Week 7

Craft:

For this week we had to create five to ten pieces of art that would show our style. For this assignment we used the pen and pads to draw our objects. After we did our drawings we could change the colors and line types until something suited our style choice. For this we used the brush library.

Composition:

At first I had more than one mask per page, but since this made the pages look cluttered I made sure to place one mask alone upon each page in illustrator. The next step I took was to center each mask in the center of the page because I wanted the masks to be the vocal point.

Concept:

I wasn't really sure what my style was since I'm always changing my mood and tend to draw for specific moods, but after our in-class critique I realized that I needed to place all six of my masks in the same colors so they showed a sence of being a group of illustrations. And the next step I need to work on is filling the background because it is just too empty.

Week 6

"Wonderland"

craft:

The first things that I did to this picture was to change the background to a mellow green color. I used the foliage swatch to pick colors; I didn’t really want to just guess colors. I then inserted numerous pictures of fairies and goblins and began to copy them the same way I copied the original photograph. I then began to place mushrooms around the picture to help tie in the idea of a mysterious land. Then using the fancy brush stroke I make the couch look like it was connected to the mushrooms and even the shoes.

composition:

I wanted everything to look even so I made sure to place objects on both sides of the picture. I also made those objects closer larger to try and show a sense of depth within the picture. The next thing I did was to place the shoes off to the side. I did this because it makes the environment look more inviting than when the shoes are dead in the center.

"The Beast in the Temple"

craft:

I first changed the entire background to different shades of brown. Doing this makes the environment look more like a desert scene, thus more treacherous and uninviting. The next thing I did was to layer the entire couch with bricks. I used the simple square maker to do this to save on time. I decided to use the rounded edged bricks to make it look older. I changed the eyes to a red color to make the couch look evil. Then I added teeth that look like stalactites.

composition:

I made the bricks larger in the front and smaller in the back to make the picture have depth. I also left the shoes dead in the center to make the picture intimidating and frightening.

"Crazy"

craft:

This one was a simple color change. I first changed all the colors to their opposites to make them stand out. I changed the carpet to a red color because when I thought of the ground I thought of the earth and lava. I changed the couch to a blue color with yellow accents on the blanket because I was thinking of a big mountain with the sun coming over it.

composition:

I wanted this picture to be a neutral picture no fear yet no extreme happiness. I was able to leave the shoes in the center and not have a sense of fear.

CONCEPT:

For this assignment we needed to make three alternate versions of our original illustration about shoes.

Week 5

Craft: Continuing from last week's picture I was able to make the blanket and dog toys look more connected by using the feather and shading tools. I also began using the pen to create lines on the couch, for the plaid parts, making it look more three dimentional (not pictured above).

Composition: Since the couch and blanket were standing out more than the shoes I knew that I needed to blend them in more. The only problem I am running into now is the fact that only parts of the shoes are being shown. I may create the whole image of the shoe and pull that higher on the illustration so viewers can see it's more about the shoes than the couch.

Concept: The main idea of this picture is still the same, and most likely won't change no matter what I do to the colors in the picture. It's still the idea of shoes being afraid of a couch.

Week 4

Craft: After choosing the picture that I wanted to work with, I placed the picture in the frame that would allow the most information to be visible. Then, choosing from the vertical tool menu on the left side of the screen, I chose the pen tool and began tracing the objects in the picture. To do this I started with the objects in the back. These objects don't really need much precision especially the parts that will be covered by other objects. As I continued to trace objects I made sure to turn off those already traced. This is done by clicking the little eye next to the lock in the vertical menu on the right side of the screen. As I was tracing I also used the fill option, on the menu on the left, to make my tracings look like the actual picture (for the most part). Once I finished tracing and filling in all the objects in the picture I grouped the objects for future use. By grouping them I can now go to the exact parts of a certain object and fix it. This has turned out to be a complete lifesaver. After doing all this I saved the work so I could go back to it for future use.

Composition: As I was placing the color into my traced shapes I decided that I wanted them to look just like the colors in the original picture. This, however, turned out to be a very bad idea. Because I used colors with very low contrast the couch shapes all began to melt together, especially once it was printed on paper. I then decided that I needed to change the colors to have a higher level of contrast between the shapes. I found that this worked well after I printed out the second copy of my picture-the blob was gone.

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Concept: Doing this simple tracing activity I wanted to show a viewer the basic elements and shapes within the picture. As I continue to develop the tracing procedure, more and more elements will be displayed.