Week 16

Assignment: This week, our assignment was to finish our websites. We needed to add photos of all of our projects and work out any kinks we still have left. We had to make our slideshows full screen if they were not already, incorporate of three of our projects into our webpage, put our pages in the correct order, and add a picture link. 

Craft: We used iweb to finish our sites, and then created links from our blog to our websites, and from our websites to our blogs.  We had to add a picture that linked to our  websites,using the add a gadget tool from blogger.

Composition: All in all, I'm pretty happy with my website.  The colors go well together, and all of the stock pictures and text were replaced with my own creations.

Concept: My concept of having my website capture my personality as best as possible was achieved I think. Everything is a work in progress, just like myself, so even in that respect my website is like me. 

Here is a screenshot from my website... visit to see more!!

Week 14

To see my brand new website, please click here!!

Week 13

Assignment: We have just begun working on making our very own web pages with the iweb program. We must have a page that is an introduction to visual communications, a page that is about ourselves, and a page that showcases our work. On Monday we showed our first drafts and critiqued each others works. For the upcoming monday class, we must continue working on our pages. We have to post our own works on the pages. We also have to create an album for our comics to be displayed. We have to go through and make a second version of our comic to put on our page.

Craft: We are utilizing the iweb program to build our sites. We picked templates and then had to make them our own and bring in our personality. Two of my pages have different themes, and it was brought up in class that  continuity was needed. I have to choose which theme I like better and go with that. We also discussed picture placement and text. I need to work on changing the text colors to fit in better with the site and make it not as busy.

Composition: On my welcome page, the background was very calm. On my about me page, I picked a more chaotic design.  I think I am going to stick with the second template, the more chaotic one, because I think it fits my personality better. I used red type on one part of my about me page (it was the default color) and it was  brought  to my attention that it was too much coupled with the chaotic structure of the page already. I decided to change that and plan to mold the template into my own thing. 

 

Concept: Introduce our class and visual communications to the world.

Week Twelve

Assignment: Finish our comics during class time on Monday and have them printed and ready on Wednesday.

Craft: I went back and photoshopped some of the images again before moving on to the ComicLife program. Since I redid the color on all of my images, I used the same layout as I had, but I had  to reinsert all of my pictures into their rightful boxes. After doing this, I did any last minute tweaking I thought needed to be done, and printed my comic one last time.

 Composition: My comic is composed of images I shot which have been newly photoshopped and put into ComicLife.

Concept: To tell my story clearly and interestingly.

Here is one of the images from my comic: 

Week 11...

Assignment: On Monday, we had our final critique of our comics. Our classmates provided feedback on what we did right, and where we could improve. On Wednesday, it is our job to take these comments into consideration and make adjustments to our comics which will be final on Monday.

Craft: The most common comment on mine is that my colors were too dark. I plan to play around with the colors and try to lighten them so my pictures can be seen. Professor Peck helped me a lot in class when he showed me how to rearrange the layers and make the colors pop. I feel a lot better about how the colors look now. I will post pictures on Monday because blogger has not been cooperating at school, and i dont have the programs on my laptop,so the files cant be opened.

Composition: My colors have changed, and I am now back using photoshop before I can go back to ComicLife.

Concept: My concept at this point is to make me images readable so my story can be clearly told.

Week TEN!

Assignment : Monday we displayed our images as story boards in the critique room. We did this so our classmates could help us determine what to change and what to keep. For this particular critique, we had to get our comics down to two colors, a background color and an accent color.  At first I chose blue as my background color and pink as my accent. I have since decided that the pink did not show up well enough and have decided to use orange instead. On Wednesday we began learning the ComicLife program and we are about to make our stories into actual comics. Here is a mock up that I did in class to learn the program.

Craft: We are still using photoshop to color our images. We have moved on to ComicLife to make our actual comics. We are learning to use speech and thought bubbles,different types of text, and playing with shapes and layouts.

Composition: Our digital images have been edited, and now we are changing them further with the ComicLife program.

Concept:  We are still continuing with our stories, although I've noticed almost all of them have evolved somewhat from the formative stage until now

Week 9

Assignment: Monday-We had to print out each picture of our comic, and then get in groups and have them critqued on monday. Wednesday--The class attended the taste of SXU in the Shannon Center. While at the event, we had to find at least four people to read our comics, give us feedback,and then sign the back,attesting that they had indeed read the comic.

Craft: I am using the photographic method, so I have been using my digital camera to take pictures. We are also using photoshop to edit our pictures in different ways. We are about to begin adding color.

Composition: At the moment, I have just digital pictures. Soon, they will be photoshopped accordingly.

Concept: We are still using our stories posted two weeks ago. I have made some changes due to constraints. Instead of being shot, the main character is now stabbed. Instead of being in a hotel room, he ends up by a lake after leaving the airport.

Special Edition: Lipstick and Dynamite

On March 18th at the SXU Art Gallery, there was a showing of the documentary Lipstick and Dynamite. The film by Ruth Leitman, who attended the showing and took questions after, is about women wrestlers in the 1940s and 50s.

