This is the last day of the semester...

Mr. Babcock is talking about how we should be keeping up with our blogs, so I figured I should post a new blog. To be honest, this blog has gotten pushed off because of other projects and homework...

This is the last day of the semester so my Intro to Graphic Design and Illustration class is over officially. I have learned a lot from this class. I am very happy that I decided to go ahead and take this class for an elective.

This class has made me significantly more comfortable with Photoshop and Illustrator. I definitely feel much more prepared to create my portfolio next semester; which is the goal I had when I signed up for this class.

Some of the projects that we did I did not enjoy as much as some of the other projects. The zine was definitely my least favorite project. The zine was a project that was supposed to be a how-to mini-magazine that would be fairly easily reproduced. I chose to do "How to Make the Perfect Deviled Eggs". I really enjoy making deviled eggs and my family and friends always talk about how good they are, so I liked my topic a lot. The project itself just was not very entertaining and interesting to me. It was the first project we used Adobe InDesign. I like the way InDesign is set up, but I feel the zine project did not let us learn very many things about InDesign. I feel like there are probably a lot of things that I don't know about InDesign.

I am really excited about creating my portfolio next year. I hope this class proves to be as helpful as I suspect it will be.

Thanks for a great semester!

Alternative Media Project

The alternative media project has been the most enjoyable project, for me, thus far.

The assignment was to select/sketch a simple image/logo, then reproduce the image through non-traditional media.

My process started with brainstorming to generate ideas for the kinds of media I would use. I had a lot of ideas that I was excited about. Some of the ideas that I wanted to do didn't work out. I wanted to make my image out of Cheerios in a bowl of milk. The cereal kept moving and sticking to each other and made it impossible to create my image. So I figured I could edit the picture in photoshop, so I took a picture of the Cheerios the way that they were in the bowl. When I started editing the picture in photoshop, I ran into a couple problems. I think if I was more proficient in photoshop I would have been successful at editing the images. The first problem I had was cutting out the Cheerio. I should have taken the picture with just one Cheerio in the bowl. The problem was getting all of the unneccessary Cheerios out of the picture and then filling in that space with milk. The way the lighting was, the milk had a slight gradient effect, which I tried very hard to reproduce, but couldn't. I ended up not using the cereal picture at all, which I was a little upset about. I think towards the end of the semester when I am better at photoshop I will try the cereal image again.

The other photo I wanted to have was one where the image was cut out of grass. So the image would be really short grass and the other grass would be taller around it. This didn't really work out either, I think the grassy area I was using had too short of grass. That is how I ended up with the dandelion picture. I saw the dandelion in the grassy area I was in, and decided I could just create my image by reproducing dandelions. I was pretty pleased with the outcome of the dandelion photo, but I think, again, if I was better at photoshop, the photo would be more convinving.

The other photo that I edited in photoshop was the photo of the water on the pavement. The original photo (which is not on my picasa album) was actually my third attempt at making the image with the water. It was a lot harder than I was expecting! The water would spread out when it was soaking into the pavement making my image into a jumbled mess. The third attempt was the best looking of the three, and then I edited it a little in photoshop. I just used the lasso tool to copy so of the pavement in the picture and put the pavement over some areas that were wet that I didn't want to be. I also used this process to clean up some of the edges and to tighten up the image some. I was pretty pleased with how it turned out.

I really enjoyed this project. I think I could probably do this project again using the same image and still have 10 new photos done. Once my brain got going, I just kept thinking of ideas.

Check out my album:
http://picasaweb.google.com/JordanBeckerDesign/AlternativeMedia?authkey=Gv1sRgCOPK2sjZ8o-6PQ&feat=directlink

Looking for Graphical Opportunities

When combining images, sometimes it can be hard to find creative ways to make two images one. Here are some things to keep in mind:

-Sometimes, when you put things next to each other, it is easier to see a similarity between the two.
-Sometimes, if you just mush two images into one, you can develop (through several attempts) one image that successfully combines the two. With the method especially, you might just have to go for it, knowing that your first couple attempts are not going to be exactly what you are looking for, but they might lead you to the final image you want.
-Using positive and negative shapes is an easy way to combine two images into one. One image is white, the other is the black around/next to it.
-Using one line or one shape as a commonality between the two images is also a way to get to the two to merge into one.

Finding graphical opportunities has a lot to do with exploration. You might try to combine an image 10 different times before finding the one combination that has everything you want in it. And sometimes, you might have to draw something that you know is not what you want at all, just to get your mind working in the right direction. No image is a wasted image! Everything is important to the process!

Developing Graphical Images

For some people, like myself, it is very hard for me to eliminate the details and just leave the important information. I feel like everything is important! So there are some things to keep in mind when you are having trouble simplifying images to make them less like a picture and more like a graphic image:

1. try to make things as geometric as you can... boxes, circles, squares, etc. Even if you go back and make the shape more complex, simplifying the image with just geometric shapes can really help you identify what is truly an important part of the shape.

