paper lanterns...

Well, it seems that my creativity juices are running low...I'm not coming up with any very creative ideas for our lantern skins!  It's coming along though.  It is a very interesting project, and one that you could go many ways on.  It's really interesting to be using light as a design element...I don't think I've really done that before.
I'll try and put some pictures up tomorrow!
:)

project 5 on it's way already!

We turned in project four today!! PHEW! Such a relief to get that done with.  It was a really fun project but a lot of work.

I hope this final project for the semester will be fun too! I'm a little confused with our first assignment so far (folding and cutting paper) but we will see what I can come up with.  It'll be a nice easy assignment and a break from all that book-making stuff! 

I can't believe the semester is already coming to an end! It's gone by soooo fast. 

':)

reflection on the readings

Photo-ops reading

I enjoyed this reading.  I've never been a big photography person, and this helped me to see what photographers look for when they are taking pictures and how to make sure it will be a successful photo.  For example, the author talks in one section about "framing" the picture using the environment to focus the eye to the subject.  I had never thought of doing that when I'm taking a picture before...and I'm sure it's a very effective way of creating a successful picture.  After reading this, I feel like I could even be a good photographer in my free time if I wanted to.  For this specific project, I think that using any of these components would be helpful in communicating the meaning of the word.  One of the concepts that the author talks about is "exploration."  I think that using exploration in this project is very important, for when you explore multiple ways of setting up your letters, you get many different ways of looking at your word and you are able to choose the ones that are the most effective in depicting the definition.

Steve Edwards Photography

This reading was very educational.  The history of photography was based a lot on the social movements during the past century or so.  I thought it was really interesting that photography was not considered an art form until pretty recently and that it was really only thought to be used for documentation.  They related this back to the time of the Renaissance and how artists were considered to be lower class and only painting only for documentation purposes, which the artists argued against; they believed that they were doing it as a much higher art form with important subject matter and that a high level of intellectual thinking was needed to do the work that they were doing.  The same thing happened with the invention of the camera: it was originally created to allow easier documentation, but artists found a way to make it into one of the most popular art forms of today.  I never would have thought that photography could be something to argue over.  I guess once again it represents the clash between the more liberal thinkers and the artists.  I think that photography is just a more modern way of painting...we can use the same concepts and themes that artists use in painting, we just have a different tool to do it.  Like the last reading talked about, photography uses symmetry, grouping, framing, trial and error, etc. These same themes are used in all art forms. 

I would say that the photos we are taking for our project are very much from an artistic standpoint.  We are not using them to document the fact that our letters were there; we are taking pictures to show others how we are communicating our word in the most effective way possible.  Looking at them, we can see how the word is being depicted and how it helps to define the meaning.  

Parts of the Letter

This reading on the parts of the letter pertained a lot to this project.  The serifs and other parts of the letter help communicate different meanings (it can make it more simple, more complicated, more squished (confined), more expanded, taller, fatter).  For example, our word was extend, so we used the broadest font we could to create the sense of it extending out as far as it could go.  We also did them all in caps so that it increased the extension both height-wise and length-wise.  The reason we did not use a serif was so that it was more simplified and focused on the breadth of the letters rather than the artistic component of them.  

pictures :)

taking pictures of our word :)

It was exciting to see our word finally out on campus!  It definitely put it in a whole new aspect.  As soon as I get pictures from Caitlyn, I will put some up.

So on blackboard it said to blog about taking pictures of our word from different angles and how that affects the meaning of the word.
Taking pictures down low on the ground, for example, would make the letters seem bigger and more ominous, as if they were towering over you.  If you were trying to convey the meaning of your word as big and dominant, you would take pictures from down low.
Taking pictures from up above, as a bird's eye view, could make the word look smaller if it was taken from very high up.  It could also capture the environment in a more effective way if you wanted the environment to play a part in conveying the meaning of your word.
Where you place the letters also plays a big part in telling the meaning of the word.  Setting them farther apart from each other would give the sense that they are expanded and use more space.  Pushing them together as much as you can gives the sense that they are more constricted if you wanted to put that idea in the meaning of your word.
For our word, (extend) taking it from a side angle or such might help give it a better sense of expansion and stretching out.  It could also make it look longer, as if we were "extending" the word as much as possible.
:)

color refinements!

So here are my refinements! :) I really the second one from the left on the very bottom.  I think that adding the pink really helped make it more interesting...and I think it helps guide your eye with the bouncing of the ball better too.  Even though the refinements I  made on them were small, I really think that they helped a lot. I'm really pleased!
:)

exteeeend.

Well, the word construction is coming along great! :) Our words look awesome and they are HUMONGOUS!!! I think that they will be really effective when we photograph them.  Our group is working really well too...we are all putting in hard work to get this project done and do it well.

And I will get my color refinements up soon! I've been busy and haven't gotten a chance to work on them yet but I promise they will be up soon!!

:)

group work!

Yay for groups! Our word is EXTEND.  An interesting word that could be very effective if we use it right around campus.
main definitions:

to be or become extended; stretch out in length, duration, orin various or all directions.

to reach, as to a particular point.

to increase in length, area, scope, etc.

We are thinking about using our letters to extend off the edge of something, or extend upwards.  We thought it might be cool to use an area where they are doing construction, but we don't know of any construction around campus right now. So we are thinking of doing something with the walkway in Corbin, or the glass walkway that connects the art and design building.  Another option we have is using the campanile, because it is the tallest point on campus.  

:)

yay final 6!

I think I've picked and refined my final 6 word drawings in Illustrator! I'm pretty happy with them, and after the group critique and talking with Margie it was easy to pick which ones were the best and what to do to make them even more effective.  Next we are working with our groups...and I'm really excited to see what we are going to come up with for our pictures on campus. It'll be so fun to work with words and the environment!

So, here are my final 6! including original 3)

:)