- an expression of the philosophical movement first and foremost, with the works being an artefact

- developed out of the Dada activities during World War I 

 

peRcePtiON~

Another field trip! this time to the National Art Gallery! to be honest i'm not really an artistic type of person.. nevertheless i think i was the most excited person among my group of friends about this field trip :P

there were many beautiful painting at the gallery but only three managed to really capture my attention..

First, is the painting of a seedling which had just germinated on a pile of rocks.. my initial feeling towards the painting was that it gave a meaning of growth.. or new born.. or the start of something.. the beginning.. the origin.. i like the colour of the painting too.. the green colour really contrasted with the white coloured stones and had a really strong lively feeling.. the title of the painting was willpower, by Yee Yuan Chin..

Second is the painting of a calm water with small ripples.. the blue colour was very calming.. it gave me a relaxing and peaceful feeling.. the ripples were also done so softly which made it look even more real than it already is.. but when i looked at the title by the artist, the whole meaning of the painting changed.. the title was Emergency III.. from the title, i perceived the water had some creature maybe a crocodile hiding in it.. prepared to attack whenever someone is deceived by the calmness of the water.. i was amazed by the contracting title towards the painting..

Third is a rather heart breaking painting.. the title was "Anak Terbiar" which showcased a young girl sitting by the street at night.. alone and seemed lost.. lost in the sense that she do not know which direction to head to, not that she lost her way while heading somewhere.. there was also a paper cup next to her.. which can mean that she is resorting to become a beggar to get some money for food, or that the cup was her last meal before she runs out of food supply.. the painting was honestly a little bit sad for me because it reminded me of how there are so many children out there, helpless because their own parents gave up on them? how fearful and hopeless they are when they are left alone to fend for themselves?

so i think these three paintings are the ones which caught my attention.. i would not mind going back to the National Art Gallery someday to enjoy the paintings again :)