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| Bridge 4: Final |
Memorializing Eiko Ishioka,
a Japanese artist, costume and graphic designer and art director.
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Final Pieces
1. Little illustration book
2. Pop-up book
In this project, I am memorializing Eiko Ishioka. For my final piece, I decided to create two books. One is a little illustration book where I illustrated some of the costumes designed by her, and the other book is a pop-up which I thought can be dynamic and surprising. I want it can be a normal book but it can also be a memorial for public view.
It was difficult at the first to come up with the idea of how I can memorialize my artist because I didn’t know anything about her before and I researched but there’s a limited amount of resources since she was not as famous as other legendary artists. So with few resources, I tried to find more about her personality and her career. When I first saw her costume designs for the film ‘Mirror Mirror’, it caught my attention and I thought I wanted to focus on her artwork.
For my illustration book, I used watercolor paper and bind them together by using traditional Japanese binding technique. Each page contains one costume design by Eiko and I drew them using watercolor, color pencil, and pen. To create the feeling of the world of the films, I wrote quotes which come from the original film. Here I wanted the style to be delicate and detailed because Eiko’s style was delicate as well. Each drawing took me long time because I drew 10 different costume designs. Also putting the drawings together took more time than actually drawing. It was my first time to bind a book with thread, so it was challenging.
For my pop-up book, I wanted something dynamic to create the contrast between the other book. I also wanted to be obvious design so that people can easily observe it, and know about my artist and her work. I made the background black and white so that the pop-up stands out even more. I covered the book with Japanese paper, so that it is can easily see that she has Asian background and influences. Making the pop up was challenging since it was my first time making it. I tried to experiment with normal paper before doing it on the piece. For the final piece, I used foam board for the covers and watercolor paper so that the pop up can be more stable.
In both pieces, I focused on her inspiration from the different culture. She designed many of the costumes in the color of red. I think it is an interesting fact, therefore, I gathered and made a collage of many of the costumes with red color.
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Photoshop Rendering
Location: Lincoln Center
