Reflection in October 6th Lesson

On this day we didn't do much because this day was the last day of creative thinking lesson. But what I was excited about was I got to present my posters in front of the class. The presentation was about the SCAMPER and force connection. From everyone in my class, I was the only one who did the poster using photoshop. Because everything was well prepared, the presentation went pretty well and I actually made the entire class laughed. The posters I presented are on September 31st lesson reflection. After I presented my work, my classmates presented their work. When the class ended, it felt like something that's been going on for a very long time just ended. It didn't feel right. But what's over is over.

Empathy Video Response

In this rather short video, it only explains about people's problems. But, at the end of the video, it says "if you had the knowledge of another person's experiences, what they feel, would it change the way you respond to individuals?". It hits me like a train. That question is so powerful to me. Because in my life, I've had a lot of friends that look normal from the outside but they actually suffer a lot which made them not be able to do well at school. But if you could just position yourself in their position, maybe you can help them because at least you know how it feels. You could give them advice or maybe help them directly because every little help helps.

Analogical Thinking Video Response

This video is rather short unlike some of the other videos but the video contains a lot of stuff and it's very straight to the point. The video mainly focuses on 4 things: first, analogical thinking allows us to experience the interconnectedness of ideas, second is analogical thinking is a great way to learn difficult concepts more effectively, third analogical thinking is a skill that we can practice and be better at fro time to time, last is analogical thinking enhances our creative output. I think by practicing analogical thinking can give us more ways of being creative and solve problems which is a good thing to do.

Reflection on July 21st Lesson

This is the first week of Creative Thinking Lesson. On this week we didn't cover a lot of things because we did some administrative things instead. Although we didn't talk much and deep about creativity, Micky introduced us to a couple of things I found interesting. We talked about linking out senses to our awareness and how we should perceive design more carefully and in a deeper manner by examining it slowly because you can learn a lot more when you examine things and not only see them. But after all, it was not a boring class and we laughed a lot.

Isaac Mizrahi Video Response

Isaac Mizrahi is a fashion designer. In his TEDx talk video, he pointed out many things that very important to me. He said, "the ones that look more interesting are the one that looks mistaken or very surprising". When he said that, it blew my mind because my father once told me that most of his inspiration comes from old photographs and broken prints because normal prints and photographs are very normal and boring. Isaac Mizrahi also said that color motivates him a lot. The most interesting thing that he said was "you have to be slightly bored of everything”. and his personal quote “Style makes you feel great because it takes your mind off the fact that you're going to die”.

Shawn Achor Video Response

This video is about the happy secret to better work. In this video, Shawn explained a lot of things and pointed out some of the things that I found interesting. He said "normal is merely average". This is true because from my personal experience, being normal feels average and very stale. No wonder why people likes to say "I hate being normal". He also said that if we study what is merely average, we will remain merely average. This is very similar to the quote "you are what you eat”. So basically, if we study or learn more about something that’s been very mainstream for a long time, we will turn into a normal person as time goes by. But one of the most interesting things that he said was “I we can change the lens, not only we can change your happiness, we can change every single education and business outcome at the same time”.

Reflection on September 29th Lesson

What I learned on this day was empathy. Empathy is where we position ourselves in someone else's  situation to see how they feel. This is a very good technique to get creative because if we position ourselves in other people's perspective (for example blind people), we can create something that they can actually use despite their ability to do everyday tasks. We also learned about the SCAMPER technique which stands for Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to other uses, Eliminate, and Rearrange. We used this technique and combine them with the empathy technique as our exercise.

Reflection on September 22nd Lesson

On this day we learned about force connection. It's like combining two totally different things and create something interesting out of it. We did a lot of class exercise. I gathered with my group and we did 'Manmade and Nature'. This topic is about combining objects from nature and combine it with manmade objects which are pretty self-explanatory. One of the ideas that stood out the most was combining an armadillo with a house to create an emergency shelter. We also did some individual exercises. I couldn't finish my individual work in class but I did 'greedy plug', 'hardworking cup', and 'creative candle'.

Above is a poster I did for the group exercise. I intentionally made the poster very poor in quality to make it look funny and very rough editing to make sure people get that this is a joke.

