Intercultural Design - Proposal, Data Collection & Final Project

February 20, 2023

Intercultural Design - Proposal, Data Collection & Final Project

11/1/2023 - 22/2/2023 (Week 1 - Week 7)

Anna Chin Siaw Fong / 0354370
Intercultural Design / Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media / Taylor's University
Proposal, Data Collection and Final Project

INSTRUCTIONS

Proposal

Before starting our proposal, we brainstormed ideas about what topic we wanted to do. Each of us had to come up with 1 idea for the topic we should do.

Fig 1.0 Ideas

After gathering all our ideas, we narrowed it down to 3 topics. We did research on the 3 topics and showed our lecturers the topics to get their approval.

Fig 1.1 Topic Ideas

We went with topic 3 after the lecturers went through our topic ideas. They gave us some feedback on how we should angle our topic. Therefore, we changed our topic to "Chinese cultural representation in cartoons". After that, we did more in depth research about our topic and created our proposal. We also came up with sketches for our proposal.

Fig 1.2 Sketch 1

Fig 1.3 Sketch 2

Fig 1.4 Sketch 3

Final Proposal Submission

Fig 1.5 Proposal

Data Collection

For our data collection, we decided to use netnography which is visual research to research on our topic. This is because it is the most relevant way the research for our topic as it is based on cartoons. We did research on 4 different topics which was make-up, buildings, martial arts and warrior uniforms.

Fig 2.0 Researching online using Google

We put all the information gathered about the topic in a Google document.

Fig 2.1 Information gathered

After using week 5 to do data collection, we compiled all the data together and created slides for it.

Final Data Collection Submission

Fig 2.2 Data Collection

Final Project

After collecting and compiling the data, we had a better sense of direction on how we want to create the visuals for our final project. We wanted to show the accurate representation of chinese culture in cartoons. Therefore, we drew more accurate representation of the things that we have researched. We came up with sketches of our idea before drawing the final artwork.

Fig 3.0 Sketch 1

Fig 3.1 Sketch 2

Fig 3.2 Sketch 3

Fig 3.3 Sketch 4

After sketching the ideas, we used the ink painting style to draw the final artwork.

Final Artwork

1. Building

Fig 3.4 Building

Rationale: The outcome of the painting shows The Crescent Island Fire Temple in the cartoon of Avatar was a five-tiered pagoda built atop a craggy hill on Crescent Island in the outer Fire Nation. The main source of inspiration for the Temple of Fire is the Yellow Crane Tower in Wuhan, China. Yellow Crane Tower is a traditional Chinese tower. The current structure was built in 1981, but the tower existed in various forms as early as 223 AD. The tower has different architectural features in different dynasties. However, the tower that stands today was designed according to the Qing Dynasty.

The difference from the cartoon lies in the overall color, column structure, window details and roof. The most obvious difference is mainly in the color, which in the cartoon is dark black with a contrasting color to the roof, while in real life it is golden yellow overall.So in the final artwork, the roof of the temple in the cartoon is the essence, so we kept this element, and then combined it with the Yellow Crane Tower in real life. So I used the main color to be golden, pillars, windows, some of the details are also the same with the Yellow Crane Tower in real life, so the final artwork is completed by combining cartoons and reality.

2. Martial Arts

Fig 3.5 Martial Art

Rationale: The Chinese martial arts have existed for more than 4 thousand years ago and can be traced to the Xia Dynasty. It is originally used for self defense, hunting activities and military training in China. Martial arts were divided into five styles based on the animals Dragon, Tiger, Crane, Leopard and Snake.This form of Chinese martial art is known as the Shaolin Kung Fu, which was named after the Shaolin temple.

The Furious Five in Kung Fu Panda are based on real-life martial arts styles. This film focuses on the animals living in ancient China where it is no doubt filled with Chinese culture. They are a team of five warriors, all of whom practice a distinct form of kung fu. These animals are Tiger, Mantis, Snake, Crane, and Monkey. Each character’s fighting style suits the type of animal that they are.

The painting shows three different kung fu styles: the crane, tiger and snake. All layered together, emphasizing the technique and the look of each style. Three different colors are used to distinguish each style. The blue outline is showing a crane kung fu style, where movements replicate a crane ( crane head strikes & crane wind blocks). Secondly, the tiger style which is shown in the orange outline. The hands are curled up and shaped like a claw to attack enemies. Lastly, the snake style outlined in green. This style mainly uses the fingertips to attack mainly the eyes and groin.

3. Make-up

Fig 3.6 Make-up

Rationale: Mulan’s exaggerated look is a representation of ancient Chinese make-up. The show portrayed the make-up styles popular during the Tang Dynasty (618 to 907 CE) which is called “E-huang makeup”. However, her make-up in the cartoon did not show the most accurate representation of the make-up style during the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, this illustration is to show a more accurate representation of Tang Dynasty make-up style. Distinctive features such as the erhuang (yellow forehead) and huadian (ornamental forehead markings) are said to have originated from the Northern and Southern Dynasties (386 to 589 CE), which is when Mulan’s story is set.

4. Warrior Uniform

Fig 3.7 Warrior Uniform

Rationale: The outcome of the painting shows the brigandine armor worn by both the banner soldiers and cavalry units of the Qing Dynasty military. By the late 19th century, since Ba Sing Se is mostly inspired by the later years of the Qing Dynasty, the armor that the Earth King’s guards wear is likely just as decorative. This final design of the Earth Kingdom warrior paintings combines both uniform elements found in the cartoon version of “Earth Kingdom Armor” and with the real life decorative version. The biggest comparison of both based on our research is the pattern and colors.Therefore the painting illustrates the head part following the cartoon and body following the real life version with more detailed patterns and brighter colors.

In the background of the paintings is a pattern of ancient Chinese coins aligned together. It was used during the end of the Zhou dynasty and the beginning of the Han dynasty. People passed a rope through the holes to tie coins into strings. These strings were usually in groups of 100 coins (called diao) or 1000 coins (called guan). In English, they are often known as ‘cash coins’. In Chinese they are known as ‘qian’ (an old name for coin) ‘tongqian’ (which translates literally as ‘copper coin’) or ‘wen’ (another old name for coin). We use it in the background to allow viewers to feel more pulled into ancient Chinese history.

Final Project Poster

We created a poster for our presentation after finishing our visuals for our final project.

Fig 3.8 Project poster

Final Project Submission

Fig 3.9 Final Artwork

Fig 3.10 Final Project Poster

FEEDBACK

Week 2

Go with the last topic
Current research only shows examples and description of what the elements are
Topic needs to be angled into cultural significance taht will help the topic to be seen as a visual culture

Week 4

Ideas are pretty good
Find a reason to why the medium to display the final artwork was chosen

Week 6

Individual artwork can be created for the outcome
Can do something abstract for the final artwork
The importance thing is to capture the essence of the topic

REFLECTION

Intercultural design is nothing like the subjects I took last time. It is very different but also very interesting. On the first day of class, I was very confused with this subject. However, as the weeks go by, I began to slowly understand the subject more. I learnt a lot about culture and I enjoyed learning about it. Overall, I had fun finishing the final project although it wasn't as easy but we managed to do it anyways.

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Anna Chin Siaw Fong (0354370)

Intercultural Design - Proposal, Data Collection & Final Project

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