Project 3: Semiotics Triptych (Icon/Index/Symbol)
Initial thumbnails/sketches:
For my thumbnails, I took 3 ideas for icon, index, and symbol, and they are aligned left to right (icons on the left, index in the middle, and symbol on the right.
From this, I picked my favorite, or which one I personally felt was most "representative" for icon, index, and symbol. I went with the "pinky promise," which symbolizes trust and staying true to your word, two coffees that can give the viewers the message that two people are sharing a moment together, and a friendship knot, which is something used commonly when making bracelets, and symbolizes friendship in itself.
After those two rounds of sketches, the feedback I received was to make the drawings for each semiotic principle more "unpredictable" or "abstract," and that cause me to be more innovative with how I portrayed each drawing. For example, I drafted this mockup in Adobe Illustrator to fully express how I wanted the coffee cups to tilt, and pour into each other rather than just being side by side. By using an online program to bring my ideas to life, it really helped me develop my vision, and made sketching AND painting my final triptych way easier.
After each step of the process, this was my completed triptych. Index on the top, icon in the middle, and symbol on the bottom. I decided to make the piece not have "traditional" panels, but still have the idea that there were three components on top of the background. Branching off of what was earlier stated regarding elevating the original sketches, I decided to go with a very prominent color scheme, and add more depth to the panels by the paper outlines on the top and bottom panels, and make sure that the color scheme was somewhat present in EVERY panel, hence the nails on the hands doing a pinky promise (it was an enjoyable touch to do!)
Artist statement:
For this project, the theme I chose was friendship. Through choosing this theme, I was able to thoroughly explore what it means to me and others. For my icon, I chose to do two
hands doing a “pinky promise.” This holds meaning to the idea of friendship, as a “pinky
promise” signifies holding a promise to someone, implying that you won’t break it and stay true
to your word. For the index, I painted two coffee cups pouring into each other, as it indirectly
implies that two people are sharing a moment together, and could also signify two individuals
sharing a deep conversation. Lastly, for the symbol, I chose to do a friendship knot, commonly
used when making bracelets, to show the importance of friendship itself. By aligning these three
panels vertically, they cohesively tie together a story of friendship and how it can be meaningful
between two people. The middle panel, the “pinky promise,” is placed there, as it catches the
viewer's eye, bringing them into the art piece itself. For the color scheme, I went with a
whimsical approach, making the art piece very vibrant and colorful. Pink and green were my
chosen colors, and I chose them because I have a very close friendship with my older sister, and
whenever we buy things, we get them in different colors, most commonly pink and green, as
pink is her favorite color, and mine is green. By incorporating these two colors in each panel, I
feel as if the art piece is further tied together. By adding outlines around each panel, I further
played into the aura of the piece, making it more appealing to the eye, but making sure that there
isn’t “too much” going on, to where the piece seems overwhelming, or crowded. By
experimenting with paint, paper, and colors, I was able to turn my personal idea of friendship
into art, and by doing so, show my viewers my perspective on how it's meaningful to me as the
artist.
Questions for my peers:
-Do you think the color scheme chosen helped represent the theme well?
-If you had the same theme, how would you choose to create a piece describing it?
-Is there anything that the art piece could use to better show the chosen theme?
