For this class, we saw a TEDtalk called “Intricate Beauty by Design”. From my understanding of the video, it was mainly about creating designs by thinking beyond what is outside of the box. This alone was very perplexing since I don’t tend to do that. Usually, I think outside of the box in the sense of coming up with an idea on what character to draw. My method is visually unconventional, and that is about it. After that, I tend to avoid going overboard as much as possible.
As far as thinking beyond what is outside the box, speaker Marian Bantjes also displays work that she had done with common objects through unconventional methods, such as designing with sugar. This really had me baffled because not only am I too cheap to waste sugar like that, but I never expected anything to actually be designed with such an unexpected medium. I am so used to seeing digital programs, and traditional mediums (pencils, pens, etc.) that hearing about such a method required me to do a double-take. Never did I expect for artists to use common household items to design a piece. Then again, I tend to be in a standard illustration bubble, so this idea would have never crossed my mind.
Aside from the unusual methods, I noticed that designing this way is very time consuming. For example, Marian had drawn out very specific valentines, but it was very time consuming since she made over one hundred of them. Even with the sugar design, it must have taken a painstakingly long time to make all of those letters in a very neat, and tidy manner. This concept of time had always been something that I am bad at. This comes from how impatient I can be after a certain amount of time. After a while, I end up getting passive-aggressive, and just start something else. I believe that if I apply Marian’s patience to my own work, then maybe I can get a lot more designs done instead of just .scrapping them.
Lastly, I would like to add that the use of such common objects gave me a whole new perspective on how to actually finish a project. Seeing Marian’s valentines made from recycled christmas cards had shown me that you can make something unique and personalized from scraps instead of starting fresh. Even though an object may appear to be useless, it somehow isn’t. Rather, it can add a lot of flair to an idea that one may have since it was perceived to not make any sense. Not only that, but it increases the “wow factor” of a design, thus making people hover over it like a flock of birds. It’s not something that I would even think of doing, but now I would actually try it in the future.
