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.