Reflection on September 15th Lesson

On this lesson, we did some presentation on other student's blog post. Lucky for me, I was the one who gave the post and someone had to explain what I was trying to say in the original blog post. I picked my 'Paint' post from my blog because I thought that would be the most interesting post out of all the posts I have. What I disliked from this week's class was so many people were being very noisy and they just seem to not care about the lecturer at all. I was trying to concentrate but the 'groups' at the back of the class just won't shut up like they had no respect. I just sat there listening to my friend's presentation. I noticed that by doing this kind of presentation can give me a lot more inspirations. We also watched the Bruce Lee video at the start of the class.

Reflection on September 1st

On this lesson, we learned about analogical thinking. We learned that metaphors and similes are both ways to compare things. We also learned about 'analogy'. An analogy is comparing two different things that are very similar. There are four types of analogy: Personal analogy, direct analogy, symbolic analogy, and fantasy analogy. Simile on the other hand, uses likeness to establish a connection. For example; "sleeping like a log" and "design a computer like it's a book". A metaphor is used when you say something is like something is something. Example; The party was lit, her smile was so sweet,  her gaze was icy.
Homework from this week was the 'Photographic Treasure Hunt'

Sliced Elephant

This sculpture is very different if you compare it to any other modern sculptures because it's made out of hundreds of layers of what seems to be thick paper. It's very simple yet very intriguing. I think using the same concept and technique, we can create other similar sculpture using different objects. I wonder if you could replace the material with glass and put some light in it and surround it with mirror walls. That would be interesting because the light will reflect from every directions.

Bookshelf

I found this picture in my 3D lesson and I was wowed by this picture. A simple bookshelf can be made very interesting and artistic without losing its core function. I think this is very cleverly designed and can lead to many possibilities. I wonder if we can make a hole in the wall and add some motorised mechanism to the bookshelf. Next, make the bookshelf opens and closes so when it's not being used, the bookshelf would flush into the wall like there's nothing there.

Metropol Parasol

This is the Metropol Parasol. This building was constructed using interlocking mechanism. The way that this building was built made it look very seamless and very organic/natural. What I see in this picture is a huge piece of art in the middle of a city instead of a normal object. It compliments its surroundings and gives a really nice contrast. I wonder if we could make an entire skyscraper using the same interlocking mechanism while maintaining strength and design.

Aqua Tower

From afar, it looks like a wave. It doesn't look like a building at all. I can imagine seeing this thing from afar and compare it with other buildings around it and it will still look nothing like the other. It looks very natural and organic thanks to its design. I think more buildings should take inspiration from nature. Just like the lesson in class, combining objects from nature with manmade objects could result in a very interesting results.

Glass Sculpture

This is a sculpture made by Tim Bengel. I saw this sculpture on Art Basel's Instagram page. At first, I thought it was a group of bubbles but then I stopped scrolling to see it more thoroughly. I think it would be cool if the artist could fill an entire room with it and put ambient light on the floor to make it look more interesting. I wonder if this could also be an art installation because of its contemporary shape.

Dying Star

This is a picture of a dying star or the 'Last Hurrah' captured by NASA. This picture fascinates me in so many different ways. The more I see it the more interesting it gets. If you look closely, it feels like the gas is bursting out from the centre point. I think this is a very nice picture because it shows that there are so many things going on in the universe. I wonder if we could do the same thing with paint by launching it at a very high speed and make it another can of paint.

Glass Wave

This is a picture I found on Pinterest while I was browsing for 3D construction. I thought this was a picture of a frozen wave but actually, everything is made out of glass. The artist added some light at the back of the sculpture to give us that transparent look of waves. The water foam is made out of small pieces of glass. The bottom part of the wave is made using a special technique to give it that liquid-like look to it. I think this is a very smart idea and very new to me.

Confetti Explosion

This picture was also taken from my Instagram feed. The artist's Instagram page is Aureta. I like the idea of combining two things into something new especially when those two things are very unpredicted. Instead of erupting and spitting out hot lava, the artist tried to replace the lava with confetti. By combining these two objects, the artist has successfully created something I call 'The Ultimate Celebration'. It's like a normal celebration but even the earth is congratulating you.