To be honest, I was unaware this culture had existed before I learned about this film. I knew there had been women wrestlers both now and in the past, but I didn't know about the whole following that the sport had had.

I feel that I learned a lot from this film. It is incredible all the things these women had to go through. Most of them used the wrestling circuit as an escape from broken homes and broken dreams. They then usually had to wrestle on the carnival circuit to get started. Once established or 'discovered' they would be signed with a manager. A lot of these managers turned out to be scumbags. They took large percentages of the girls' pay, treated them badly, and sometimes became involved with them. Then the women were forced to look their best at all times. Hair and makeup fixed and dressed to the T. They had to be presentable women,ruthless wrestlers, then presentable women once again. Some people had much disdain for the women wrestlers, others admired them greatly. After seeing this movie, I have joined the second camp. While I am not really a fan of wrestling, I found these women and their stories absolutely incredible and fascinating. The dramas behind the scenes and the culture suck you into this documentary that focuses on 6 legendary wrestlers : The Fabulous Moolah, The Great Mae Young. Gladys Killem Gillem, Ida May Martinez, Ella Waldeck, and Penny Banner.

The filmmaking itself was well done in my opinion. Leitman did a wonderful job of finding archival photos and videos and blending them with the footage she took of her interviews. She told the story of these women, she didn't just throw a bunch of images and ideas at us. I don't think it could've been done better.

Week 8!

Assignment: Create a comic strip consisting of nine panes using either photos we have taken, or drawings we have made.

Craft: We will use photoshop to either merge pictures for a single frame or color in a drawing we have made. We will be using a different program to put the panes together to make the comic strip itself.

Composition: I personally will be taking the photo route, due to the fact that stick figures are beyond my drawing ability. It will be interesting to try to set up a lot of these shots, but I am ready for the challenge.

Concept: The concept for these comic strips are the stories that were posted last week. There may be some alteration due to photographic limitations though.

Week 7

Assignment: To generate a story that we will make into a comic, using photoshop. We must include one person traveling, one person waiting, and one of them has a package for the other.

 Concept: The concept this week will be my story:

           First we see a clock that reads 2:35 PM. We then see a shady looking man wearing a trenchcoat and a fedora. He is at a pay phone,making a call. Cut to our protagonist, Mr. Harris, answering the phone. "Hello?" 

         "Hello Mr. Harris, listen carefully. I have a package for you. It is imperative that you receive it. It could be a matter of life and death." 

          Mr. Harris replies "Who are you? What's in this package? What's going on?"

          A gruff voice says "You don't need to know that yet." and hangs up.

          We see another clock reading 2:35 PM. The mysterious stranger calls again. "You will receive an airline ticket in the mail shortly. Be sure to use it." Click.

         The ticket arrives a couple days later -- one ticket to Paris. Mr. Harris decides to make the trip. He is intrigued. He reasons that he might as well go; he has nothing to lose. Worst case scenario, he gets a free trip to Paris.

         He lands at Charles De Gaulle  International. A well dressed man walks up to him and asks "Are you Mr. Harris?" He replies affirmatively. Darkness.

         Mr. Harris wakes up in a Parisian hotel room, slightly disoriented. The trenchcoated man is standing before him.

         "What was with the choloroform?"

          "We had to keep our location a secret."

          "You said you had a package for me?"

           "I do. You can have it whenever you like."

           "Now would be good."

"As you wish."

Mr. Harris is handed the package. He opens it hurriedly. Inside is a detailed drawing of the trenchcoated man

shooting him. He looks up, puzzled. He opens his mouth " What is the mea...?" 

A shot rings out.

    Person traveling : Mr. Harris

    Person waiting: Trenchcoated villian

    Package: the box with the drawing inside.

Week 6!

Assignment: First draft of our second mash up

Craft: We are still using photoshop. We are learning new techniques however, such as the magic wand tool, which is pretty cool. We are also learning about how to use backgrounds to make it easier to cut things out. Cutting things out from a solid background is a hundred times easier than a background that has something going on.

Composition: For my first first draft, I used pictures of some homeless people I saw downtown, and a picture of the Chicago Public Library to stand in for a bank. I needed a picture of a grand bank to fulfill my concept. I could not find one however (I will learn the city, I promise. Six months of living here has helped though!), so I thought a library may work. For my first second draft, I asked some friends to dress up as homeless people for me. We used the racquetball court in the Shannon Center as a photography studio for a little bit because the white walls gave us a solid background and the photography room on the art wing was locked. I thought of using the TCF bank on 95th as my bank, but was unable to get there. I think I will find one at home (Alabama).

Concept: My original concept was to put homeless,destitute people in front of a grand looking bank to illustrate the disparity between the haves and the have-nots in our country. It is so sad to me to see how so few have so much, while the majority is living in poverty. I really wanted to bring attention to that in my piece. I couldn't find a bank, so I took a picture of the library and thought that that could signify how it is hard for a lot of people to get a good education. Even if you are lucky enough to go to college, you will most likely be in debt for many years. When I showed Professor Peck this first mash up, he said that people might think that I'm saying /assuming these people are illiterate. When he made that point, I decided to go back to my original concept.

