Field Trip 10-27-2014

On Monday my graphic design class went to West Bottoms in DownTown Kansas City, MO. We toured a blank exhibit called the Plug Project and the Bill Brady building with an exhibit. Even though there was no art being shown in the Plug Project I learned so much from talking to the curators. And then looking at the art in the Bill Brady building.

Above is the whole piece. Below are pieces of the piece hehe.

Plug Project-
The two curators had many jobs including the shows being put on in the Plug Project. One of the lessons the curators kept reiterating was that being a graphic designer you don't have one job. Another thing that inspired me was taking international problems an starting a small movement to solve them. In Newspapers the talk about art has diminished. The column about art and artists and reviews of shows has disappeared that means the traffic, talk, and movement of art has become very little. Artists need that talk and movement of art in order to survive and thrive. One of the solutions the Plug Project had was a newspaper called 8 1/2 X 11. A piece of paper which isn't ideal with a newspaper or magazine but the thought was "How can the plug project make this affordable and available but not make it look like a sheet of paper?". And branding the newspaper as 8 1/2 X 11 already upscales the idea of a regular sheet of paper turning into so much more.
Bill Brady-
Describe:
The name of the artist is Michael Manning
The artwork is digital media and print media
Major events going on with the exhibit is the release of the iPhone or the rise of technology. Technology then separates us into our own worlds. Presented by his friend Jeff B.
Literal Objects
-Movie Players
-Televisions
-Wires
-Fishing Wires
-Globes
-Fan
-Rocks
-Twigs
I first noticed the fan that had a wind chime in the middle of it. I noticed it because I found it interesting that with a constant stream of air the sounds the chime made were always different.
The elements of art texture and shape were used a lot in this piece. Banners and streams and televisions used different textures. There were no two colors the same except in the giant art board of print.
The visual effect or mood of the work is challenging. I think Manning is challenging the viewers of his art with an abstract and tying them together. Challenging the rules of nice and neat art with differences in his.
Analyze:
The separate elements are organized by distance or what is projected on the screen. All movie and all separate there was never another art piece touching another. He is using the illusion of texture to make the viewer think and understand that maybe the illusion of art is not the same as the actual art.
Manning used a constant stream of light to light his piece. But there is light in the screen. But they are all at a constant level of light.
Interpretation:
I believe Manning is trying to state how we all live in our own different worlds. And you don't know what someone else is going through until you gain a new perspective. Like you can't see a television screen unless you are in a prime position.
I had value to this piece because it relates to my life. In high school it is so easy to get lost in your own life and not think of others.
I have feelings of blunt truth. I wish live were different and we didn't live in other worlds.
The other symbols would be the different banners hanging down and the texture Manning is using and the different colors. There was none two the same.
I think he made these artistic decisions to make a statement and to make us think about our own life.
Judgement:
I think this work has an intrinsic value because it conveys an important social message and once you get thinking as to why he did or that you never stop thinking about what it means. And I think it challenges us to think about our own lives.

Painting On A Computer

Painting on a computer. This has been my dream since I realized I was lacking talent in the hand talent of painting. Making realistic looking painting with a click of the mouse. There are a few terms that make this dream a reality. Customizing mixer brush settings, cleaning the brush, mixing the colors, creating a custom brush preset, and using wet and dry brushes to blend color.
First this painting is going to occur in Photoshop (which I need to get more familiar with and this tutorial has succeeded in doing).
Customizing mixer brush settings-
First, within the paintbrush tool there is a mixer brush setting. Click on the mixer brush in order to use these new settings. In order to do that the artist must turn on the brushes window. In window> brush. This allows you to pick from different brushes and edit the brush's settings. Such as how to tip will wear away, thickness etc.
Cleaning the brush-
In the mixer brush there is such a choice as clean brush in the option panel above the artboard. Of course the mixing brush mixes the dry, wet, and background colors and so if the artist does not want those  colors used anymore the artist can clean the brush so that it is not tinted with any other colors. With the new Photoshop like I have on my MacBook (if using Photoshop through the Adobe Cloud) there is a symbol of a paintbrush with a line through it and if the artist holds the cursor over the symbol it says "Clean brush after each stroke" and the artist depending on the effect of the painting may not want that on.
Creating A Custom Brush Preset-
Within the brush window the artist has turned on brushes can be edit and created as a new brush. Edit the settings of a preset brush to customize and make it your own then in the corner there is a post-it note with a corner folded up-that is the create new brush button. And I would suggest giving the brush a new name.
Using Wet and Dry Brushes to Blend Color-
A dry brush would be a normal paint stroke used in real life or in illustrator. This dry brush does not mix colors but simply sits on top of a background or another color. The wet brush takes the color assigned to them through the foreground and background colors in Photoshop and blends them with the background or another color. That is how the artist would get a gradient looking color, or the blending of light and dark colors. Such as the first painting there was trees and using a light and dark green painted through the dry brush and blended them using a wet paint brush. Also I used it to blend completing different colors to create new ones such as blue and red to create purple.
Here are the paintings created in Photoshop. For my first painting I did not realize how important it was to pay attention to the strokes made by the brush. The strokes made during your painting is important for making your painting look realistic.

