An Apple a Day!

I know, welcome back!  Sorry, it's been a bit since I posted last.  Life has been a bit crazy busy and the blog has fallen on the back burner once again.  When January gets here, my schedule will lighten up a bit and I'll be able to post more often.  Anyway......

This is one of the apples I had to do for my advanced design class.  Ok, I'll admit that this is not my first run at it, but I did manage to rebuild the apple and it seems a little more true to form than it's predecessor.  In fact, I'm almost embarassed to show you my first version.  Maybe I'll pull that one out one day for a comparison.

Continuing on with the theme of creating a new apple with a different spin each week proved to be tough.  Not at first, but when you get to the 3rd apple you tend to start running out of ideas and that's what made this project a little more difficult as we entered each week.  Hope you like it and feel free to comment!

Delightfully Tasteful

Yes, I'm back in class again and the work is flooding in.  Here's something that I recently put together for an assignment.   We will have this same assignment on a weekly basis.  This is only my second apple and I'll get my first version up here soon.  I'll admit the first version was very basic, but now I get to have a little fun with the design. 

This piece actually took me a bit to get laid out.  I quickly learned that the mouth is one of the most difficult features to tackle.  Getting the curves just right and the opening in the mouth to cooperate turned out to be quite a challenge.  I'll have to show you the process one of these days.  I'd like to show you a video of the process in action.  First, I have to find the software that will allow me to do it and then I do a recording.  It's a lot harder than it looks.

Tomorrow Comes Today...

While growing up, I always heard my dad say, "Tommorrow never comes".  Mostly, he was talking about how I was putting off the things I needed to do today for something a little more fun.  Pushing the work off until tomorrow always seemed to be the better choice and then I realized that he is right!  We tend to put off the things we need to do today for a quick fix of relaxation or something that is a bit more interesting than what we should be working on.

Instead of living with regret and adding to the "To Do" list, I've decided that Tomorrow is today.  I've made some serious health changes, I'm pursuing educational experiences and made family more of a priority.  I know, in the past, I put a lot off until tomorrow. 

I'm sure there will be some growing pains as I work through each of these portions of my life.  All of these are big changes and I'm sure I'll stumble along the way.  I am human and I will make mistakes, count on it.

I'll post on these various topics as I continue to grow in each of these areas.  Maybe I'll inspire someone out there to make some similar changes.  Don't put it off until tomorrow. If it isn't important to you today, tomorrow will never come.

The Passion Continues

I've managed to carve out a little more time in my schedule to get these photos posted to my blog.  I learned one very important thing during this fashion show.  Never follow the kids!  They are a hard act to beat and you'll never be as cute as they are.  This is also why I prefer being behind the camera and not in front of it.  I don't have the strut, hair or style of these people.  Hope you enjoy these and there are more on the way!

;-)

More from the runway, later this week!

 

A Passion for Fashion

These ladies and gentlemen definately have a passion for fashion.  After spending several hours a week, learning how to strut their stuff on the runway.  Going through mulitple wardrobe selections and hairstyles as well as make-up.  I have to applaud these ladies and gentlemen for taking it all in stride.  The end result was a sight to see. 

We landed in a nice spot right at the end of the runway and had all of our equipment setup, ready for the models to pose for the camera.  It was a long and stressful day.  The stress came from the crowd pressing in on top of us to see the models work it for the crowd.  It wasn't bad at first until our lighting began to sway.  Then I had to give the stern look to several of the people in the crowd and tell them to back off.  They got the idea and learned to stay out of our way.

I'm inclined to say that this is a first of two or three posts from the fashion show. I hope you enjoy!

More to come!

Final Draft

It's only fair that I show you the final draft.  Thanks for hanging with me this far and reading my ramblings about the Fundamentals of Design.  Yes, these are the basics and we have to go back to the basics on occassion to grow even further in our own lives.  I believe this is true in just about any aspect of someone's life.  It may not always be the easiest to consider, but the benefits can be worth it.  I'm not going to say that I expect this design to show up in any museum or even be used any further than this blog.  In fact, it will most like get stored away on a hard drive and may not ever see the light of day again.  We'll see, there was a lot of time invested in this design, believe it or not.  I would say I spent about 14-20 hours from the very beginning of the design to the final product. 

Each tile you see on the screen had to be created individually and attached to a perspective plane.  I know, I threw out some jargon that you may not be all that familiar with, but I wanted you to know that touched each of those tiles in the image.  I didn't copy and paste a row and then duplicate that throughout the design.  Each of those tiles were created individually because they fall into a perspective plane.  The perspective plane is what gives the image depth.  You get the sense that you are looking into a room or through a window.  Actually, it is a 2 deminsional design.  I didn't use a 3 deminsional program to create what you are seeing.  Your mind is actually interpreting the design 3 deminsionally. 

Congratulations, you have been caught up in my digital world, without even knowing it. 

;-)

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions....

