Special Edition Three: Modern Art Wing

Fernand Leger
Reclining Women

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Craft: Oil on canvas

Concept: From the information section next to the painting, I found out that during this time in his career Fernand Leger was very interested in figure drawings.
Composition: What I find very interesting about this painting is really the simplisty of it. This painting uses a lot of semi bold colors and lines, and the technique of a gradiate. That really adds the 3 dimension of the painting, making this women look very round. The background is very busy but it complients colors and shape of the women.

Special Edition: Two AIC! "The Old Building"

As I walked into the Art Institute of Chicago for most likely the 9Th time in my life, I was overwhelmed by the presents of most likely the most remarkable collections of art in the Midwest.z I walked up the stairs to the second level into the European art before the 1900s in the "old section" of the museum. The themes of most if not all of the pieces follows traditional portrait of wealthy individuals, religious scenes,and of course the occasional bowl of fruit. From there I moved on the the part of the museum that focus on the Impressionist movement. It is in this "section: that I saw painting of people in "natural"settings. For example, Gustave Caillebotte's Paris Street, Rainy Day, you can see how the movement of Impressionism was incredible different from the previous "classical art" of the early 1800s, in that with this painting more so you can see and somewhat experience the "rainy day" that are artist is wanting to get across. Caillebotte is vividly showing an actual weather pattern and that is very different to what came before impressionism. To add another characteristic of the impressionist artist is that they actually used the paint as paint. Moving on from the Impressionist movement, I went to the Contemporary section of the museum. This is one of my favorite sections of the museum being that I consider myself to be a very abstract painter, I feel at home here, as I get lost in the painting of Jackson Pollock. From the Contemporary section of the museum we moved to the modern wing of the Art Institute. Everything about this new section of the museum is so cool. The whole "modernesk" fits completely and is such a drastic change from the "old building". So at this point in the tour, the themes running though the paintings are ones that almost force you to reevaluate what you see happening, or in other words, look past the actual painting and try to pick the artist brain.

van Gogh bedroom at Arles
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Craft: This is an oil on canvas painting
Concept: An unknown source told me that (i.e., a random guy standing by me in the museum) this was actually the third version of his painting that he had painted for his mother who was in an asylum at the time.
Composition: The colors really contrast with each other well. The point of view of this painting is somewhat of a third person. Knowing that he had possibly painted this for this mother, it can be speculated that this was his mothers room and it is him that is starting into the emptiness of it, the emptiness of his mother not only being around him psychically but maybe even mentally.

Week 15

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Week 14

Mondays critique.
My finished magazine was critiqued my my fellow peers on Monday. There was a lot of positive feedback in regards to my layout style and the images I choose to work with. It is pretty cool to know that I'm not the only one who thinks my magazine looks well. To add it is also nice to know that people can tell I worked really hard on my magazine, and put a lot of time into it. I'm glad to came across to them.

As for suggestions, it was mostly arrangement based (i.e., some of my text or images were too close to the boarder, or that it was hard to follow which paragraph to read next. I made all of those adjustments. Besides from that, there were a few grammatical error, such as periods, capitalization's, and stuff like that.

All in all my magazine was officially finished and ready to be sent on Monday. I am very happy with the turn out. I wish I had more images I could put into it. It would be cool if this was a year long class, and we got to make an compilation of everything we had done in an academic years worth of time! All in all I cant wait to have the hard copy in my hands and share it with all of my friends and family.

Special Edition: One Sister Hicks

Craft: Oil on canvas with a touch/touches of crayon,charcoal, and or paste. Being a painter I am sure that she started from the back and moved to the front. That is she might have did a very light and fast sketch with charcoal then begin to paint with light thin paint full of thinner, then added a lot of paint. She really used paint as paint in this particular piece of work.

Concept: Looking out side her winder in the convent in the winter. This painting is simply a Chicago winter, as Sister Hicks looks out of her window. I heard this from on of her, I am getting good friends, as they looked at the painting with me.

Composition: This tree had to be a tree she had seen many times. I say this because it is the main focus of here painting. Even thought you can see the buildings in the back and the cars all around fount, it is the tree that really stands out.

Week 13

Craft: My magazine is really coming along. Nothing much as changed. However I have started working on my cover for my magazine. Thats coming along as well. I am trying to combine everything in my magazine on to the cover. In a cohesive way of course. So I am really copying and pasting images from my illustrations and putting them on the cover.