2. try to make things solid. Solid shapes are much easier to read, especially from far away. And sometimes, when you are trying to a figure out how to make the image have the information it needs and still make it a solid object, it will help you eliminate unnecessary details.

Gestalt psychology

Gestalt psychology basically says this: people are smart. They like to figure things out. They don't want things to be laid out so plain and simple that there is no challenge. So, when you apply this to art, this means people like to figure out what the piece means, or is supposed to be, etc. There are several parts to Gestalt psychology:

Emergence: we can form entire images when just a small part of the image is shown and the rest is implied
Reification: we can form shapes with implied and imaginary lines
Multistability: when an image can pop back and forth between two different images/objects
Invariance: we can recognize geometric shapes even when they are rotated or morphed
Pragnanz: we like to order things

• law of closure: if you draw something with a broken line, we will just visually close the line
• law of similarity: our mind groups things with similarities
• law of proximity: our mind groups things according to distance
• law of symmetry: things that are symmetrical are groups regardless of distance or location
• law of continuity: our mind will continue with already formed patterns
  

• law of common fate: our mind groups things that are moving in the same general direction

These rules and theories are very important to keep in mind when making art because we don't want our viewer to think that we, as the artist, think the viewer is dumb. We want to give the viewer the satisfaction of "figuring it out" after looking at our work. And, sometimes, leaving things out or making things harder to figure out make the piece more interesting and unique.

Semiotics (and other big, fancy, cool sounding words)

So, as an Interior Design major, our exercise on Friday was very difficult for me. In Interior Design, we try to represent things as accurately as possible without going overboard, spending hours and hours on one little detail. So, when we were doing the exercise in class, it was very hard for me to not draw an accurate picture of what I was trying to say... Then I put my picture up, and after looking at the other drawings, I felt ridiculous. I also felt like I had pretty much failed the assignment... but that's ok. I learned a lot from actually doing the drawing wrong. When Babcock was explaining what would have been better for me to focus on and what I could leave out, it really helped me understand exactly what it was that I was supposed to be doing. Today, I redid my drawing from Friday and completed the other drawings with much more ease.

So anyway, we are supposed to talk about our understanding of semiotics. Well, I feel like I pretty much understand, but not 100%. This is what I have so far:

Semiotics is like a sciencey-way of talking about communication and language and symbols. People understand things when they are easy to see and read and comprehend. Sort of like, it's easier to read someone's handwriting the neater the handwriting is. People also don't need "fluff" and "frill" to get the picture. If you want to draw a lamp, you don't have to add carved wood details and fringe around the edge of the lamp shade and all of those details for people to understand that it is a lamp. When you leave those details out, there is less for the person to look at, ergo, they can comprehend the picture quicker. People also can understand things easier when they can quickly recognize the images. Sometimes, when you are trying to convey something via picture, it is easier to use a graphic image that may not necessarily be exactly what you mean, but for the viewer, would be easier for them to understand. Example: if you want to draw a story about a person cutting down the rain forest, you don't necessarily have to draw trees that look exactly like the ones in the rain forest. It would probably be easier to draw the traditional tree with a trunk and a large bushy top.

So, other vocabulary we are supposed to understand...

An icon is a graphic image that very accurately represents the object. Lets use a pencil as an example. A photograph of a pencil would be an icon.
An index is a graphic image that has to do with the object, but isn't that object exactly. An eraser would be an index for a pencil. They are related, but not the same.
A symbol would be (as far as I understand...) is simply the written or spoken word for the object. Saying "pencil" would be a symbol for a pencil.
A metasymbol is a graphic image that is easily recognizable and a learned image/relationship. Kind of like clip art images. Clip art images (generally) do not represent the object perfectly, but enough that you can easily recognize the object.

My Academic Future

This semester I am enrolled in:

ART 2610 - Intro to Graphic Design & Illustration
GRAP 3160 - Residential Architectural Drawing
HONR 3000 - Honors Colloquium - Technology & Creativity
ART 3330 - Restaurant & Store Planning
CMGT 3330 - Building Codes & Code Administration
ART 3340 - Interior Detailing & Furniture Design

Next semester I plan on enrolling in:

ART 4340 - Corporate & Institutional Design
ART 4860 - Contemporary Art & Design
ART 4020 - Studio Seminar
ART 3320 - Professional Practice
ICAP 4221 - Artists in Contemporary Society

*I also have to do my Honors Project at some point.. and I'm not exactly sure where that will fit into (I need to have a meeting with the Honors College) so there is a good possibility that I will have to take an extra semester.. In which case.. I would probably enroll in any combination of the following:

ART 3420 - Sculpture II
GRAP 4162 - Commercial Architectural Drawing
GRAP 2160 - Structural Drafting
CMGT 1300 - Intro to Construction Management

Test Post

This is a test post.