Maybe you are curious to find out the design I chose to work with, maybe you're not.  Either way, you're here so you might as well stick with me and see it to the end.  Yes, I did make a decision and it was a little difficult at first, but I asked myself a few questions to make sure I was on the right path.  The most important question is; will this design deliver the message I intend it to deliver?  I did this with each design you saw in the previous posting.  I thought long and hard about them and approached it from different angles.  If it seemed like it might be "The Chosen One" then I asked myself, what else could it portray?  If I could think of something else it would portray, then it could cause confusion with the viewer.  I know, internal conflict to the utmost of degrees!  Welcome to my mind...

Also, I wasn't looking for a pass or fail grade.  I wanted to obtain the highest grade I could possibly achieve.  I always have high expectations of myself and I put a lot of effort into my work.  You'll see this as you watch the design transform into the final product.

This is the design I chose to pursue and a couple of different color schemes to view it in. 

Remember to view this as individual works, not as a whole.  The final project will only be one of these versions and not all 4 you see here.  Also, keep in mind the idea of being caught up in a digital world and think about the colors.  Does any of these stick out more than the others, when you think about it that way?  If so, which one speaks to you most?

Ok, I'll make it a little easier on you and provide indiviual versions so you can really digest the individual versions.

Hopefully, that helped you out a little and you get to see a bigger version of the design.  Wait, it gets better!  This is by no means the final product.  In fact, the design is about half way there.  I know, you thinking what else can you do to this to make it better.  Ok, I won't go that far, but there are a few more improvements that will be incorporated into the design to really round it out and hammer the concept home.

The "Final" Progression

You've seen a good majority of my work up to this point and now it's time to show the thought process for the "Final" project.  We were asked to submit 4 ideas that incorporated the Gestalt Principles (Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, Proximity, Perspective, etc.).  Additionally, we were to read a lecture on color and view a few different color studies regarding several color theories.  I hope you understand that it is not as simple as picking some colors from the palette of colors and throwing them into the design.  Their has to be some rhyme and reason to the color choices.  What do you want to portray?  Are you trying to provide a sense of temperature?  What about the emotional connection that colors can portray?  It's difficult!  Especially when you have a professor with many years of experience and expertise that will critique the project every step of the way.

This is the 4 "thumbnail" sketches that I shared with my class and instructor.  A thumbnail version is a very quick idea that shares some of the concepts in their infancy.  It is not to be used as the final product.  The point is that you want to show your thoughts and then it is much easier to make adjustments once an idea is selected.  It saves the artist some time, because what seems like a good idea in your head may not work out really well in another format. 

In its very basic form, my final project revolves around the idea of being caught up in a digital world.  Now that I have an idea of what I want to portray.  How do I represent this?  What can I create that would give the view this feeling.  Also, it needed to be somewhat simple as I had a very short deadline to accomplish this in and I needed to get feedback, plus adjust my design appropriately.  Below, you will see my the ideas I came out with.  Only one of these will make it to the final stage of being fully worked through.  Can you guess which one I chose?

I know, pretty intense huh?

The first set of thumbnails is about the idea and how you may tackle the final project, without color.  Color adds to the difficulty so it begins with the very first step of getting something started, then you can start thinking about color and how that will change the design.  Will it impact it in a possitive or negative manner?  Does the design flow well with the color and finally, does the color make sense in the design.  Knowing that I want to portray a digital environment, I needed to decide on colors that would coincide with this idea.  Below, you will see some of the color choices. 

I've included these separately so you can see a larger version with color added.

                         

My next posting will reveal the design I decided to use and a few different spins on color choices.

Enjoy!

2 Concepts in 1

Watch Out!  We're getting crazy now.....

We're taking it up a notch and bringing concepts together.  In this design, we were tasked with bringing together motion and depth.  I chose to use what I had learned in the previous week and applied it to this design.  I converted a 3D square and transformed it to a 3D triangle.  To obtain depth, I created a large square/box and passed the shapes through the design.  Remember, this is a 2D design.  The shapes resemble 3D shapes.  Mimicing 3D shapes can be fun, but it can be difficult.  Here's why, lighting.  Lighting is everything when it comes to replicating a 3 dimensional shape.  If the lighting is off, it ruins the design and the viewer feels like there is something wrong.  They may not be able to pick it out, but it won't sit right with them.  Now that you have a grasp of the potential issues, mulitply that by how many 3D shapes are in the design.  That can be hard to juggle and it was difficult in this design.  I pulled it off, but it continues to get harder as we progress through the class.

Motion or Movement?

Our next exercise involved the concept of motion/movement.  It's the same thing, but interchangeable.  I know it doesn't sound difficult to understand at first, but when we speak the terms can become confusing.  There was a lecture and plenty of notes to read on this topic and I'll spare you the deep thoughts around these terms.

The first design you see gives you the feeling of depth and volume and the professor was very respectful in telling me that wasn't the assignment.  I thought I would share it with you anyway, becasue I spent some time building it and I don't always get it right the first time.  I still like it, but it didn't meet the requirements.

My second attempt is what landed me an 'A' for this assignement.  I took the shape I used above and reused it for my second design.  Even in the design world we look for opportunities to recycle.  It cuts down on time spent on projects and keeps you moving forward.  When viewing this design, take note of how your eyes travel around the design.  You should find yourself looping through the design.