Assignment 1: Abstraction Exercise

Introduction

Hello, my name is Carman and I like cats.


Thought process

Stage 1: Just wanted to get an outline of the cat, so used the pen tool for that. The cat looked too plain, so traced some fur patterns as well. Used the eyedropper tool to pick out a light brown for the coat.


Stage 2: Went over the cat again but this time with an even rougher outline of the cat. Dropped details like the shapes in the fur. Used the eyedropper tool from abstract 1 to ensure colour used was the same.


Stage 3: Was the stage I did last actually because I had thought of the ending abstraction first (hence you see the other abstractions on the side screen). Decided that this needed to be the first abstraction where I drew an aerial view of the cat. Used basic circular shapes and sharp triangles where necessary.


Ended up flipping the eyes halfway because I realised they were rainbow-shaped rather than U-shaped in the first two abstractions. Added whiskers because there was a lot of empty space and the original cat had white whiskers anyway.


Stage 4: Wanted to continue rounding the cat and dropping more details. Kept the five humps for the five stripes on the tail. Kept the whiskers to differentiate this from a dog.


Stage 5: Used a rough brush to draw a prawn shape because I wanted a fur effect and the smooth brush looked too weird. Then added ears, three stripes for the back and the notable stripe on the head.


Final 6 images submitted for critique:

Learning points

  • Comments from peers:
    • She liked the fur effect of the last stage, suggested adding whiskers
  • Comments from tutor:
    • Agreed about the fur effect
    • Suggested making the tail more obvious, having it the end go from thick to thin
    • Consider adding eyes
    • Sharpen ears
    • Consider whether or not to keep the three lines

How the work was improved since the critique

Initially, I'd just edited the 5th stage since that was the stage the comments addressed. I sharpened the ears and thinned the tail, made the face more defined. But it kind of turned out just looking like sperm. Thus, I decided to change stage 4 as well to reflect the more C-shape lazing position rather than the round doughnut shape, which was also more true to the original image.

And I kept the stripes because otherwise, I felt like it looked like a different cat.


Wanted the tail to end facing the right as well in stage 4 but it looked very strange considering that the figure was very round. Kept the three stripes.
Finally, also rotated stage 3 slightly to match the rest of the head positions and added the fur patterns for the limbs.

Final submission:




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