The End

It was a fun class and a fun blog. But now all is said and done, and it's time to move on.

I will no doubt use these skills for the rest of my academic (and hopefully one day professional) career.

Many thanks to all my cohorts and my teacher! I will miss seeing you all every Monday and Wednesday morning!

-Bram

Self Evaluation

1. I feel that I have had different accomplishments with each project. For the midterm, I was able to use the new photoshop techniques that I have learned, and apply them to a visual image that I wanted to portray. Before this class, I knew how to select, cut, copy, paste, etc. All the basics. But with this midterm, I was able to truly display an idea through the use of visual imagery.

The final helped me explore my curosity of animation and video. I never thought I could be so intensely focused on a project for hours at a time, and then come up with a finalized work. My other projects and images were results of hours of work split up between different periods of time. However, the video was on clear shot. I just stayed up all night working on it, and I loved being that focused and motivated on a goal.

To be more specific though, I felt the following were difficult details that I accomplished well:

Midterm:

a) The use of a clipping mask to throw a background image onto a figure (the rainbow swirls in the girl's body).

b) The proper use of transformation to align a framed photo on a wall (the photo of the nude model on the wall of the art gallery).

Final:

a) The use of a filter through multiple frames to demonstrate a lasting effect (turning Kristen into a sepia like, low layered image).

b) The use drawing tools to create an animation within a video (the heart, the text, the hand, and the face on the floor).

2. This is a bit too easy for me to answer, because it's animation of course! At first, animation was a far away concept that I hardly had a grasp on. Making an image turn colors for a few second took me at least an hour. Yet through the experience, I was able to make a 3minute long video with significantly improved effects and features. Instead of having a single face and going through filters, I took a trip to the library and had the viewer interact with the enviornment.

3. I'll compare my Movie Poster project and my midterm. With the movie poster, I simply manipulated an image to change the meaning of the poster. I turned a masculine, tough movie into a dark, mysteric romance about two men. I enjoyed this project because the author of the book Fight Club is actually gay and his book had many homosexual themes that were cut from the movie.

The midterm was much different, in that I didn't manipulate as much as I created from scraps. I took and used many different materials from different sources, and created a brand new enviornment. I took a nude model, a pedestal, a room, a picture frame, and a black and white nude photo, and turned into an art gallery that portrayed the different perspectives on beauty.

Final Project Artist Statement

Wow, it's hard to believe it's actually over. I'm a bit sad, as this will probably be the last art class I ever take. But as I continue on to my Marketing major, I know that this class will be a source of reflection and thought that I will use for years to come, in deciding what works (whether it be for consumers, colleagues, or just my own taste). It was a joy to be in this class, and I only wish we all had taken it for a longer amount of time.

But enough of the sentiments, on to my final artist statement!

In my attempt to use Photoshop's animation tools to create a final piece, I chose the word "Transformation" to define my statement. However, this project in particular turned into something I never had imagined. Each step pushed through an evolution that I had know way of knowing existed. As I have mentioned before, I actually prefer this method of taking risks in artwork in order to achieve an end goal, rather than play it safe and end up with something unimpressive to myself.

The first day that we talked about animation in the classroom, I had imagined something small in scale, only a few frames long. Something loop-able, and something neat. I took my movie poster and added a few changes, to come up with this:

The idea was that this was much like a flickering neon sign. I liked how it turned out, and so my curiosity grew, for pushing photoshop to it's limits. I wanted to see how far I could go.

And so, my next step was to take a video, and edit it. This was far more complicated than I had ever imagined. First, I had to take a video. Next, I had to convert it to .MOV format, next I had to import it into Photoshop by means of layers, and then I had to edit each individual layer.

This was by far the most repetitive, tedious work I've done for this class. A simple test run of different effects and filters took hours to make. Partly because of photoshop's stingy interface for animation, and partly due to my inexperience.

After this, I wanted to pursue something even more ambitious. Instead of a flickering image, and instead of a random 10 second clip, I wanted to do more. I wanted a video of choice, I wanted to make my own video and explore the world. I wanted it to be longer than 10 seconds. I didn't want it to be silent, I wanted music. And lastly, I wanted it to explore even more effects in photoshop than previous times.

