Google Doodles

For the first google doodle assignment we had to create a google logo based on the theme holidays. With this we had to create at least 2 original letters. I chose to do St. Patricks Day because that is one of my favorite holidays. I made the background hills, then made a rainbow that went into the “e” pot of gold. I made a leprecaun hat on the big “G” and a clover for the 2nd “o”. For the second google doodle assignment, the theme was “what we see for the future.” I decided to create symbols that represent something I want for the future. The first “g” represents hope, the first “o” unity, the second “o” peace, the “g”strength, the “l” equal love, and the “e” faith. The background is the globe.

A logo is a symbol or other design adopted by an organization to identify its products, uniform, vehicles, etc. I was able to provide meaning in my google doodles using symbols. I was able to express myself through the creation of letters.

I do think I was successful with this project because I followed the guidelines for the assignment, and I made each letter unique and relevant to the theme. If I could do it over, I would come up with a more creative idea and spend more time on it.

Superhero Comic Strip:The Adventures of Shutterbug

This week I had to create an original superhero comic strip in at least 6 frames. I was required to change the background at least twice, create at least 2 characters, and change each characters positioning once. I also had to combine vectors with real images. For my comic strip I decided to create a character named Shutterbug, who is represented by Selena Gomez.  As it states in the first frame, Shutterbugs power is all in her camera. She takes pictures of her enemies and blinds them with her flash, and keeps their photos as trophies. I wanted to incorporate something that I really enjoy into my character, thus why I chose photography as a main element of power. Since I made Selena Gomez represent my superhero, I naturally made Justin Bieber represent the villain, Spike.

Through this project, I learned that is hard to combine vector art and images together to look realistic yet animated. My biggest challenge with combining the too, was getting the sizing of each element to fit just right. So for example, Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber’s heads proportion to their vector bodies. It is very easy for the head size to look to big compared to the body size, and vice versa. However if executed correctly (which I believe I did), the combinations of vectors and images look very cool. For my comic strip, I tried to make each frame flow together to make a story. I tried to not skip over any important moments that happened in between each frame. I believe I did this successfully, and made my comic strip flow nicely together.

This project was difficult for me. It is a very time consuming project, and you had to be very organized. The organization was not as much of a problem as was the amount of time I had to execute the comic strip. I am a slow worker and I try to include every detail I can, which made this particular project challenging. As I said earlier, combining both vectors and images to flow with one another was my main challenge when creating the comic strip. The different perspective of the different backgrounds was a challenge as well. I had to make sure the proportions of the elements were correct and made the image make sense.

I do think I was successful with this project because I went beyond the required elements and created in my opinion a unique and creative piece. If I could redo this project, I would work more diligently each day. I completed the project at my house over the weekend and it took about 4 hours. If I had another chance, I would work on each frame 1 day, opposed to doing most of the project in one day. In the future, I will manage my time better and most likely incorporate both images and vectors in my projects.

 

 

South Park Self-Portrait

For this weeks assignment, I had to create a south park looking self-portrait with a background using only vectors. I used the vector shape tool and the path shape tool to create the shapes composed in this project.

The key aspects of the my character that reflects me is the hair, the shirt, and the shoes. I have brown medium length hair and my favorite color is blue, and I commonly wear that color. My favorite pairs of shoes are my white vans, which I incorporated into my south park self portrait. I decided to make the store Dry Goods my background. It is my favorite place to shop, and I thought it would be a cool background to create. It definitely was a challenge since I had to make the store entrance look 3 dimensional, as well as realistic.

I do think I was successful with this project since I created a character that looks similiar to me, and a background that relates to my life. However, I focused more on the background then the portrait itself, so if I could redo it I would focus on both equally. I would add more detail to my outfit, and make it look more stylish (since I dress better than that in reality).

 

Genetic Animal Project

This week we had to create an animal consisting of 4 elements from different animals. We then had to create an environment including 4 different sources. This environment had to coincide with the animal that we created. My animal includes a horse with zebra stripes, fish scales on its neck, antlers, and a squirrel tail. I envisioned my animal to be in a safari/forest type of environment, which is why I included those elements in my environment.