Cloth Covering the Sun

This is a video I screenshotted while I was scrolling through my Instagram page. In the video, the sun is covered by a fairly transparent cloth and the wind is flowing making the cloth blow. The first time I see it, I thought everything was CGI but then I realised that the artist only added the cloth effect to fool the viewer. I think this is a very cool concept and very new because I have never seen any artists done this type of thing before.

Deepavali Banner

This is a picture I took when I was walking to the supermarket. Because the surroundings are pretty dark, this thing stood out from the rest. Even though the light is static or does not move at all, to me, it looks like it's pulsating with light from inside out. I think this would be a much better piece of art if they could make a whole building like this one because we rarely see a very weird looking light show in the middle of Singapore.

Evil Beet

This is a picture I took when I was in the supermarket. I walked past the vegetable section and immediately stopped. I pulled the pen out from my phone and started to draw a pair of eyes and a mouth on it. I think this is a very good exercise to hone my creative skill because who thought that vegetable like this could make a scary jack o' lantern? I wonder if companies would start to put similar stickers on their products to attract customers.

Colourful Burst

This artwork was made by an Instagram artist Zouassi. A lot of his artworks are very similar to this. Even though they are similar, they are still very different than most artworks we see every day. I think what makes this particular picture looks very cool is the main focus that the artist created is the colourful burst rather than the ice. I wonder if we could make this artwork into a real life-sized sculpture and put it in Antartica.

Tortoise Skeleton

I thought this was a wooden sculpture then I realized that this is actually the skeletal structure of a tortoise. The fact that under that big shell there is still so much space left for the tortoise to use is fascinating to me. I think some of the man-made structures are based on the design of this skeleton. I wonder if we can replace the shell with glass so we can see the insides of a living tortoise without killing them.

Coastal Tide Pool

This is an unedited picture of a coastal tide pool. I was amazed when I saw this picture for the first time because the shape of the small pool looks very unnatural and it also looks like something you would see on another planet. I think this particular hole was created in a very long period of time because in nature something this precise cannot be created in an instant. I wonder if we can fill up the pool with fluorescent fluid and see what it looks like at night.

Group of Eel

I captured this image from a video posted by National Geographic on their Instagram page and it amazes me. Imagine seeing a lot of eels on the sea floor and every single one is moving. It's very eerie but very cool at the same time. I think the eels are trying to find food and the direction of the current makes them face the same direction. I wonder if we can create a room full of this eel but mechanical with flashlight or laser at the tip. It would make an awesome light show

Photographic Treasure Hunt

Favourite Food:

When I see this bicycle, it reminds me of something I really like. To be exact, it reminds me of a pizza which is my favourite food. I think the wheel resembles the rounded shape of a pizza and the steel bars reminds me of the cuts in the pizza. The tire is the crust that looks very much like a Pizza Hut pizza with a thick crust. I wonder if we can recreate pizza that looks like a bicycle wheel that is fully edible.

Spirals in Nature:

Here you can see a picture of a whirlpool. It is shaped like a spiral just like a tornado but in water. In a whirlpool, you can clearly see the spiral shape and it shows that nature is capable of creating something very interesting. I think this is a very interesting phenomenon and I think you can generate something interesting ideas from it. I wonder if you can create artwork by pouring special paint that hardens when it creates contact with water in the whirlpool and wait until the paint's effect starts to kick in. It would make a really nice artwork.

Reflection in a window:

I took this picture at NAFA because the student lounge looks like a furniture shop from outside. I know I like this picture when I see that there's a straight horizontal line in the middle complimented by the diagonal looking window border. I think the reason why I took this picture is that the window is very dark so we can barely see what's inside but we can see clearly from inside. I think this matches my personality because I like the colour black and people can't really see what's going on inside of me or what I am thinking. I wonder if it is actually healthy to be like this because people will have a lot of bad thoughts when looking at people that always wear black.

Ultima Mudfox

This artwork is called Ultima Mudfox. This metal robotic sculpture is based on a dolphin. The sculpture looks very futuristic and also it looks like something you would see in a sci-fi movies. If you look closely, you can see that the sculpture is very complex. It looks complex because the fins move and the tube at the centre is glowing with pulsating light. I think this is a very unusual and very interesting artwork. I wonder if we can create a fully automated robots like this.

