This was an interesting project, with limited time. I really wished I had more time I could have symbolized more and what not, but oh well. :) I hope you enjoy!! I'll be opening a new blog soon!

A basic logo for our principal.

Non creative.

The Sea Singer

This was a simple tutorial, an I don't believe we need to make a long fancy post explaining this... so I'll just say this. It was fun. It makes me want to sing sea chants. . .there's something about the sea...I love how it soothes people.

Stamps!!! :D

We've been making stamps and what not~ :) It's been quite a lot of fun. I think this project really taught me how there may multiple ways to answer one problem. This was an exciting way to realize all this. I know I should type more, but I'm not feeling it. Ciao. 

The Rain

Another animation, taught by Josh. I really liked this one. It was suiting, as it's raining while I type this.

I love the rain. It reminds me of grace.

...Hush

This is the first "real" blog post that I remember making in a long while. This project had a lot of uniqueness to it. It wasn't your typical get in, get done kind of thing. It was broken up with level two students teaching the class a technique in photoshop. I wasn't spending every day for 45 minutes working on the same thing...I could listen and finish the needed assignment the level two student would give me, and I could pull out this project, as well. My mind could see a lot more "little" things because of it being broken up -- and I caught a lot of different small detail things that I'd like to change or implement.

However, this project was NOT anything fun at first. We were to make a horror movie poster. I hate horror movies. I hate being in that state of mind, of that fast paced, creeper mind. It makes everything inside me jump, and get defensive, even in reality. I don't like thinking someone behind me has a knife at my neck, or that someone's been following me like the grim reaper...or in this case, there's a poor little kid cursed and here to take revenge.

So thinking like this was difficult at first. But I got over it. I had to. I had a lot of encouragement from my teacher, and then things started flowing better. It felt great to get something done and not know where this project was going. It was ever changing, and I liked that. "Like a river," as someone would say.

Other than getting out of a rut, there were few complications, but the ones I faced were major. For example, I had to make some changes in the composition, when I already thought the poster was "completed. As well as that, there was some layering issues that needed to be fixed, and there was a scare that I lost the .PSD file and only had a .PNG file of the zombie. I believe I could have made this more "poster" like, but this is one of my weak spots. I expect the next project I will integrate and use more different, original styled fonts. 

This project really helped me answer a lot of "big picture" questions. Not exactly having to do with 'art' specifically, but creativity. You can start something, but you can't have a solid concrete answer or end. You have to be open to change. But most importantly, you have to ENJOY the change -- if it's not enjoyable, then it's not worth it. It's the change that excites, thrills, and inspires the creative people, the poets, musicians, etc. I never thought that a horror-movie poster would reveal all this. But I'm grateful. 

Oh, Dreams.

I've got this one friend in Italy. She's an amazing person, and we constantly talk about things, from culture differences, to our views on the world.  There's agreements and disagreements, but mostly we come to see each others perspectives and form a new way of thinking. I've chatted with her about many things, and she has given me great advice, as she'd older than me with how she would handle a situation. She's a great friend, or as I call her, la mia amica cara. (My dear friend). :) We've all gone through some icky times in life, and most recently, we've both gone through some rough situations...tough things. And one thing I noticed was this -- she would always say "Someday our dreams will be realized," or "We'll realize our dreams eventually if we never lose hope" which I always thought was funny how she would say realize, but I like it. It kinda adds more weight. I believe what is the equivalent translation would be dreams will come true. After that, we give glory to God and know that God has HIS best plan for us...and what we're given is what we get to work with and a blessing.
So I've been messing around with some things, and decided to share this, and I'm not sure if I'm done with it. A part of me still wants to play with this...some of me is ready for this to be done. Anyways, I hope you like what's here...it's just something basic.

Don't Mess with him.

HOLA~! :)

Hola a todos, como estan? Espero que ustedes les gusten este blog, porque estoy practicando el espanol! :)

Hey everyone! We're doing more animation today! I think the second-year students are animation crazy, hahaha. 