And so, here's the process:

1. Take a long, single video of me walking around the library.

2. Convert the video into an .AVI format, and edit it to create a single, cohesive video.

3. Split this video up into smaller clips, so that Photoshop can handle it.

4. Convert these clips into .MOV so that Photoshop can import it.

5. Import into Photoshop (Video from Layers) and skip every 5th frame to reduce frame count.

I was working for hours on hundreds upon hundreds of frames and layers. It become so complicated, that I knew there was no turning back. Trying to edit this again would be virtually impossible. However, I am glad how it turned out, and I feel that the song is appropriate with the video.

Unlike other projects, this one wasn't as focused and pinpoint on a single idea (like women, or emotion). That's the only thing I didn't like, but I feel that it's still a good animation, and demonstrates a good amount of work.

I suppose the video was sort of dream like. Things that occurred were other-worldly. Such as the tower collapsing, my hands being charcoal, people looking like dark figures and growling at me, floors trying to eat me, and shoes that turn color.

It seems a bit random, I know, but I feel it sort encapsulates this idea of being inside your own head, and floating around. Even a simply trip to the library can become a crazy adventure inside your own head.

Blog 4: Final Artist Statement

My final artist statement can be summed up by the word: Transformation. I will be attempting to use the tools of animation in Photoshop to portray the visual of change over time in an individual. By using animation and having moving frames, I can order different layers in a way that will create motion, and give the image more depth. To be honest, I’m not sure in what context this can be used. I am familiar with gif images, and seeing them used mostly to put up funny, low quality video clips online as a source of entertainment. However, this will be using Photoshop, which in itself is the very opposite of low quality. It’s sole purpose is to optimize images. The real challenge here will be balancing the quality of images, the amount of frames, and the size of the final file.

In my midterm project, I was told to find an artist, and to relate it back to my work. However, this time round my influences are a lot less specific. I will still be going in the direction of visuals juxtaposed with human bodies (Justin Maller), but still have a different style than Maller or my midterm. Another influence is film and flash animation. In middle school I would visit the website Newgrounds.com often. This website is unlike any other, in that it provides a solid fan base for those looking to gain exposure for their flash animations. Many of which would be lost without that website as a home (Seriously check it out. Here is one of the all time best animations on the site: Fallen Angel Part 1 and Brackenwood ). My last influence is this particular video by Robbie Cooper. I saw this awhile ago, and it’s always stuck with me. The way our faces look when we have no social pressures, when we are immersed and have no reason to try and look a certain way: Robbie Cooper's Video .

As previously stated, I will specifically be using animation as a new, challenging tool in Photoshop. I feel that this tool can have a great impact on the work, and create great depth. I have used animation programs before (gif mostly) and while they made the process easy, it provided no tools to manipulate the images I was using.

Movie Posters - Quiz 4

My first movie poster selection is that of the movie, Fight Club. The background is dark, and the color of the text is a dark shade of orange. The only photographs on the poster have very dark colors, shades, and fade effects. The whole thing has a gritty feel, like a piece of paper found in the street.
The movie is aimed towards males around 20s, as portrayed by the main characters, and the use of the word "fight" in the title. The words used to describe the movie also project this demographic (Mischief, Mayhem).



The second movie is In Her Shoes. Much like the first poster, the two main characters shown on the cover are the same as the demographic: young women in their 20s. The background is of a bright, white quality. The setting is that of a woman's shoes closet. The colors are predominately bright and happy. White, bright, green, blue, red, etc.
The words to describe this movie are less harsh (Friends, Rivals, Sisters). The only negative word is Rivals, and that in itself is fairly light as negative words go. It gives a sense of playing rough, but still friends. Unlike the word "Enemies" which is much less playfull.



Something I noticed in both posters: Everyone is young, beautiful, the genders are the same, and they're all white.

Edited poster:

The Midterm!

