Foundation Art and Design: Project Blog Post #2

Line Project/Part 4: Linear Exploration (Shadow Drawing):

For this project, I was required to cast a shadow of a sculpture on a giant canvas paper, so I made a sculpture of a pencil holder with pencils in it, and I drew the shadow on my canvas. I filled it in with doodles and freestyle drawings of my imagination and used the required art tools to do so.

Processwork:

The process of making this artwork was long and almost frustrating. The fact that I had such a small amount of time to do such a big project meant that I had to stay up many nights doing it. The good thing was that I enjoyed the project and had a lot of fun with it, so it didn’t feel as long and frustrating. I didn’t have any issues or setbacks either, so that helped.

Final Product:

I am obsessed with the outcome of this project, and it was definitely worth the amount of time and work that I put into it. It was very organized, clean, and gave a “WOW” expression to the viewers in my opinion. This was one of my favorite works of art. Hopefully I get to work on projects like this in the future.

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VISUAL STUDIES I: Sequence Critique #4

 

If my photos on pages (19 and 3 for example) were swapped, it would mess up the sequence and logic of my book. Along with the “life of a college student” sequence that I have going, I also have text that connects to the photos themselves on the previous page. So a lot would break down if I were to even swap a pair of my photos, and this helped me realize how important sequence is when making a book.

This prototype is a lot more complete than my previous ones. For starters, this one actually has all of the photos in it. Also, I edited some photos (pg 13 for example) in order to create a better story and make everything connect. Some of my fonts were different on specific pages, so I went ahead and made everything the same. I also swapped some pics around and played around with the sequence and found that some photos work in the sequence that I now have them in than previously.

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Also, unfortunately, the printers in Trustee were causing me and the majority of others problems such as the photo I have here of one of my pages. Towards the end, we couldn’t fix the mistake, so I just kept that page and I will fix it in the next book I make.


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FOUNDATION ART & DESIGN: Blog Project Post #1

BODY/OBJECT PROJECT:

For my first blog post, I would like to use my body/object project. For this project, I was required to design and create an object in which can interact with the human body somehow an have an impact. I didn’t take me long to decide that I wanted to make a backpack.

Processwork:

I didn’t want to just make an ordinary backpack, though. In this course, the only way to get an A is if your project is a “Wow.” Creating an ordinary backpack follows the guidelines, but it wouldn’t be worth an A. I wanted to go above and beyond. After long sessions of brainstorming and constantly editing my design sketch in order for it to be worth an A, I came up with these sketches.

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After finally designing the final sketches and getting approval from my professor, I was ready to build my backpack. At first, I didn’t realize that my finished product had to actually be made up of platonic solids, so I was struggling to keep my backpack in one piece. After discussing with classmates and the professor, I brought in the platonic solids that were required.

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From there, everything went pretty smoothly in terms of building my backpack. The most difficult part was building the backpack and making it look professional rather than sloppy. I made all cuts and glues as clean as possible, taking as much time necessary. This took a lot more time than I had expected, however it was worth it. The very last thing that I did was spray paint it a metallic-gold color. Since I would be wearing all black while showcasing my project, I wanted it to stand out and look fashionable as well, so this color worked well for my intentions. My project interacted with body better than an ordinary backpack, and also it gave somewhat of a fashion statement. The final product came out well, and I am proud of my work.

Final Product:

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1ST YR SEMINAR VISU: Extra Credit Blog Post #2

Today we had some faculty come in and do their pecha kucha presentation and I was able to analyze and summarize what they had to say. Professors said that we could use todays seminar as an extra credit post.

Jimmy Luu

Jimmy is a graphic designer and titles himself as a designer with multidisciplinary issues. He hopes to be someone that makes new things and thinks about them. He designs mainly on books, types, and letters. At St. Ed’s he runs the risograph lab. He closed his presentation with saying he wants to construct the world in which he wants to inhabit in.

Tuan Phan

Tuan discussed his process of a project and Z Fest that helped CommandG students. Most of his brainstorming and analyzation was put in his sketchbooks. He used content, sketches, doodles, ideas, and poster ideas. He also has a lot of notes on commentary in society and people. One project that I thought was really cool was the 1000 postcard project and how it helped Tuan with quick creative thinking skills.

