Sunday, March 1, 2009
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Project 3: Graphic Animal
Study Sketches
I chose eagles for this project. I started out with a Google image search and collected various photos. Then I started my sketches. This was fun. I haven’t drawn by hand in a while and I definitely enjoyed it. As I drew, features of the eagle that stood out to me were the spiky feathers on the head, the fierce eye and shadows surrounding it, the sharp protruding beak, and the large wingspan and long feathers in the wingtips.
Silhouette Drawings
Next I thought about eagles silhouetted in trees, which is how I often see them. I can recognize them as eagles even though few details are visible. This fit perfectly with the graphic reduction idea so that’s what I set out to capture in my graphic reduction illustrations. Again I searched online for pictures of eagles, this time perched in trees of other positions I thought would make good outlines. I did three outline sketches. Then I went over them with a fine tipped pen and filled them in with a black brush pen. I scanned everything onto the computer.
Photoshop
I opened the silhouette pictures in PS and used the quick selection tool to select each one. It didn't require much correction due to the contrast of black on white. I did however zoom in and make some small adjustments to the spaces between the wing feathers on one, and the feet on another. The scanner had done too good a job in capturing the pen strokes of my black marker; I wanted solid color (or solid no color). So I made new fill layers of black. Then I made new files and moved the fill layers into them to get the final compositions. I experimented with different colors and variations of the black and white themes remembering to keep it simple.
Conclusion
I’m happy with the final compositions. The simplified images definitely contain the essence of the original eagle images. The characteristics I picked up on in my study sketches are all there except for the eye, but the graphic reduction doesn’t need to include everything. The most challenging part of this assignment was deciding how to simplify the image. After I finished the study sketches I was attached to the details I had included and felt they were needed to properly represent the eagle. I almost switched to an animal that would be simpler to draw. Glad I didn’t though, the simplification process was exactly the point of this exercise.
If you want to see some great examples of graphically reduced animals check out: http://www.cafepress.com/petdrawings/1142321 I know it say ‘pet drawings” in the link, but they have a wide variety of animals.
I chose eagles for this project. I started out with a Google image search and collected various photos. Then I started my sketches. This was fun. I haven’t drawn by hand in a while and I definitely enjoyed it. As I drew, features of the eagle that stood out to me were the spiky feathers on the head, the fierce eye and shadows surrounding it, the sharp protruding beak, and the large wingspan and long feathers in the wingtips.
Silhouette Drawings
Next I thought about eagles silhouetted in trees, which is how I often see them. I can recognize them as eagles even though few details are visible. This fit perfectly with the graphic reduction idea so that’s what I set out to capture in my graphic reduction illustrations. Again I searched online for pictures of eagles, this time perched in trees of other positions I thought would make good outlines. I did three outline sketches. Then I went over them with a fine tipped pen and filled them in with a black brush pen. I scanned everything onto the computer.
Photoshop
I opened the silhouette pictures in PS and used the quick selection tool to select each one. It didn't require much correction due to the contrast of black on white. I did however zoom in and make some small adjustments to the spaces between the wing feathers on one, and the feet on another. The scanner had done too good a job in capturing the pen strokes of my black marker; I wanted solid color (or solid no color). So I made new fill layers of black. Then I made new files and moved the fill layers into them to get the final compositions. I experimented with different colors and variations of the black and white themes remembering to keep it simple.
Conclusion
I’m happy with the final compositions. The simplified images definitely contain the essence of the original eagle images. The characteristics I picked up on in my study sketches are all there except for the eye, but the graphic reduction doesn’t need to include everything. The most challenging part of this assignment was deciding how to simplify the image. After I finished the study sketches I was attached to the details I had included and felt they were needed to properly represent the eagle. I almost switched to an animal that would be simpler to draw. Glad I didn’t though, the simplification process was exactly the point of this exercise.
If you want to see some great examples of graphically reduced animals check out: http://www.cafepress.com/petdrawings/1142321 I know it say ‘pet drawings” in the link, but they have a wide variety of animals.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Project 2a Notes: Expressive Type and Design
For this project I used the computer as the source of my type and modified the typefaces by hand with a variety of black pens and black ink. I then converted them to jpegs with my scanner and uploaded away.
The typefaces I used came from http://www.dafonts.com/. They have a great selection of free fonts which I downloaded and installed into Word. I recommend this site; it had the best selection and highest quality of fonts for free. They even had fonts that other sites were charging money for. The only stipulation is it has to be for personal use, so if your plan is to use them for professional work you have to pay.