Here are my images from my midterm:





Artist Statement:

My Big Idea is the voice of women. I explored this by using themes of Voice, Self Expression, Perspective, Respect, and Value. I researched this by way of the 3rd blog and the brainstorming assignment. The brainstorming project helped me narrow down my interest to that of the portrayal of women, and how this viewpoint changes over time. The 3rd blog introduced me to the illustrator Justin Maller, and gave me the idea of using a clipping mask to display emotion inside a figure. This subject is important to me because as a guy, I’ve seen the social injustice put upon women through the years, and I have a unique perspective as a male. I wanted to put this perspective into a visual image, and this is what I got. For the first time in this class, I created images by “taking a risk” as William Low puts it, instead of “playing it safe” and sticking by what I thought the image should look like from the beginning. These images are nothing like what I thought they’d look like, and I’m happy about that. It proves to me I was creative in my work.

Blog Assignment #3

1) My first artist is Alice Glass, the lead singer for the
band Crystal Castles. I've been wanting to use her for
awhile now in a project, and now seems like the right time.
My second artist is Justin M. Maller, a "freelance
illustrator and art director based in Melbourne, Australia".
I like Justin's use of digital imagery, especially with
female figures, and Alice's unique and fierce voice in her
music is well displayed in her own look. I feel that these
two artists, one an illustrator, one a figure, can work well
together.

2) Alice Glass:

Justin M. Maller:

3)
ALICE:

Why does this artist appeal to you?

I first found out about Alice Glass by listening to a song by her band. After hearing it, I was hooked. I know own both of the bands' albums and know every song by heart. The band is comprised of a musical producer Ethan Kath (aka he makes all the crazy techno sounds) and vocalist Alice Glass. The style of the sounds mixed with Alice's voice are very appealing to me, and are what I would imagine to be the background music to a photoshop project brought to life (Tron movie, anyone?).

What are the Big Ideas in their work?

A Big Idea in Alice's music is Feelings, specifically, feelings and emotions that are real or fake. In one song entitled "Xxzxcuzx Me", the last echoing lyric is "Just because we don't feel flesh, doesn't mean we don't fear death". This theme of robotic love and caring is present in many songs.

What do you find inspiring about the work?

Alice is inspiring in that her music is her life. When you listen to her screaming the lyrics, you know that she is "one with the song", and that she's not just reading from a sheet. When she screams, you feel you're screaming. When the music is turned up loud, you feel it. It's inspiring how motivational and real this music sounds and feels.

What sorts of questions, curiosities, inspirations arise from your encounter with the artist's work?

I question what methods are used to alter Alice's voice. In some songs, her voice is obviously manipulated, and I'm curious as to how. Much the same way I might look at a photoshopped image and wonder how it was done.

How will you use this artist to inspire your final project?

I will use Alice's great presence on stage to portray her voice, and to represent the powerful potential of my own Big Idea.

What stylistic components can you learn to make your work stronger?

I feel that color schemes will play a large role in my work with Alice, and that it will bring an in depth element to the image.

What approaches to making an artwork that the artist uses can help you?

There's not much that Alice does that I can personally incorporate in my work. I can't sing my project to life, but I can use the visual imagery I am given and by knowing the music she is singing, I will have a great insight as to the emotion and attitude she is trying to express.

JUSTIN:

Why does this artist appeal to you?

This artist appeals to me in two great ways. The first, is the artists use of visual imagery to express a feeling or emotion. This is most visibly shown in the image "Vegas".



The second is the artists use of women in his work. Their bodies are used as a resource to work with. Whether it be a spine to match with the dunes in a desert, or filling the body with a complex pattern, womens' bodies are used in his work in a way that I find original and unique.

What are the Big Ideas in their work?

It's hard to say what Justin's Big Idea is. In each image, it seems a different message is trying to come across to the viewer. In one image, a woman's body is filled with an image of driftwood. This has many implications, as does another image in which a woman's body is filled with a black and white pattern. All in all, complex patterns that seem to attempt to fill some kind of "void" are a reoccurring theme. And it is these patterns that add another dimension of meaning to the image.

What do you find inspiring about the work?

Since Justin manipulates photos very similarly as we learn in class, I am specifically inspired when I see his work to think differently. I see these images and wonder how he went about it, and what he's trying to say in each image. Are these merely creative ideas being thrown around? Or is there something deeper?

What sorts of questions, curiosities, inpirations arise from your encounter with the artist's work?

