Project 2: Editorial Metaphor Cover

Project 2: Editorial Metaphor Cover

Philosopher chosen: Bell Hooks (Love as Practice)

Claim: Love may look like patience, but it is actually inherent

Theme: convenience vs. care

Concept: Contradiction (being nervous and having a good experience can coexist)

General Newspaper Inspiration: 

                         

                        

Artist Inspiration: Aubrey Beardsley: Beardsley worked primarily in black and white/grayscale, and that is the overall vibe I wanted to reach for. With the newspaper being set in the golden age, I figured it was important to fully encapsulate what the imagery should look like if it were in the same time period. Beardsley also used sort of elongated figures, as seen in examples, so perfect proportions weren't my main focus.

Rough Sketch (Analog):

Final Composition:

    For our second project, the prompt was to create a newspaper-style cover that contains a metaphor. For my philosopher and claim, I chose Bell Hooks' "Love as Practice." From this, I chose to portray my roommate Keira and me, and emphasize the love that takes place in our personal friendship. For the claim, I chose "Love may look like patience, but it is actually inherent," meaning that love formed from a friendship is everlasting and essential. I knew that I wanted to have my dominant image be a photo of the two of us, where you can see that we're happy with each other's presence. My inspiration was Golden Age newspaper cover pages, along with the artist Aubrey Beardsley. Beardsley worked primarily in grayscale, and going hand-in-hand with the vintage look of the newspaper pages I was looking at, I knew that was the route that I wanted to take. Using Adobe Illustrator, I imported my images and added levels to them, to give them that sort of cartoony, illustrated look while still maintaining the subjects in the images. Beardsley additionally had harsher lines throughout his work, so I decided to add a thick, white outline to the dominant image to further push my inspiration into my final artwork. A few principles of the piece that challenged me were the layout and text. Figuring out how to lay out the page adequately while still keeping the images the main focus was my goal, and I think it ended up being executed fairly well. With the first letters of the main text blocks being bold and script, I intended to lean more into the actual newspaper look, or sort of like an older story. Using all of the mentioned principles helped me be able to create a composition that was originally a bit out of my comfort zone, but with guidance from the references used.

Project 1- Material Strategies

 Project1- Material Strategies

Original Sketch (analog)

    From a memory of a vacation spot I visited as a child, a scene of a lighthouse with slow-moving water in the background is what I knew I wanted to recreate. I thought that the lighthouse should be the main focus, as it's what sticks out to me the most when I think back on the resort and how it looked when I was little.

                                                            Analog translated to digital

`After translating this, it was a lot easier to figure out what path I wanted to take when illustrating the scene. Originally, this was roughly sketched, but I decided to go with a flat illustration style for the final piece, as I felt as if it represented the nostalgic feeling of the scene well.

Final Piece

    For our first project, I decided to portray a scene from my childhood, the lighthouse resort that my family and I stayed at for one week every summer since I was little. It was right on the lake, making it something that stood out in my memories when brainstorming about what exactly I wanted to bring to life. After completing the analog (original sketch), I knew that from the choices presented to us, I wanted to make this composition a flat illustration. Through sharp line work, I created my piece on Adobe Illustrator. I went for sort of a muted but still life-filled color palette, and wanted to place emphasis on the lighthouse itself. There are other objects seen in the image, depicting what the dockside looked like from memory. The piece consists of an immense amount of greens and grays, as the main colors seen on the lighthouse were a deep, forest green. For most of the piece, I used the pen tool, which was extremely tedious but rewarding, as I could mess around with what I was making until I was fully happy with the result. Additionally, I used some of Adobe’s textures available for certain aspects of the artwork, such as the concrete picnic table and the trees in the background behind the lighthouse itself. By making this composition flat, I learned to be patient with both myself and the program I’m using, as it's a bit difficult initially, but once you get the hang of it, it is genuinely so fun to create. Through using the Adobe Programs, I’ve become most familiar with Illustrator. While the project was tedious to complete, it 100% helped me further develop my skills and helped me figure out what strategies would make completing the project most efficient.

Favorite 2D artwork

 

    My favorite Project that I have created came from 2D Materials & Concepts, as I created a triptych showcasing semiotics, using the theme of "friendship." By using icon, index, and symbol. The coffee cups at the top indicate index, the "pinky promise" showcases icon, and the friendship knot represents a symbol. This project was created with construction paper (for the backings and canvas part) and acrylic paint. This project tested my creative skills, and additionally pushed me to branch off into different mediums, as I wasn't particularly familiar with painting prior to taking 2D Materials & Concepts.