Composition: The composition of my blog is very simple and basic. Which is a bit of a change from the inside layout of my magazine. I really like the color combination, I feel that it balances out the colors of the text. Over all the composition of my cover follows my style and leads the viewer into what is going on in my magazine. I really like the combination of the cover and the table of contents.

Concept: I don't have any sort of concept in mind. I just wanted everything to flow and look good. If I had to pick some sort of concept I would say that I am going for a summarization of the contents in my magazine on the cover. I guess thats what ever magazine cover tries to do.

Week 12

Craft: This week I have finally got into the groove/ style of what my magazine layout is going to be. It is fairly simple but after all it is an art magazine and the focus should be on that art. I changed a lot of things. For the introduction sections, so to speak, for my projects I make the full spreads, to catch the readers attention and add spark some curiosity into there minds. I wanted to get them excited about what is on the following pages.

Composition: The composition for my magazine is mainly focused on the art. All of the illustrations featured in my magazine are big, clear, and bold. Even though I do have a lot of text, I feel that I managed to create a nice balance between the two. I guess you could call it a could "cluttered" look.

Concept: The concept of my magazine. Thats a really good question, I didn't really come into making this magazine with any particular concept. I was honestly just playing with the software, InDesign, and see what all I could do with it. I looked at a lot of other magazine for inspiration and ideas as to how to go at laying out my spreads. But if I had to pick some type of concept for my magazine I would say that I am going for a sleek abstract, bold color feeling.

Week 11

Information I gained from the critique.

What I took from my critique on my first spread was that it was very busy, not necessarily in a bad way but it could use some uniformity, especially in regards to the text and how it was placed around my images. I plan on coming up with some sort of "style" so to say that will run thought out my magazine. By making this change I will be getting rid of the confusion the reader might have when reading my articles.

My attention was also brought to the spacing in relation to the text and an image, an image and the boarder and so on. That is just something that you don't catch right away. The last thing was brought to my attention was my first 2 pages and how I should concerned using the entire page spread to grab the reader into being interested in the art work that is to follow.

So I have taken all of this into consideration and have made most if not all of these alterations plus some.

Week 10

Project 1: Shoes
This particular project we as a class embarked on was a tad bit frustrating for me. The original photography I chose was a challenging task to complete with this software (i.e., Adobe Illustrator). So I decided to change my photograph, not because I thought it was "too hard" but because it felt that the original photograph was not allowing me to fully experience, appreciate and simply enjoy using and learning this software.

What I used:
Pen tool
Arrow tool
Pencil tool
Line Segment tool
Eye drop tool
Effects: Transparency, feathered edges, round edges, and texture.

To create this essentially traced illustration I started from the back to the front. I grouped every layer for each major component of this illustration (i.e., The monkey, canvas, all star letters, and so on.)
The background: The photograph has depth in its background. To recreate that look I used the feather and transparent effect. By using those main effects for the entire background it really helped allude/give depth to this illustration. Since the back is all blurred out I really wanted the foreground to be crisp, clean, and show all the detail I can, after all it is the main focal point. I managed to successfully trace the all star logo with the pen tool to show the raggedness of the shoe. As for the smuggles and highlights I used the brush tool.

As for the shoes, I had a really hard time with those. The shoes in the photography are plaid. I did try to express this in the illustration, however it was occupying a lot of time that could be put into other details of the shoe. Since Converse are really not know for/recognized for the "plaid canvas'" I simple made the canvas one color, and put as much detail as I could in the rubble bottoms of the shoe.

With this illustration, essentially the photograph as well, I wanted to give the viewer a small glimpse of me and my personality, style, imagination. I wanted to show the idea of " here are some old beat up shoes on my studio/apartment". Also, these particular shoes always reminds me what this one Jim Morrison quote, " Leaving the phone-booth, I was struck by a whiff of the weird." A whiff of the weird, that line left a colorful imprint in my brain. The best part is, is that it completely works with this project, being that it is a shoe, but not necessarily your everyday normal clean shoe, its a little off but In a good way. As I walk by, put my feet up, take my shoes off people may get a whiff of my shoe, but not just any kind of whiff a whiff of the weird. An idea of what I am into my interest maybe even the way I carry myself. Maybe I am going completely over the cliff, but I really feel that this photograph and quote interact well with each other and my personality, life, creative mind. Which is one of the reasons why I decided to choose this photograph for my first project on Illustrator.