As stated above, I wonder how these images were created. Another aspect is time. How long did it take? Where these what was envisioned from the beginning, or did it evolve? Much like William Low said, in art there are times when you play it safe, and there are time when you risk it.

How will you use this artist to inspire your final project?

I feel that I might be able to borrow some ideas from this artists images. Not to replicate or duplicate, but perhaps to use similar ideas to get a point across. I like the use of patterns in complex shapes (bodies), and the use of color schemes that match the background.

What stylistic components can you learn to make your work stronger?

Learning to use the pattern feature will significantly help. I already know how to create a pattern of a square box with a black outline in order to create a grid that can be placed on top of other images (I learned this when trying to find out how to accurately place a virtual painting on a virtual wall using transformations).

What approaches to making an artwork that the artist uses can help you?

An approach that can help me is contrast. In many images, Justin seems to cause many visuals to collide with one another. To have the background color match the main colors in a pattern, yet to have another part of the body untouched. It is these decisions that go into creating an image and a message to go with that image.

(X) Blog Assignment #2

Step 1: Make a list of 3-5 synonyms of your big idea.

INDIVIDUAL
MEANING
MESSAGE

Step 2&3: Collect 6-8 images for each term. Put them into a photoshop document in clusters.



Step 4: Add 3-4 images to the document that you find through a second search with similar tags.

(9) Big Ideas and Artmaking

I didn't fully understand what the relationship was between "Big Ideas" and "Themes", but the example of Robert Motherwell and his 100+ paintings on the theme of death helped clear things up for me. While over 100 paintings on one theme is a lot, it doesn't necessarily mean that this is his overall encompassing big idea as an artist. Motherwell's big idea "is the exploration of human emotions", death being only one fragment of that subject.

While I find the artistic attempts to make music into visual art, that doesn't mean it's my big ideas. My big idea is simply using meda (audio, video, etc) to convey a message or image. If I like a particular band and their message, I want to attempt to replicate that same message visually.

Unfortunately, this class is focused on still images, while I'd like to explore more into motion images such as gif (like the artist we saw in class today). But that combined with music is borderline music video projects, which can't be an educational class. However, I still want to explore this idea of visual sound.

(8) Screaming Voice

REVIEWING & RESPONDING TO THE VISUAL BRAINSTORMING

My Big Idea is Voice.

At first, I was merely collecting images of people who were yelling or screaming in order to capture a specific yet powerful emotion. But then I began transforming the piece into something more meaningful. I noticed that most of my images were women, whether they were 8 years old or full grown adults. However, there weren't many male subjects, and it got me to thinking about how we as a society perceive women. How men keep their cool, and women break down.



Visually, I have multiple images of people screaming all surrounding two images that are different than the rest. The first is a small girl crying, seeming scared of something. The second is an adult woman who has a seductive look about her, as if to say "I know what I'm doing" even though what she's doing might not be what she had planned for when she was younger.

The significance to me is the misrepresentations and misunderstood nature of women who are looked down upon. As young girls, we imagine them being sweet, innocent, helpless beings. Yet as they grow older, they are seen in a different light. Whether it be jokes about how women belong in the kitchen, or mens' obsession with their roles in sex, these two views highly contrast with one another.

I chose this idea because I feel that as a man, I am victim to thinking this way without knowing it, and it scares me how easy it is to just forget about women as human beings and how easy it is to see them as objects.

(7) 3 Big Ideas

Consumption

When I think of consumption, many things come to minds. It could be something as simple as literal as eating. But then there's a less literal philosophy, of one person overtaking another. This can be a good or bad thing, but the word has a negative connotation. It sounds funny to say someone consumed someone else, and they liked it. It's more so associated with someone being consumed, and therefore destroyed by someone else. Like someone has taken something from them. Playing on the different shades of gray of this word will be a challenge, and an interesting artistic exploration.

Voice

As Dale Carnegie once said, the thing people love to hear the most, is their own name. Voice is extremely important to people's lives, whether it be communicating or self expression. Without voice, one is defenseless, without a way to say what they think. They have been robbed of their own thoughts.