Video Mapping

Not only for buildings, video mapping can also be applied on trees like shown in the picture. It looks more organic and blends very well with the surroundings. It almost looks like it's floating in mid-air. I think the most interesting thing is that the leaves play a huge part in this. The leaves make the faces looks very organic and not flat. I wonder if we can make the trees look like a building by projecting building video on it.

Body Painting

This picture is actually a chameleon. It's body art and in this picture you can see that the object is actually human had painted to match chameleon skin. It looks very realistic and life-like and it's very interesting. I think this artwork is not new but the one thing that makes this artwork different from other body painting is that the painting is very realistic and the object compliments the original design of the animal. I wonder if the artist can transform everyday objects into other living things. that would be sick.

Una Lumina Callidus Spiritus

I saw this artwork at the Singapore Art Museum. This was the only artwork that got my attention for so long. From what I see here is a series of flowers. The flowers glow when they bloom and it's very mesmerising. From afar, it looks like a galaxy. I think this is a very nice artwork because it actually moves and it looks very modern. I wonder if we can create something similar but with different object like bugs or huge animals.

Destroyed Wall

At first, this might look like an accident but it's actually an art installation. Baptiste Debombourg is the artist. I think if we are able to see it up close, it will give us a new perspective to the artwork. I wonder if we can transform anything into artwork similar to this only by pushing it. For example, if I can push the Great Wall of China and turn it into this artwork, that would be remarkable and very contemporary.

Colourful Light and Confetti

This is a screenshot I took while I was watching a live concert on YouTube. In this picture, we can see all the different colours from the confetti. But what makes it look really interesting is the lighting. In this case, the light played a huge part in giving more life to the concert because the colour scheme is very interesting. I think if the light is just white and yellow, the whole vibe would be very flat and dull. I wonder if we can experience a song just by looking at a scientifically created light.

Tissue Sculpture by Neil Dawson

The first time I saw it, I thought it was a cartoon tissue drawing drawn on top of an actual image but then I realized that the tissue is actually a sculpture. It's made out of steel and wire mesh for the darker part. I think this is a very clever idea because it looks like an illusion to people when they see it for the first time. I wonder if we can create something similar to this but using another object with different materials made using 3D printer which is very popular nowadays.

Collared Lizard

I was watching a YouTube video and I saw this lizard in the video. It looks like the lizard has just came out of a paint bucket. When I saw this the first time, I was very amazed by its colour. It is very fascinating that nature can produce something like that because the colour looks very unnatural. It looks like a lizard that’s been injected with chemicals from a science lab. I wonder if we can alter the colour of other things like blue cactus, red gorilla or purple shark.

Reflection on August 25th

On this day, we learned something new called lateral thinking. We were given several questions and the answers were very surprising. We never thought that the answer would actually be in the question itself. The key to answering these questions is to read the questions carefully and analyse it. We also wrote down many solutions on how to save the boy from drowning in the metal urn. And the last question was about the bee and why the bee flew through the window and headed straight to the painting and not the flower.

Amber Cowan Glass Sculpture

The first time I see it I thought it was something she took from the ocean floor and photographed it but I was wrong. This caught my attention because this sculpture is very out of the ordinary. The colour is very subtle yet the shape is very sharp and dangerous. I think the artist was trying to convey a message here. I wonder if this sculpture can be made on a much bigger scale and light enough so I can put it on a side of a glass building and make it look like its floating.

Paint

If we see paint from a normal perspective, it's just colour in liquid form. The way I see paint in this particular picture is like seeing a big open space with purple floor and big colourful sculptures that look like paint in this picture. I think if we try experimenting with different colours it would give different emotions each time we see artwork like this. I wonder if we can scan the actual paint and scale it up on the computer and make huge real life sculpture of it.

Galaxy

Despite its magnificent look, a galaxy is very huge and it holds more than 100 billion stars. I am always amazed whenever I see a picture of a galaxy not only because the colour is amazing, the fact that every galaxy has a supermassive black hole at the centre is unique to me. I think if a single galaxy can hold more than 100 billion stars, there is always a possibility of life outside of Earth. I wonder when we will be able to visit other parts of our galaxy.