Expressive Typefaces
The best typeface I could find for stodgy was ‘Big Fat Ugly Cow.’ I didn’t end up modifying this one because it was round and fat and perfectly stodgy. I couldn’t find any others (I looked at 100 typefaces total) that expressed stodgy to me. I think this is because even for a display typeface ‘Big Fat Ugly Cow’ is not very legible.
For crush I found a great typeface called ‘Black Oak’ but unfortunately couldn’t get it to install properly. So I ended up using ‘Destruccion’ which also gave the feeling of being crushed. The text looked like pieces had fallen out of it so I drew little piles on either side to represent that, exaggerating the crushed appearance.
The typefaces I used came from http://www.dafonts.com/. They have a great selection of free fonts which I downloaded and installed into Word. I recommend this site; it had the best selection and highest quality of fonts for free. They even had fonts that other sites were charging money for. The only stipulation is it has to be for personal use, so if your plan is to use them for professional work you have to pay.
Expressive Typefaces
The best typeface I could find for stodgy was ‘Big Fat Ugly Cow.’ I didn’t end up modifying this one because it was round and fat and perfectly stodgy. I couldn’t find any others (I looked at 100 typefaces total) that expressed stodgy to me. I think this is because even for a display typeface ‘Big Fat Ugly Cow’ is not very legible.
For crush I found a great typeface called ‘Black Oak’ but unfortunately couldn’t get it to install properly. So I ended up using ‘Destruccion’ which also gave the feeling of being crushed. The text looked like pieces had fallen out of it so I drew little piles on either side to represent that, exaggerating the crushed appearance.
For sludge the best font I found was ‘Cold Night for Alligators.’ It is dripping and dirty and all around sludgy. I used a brush pen to add to the drips and marks around the letterforms. This is the one I used for my main composition so I’ll talk more about it later. I also found a font called ‘Sludge Bucket’ which did the job fairly well. It had smudged edges which I added to with a brush pen.
For ornate I used ‘Bleeding Cowboys’ for its exaggerated sans and other details. Its letterforms had some holes in them which I didn’t feel added to the ornate feeling so I filled them in. I also used a typeface called ‘Circus Ornate’ which is a cool circus style font with a lot of detail. This typeface expresses the feeling of ornate very well, but I did extend the points of the letterforms to add even more detail.
The word scratchy wasn’t in our list but I had to add it because one of the typefaces I found was too perfect. It’s called ‘El&Font Gothic’ and it literally looks like someone scratched letterforms onto the wall with a sharp object. I exaggerated the scratch marks with a fine point black pen.
First Composition: Crush
My first attempt at the design composition was with the word crush and the typeface ‘Destruccion.’ My concept was an asymmetrical balance with the type aligned at the bottom of the composition in a small positive space. This typeface looks like it’s under something very heavy. I wanted the type to be a shape in the design being crushed by the larger shape formed by the negative space. To add to this effect I drew in piles of debris on either side of the type. The dominant element of the composition is the negative space created by the black, and the eye is drawn by the high contrast to the type being crushed under it.
Second Composition: Sludge
This composition is symmetrically balanced with the type aligned in the center. The dominant element is definitely the type. My goal was for it to stand out the most so I made it the darkest element in the composition. With a brush pen I added to the drips and marks around the word and the rest of the page. This really brought out the “sludgy” quality of this typeface. I also wanted to create the feeling that this word was covered in sludge so I threw diluted ink at the page with my fingers. The drops of ink added texture and their lighter color keeps the focus on the type in the middle, while adding depth to the piece. After converting this to a jpeg with my scanner I edited in Photoshop, increasing the contrast and correcting some details with the Heal tool in Camera Raw. This is my favorite one and I had a good time making it.
Summary
I really enjoyed this chapter and the project. It was the first time I downloaded and installed fonts on my computer, and I got to practice many of the design concepts I learned in chapter one. Just writting these notes was good practice using the new vocabualry we are learning. I wish I knew more about Photoshop at this point as I’m sure I could have done most if not all of these compositions on the computer. But this was definitely fun and a good learning experience, and there is something to be said for working by hand.
For ornate I used ‘Bleeding Cowboys’ for its exaggerated sans and other details. Its letterforms had some holes in them which I didn’t feel added to the ornate feeling so I filled them in. I also used a typeface called ‘Circus Ornate’ which is a cool circus style font with a lot of detail. This typeface expresses the feeling of ornate very well, but I did extend the points of the letterforms to add even more detail.
