What's Your Stance? Reflection

                                               

1. I do think my stance was clear in my final poster because I was able to demonstrate a contrast in perceptions of what theater as an art form means to a typical person. I used a pair of drama masks to make a clear cut distinction between the good and bad perceptions. The drama masks originally demonstrates comedy or tragedy in theater. On the corresponding side of the positive mask, I used light colors as well as the positive ideas that one should come away with thinking about after watching a live theatrical performance. On the negative side, I used darker colors to convey the negative perceptions that people often associate with theater as an art form and industry. Then, I used a silhouette of a single audience member to make clear that a person must decide for themselves to either be critical or willing to learn.
2. The poster on the left closely resembles my original ideas found in my thumbnail sketches. While I was able to recreate my original draft successfully, my stance was not conveyed in the manner that I wanted to originally. I do, however, like the new visual outcome because the message that I wanted to get across is much more clear.
3. I decided to keep the "Playbill" Template, but I got rid of the stage setting, globe and Shakespeare quote. While it was clearly representative of drama or theater, there was no sense of urgency in the poster. I had to remove those things and make the text and images meaningful in context of my stance. So by creating a more direct focal point, using contrasting colors, and direct text, my stance made more sense in the long run.
4. I think my project is strongest in the design portion, because I made sure that everything I had on the poster was specific to my stance. This includes the images of the silhouette audience member, the white drama mask, the colors in the background, etc. I think my project is weakest in the concept section because I found it difficult to incorporate all of my ideas in the way that I originally wanted. My concept made sense to me, but it may not have to to others. There could have been various ways to bring my concept to life.
5. The most challenging part was making my concept make sense through art. I think it's easier to do so in speech or writing, but artistically it is much more difficult. Thinking about detail conceptually was therefore a challenge because I had to really think about why I was putting images and colors onto the poster and how they would convey the message I needed to get across.
6. Technically speaking, assorting images and colors in a meaningful way was hard. I needed to be precise in image and color placement in order for my message to be clear. I had to think about technicalities a lot more in this project than in any other.

Current Events HW

Topics that currently interest me are...


1. Education

Everything from college admissions, affirmative action, and education reform interests me. Education is such an integral part of our society, yet there are disparities within the system that raise questions as well as socio-economic issues.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/27/us/as-graduation-rates-rise-experts-fear-standards-have-fallen.html?ref=education

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/15/opinion/sunday/frank-bruni-how-to-survive-the-college-admissions-madness.html

2. Race in America

Because of recent events, I think race in America has become such a prominent controversial issue. Many people don't want to talk about it, and because of that, it definitely should be talked about.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/your-stories/conversations-on-race?ref=opinion

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/06/business/economy/racial-identity-and-its-hostilities-return-to-american-politics.html?ref=topics

3. Media Influence on Youth Culture and Body Image

I believe the media has way too much influence on body image expectations for our youth. People want to alter their image and even harm themselves in the process.

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-29569473

https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/media-body-image-and-eating-disorders

Self Symbol GIF Project Reflection

My self symbol concept is daydreaming about my future or the goals I would like to achieve in life. I arrived to this idea after brainstorming the many different aspects of my personality that I would like to portray. I wanted to make it really personal and true to myself. I decided to go with the theme of my aspirations of being on Broadway someday, since it was recurring in my thumbnails. Since I think of this aspiration of mine all the time, I decided to animate myself daydreaming about being on a Broadway stage. I thought that it would best represent that part of myself and what I think about often.

My animated GIF pretty much remained the same in relation to my thumbnail and post-it notes. I had the image clear in my head and I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. The Photoshop process was challenging, however, because it was hard to draw and animate precisely in the way that I had originally envisioned. Also, very minuscule details were drawn over several different layers, which allowed me to really think about flow and movement. I had to think about what was going to be seen at any given second, so a lot more time and patience went into creating the GIF then I had originally thought. On the other hand, I think this process really enhanced my original idea because it allowed me to add little things that would make the image really come to life, essentially. That was my main goal, and I think I was successful in doing that.

GIF HW

The Best of SoCal :)

Portrait Transformation Project

Project Title: Old-Hollywood in Modern-Day NYC

1. My concept for this project was to take an "Old-Hollywood" scene and/or moment, and place it in a modern New York City setting. I specifically transformed my sister into an Old Hollywood actress by using different Photoshop techniques. Overall, I wanted to created a sharp contrast between the glamour of the past and the modernity of the present.

