Design Your Own Art ProjectPre-Assessment Final Product
Emma Poitras
Freshman I chose for my final product to be a photograph because it was what I feel most interested and passionate about in the arts. I wanted to do a portrait photo because it was something I am less experienced in and I was looking to expand my skills. I had originally decided to do a black and white photo because I knew it was what would stand out against the color I photoshopped on. I decided to use Photoshop as one of the medians because I wanted to incorporate a couple of the skills from this year in my digital arts class. I used layers, brushes, and contrast in Photoshop. The meaning behind this piece is that both genders are constantly seeing a specific mold or norm that they should be recreating. I chose to cover the person's eyes with purple paint because I felt that it was a feminine color and was the most simple representation. The message I was trying to convey was that we see a specific form of beauty or something that is normal and find ourselves almost blinded to everything else.
To begin this project we watched several short documentaries to give us an idea as to what we would be aiming for. From there we went through several lectures, critiques, and checkins. Some of the most helpful things we did was the checkins and critiques. The critiques were helpful because they came from both Roxy and Brian so they were in depth and specific. The checkins were helpful because we were able to get a good idea as to where we needed to be and and what we could do if we were behind or ahead.
How is art used in everyday life?
Art is used to represent and show individuality. Whether it is used as a company logo or as a personal project it is used to exploit an individual style and to perhaps say something without the use of words. In the form of this documentary project I believe that we chose a well known idea and concept and completely transformed it into something more personal and beautiful. What problem-solving skills (21st Century) are employed in making works of art? I think that the most important 21st century skills would be creativity, influence, inspiration, and innovation. Each of these things hold a specific purpose that make an art piece unique and interesting. We used all of these 21st century skills to create out video. I believe that we needed all of them to make our piece beautiful and interesting. How can an artist create works of art through combining, expanding, and sequencing images/ideas/? An artist is able to draw inspiration out of normal or boring ideas to create something more interesting and in depth. Artists can look at a normal image and draw out a new and more beautiful idea. Although our documentary wasn’t a boring concept originally it certainly wasn’t original. I think that since it was in the form of a video it instantly became more unique and interesting.
My group and I made this stop motion by using photography composition rules, and lighting tips and techniques. We used both of those things in the process of taking the photos for the stop motion and while we were in the process of actually putting together the images. We used photography composition rules when we were setting up the drawing pad with camera to assure that it was balanced. We used lighting techniques when we were setting up the light over the drawing pad by making sure there were no awkward shadows or light spots. I will definitely take my experience with the lighting and photo composition into account for my documentary project. I have learned how valuable it is to have good balanced lighting for both photos and videos. I have built on my knowledge about photo composition which will really benefit my film project. Logo Design Project
Self Portrait Project
Inquiry Question 1: When is art criticism vital, and when is it beside the point? Art criticism is vital when the art's purpose is to be displayed to the general public. It's necessary to the artist when criticism is wanted and will be helpful. An artist should be opening their art to criticism when they think it fits into their standards and when they want to have comments and constructive criticism. If an artist thinks that their work is good and what they want it to be they are not obliged to listen to criticism or take it into account for their work. For example, if I am working on a project and it is appealing to me and I find that it fits into my standards, I don't necessarily want criticism or opinions on something that I am proud of. If the artist is trying to display their work and they feel that the art needs to be changed/edited criticism is vital to the artist and their work. Although criticism is inevitable the artist should be deciding when they will take it into account. Inquiry Question 2: How are the characteristics and expressive features of art and design used to create a self-portrait? A self portrait can either have obvious meaning to the viewer or it can have personal meaning to the artist (or both). Either way characteristics/expressive features of art are used in any portrait. A self portrait is created with an background motive, whether it is an emotion or event that creates inspiration. Self portraits are meant to portray something whether it is personal or meant for other people. Art and design represents expression. The form of art can be anything but it will always have an meaning or motive behind it. Artists will use inspiration to create emotional pieces of work. Art/design is meant to provoke thoughts, emotions, ideas etc. A self portrait can do that for both the artist and the viewer. The viewer may or may not know the reason the artist created the portrait but it gives them an opportunity to come up with a story or reason on their own. Art is only how it is perceived by the viewer. Teacher Creature Project
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For this project I was supposed to create a landscape including one or more of my teachers. We used the program Photoshop to do this project. Before starting the actual creative part of this project we spent several days watching Photoshop tutorials to give us a good idea of how to work the program. Then, we recreated several of the tutorials to personalize what we had watched and learned. We used different tools to put the teachers heads on other bodies. I chose to do my teacher Brendan and put his face on an octopus on a bicycle. I was able to incorporate many different tools and skills to create a final product. The hardest part of this project was blending the environment and main point of interest. I had to work with blending a face and a body, while making it realistic. I struggled with this because I had a hard time finding the right tools. I persevered through this by doing research and asking peers questions. I have learned about my style as an artist in the sense that I can make my work very versatile. Though this style of work isn’t what I’m usually interested in, I was able to use new programs. This has helped me learn about my style by opening my mind to different styles and ideas. I used the teacher’s interests to guide this project. I was able to incorporate a figure that he was interested in to create a more personal final product. Overall I learned a lot in photoshop and it was a fun helpful project.
Photoshop tutorials:
I used the pen tool to select the teeth. Then I used the warp tool to shape the teeth into "vampire teeth".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFokxonja08
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFokxonja08
I used the pen selection tool to select the eye. Then I adjusted the hue/saturation to adjust the coloring.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9gNAZBbbH0 |
Photoshop Project #1
In this mini project we experimented with different tools to create an representation of foreground, middle ground, and background. For this project we played around with scale and proportion to create visually appealing images. Foreground is the part of a view that is closest to the viewer. Middle ground is between the foreground and background. Background is the area or scenery behind the main object of interest. When using photoshop I found the quick selection tool most helpful. This tool was most helpful because it made selecting all images easy and fast. During this project we learned and used both PSD documents and JPEGs. Both of them are formats to store images in digital art forms. JPEG is a standard format that is not connected to any application. PSD is a native file format for Photoshop.