Wooded Texture Design

Another tutorial by an advanced student. Quite simple. :>

WARNING - May Produce Seizures

A fun little project we did today, written by Brian. This project used photoshop, as well as Adobe Image Ready. This was simple, and helped learn basic animation. 

La Vita è un viaggio

The Phrase has been stuck in my head all spring break. "La vita è un viaggio," It's a beautiful saying, and it's better hearing it. Italian for "Life's a Journey," I didn't take this photo, props to whoever did, I just edited it and what not and inserted text. :>

'Ode to Daniel

Bahahahaha! Having fun! :) We had a lot of fun this week. A lot of people were doing invites and announcements, but I just wasn't feeling that, so I decided to have fun with the politicians. I have a new seat in the lab where we're working, and my parter LOVES to read up on politics, so he amply informed me on each and everyone of the candidates. On this poster, I'm featuring using the inverse technique in photoshop -- a neat effect, I think. As well as that, I used different text tools. 

Ah, Mittromney. I feel like his name is spelled so silly. But he doesn't have a sense of humor, he's a candidate! Bahaha, just kidding. For this one, I used a black and white gradient map, and drew on a path. I cannot say much about this one...

Oh, Obamalamama. This features a fabric background, as well as the threshold image. Obama. Change. That may be his belief...let's see how things happen?!?

Oh, Ronald Paul!!! Bahahahha. This one is very basic, but I still like it. This features the posterize tool.


Well, I will see you all soon. Enjoy spring break, classmates!!!

Class of 2013 Logo Design Contest

Wow! Blogging excites me! Maybe it's because it's a more casual affair of writing as compared to what we do in an english, writing formally and inside a box of requirements, but I really enjoy blogging. This week has been rather crazy, but I've loved it. This week has entailed quite a bit. I'm exhausted, and I cannot wait until my spring break is here.

The project was, again, a logo contest. This time, it was for  Open Shutter Senior Photography. The requirements were the usual kinds, this one, though, has a twist. It had to be all in black and white. This stumped me, quite a bit. I didn't know how to respond at first. But after awhile, I think I got the hang of it. My idea was to be more creative with only having black and white, but it wasn't the case. All in all I don't think I was satisfied with this project -- not doing the project, but I feel like it took me quite to long to come up with a simple logo such as this one -- it took me a WEEK! I feel as if every effort I did before this logo didn't turn out so I compromised what I could have made for simply meeting a deadline, and I don't like that. :/

Who knows though...maybe the next project will get better. I'm hoping. :) So, hopefully you'll see another blog from me before spring break...but if not, see 'ya in april!!!! :)

First Blog of the Month

Wow! March is here! I haven't blogged here since February! I can't believe it. Recently in the Art and Technology Class, we have been doing lots of things -- designing banners and invitations, passing really cheesy jokes (well maybe not so much,) and other things like that. It's been great, but we've haven't the time to complete the assignment/project we were working on, because we got held up by a logo contest!!

So yeah! We opened a new program called Adobe Illustrator, which is amazing, but new. It's almost like a new, separate language compared to photoshop. It's amazing, and I really wish I had more time to work with Illustrator, however, time wasn't on my side this week. Although I found this program frustrating, because I was still learning how to use this program. But I can see why the industry uses illustrator -- how it isn't pixel based. You can plaster it on any surface without losing quality. That is so cool. I wish I understood the science/math behind this, but my brain doesn't function that well! Hahaha.

This is it. It was made with illustrator. I feel that I could have been more original, and use different effects/try to think more creatively...but I was getting really frustrated towards the end of this project. 

This is what I created in photoshop. It's easier to use photoshop, as I've been using it for almost five years. I like how I created an interesting balance with this picture -- you have the lighthouse, shining as a beacon as hope, along with the book -- and books are equal to power. The more you read, the more you know. believe this to be true -- reading isn't being as respected as it is in our society anymore. We're living in a world where short is good -- look at twitter. Each post can only be 140 characters long. Or look at my generation -- no one ever reads books anymore. We need quick, snippets and summaries -- not whole books of literature. Our lives are so fast paced, so, as I know I'm rambling, I was glad I had gotten to incorporate the book. 