Title: "Lights out"

This alteration to my original illustration was fairly simple. I selected everything then used the pixelate effect, which blacked out everything but the textures and outlines. I was really just playing around with all of the different effects and ended up with this. I guess you could call it an mistake gone good.Even though the detail is not as present as in the original illustration, you can still make out the objects and tell that this is suppost to show some shoes, paint and canvas in a darkroom. Coming up with a title for this was fairly simple, It was right at this point that I was able to give this a title.

Title: "Fill it in"

Craft: This alteration to my original illustration involved taking all of the color out ( i.e., replacing the background color of each layer with white), making the outlines of each trace/layer darker and or black, and then added text into each object with a very brief idea of what/how to "fill in" each open space.

When making this alteration I was thinking about a coloring book, specifically those number fill in coloring books. I've always and still do indulged in those what some might call childish activities every now and then. So in my alteration or better yet my rendering of the number fill coloring books instead of having a key and telling the viewer which "number" corresponds to a particular color,I wanted to give my viewer a chance to alter my illustration in their mind ( with some guidance as to what should be where). In a way to mentally color in my illustration.

Title: "Creative Dreams"

This alteration to my original illustration involved the use of a lot of effects, such as neon, 3D, scribble, artistic brushes, and graphic designs.

With this alteration, I really just wanted to experiment with some of the various effects in this software. Getting taste of what everything does.

Week 9

Craft:

What I used: InDesign

Project: I took illustrations from project 2 ( guitars/alterations of guitars)... Specific style and stylistic rules.

Text: i took some of the text from corresponding blog post. I mostly added new commentary on some of the images i decided to use.

Composition: I wanted this spread of my magazine to be simple in regards to the added text (i.e.,that is the pages numbers and the headings) so that the images themeless would catch the readers attention, making them wanted to read the text. Hence the use of the interview at the beginning; I felt that it complemented the large image of my first guitar. As for the colors of the background and around various text. I wanted it to follow the color scheme of the illustrations. Sort of like a swash color palette.

Concept. The concept I am going for with this magazine is one that flows through each project having that particular spread connect with the project theme and style.

Week 8

Craft:

What I used: Pen, Pad attachment

Brush Libraries: Artistic paint brush stroke/decorative style/ Pencil tool/ Novelty boarder design/Artistic scroll pen.

Object: Guitar (hand drawn)

Background: Novelty boarder design (buildings), shape button from the tool bar (Stars), colored background layer with transparency.

Layers: Each object ( i.e., the background, guitars, stars, and the buildings) were all in there own group, and I maneuvered the layers so the guitar is above everything thing else ( i.e., the buildings) and the background is in the background.

The Guitar: I drew the guitar in sections, that is I did not "outline" it. For instance first I drew the body, to the neck, to the head of the guitar, and so on; adding simple detain so it looks like a guitar. I should mention that for the sound hole I did change the brush stroke from the artistic paint brush stroke to the artistic decorative brush stroke. I also used another variation of that style brush stoke in the category for the tuning machines. For the strings I simply used the pencil tool, in the tool box. I created the curve of the guitar by drawing it that way then using the arrow pointer in the tool box to smooth it out and add more of a distinct curve. But the curve mostly just comes from the way I drew it initially.

The stars where created by using the shape tool via star shape in the tool box. As for the buildings in the background, it was just a brush stroke for the novelty border in the brush library.

Composition: I made the guitar fairly large and curved to the left because I wanted it to be the main focus of the illustration. I wanted it to fill up most of the page. I added the buildings not just for the "theme" I wad giving this particular illustration, but also to balance everything. The slight curve in the building balances with the curve of the guitar.In regards to the colors, it adds a smooth, calmness air to the illustration. The scroll pen brush strokes in the guitar also add to this smoothness I am talking about.

Concept: As I mentioned before in an earlier post I was trying to convey the idea that a guitar or any musical instrument for that matter has a sort of personality. This "personality" usually fits with the type of music being played on a particular guitar. With this particular illustration I was going with the smooth jazz, night life, small club hidden in one of the city's many neighborhoods.

Week 7

Craft: With these illustrations of guitars I used a "pen and pad".

Composition: For these 5 illustrations of guitars I come up with 3 rules to follow ( i.e., Use 3 different colors, different brush strokes, and some sort of border or background) I decided to use these rules because they are fairly simple, but allow for a lot of interesting variations.

