Special Edition Post - Art Institute

For this week's assignment, we were asked to chose one masterpiece and one disaster piece from the tour that was given to us.

I chose this one has my masterpiece. The first thing I noticed about it was the precision making of all those indentations, grooves, and slots. Having been able to create figures in this almost metal looking material with such fine visual representation is incredible. The amount of craftsmanship is clearly evident in this piece. the mass and volume given to the tress and mountains gives this piece a sense of three dimensionality.

This piece is the one I chose as the disaster piece. Even now, I cannot understand as to why this would be in the art institute. I could understand that it holds tremendous sentimental value to the artist being that its a tribute to someone close to them but candy as a form of art is barely scratching the surface. It something that questions the idea as to whether drawing a straight line is art or not. I also thinks because it gets replaced continuously that it loses value because at that point, its just candy and not truly art.

Week 15 - Final Project Part 4 (Completion)

This week we had to have had the assignment completed. I managed to incorporate all four of the elements that we were require to use. Each photo has a different color to help individualize each section but to also help identify key elements that tie the story together. The first image has the colors of the flag with the text sitting on top of the flag following its path. There is also a stencil of the veteran on the bottom right. The second photo has red on the gun to help associate the gun with blood. this helps ties the image to suicide besides the figure itself. The third image is jesus and he is purple. The stencil of the purple heart sits on top of the purple to indicate that its a purple heart but also of death. If I could change something about it, I would change the third image to my original sketch because it seemed to make much more sense in terms of the other photos. Having an image of Jesus created a disconnection between the other photos.

Week 14 - Final Project Part 3 (Work Day)

This week's assignment was to continue working on our final project to get it as close to done as possible. I only managed to make the stencil's for each photograph. This process was different for me because in the previous stencil assignment, I made a stencil using adobe illustrator whereas in this work time, I had to make stencils using Photoshop, which I was still unfamiliar with. The Purple heart and the veteran with his hands on his face were made in Photoshop plus illustrator. The figure with the gun to his head was made using pen tool on adobe illustrator. I was really fascinated as to how there are different approaches to making stencils, both having pros and cons. You can easily make a stencil on Photoshop but it includes every little detail. You can be as simple or as intricate as you want on illustrator but it is definitely much more time consuming.

Week 13 - Final Project Part 2 (Photos)

Craft: This week's assignment was to take photos for our final project. The purpose for taking photos is because we are required to include four elements in our final project, which are illustrator, photoshop, paper cutter, and photography. I decided to take the topic literally and take photos closely representing any war related. 

Concept: The idea was to find a way to connect all elements that I described before into a set of three. I had to take into consideration which images would go well with my drawings. 

Composition: I used the flag because its the simplest representation of the united states of america and it can also be a representation of how the US is being protected by our soldiers. This photo will pair with the veteran with his hand on his face, almost can be seen as an oxymoron (saving the U.S. but can't be saved from their depression). I used the gun as the second photo paired with the stencil of the veteran who is ready to pull the trigger to end his life. Showcasing the gun as the central object in relation to the veteran. I used Jesus as the third photo paired with the purple heart to showcase that the veteran has committed suicide leaving behind only relicts of his past.

Week 12 - Final Project Part 1 (Sketches)

Craft: For this week's assignment we were required to make sketches for our final project, which would be a triptych of a topic chosen by the class. Our topic was war. We were to  develop sketches around or with the topic of war. he possibilities were endless because war is a topic that can be taken figuratively or literally. I chose to do something literally. My sketches were depicting the life of a veteran and his journey to suicide. I used a photo reference to get the sketches.

Concept: I decided to use veteran and suicide as my topic because it is not a topic regularly discussed by many. The biggest misconception is that suicide is not common among veterans but studies show that there are higher rates of suicide among veterans yearly. I cannot connect to this on a personal level but I found it interesting that this topic is discussed as widely as teen and depression suicide.

Composition: or my triptych piece, the first image is a veteran with his hands to his face slightly bending forward. The second image is of him pointing a gun to his head, and the third image is of his hands, one with a purple heart medal and a gun in the other. I thought this order would be best to accurately display the sadness of a veteran outside the army, nav, marines, whatever it may be.

Week 11 - Stencils Part 2

Craft: This week's assignment was to create a stencil based on what we were taught last class. I decided to use one of my previous drawings, which is a time octopus, to use as my stencil. Instead of using photoshop, I would use adobe illustrator to create the individual shapes of the different parts of my time octopus. The most important thing is to fill the shapes and choose whether or not you want them to connect. For this particular assignment, I decided to make a perfect stencil and color stencil. Saving the file as a JPEG and then transferring that file tot he shilhoutte studio application is also another important. That application is to convert any JPEG file into a stencil.

Concept: Knowing how to make a stencil is a process but actually beginning the process to cut it was another. This time, we are familiarizing ourselves with the silhouette cutter. Adjusting the blade setting is probably the most important step because it can eratically alter the results due to sharpness of the blade and how much pressure it puts on the material being used.

Composition: This stencil is simple and can be re-created easily. It has no intricate angles and follows a direct path that the silhouette cutter can follow without a problem. I chose this because I wanted to make alterations to the design I had made previously, by playing with color and adding some additional detail.

Week 10 - Stencil

Craft: This week's assignment is to create a stencil using photography. In order to do that, we must use the Photoshop application. After opening the photo, I used the quick selection tool to elect sections of the photos I wanted to be outline and those outlines would be used to create the stencil. After that, I desaturated the sections I selected and created a duplicate layer. Then I used the threshold to flatten any detail within the selected sections and make them completely black. I would then save the photo and transfer it the adobe illustrator, where I would trace the image. The last step would be to make and expand the image and thus a stencil is born.

Concept: This exercise was to familiarize ourselves with basic instructions on how to create stencils. To understand the challenges of creating stencils of different space to subject relationship. How big or how small the subject is in relation to the space its in can affect the outcome of the stencil.

Composition: I chose to use simple plant to demonstrate the functions of converting an image to a stencil. Its very impactful to isolate any desired sections of a photo because its easier to draw our attention to one section but still be able to connect the entire thing together.

Week 9 - Space

Craft: We are require to take photos that represent space within a three dimensional platform on a two dimensional format, which is photography. The only tool that can be used for this particular assignment is a camera.

Concept: The purpose of this assignment is to perceive spaces based on varying viewpoints. Background, middle foreground, and foreground can vary in space, depending on what angle its seen. Changes in angles can significantly affect how something is seen, such as seeing something from the sky can make everything appear flat and two dimensional whereas something seen from a rooftop can appear to have a physical form in terms of mass and volume.

Composition: I was interested in taking photos where space is represented as almost never ending. Having flexibility within space in a two dimensional format creates the illusion of three dimensionality. and being able to translate that sort of information is vital when creating art or producing photos where space can be impactful.