The sun shines it showing that through this organization (the Huron Education Foundation) that there is hope -- everyday the sun will shine and light the way.

The lettering that I did was under the inspiration of my art teacher/general awesome lady. The concept was that Foundation would be generally bolder and underlined, giving the image an illusion of strength, confidence. 

There's a lot of things that I may have over-thought/analyzed with this logo, but I think it was just. I think that putting all the right-brained thinking was good. An average joe may not see it, but it comes together and merges. Overall, the composition turned out nice.

Good luck to anyone else in my class who's entering the competition!!! :) 

Aang

More word art!!! But I couldn't meet the deadline to complete this assignment, so I didn't write in the english language. I think I wrote some posh italian on the black contours. This was a fun assignment, and I enjoyed playing with different sizes and shapes with the pen tool. I think I could have made this assignment better by having more time to write in a language some other humans can understand. But otherwise, I liked this assignment.

La Musica

So this was made for Art and Tech...over the weekend. I woke up in the middle of the night freaking out that I might not finish my project on time...and the file was on the schools computer, so, I randomly went down stairs and started doing this...it took a lot of time but I felt better because I didn't want to fall behind in the class...so now I have a project to fall back on incase I don't finish the one I was working on...

...all in all, I worry way too much. I mean honestly, thinking back, it's a wee bit ridiculous I woke myself up to finish this....

Two Roads Diverging...

These posts tonight are not because of homework, but mere boredom and my attempt at using Photoshop at home. I didn't do much to these photos -- they're some of my photography from a walk in the woods a few weeks ago, but I added some filters and text.

I cannot say much about this one, other than I increased the contrast so that the white really stands out, which in the end, highlights the withering plant. It is really beautiful back here though, in the winter. In the woods, while it's covered in snow...you feel the life, the heartbeat of nature...but you can tell it's sleeping. It's waiting to wake up from it's great slumber and bring us spring. Especially in Ohio.

I didn't realize the type of theme I was setting up while making this photo, but I indeed get two roads set up. Although this isn't the "best" photograph, I think it captured what I wanted. Two roads dividing. There's a lot of things I could fix in this -- like that purple ray of light of the rainbow in the top right to center. But I think this really strikes me personally. I have NO clue what I want to do yet with my life...I do, feel like Frost in his famous poem, caught between so many roads of life. But it's more than two roads -- I feel as if I have many roads and I have to pick one before I graduate high school. I guess that's what stinks being a jack of all trade, master of none. I guess I'd really like to be "great" at something..not just "good" But I'll figure that one thing out later in life. Now I can only keep on loving life and trying to make the world a better place each day at a time...living out the the way I talk and say I believe, loving people and God...he has a plan for me...I'll have to trust in that. I also fear I'll walk down one road...and come against a dead end...

Text Shapes! :)

Today/Yesterday we were using the paths tool and typing on the path. It was quite some fun, and there was lots of room for creativity using words AND art. A great combination. I think some of the greatest poetry is word art.

This one is pretty self-explanatory. Using the pen tool.

A simple circle. I wanted to show how love and whut whut is a circle. 8D; 

This speaks about the moon. The moon, the mystical lantern that's in the sky...it's very enticing to some, and guides one through the night. 

Layer Styles

This project we did in Art Tech. was using Layer Styles. Lots of different effects, and different things like that. I added an optional background idea. I cannot really remember what I was doing when I made this project, as we made it before a long weekend, but I can only think I was sad about something? Who knows. It's kinda a cheesy poem, and the layer styles didn't help, but this is the project. I think I need to put more effort towards these projects...I haven't been satisfied with a single one yet.

Andy Warhol Style, Day Two.

Alright...this is day two. However, this is a photo of, yours truly. We could only use the filters, so there wasn't much color change, but different things filtered through on top/manipulated into the image. I hope you enjoy this! :)

DANIEL!!!!!!

WHOOOOH!! We were doing my utmost favorite, favorite, favorite thing to do with pictures!!! I LOVE to mess with the colors and make them all cool and colorful and swirly!! 8D;; This is my one of my goodest great friend, Daniel! And I've dedicated this blog to the one and only, Dlamp. :) BTW, (By the way) I've included lots of grammatical incorrectness.

