Blog #5

1. My biggest accomplishment in this class was learning how to use Photoshop. I thought it would be very complicated for me to use, but with help and explanations, I was able to take my own ideas and create them using his program which was very fun.

2. My most difficult challenge was in the second quiz when I cut out a portion of the photograph and moving it over. I then had to recreate the empty space ofhe picture with the clone tool which was more difficult than I though it would be. However, the end result of the project turned out great and I really enjoyed it.

3. I created more meaning from my second quiz to my fourth quiz. The Tuscan landscape is a place that I am well connected to, but it does not define my personality as well as the movie poster I created. I combined "Goldeneye" and "Laws of Attraction" because I really enjoy action and war movies as opposed to comedies and romantic films. Although it is a romance comedy, I did not find "Laws of Attraction" to be dripping with cheese, so I combined this with "Goldeneye" starring Pierce Brosnan to assimilate the two movies. The end result was said to still be leaning towards the more masculine side, but that's because my taste in movies is more masculine than Gorky and it is harder for me to grasp what I don't like about movies to make them say more about me. However, I thought the poster came out well and it was challenging but fun at the same time.

Blog #4

1. Artist's Statement

My Big Idea consisted of dreams and nightmares that I have now in my current stage of life. Knowing this, these dreams and nightmares are subject to change as I get older. However, since I am in such an interesting stage of my life right now, these dreams and nightmares can go anywhere. I will be graduating this December so I have many choices in where I want to go from this point. For my final project, I think I want to take the most interesting part of what I have done so far and just focus in that. So it may just be a CD cover or some kind of musical product. I hope to use various colors, designs, and fonts for this project in order to convey my feelings toward digital music. I also wish to manipulate some images and logos that are already out there to enhance my final project. This work is to be used as a way to learn about me and why I like this dream, but its main purpose is yet to be decided.

2. Visual Inspirations and Influences

In the electronic music realm, because a lot of the sounds are digitalized and computers are used in building this music, there are many interesting visualizations and designs that have influenced me to make this "dream" visually appealing. I enjoy visualizations that appear through computer music players and I think I may use some of those or fractals. Many patterns can be found in music and I nay be able to find them and use them for this project.

3. Trying Something New

A new Photoshop technique that I hope to incorporate is working with vectors. They create such fine and smooth lines that I think I may be able to use for this projects. I also would like to design and create my own images instead of just using those that I find online. I may also like to find a way to make my own visualization or fractal design as well.

Blog #3

 

http://youcube.us/cubicle-art/

These artworks are by Simon Currell, and his work interests me because I have never seen or heard of cubicle art before. And, interestingly enough, I have cubicles placed on the far right side of my diptych in order to represent a nightmare I would have, should my life head in that direction. To me, I believe the big idea in this work is taking the mundane and turning it around to be intriguing and aesthetically pleasing; a kind of minimalist form of artwork. My question about Currell's work is, how on earth could cubicles inspire a sense of creativity in any body? I have a hard time understanding why cubicles intrigued him in this way, but it is what it is and it most certainly grabbed my attention. Despite my grim and dreary outlook on working in cubicles, Currell inspired me to look at them in a different light. I am still not too keen of working in one, (I doubt I ever will) but looking at his art, I do really like the symmetry of it as well as the lighting and minimal use of color. I can use a mirrored mode to achieve this symmetrical effect in my work which I think may be helpful to me later on.

http://www.coolgraphic.co.uk/canvas_landscape.php

The imaging director of these digital works is Tommaso Chiarolini, and this artist appeals to me because of the modern and original landscapes and designs of Italy and other Italian things. The big ideas in these pieces to me is countering the popular obsession of Tuscan landscapes in oil paint. He is using fun and inappropriate colors and lines to add more pizazz into the great things about Italian culture and Italy itself. What I find inspiring is how he stepped away from traditional oil paint and canvas and used technology and modern design to create a different kind of take of all things Italian. This helped lead me to think out of the box more for my work in this class. Using 2D and cartoon-y images might be something I would like to challenge myself with as well.

Blog #2

Enhancing eyes and changing eye color: http://www.worth1000.com/tutorials/161755/digital-wizardry-enhancing-eyes

I began by using the dodge tool to whiten the eye's white area to make it look brighter. I then used the burn tool to enhance the dark zones within the iris. 

I then created a quick mask to use over the part of the eye I wanted to make blue violet. I used the brush tool to cover the eye before applying the color. I ran into problems while using the quick mask and the brush, but I figured out how to use it better through trial and error.

I got rid of the excess color and then I used the burn tool again to enhance the dark zones in the iris. This is the finished product.