About me
My name is BK and I am a graphic designer. Working in this industry for the past 9 years has opened up my eyes to finding the true meaning of design. Like most designers, most of our work is often commercialized and our ideas are very restricted. Going through this each day led me wanting to try something new, different, and probably more meaningful compared to what I do at work. As I worked through these years by putting my talent to good use and to understand more about the industry, I have been reflecting on my life and came up with an idea to design an artwork that contains Chinese characters integrating with the “Seven Deadly Sins”. The following is the finished artwork that I’d designed.
Why did I integrate Chinese characters with the “Seven Deadly Sins”?
Anyone who sees my poster would probably think that I have merely used Chinese characters in this design and would doubt that there’s any meaning behind it. What I wanted to introduce from this artwork however is exactly the Chinese characters and these characters you see are called Chinese Calligraphy. Chinese Calligraphy is a type of Chinese characters that has been passed down for centuries in the Chinese culture. In my design years often it would require me to use all sorts of typography in my work. Out of all typography however, what lacks attention the most to the public is Chinese Calligraphy. I, for one, strongly favor these characters and am clearly obsessed with them. Ever since I encountered them I had spent a great deal of time to do research and to study every inch of its history. To me, Chinese Calligraphy is a unique visual art. With around 5,000 years of history, almost all generations of Chinese characters are transformed from Chinese Calligraphy. Not only it is a type of art, it is also used to practice one’s patience and to reflect on oneself peacefully while performing. I view Chinese Calligraphy to be highly exquisite and incorporating it into an artwork could definitely bring its beauty into full play. To this day Chinese Calligraphy lacks familiarity increasingly, and even less people practice these characters. That is one of the reasons why I created this project, hoping to gain its familiarity back to the public. A common practice of Chinese Calligraphy has three basic elements: ink stone, ink stick, and technique. The most important element of combining all three is of course a black ink. However to better demonstrate the theme, “Seven Deadly Sins”, I used seven different colors and seven different types of Chinese Calligraphy instead of the common color black. Each color and the type of words have a distinguishing feature for each particular sin, and I hope to bring out a unique visual aspect for each viewer by clashing the different colors and the types of Chinese Calligraphy.
Why did I decide to choose “Seven Deadly Sins” to go with Chinese Calligraphy for this artwork?
Obviously, “Seven Deadly Sins” meant seven corrupt habits or as it clearly says, sins. In the past, people would usually express their concerns and educate their kids with more positive, “good” words or phrases. Of course most of us would agree that this is one of the common ways in teaching our younger generations. Though this is a great way to remind ourselves and others, I want people to recognize that we could also learn by understanding and determining the “bad” through my artwork, and that is the main reason why I chose the “Seven Deadly Sins”. Integrating Chinese Calligraphy and the “Seven Deadly Sins” could be very contradicting; one with integrity and the other with iniquity. Having this combination however seems very fresh and new, and surprisingly I find that it speaks for me. This uniqueness is what makes this project so special.
The Sketch of Seven Deadly Sins Background Pattern.
My project is now available on Kickstarter:
Please support me if you like the project. thank you 🙂