Fixing/Restoring An Old Photo

Alright, to the left is a before picture, and to the right an after shot. Today we were restoring an old photo that had holes, scan repairs, etc. To the left is the original, to the right is the edited one. Lots of fun. :) As well as that, I will put this photo of a young man               up. I can't access the original photo anymore. :(

New photo, different old lady.

Wah-zah. We had to do a similar project, but we had a choice of what we edited...and this was the old lady. :) I thought the ear was the most difficult, then the eye color. I've been having LOTs of fun messing with photoshop. Favorite class of the day. Enjoy. :)

Old Lady

Howdy ya'll, I hope your all good. :) This old lady is looking for a smooch! ;) We had to do a lot of things for this project...a lot of band-aid tool, LOTS, and plus the gaussian blur tool. As well as this, I would variously use the brush tool, the auto contrast, and the clone stamp too. I really liked this project, and it was a fun one. This picture made me laugh. A lot. I hope you enjoy and find the comedy in this as much as I do. As well as this, we created a watermark. Art tech class is funn! :)

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

For the last few days in Art and Technology we were working on advertisement posters. The theme? Going green. This is such a great and wonderful idea -- we heard various stories as to how you can go green -- such as using rainwater to water your garden, or you can unplug unused cell phone chargers. A lot of ways to go green involved saving money, too.

For some reason whatsoever, I had a terrible difficulty with these projects. I'm not sure why. Most of my ideas were either way too over done or plain weird. There really wasn't much of a middle ground. The first idea I had would feature http://www.blackle.com which is a search engine that helps save watts of electricity by having the searches done on a black screen. It's small things like that that's gonna save the earth, however my art teacher said that it didn't explain really what blackle was and how it saved the earth, and I agreed with her. But I still liked how it turned out, the flow and all.

I definitely cheated on the globe -- I didn't make the globe myself. I wouldn't have the patience like I did when I used to computer generate EVERYTHING, and nor did I have my bamboo tablet. But this is just your everyday, simple project...I suppose. Nothing too fancy at all, really. My next one is a little out of there, but I like it...

OK, so I tried to use humor with this one. Also, it involved a more abstract thinking. And weirdness. I'm guilty of wasting a lot of water. I take showers for about two hours and soak up all the hot water in the tank just so I can have the comfort of warmth that I could have the same effect doing other things. My hands and toes are always wrinkly at the end result, which I can't stand. The concept and humor behind it is this -- take shorter showers, you won't have the pruny skin. You also will save a lot of water. A LOT. So the goal is go get people to take ten minute showers -- not because of the pruny hands, but because it saves 5-10 gallons of water each day...each DAY. Think about how much could be saved in a year!!!

Chilly Willy

Chilly Willies. Originally a local ice cream place, now a closed down building. There's much story to Chilly Willies and I believe it was a favorite of my art teachers, as I quickly learned what Chilly Willies is an the legacy it had to many people. I've never gone there. Anyways, we were, in all, taking a lot of things out and the main focus on the lesson was the healing/pattern tool. We did use other tools however, such as the dodge and burn tool. I know I could have probably been capable of doing better, but I think I rushed through this project.


EDIT -- Apparently I've been lied to! This building is NOT closed down and it's a seasonal shop that sells the BEST banana splits and chili dogs.

Desaturation

Today in art and technology we were desaturating. It's pretty simple to do; and you can get some really cool effects from this. It reminds me of something that my Canon camera would do, it would select certain colors to be in black and white and certain colors to show up. But here we had the power. We had photoshop.

I didn't have a lot of stock images; I forgot my flashdrive while we had done the assignment and didn't have much photography to use, so I used a photo of me from the eighth grade. I hope you enjoy these.

Day one

Wow.

I think I'm going to name this pander here something later. But I suppose he'll be my little guide right now through this process. I'm taking art and technology 1, and I haven't used photoshop in YEARS....so this Blog will be a journey for me!! hahaa.