Sex

Ahh, the ever so difficult topic, yet all encompassing topic of sex. Such a broad topic, with so many directions to fall into. Where to start? In visual imagery, sex is everywhere, because sex sells. But not only does sex sell, but the appeal of sex. The notion that "You must look like this if you want to have sex with someone who looks like this!" is constantly bombarding our minds with every commercial, ad, and billboard we see.

However, my focus will not be on exploiting these subliminal messages (I feel that's overdone, and not particularly interesting to me). For me, I will use sex in the sense of one person VERSUS another. The control aspect, the respect aspect, the love aspect, and the hate aspect.

(6) My Latest Project

I've recently discovered the band Crystal Castles.

It's more or less a guy who programs crazy techno/electronica music while an awesome chick sings with it.

That "chick" is Alice Glass.

With most of my favorite artist, they look nothing like how I'd imagine them. Yet Alice looks just as crazy as she sounds. So I've decided to do a little creative photoshop with her images.

Original Image

Filtered Image

Final Image

I really like it, and it didn't take me 4 hours like most of my projects ha.

(5) Blog Assignment #1

1) My artist of choice is James White. I actually just found out about him when I recently reinstalled Google Chrome, a web browser. There is a feature on the browser that allows you to select different types of "themes" which more or less just adds a little style to the browser by adding a background image on the borders of the browser.

Examples of Google Chrome Themes:

Just google it.

Here's the gallery.

Here's a cloud example.

And here's a Mariah Carey example.

And here's the one I'm currently using (James White).

And here's even an advertisement about their themes:

Pretty nifty.

Anyway, that's where I found him.

In the bottom right corner of themes are the artist's name, so I looked him up.

Here's his website, Signalnoise.

And his online gallery.




To say that James White is incredibly talented at photoshop, is an understatement.

2) But now to actually select a few images of his and to analyze them:

Image 1: Network

Analysis:

This piece was designed as a poster for the 1976 film, Network (you can even buy it as such on his website).

Overview:

The movie is most simply about an anchorman who loses his job because his network blames him for their poor ratings. The most famous line of the movie is when the protaginist, Howard Beale, yells, "I'm mad as hell, and I can't take it anymore!". This sort of expression of anger and built-up emotion is notably seen on White's image, with a colorful explosion of the rainbow.

Denotations:

The title of the movie, and a slogan underneath.

Connotations:

The old age of the television seems to indicate that the movie was from the 70s, the choice of having a single, bland color as the background, and using a contrasting rainbow in the foreground emphasises a bland, cruel world outside of the tv world, and that the only joy and color is inside the tv(i.e. watch tv to be happy). The gold plate of the movie title and font further indicates the time period. The choice of the title being under the tv, rather than across the top of the poster, seems to indicate nothing is above the power of television. And lastly, the rainbow leaving the black and white television creates the impression that the color is leaving the tv, being sucked out of it, further proving Howard's point that:

"Everything is going crazy, so we don’t go out any more. We sit in the house, and the worid we live in gets smaller. All we say is "Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and I won’t say anything. Just leave us alone." Well, I’m not going to leave you alone. I want you to get mad! I don’t want you to protest or riot. I don't want you to write to your congressman because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write. I don’t know what to do about the depressión, the inflation and the crime. All I know is that first you’ve got to get mad! You’ve gotta say "I’m a human being, goddammit! My life has value!" So... I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window, open it and stick your head out and yell "I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this any more!"

Image 2: Reckless Love

This is a CD cover for the Finnish "glam metal" band, Reckless Love. The band named themselves as such as a tribute to the band Guns and Roses. The image definitely shows the theme of a hardcore Rock n Roll type of genre.

Denotation:

The only words on the image is the name of the band, which is also the name of their third album (their most recent and most successful).

Connotation:

The font of the band's name reminds me of the band Kiss.


The end of the word "Reckless" is in the similar style of Kiss.

Also, the chrome effect of the font makes the band seem new age, ahead of it's time, brand new. Yet the use of lightning in the background is a long used symbol of rock. This combination of old and new, gives the consumer a sense of "It sounds as good as the classics, yet it's new and worth buying". The title of the band is square in the middle of the image, right in your face.

The faces of the members of the band are all looking at the viewer, with different tones and moods.

The upper left seems to be more serious, with the sides of his head hidden with his hair, as if he has something to hide.

