Scholar's Tea Room

The above is a still-life drawing, composed using an animal skull and at least 3 other objects in the scene.

One of the elements of design I'm proud to have accomplished in this piece is the aspect of movement. The leaves, flowers, skull, and shadows all have a certain 'sway' in their placement and design. This gives the viewer's eye the effect of following lines throughout the composition, towards the focal point. Which is in this case, the bottle and skull at the centre of the image.

Another element I aspired to utilize well was the use of spacing. At first, both the top left and the top right of the image were empty. To remedy this, I added a few extra leaves to the top right corner of the image. Now, there is a sort of unity between the skull and the leaves. The majority of the image is present at the right half of the piece, however this ensures that no full space is too cluttered and that there is a varying visual experience for the viewers eye.

 Looking back on it now, I notice several things I would have wanted to improve upon, such as the barely visual logo on the bottle. In the darkening process, it appears that I may have forgotten to outline the print and design, therefore making the text appear faded. Another thing that bothers me is the shadow to the bottom left of the image. I'm pleased with the placing of it, however the darks still strike me as being awkward in the location. After several attempts to fix this area, I decided it was presentable... At least, enough so to get by.


In general, I am however pleased with the overall outcome of this piece. In particular, I'm quite proud of my shading in most locations. So to speak, the animal skull. I believe it to be the most realistic of the compilation I put together.

Mixer Brush, Not Only for Painting Effects

Over here is a link to a tutorial featuring the mixer brush. However, this explores more options than just
the overall painting look you can achieve with it. This video goes into the possibilities of adding movement, and blurring out your mistakes in the fewest amount of brush strokes. In the earliest parts of the video, Mr. Pete Collins even mentions how he can get his own "distracting" face out of the reflection in the car.

"Broken" Mask Tool Assignment?

The above is an assignment in which we were to use the mask tool in photoshop. The goal result of this assignment was to choose a word. You guessed it, any arbitrary word off of the top of your head, and then use the mask tool in order to get creative. The first thing that came to mind was anything cracked, or broken. So glass works too. Next, I took it upon myself to find an appropriate stock image to portray just that. I was most comfortable fitting the text in the bottom of the screen, and decided to roll with it. Slap a dar background on top, and erase the "broken" filling, and you've got yourself a simple, easy to make, logo or whatever.

Personally, I enjoyed the outcome of this logo because it's simple, but to the point. At a glance, you can easily tell what the image is implying, and how it's implying it. Not much I would change, with the choice. I'm content.

Pixel Art Self Portrait

The above is a self portrait done in the style of "pixel art" or, one could call it, an 8-bit game. My process is as follows.

First, we were to pick a photo of ourselves, and crop it down to about 100 by 100 dimensions. Next, I selected the dropper tool to select the colours from the image, and put them to the side on a separate layer. This gave me easy access to them throughout the process.

Next, I personally, I found it simpler to lower the opacity of the original photo, and then use my tablet to fill in the sections of similar colours with the pen tool. This gave the cover image the "pixel" or, "blocky" texture. And then, voila! After some time and quick editing around the edges here and there, you have a completed pixel portrait.

Culminating Project - Don't Blink or You'll miss it

Ephemeral Drops.
 

For our culminating assignment, we were told to choose a word from a list, and from there interpret its meaning, example, ‘Ephemeral.’ “Short lived, or lasting only a short while.

From here we were told to write down words and draw or research images relating to this meaning. I thought of many things, such as snow, the dragonfly, a cicada, possible emotions, yet in the end I went with an idea that had been dangling in front of me the entire time… water droplets, and ice cubes. 

A water droplet lasts only a short while, in the sense that it needs to be seen with a very sensitive camera in order to be viewed properly. An ice cube, on the other hand, lasts a fair amount longer than a single drop of water and in some instances needs to be sped up on video for an interesting experience.

For the video portion of the project, we had been restricted to a 30 second limit and a selection of a small portion of any video clip off of the internet, and our own original video and still image. I had found two clips of slow motion water drops falling, and had used an effect to blend them for the introduction to the video. Near the end, I used one clip of a single ice cube melting in a faster speed, and then many ice cubes attached to strings melting at a normal speed in a slightly heated environment. As for my own footage, I had filled up a bucket and placed it into the sink. I then turned the tap on just slightly, enough to allow some of the liquid to escape into a steady stream. From there, I filmed up close and far away, and different angles of the sink itself. I also took many shots of the water in the bucket from up close, as I liked the effect of the ripples and different colours which seemed to appear.

As for audio, I had searched on YouTube and found a very calming, slow song, by the name of “Ephemeral.” I also kept the original audio from the video clips I had, and layered them all in a way that was not too overbearing and had a purpose to the video.

Over all, I am fairly content with the outcome of this piece, and there is not much I would change.

Put a Bird on It...?

Put a Bird on It...? Put a colourful bird on it.

My Fork Animation~!