Kim Garza

Kim is a Graphic Design professor at St. Ed’s. She says that being curious is good as a designer and that being open and asking questions as a learner is good. One of her projects was designing an app on travel discoveries. Kim has strong passion in her work because it deepens the meaning of your work. Many of her works show her passion on certain subjects and material going on in the world today. Her overall goal basically is finding wonder and passing that wonder on to others

Rob/BRYANT

Rob was and still is nspired by old fashioned video games: Atari VCS, Pinball, Pong, Ladder. He received his first computer after college that only had text, but it was okay because he was a writer at a time. He went to film school and wanted to be a film writer, but always loved video games. He later realized that he didn’t want to have a job during the day and then his career/passion. Later, he wanted to integrate them. Along the way, he still constantly played up to date video games in order to stay caught up. Eventually, Rob worked on first big game with his new company: pinball arcade on xbox, and it was successful.

At the very end with the Q&A’s, there was a lot of inspiration from all of the guest speakers. For example, not all ideas happen in one brainstorm, it takes time. Also, they provided ways to come up with ideas whenever we are feeling dry or unconfident. Overall, the whole seminar was very useful and I also now have an idea of what to do for my pecha kucha presentation.

VISU 1ST YR SEMINAR: Blog Post #12

Despite the inconvenience of having this seminar class once a week in the middle of my busy Mondays for an hour and forty-five minutes, I really have been enjoying this course. The professors make it very fun and amusing with their jokes towards one another. Not only are the conversations fun, but the learning part is as well, and it is very beneficial information. In a way, I see it as a chill seminar where I can come to learn about my art major in a fun and beneficial way. It relieves the stress and overwhelmingness that I get from the rest of my classes during the week. For example, the professors don’t just lecture for the whole class, they make it interesting by getting the learners involved and bringing guest speakers in almost every class. The speakers have been my favorite part about this class because we as learners are getting the knowledge from people that walked similar paths as we intend to in terms of major and future. Even if the speakers wasn’t involved in the field of my desire, all of the speakers had useful and important advice given to us as learners in order to prepare us for our future as art majors. I always look forward to this seminar every week and will continue to for the rest of the semester.

VISUAL STUDIES I: Sequence Critique 3

Due to unfortunate events of me being out of town until Monday, I had no time to get back in the lab this week and work on the final laser print book. However, I was given great advice by my classmates and professors that I will take into consideration when creating my final book.

Despite the fact that I had my book all planned out from the beginning and had a good idea of what I wanted to do, it wasn’t going to work due to limitations. My plan required me to take natural photographs, and that requires quite some time, and I don’t have that time unfortunately. However, I can perhaps go out and capture stories on photograph because Tuan told me that there are stories already out there waiting for me to be photographed. I don’t have to take the time to create my own with random photographs for the sake of the time that I have to complete this assignment. But still it’s good that I’m keeping thought that I am the director and I have control of my story, and that I want it to be natural.

My plan is to take the plan that I originally had and edit it with the ideas that my classmates and Tuan gave me. I have some catching up to do, but I will take the time to do what I need to do in order to make this book work the way it should.

1ST YR SEMINAR VISUAL STUDIES: Blog Post #11

 

PART 1:

Bill Kennedy:

Bill’s work is mainly research. He starts with photos, decomposes them through photoshop and recreates them, and likes to do work in New Mexico. He uses inkjet for work, but uses a variety of papers when printing. He likes to experiment with it, and takes long periods of time on work, sometimes to throw it away.

Hollis Hammonds:

Hollis draws/sketches a lot in work. She likes to do work with storms and patterns and draws very detailed collages of what looks like apocalyptic or post storm aftermaths. She flips back and forth from sculptures to detailed drawings. Her work can be really small or really big. She likes to create graphics with texts, and working on comics.

Alex Robinson:

Her work is based on how we perceive. Her works are based on her life experiences and as a variety of art: drawings, prints, paintings, mappings, etc. She also has work in which she discovers her old work and starts working on it again.