Concept: I was trying to convey the idea that guitars or any musical instrument for that matter has a sort of personality. This "personality" usually fits with the type of music being played on a particular guitar. I feel that I successfully showed different personality's a guitar can take on.

Week 6

"Creative Dreams"

"Fill it in"

"Lights out"
Title: "Lights out"

Craft: This alteration to my original illustration was fairly simple. I selected everything then used the pixelate effect, which blacked out everything but the textures and outlines.

Composition: The composition didn't change much in this alteration.

Concept: I really like how the texture stayed in the illustration. It was right at this point that I was able to give this a title. Even though the detail is all still present, it is not very clear, almost as if you are looking at this in a dark room.

Title: "Fill it in"

Craft: This alteration to my original illustration involved taking all of the color out ( i.e., replacing the background color of each layer with white), making the outlines of each trace/layer darker and or black, and then added text into each object with a very brief idea of what/how to "fill in" each open space.

Composition: The composition of this alteration has not changed much.

Concept: When thinking of how to alter my illustration again, the idea of an coloring book came into mind. I wanted to give my view a chance to alter my illustration in their mind ( with some guidance as to what should be where). To mentally color in my illustration.

Title: "Creative Dreams"

Craft: This alteration to my original illustration involved the use of a lot of effects, such as neon, 3D, scribble, artistic brushes, and graphic designs.

Composition: The composition pretty much stayed the same, I didn't move anything around.

Concept: I really just wanted to experiment with some of the various effects in this software. This essentially lead to the title of my alteration.

Week 5

Craft: I decided to change my illustration picture to something that would allow me to work the software better. My last picture was a fairly difficult and lead to me not really enjoying everything about the software. Now I really wanted to make sure I could illustrate the depth of the photograph. I did that with the feather and transparency effect. I used those main effects for the entire back ground and it really helped allude/give depth to the illustration. Since the back is all blurred out I really wanted the foreground to be crisp, clean, and show all the detail I can, after all it is the main focal point. I managed to successfully trace the all star logo with the pen tool to show the raggedness of the shoe. As for the smuggles and highlights I used the brush tool.

As for the shoes, I had a really hard time with those. The shoes in the photography are plaid. I did try to express this in the illustration, however it was occupying a lot of time that could be put into other details of the shoe. Since Converse are really not know for/recognized for the "plaid canvas'" I simple made the canvas one color, and put as much detail as I could in the rubble bottoms of the shoe.

Composition: The arrangement of this illustration worked out a lot better then I thought it would. The depth is great and so is the clear detail in the front.

Concept: My concept has not changed much, I am still striving to show the idea of " here are some old beat up shoes on my studio/apartment".

Week 4

Craft: With this beginning illustration I worked from back to front. I started with my shoes canvas. Outlining the tongue of the shoe, then working to the flats. I made these shapes by using the pen tool and outlining the tongue and flaps (by clicking the mouse once) completely around until I came back to the first dot, connecting to close the shape. Once I got all of that done I realized that i had a lot of layers and had thought about possibly putting them into groups, however that was only a thought. I will at some point but them into a group just to better organize the lay out of all the layers I know i am going to have. So lets hypothetically say that I put the canvas/plaid part of my shoes into on group called "Canvas Left" and " Canvas Right".

From that point I went to work on the rubber front of my shoes. Again I worked from the back to the front. I shaped out the tops of the shoes where the designs are first then moved on the to the next 3 layers. Over lapping the shapes to make sure I get a clean line. Again I used the Pen tool to make these shapes. I did not make a group for this section of the illustration, but when I do i will most likely call them " Rubber Left" and " Rubber Right". Once I got all of that done, I started to work on the basic designs/details/doodles that were on my both my left and right shoe. I used the pen tool to trace, and to smooth out the lines. I didn't want to make the start perfect to I didn't perfect them/smooth out the lines as much as a I could have. I like how hey are a bit off, and they are not perfect on my shoes either, so why make them perfect on the illustration. I should and will have to group these designs.

Before color, the last shape I made was the background. I Guess this could have been done first, but the composition of my photograph doesn't really call for it. Color, because I got slightly overwhelmed with illustrator being that it was my first time using it, and I am still learning and experimenting with all of the tool and what they can do, I didn't really send too much time on color. I had planned on going back and getting a more accurate depiction of the actual colors, but time just didn't permit. The main tool I used for the color was the eye drop color match. I used this tool because it was fast, and I was more focused on getting the shapes of the objects down, then making sure I had the right colors.