2. I am very happy with the results. This wasn't really representative of my original concept. In fact, I was pretty indecisive when it came to coming up with a concept. At first, I wanted to do a genre of fantasy, and do a kind of parallel universe. Then, I changed my ideas a few more times. I didn't come up with this final concept until I really understood the pictures that I took of my sister, as well as how she could blend with my background photo. My "Old-Hollywood" dress, which was already in black and white gave me the idea to just keep the image type and color consistent. I then decided to add an old-fashioned camera crew to sort of make it like a movie set or something. I liked how my concept came together, and I think the results look good!

3.

Final Project 

My Original Background Photograph

Original Photograph of My Sister

4. First, I needed to find a dress to put my sister's head on top of. Once I found the black dress, I saved it in Photoshop, and began to remove the model's head. I used the quick selection tool, and outlined the body. Then, I copied and pasted the body onto my original background photo.

Next, I put my sister's picture into Photoshop, and with the quick selection tool, cut out her head and pasted it on my project document. Next, I selected the layer of her head, and used the black and white filter to match the body with the dress. Then, I used brightness and contrast to make my sister's black and white skin tone match the arms that came from dress. Then, I attached the two layers to make one full body.

My next step was to add my next piece to the project. I searched Google Images for a camera crew from an Old-Hollywood set. I copy and pasted the photo into Photoshop, and used a layer mask to erase the extra parts of the background that I didn't need. Then, I cropped the layer to adjust the size so it would be proportional to my sister's body.

My last step was changing the ground of the background. My original image was taken from a rooftop, and there was a table and chairs on the ground. These objects crowded my image a little too much, so I decided to find a clean floor for my figures to stand on top of. I found an image, and with the quick selection tool, I cut out the floor and pasted it under the layers of my figures. This created a cleaner and more focused background layer.

Photoshop

Photoshop Mini Lesson

Letter Project Reflection

Reflection

1. Describe your process. How was the process helpful or not so helpful to you? Show us your brainstorming ideas and thumbnail sketches. How did you arrive with your concept/idea for your letter? Did the peer feedback help? Show us your brainstorming ideas, thumbnail sketches, and two drafts. 

First, I considered images and thoughts that came to mind when I thought of the letter "F". I have to admit, very few ideas came to mind, and I suddenly felt limited. I did try my best, however, and came up with 20 thumbnail sketches of different ideas that could have possibly worked. After looking over my 20 sketches, I considered the ones that would look the best or convey my theme in the best way. My final choice came down to a France-inspired F. I figured, France starts with F, and I could easily incorporate the flag, the Eiffel Tower and other things. Before peer feedback, I was pretty sure that was the one I was going to use. My peer reviewer commented on a completely different thumbnail than the one that I was considering, but it gave me insight as to what works with my given letter.

2. What did you do to represent your concept visually in your design? (Give 2 examples and post close up and full design images) 

In order to represent my concept visually, I had to think of images that people could easily recognize. So the Eiffel Tower, French flag, a croissant, wine, and a fancy street lamp. I think those images really stand out and should easily help people recognize my concept visually. I also wanted to really use the letter F as a molder. For example, the bottom of the letter F eventually molded into the base of the Eiffel Tower. I also put items, such as the street lamp and wine bottle and glass on the surface of one part of the letter. Another example would be the beret hat, literally hanging off the side of the letter. I wanted the design to blend in an interesting way. 

Draft

3. What was the most challenging aspect of this project for you? Why?

The most challenging aspect of this project was coming up with a good design. I thought the letter was hard to do and not many images or shapes really formed themselves easily into an F. I had a hard time with deciding what exactly to do and how I was going to do it. The color scheme was a challenge as well, because I didn't know how I wanted to color in the rest of my letter apart from the French flag. I ended up trying to create a sunset-like background and extending those colors our to the rest of the letter. Overall, it was hard to really picture what was going to look good or not.

4. Are you satisfied with your project?   Explain your answer.

I am very satisfied with my project. As I've mentioned above, it took me awhile to come up with this concept. There were times where I doubted my idea and wasn't to sure where my project was going. After looking at the final product, however, I think it turned out pretty well! I think the theme is just as recognizable as the letter itself, which was the most important thing for me. I don't think I could have done any better, and it looks better to me compared to what I had originally envisioned.

5.If you can change anything about your design, what would you change or do differently?

If anything, I would just try to add some more French elements to the letter. It would have taken more time to think about, but I think it would have added just a little more to the composition. Also, I would have wanted to maybe think of other ways to blend in some of my smaller images into the larger letter, making it more seamless.

Final Project