Week 5

Assignment: Take 25 new pictures of people,places and things
(nouns,if you will) to make into a second mash-up that is not about Abraham Lincoln.

Craft: Once again we will be utilizing photoshop. We will use the techniques we've already learned,and hopefully learn some new ones!

Composition: Because I'm not sure where I want to go with my concept,I'm not 100% sure which pictures I will use. I have a feeling I may end up scrapping the ones I have now and reshoot new ones. However, here are a couple I think might have promise.

Concept: Like I said,I'm not 100% sure what my concept will be. I do know that I want to make a statement; I want my art to say something and provoke a response.

Week 4

Assignment: Finalize our mash-ups of Lincoln or Lincoln era photos with modern day photos that we took. They will be printed and are to be hung in a gallery.

Craft: We once again put our photoshop skills to work to mesh our photographs. Some people made entirely new images while others just edited their originals. I used my original image, and tried different filters and adjusted some little things. 

Composition: During critique, I put up multiple versions of my picture. The class almost unanimously decided that the image with the graphic pen filter (my first attempt) had the best contrast and blending. This helped me decide to go with that one as my final version. The main problem with the other versions was that Lincoln's head was too light and didn't fit on the drummer's body as well as the graphic pen version. [ Blogger is not letting me upload my pictures for some reason,but they will be up shortly!]

Concept: My concept is still the same. I think Abraham Lincoln would be treated as a celebrity or rock star in our society today. I was hoping for that to come through in this picture. My other thoughts were that the picture could answer my question "If Abraham Lincoln was born in our time,in another place, what would he be like?"

Week 3

Assignment: Mash up an Lincoln-era photo that we collected last week with one of our own photographs,also collected last week.




Craft: To create our mash-ups, we used photoshop. I photoshopped Abraham Lincolns face and head onto the body and face of a street musician in Paris that I photographed this past summer. We learned to use a lot of techniques and tools that go along with photoshop,the main ones being transformations, selections, and layers. We also looked at brightness/contrast and hue/saturation. My photoshop skills definitely need work.

Composition: As pointed out in Monday's critique, the thing I've been struggling with in terms of composition, is getting Lincoln's face/head to line up with the original man's head. It is hard to do that without the original guys neck being covered,which looks awkward. Other than that, I'm pretty excited about my first attempt at photoshop. My composition will hopefully improve with work.

Concept: My concept for this photo mash-up is two fold. First, what would Abe Lincoln be like if he had been born in our times,in a place such as Paris? He could very well be a street musician. Abe was a bit of a rebel and followed his own path,much like this musician did. Secondly, Abe Lincoln was one of the first celebrity presidents, if you will. I think if he were around today he would reach rock star/ celebrity status, and this image sort of conveys that.

Week 2

Assignment: We had to collect 25 pictures of Abraham Lincoln, or from the Lincoln era, and then collect 25 modern day pictures we have taken.

Craft: To gather the Abraham Lincoln pictures, I searched the internet,using mostly google to find both web sites and images. For the modern pictures, I used a mixture of pictures I have taken here at school and in Chicago and pictures I had taken back home. I put all 50 pictures on my flash drive,where they now reside,ready to use.

Composition: My best Abraham Lincoln Photo :

I chose this as my best Abraham Lincoln photo because it shows him interacting with regular citizens and gives him a more human quality. It is also uncommon, and I think there will be very few if any other people who have this image.

My best modern day picture: I think this is my best modern day picture because I love the perspective of it. The snow and the lights combine to make a beautiful picture. It also shows how even though things can get so busy (as 103rd usually is, which you know if you've ever tried to cross it), they will always find a moment of calm.

Concept:

I am thinking about mixing these two together in some way. Honestly, I'm still unsure about which modern picture to use, but I know for sure I would like to use this particular Lincoln-era photo. I like the way the soldiers are arranged. It almost looks like a modeling shot, and I think it shows them in their off time,just hanging around which is not a side usually shown. I like the idea of having them sit in front of the lake because it parallels what the students do; both the students and the soldiers live in a high stress situation(of course the two situations are also vastly different) but both groups have to let off some steam by sitting around with friends.

Week One

Assignment- set up blog

Craft- First, I went to Facebook,and chose this photo. Then I went to Blogger.com and set up this blog,using my gmail account,named it,chose a template, and then wrote this,my first entry.

Composition- Why this photo?

I chose this photo because I like how the background and myself are distorted. Everything we see is distorted in a way, because of our point of view,which is influenced by everything we experience. We see everything through this lens of experiences which works to colour our other experiences. The way others see me may be distorted,and even the way I see myself is distorted. This represents all of that in picture form.

Why this template?

I chose the dark blue and polka dot template because I think it is a pretty good representation of my style. Blue is my favorite color, and polka dots are one of my favorite patterns as well.

Concept- If you had a soapbox and you could' yell anything,what would you yell?

Something along the lines of "Love one another. Live simply and fully. Take care of the earth and those around you. Live,Laugh,Love. Be happy. Take chances."