Composition: The composition of this illustration is really a sore subject at the moment, on a count that I have not thought about it much. I feel that I have mastered making the basic shapes, I just need to go back, smooth out lines fix the colors and try to move form dark to light, and match them better to the actual photograph. In all the placement of everything it right on, I just need to focus more on detail.

Concept: My concept hasn't changed much, However the colors do give it a different feel. The lack of detail can really change the "concept" of the illustration. I do not want to change what I am trying to say with this illustration, So I just really need to go back at fix the colors and add more detail.

Week 3

Craft: I created this photograph by simply placing my favorite pair of shoes together on the floor under a light.

Composition: Again the arrangement of this photograph is fairly simple, it is a front view of my shoes. I decided to use this particular view point because I wanted to show how old, run down, and colored on/expressed upon my shoes are. I made sure this photograph was a close up shot, since I was going for a more personal feel/ peak into my personality. The composition of this photograph also helped narrow down my choices for our first project. I asked myself ( as mentioned in class) Would I put this on my wall? ... Heck yes! In other regards to other aspects on composition I should mention contrast. I really like how the light is bouncing off of the rubber tops of my shoes and how the canvas/plaid is in the foreground a slightly dark. I really wanted to point out the drawings on the tops of my shoes, with the light reflecting off of them it attracts the views eyes to that point even more. I also enjoy the texture of the fronts of my shoes ( i.e., the etched band around the the bottoms of the shoes. If time permits I feel that I can have a lot of fun with detail in Illustrator.

Concept: As I mentioned above, with this photograph I wanted to give the viewer a small glimpse of me and my personality, style, imagination. My left shoe always reminds me what this one Jim Morrison quote, " Leaving the phone-booth, I was struck by a whiff of the weird." A whiff of the weird, that line left a colorful imprint in my brain. The best part is, is that it completely works with this assignment and photography, being that it is a shoe, but necessarily your everyday normal clean shoe, its a little off but In a good way. As I walk by, put my feet up, take my shoes off people may get a whiff of my shoe, but not just any kind of whiff a whiff of the weird. Maybe I am going completely over the cliff, but I really feel that this photograph and quote interact well with each other and my personality, life, creative mind. Which is one of the reasons why I decided to choose this photograph for my first project on Illustrator.

Week 2

Craft: This photograph was fairly simple to take. I simply kicked my legs out and took a picture of just my boots making sure I got half of the train going by.

Composition: I chose the fill the frame in this particular fashion in order to throw dimensions off a bit. The photograph looks very flat, 1 dimensional. I had not planned on getting the CTA logo in the shot, but I am happy it worked out that way because it adds more of a balance. The logo also gives the photography more of a feel of the actual location.

Concept: With this photograph I wanted to visually express the way I was feeling at that particular moment, which was cold and fed up with how long I had to wait for the train. I thought tilting my feet the way I did was a good representation of how long waits can lead to becoming antsy. The flatness of the photograph was a desired effect to illustrate how narrow some train platforms are. Even though the train is one track over from the platform it is hard to tell. This worked out perfectly because I feel that it will ignite a familiar emotion in anyone who has been on a Chicago train platform.

Craft: I created this photograph by placing my shoes strategically on the floor with a tube of oil paint, a paint brush, and with two small canvases my best friend made for me. Once the objects where in their desired positions, I put my digital camera on the floor, turned the flash off and took the picture.

Composition: I chose to fill the frame this way because I wanted to make sure I got a good clear shot of how worn-in my shoes are. I also made sure that the door and part of the chair were faintly in the frame to give the illusion that this room is not very big. I framed it this way because I personally enjoy up close shots… I feel that they are very personal because you can't hide any type of flaw- it is somewhat unforgiving.

Concept: The concept I am trying to convey in this photograph is one of an art student. The paint, paint brush, and canvases gives that way almost instantly. However the “beat-up-ness”/ “worn-ness” of the shoes represent the drive, passion, hardship, and willingness to go without an art student/artist may experience in order to take part in something that they love.

Week 1

Name: Chanice Lohman

Hometown: Evanston, Illinois

Future Occupation(s): School Guidance Counselor, Gallery Owner, Photographer

Last song that played on my iPod: "Suspicion" - Terry Stafford

Favorite Lyric/Quote : "Live with us in forests of azure. Out here on the perimeter there are no stars Out here we is stoned - immaculate." - Jim Morrison (The Wasp Texas Radio And The Big Beat)