YOUYI DING

About YOUYI DING

Posts by YOUYI DING:

Bolg 04-Youyi Ding

⋅

After reading through lots of exciting posts from everyone else over the past few weeks, I would love to write about ‘Bronwynnn Ready’s post 3, Project Outcomes and Personal Development Reflection’. Bronwynnn said, “Due to the unpredictable circumstances in which we have landed in, I have since realised the fragility of the planet and the ways in which societies are inter-relate.”. I would say this is my favourite sentence, I immediately relate to COVID-19. As a vast, global chaotic virus starts from a few countries to a large group of publication. The virus crosses no matter what gender, what age, what’s your skin colour, even wealth or poor. It strictly affecting every human on this planet. And this is the time when we should realize how useless when humanity facing the natural that we used to thought we are ruling them, standing on the top of the pyramid. As the same time, I realize how important to understand social responsibility to each of us. As an artist (sometime I would assume myself as artists), I thought sustainability and social responsibility was something that I don’t have to consider deeply. However, during and after this virus I believe I have changed my thought deeply.

Back to the peer review, Bronwynnn’s outcome was a mask design consider to the “sustainability, diversity and social responsibly”(Bronwynnn,2020), she follows the newest and the most emergent situation, trying to make changes aesthetically and material of the masks. Although Bronwynnn was doing this design in a group way, however, they end to think and design individually. She being difficult due to those unfamiliar materials she has to choose, which during her research going deeper, she realizes been unknown to something is not always a bad thing, it can also improve yourself to desire more knowledge. After the research she chooses to design her mask digitally, this is also a new potential she discovers during this experience.

What I love about is Bronwynnn’s design aesthetically and what she has shown on her outcome combine her selfie (not sure) and her digital design. Bronwynnn design her mask like a fishhook mask, however, she left the space for eye and mouth so it won’t fully hide someone’s face. On the other hand, the curve of the fish looks very fluent which makes me interested in what material would be used for this. Secondly, she combined digital (her design) and reality (selfie) so that the customer would understand the look on wearing this mask, the size, the colour under the light and it would be the bast if Bronwynnn maybe can but the material sample on the side so that this final outcome image would be much more clear and interesting.
However, if I must give some advice I would recommend Bronwynnn to combine with AR (Augmented Reality) such as make a face filter or 3D real-life visual outcome. And also I would consider more about the practicality use as a mask for the situation right now. Base on the design, maybe we can add something to protect the face from the outside, or maybe this mask can give out a special gas to clean the air around us so that we don’t have to wear any protection but we still can go out safely with this fantastic mask.

Review: BRONWYNN READY https://1920betterlivessmc.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2020/05/02/project-outcomes-and-personal-development-reflection-post-3/

Liked Liked
No Comments

Bolg 03-YouyiDing

⋅

Navigating Through Clothing

The character I choose to design for the story ‘Hansel and Gretel’ is Gretel. In my imagination Gretel should at least change two costumes, I want to design the second scene. 

The first costume is during the time she with her family members, they are poor and her step-mother don’t like Gretel and her brother to stay with them any longer. So during this time, Gretel may look haggard and pale, wearing shabbily or raggedly costume. 

The second costume should be when Gretel and Hansel walk into the witch’s house, the witch gives them a new bed and fancy things to make Gretel and Hansel stay, it may be not necessary but I think if Gretel in this scene can change her costume into beautiful dress given by the witch but Hansel didn’t change, in a performance way this can show the difference between Gretel and Hansel that one is naive, one is more cautious. On the other hand, it is better to change her costume because the second costume can prove her characteristic more through costume because she doesn’t have as many lines to speak as Hansel. Also when Gretel courage herself to kill the witch, the changes inside herself compare with the outfit on her could show her growth, she is not a little girl that only knows how to cry. 

Why I choose Gretel & What character I want to show on her costume:

I choose Gretel because I think she has more potential than Hansel as a character. During the story, I can see Gretel from a helpless girl who needs her bother to settle everything, to a smart girl that brave enough using her weakness overcome dangerously. 

I want to design her costume in Pantomime Dame. On the costume, I want to add desserts and sweets to show the dress is come from the witch, with European style dressing. The whole will be inspired by the Lolita culture (not sure yet). The rabbit pattern will also on the dress as her ideal animal.

What I have learned from this Better Lives:

My style of arranging any works, I like to add a narrative or an imagined story. During this better lives section, although we lost lots of classes but still during my research I learned how to make a character living inside with the story, and how to understand a character. I believe these help me to be more comfortable with any of my future work because I can make my character more realistic that my audience would involve more empathy into.

Liked Liked
No Comments

,

Bolg 02-YouyiDing

⋅

Blog 2: Story Analyze

‘Hansel and Gretel’ is the story we need to design a costume for performance, I haven’t think about which performance should I choose to present my costume, but I want to analyze the characters in this story. 