Tammie Rubin:

Focuses on balance between the known and the unknown. She enjoys 3D work rather than 2D work, and she likes taking things that exist and something that doesn’t exist and making fantastical things out of it. She wants people to have the desire to touch her work. Some of her work requires you to come closer to it, and when you come close to it, you still can’t touch it. That ties to that sense of discomfort we have in life because we don’t get to touch the work.

Vitone:

His photographs are all black and white. All of the photographs are of people, mainly of ranchers. You can assume the lifestyles of people in his photos. He likes to capture photos of people and for the audience to experiment what might their lifestyle may be.

PART 2:

I assume the 5-year plan is after I graduate.

Year 1: Continue my work familiar to what I was doing in college to see if this is something that I really want to do.

Year 2: If all goes as planned and I am satisfied with what I am doing, then maybe I can find a more complex job in my field since I am already comfortable and familiar with the work.

Year 3: Start thinking/considering about how the work that I’ve been doing so far can help/benefit society. Maybe I can try start doing things on my own with help from some people.

Year 4: Hopefully I am confident enough to pursue whatever my plan is and go through with it.

Year 5: If my plan is working this far down the road then I can work on expanding and spreading the word about my work or just expanding my work itself.

VISUAL STUDIES I: Sequence Critique #2


Here is my thumbnail for my book in progress:

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Since I was unable to get to my location this week, I had to work with what I had. It’s not as bad as it seems though. I have it well-planned out so far. Since I knew exactly what I wanted to do for the sequence for my narrative and how to put in in the book format, making the thumbnail went well. Despite the fact that I am missing a few photos for specific pages, I know exactly what sort of photo I am looking for. The reason why I haven’t taken the pictures yet is because I want them to be natural photos and not me planning out the photograph. For example, I don’t want to tell a group of kids that I need a picture of to act like they’re having fun while I take a photo. I’d rather wait and wait for the perfect picture because that would make the book and my narrative more natural. However, I do not want to fall behind on this assignment, so if that’s what it comes to eventually then I will take action. But anyways, the sequence is going well, and it’s all pretty much planned out. It’s just a matter of fleshing everything out now.

1ST YR SEMINAR VISUAL STUDIES: Blog Post #10

 

Part 1:

Visiting speakers from Spacetime Studios:

There were three people that came in and presented their experience with game studies: First guy (didn’t catch his name), Bryant Wood (Senior Designer), and Eva Tran (Live Art Lead) They’ve created many types of games, especially mobile games. I’m not super into video games or how these video games are made, so I didn’t know what to expect before the presentation. I wasn’t aware that their (Spacetime Studios) video games worked on more than one device such as iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Also, their games are now being made on IOS and Androids. In the game industry, they work long hours (no-paid overtime), it’s competitive, and customers can make this occupation very challenging. After this presentation, my knowledge has expanded (in the game studies field) a lot more than what it used to be. Bryant talked about something like the heart & soul of the game, and basically these things all mold in together and effect the player. For example, all of the emotions that a player could possibly feel during the game is something that game designers take into consideration while making the game. There are so many are things that tie in together into making the game, but this is just a major example that the presenters mentioned. Basically, all the little things are put together in the process of making the game. Storytelling and how the game displays the story has a big part in game design. Something major that Eva touched on was feedback/ being able to accept criticism (good and bad). I liked this advice because as a graphic design/art major, much of my work is prone to be criticized, and I have to be prepared for any feedback. Anyways, going back to game design in general. If I were to go into game design, at some point I should be able to make a game no longer fun, which basically means that I have so much knowledge in this field, that I can make it the most fun or the most boring game ever. Again, I learned many things that I previously had no knowledge of before this presentation, but now I have general knowledge of game studies. Also a lot of their advice doesn’t just apply for game studies. It applies to anyone in any field that wants to perform the best that they possibly can.

Part 2:

  1. What advice would you have for people struggling in classes for their major however they still like the concept/subject?
  2. Is it normal for people to switch from one art major to another?