Cocoon - Nature's 3D Printer

This is a picture of a moth cocoon. I took a screenshot of this while I was watching a video on YouTube. I see something amazing about this. The way I see it is like a 3D printer because of all the intricate little details we can find in this cocoon. It seems very unnatural that something that is not man-made can do something as sophisticated as this. I think we can learn more from nature because everything is based on it and I wonder if we can recreate a cocoon using 3D printer with different materials.

Coral

Since I was a little kid, I have always been fascinated by the beauty of the ocean. When we see the ocean, we all agree that we see a very calm and steady body of water but it's all different story once we dive deeper and see what's down there. I think the beauty of something is not what's outside but underneath or behind it. I wonder if it is actually possible to move an entire coral reef into a modern art museum because it would make a really cool art installation.

Supernova

In space where nothing seems to happen, there is Supernova that's so powerful, it emits bright colorful light in every direction. Supernova is created when a supermassive star dies. Every time I see a Supernova, it reminds me of an eye pupil. some Supernova will look very similar to that. By looking at this picture and understanding the concept of Supernova, I think the death of a star is not the worst thing that can happen to it because when a star dies, there will be Supernova.

Aurora

Aurora is a natural phenomenon that often occur in the North Pole. When it happens, the atmosphere emits colorful lights. Every time I see it,  I see it as a randomly generated abstract painting in the sky that changes simultaneously.
Every aurora picture you take, the result will be different. I think people under appreciate auroras because sometimes people see it as a regular phenomenon that only happens at the Earth's poles. I wonder what it will look like if the sun had auroras.

Concert Hall Light

This is a screenshot I took when I was watching a concert on YouTube. I immediately paused the video to take a screenshot. In this picture I can see the blue vertical lights and the yellow circle lines at the bottom. It gives me the feel of seeing a fire and rain in one picture. The vertical blue lights move up and down giving you the illusion of falling rain at least from my perspective. I think this would make a really cool art installation. I wonder if I can make something like this in a painting.

Seeing Things Through a Water Bottle

I was on my way to the nearest hawker from where I live and I took my water bottle. I put it in front of my eyes then I took a picture and this was it. The background was a pretty dark street and streetlight in the background. To me, it looks like a corridor of a convention hall where you would usually find the lift. I think if I have more time walking around the city I would find a lot of cool stuff that I can snap through a normal water bottle. I wonder if I can make an entire exhibition and people have to see everything through a curved plastic bottle or a distorted curved plastic cover.

Edward de Bono Video Response

Where does creativity come from? According to Edward's video, creativity is not natural talent. Some people may seem better at generating new ideas and it can make you feel like you are not a creative person. The truth is, that person might have trained his creativity skill a lot more that you do. Creativity is a skill which everyone can learn. It is true that some people might be better than others just like everyone can play tennis and some people are better at skiing. 

How to train lateral thinking:

-Challenging existing concept or idea

-Extraction - is where we find the concept and new ways out of it.

-Provocation - we set up a provocation and we move forward from that to a new idea

-Random entry where we enter different point

You can learn lateral thinking and the more you practice your lateral thinking skill, the better you are at it. Rather than waiting for someone to come up with an idea, you can generate some new ideas.

Amy Tan Video Response

By far, this is one of the most interesting talks on TED that I've ever watched on YouTube. She talks about how everything happens for a reason. She also involved supernatural things in her talk which is very unusual for a normal creative process. I managed to write down a couple of things from her talk:

-When you are faced with the idea or prospect of death very soon, you begin to think very much    about everything.

-What you are going to find is what matters.

-If you try too hard to think what is the story about, then you will only write about that.

-We are all concerned with the things that we see in the world than what we are aware of.

-Sometimes you can feel that the universe is helping you like it’s giving you hints and clues but you    are not quite sure about it.

-Sometimes you are equipped with skill but they may not be the kind of skills that enable creativity.

Kaws

This sculpture is called Kaws. These sculptures are very versatile. They can be made into other popular characters such as The Pinnochio and Bibendum or the Michelin Man. I see it as a very contemporary piece of art and I think if the artist would let other artists use his design, people would come up with crazy designs. I wonder if you can put one in very unusual places like at the traditional market just to confuse people. It would be a very cool experiment.