I wanted to start off with an easier animal to use as my base, resulting in a horse. I wanted to have different components of the horse look normal, and blended well, thus why I chose to overlay the zebra stripes and fish scales onto the horses body. After this, I decided to include a squirrel tail and antlers, to make my animal stand have some stand-out components to it. After I created the animal, the background came naturally. I imagined my animal to be in a safari type of environment (which is the base background), while also including forest elements to it (the forest in the back).

I mainly used, paths to cut out the objects and layer them over one another. I also overplayed and layer masked objects to one another. These tools/methods were very effective and helped me to create my project in a precise and timely manner.

I do think I was successful with this project because I completed the guidelines of the project, and executed them efficiently. My cut outs are neat and precise, and everything ties in with one another. The animal I created fits in with the environment I created. I will use the techniques of layer masking and overlaying for my projects in the future.

 

About Me Collage

This week I created a collage composed of 11 images that reflect some things about me. After I found the images, I cut each of them out using paths and then clip masked them into polaroid frames that I created.

One hobby that I enjoy doing is listen to music and create playlists/mixed CDs. I make these playlists and listen to new music through the app, Spotify. I currently have made 27 playlists on Spotify, and have listened to thousands of songs. I also create mixed CDs, in which I do via ITunes. I used the vinyl record to represent this and my love for music as a whole.Besides listening to streamed music, I also really enjoy going to live concerts, which is represented through the picture of the guitar. I have been to 10 concerts so far in my life, and I plan to go to many more.

Besides music, my other main hobby is photography. I love to have my friends come over and become different characters for shoots, as you probably saw with my past blog post entries.

This month, I started volunteering at the Humane Society to work with and take care of the animals. I really enjoy being around animals, and helping them. If you know me, you know I am a very big cat person. I have 3 cats, and the grey one in the picture is named Rocky. He is very feisty and I love it.

There are two places I love more than other in the United States, and that is Ann Arbor, Michigan and New York City. I lived in Ann Arbor for 7 years and absolutely loved living there, which is shown in the picture of Michigan map and the heart where Ann Arbor is. I still visit from time to time. This summer I went to New York City for 5 days on a school trip. I have always loved a city atmosphere, which is why I fell in love with New York City during the summer. Since visiting I know I want to live there, even though that is unrealistic, it is still my dream. This is shown in the Statue of Liberty picture that I took while I was there.

The picture of the ferris wheel represents amusements parks as a whole. Every year I try to go to at least two amusement parks. I don’t go on roller coasters (because they scare me), but I do all of the other rides.

I started doing boy’s basketball managing last year, shown through the picture of the basketball. Overall it was a great experience, and I can’t wait for it to start again! I made a lot of new friends I never would have talked to otherwise, making the experience very special.

My last picture is a cross, representing my religion. This one is the most important influence in my life. Being catholic has taught me to be the best person I can be. I always try to reach out to everyone, and be friendly to everyone. I want to spread love and faith to others, just as Jesus did for us.

I think I was successful in this project since I fulfilled the requirements, and made my collage creative in the process of doing so. If I could redo this project, I would include more photos. For example my family and friends are a very big influences in my life, so I would include them. Unfortunately I did not have the time to do this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What Is Art? Collage

For our first assignment in Digital Design, we had to come up with our own definition of what we believe art means, and reflect that meaning in a collage. In the collage, we had to provide at least 5 images showcasing our definition of art. With these images, we had to cut them out precisely, then layer them in a creative way.

My definition of art is: art is a freedom of expression created by a person and is displayed in an unlimited amount of ways. Many people have a fixed mindset of what art is, and how it is displayed. For example some people do not consider modern art real art, just because it seems too simple to be considered art. However as I stated in my definition, art is a freedom of expression. For example if you see a piece of art in a museum that is of a blue circle, that is considered art. You may just see a blue circle, but it most likely represents something more. Who knows, maybe the artist has struggled depression and wanted to express this through a blue circle describing his saddened circle of life that he has experienced.