To brief ‘Hansel and Gretel’ is that Hansel and Gretel are two children from a poor family living in the forest with their father and stepmother, they are too poor that their stepmother wants to abandon Hansel and Gretel in the forest. The first time she failed. Hansel, the older bother find the way to go back by following little stones he picked from the night before. But, the second time he failed, because their stepmother locked the door which he couldn’t go out to pick little stones. He still tried using their bread spread on the way they passed. Unfortunately, when Hansel and Gretel look back they find the crows ate all the bread and they wouldn’t be able to find their home. They then see a house with sweets and desserts, but actually, the house belongs to a witch that eats children, the witch welcomes them into the house and locked Hansel want to feed him till he is fat enough to become her dinner. And Gretel became her maid in a short-term. However, Hansel was not growing his weight as fast as the witch imagine, so the witch wants to cook Gretel first and then feed Hansel. Gretel realizes that and pushes the witch into the baking pot, killed the witch, safe Hansel. Then Hansel and Gretel ask a little duck to guide them back to their house.

Personal opinions on these characters:

Gretel: A little girl who always cry, Very dreamful. Afraid of losing something(her family, her dream), such as her step-mother, when Hansel and Gretel heard she want to left them in the forest, Gretel cried, maybe not just because of scared, but also being sad of realizing she is losing love. Believing God and faith. There might be a princess dream inside herself. She is like a little rabbit, panic and cute, but at the same time, if anything affected her or her family, she will be fast and powerful.

Hansel:Smart, Clearly knows as an older brother he needs to be strong and protect his little sister. Which can see although he is still young, he know what is to take responsibility. Different with his little sister, when both of them heard their step-mother want to left them in the forest, rather than being sad, he is more of thinking the solution to keep himself and who he loved safe. In my opinion, this is a good side of his personality, on the other hand, this is a tragic side of him as a young boy.

Step-mother:A villain in drama. Ask Hansel and Gretel’s father to abandon them, and yelling to Hansel and Gretel. She is barbed and looking into reality. I would never agree with her attitude the abandon children, but I believe she is right to try to let her husband face reality.

Father: Honest though stupid. Don’t know what he truly wants until he lost. Yes, step-mother advice/force him to leave Hansel and Gretel in the forest, but he could stop all these happen, he could even kill step-mother at the first point. However, he just refused to think, he stops go deeper because he is afraid of facing the reality when his wife being mad and his children being hangry. I don’t like him

Witch:Another villain, but she is much more a pure villain in the story that she eats human, acting like a good person in first and then realize is a bad person and being killed by the main character. However, I didn’t think much about her, except I think she makes a lot of efforts to attract children even build a candy house.

Duck:I take the duck as the emissaries of the hope, or the god. Because hope may come from Hansel and Gretel’s father, and the god may come from their belief.


Liked Liked
No Comments

Bolg 01-YouyiDing

⋅

These two weeks, the Better live project was raged to different lectures. The most memorable lecture I had was ‘POWER’ topic. And I would like to reflect this as the first blog. POWER was the first lecture we had for better live. 

Firstly, the lecture begins with garments that show power, ‘what you wear shows who you are’. The clothes and accessories on a person’s body reflect its own identity. It has become a visual communication between each other. This makes me remembered when I walk on the street, if a stranger stands near to me I would automatically look at its’ outfit, sometimes, I felt not been polite to see someone from outside references, however, there is no doubt we give the first impression using our eyes. After understanding the power on fashion garments, and realize my own movement. They would influence my way of looking at any of outcome in the future, I realize that I can know clearly about my outcome is due to I’m into every single step, but audience who look at my works are different. The audience are not able to see the progress but the conclusion. They can’t see mood-board or long explanation about what this work is about. So what present to their eyes is different base on everyone’s imagination. I believe that’s also a reason why some artists choose to record their progress as their final presentation rather than just giving out an artwork. Look-back to my outcomes I have never showing my progress to my audience, in the future works I can try with using progress as final.

Secondly, the power of media. It was surprising how much advertising we received everyday and I begin to realize how important that media relate to our work. As a creative director, not only making the outcome but also how to let others see my outcome is important too. From my last project’s research, “The Medium is the Message” state by Marshall McLuhan.What society use to communicate became a reflection of the society itself. As human society going forward proved the importance and the needs of creativity in the media area. In the future works, I shall also consider how my work be shown to the audience, my target consumer or the platform I may choose.

At the begging, I do not understand how does power related to Creative Direction or in a big way, Fashion industry. However, after the lecture I realize this “power” is not the power we use to fight or punch someone. Is an invisible and intangible power behind an artist’s outcome.

Liked Liked