Upper Left

The upper right has his head tilted back a bit, in a more relaxed tone and more accepting gesture. Less serious, more openness. With his tattoo showing, as if to reveal a part of who he is, unashamed.

Upper Right

The lower left is more dead on. Almost like a deer caught in headlights. He's looking right at you, eyes wide open, hair cut short. His necklace is easily seen (unlike upper right) and is another sign of "Here's a part of who I am".

Lower Left

The lower right member also has his head tilted back, in a more relaxed pose. The tone though, is different. It's more of a careless, "take me for what I am, I could care less" look.

Lower Right

All these faces and implied attitudes suggest that this band is good as the old stuff, but still brand new and fresh, while at the same time hardcore and relaxed, yet intense. These are all very conflicting implications, and add to the intensity of the image. It's safe to say, there's a lot going on here.

Links & Websites Used:

James White

Website

Gallery

Network:

Wikipedia

IMBD

Movie Clip

Reckless Love

Wikipedia

Live Concert

(4) Egg News!

I made this news image during class as an example of layering. Click it!

(3) My New Gif

*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*


My previous gif was basically taking a large picture of an Asian-esque sunset, and eliminating the erosion in two steps (making three pictures in all).

I used these same images in my latest creation, called Hearts.

It's four slides with different colors and text. The text is a lyric in a Modest Mouse song that I really admire. And I thought that this was an interesting way to portray the text, visually and artistically.

Originally the images I used were 1920 by 1080, and so I reduced them to 800 by 500 to reduce the size for this size. Even after a 40% reduction in size, it's still pretty huge!

The original (larger) gif was only 890kb! That's less than 1mb (a third less the size of my first gif from my earlier post!). And when I reduce the size, it's only 202kb! That's 1/5th of 1mb, meaning it's 1/15th the size of the first gif.

Why such a dramatic change in size? Even though my newer gif is huge with bright colors and text, those factors don't dramatically change the size. The slides do.

Think of it this way. Imagine you have 10 images, all of them are simply numbers 1-10.
Now, to set it up as a gif, imagine you're in Powerpoint, and you're creating slides for a slide show.

How many slides do you need to display the numbers 1 through 10 in a slideshow? Just 10.

But what if you wanted something more? Like say, counting up to 10, then back down to 1. That would require 20 slides.

What about counting up to 10, down to 1, up to 5, down to 1, up to 10, then back to 3? 43 slides.

See how we went from 10 slides, to 43? We just quadrupled our size! That's 400%!

***

Now, my first gif used 3 different images, but the slide show was quite long. I repeated images to create a "flash" effect. I ended up with 31 slides.

This new gif with more color? 4.

And so it's appropriately TINY compared to my first one. 31 vs 4. That's quite a difference.

This is why Bluray movies can EASILY be over 10GB in size (that's 10,000mb!). And that's why Bluray costs more. The disc has to be specially formulated to hold that much information. Otherwise High Definition movies would come in pack of 10 DVDs!

(2) Introduction to Gif

A "gif" image is an image that is comprised of multiple images. A sort of image slideshow, if you will. Often used to portray a moving object, a scene, etc.

One common use of gif images is to display a scene from a movie, by using screenshots. Often, text or altered images will be used to make this satirical.

Example 1:



Example 2:



I often attempt to create my own gif images, and photoshop has been a big help in doing so.

Let's see if I am able to successfully upload and post a working gif image onto my blog!

Test 1: Uploading as an image from my desktop...

Fail. It seems that blogger interprets the gif image as a single image, instead of a sequence of different images. Therefore, only the first image is shown.

Test 2: Upload as a video from my desktop...

...Fail?

Just like with youtube, in order to upload a video directly from your desktop, you must select the file and wait for it to fully process. I waited 5 minutes for my 3mb gif file to process (a relatively small size) and it went nowhere.

If I had uploaded a "real" movie clip that was the same size, it would have probably uploaded by then, so I'm going to assume that Blogger doesn't accept gifs as videos.

Test 3: Upload gif to internet, link gif to Blogger...



Success! This seems to be the only way to make a gif work on here. Just upload gif to Tinypic.com as an image, and link it.