The word scratchy wasn’t in our list but I had to add it because one of the typefaces I found was too perfect. It’s called ‘El&Font Gothic’ and it literally looks like someone scratched letterforms onto the wall with a sharp object. I exaggerated the scratch marks with a fine point black pen.
First Composition: Crush
My first attempt at the design composition was with the word crush and the typeface ‘Destruccion.’ My concept was an asymmetrical balance with the type aligned at the bottom of the composition in a small positive space. This typeface looks like it’s under something very heavy. I wanted the type to be a shape in the design being crushed by the larger shape formed by the negative space. To add to this effect I drew in piles of debris on either side of the type. The dominant element of the composition is the negative space created by the black, and the eye is drawn by the high contrast to the type being crushed under it.
Second Composition: Sludge
This composition is symmetrically balanced with the type aligned in the center. The dominant element is definitely the type. My goal was for it to stand out the most so I made it the darkest element in the composition. With a brush pen I added to the drips and marks around the word and the rest of the page. This really brought out the “sludgy” quality of this typeface. I also wanted to create the feeling that this word was covered in sludge so I threw diluted ink at the page with my fingers. The drops of ink added texture and their lighter color keeps the focus on the type in the middle, while adding depth to the piece. After converting this to a jpeg with my scanner I edited in Photoshop, increasing the contrast and correcting some details with the Heal tool in Camera Raw. This is my favorite one and I had a good time making it.
Summary
I really enjoyed this chapter and the project. It was the first time I downloaded and installed fonts on my computer, and I got to practice many of the design concepts I learned in chapter one. Just writting these notes was good practice using the new vocabualry we are learning. I wish I knew more about Photoshop at this point as I’m sure I could have done most if not all of these compositions on the computer. But this was definitely fun and a good learning experience, and there is something to be said for working by hand.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Becoming an Image Warrior
CIOS 108 Course Orientation Quiz
A. What is something that is going well in your life?
Back in school (about time), got a job at the I.T. department, great friends and family support, what more could you ask for?
B. What are your specific goals for this class?
To learn about graphic design as related to computer applications and whatever else I can apply it to; artwork, photos, software design, etc.
C. What was your first experience with design, computers and
imaging technology like?
I've always loved computers and digital photography, so I have used Adobe Elements in the past to edit my photos. I love working with computers and digital art/photos.
D. Do you usually work on a Mac or a PC and why?
I've used PCs my whole life, well OK, not my whole life but since I was about 10 or 11 years old. I would like to learn Macs and check out OS X but for now its Vista all the way.
E. What is your experience level with any of the other image editing or vector programs available?
I just got the Adobe CS3 suite so I'm starting pretty much from scratch with it specifically Photoshop. I’ve used Photoshop a little but it was literally 10 years ago and I couldn’t do much with it even then. I had a friend was the wiz and would work on my photos for me.
F. What is something you liked about your day today?
I got a lot of studying done and got to spend time with my Mom and Dad who are visiting for the weekend.
G. How do you plan to use what you learn in this class?
My goal is to design computer applications. And of course to enhance my photography and digital art. The possibilities are endless.
H. What would make this class go very well for you?
I'll need to keep up with the meetings and assignments. Instructor feedback is very helpful to me. Collaboration with other students in the class. Maybe a study group (online) if anyone is willing.
I. How do you plan to make this class go very well for you?
Keep up with the material and study, study, study. I don't think it should be too hard to devote a lot of time to it this--it’s something I really enjoy doing.
J. What do you do for creativity on an on‐going basis?
Photography, writing, reading, movies, walks in the woods, hanging out with my crazy artist friends and crazy not-artist friends.
K. Who is Milton Glaser? Paul Bass?
Milton Glaser is a graphic designer, best known for the I Love New York logo, and his "Bob Dylan" posters. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_Glaser.
Saul Bass (May 8, 1920—April 25, 1996) was an American graphic designer and filmmaker, best known for his design of animated motion picture title sequences. He won academy awards for his movies and designed some of the most highly recognized company logos ever produced. AT&T, Continental Airlines, etc. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saul_Bass.
L. Do you own or have access to a color image scanner?
Yes, a Cannon Mx310, it does high quality color scanning.
M. What software application will you be using for the course?
The full Adobe CS3 Extended Suite and whatever else I discover along the way.
__________________________________________________
I look forward to working with all of you I think this will be a great class. Feel free to contact me anytime. joeltmundy@yahoo.com (907) 723-1996
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