Project 1: Colour & Repeat
Diana; Goddess of the Forest
Genvieve Morassut
FSN225 Section 6
When I first started thinking about my design, I knew I wanted it to radiate grace and elegance through the use of colour and design elements. The peacock, with its distinctive beauty, makes it a useful symbol for power, strength, confidence, and even divinity, something with which most monarchs throughout history have wished to be connected. This is when I decided to use a peacock as the major content of the design. As a result, I wanted the consumer to feel strong and assured when showcasing this design.
A lotus flower was the next priority I wished to include. I experience strength and tranquility whenever I see a lotus bloom. Since lotuses emerge unstained from the dirt, they represent purity in Eastern civilizations. Lotus flowers are also a representation of power, tenacity, and rebirth because they emerge from the dark water each evening and bloom at dawn.
The border would be a stained glass window design that would bring these two topics together. Windows made of stained glass evoke the idea and imagery of divine light. This final component was to be used since sunlight exemplifies the power and beauty of nature.
Part 1: Line Drawing
The initial part of executing this design was to trace and bring this idea to life. The inspiration for my first design was a peacock with its feathers gathered, perched in a tree. But after some thought, I decided I didn't like the way it looked. I wanted to see the feathers more on display, but they weren't. Thus I changed the image inspiration and went with one of an open-feathered peacock. I changed the stroke to be 0.25 so it was more detail oriented. After finishing the line drawing, I added little touches and nuances to the design to provide even more detail. To convey the idea of maximalism and boldness, I wanted the feathers to have vibrant, contrasting colours. In the third design, I had finally completed the little elements and was pleased with the result.
The lotus flower was much easier to line sketch, since the content was simpler. So, in order to determine what should be darker and what should be lighter when I start my tone mapping, I tracked where the hues were deepest and lightest, just as I had done previously when drawing the peacock.
In order to preserve the detail of the peacock and lotus flower, I made basic stained glass window designs for the border. I had chosen a diamond design for the border, and then at the corners I chose a chrysler flower design to incorporate the lotus flower within the border.
Part 2: Tonal Mapping
During the tonal mapping stage I started by converting the image of the peacock into black and white and placing it underneath my line drawing. Then once I had done that I started filling in the lines and circles to amplify the shadows and highlights with greyscale colours according to the lighting. Looking at the first tonal mapping image it was lighter and when I had looked back at the picture the colours were much darker. Therefore, I started again and made the hues darker that way the colours would be much bolder.
Similar to earlier, I had changed the colour image of the lotus blossom to black and white in order to better see the highlights and shadows. Since it was challenging to match the grayscale perfectly to the image, this stage took a long time.
Part 3: Colour & Hue
It was finally time to begin colouring the material after being satisfied with the tonal mapping of the objects. Although it was challenging to choose, I had known from the outset that I wanted my design to be in complementary colours. While it was a bold statement, I had experimented with pink and green yet I didn't want to lose the peacock's integrity. As the peacock and the atmosphere I desired for the design were both blue and yellow, I tried those two colours together. The colour yellow radiates positivity, excitement, inventiveness, zeal, assurance, hope, and innovation. Whereas blue symbolizes stability and trust as well as calmness and spirituality. Those two colours together allowed the design to feel busy yet the different shades and hues of the blue allowed the eyes to feel at rest encapsulating my vision flawlessly. The peacock incorporated both blue and yellow along with a hint of orange, whereas the lotus kept the monochromatic color scheme of just yellow that way both would be distinct features and wouldn't blend into one another.
Additionally, when deciding the colours for the border I chose yellow, light blue, dark blue, and orange. That way every colour was added and viewers were completely aware of the content of colours within the design.
However after adding the border into the design I was not happy with how 2-D the border looked. It didn't show the integrity that a stained glass window displays. Therefore to fix this issue I decided to shrink the border to be thinner as it was taking away from the main focal points. I changed the stroke to be 0.25 so the lines were not as sharp and started experimenting with the gradient tool within Adobe, to better show the highlighting a stained glass window has. I discovered at the conclusion of the design process that I had not considered including an optical illusion in the design. I started experimenting with alternative backdrops that used fine lines and patterns, but everything detracted from the focus point.
I therefore experimented with the Bezold effect by making every other stained glass window's stroke white. As a result, depending on how the yellow diamonds were placed in respect to other colours, they could appear differently. Offering the bright, vibrant colours and elements inside the border a subtle optical impact. I had also made the decision to create a similar effect with the round corner pieces, that way it didn't look odd when the borders met at each side.
Part 4: Scarf Creation
Making the design as a whole was the last phase, and it was the most difficult because I was experimenting with different arrangements for the peacocks and lotus flowers. I had started by putting a peacock in each corner, but this was boring and did not produce a shape in the middle for the lotus blossom to be in. As a result, I shifted the peacocks so that they were at an angle and created a diamond shape in the center, which precisely complemented the diamond-shaped stained-glass window design.
I then positioned the lotus flower in the diamond's center. making a second copy, then turning it upside down. Nevertheless, this concept did not adhere to the requirement that the design be seen from all sides. In the end, it wouldn't matter which way you flipped the scarf; it would still appear to be the correct way. Thus, I placed four flowers together in the middle creating a blooming effect.
I was choosing the background's colour as the last task got started. I had alternated between yellows in order to draw attention to the peacock, but the lotus blossom appeared to be forgotten. The material seemed too bright thus I changed to an orange background. Finally, I gave a light blue a try, which I think gave both the vivid blue from the peacock and the yellow from the lotus blossom equal prominence.
Final
When looking at the colour I wanted to use for these clashing hues, I concentrated on themes of cohesiveness between the colour choices and boldness. I didn't want to interfere with the order and components of the scarf, so I kept the background basic. In my opinion, it was a wise choice because it put more of a focus on the optical illusion within the border, making it visible when examining the core features while yet being subtly done. In order to achieve a seamless transition from the scarf's center to its edges, I wanted to make sure that the border had the same colours as the lotus flower and peacock. I wanted to contrast the mobility of the scarf with the peacocks' circular shape by keeping the other shapes around them relatively sharp. Looking at the peacock and lotus flower, I think I could still become better at the smaller details. Also, I think that employing gradient tools for my stained glass border would allow me to work more naturally. Even if there are some minor adjustments I could make, I am generally happy with the outcome, and the improvements I see are a result of my diligent effort.
