BLOG #5

1. The meaning behind my midterm is my most significant accomplishment in this class. I knew that I wanted to make a project dealing with my emotions surrounding graduation and I was so excited that I was able to execute it in a creative way. When I started the project I didnt know what direction to take it and at first I was planning on just putting pictures together in a collage. I wanted to be more creative and have my project be more meaningful than just a bunch of pictures placed together. I decided to put the pictures on top of a graduation cap but I wasnt sure what to do with the hat. I then thought of placing it in an image of a bunch of hats being thrown in the air.

2. The retouching quiz was the most challenging assignment for me. For my quiz I took a picture of Kat Von D with all of her tattoos and covered the tattoos up. She has ALOT of tattoos so it was really hard to make it look realistically. I used the clone stamp tool to try and cover them up with the color of her non tattoo skin. I was really unhappy with the way it turned out and it looked very unrealistic. I have since become more familiar with the clone tool as well as the eraser tool that helps blend it and make it look more realistic. 

3. The two projects that I want to compare are my magazine cover and final. After looking back at my magazine cover I wish I would've made it more complex and be a better portrayal of my personality. I wanted the magazine to show that I love the beach and bright colors but I was able to give the same kind of idea in the final project but have it be more meaningful. In the magazine cover I stuck to plain fonts because I didn't realize how important font styles are in conveying meaning. In the final I used a cursive writing and used the eraser over it to give the quote a dream like feel. 

 

Blog 4

1.

a. Clearly define your Big Idea. What meaning-making is being attempted in

 For my final project big idea I am going to explore the idea of dreams. I focused my midterm project on my current emotions involving my graduation and now I want to take it a step further and look at my goals and dreams for my future. I was recently asked in a job interview how I define success and it is a question that I have taken with me and have been exploring ever since. I am a very driven person and being successful is very important to me. However, success to me is in not measured monetarily but instead is measured by how happy and passionate I am in my life.

b. What visual strategy did you employ to accomplish your meaning? How

Since I am still in the very early stages of creating my project, I only have ideas of what I want my project to look like but it is very likely that it may end up looking different. I am very inspired by the image i found in a tutorial (linked in question #3). I love how the image is so serene and looks almost heavenly. I want to recreate the peaceful feeling I get when looking at the tutorial image but also place images in the clouds of my goals in life.

c. How is this work to be used? What context can you envision this work in?

There is no specific context for my image. It is to be used to reflect my feelings about my future and hopefully when other people look at it they reflect on their future as well.

2. List three visual genres/visual culture/artists/ designers/ material culture that

have influenced your work for the final.

One artist that has inspired my image is TLC and their song "Waterfalls." In particular, the line "Dreams are hopeless aspirations in hopes of coming true. Believe in yourself the rest is up to me and you". I want to included this line somewhere in the clouds of my image. Another inspiration when thinking of the mood I want to set for the viewer is director Tim Burton. Tim Burton's movies, in particular Alice in Wonderland, does an amazing job of creating dream like scenes that are very imaginative. My third inspiration is the tutorial image that I found and want to incorporate in my project.

3. Name one new Photoshop technique that you will attempt to incorporate in 

your final.

http://www.photoshoplady.com/tutorial/develop-your-dream-paradise/3663

does the image communicate your meaning?

this final work? 

Blog 3

Vilaz

The artist appeals to me because of his unique way of combining the images of the basketball player and also his creative use of type to get his message across. The most inspiring part is how unique it is and that it isn't something you see everywhere. The emotion on the basketball player's face and the way that the images are placed looks amazing to me. In my project I am going to worry less about making sure everything looks realistic and focus more on creating an image that hasn't been done before. The creative way that he displays the type is also inspiration that I can play around and show emotion not only through the meaning of quotes but through the lettering.

http://www.vilaz.tv/index.php/site/works

Walee

more images: http://www.walee.com/indexv2.html

After seeing one of Walee's images I knew that I was going to be a fan of his artwork. Although they are more for entertainment than really showing an emotion, I think his work is amazing. I love how modern and innovative all of his stuff is. As I was looking through his gallery all I could think about is how talented someone must be to not only come up with his ideas but then create them. I am defiantly going to take away a desire to think outside of the box when creating my midterm project.

Photoshop Tutorial

Here is the link to the tutorial I worked on:

http://photoshoptutorials.ws/photoshop-tutorials/photo-manipulation/breathtaking-underwater-apartment-photo-manipulation.html

 

The following picture is after I created the water ceiling and distorted the image to fit on the ceiling and changed to opacity. I also changed to color balance of the room to make it look blue and then used the eraser tool to help blend the ceiling in with the walls of the room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second snapshot is taken after I used the rectangle tool and choose a blue color to create to illusion that you're looking underwater. I also brought in an image of water to distort and place on the floor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The third image is taken after I used the magnetic lasso tool to cut the girl out and place her in the room. I had to scale her body to the right size and change her color balance and opacity. I also used the burn tool on her face to make it look darker.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My final image is taken after adding gradients, fliters and bluring the image. I did not add the bubbles however because it had already taken me a long time and I like the look of the room without them. 

 

 

Jacob Cass

Jacob Cass, founder of Just Creative Design, is a graphic designer who uses the computer in his everyday work.

The following picture is an example of his print design:



The denotations of the picture are a man without his shirt on with a pizza covering his stomach and the words "YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT". I believe the connotations are that the man is overweight because he eats pizza and the pizza is made to look like it is a part of his body.

Another example of Jacob's print work is the following:



The denotations are a bunch of red words on a black background and the phrase "take a closer look" written in white. The connotations are that the red words form a beer bottle and the words are all negative effects of drinking alcohol. Jacob is asking the view to "take a closer look" when they consume alcohol and to consider the negative consequences such as "brain damage" and "death".

link: http://justcreativedesign.com/portfolio/