2D Materials and Concepts Class Reflection

 2D Materials and Concepts Class Reflection

    Through taking 2D Materials and Concepts, I developed several skills related to design principles, time management, and what it feels like to produce clean, precise work. I worked in mediums I've never explored before, and got to take a deep dive into my creativity immensely. I worked with acrylic paint and additionally explored semiotics, and both the meaning and importance behind what goes into designing. Through creating work alongside my peers, such as presentations, or sharing and working together through projects, I also created my own little community both inside and outside the classroom. Some of the challenges I faced when taking this course were how tedious working in certain mediums can be, and just how much time goes into hands-on projects that were assigned throughout the course. For me personally, it was less about completing my work that was difficult and more about navigating how to keep going even when what I was creating wasn't exactly what I planned. I've always been fairly hard on myself and my ability to apply myself to tasks, but taking a course that was almost entirely based on my own interpretation of the projects assigned helped me become more confident in the work I produce as a future designer. One thing that I particularly enjoyed throughout this course was the blog that we created to track our projects and work. Furthermore, seeing how the process of a project morphs into the final artwork. I spent a lot of time sketching what I wanted, and later developing those sketches into my own unique interpretations, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Project 3 – Semiotics Triptych (Icon/ Index /Symbol)

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?

Project 2 – Tonal Portrait

 Project 2 – Tonal Portrait

                                                     Project sketches:

    From my sketches, I aimed to create a cohesive yet simple album cover that thoroughly encapsulated Kendall's essence. From my first two sketches, the shoe and the lily flower, I realized that I wanted to tie them together, making my representation stronger. The idea for Kendall's shoe came from the idea of how people's styles can say a lot about them, so I took inspiration from her shoes that she wears often, which are a coral color and represent (in my opinion) whimsy.

Here are the shoes, for reference.

Final rendition:

Reflection:

    For my take on this project, I decided to make an album cover that represents the classmate I got, Kendall. For my hue, I chose orange, as Kendall is a fun, spunky person. I believe that you can tell a lot about a person by judging them by their style. From this, I decided to have my album cover be the shoes that Kendall often wears to class. They are an orange-ish coral color and tie into her overall style well. Additionally, I added lily flowers coming out of them, as when I think about Kendall, she gives me vibes of someone outgoing, carefree, and casual. I used different tints, tones, and shades of orange to push the limits of the monochromatic requirements, while still being cohesive. By having the flowers sprout out of the shoe, I intended the feel of the painting to give off a warm and fun feeling. This project challenged me, as I haven’t used paint, especially acrylic, for any project or assignment up until this point. But, by experimenting with color and different brush sizes, I used symbolism more than anything to represent Kendall as an individual. When talking to Kendall about this project, she gave me pretty much free rein as to what about her I wanted to portray, and I felt as if choosing something that represents her, rather than just a portrait of her, was most insightful to the potential viewers, so they have a perspective on how others see her. With the background of the piece being a lighter orange and having outlines around parts of the show and flowers, I tried my best to encapsulate a positive connotation in regard to Kendall. This is because, from being her classmate in multiple classes, I caught a gist of how bubbly and creative her personality is. 

Project 1 – Design Foundations

 Project 1- Design Foundations

          Exploratory Studies

          Final 11" x 14" Black & White Composition

Reflection:

On the 11" x14" white paper, and using a thick Sharpie marker, I chose to explore the theme of self-expression. From this, I applied the design principles of line, shape, rhythm, and unity. Through this assignment, I got to thoroughly put on paper how and what I was feeling in the moment. This project was extremely therapeutic for me personally, as it allowed me to sit down and be completely in tune with myself and what I’m creating. Experimenting with the use of thick and thin lines was so fun to do. Along with that, the fact that the entire piece should be in black and white allowed for full creative freedom regarding using negative space and eliminated the issues that could occur when trying to choose a color palette. This also helped me immensely regarding choosing what I did and did not want filled in or blank. Upon first glance, the piece is a bit overwhelming to the eye- but that was my intent. Exploring the theme of self-expression gave me the chance to sort of just play around as I go, and additionally not be too focused on if the outcome were to be “good” or “bad”. From my perspective, this piece expresses how my brain can sometimes look. Scattered, but unified. There were a couple of lines/subjects that I added on both sides of the paper, such as the squiggly lines with the thick, alternating curved lines in the middle. This can represent recurring thoughts, and how some things can stay in an individual's head and affect them over time. Branching off of that, in the middle, I chose to sort of divide the page with the use of negative space, where I added the small, half-filled-in circles. From this, that choice can symbolize the divide that some people experience in their heads when deciphering situations. To an untrained eye, the chaos of the piece may seem a bit much, but when explained, can be broken down. I utilized the use of circles multiple times throughout the piece, and they can be interpreted as individual thoughts, flowing through one’s head. Additionally, the immense use of lines throughout the piece signifies the cluttered thoughts that can occur through someone’s head. 

Mini Design Studies x4

 

        For this assignment, I divided my piece of paper into quadrants, and went from there. On the top right, is study 1. There is repetition in the half circles, with them being filled in every two. On the bottom right, is study 2. I freehanded the squiggly lines, along with the triangles bleeding into each other, and experimented with "rhythm" with the circles along the outside of the squiggly lines. On the bottom left is study 3. I left negative space in the sections of the piece outside of the squares, leaving the content not too busy. Lastly, on the top left is study 4. In regards to minimalist unity, it's a bit busy, but at the same time, I incorporated the half filled and half not filled shapes on the corner to cohesively fill in the triangles on each corner.