I then painted a landscape of my own. And I used my strokes a little better this time and wanted to create the illusion of wind blowing through the field. 

For my own art I chose flowers. With many different shades of pink it was a little difficult but I will get better at it with more practice. 

This was the first assignment in the Photoshop painting before I started on the landscape. Understanding the different brushes (examples above the paint tubes) and learning to mix the colors (the painting palette). 

q1 Final

I am interested in graphic design because I want to pursue a career in this field.

I started the Watermelon Bust t-shirt before the summer of last year. During all this time I have been tweaking it and manipulating it in order to please my client. The communication between my client (t-shirt chair at a fraternity at K-State) and I  was probably the most challenging. I wanted to stick to my original idea of the negative space for the watermelons however, the other members of the fraternity wanted the veins to be filled and it was a tradition to have blue highlighted in the design. Outcome is you need to make the client happy even if you don't agree with it. Client relations is super important for a job in the graphic design field. 

Again the client at K-State was wanting me to design 3 t-shirt designs. One about football, another based off the boulevard logo, and a free design. One of the take aways would be I need to be original in my designs. That is one of the things I continue to work on. 

My client was Senior Committee or the Senior Girls for powder puff. One of the big takeaways would be DON'T LOWER THE OPACITY FOR A T-SHIRT DESIGN. I lowered the opacity on the front pocket design and boy no one told me what that would do. It was printed with little checked spots of white. Just chose a lighter shade of the color. 

CONCLUSION:

1) Improving as a student: I sharpened my vector skills and deepened my knowledge of illustrator. And better understanding of what to do when designing t-shirts.

2) Future/ Long Term Learning: I was recently accepted into K-State so I am going to enroll in their graphic design program and start there.

3) Questions: COMMENT BELOW :)

4) Thank you for reading!

Handglovery

Type has personality too. I took a test online that said "What Type Are You?" Of course it's not your dating type but actual typography hehe. The mysterious online gentleman asked a series of questions and based on your answers you would be assigned a font. My answers were emotional, assertive, progressive, and disciplined. I was then assigned this font.

This matches my personality because I enjoy minimalistic things. And this font is very minimal and straightforward (assertive). It is very interesting and pleasing to look at (emotional). And the font has straight lines throughout (progressive). And the font does not have any unbalanced aspect to it (disciplined). I also learned the anatomy of fonts. Knowing the anatomy is important for better understanding a font. Such as my font that I was assigned. The eyes and bowls are square and there are very few ascenders and descenders. I chose to do my name in Times New Roman because I could not find my font for free online and TNR demonstrates the anatomy of type better.

Gradient Mesh

Gradient mesh creates more realistic colors and 3D. Three things I took away from this is

1) Create Outlines- Making a font an object to edit and credit new lines or letters

2) The cmd+eye dropper tool- While using the eye-dropper tool I pressed cmd button and temporarily switched to the direct select tool.

3) Custom Graphics- Using gradient mesh you can create custom graphics.
Using the Create Outlines tool you can manipulate text. Three most important things while doing that process is
1) Us the direct select tool to manipulate one point
2) Hold down the shift key to move a point but still proportional to the letter/shape.
3) Toggling from the direct select key and the black arrow tool you can select the whole letter and move it up and down.
My own gradient mesh I used a coffee cup. I personally enjoy coffee and enjoy dunlin' donuts new dark roast coffee. I also enjoy coffee mugs. I also enjoy hot coffee in the fall/winter as it will fall upon us soon.