My collage represents my definition of art by incorporating many different art forms. I wanted to include elements of art, that people forget/don’t typically consider art. The colorful hand that is painting, is an art form people most often recognize. I thought the colors in the hand/brush were visually compelling and worked well with the collage. I had  the brush tip be a similar color to the painting underneath it. The painting represents the art form of music, which is shown through the drum set in the painting. Singer express their feelings in their lyrics, which fits my definition. Above that is a camera, representing photography. This is another art form people tend to disregard. People think it is simple to take pictures since everyone’s phones has cameras now. However photography requires a lot of time and planning, so it is not as simple as it seems. Through photography, you can create messages through other people or items. It is a very free art form, that has a realistic element to it. On the cameras right side, is a cut-out of a vogue cover. Vogue is a very famous and well-known fashion magazine. I added this because I view fashion as an art form. Designing and creating clothes is not an easy task, and requires artistic ability. People often express themselves through their clothing, which is why I consider it a type of art. Next to that, are colored pencils. The colored pencils representing sketching/drawing, another common art form. Above that (the black and white design), is an example of street art. I consider street art and graffiti to be one of the most expressive art forms. Whenever you see street art, most likely there is a message contained in it. The picture I chose does not include this, but I thought it balanced the collage well.

I think I was successful with this project because every element in the collage corresponds to my art definition. I followed all of the guidelines of the project, as executed it well. I really tried to layer every thing well, and have every element balance each other out. I think I accomplished that goal well. If I could redo this assignment, I would not change anything. On future projects, my goal is to include this layering technique that I exemplified in this project.

First Week of School

Since I am no longer in photography, this blog will mostly consist of my digital design projects that I have created from now on. For my first post I am going to talk about my first week of school which just ended today. My first week of my senior year in high school has been like any other year I have experienced in my high school career, boring. The first day is always the same every year, we get lost going to our classes, we reconnect with friends we haven’t seen all summer, and we learn about fire drills throughout the day. It is not the most excited experience ever, especially because I no longer get to sleep in late like I did all summer.

There are some classes I am more excited about then others. This year I am taking Advanced Composition which I think will be a very cool learning experience and help prep me for college. I am least excited about taking Pre-calc, since math is one of my weaker subjects and from the what I have heard from the perspective of others, it is not fun.

There are some things coming up this year that I am excited to take part in. This year I am going to be the boy’s basketball manager with one of my good friends, and I think it will be really fun. The basketball coach was my English teacher freshman year, and he is still one of my favorite teachers now. I am excited to spend time with my friend as well as be apart of a team essentially. I am also excited to go to Prom again which is later in the year.

 

Fashion Photography: Skate Park Version

This week I wanted to do more of a fashion based photo shoot. We picked out an edgy/cute outfit then went to the skate park, because it fit the edgy feel of the clothes.The only challenge I encountered was my lense. It was acting up and kept making very weird noises when I was taking the photos. The flash would turn on abruptly, even though I was on a no flash setting. That is why the first photos sky is so white, because the flash was on. The others photos turned out pretty well before that happened though.

I do think I was successful with my work this week. I tried something different my doing fashion photography, and it was a lot of fun. Doing the shoot at the skate-park was the first time I based the setting off of an outfit, and it was fun! I tried to do a lot of different angles, which is shown in the photos above. Last week, I tried doing this as well but I think I mastered it better this week. If I could redo this week, I would have taken more photos with the model riding the skateboard. She is very tall so it was hard for her to balance, other wise I would have. In future weeks, I plan to incorporate different angles and go to more locations based on the focus of that week.

Views

From now on, my class does not have to focus on a specific theme, which is why the photographs this week are not apart of a story. This week I had my friend dress in edgy clothes and I took pictures of her at Lion’s Park. I focused on doing different angles, which is (hopefully) exemplified in the three photographs above. The only challenge I encountered was coming up with different angles to take pictures.

I do think I was successful this week because I accomplished my goal of taking the photographs in different angles/perspectives. If I could do this week over, I would get more pictures in different locations. I focused mainly on the angles when I was on the bridge, instead of when we were in different locations. In the future, I will attempt to take my photographs from different/new perspectives, instead of a typical head on shot.

Prom

This week I did an independent study instead of the usual 3,2,1 assignment. Since prom was last weekend, I decided to focus my theme on it. I had my two friends pose for some, and then I got a captured a few candids as well. This was definitely the most fun I have had taking pictures, since it was such a real movement for all of us. I did not encounter any challenges this week. Since prom is such a big event for high-schoolers, it was easy to take photographs of it. Its easy to capture a lot of candids during it as well.

I do think I was successful this week since I only focused on Prom, and took all different, and nicely composed photographs. If I could do this over, I would not do anything different, because it was a lot of fun and was worth it. In future weeks I am determined to capture as much candids as I can, because the real factor is enticing.